Staff Reporter

NEW Zealand and Australia are strongly fancied to contest the World Cup final on November 6, according to bookmakers William Hill. The latest odds on Monday put that pairing at 8-11 with a final between New Zealand and South Africa at second favourite at 11-8. A final between France and Australia was quoted at 14-1 […]

AN unbeaten century by Brian McMillan ensured that Western Province comfortably held off Boland for a draw on the final day of their Supersport Series match in Paarl on Sunday. Needing an impossible 366 runs for victory on a slow, unresponsive wicket, Sunday was simply a day of survival and in the end it proved […]

A TOP Angolan military official was killed on Friday when an anti-tank landmine exploded, military sources said. Lieutenant-general Simione Mukune, whose troops helped seize control of central Angolan rebel stronghold Andulo, 700 kilometres southeast of the capital Luanda in September, died when the vehicle hit a landmine, the Angolan armed forces statement said. Government troops […]

HOMOSEXUALS in Zimbabwe on Sunday called for the legal recognition of same-sex relationships in the country. They are seeking the inclusion of a clause on sexual orientation in the country’s new constitution, currently being drafted under a controversial constitutional review process. Representatives of the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) made the appeal to a […]

RESCUER workers are battling on Sunday afternoon to free a trapped miner after a second rockfall at AngloGold’s Bambanani Mine near Welkom in the Free State covered their earlier efforts to reach the man. The first rockfall, which took place at about 8.25am on Saturday morning, trapped three miners at 1400m. Rescue teams managed to […]

A SEVERE storm hit the Balfour area in Mpumalanga province on Thursday night, wrecking a farmer’s house and causing an estimated R1,5-million damage, police said on Friday. Raging winds tore off branches and uprooted several bluegum trees in a plantation in the area before wrecking the house of farmer Willem du Plessis, Sergeant Leonard Hlathi […]

A CAPE TOWN based research programme is trying to reverse the outflow of skills from the country by putting skilled people abroad in touch with companies in South Africa. South African Network of Skills Abroad (Sansa) has sent out letters to some 28000 South Africans known to be resident abroad. To date more than 1800 […]

MEYRICK Pringle struck a entertaining 83 off 48 balls, but it wasn’t enough to deny Gauteng victory inside three days in their Supersport Series match against Eastern Province at the Wanderers on Saturday. The former South African bowler recovered from a powerful blow on the helmet to almost force Gauteng to bat again in a […]

THE Pentagon has created a center for African strategic studies, which will hold its first seminar in Dakar from October 31 to November 12. Forty-three countries from all parts of the continent, as well as nations like Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Portugal will be represented at the meeting, interim director Nancy Walker said. […]

PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki received a copy of the Independent Electoral Commission’s atlas of 1999 election results on Friday. The 228-page atlas is made up of a number of maps detailing the results of the June elections. It will set you back R10000 a piece. At a lunch to mark the launch of the document, Mbeki […]

SOUTH Africa’s opening batsman Gary Kirsten is almost certain to miss the two home and away Test matches against Zimbabwe, as his Western Province side had a bad day at the office in Paarl on Friday. At the close of the second day of their Supersport Series match against Boland, Province were 139 runs behind […]

CHARGES have been withdrawn against two of those accused of murdering former United Democratic Movement secretary-general Sifiso Nkabinde at Richmond in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands early this year. Sibusiso Bruce Mhlongo and Zeblon Zibuse Ngcobo appeared briefly in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court on Friday before they were released. Mhlongo has turned state witness, while the magistrate […]

EGYPTIAN club Al-Ahly climbed to the top of Group 1 in the African Champions League with a 4-1 home win over Shooting Stars of Nigeria this weekend. The 1982 and 1987 champions lead Raja Casablanca of Morocco, another team that has won the major continental club competition twice, on goal difference with Hearts of Oak […]

THE Ministry of Defence said on Friday it hopes to get at least R1-billion from the sale of military aircraft it’s no longer using. Included in the sale will be about 40 jet fighters and nine transport planes. The ministry said it’s making plans to withdraw and sell off the aircraft, which will be replaced […]

PIRATE IRWIN, Paris | Friday 12.00am. WORLD champions South Africa have pinpointed the English player they need to stop if they are to prevail in Sunday’s World Cup quarter-final – former captain Lawrence Dallaglio. Both Springbok number eight Bobby Skinstad and coach Nick Mallett sang his praises during the week admiring his capacity to appear […]

Mercedes Sayagues One of Africa’s most pristine coastal areas may soon be lost if the Mozambican government carries out its plan to build a deep-sea port just south of the Maputo Elephant Reserve. The project is a $515-million partnership recently approved between the state railways Caminhos de Ferro de Mocambique (CFM) and the firm Porto […]

