Staff Reporter

ALL Africa Games decathlon gold medallist, South African Christo Blignaut, has been banned for two years after failing a dope test. Athletics South Africa announced on Friday that Blignaut, who was tested after his gold medal win, was found guilty as charged by an ASA disciplinary committee after testing positive for the use of the […]

SACKED Swaziland editor Bheki Makhubu applied for permission to leave the small southern African kingdom on Monday to prepare a defense against criminal defamation charges. Makhubu was arrested two months ago after publishing a report branding absolute monarch King Mswati III’s latest fiance a school dropout. The report in the independent Swaziland Times on Sunday […]

THE European Investment Bank on Tuesday launched a R100-million rand Eurobond. The bond, to mature on 15 December 2009, was lead managed by TD Securities and offers a 13,5% coupon.

CONSUMER inflation slowed slightly to an annualised 1,7% in October, slightly above expectations, according to official data released on Tuesday. Core inflation, which is also closely watched by investors, rose slightly to 8%, Statistics South Africa said.

MAVERICK Mpumalanga politician Joe Nkuna was arrested last week on a charge of attempted murder. A former ANC provincial secretary, Nkuna was arrested in KaNyamazane near Nelspruit on Thursday afternoon, for allegedly trying to kill Richard Simelane last Saturday night. Nkuna, who is now the UDM provincial secretary in Mpumalanga, appeared in the KaNyamazane Periodical […]

TRANSPORT Minister Dullah Omar announced on Saturday that his department’s director-general, Dipak Patel, will not renew his contract when it expires at the end of this year. Spokesman Mike Mabasa said the outgoing DG will be joining Rothschild Investment Bank in London for six months as a member of its global telecommunications team next year.

A SPECIAL task team has been appointed to investigate the Empangeni taxi violence that killed 11 people in northern KwaZulu-Natal last week. Provincial Transport MEC, S’bu Ndebele, appointed the task team, that will be headed by chairman of the Cross Border Transport Agency, George Negota. The investigation will be assessed and monitored on a daily […]

THE Tanzanian parliament has extended the tenure of the country’s privatisation agency for four years. The house on Wednesday passed a bill presented by Finance Minister Daniel Yona to enable the Parastatal Sector Reform Commission, the agency entrusted with selling state assets, to complete the divestiture. The commission was created in 1993 with a mandate […]

KENYAN college students battered their principal to death after accusing the institution’s administration of mismanagement, press reports said Thursday. Polycarp Wanyela, the principal of Sangalo Institute of Science and Technology in the western Bungoma district, was attacked by about 100 students late on Tuesday. The students were armed with stones and truncheons. The reports quoted […]

FORMER Correctional Services Director-General Khulekani Sitole will leave for the United States on Monday afternoon to discuss a possible lectureship post at the Jackson State University in Mississipi, SABC reported. Sitole resigned his post at the correctional services last month after he was found guilty of mismanagement and misuse of funds. Earlier the parliamentary public […]

TAXI ranks in Soshanguve, north-west of Pretoria will remain closed, a judge investigating taxi violence in the area said on Monday. In a statement in Pretoria, Judge Dumisa Ntsebeza said although some progress was made over the weekend in Soshanguve, the two main taxi associations remained at logger-heads. “Taxi ranks will remain closed for the […]

ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Johannesburg | Sunday 2.00pm. Orlando Pirates(1) 1 (Mkhize 35-pen) Sundowns(1) 3 (Shai 30, 55, Motlohi 89) Sundowns qualify 3-2 on aggregate UTILITY player Isaac Shai celebrated his return to the national squad with a couple of goals as Sundowns reached their third consecutive Rothmans Cup final on a scorching afternoon in Johannesburg. Shai […]

ZAMBIA has called in British detectives to probe the murder of Wezi Kaunda, son and political heir of founding president and chief opposition leader Kenneth Kaunda, the government said on Saturday. “The British government has agreed to send a small team of investigators from Scotland Yard to participate in the ongoing investigations into the mysterious […]

QUEEN Elizabeth arrived in Maputo on Monday for a visit aimed at developing commercial and cultural ties with Mozambique, which, though not a British colony, has a long and colourful history of British intrigue. The 10-hour stopover at the end of an African tour marks the queen’s first visit to the former Portuguese colony. Her […]

WESTERN Cape police on Thursday arrested a school principal and a second man after matric mathematics exam papers were allegedly stolen and sold to pupils at the Hector Peterson High School in Kraaifontein last month. The papers were reportedly sold for R150 at the school on October 31, a day before the exams started. Police […]

MURDERED African National Congress councillor and Zulu royal, Prince Cyril Zulu, was buried in his home town of Nongoma in northern KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday. The funeral was attended by former president Nelson Mandela, Public Enterprises Minister Jeff Radebe and senior ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party leaders. Speaking at the funeral, Mandela condemned the continued killings […]

