Staff Reporter

WORLD Cup favourites New Zealand pulverised Italy 101-3, the highest score of the 1999 tournament, on Thursday after record-breaking performances by fullback Jeff Wilson and winger Jonah Lomu. Wilson broke the All Blacks’ career try record, held by former winger John Kirwan, with his second try of three in the group B game. Wilson now […]

Wally Mbhele and Evidence wa ka Ngobeni The commissioner of correctional services, Khulekani Sitole, is embroiled in a new scandal following accusations that he has used more than R1,2-million of the department’s money to fund a lucrative scholarship he named after himself. The Department of Correctional Services says it has already spent R1-million of the […]

John Matshikiza CROSSFIRE The passion for revising our history in line with what we still tiresomely call our “new dispensation” is getting out of hand. It’s one thing to say that history must be rewritten to show what really happened in the course of our various national sagas. It’s quite another thing to try to […]

Scriptwriter and creator of sci-fi TV series First Wave, Chris Brancato, tells Katy Bauer how to hurtle across Hollywood potholes without getting whiplash or becoming a jerk Writers? They’re a pain in the arse. They hover between chronic insecurity, bar- room brawls and delusions of grandeur. Hardly surprising really. The vast majority do exist in […]

THE newly-updated 1999 edition of the SA Rugby Annual – the “bible’ of the game in South Africa – is now available. The redesigned and revamped SA Rugby Annual 1999 fills the void left by the disappearance after 1997 of the Bankfin Annual, edited for 26 years by Beeld journalist Quintus van Rooyen until his […]

THE son of Nigeria’s late military ruler General Sani Abacha, a top security aide and fellow defendants were charged on Thursday with the murder of the wife of late opposition politician Moshood Abiola. Mohammed Abacha, Major Hamza al-Mustapha and three others were charged in a packed Lagos magistrate’s court with the June 1996 killing of […]

models? Tom Lodge A SECOND LOOK Before considering any changes to the existing electoral system it may be useful to recall its virtues. National list proportional representation is just about the simplest way to translate voters’ preferences into equitable representation. It benefits small parties, even very small ones, by allowing them a voice in law-making […]

Khadija Magardie The South African National Defence Force’s (SANDF) skewed policy on HIV/Aids has once again come under the spotlight, after an HIV-positive soldier in Durban sought legal assistance after threats to discontinue his anti-retroviral therapy. Following a letter from the soldier’s lawyer, the SANDF backed down, stating that it would continue treating patients already […]

Mail & Guardian reporter A brother-in-law of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is under investigation after he allegedly sexually assaulted a teenage girl at his home in Ottawa, Canada, last week. Police were called to the home of Simbarashe Reward Marufu, a second-ranking diplomat at the Zimbabwean high commission in Canada, on October 5. They summoned […]

SCOTLAND’s World Cup hopes recieved a massive blow here on Wednesday when centre John Leslie was ruled out for the rest of the tournament. Leslie has been struggling with an ankle injury since being carried off in Scotland’s opening match against South Africa. It was initially feared that the New Zealand-born star had broken his […]

THE Law Commission is currently consulting widely on its proposal to lower the age of consent for sex between males from 19 years to 16 years. Justice Minister Penuell Maduna said in a written reply to parliament on Monday that he hopes to introduce the new legislation early next year. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance […]

US Commerce Secretary William Daley on Thursday sounded out Egypt’s new pro-privatization prime minister Atef Ebeid about investment and business opportunities for US firms in Egypt. “As privatizations have moved forward in Egypt, there has been an increase in US investment because of those privatizations. The prime minister encourages US companies to look at these […]

THE Dukuduku forest station will be opened near St Lucia in northern Kwazulu-Natal on Thursday to facilitate the relocation of forest dwellers settled illegally in the ecologically-sensitive region. In an attempt to preserve the forest, the government bought two farms on which to resettle the forest dwellers. The move met with resistance from a minority […]

SWAZILAND’s minister of health and social welfare, Dr. Phetsile Dlamini, is piloting a health bill which calls for the death sentence for rapists with infectious diseases. According to the bill, rape convicts who infect their victims with the HIV/AIDS, whether knowingly or unknowingly, will face the death penalty in future if the law comes into […]

HIJACKERS carefully off-loaded the body of a woman on a stretcher outside the Elka Stadium in Soweto on Tuesday before racing off in the hearse they had just hijacked. Piet Swart, the owner of Koster Funeral Undertakers, said an employee of the undertakers, Joseph Kupu, was hijacked around 11.30am while taking the body from the […]

RUGBY World Cup authorities have taken a no-nonsense approach on foul play with Welshman Colin Charvis on Monday losing his appeal against a two-week suspension for punching Argentina’s Roberto Grau during the opening match of the tournament. At first, the 26-year-old accepted the ban but then decided to appeal in the hope of making himself […]

