Staff Reporter

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 […]

HAMBURG’s Ghanaian striker Tony Yeboah has claimed he has been cleared by judicial authorities of an alleged tax evasion scam during his spell with German Bundesliga outfit Eintracht Frankfurt. German newspaper reports at the weekend claimed that Yeboah, Frankfurt’s former vice-President Bernd Holzenbein and another official at the club were under investigation for involvement in […]

NAMIBIAN President Sam Nujoma has announced that general and presidential elections will take place on 30 November and 1 December, media reports said on Monday. Nujoma announced the dates in a proclamation issued late on Friday. Namibian officials were quoted as saying that polling for the general and presidential elections were take place at the […]

A MILLENIUM-ENDING rendition of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera Aida, has got underway beneath Egypt’s Great Pyramids, drawing more than 4000 tourists and Egyptians on opening night, officials said Wednesday. The opera will be staged every night through October 17. Two hundred singers and extras, including the famed Verona choir perform the opera, which has been a […]

A BRILLIANT second-half kicking performance by Gonzalo Quesada saw Argentina overcome a 13-point deficit for a crucial 32-16 win over Samoa in a rain-swept Group D match at Llanelli on Sunday. The 25-year-old fly-half struck seven penalties and a drop goal to add to a first half penalty as the Pumas came from 16-3 down […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Edinburgh | Wednesday 7.45pm. URUGUAY have made two changes for the World Cup group A match against world champions South Africa at Hampden Park on Friday. Fernando Sosa Diaz comes in at scrumhalf for Federico Sciarra while blindside flanker Nicolas Grille plays instead of Nicolas Brignoni. Both started in the 43-12 defeat by […]

MARCUS PRIOR, Glasgow | Wednesday 10.20am. SPRINGBOK coach Nick Mallett got back to basics on Tuesday when he named his strongest and most experienced team to take on Uruguay in Glasgow on Friday. There are two changes to the side that beat Scotland in the Group A opener – Henry Honiball comes in at fly-half […]

ANDREW MUCHINERIPI, Johannesburg | Tuesday 11.15am. SUNDOWNS stretched their lead at the top of the Castle Premiership national championship standings to five points with a 3-1 win over lowly Mother City while closest rivals Manning Rangers lost 1-0 at home to Kaizer Chiefs. Daniel Mudau, the leading league scorer last season, has lost little of […]

MARCUS PRIOR, Glasgow | Wednesday 10.20am. SPRINGBOK coach Nick Mallett got back to basics on Tuesday when he named his strongest and most experienced team to take on Uruguay in Glasgow on Friday. There are two changes to the side that beat Scotland in the Group A opener – Henry Honiball comes in at fly-half […]

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 […]

AUSTRALIAN and Irish officials on Tuesday night slammed decisions made by a World Cup disciplinary panel that decided to ban Aussie number eight Toutai Kefu and Irish lock Trevor Brennan. Kefu was earlier Tuesday suspended for two weeks – putting him out of Australia’s quarter-final on October 23 – while Brennan will be ruled out […]

AN evangelical German preacher operating in Nigeria, Reinhard Bonnke, is being sued for $630000 dollars by the family of one of the victims of last week’s deaths at a crusade in southern Nigeria. 16 people died when a stampede broke out as a group of worshippers attempted to catch a glimpse of Bonnke, a controversial […]

THE Advertising Standards Authority on Monday decided that Charlize Theron’s controversial anti-rape commercial will be amended to exclude phrases that “discriminate on the basis of gender.” The ASA said the ad had created a negative perception among viewers that all men not included in the category of rapists are complacent. A statement released by the […]

DOCTORS treating Tanzania’s founding president Julius Nyerere in London said he is now brain dead and being kept alive by a life-support machine. The Kiswahili language Mtanzania newspaper quoted unidentified doctors as saying that results of brain scans conducted Monday night on the 77-year-old Nyerere, show his brain is not functioning and that he is […]

AIR Botswana will resumeitsinternational passenger services on Tuesday with leased aircraft after a suicide pilotdestroyedthree of its fleet of four planes on Monday, an airline spokesman said. The pilot stole an ATR42 passenger plane from Air Botswana’s hangers at the Sir Seretse Khama Airportnear the capital of Gaborone and deliberately dive-bombed it into two other […]

