OWN CORRESPONDENTS, Birmingham | Wednesday 8.00pm. SA must play the big points well: Cronje SOUTH Africa’s captain Hansie Cronje said his team must “play the big points well” to beat Australia in their World Cup semifinal at Edgbaston on Thursday. Kallis 50-50 chance of playing in semi ALL-ROUNDER Jacques Kallis has a 50-50 chance of […]
ANDRE Joubert will remain with the Natal Sharks for, at least, the remainder of the current Currie Cup season, the Natal Rugby Union announced in a statement on Tuesday. “Joubert’s experience is seen as a tremendous asset and a possibility of being called up by Nick Mallett for the Tri-Nations and the World Cup is […]
THE respected politcal staff of the Mail & Guardian have written profiles of the new Cabinet, named by President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday. Click on the links below for each ministers history. Jacob Zuma, deputy president Essop Pahad, Minister in office of the President Nkosazana Zuma, Foreign Affairs Patrick Lekota, Defence Steve Tshwete, Safety and […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 5.00pm. THE appointment of two fairly inexperienced people to head the defence Cabinet portfolio was worrying in terms of continuity, Jane’s Defence Weekly Southern Africa correspondent Helmut Heitman said on Thursday. Heitman said the appointment of former National Council of Provinces chairman Patrick Lekota as South Africa’s new Defence Minister, […]
SOUTH Africa have been reinstated as favourites to win the World Cup despite their defeat by Australia on Sunday and the fact they have to face them again in the semifinals. Bookmakers William Hill said they had cut South Africa’s odds to 7-4 from 11-5 after receiving several substantial bets. “We took a string of […]
WEDNESDAY, 12.30PM: IRELAND beat the North-West mealie farmers by 26-18 in a scrappy rugby tour match played at Olien Park in Potchefstroom on Tuesday. The match was a poor one, with both teams giving away too many penalties — 15 each. North-West were soon trailing the Irish 12-0, after being heavily penalised in the opening […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 8.00pm. THE qualifying rounds for the 2000 African Nations Cup reach a thrilling finale this weekend with eight teams fighting for four places and four more battling for two play-off positions. Co-hosts Ghana and Nigeria and title holders Egypt gain automatic entry to the biennial showcase of football on the […]
DAVID SHAPSHAK & Reuters, Birmingham | Thursday 7.50pm. NEEDING just one run to advance to the World Cup final, South Africa were knocked out when confusion between the last two batsmen saw Allan Donald being run out. Lance Klusener had knocked up two fours of the first two balls of the final over to level […]
AIR Namibia’s recent purchase of a brand new Boeing 747-400 Combi is being challenged by a rival plane manufacturer because a proper tendering process was not followed. Airbus Industrie has asked the German Embassy to help them secure a meeting with the Namibian Government to obtain an explanation on why Air Namibia dumped tender procedures […]
TUESDAY, 1.30PM: THE 1998 Comrades Marathon from Durban to Pietermaritzburg, won by Dmitry Grishine in a new record time of five hours, 26 minutes and 25 seconds, was dominated by Russian athletes, with four of the top five men’s runners, and two of the top five women, hailing from Russia. Grishine, who started the up-run […]
THE Mozambican and Chilean governments signed in Maputo on Tuesday a memorandum of understanding aimed at relaunching bilateral cooperation in the area of public works, like building of infrastructures such as roads, bridges, ports and airports. The document was signed by the Mozambican public works and housing minister, Roberto White, and his Chilean counterpart, Jaime […]
ETHIOPIAN troops killed, wounded or captured more than 21000 Eritrean soldiers between June 9 and 13 in battles along the border between the two Horn of Africa states, the Addis Ababa government claimed on Wednesday. Asmara claimed earlier that “the total number of Ethiopian troops put out of action in five days of intense fighting […]
COMRADES Marathom women’s favourite Ann Trason of America withdrew on Friday from the Pietermaritzburg to Durban run next Wednesday. Trason, the record-holder for the “up” Comrades when she won in 6hrs 12min in 1996, aggravated a hamstring injury during her two weeks of acclimatising to KwaZulu-Natal conditions in Pietermaritzburg recently. The 38-year-old American decided, after […]
OWN CORESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 7.30pm. REACTION to the Cabinet announced by President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday was mostly positive, although certain appointments drew criticism from opposition parties. The leader of the official opposition in Parliament, Tony Leon, said Mbeki had missed a golden opportunity to make some inspired, imaginative and quality appointments to the […]
DAVID SHAPSHAK, Johannesburg | Wednesday 4.10pm. NEW cap Corne Krige will captain the Springboks in his first Test on Saturday against Italy in place of the injured Gary Teichmann. But Krige, who sat on the bench three times druing last year’s Grand Slam tour, is still under investigation for leading a player revolt as skipper […]
AT least 300 Zimbabweans have died in South Africa over the past five months, according to The Herald daily. Most of those who died since the beginning of the year were robbed in Johannesburg’s high-rise Hillbrow suburb, the newspaper reported. Apparently, more than 290 bodies were repatriated from South Africa to Zimbabwe between January and […]
