THE Independent Electoral Commission has denied SABC radio reports that election material was left unguarded at some polling stations in the former KwaNdebele. Provincial electoral officer, Steve Ngwenya, said on Tuesday that the reports were based on unconfirmed allegations by political parties that ballot papers and boxes had been left unguarded at Mjodjami polling station […]
ABOUT 3000 people are waiting in voting queues filling the park surrounding Yeoville’s Community Centre where Gauteng’s second largest polling station is based. Voters are waiting on average of four and a half hours to get to the polls. The IEC says the pace is picking up, with voters going into the two voting halls […]
MICHAEL METELITS, Johannesburg | Wednesday 12.10pm. THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) claims that several employers, some large-scale, are requiring employees to work on Wednesday, election day. The party alleges that businesses are “conniving with certain political parties to deny workers the right to vote so that these parties benefit from the outcome […]
VOTING got off to a false start in the hotspot of Greenfields on the East Rand when officials discovered they had been using the wrong ballot papers. IEC officials accidentally used tender ballot papers for the first 177 voters. Clusters of police officials are monitoring voting at both the Greenfields and nearby Phola Park polling […]
UP TO 200 people are feared to have been killed in intercommunal fighting in southern Nigeria’s oil-producing Delta region. Reports in most newspapers on Wednesday put the toll of the clashes, which began on Saturday with an attack on the town of Arunton, at around 200, the worst in the area for some time. The […]
MPUMALANGA premier Mathews Phosa made a last-minute bid to prevent liquor sales on election day but pubs, taverns, bottle stores and restaurants ignored his appeal. Provincial liquor board chairman Jabulani Matsane admitted that the Liquor Act does not prevent booze sales on election days. He said Phosa’s appeal was based on “civic responsibility”. And at […]
FREEDOM Front premier designate, Hein Mentz, voted in Ermelo but complained that the Casim Park polling station was forced to close after just one hour because it only received 140 ballot papers. The station was expected to handle at least 3000 voters. Mentz also warned that it appears a number of mobile voting stations are […]
TUESDAY, 12.30PM: STATE-owned synthetic fuel producer Mossgas has asked the government to allocate R180-million from the Central Energy Fund to finance the development of its Bredasdorp Basin gasfields. The request from one of South Africa’s most expensive white elephants comes at a time when the future of the South African petroleum industry is in turmoil […]
POLLING stations in the Highveld region of Mpumalanga have requested extended voting hours as snags and staff shortages are preventing them from processing more than 100 voters per hour. IEC media spokesman Leon Mbangwa said on Wednesday afternoon that polling stations in the rural Moutse and Mbibane areas of the former KwaNdebele had requested that […]
GRAHAM GRIFFITHS, London | Wednesday 2.45pm. MCGRATH against Tendulkar….an early confrontation between tournament heavyweights South Africa and Pakistan….buoyant Zimbabwe battling to reach the semifinals for the first time. These are among the appetising ingredients that make up the compelling cricket cocktail which is in prospect for the second stage of the World Cup when the […]
THE Independent Electoral Commission was forced to quarantine four full ballot boxes in Ermelo on Tuesday after their seals were broken. Seals on three of the boxes from different polling stations were apparently simply not closed, while the seal on a fourth box appears to have been broken by accident while being transported. All four […]
PAN Africanist Congress firebrand, Patricia de Lille, cast her vote in Pinelands, Cape Town, early this afternoon. De Lille arrived in a wheelchair after weeks in hospital following a car crash while she was on the election trail. Despite probably qualifying for a special vote, De Lille, unlike many other high profile political leaders, refused […]
AS the first results come in from the Free State, the African National Congress, predictably has taken a firm lead with 70% of the votes counted thus far. The surprise is in the Democratic Party having around a 1% lead over the New National Party’s 7%. The Freedom Front is running a close third. Extremely […]
THE Independent Electoral Commission officials expect first results of the one-day election soon after midnight Wednesday — with a conclusive outcome possibly known by midday on Thursday. There are no exit polls or computer projections. Final opinion polls have forecast a majority of between 59% and 69% for the ANC, clearing the way for Deputy […]
ESMIE FERREIRA, Cape Town | Tuesday 9.00pm. THE Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) says the setting aside of former State President P.W. Botha’s conviction on contempt of court charges may allow him to ‘escape responsibility’ for apartheid-era abuses. “Mr. Botha will once again not suffer the consequences of his actions during the worst period of […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kinshasa | Tuesday 8.30pm. RWANDAN forces on Tuesday violated Kigali’s unilateral declaration of a ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kinshasa charged on Tuesday. Rwandan troops backing a rebellion against DRC President Laurent Kabila launched “offensive actions” in central Kasai and southeastern Katanga provinces following heavy losses last month, DRC Deputy […]
