Staff Reporter

LABOUR Minister Membathisi Mdladlana is expected to relax aspects of the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill, particularly as it applies to small business, the Business Day reports. The paper reports an announcement is expected on November 4. Mdladlana insists the changes won’t deprive workers of their rights and will not remove the protection guaranteed by […]

THE National Assembly has congratulated the Springboks for trouncing England 44-21 in the World Cup quarter-finals at the weekend. In a formal resolution, MPs also congratulated fly-half Jannie de Beer on his record-breaking performance with the boot. The politicians wished the Boks good luck for their semi-final against Australia and called on all South Africans […]

MORE than 400 people in the Northern Province are over 100 years old, and they will be honoured by business and welfare leaders on Friday. The National Federated Chamber of Commerce and the health and welfare department are laying on a party for them — 404 in all — at Pietersburg’s Gateway International Airport. Provincial […]

THE Central Energy Fund (CEF) announced on Tuesday that it has secured international loans amounting to $333-million to develop the Mossgas EM gas field. The project, which was approved by government this year, will extend the life of South Africa’s synthetic fuel producing plant at Mossel Bay until 2007. Mossgas currently produces about 7% of […]

THE Springboks are peaking at exactly the right time as they bid to retain their World Cup title, coach Nick Mallett said on Thursday. The Springboks, who have never lost a World Cup match, face Australia in the semi-finals at Twickenham on Saturday and Mallett believes the team have so much confidence they can beat […]

KEY New Zealand fly-half and goal kicker Andrew Mehrtens may miss the Rugby World Cup semifinal against France although an injury to his left knee is not serious. Mehrtens had a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey, near London, and was cleared of serious injury, Wellington’s Evening Postnewspaper said in […]

AVIS Southern Africa, the Auto rental group, on Thursday reported steady earnings growth in the six months to September and posted a 24% rise in fully diluted earnings per share. Operating income was up 13,3% at R88,2-million on a 9,6% increase in revenue to R348-million. Attributable income rose by 24% to R44,4-million. Fully diluted earnings […]

PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki will visit Zambia at the weekend for his first state visit since taking up the reins of leadership in June, his office said on Monday. Mbeki will leave on Friday from Pretoria for the three-day visit. The trip will be his first state visit since taking over from former president Nelson Mandela, […]

SOME 100 soldiers from Sierra Leone’s ousted junta are believed to have been killed during a week of clashes with their erstwhile rebel allies in northern Make ni, commuters and journalists said on Wednesday.”These once friendly forces have now turned sworn enemies,” said textile businessman Al lieu Sank oh, who has just returned to Freetown […]

JONAH Lomu’s future remains in doubt at the conclusion of the World Cup tournament. The blockbusting New Zealand wing, who has already scored six tries in four matches in the tournament, is certain to receive a swag of offers to switch codes when his current contract expires. Leading English rugby league club Leeds head Lomu’s […]

SARAH BULLEN, Cape Town | Thursday 5.30pm A STRONG day on local markets was boosted in the late afternoon by the announcement of a surprising large trade surplus, combined with positive growth figures from the United States. At close of trade the all share index had gained 0,86% — pushed primarily by a 4,24% climb […]

COMPANY liquidations rose by almost 8% to 1080 in the third quarter of 1999 compared with the same period a year ago, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday. It said that the rise in the total number of liquidations in the third quarter of this year was largely due to a 72,2% increase to 639 […]

AUSTRALIA coach Rod Macqueen is not expecting to be hit by an avalanche of drop goals in Saturday’s World Cup semi-final against South Africa. Springbok flyhalf Jannie De Beer kicked a world record five field goals in the Springboks’ 44-21 quarter-final win over England but Macqueen said he would be surprised if the world champions […]

FORMER Australian national team coach Bob Dwyer believes South Africa will make a major error if they start Saturday’s World Cup semi-final with Jannie de Beer at fly-half instead of Henry Honiball. Springbok coach Nick Mallett has said De Beer will start the match ahead of Honiball after his 34-point haul in the quarter-finals against […]

BUTTERWORTH, the former industrial capital of the Transkei, crippled by service payment protests and a municipal workers strike last year, has run out of water. Businesses, schools, homes and the hospital have been without water for a week, after the town’s three municipal water pumps were reported “broken”. Businesses are ferrying supplies from East London, […]

