FRIDAY, 9.30PM: SOUTH Africa’s foreign currency debt, foreign currency bank deposit and rand-denominated debt ratings have been put on review for a possible downgrade by United States credit rating agency Moody’s. “The major structural dilemma of the South African economy is its inability to generate new jobs in an environment already characterised by extremely high […]
FORMER Mpumalanga MEC Luckson Mathebula and three other accused appeared in court in the Northern Province on Friday on charges arising from the murder of Aleta Mnisi, Mathebula’s estranged wife. Magistrate Vivian Smith rejected the former MEC’s bail application. Mathebula has been charged with conspiracy to murder, while the others, Jimmy Chauke, Moshe Moses Mathebula […]
SARAH BULLEN, Cape Town | Monday 4.45pm LOCAL stock drifted higher in a thin day of trade on Monday that saw the all share index lift 0,19%. Heavyweight stock took most of the slack volume, with the Alsi-40 index outperforming the market to rise 0,40%. The all gold index staged a late recovery after dipping […]
JUSTICE and Constitutional Development Minister Penuell Maduna will ask Parliament to accede to a 26-year-old United Nations convention that declares apartheid a crime, Maduna announced on Monday. The cabinet has already given the matter the go-ahead, he said in a statement. The issue of acceding to the convention would be brought before parliament at its […]
FLYHALF Stephen Larkham will join the Wallabies at their training camp in Queensland on Wednesday as he nears a return to rugby union following a serious knee injury. Larkham damaged knee ligaments playing for the ACT Brumbies against Super 12 champions Canterbury Crusaders in early April. The 25-year-old will be assessed by the Australian coaching […]
BAFANA Bafana defender Pierre Issa extended his contract for two years with French first division side Marseille, the club announced. The 23-year-old defender, who represented South Africa in last year’s World Cup, began his career with the side who were runners-up in this year’s French championship. Issa, who joined Marseille in 1996, was a key […]
THE best of South African hockey will be on show next week as the country’s top eight sides gather for the annual men’s hockey interprovincial. The tournament, which runs at the Univerity of Port Elizabeth-Tech astroturf from next Tuesday to Saturday, is sure to be highly competitive as the provinces vie for one of the […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 1.55pm. THE six men accused of the gang-rape and murder of teenager Valencia Farmer appeared in the Parow regional court on Monday. When they arrived for their bail hearing, a banner-waving crowd of about 200 people chanted “no bail, no bail” and “hang the murderers”. The accused are Glenville Faro, […]
DUAL Olympic breaststroke champion Penny Heyns was named on Wednesday as part of a 26-member South African team to contest next month’s Pan Pacific swimming championships in Sydney. Heyns, who won the 100-200m breaststroke double at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, said she wanted to use the meeting as part of her preparation for next year’s […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Mbabane | Sunday 7.00pm. OUTSIDERS Swaziland reached the Castle Cup Southern Africa championship semi-finals with a dramatic triumph over Zimbabwe in Mbabane on Sunday. A last-minute goal from a controversial penalty award earned the Swazis a 1-1 draw and they won the shootout 4-3 to join Angola in the last four of the […]
PENNY Heyns broke the five-year-old women’s 200 meter breaststroke world record at a Los Angeles event on Saturday, setting a new time of two minutes 24.51 seconds. Heyns, competing in the sixth annual Janet Evan Invitational competition, first broke Australian Rebecca Brown’s record of 2:24.76 in the qualifying rounds with a time of 2:24.69. She […]
WESTERN Province skipper Bobby Skinstad is likely to returns to Currie Cup rugby next Saturday in his team’s clash against Free State. Skinstad, the pretender to the Springbok captaincy, has been out for three months after injuring his knee in a car accident following a good Super 12 leading the Stormers. Many rugby commentators see […]
AFRICAN footballer of the year Mustapha Hadji is set to join Coventry City in a club record 4-million (or $6.5- million) transfer, chairman of the English Premiership club Bryan Richardson said on Friday. Richardson said Moroccan Hadji, who has agreed personal terms, would complete the move from Spain’s Deportivo La Coruna next week after returning […]
SOLLY Sepeng, winner of the Vodacom Senior Classic eight months ago, is to compete in two lucrative European Senior Tour events in the next month. He will tee off at the Senior British Open at Northern Ireland’s Royal Portrush Golf Club on July 22 and then at the Wentworth Senior Masters in England on July […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 5.15pm. A South African emigrant to the US recovered the suitcase of a passenger on board John F Kennedy Junior’s missing aircraft. In a telephone interview with Sapa from the beachside resort of Martha’s Vineyard, Damon Seligson, 30, on Sunday said: “It’s surreal to be associated with this.” Seligson’s face […]
RADIO KFM presenter Andrew Barnes was barred from donating blood on the basis of his sexual orientation on Wednesday. Barnes apparently responded to an urgent call for blood and went to the blood transfusion centre in Strand Street, Cape Town. He filled out a routine questionnaire and was subsequently asked to clarify some of his […]