Andrew Muchineripi Soccer I am seriously wondering whether some soccer officials have not lost the plot. Crowds are dwindling fast at Premier Soccer League (PSL) fixtures, yet they want to introduce another competition. Amid all the talk of fixture congestion, the PSL board of governors wants the Top Eight competition revived, with media speculation hinting […]

Pretoria Matthew Krouse spoke to curator Erna Beumers about her mission to return African art to Africa To say that each item on the Africa Meets Africa exhibition carries its history with it is an understatement. The mystery is reinforced by the tags on each that don’t date the exhibits by when they were last […]

Charl Blignaut It’s easy to sensationalise the cultural myths that surround Lake Fundudzi near Thohoyando in the Northern Province. Fundudzi is referred to as the “zombie lake”, a place where buried ancestors are said to come alive at night and play drums beneath the water. It is the myths and superstitions of Fundudzi that have […]

Phillipa Garson CLASS STRUGGLE It is refreshing to be confronted with a whirlwind of action in the form of Minister of Education Kader Asmal. His civil servants, who have grown used to grabbing on to their hats every time he blasts past, affectionately refer to him as “Papa Action” nowadays – no allusion to his […]

Naseem Hamed seems to have calmed down, but that doesn’t mean he’s lost his bite, writes Kevin Mitchell In his suite at Caesar’s Brookdale, a shiny resort in the Poconos Mountains of Pennsylvania for newlyweds and others who prefer their entertainment in-house, Naseem Hamed is one lonely little geezer. In fact, he is so lonely […]

South Africans are often upbraided for being a nation of poor savers. Personally, it’s an accusation that irritates me. We are given little incentive to save, particularly through our tax structure that soon starts eating away at any savings the average person sets aside. However, we do have a highly developed, sophisticated financial services industry, […]

Risk on investments can be measured, claim the experts, enabling us to identify which risks have tended to deliver the rewards. Dave Bradfield explains how this is done Last year’s crash on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) highlighted once more that the additional returns investors seek on the JSE (over and above the promise of […]

Robert Kitson in London Rugby World Cup Like one of those artworks that Rolf Harris used to specialise in, the Rugby World Cup remains a strangely dislocated blend of coloured dots, splashes and drips as it pauses for breath. Not much shape to anything, unless you count that ominous black streak running through the middle, […]

Paul Edmunds Granted, this was no inner-city free luxury bus ride. Instead, it was a jerky trundle on a diesel-smelling orange behemoth, askew on its tired springs. It was also probably one of the only times most of the passengers will ride on a public bus this year. Art Night was begun by gallery owner […]

A Booker prizewinner, he claims to stand at the crossroads where African and European cultures meet. But his magical mysticism means some people can’t tell whether he’s bridging a gap or meandering alone up a one-way street. Roy Hattersley spoke to Ben Okri By his own admission, Ben Okri finds “concrete prose the most hard […]

FLANKER David Wilson gave Australia a morale-boost on Friday when he passed a fitness test and was confirmed in the Wallaby team to face Wales in the first World Cup quarter-final at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Wilson, who is playing in his third World Cup tournament, passed a test on an ankle he […]

Cameron Duodu LETTER FROM THE NORTH We were at the end of the interview on BBC World TV. We’d been talking about Julius Nyerere. To round off, the interviewer asked, me, “So what would you say was his one great legacy to Africa and the world?” I couldn’t answer the question! “You can’t credit him […]

On Tuesday, Parliament’s portfolio committee on finance will hear submissions from non-profit organisations on the Katz commission’s proposed tax relief. Barry Streek reports In a remarkable display of unity shortly before Tuesday’s meeting of the National Assembly’s portfolio committee on finance, non-profit organisations (NPOs) from across the spectrum of South African society have endorsed the […]

Howard Barrell WHO IS … JACKIE SELEBI? When word leaked out early last year that Jackie Selebi was about to be appointed director general of foreign affairs, departmental officials who had not been in the African National Congress and so did not know him were worried. They quietly phoned colleagues who had been working with […]

Heather Hogan This year’s Media Freedom Day has been celebrated with the launch of a new documentary on the life of deceased journalist Nathaniel “Nat” Nakasa. Commissioned by the South African National Editors’ Forum, Print Media South Africa and the Niemann Society of Southern Africa, and directed by Lauren Groenewald, its title A Native of […]

ENGLISH fly-half Jonny Wilkinson has failed to make the starting line-up for Sunday’s World Cup quarter-final against reigning champions South Africa at the Stade de France. Wilkinson, who was replaced after a heavy tackle from Fiji skipper Greg Smith during Wednesday’s quarter-final victory at Twickenham, is among England’s substitutes. Wing Dan Luger has recovered from […]