NINE people including two expatriate United Nations workers were killed by rebels on Tuesday in Burundi’s southern province of Rutana, Burundian army spokesman Colonel Longin Minani said. Those killed in a camp for “regrouped” civilians in Muzie included the representative for Burundi of the UN’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and a World Food Programme staffer. A […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday 4.00pm SOME 5000 fishermen have gone on strike in demand of higher wages, closing down processing factories and leaving exporters unable to meet orders, reports said on Wednesday. The Cape Argus said the strike, which began on Saturday, has brought the pelagic fish processing industry on the country’s west […]

NIGERIA’s northern state of Zamfara is poised to introduce the Islamic Sharia legal system with effect from 27 October, following the signing into law of the bill passed by the state’s assembly by the governor, Ahmed Sani. This will make Zamfara the first of the 36 states of the Nigerian federation to adopt the Islamic […]

MALAWI’S already endangered fish industry faces new crisis with the news that thousands of fish in Lake Malawi are dyingfrom apparent poisoning or infection. Southern African Development Community (SADC)project manager for fisheries in Malawi, Alexander Bulilani, said on Mondayinvestigations havebeen launched to determine thecause of the massive deaths. He said preliminary reports indicatedthe fish may […]

NIKI MOORE, St Lucia | Wednesday 3.30pm. MOZAMBIQUE, Swaziland and South Africa will sign the region’s first international protocol on malaria control in Johannesburg on Thursday in an attempt to stem the spread of the often fatal disease. The new Lubombo Malaria Control protocol will enable the launch of a R50-million spraying programme in deep […]

AUSTRALIANS Toutai Kefu and Daniel Herbert were on Monday cited to appear before a disciplinary hearing following the Wallabies’ World Cup win over Ireland in Dublin on Sunday. Ireland’s Trevor Brennan, who was involved in the flare-up with Kefu, has also been cited. Brennan and Kefu will answer charges of punching after an incident in […]

TWO children who were injured when a hand grenade they were playing with exploded last Friday, were discharged from Ngwelezane hospital at Empangeni on Wednesday. Three friends who were with them were killed in the explosion near Melmoth in northern KwaZulu-Natal. The five children, aged between 7 and 11, were playing in the veld near […]

THE government should decide this month on its preferred bidders for the sale of its state-owned forestry company and other assets, an official said on Tuesday. “We are hopeful that by the end of October some decisions will have been made on the bidding process,” Lael Bethlehem, chief director of forestry, told parliament’s water and […]

A MOZAMBIQUAN Supreme Court has rejected two presidential candidates for alleged failure to present all the necessary documentation. The two are Wehia Ripua, leader of the Mozambican Opposition Union, and Joaquim Nyota of the recently established Democratic and Liberal Party of Mozambique. Ripua claims that he had presented all the necessary papers and that the […]

EGYPT on Tuesday heaped praises on the Egyptian-American winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, Ahmed Zewail. “I’m proud that a son of Egypt has received a Nobel prize. It is an honor for Egypt and all Egyptians,” Higher Education Minister and Minister of State for Scientific Research Mufid Shehab said. The Arab League […]

FLY-half Henry Honiball has been named in the South Africa team to play Uruguay in a World Cup Group A game at Hampden Park on Friday. Honiball, who replaces Jannie de Beer, will make his first appearance in the World Cup after recovering from a hamstring injury. South Africa coach Nick Mallett has named a […]

SA EXPRESS, which flies about three flights a day to Gaborone, has stepped in to assist Botswana Air’s passenger load between Johannesburg and Gaborone after a pilot on a suicide mission wiped out three of the airline’s four aircraft on Monday. Captain Chris Phatshwe, who is believed to have suffered from Aids, commandeered one of […]

POLICE in Zimbabwe have opened investigations into the torture of two journalists over a story on a foiled coup against President Robert Mugabe. Editor Mark Chavunduka and reporter Ray Choto were arrested in January by the military after their paper ran a story of a thwarted coup plot. The charges against the pair arose from […]

A SENIOR Northern Province education official involved in the matric exams died in a three-car smash on Tuesday morning. Deputy education specialist Michael Sebake’s car and two others collided at about 7am on the road between Pietersburg and Lebowakgomo. Central police spokesman Inspector Matjokotja Masenya said Sebake and social worker Matjatji Tlhapane, driving the second […]

BRITISH mining group Lonmin on Monday formally launched a takeover bid for Ashanti Goldfields, but only if the Ghanaian gold outfit resolves a delicate financial position caused by the recent spike in gold prices. Lonmin valued Ghana’s stock market heavyweight at $7 a share, 87% higher than its closing share price Friday, in its acquisition […]