OVER 40 elderly Swazi widows are celebrating their acquittal in a South African court in Pongola on charges of defrauding the government of thousands of rands of pension monies. They were arrested in May last year while queueing at a government office in Pongola to draw pensions using illegally obtained South African documents. They were […]
THE Democratic Party said on Monday that it has evidence proving that the SABC has been deliberately biased against it. This follows similar complaints lodged against the SABC by the PAC. DP spokesman Douglas Gibson said the DP is in possession of extracts from an SABC-produced document which gives its journalists, anchors and analysts guidelines […]
MONDAY, 10.30AM: THE Finance Department has decided to allow market-makers in South African government bonds to quote wider spreads between buying and selling prices than the two basis points allowed thus far during periods of volatility in the bond market. Analysts say the move is a sign that some primary bond dealers were particularly hard […]
RONNIE ELIOTT and OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Tuesday 10.30am THE case against fugitive and suspected heist artist, Collin Chauke, was on Tuesday postponed to April 3 next year for trial. Charges have been withdrawn against two of Chauke’s three co accused — Munuku Matjene and Chauke’s right-hand man and best friend Muntu Mahlangu — due […]
IN a move that opens up the race to stiff competition, Malawi’s Electoral Commission has withdrawn its appeal case against a High Court decision allowing two leading opposition party leaders to contest the June 15 presidential elections as running mates. The withdrawal of the appeal case means incumbent President Bakili Muluzi faces a tougher election […]
THE Department of Safety and Security appears to be defying a High Court order to reinstate more than 2000 mostly former homeland police officers who were demoted after the Judge White Commission was established in 1997. The Judge White Commission was appointed by President Nelson Mandela in 1997 to look into irregular appointments made in […]
CASH-strapped and war-torn Angola on Monday asked South Africa for supplies of food and medicine amid a spiralling humanitarian crisis caused by the resumption of civil war in December. In a list of items sent to South Africa’s trade department and published in newspapers, Luanda-based merchants requested exports of hospital equipment, medicine and food as […]
DE BEERS announced on Thursday that more than 60 of its employees have volunteered to work at the Independent Electoral Commission’s results centre on June 2 and 3. Most of the volunteers are from De Beers’s information technology department. The staff came forward after the IEC approached the diamond mining company for assistance earlier this […]
A SERIOUS fuel shortage is looming in Zimbabwe because the state-owned oil company has run out of credit to buy imports and supplies may have to be rationed, oil industry executives warned on Sunday. A spokesman for the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (Noczim), which has a monopoly on fuel importation, said fuel stocks are […]
THE South African Reserve Bank announced on Friday that it is Y2K compliant, allaying fears that the country’s premier financial institution could fall foul of the millenium bug. It also said it was confident the overall banking sector is prepared for the change-over into the 21st century. But should there be a rush for cash, […]
IN a first move against much criticised spending by the past military regime, Nigeria’s new president, Olusegun Obasanjo, on Monday suspended contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Sworn in on Saturday following February elections, the retired general ordered the creation of a panel to review all contracts, appointments, awards and licences made since January […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT and DENNIS BARNETT, Johannesburg | Monday 8.30am ELECTIONEERING ahead of Wednesday’s general election wound up on the weekend in a frenzy of party rallies across the country as a two-day moratorium on electioneering kicks in on Monday. In Cape Town’s Khayelitsha township, two African National Congress supporters were wounded when shots were fired […]
TWO of South Africa’s bowlers got off to a rough start in the 1999 Men’s African States bowls championships at Marks Park on Sunday. The pair of Gerry Baker and Rudi Jacobs lost 34-16 to Swaziland before recovering their composure and beating Zambia 18-15.
CATHY O’DOWD on Saturday made history when she became the first women to reach the summit of Mount Everest from both the northern and southern slopes. Deputy President Thabo Mbeki sent his congratulations to O’Dowd through a message on her satellite phone after she reached the summit early on Saturday. It is not know whether […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, London | Monday 11.15am. AUSTRALIA’S deliberate slow play during their cricket World Cup victory over the West Indies was greeted with disdain in the English press on Monday. Steve Waugh’s decision to bat as slowly as possible to try and help the West Indies qualify for the second round instead of New Zealand […]
ALL Black fly-half Andrew Mehrtens could miss three of New Zealand’s World Cup warm-up games after aggravating a groin injury in Sunday’s Super 12 final. “He had the injury before the game, he will see a surgeon in Auckland in the next 48 hours, and then we’ll make a decision on what should be done […]