Staff Reporter

FORMER national cricketer Makhaya Ntini, who last week won an appeal against a six year rape conviction, has been included in the Border B team for a match against North-West B. The match will be Ntini’s first for his province since the Standard Cup final against Griquas at Buffalo Park in March. He replaces all-rounder […]

AUSTRALIAN coach Rod Macqueen has named an unchanged side to face France on Saturday in the World Cup final at the Millennium Stadium. The same starting XV who beat defending champions South Africa 27-21 after extra-time in the semi-finals will face the French. The only change in the 22-man squad is prop Dan Crowley’s return […]

FRENCH prop Franck Tournaire could miss the World Cup final after being cited on a biting charge by tournament disciplinary chiefs. Tournaire faces a charge of biting an unspecified opponent during France’s thrilling semi-final victory over the All Blacks at Twickenham. The hearing will take place in Cardiff on Wednesday morning and will be chaired […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cardiff | Wednesday 3.30pm. THE Springboks will bounce back when they face New Zealand in the World Cup third-place playoff at the Millennium Stadium on Thursday night, flanker Rassie Erasmus has vowed. The defending champions had expected to be playing in Saturday’s final, but were bundled out of the semi-finals by Australia. Erasmus […]

THE South African Teachers Union said on Tuesday it intends to sue the government for making unauthorised deductions from the salaries of 12000 of its members, SAFM reports. SATU spokesman Chris Kloppers said a day’s pay was deducted even though the union’s members were not involved in the public servants salary strike earlier this year.

GHANA’S Ashanti Goldfields won a conditional three-year period of grace from its creditors on Monday by promising 15% of the company’s capital as collateral. Last week the gold producer had called for a 21-day stay of execution on multimillion-dollar debts owed to creditors in connection with hedge contracts. Business Report says that the contracts, intended […]

THE Swedish foreign aid agency has cut off assistance to an education project in South Africa’s Northern Cape Province after two local employees admitted embezzling funds, officials said Tuesday. Swedish embassy spokesman Thomas Kjellson said on Monday that the two employees of the city of Kimberly had forged cheque signatures and faked an accountant’s audit […]

ANGLOGOLD on Tuesday served the first part of its share offer for Australian gold miner Acacia Resources Limited. The offer, which will be posted to Acacia shareholders in the middle of November, has been lodged with the Australian Stock Exchange. At the same time AngloGold has applied to the Australian Stock Exchange for a full […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 6.30pm. SUNDOWNS will be on a mission to avenge their 1-0 defeat by Orlando Pirates in the first leg semi-final of the Rothmans Cup. Sundowns’ unbeaten 15 run of 15 matches at Loftus Stadium came to an abrupt end when Denis Lota thumped in a goal in the 17th […]

ANGLO American chairman Julian Ogilvie Thompson told international mining executives in Toronto on Monday that the multinational is well placed to help mining achieve a balanced perspective on sustainable development. Speaking at the CIBC World Markets Mining Dinner Thompson said this is largely due to its exposure to the developing world in Africa and Latin […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cardiff | Wednesday 10.00am. TIAAN Strauss, former Springbok skipper and now Wallaby eighthman, will retire from international rugby after the World Cup. The thirty-two year old has again been passed over by the Australian selectors for Saturday’s tournament decider against France at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Strauss, who also did play against […]

WESTERN Cape education MEC Helen Zille said on Monday that algebra standard grade matric examination papers have been leaked from a school at Kraaifontein, Kuils River. According to Zille the examinations director raised the alarm when the high school in question requested more papers. The pupils have been allowed to write the examinations while an […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cardiff | Wednesday 10.00am. TIAAN Strauss, former Springbok skipper and now Wallaby eighthman, will retire from international rugby after the World Cup. The thirty-two year old has again been passed over by the Australian selectors for Saturday’s tournament decider against France at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Strauss, who also did play against […]

AIR Botswana will replace thethree French-built ATR42-300 passenger planes destroyed by a suicide pilot last month with three new ATR42-500 planes before the end of the year,airline management said in a statement on Wednesday. “The three planes are being leased from Air Littoral in France. The first is due in Gaborone next week and will […]

TWO men who allegedly shot and killed a nine-year-old boy in an apparent road rage incident over the weekend have appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court. Young Rethabile Tsunyane, was shot while sitting between the driver of a truck and his father, Vincent Tsunyane. Severe criticism has been levelled against the taxi industry following the […]

POLICE on Tuesday confirmed the deaths of 12 people and the arrest of 56 suspects following communal clashes in Ajegunle, a Lagos slum, where a dusk-to-dawn curfew is now in force, state-run national television (NTA) reported. The clashes, which began at the weekend, reached their peak on Monday, when most of the deaths occurred and […]

RICHMOND mayor Andrew Ragavaloo’s 22-year-old son, Dwane, appeared in the Richmond Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday on one murder charge and two of attempted murder. Dwane Ragavaloo was arrested on Sunday in connection with a shooting incident in which Riccardo Whyte was killed and his relatives Rowan and Melville Whyte wounded. The shooting occurred during a […]

CONTROVERSIAL cricketer Makhaya Ntini has been included in the Border B team to play North West B in a three-day UCB Bowl cricket match starting in East London on Thursday. Ntini won his court appeal against a six-year jail sentence after being found guilty of raping a domestic worker in a public toilet last December.