THE recovering spot gold price is pressing up against resistance at $300 a troy ounce in early European business on Thursday. Analysts said that this level, briefly exceeded in Asian trading, looked set to prove tough but had to be clearly overcome before gold could aim for the next upside targets at $305,00, $315,00 and […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, London | Wednesday 11.45pm. SOUTH Africa are safely into the semi-finals of the World Cup, but still coach Nick Mallett is having to deny reports of rifts in the Springbok camp. Mallett, whose side face Australia in the semis at Twickenham on Saturday, said the spirit among squad members was excellent, refuting earlier […]

RUSSIA and Libya signed a deal on Tuesday for the construction of a branch of a major gas pipeline in the North African state. Under the $182-million contract between Russian firm Zarubezhneftegazstroi and Libya’s National Oil Corporation, the 117-kilometre section of the Khums-Tripoli pipeline will be completed in January 2001. It will be part of […]

FORMER US Senior Open champion Simon Hobday will make a welcome return to the local golf scene when he tees it up in the Cullinan Senior Championship at the Cullinan Country Club on Thursday. Although Hobday should start favourite for the 54-hole Vodacom Senior Tour event he will face serious competition from a trio of […]

ZIMBABWE said Sunday on it will go ahead with an ambitious project to build a railway line to the Democratic Republic of Congo via Zambia despite second thoughts about it by partners Botswana and South Africa. Transport minister Enos Chikowore said the multi-million dollar railway line, to provide a shorter and cheaper route to the […]

ONE of the Free State’s main roads, the Ficksburg-Clocolan road, is in such a state of disrepair that it will probably be converted to a gravel road by the end of the year. Other roads in the province are to follow.

THE Zimbabwean government says it plans to introduce a 3% income tax levy on individuals and large corporation to raise money to fight HIV/Aids. The health and child welfare ministry said it plannsd to create a special fund for the tax, which will be automatically deducted from people’s pay cheques. The government estimates that 700 […]

ZIMBABWE on Wednesday accused rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo of several ceasefire violations. The army said in a statement that late on Tuesday rebels “started closing in under the cover of mortar and artillery fire” on southern African forces at Ikela in Equatorial province. It reiterated that southern African forces supporting DRC President […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 8.45pm. ABOUT 50 percent of South African politicians and civil servants are perceived to be corrupt by the international community, the corruption watchdog Transparency International said in a report released on Tuesday. South African ranks as the 34th least corrupt country out of 99 in Transparency International’s (TI) latest Corruption […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 8.00pm SOUTH Africa’s influential trade union federation Cosatu on Tuesday warned that the free trade deal with the European Union could worsen high unemployment levels. The 17-union Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) told three parliamentary committees that it was “concerned about tariff liberalisation exacerbating the job crisis […]

BOTSWANA’S President Festus Mogaestruck a blow for women’s rights at the weekend when he appointedsouthern Africa’s first female central bank governor. The 47-year-old Lena Mohohlo has served as one of two deputy Bank of Botswana governors since 1997 and replaces Baledzi Gaolathe, who was on Thursday appointed Minister of Finance in Mogae’s new cabinet. President […]

ASIAN midday spot gold was quoted lower on Tuesday from the opening price as the market looked for the price to test support at $295, traders said. Gold closed lower overnight in New York, hitting a three-and-a-half-week low that triggered stop-loss selling. Traders said gold’s drift lower in recent days is a correction from its […]

THE South African Men’s Wheelchair Basketball team has moved closer to qualifying for the Paralympic Games in Sydney 2000 by beating the host nation, Algeria 47-35 in the Afro Arab Paralympic qualification round. Top scorers for South Africa were Buntu Manyana, Richard Nortje and Joppie Victor with 12 points apiece. South Africa face a hectic […]

BUTTERWORTH, the former industrial capital of the Transkei crippled by service payment protests and a municipal workers strike last year, has now run out of water. Businesses, schools, homes and the hospital have been without water for a week, it was learned on Wednesday, after the town’s three municipal water pumps were reported “broken”. The […]

THE body of the third worker, missing underground since a rockfall at Bambanani Mine’s West Shaft on Saturday, was found on Tuesday morning, Anglogold spokesman James Duncan said. Duncan said the body was recovered at about 3am. The three miners were trapped after a rockfall caused by a seismic event at the mine near Welkom […]

SOUTH Africa’s World Cup squad are becoming video addicts. It was through repeated watching of videos that coach Nick Mallett came up with the strategy that enabled fly-half Jannie de Beer to kick a world record five drop goals as the Springboks downed England at the weekend. Mallett on Monday put his team through another […]

TELKOM said on Wednesday that an independent audit has proved that consumers are not charged for telephone calls that engaged or unanswered. The audit comes after persistent accusations by consumers that Telkom bills customers for engaged and unanswered calls. Telkom said that the audit showed that 1,34% of the 11100 calls were logged as engaged […]