SWAZILAND has ruled out insurance for rape victims, despite an alarming rise in rape cases. Recent research reported 350 ‘official’ rape cases in the country between January and May this year, as against 649 cases reported for the whole of 1998 and 588 cases in 1995. But the Royal Swaziland Insurance Corporation says it is […]

NIGERIAN commuters, frustrated by the two-day strike of commercial transporters in the industrial capital Lagos, heaved a sigh of relief as buses returned to the road on Wednesday. The transporters, protesting high tariffs charged them by the state authority, had withdrawn vehicles from the road Monday, crippling economic activities in Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre. The […]

EIGHT children and three adults were killed in Mpumalanga when a truck ploughed into three cars parked at the side of a national road, police said on Sunday. Ten people died at the scene of the accident late on Saturday near Middelburg, about 120 kilometres east of Pretoria. A five-year-old boy with multiple fractures and […]

ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Tembisa | Monday 12.00pm. Classic (2) 5 (Zwane 6, Joubert 25, Mthunzi 58, Malatule 62, Mahlangu 88-pen) Moroka Swallows (0) 1 (Ningiza 38); At Makhulong Stadium IT was a scorching hot Sunday afternoon in the East Rand township of Tembisa, and for Swallows goalkeeper George Fernandes there was the added discomfort of having […]

A bomb early Friday destroyed a small complex of government offices in Swaziland’s Mahlanya constituency, about 25 kilometres east of the capital Mbabane, police said. The blast at the constituency offices used by MPs happened at about and was caused by a time bomb, police spokeswoman Leckina Magagula said. Nobody was injured, she said. A […]

THE government intends allocating almost 200-million over the next two years towards tagging and electronically monitoring prison parolees, set to begin next year. The Citizen reports Correctional Services Minister Ben Skosana said over R83-million will be allocated for next year and over R100-million for 2001. Replying to questions in Parliament, the minister also said overcrowding […]

LAWRENCE BARTLETT, Durban | Sunday 1.30pm BRITAIN’S Queen Elizabeth II laid a wreath honouring the dead of two world wars at the Cenotaph in Durban on Remembrance on Sunday, the first time in 16 years that she has not led national mourning in Britain. With her son Prince Charles standing in for her at Whitehall, […]

FURTHER charges may be brought against murder accused Dwayne Ragavaloo related to a 1997 docket, it emerged at his bail application in the Richmond Magistrates Court on Wednesday. Ragavaloo is facing one murder charge and two of attempted murder related to a shooting incident on October 31. Ragavaloo, 22, the son of Richmond mayor Andrew […]

BRITIAN’S Lennox Lewis won a 12-round unanimous decision over American Evander Holyfield in Las Vegas early on Sunday morning to capture the undisputed world heavyweight boxing championship. In the rematch of a controversial draw from last March, judge Chuck Giampa scored it 116-112 while Bill Graham had it 117-111 and Jerry Roth 115-113 for Lewis. […]

SOUTH African fly-half Henry Honiball will make his debut for Bristol in Saturday’s Premiership match at Sale, the club said on Wednesday. The veteran number 10, who retired from international rugby after the Springboks’ World Cup third-place triumph over the All Blacks last Thursday, will form a half-back pairing with Argentinian scrum-half Agustin Pichot. They […]

KEY England strike bowler Darren Gough will see a return to action when the tourists take on a combined Free State/Griquas XI in Bloemfontein this weekend. Gough, who was injured in England’s opening tour fixture, will take the new ball with Alan Mullally. England may have some difficulty in the bowling department as Andy Caddick […]

THe deputy defence minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo warned Wednesday that all violations by rebel groups of a ceasefire deal signed in July would be severely punished. “Under today’s conditions, fresh guerrilla activities will cost their perpetrators dearly,” said General Dieudonne Kayembe during a meeting with reporters and diplomats to discuss alleged violations […]

SOUTH African all-rounder Lance Klusener lost out on Friday to England’s Andy Caddick as the Wisden Monthly’s player of the season in a readers’ poll conducted by the England-based magazine, which is a sister publication of Wisden -the universal cricket annual. A Wisden spokesman said it is a “major surprise” for an Englishman to clinch […]

ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Johannesburg | Friday 7.00am. THE Rothmans Cup knockout soccer competition has been described, with considerable justification, as the premier event of the lengthy South African season. As the first Rothmans Cup kicked off, the South African soccer public were treated to two incredible finals between Kaizer Chiefs and Sundowns with both going to […]

SPRINGBOKS Andre Venter and Os du Randt were named in a team of the tournament published by French sports daily L’Equipe on Tuesday, while Mark nadrews and Cobus Visagie were named as replacements. France supplied five of the players and the team also included six members of Australia’s World Cup-winning side, a New Zealander and […]

GOLDEN Lions coach Laurie Mains – who is set to coach the Cats in next year’s Super 12 – won’t be looking to fill the shoes of his All Black counterpart John Hart, who isn’t seeking re-election to the post. Mains said he is prepared to help New Zealand rugby in a support role only. […]