LAWYERS from around the world will on Thursday gather in the Abuja, Nigeria for a two-day conference on west Africa’s energy problems in the new millennium. The West African Regional Energy Conference will also be attended by international energy experts. The conference is being organised by the energy and natural resources law section of the […]

MPUMALANGA’S outspoken former transport MEC, Jackson Mthembu, has finally been charged with wrecking a luxury government vehicle while driving without a license five months ago. He allegedly smashed the government-issue Mercedes Benz into a tree at high speed while on African National Congress business in Witbank just before the June elections. Mthembu, who now chairs […]

NEW Zealand Rugby Football Union chief executive David Moffett, who has taken the job as head of Australia’s Super League competition, is expected to be the first of several defections to rugby league after the World Cup. Star players like Joost van der Westhuizen and Jonah Lomu are targets for clubs in Australia and Britain. […]

HUMAN error and inefficient printing systems are to blame for the leak of a mathematics exam question paper in Mpumalanga two weeks ago, an Examination Board investigation concluded on Wednesday. The province’s new education head, Duncan Hindle, stressed the report had also proved that the integrity of the 1999 matric examinations was intact and that […]

FRENCH fly-half Christophe Lamaison lost count of how many points he scored in his side’s momentus 43-31 World Cup semi-final win over New Zealand at Twickenham on Sunday. “How many points did I score? I don’t know,” Lamaison said after a perfect goal-kicking performance had yielded him 28 points. The French, in dire straits for […]

ZIMBABWE, battling with crippling HIV/Aids statistics, has imposed a 3% tax on earnings to help pay for AIDS-related healthcare costs. The measure is expected to bring in about $26,6-million annually. While the tax is a step towards actively fighting the disease, critics are concerned because the country has no specific plan for how to use […]

MPUMALANGA’S outspoken former transport MEC, Jackson Mthembu, has finally been charged for driving without a license after wrecking a luxury government vehicle five months ago. He allegedly smashed the government-issue Mercedes-Benz into a tree at high speed while on African National Congress business in Witbank just before the June elections. Mthembu, who now chairs the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Wednesday 4.00pm. DOCTORS in Zimbabwe’s state hospitals ended a crippling six-week strike Wednesday after accepting government promises on salaries and improved working conditions, a spokesman for the strikers said. “We have signed an agreement and doctors will be going back to work immediately,” said Lincoln Shenje, secretary-general of the Hospital Doctors […]

A CHILD and four adults died in a fire Tuesday in an East Rand furniture factory and another man committed suicide when he heard about the incident, police said. Police spokesman Captain Andy Pieke said two men and two women died of smoke inhalation when they were trapped inside the burning factory in Springs. An […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cardiff | Tuesday 10.30am. BREYTON Paulse is one of the smallest wings in international rugby. Jonah Lomu is undoubtedly the biggest. Paulse, however, says he has no fears about facing the New Zealand superstar if he is named in the South African side to play the All Blacks in the third-place playoff at […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cardiff | Tuesday 10.30am. BREYTON Paulse is one of the smallest wings in international rugby. Jonah Lomu is undoubtedly the biggest. Paulse, however, says he has no fears about facing the New Zealand superstar if he is named in the South African side to play the All Blacks in the third-place playoff at […]

SOUTH African Andre Watson will referee Saturday’s World Cup final between Australia and France at the Millennium Stadium, tournament officials announced Monday. Watson’s touch judges will be Ed Morrison, of England, who refereed the 1995 final between South Africa and New Zealand in Johannesburg, and Paddy OBrien of New Zealand. Watson, a professional referee with […]

AUTHORITIES have revealed that 33 senior Egyptian military officials were aboard the doomed EgyptAir flight 900 which went down shortly after take off from New York on Sunday. The Boeing 767 crashed into the Atlantic off Nantucket Island. All 214 people on board were killed. Water depth is reportedly slowing down searchers’ efforts to recover […]

NATIONAL police commissioner designate Jackie Selebi started his new job as special adviser to outgoing commissioner George Fivaz on Monday. Selebi was named last month to take over South Africa’s top police job when Fivaz retires on January 1 next year. He will spend the next two months working closely with Fivaz to gain experience. […]