STATE-owned utility Eskom has the highest credit rating on an unsecured basis of any corporation in the country,according to a report issued on Thursday. International rating agency, Duff & Phelps Credit Rating, Africa (DCR) said it has reaffirmed Eskom’s short-term domestic currency credit rating at D-1+ (D one plus), and its long-term domestic currency rating […]
SOUTH South Africa’s number one ranked surfer Greg Emslie earned himself an impressive, but nailbiting, win in his round seven heat at the Gunston 500 on Friday. With less than 15 seconds left on the clock, the East London natural footer, seeded 20th for the event, scratched his way onto an inside set in need […]
SCHOOL, church and sport club raffles will be banned, along with unregistered lotteries, ahead of the launch of a national lottery. National Lottery Board chairman Joe Foster told The Citizen newspaper on Friday such contests, as well as promotional competitions organised by private companies, will be subject to stringent restrictions on their purposes and ticket […]
THE seasonally adjusted value of construction work on hand at the end of the first quarter of this year decreased by 5,3% (R862-million) to R15,31-billion compared with the last quarter of 1998, figures released on Thursday by StatsSA showed. However, the value of work done during the first quarter of this year equalled that of […]
CARGO handling problems at Durban port, caused initially by the implementation of a new computer system, have now escalated into a full-blown crisis, the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry warned on Thursday. Calling for urgent government intervention, it said the crisis is causing severe repercussions for businesses involved in importing and exporting, thus jeopardising […]
A FOURTEEN year old boy died minutes after he was savaged by a shark at Buffels Bay in the Western Cape resort of Knysna on Thursday. Hercules Pretorius, was body-boarding with two friends off a beach when the shark attacked about 50mfrom shore. He was bitten in the side and died before an emergency medical […]
BOE PRIVATE Bank is lowering its private banking facility rate to 15,25% per annum from 16% with effect from Monday August 2. The BoE Private Bank facility rate is the base rate on which loans to private clients is made including home loan business. The bank’s senior general manager Eric Monson said the rates applied […]
CONSUMER inflation in Zimbabwe jumped by two percentage points in June to a record high of 55% a year, media reports said on Wednesday. Food price increases accounted for an estimated 24% of the rise, with non-food items accounting for 30%. According to economists, Zimbabwe’s inflation is expected to peak at over 60% in the […]
BELGIUM’S D’Ieteren and Cobepa said on Thursday they are “in advanced negotiations” with South African Breweries to buy SAB’s 68% stake in South African car glass maker Plate Glass Shatterprufe Industries. Car importer D’Ieteren and holding company Cobepa said in a statement the transaction should be concluded “within the next four months”. The statement said […]
ONE of the crew that located the SS Waratah’s final resting place in June says there’s huge international interest in producing a documentary on “one of the most famous wrecks in the world”. Dr Peter Ramsay, head of the Council for GeoScience’s marine geoscience unit and part of the crew that solved the 90-year-old maritime […]
ARMED robbers escaped with R500000 after ramming their vehicle into a cash-in-transit security van in Lansdowne in Cape Town on Friday morning. Police spokesperson Jacques Wiese said the Transcash vehicle was on the way to make a cash delivery when a Ford Courier bakkie collided with the van in Induna Crescent at 8.15am. Three armed […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, New York | Saturday 8.00pm. UN chief Kofi Annan on Friday informed the UN Security Council that “thousands” of UN troops and personnel would be required to implement a ceasefire deal in Democratic Republic of Congo. But in a report to the council which warned of the risks involved, Annan said that he […]
THE Airports Company of South Africa and three unions representing its workers reached an agreement on wages that will bring an end to end two months of negotiations on Thursday. In a joint statement, Acsa, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union, the South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union and the Transport and […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 6.15pm SPORT and Recreation Minister Ngconde Balfaur and the National Sports Council on Friday voiced shock and sadness after the murder on Thursday of Netball officials Irma du Preez and Lea Liebenberg. Balfaur said he would do everything to ensure “the perpetrators of such barbaric acts are brought to book”. […]
Retired president Nelson Mandela will have a quiet 81st birthday on Sunday.
SOUTH African Airways launched its first branch outside the borders of South Africa with the official opening in Lesotho of the SAA City Center Maseru Travel. The chief executive of SAA City Center, Michael Stoeltzing, said it is significant development in terms of the travel management franchise’s strategic plan to establish an extensive travel distribution […]