PROMINENT former trade union boss Mbhazima Shilowa was on Tuesday elected unopposed as African National Congress premier of South Africa’s powerhouse Gauteng province. Shilowa (41) last week resigned as secretary-general of the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) when it became clear that he would become premier after the ANC won 50 of […]
ZIMBABWE’s civil servants have refused the 5% salary increase offered by government on Tuesday,y and have gone on a nationwide strike demanding a 25% rise. Zimbabwe’s labour law does not allow the civil servants to strike. The defiant workers have given the government until Friday to adequately resolve the crisis or face an indefinite strike. […]
Swaziland National Aids Programme officials are warning people infected with the HIV/Aids virus against buying any product advertised locally for the treatment of the disease. Aids sufferers have apparently flocking to a dealer in Manzini, following an advertisement about a drug named colloidal silver. Enquiries made by the Swaziland Aids counselling office found that medical […]
EIGHT consortia met the Monday noon deadline for bids for the coveted third cellular phone licence. The bidders are: Telenor/Telia Consortium, NextCom Cellular, Afrozone Telecomms, Five Mobile Networks, Africa Speaks, Spatial Cellular, Cell C and Khuluma 084 Cellular. A ninth bidder, Zintatu, failed to meet the 12 noon deadline to deliver 25 copies of their […]
VOTING ended at most polling stations in Malawi’s second democratic elections on Tuesday at the scheduled time of 6pm, chief elections officer Roosevelt Gondwe said. He said voting would continue at a few centres which opened late to allow everyone to cast their ballots. Counting was due to begin soon after the polls closed, but […]
THABO MBEKI’S inauguration as president on Wednesday was celebrated by a fly-over of three South African Airways Boeings which swooped over the festivities at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. One such Boeing delighted crowds at the final of the 1995 Rugby World Cup with its fly-past over Ellis Park Stadium, but the use of three […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 7.49pm. THE current caretaker of former special police base Vlakplaas on Tuesday said he plans to buy the farm and convert it into a museum. Caretaker Louis Smit told reporters at the farm he hoped former Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock will be freed and visit the planned museum. De […]
PAY-TV station, M-Net’s comparable results show 49,9% growth in revenue, with headline earnings per share increasing to 61%, amidst the introduction of a new competitor and a currency devaluation. This was announced by the Board of Electronic Media Network Limited (M-Net) on Tuesday in its financial results for the year ending 31 March 1999. The […]
SEVERAL hundred Kenya Polytechnic students went on the rampage in Nairobi on Tuesday in protest against examinations set by the Kenya National Examinations Council. The students said they wanted internal exams set by their own lecturers and not those of the KNEC. Running battles ensued with the police, with students stoning passing vehicles and lighting […]
ZIMBABWE were one goal up against Bafana Bafana at half-time in the President Thabo Mbeki Inauguration friendly match at FNB Stadium on Wednesday. Hurlington Shereni scored in the 24th minute in the international soccer friendly. Bafana not too ‘Chippa’ 15
STATE prosecutors slapped another four fraud charges against alleged cash-heist kingpin Collin Chauke’s lover, Dudu Nkosi, when she appeared in the Nelspruit district court on Monday. Nkosi now faces 14 separate fraud charges. After she was arrested with Chauke at her Nelspruit townhouse on January 19, she was charged only with harbouring a known fugitive. […]
BRONWYN ROBERTS, Johannesburg | Wednesday 12.30pm NELSON MANDELA commemorated South Africa’s Youth Day by laying a wreath in Soweto, just hours before officially handing power to his deputy Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday. Several hundred people from the sprawling township outside Johannesburg greeted Mandela and his wife Graca with applause, cheers and whistles at the Hector […]
President Nelson Mandela will on Thursday spend his first day in retirement on a plane winging his way to a secret holiday destination, a presidential aide said on Tuesday. The aide declined to say where the outgoing president, accompanied by his wife, Graca Machel, was headed. “He will be away for two weeks. Mrs Machel […]
WESTERN Dape Director of Public Prosecutions Frank Kahn has referred a docket in which Foreign Affairs official Robert McBride is charged with being an accessory in an assault case, back to the police for further investigation. McBride and a friend are being accused of assaulting a woman at an escort agency in Cape Town. According […]
AFRIKANER Weerstandsbeweging leader Eugene Terre’Blanche and one of his generals, Piet “Skiet” Rudolph, have been granted amnesty for their part in the siege of Ventersdorp in which three people died, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s amnesty committee confirmed on Monday. Beeld reports that Terre’Blanche was also granted amnesty for two other incidents: the tarring and […]
Johannesburg | Wednesday 1.45pm. HUMAN rights violations continue in post-apartheid South Africa, with frequent reports of deaths in police custody, Amnesty International said in its latest annual report published on Wednesday. Five years after all-race elections ended minority white rule in South Africa, there are “numerous reports of torture, ill-treatment and suspected unlawful killings by […]