MONDAY, 8.00AM: TWO Bafana Bafana players, Brendan Augustine and Naughty Mokoena, have been sent home after going nightclubbing in the early hours of Sunday morning. And coach Philippe Troussier has threatened to quit once again, saying: “I have received a message from South Africa that they don’t want a foreign coach. Perhaps it is time […]
THE Judicial Service Commission has invited nominations for the positions of two judges president and twelve vacancies for judges in provincial divisions of the High Court. The vacancies for judges president are in the Eastern and Northern Cape divisions of the High Court. The provincial vacancies are: Cape – three; Natal – two; Transvaal – […]
PRESIDENT Mbeki’s office has begun advertising key positions, including that of presidential spokesperson. The post of chief director of communication will pay a basic R208326 for a person with “high-level managerial, communication and negotiation skills”, whose duties will include researching and writing speeches for the president. Mbeki’s current spokesperson, Ronnie Mamoepa, who is expected to […]
THE South African Democratic Teacher’s Union has cut ties with the Mpumalanga education department, insisting more officials were involved in the recent matric exam scandal than just the two senior officials who were fingered two weeks ago. Former education MEC David Mabuza suspended the department’s chief education specialist Gogo Alphina Anna Ndlovana, and first education […]
MONDAY, 6.30PM: THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange started the week on its back foot on Monday, with the all share index dropping 3% in early trade. All eyes were on the interest rate, which, floated by the Reserve Bank on Friday, rose further to 23,985% from 20,377% on Monday prompting fears of further bank prime rate […]
THE State on Tuesday provisionally withdrew charges against two people accused of murdering 31-year-old teacher Nandi Mhlengo. Nkosisana Ximba and Ntambizini Mandazi were charged with the murder after Mhlengo was gunned down in full view of her Grade One pupils at a Olifantsvlei pre-primary school two weeks ago. Prosecutor Edward Engelbrecht said in the Johannesburg […]
KENYAN authorities on Monday began a bid to extradite a British woman charged with plotting to steal thousands of dollars’ of United Nations property after peacekeeping troops withdrew from Somalia. Kerry Page (30) organised the shipping of UN goods from Somalia to the Kenyan port of Mombasa in 1995. At a London court, lawyers for […]
MONDAY, 1.00PM: A NERVOUS Johannesburg Stock Exchange lost 3,28% of its value on opening on Monday morning, as market sentiment plunged with fears over the debilitating rand/dollar exchange rate and Friday’s indications that the Reserve Bank is scaling back its intervention in the foreign exchange market. On Friday, the market was caught off guard when […]
THE state has decided not to prosecute music legend Ray Phiri on three criminal charges that his former landlord laid against him in March. Senior public prosecutor Marius van Heerden said on Friday that he decided not prosecute Phiri, but declined to give reasons for his decision. Phiri was facing charges of housebreaking, theft and […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Luanda | Sunday 7.15pm. ANGOLA spurned three late chances as they drew 2-2 with South Africa in a thrilling African Nations Cup Group 4 qualifying match at the Citadela Stadium in Luanda on Sunday. Betinho and Salvador Avelino shot over and goalkeeper Hans Vonk tipped a Osvaldo da Cruz header away as Angola […]
BOTSWANA’S parliament convened in Gaborone on Monday for the start of what is expected to be a short session due to the October general elections. The session is expected to be a busy one, with a number of bills and motions to be debated before parliament is dissolved ahead of the election. According to the […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Sydney | Tuesday 4.30pm. KENYAN great Kip Keino on Tuesday predicted a continuing hold for his country on the steeplechase title at the 2000 Olympics. The soft-spoken Keino, who gave Kenya its first gold medal at the 1968 Olympics when he won the 1,500 metres and went on to win the steeplechase gold […]
THE man widely tipped to become Nigeria’s new defence minister, Theophilus Danjuma, has been treated in France for clinical depression, diplomats said at the weekend. Danjuma, a former chief of defence staff, flew to France this month for the treatment after suffering a breakdown, and is recovering, the sources said. Danjuma, a close adviser of […]
A 19-year-old woman suspected of strangling her newborn baby is under police guard at the Matikwana Hospital in the Northern Province. Police said on Tuesday that the teenager, of Cork village near Calcutta in Bushbuckridge, gave birth at the hospital to a healthy baby girl on Sunday. Nurses found the baby dead on Monday morning […]
FORMER Mpumalanga MEC for environmental affairs, Luckson Mathebula, and his girlfriend were denied bail in the Mhala Regional Court in Bushbuckridge on Friday for the alleged murder of Mathebula’s estranged wife. Northern Province police spokesman Senior Superintendent Phuti Setati said Mathebula and 34-year-old Pretty Gama — an employee of Coca-Cola in Nelspruit — will be […]
LIBYAN leader Muammar Gadaffi wrapped up a three day visit to Sudan with an appeal to Sudanese opponents abroad to come back home. “I am ready to guarantee their safe return,” he told Sudanese students at a meeting just before heading for the airport for his flight home. “Force cannot solve any problem and all […]
