AN Anglo-American platinum mine in Northern Province has delayed firing 400 mineworkers by one month. Anglo American Platinum Corporation Limited’s (Amplats) Lebowa Platinum Mines has decided to consult further with the workers before starting with retrenchments, explained Amplats spokesperson, Johan Adler, on Wednesday. He said the company would have retrenched 400 of its 2500 workers […]
THE World Bank on Thursday approved a $180-million credit to support private sector economic growth in Ghana. The funds will assist the government’s medium term strategy, which aims to turn Ghana into a middle income country in ten years, the bank said in a statement. In particular the interest-free credit will support reforms in the […]
THE New National Party’s candidate for the Gauteng premiership, Johan Killian, has been ordered by the Electoral Court in Pretoria to apologise to the African National Congress for alleging that it has planned electoral fraud for June 2. Killian had alleged at an electoral rally in Boksburg, and to the media, that the ANC plans […]
JOHAN BOTHA edged out Hezekiel Speng in the indoor 800m on Sunday night, in a much-awaited showdown in South African athletics. In the International Amateur Athletics Association Grand Prix II, Botha ran a 1:44,85, just slipping past Sepeng at 1:45,35. The two are training partners.
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 9.00pm. POLICE on Monday arrested a leader of vigilante group Pagad, which they have linked to a spate of bombings in and around Cape Town. Salie Abadar, leader of the armed guard of People against Gangsterism and Drugs, is being held on charges of the illegal possession of a […]
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 […]
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela was snubbed on Friday by traditional chiefs he had invited to a meeting in this rural KwaZulu-Natal stronghold of the Zulu-nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party. Only two of the 11 chiefs of the Ohkahlamba tribal authority, both members of Mandela’s African National Congress, arrived for the meeting — part of the ANC bid […]
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 […]
A CONCESSION contract, worth an estimated R2,5-billion, for the N3 road from Heidelberg to Cedara near Pietermaritzburg was signed on Thursday between the South African National Roads Agency and N3 Toll Concession Limited. The 30-year concession involves the design, construction, financing, operation and maintenance of 420km of the main Durban/Johannesburg route. Transport Minister Mac Maharaj […]
THE Central Bank of Swaziland (CBS) has predicted a growth rate of only 2,5% for 1999/2000, the Swazi Observer reported on Wednesday. The CBS director of research, Cleopas Dlamini, was quoted as saying that growth was down by 0,5% from last year when Swaziland registered a growth rate of about 3%. Dlamini said that one […]
BEREAVED Eastern Cape Premier Makhenkesi Stofile broke off his election campaigning to travel to Cape Town on Sunday following the death of his son, Sikhulule (21) in a car crash on Saturday. Stofile was due to attend an African National Congress rally at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane, but left for the Cape where […]
PACE bowler Geoff Allott became the cricket World Cup’s leading wicket-taker in Edinburgh on Monday as New Zealand dismissed Scotland for 121 to give themselves a chance of reaching the second round. New Zealand need to overhaul the total inside 20 overs – a rate of 6,10 per over – to overtake group B rivals […]
NIGERIA’S just retired military ruler, Abdulsalami Abubakar, may have put his feet up, but his wife, Fati, is going back to work. Abubaker on Saturday became only the second Nigerian commander in chief to voluntarily hand over power to an elected civilian, Olusegun Obasanjo. Justice Fati Abubakar will soon resume her interrupted career as a […]
THE Organisation of African Unity said on Monday it has sent a team of 65 observers to South Africa for the country’s second all-race elections. The deployment comes under the OAU’s “continued efforts to promote and strengthen the democratization process in Africa,” the body said in a statement. South Africa goes to the polls on […]
THE cricket World Cup’s official song will be released here on Monday – 24 hours after hosts England were knocked out and 18 days after the launch of the tournament. The lyrics of the song, “Life is a carnival”, caused some wry amusement in the media. Its opening line, “Heroes come and heroes go”, according […]
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 […]
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 […]
MORE than 100 schoolgirls underwent an exorcism in the Eastern Cape town of Umtata on Thursday to rid them of “evil spirits” which have apparently caused them to collapse en mass. Anglican priest Ebenezer Ntlali, who conducted the ritual, said that although the demons resisted him, the exorcism has been successful. Afterwards, 32 girls were […]
BOTSWANA’S economy grew 16,7% in 1997/1998 to stand at 20,4-billion pula ($4,28-billion), the Bank of Botswana estimated on Thursday. The previous year, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country grew by 23,2% in current market prices. Last year all sectors of the economy grew in value except agriculture, which declined for a sixth year […]
A PROMINENT local leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party in KwaZulu-Natal was shot dead when a lone gunman sprayed his vehicle with gunfire, police reported on Thursday. Elliot Shangase (57) was a traditional chief and a local leader of the IFP in the province, site of sporadic feuding between the IFP and the African National […]
THE almost two million members of South Africa’s Apostolic and Zionist churches will support the Inkatha Freedom Party at next week’s election, the churches’ council said on Thursday. The churces have chosen to back the IFP on June 2 after the African National Congress “snubbed us,” said president of the Council for Apostolic and Zion […]
WORLD Cup holders Sri Lanka managed to beat cricket minnows Kenya in both sides’ final qualifying match in Group A of the World Cup in England on Sunday. The match had little significance, as both teams have already been eliminated from the Super Six second round. At 275/8 in their opening innings, Sri Lanka had […]
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.
EGYPTIAN archeologists have discovered a 3000-year-old temple honoring the Pharaonic-era sun God Horus, in the first such find in the northern Sinai, the antiquities authorities said on Monday. Black granite and sandstone statuettes of gods and people were found inside the temple which dates from the New Kingdom (1567-1065 BC), the Supreme Council of Antiquities […]
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 […]
A 50-year-old Parow man has been arrested for allegedly making telephonic death threats to Deputy President Thabo Mbeki. His office said on Friday that the arrest should send a clear message to those considering any such actions, that they will have to face the legal consequences of their acts. Mbeki was threatened in five calls […]
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 […]
THE government has said it will freeze any of Slobodan Milosevic’s assets found in the country, Network Radio News Service reported on Friday. The United Nations war crimes tribunal on Thursday appealed to the international community not to allow Milosevic access to money hidden in other countries. It was rumoured that he had been routing […]
OUTPLAYING Burkina Faso easily and consistently, Ghanaian Under-17s took a 3-1 victory and the championship home from Guinea. This is Ghana’s second U-17 championship. It was the first time that Burkina Faso had ever played in the final of the Under-17 African championship. In the consolation game played earlier in the day, Mali beat Cameroon […]
THE Labour Court on Friday ordered Woolworths to pay a woman R200000 after it refused to offer her permanent employment because she was pregnant. The court found that Woolworths had unfairly discriminated against Beverely Whitehead as an applicant in a job offering remuneration of R300000 a year. Woolworths claimed in court that the reason for […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 5.00pm. FORMER President FW de Klerk has accused the Mail & Guardian of attempting to “smear” him and the New National Party on the eve of next Wednesday’s election, by revealing records which suggest he participated in a decision to have activist Matthew Goniwe murdered in 1984. Friday, 5.00pm: THE […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Sunday 3.00pm. TWO Zimbabwean journalists who allege they were tortured while in military detention early this year have formally laid civil charges against the police and army. Editor Mark Chavunduka and reporter Ray Choto, in a report carried in their paper the Sunday Standard, said they had filed their complaints with […]