THE World Bank will give technical assistance to help South Africa meet its objectives for economic growth and social equity, its President, James Wolfensohn, said on Tuesday. Wolfensohn, in South Africa to promote the lending agency’s tough anti-corruption message, was speaking after a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki. The World Bank and Johannesburg’s metropolitan council […]

GOVERNMENT ground to a halt — literally — on Thursday when five cabinet ministers were trapped in a parliamentary lift for almost half-an-hour. One, Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi, recently suffered a similar ordeal and was jokingly blamed for the latest mishap by his colleagues. Buthelezi, who around a month ago was trapped with some […]

WASPS flanker Joe Worsley wins his first cap as England coach Clive Woodward makes six changes from the side that lost to the All Blacks last weekend for Friday’s key Group B match with Tonga. Jonny Wilkinson is replaced by Northampton fly-half Paul Grayson and Jeremy Guscott loses out to fit-again Will Greenwood for a […]

ORLANDO Pirates snatched a 2-1 win against Wanderers in a hard-fought Castle Premiership fixture at FNB stadium last night. Buccaneer strikers Sibusiso Zuma and Phumlani Mkhize did the damage against their former club. But the three point win could be costly. Central defender Papi Khomane, who left the pitch in the second half, appears to […]

THE United Nations has suspended all its operations in Burundi after the execution style killing of two of its workers and seven others on Tuesday. A UN spokesperson said the suspension was intended as “a mark of respect” to the two officials and would last for three days. “We will most likely resume activities next […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Glasgow | Thursday 4.30pm. IT is not often that Uruguay have been likened to the mighty All Blacks – but that is exactly how world champions South Africa will see the South American part-timers when the two teams run out here at Hampden Park on Friday. Springbok coach Nick Mallett said his team […]

SHARES in Standard Bank Investment Corp (Stanbic) rose on Wednesday after the lender said it has recovered most of its exposure to defaulting Russian banks. The bank is one of South Africa’s big four lenders and is currently being courted by its smaller rival Nedcor Ltd. Stanbic said late on Tuesday it has recovered 90%, […]

PATRICK VIGNAL, Glasgow | Thursday 11.00am. SPRINGBOK coach Nick Mallett, his mind already drifting to a possible World Cup quarter-final against England, promised his team would not take Uruguay lightly in their final group A match on Friday. “We are approaching this game in the same way as we would for a match against New […]

SPESCOM Temoso, a black empowerment IT company, announced on Thursday that it has been awarded part of a multi-million rand contract to supply the Gauteng provincial government with IT solutions. In line with the two year GT11 contract, Spescom will help the government streamline and improve efficiency within all its departments. The company’s MD Daphne […]

BAFANA Bafana are rated 29th on the latest FIFA world ranking released on Wednesday. Morocco is rated 28th while Zambia is rated 34th. The top three soccer teams in the world are Brazil, the Czech Republic and France.

RUTGERS University in the USA has announced its participation in the South African Large Telescope (SALT) project that will create the second largest telescope in the world. The university has committed to participating at the level of a 10% partnership with a pledge of $2.4-million plus an additional $1-million toward operations during the first 10 […]

AUSTRALIA said on Wednesday it will not proceed with an appeal against a two-match suspension handed out to their number eight Toutai Kefu. Kefu, one of Australia’s star players at the World Cup, was given a 14-day ban by the disciplinary committee on Tuesday for his part in a punch-up with Irish flanker Trevor Brennan […]

SOUTH Africa is currently ranked 32 out of 85 in a “anti-corruption list” of countries around the world and holds third place in Africa – behind Botswana and Namibia. So said Peter Eigen, chairman of German-based Transparency International, organiser of the 9th anti-corruption conference presently underway in Durban. Presently, top of the anti-corruption index is […]

NEW Zealand made 11 changes to the team to play Italy from the side that comprehensively beat England 30-16 on Saturday. The four players to retain their places are Jonah Lomu, captain Taine Randell, fullback Jeff Wilson and tighthead Craig Dowd. Scrumhalf Byron Kelleher, hooker Mark Hammett and centre Pita Alatini all make their first […]

CONVICTED rapist Makhaya Ntini appeared in two premier league club cricket matches this season despite being ordered by the Border Cricket Board to refrain from playing until his appeal has been heard. Ntini, who also played Test cricket for South Africa, played in matches against Rhodes and Healdtown. The chairman of Willows Cricket Club, Simon […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Glasgow | Wednesday 10.15am. TICKETS to World Cup matches are too expensive, South African coach Nick Mallett said on Tuesday when asked to comment on the poor attendances at games staged in Scotland. “I don’t know what salaries are like here but 30 pounds ($50) for a ticket seems to be very expensive,” […]