FIFTEEN African National Congress Youth League members picketed the entrance of the Western Cape legislature building in Cape Town on Monday, demanding the formation of a provincial youth commission. ANCYL provincial deputy chairperson Goodenough Kodwa said he expected large number of their supporters to join them later on Monday afternoon. Earlier on Monday, ANCYL chairperson […]
EMILE Ilunga, the breakaway leader of the Congolese Rally for Democracy rebel movement, on Saturday spelled out a set of conditions for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The RCD’s three preconditions for ending a 10-month rebellion to topple President Laurent Kabila are that his troops stop targeting civilians, release Tutsi prisoners held in […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 11.50am. ALGERIA, Congo and Cote d’Ivoire clinched places at the 2000 African Nations Cup on Sunday after the final qualifying matches. A 2-0 win over Uganda in Annaba enabled Algeria to finish runners-up behind Tunisia in Group 7, but it was close as only a one goal difference separated them […]
PREPARATIONS for the Southern African Development Community heads of state summit in Lusaka on June 26 are on course, said Zambian foreign affairs spokesman Kimbala Meleka on Monday. Meleka confirmed that SADC defence and foreign ministers are expected to begin arriving in Lusaka from Tuesday to begin finalising the summit’s agenda on Wednesday. Ministers from […]
FRED CHELA & DAN LANGEVELDT, Blantyre | Monday 4.00pm. POST-election violence which erupted in Malawi’s opposition stronghold in the north of the country on Friday has left at least one person dead and ten mosques razed to the ground, police and the Muslim Association of Malawi said on Monday. The violence began in the northern […]
THE Estcourt Magistrate’s Court on Monday issued a warrant of arrest for former Miss South Africa Kerishnie Naicker after she failed to appear before the court for an alleged traffic offence. She was allegedly caught driving at 190km per hour near the town in March. The magistrate ordered that the execution of the warrant be […]
THREE bandits suspected of attacking six American tourists in the world-famous Maasai Mara Game Reserve in southwest Kenya this week appeared in court on Saturday and admitted the charge. The suspects, arrested by Kenyan security forces early Saturday in a bush den on the Kenyan-Tanzanian border were remanded in custody. Police said that the three […]
A JAPANESE businessman on Saturday escaped from kidnappers who had demanded $50000 for his release, police in Durban said. Police said in a statement that Kensuke Matsumoto (67) ran into a Japanese restaurant in a beachfront hotel about 1.30pm on Saturday. “Mr Matsumoto … does not appear to have been seriously injured,” police said. Police […]
NOT only were the Natal Sharks beaten 23-29 in a Currie Cup match against Griqualand West, but returning from Kimberley on Friday night they narrowly escaped injury when their chartered airplane burst into flame shortly after take-off. The rugby players and about 20 other passengers were returning to KwaZulu-Natal when the right engine on the […]
A STUDENT at Yaounde University in Cameroon has isolated an active substance, drawn from a tree native to Cameroon, that may be effective against Aids, the university said in a statement on Saturday.”The solution to problems provoked by Aids may come from Yaounde University,” rector Jacques Fame Ndongo said, adding that the substance apparently prevents […]
A UNITED STATES-based technology research firm ranks South Africa’s cellular phone service as amongst the world’s most expensive, along with Brazil, Colombia, India and Mexico. The Yankee Group’s finding is based on a comparison of purchasing power, or how expensive cellular service is compared to other standard goods and services in any particular country, rather […]
UGANDA is accusing the Sudanese embassy in neighbouring Kenya of coordinating bomb and grenade attacks which have left 55 people dead and 183 injured in Kampala since 1997. In the past, Sudan has accused Uganda of supporting the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army and Kampala in turn accuses Khartoum of backing rebels fighting the Ugandan […]
MOST government schools in Zimbabwe’s capital Harare were deserted on Friday as a strike by civil servants entered its third day. Teachers are among thousands of civil servants around the country striking for a 20% cost of living adjustment. President Robert Mugabe on Thursday night described the strike as “completely unjustifiable”, adding “It is a […]
ZIMBABWE’S army has been deployed in the western Matabeleland province to forestall violent protests by villages angered by the slow pace of land redistribution. The Daily News reported that tension has been rising over the re-allocation of land from several farms acquired by government from whites to resettle landless blacks. More than 1000 villagers have […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT and Reuters, Cologne | Sunday 12noon THE Group of Seven (G7) industrial nations on Friday adopted a sweeping $71-billion debt relief package for the world’s poorest nations. Leaders said they were effectively writing off one-third of the poorest countries’ total debt, estimated at $230-billion.”We support faster, deeper and broader debt relief for the […]
THE man accused of raping journalist Charlene Smith appeared briefly in the Johannesburg Regional Court on Thursday. The 26-year-old Newlands, Johannesbug man, who has not yet pleaded to a charge of rape, allegedly broke into the journalist’s house on April 1 after making threatening calls to her. He allegedly raped her, covered her mouth with […]