MICHAEL METELITS, Johannesburg | Tuesday 12.15pm. WHEN South Africa face Kenya in their fourth World Cup cricket match, the word mismatch will acquire new depth. The World Cup favourites have not lost one of their three matches, beating India, Sri Lanka and England, occasionally returning from actual danger to save the day. Kenya have yet […]
SAFETY and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi’s neighbours doubt his capacity to cut crime after 10 of them were recently targetted by criminals, according to a newspaper report on Tuesday. A third of the 30 homes in the Mufamadi’s upmarket Sandton street have in the past seven months been victim to armed robberies, break-ins and an […]
A HOMEMADE incendiary device was found outside the Pretoria home of Gauteng Freedom Front leader Joseph Chiole at about 6.00am on Tuesday. Seeing the package marked “a gift to General Viljoen”, Chiole drove it to Viljoen’s home. When the package was inspected at 3.30pm on Tuesday an explosive device consisting of a three quarter full […]
ENGEN on Friday named Almorie Maule as CEO to replace Rob Angel who was earlier this month appointed chairman and CEO of the Caltex Corporation. Maule is the first woman appointed as the head of a local oil company. Prior to joining Engen, Maule held senior strategic planning positions at both South African Breweries and […]
SPECIAL voting for the elections will kick off on Wednesday as part of the general elections set for June 2. The special elections are to be held at South African embassies, consulates, high commissions or missions abroad and at local voting stations for voters who will be out of the country or away from home […]
THE Chamber of Mines’ economics department said on Thursday that, owing to “a double counting error”, gold output for last year had been overstated by more than nine tons (9379,5kg). South Africa’s true gold production for 1998 was 464,4 tons which was 5,7% lower than the previous year’s output of 492,5 tons. During the first […]
SOUTH AFRICA will be forced to import some 1,5-million tons of its most important crop, maize, after a heat wave damaged this year’s crop. The Department of Agriculture announced on Saturday that the coming harvest was expected to be as low as six million tonnes. Local consumption is 7,5-million tons, and another 6-million tons is […]
THE National Union of Mineworkers said on Monday that it will not amend its 25% across-the-board wage increase demand before the start of negotiations on Tuesday. The talks, to be held separately with the Chamber of Mines and De Beers, will seek to thrash out a new two-year wage deal to replace the current agreement, […]
SMALL-SCALE cattle farmers in Mpumalanga got a boost on Monday with the launch of a programme to combat soil erosion and degradation in communal grazing areas the province’s Lowveld region. The programme has targeted an initial 9170 hectares used by 42 subsistence farmers in the Mawewe tribal trust for improved soil conservation management. The project […]
DUMISANE LUBISI & JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Witbank | Tuesday 1.00pm. MPUMALANGA transport MEC Jackson Mthembu faces possible criminal charges after reportedly driving and crashing a government-issue Mercedes Benz without a valid drivers’ license. Mthembu escaped with only minor injuries on Sunday morning when he apparently rolled the vehicle through two traffic signs and into a tree […]
WELFARE Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) David Whaley and the director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Kenneth Andoh on Friday signed an agreement regarding a programme to aid poverty relief in South Africa. The UNDP and ILO’s Micro-Save programme targets community-based groups of poor families and households, […]
THE number of civil summonses for debt recorded in the first quarter of the year increased by 12,9%, compared to the same period last year, Statistics South Africa reported on Monday. During March this year, 83258 civil judgments for debt were issued amounting to R725,6-million. The major contributors to the amount were civil judgments relating […]
IF any cricket World Cup team can claim to have a psychological edge over an opponent, then it must be Alistair Campbell’s Zimbabwe over Alec Stewart’s England. The African side, who only joined the Test-playing nations seven years ago, are England’s jinx team, having won five of the six one-dayers between them. Worse still for […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Nairobi | Tuesday 2.00pm. A SUMMIT of the 21-nation Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) ended in Nairobi on Tuesday with a plan to establish a zero-tariff free-trade zone by October 31 next year. Comesa leaders called during the two-day summit for faster regional economic integration, but lamented the fact that […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 2.30pm FW DE KLERK’s court case against the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was postponed on Tuesday in the Cape High Court. Judge Jeffery Immerman agreed to postpone the case in order to allow both sides to better prepare. No date for another hearing was set. The former president, who […]
MONDAY, 12.30PM: SOUTH Africa beat England on Saturday by 32 runs to clinch victory in the second one-day international at Old Trafford, thereby clinching the series and the Texaco trophy to go with it. Sunday’s match at Headingley, where the South Africans were severely bludgeoned, however leaves some questions unanswered. Why Hansie Cronje decided to […]
MONDAY, 1.30PM: FORMER South African wicketkeeper Ray Jennings has launched a scathing attack on current SA keeper Mark Boucher for not calling English batsman Alec Stewart back after he fluffed a run-out in the second one-day international at Old Trafford on Saturday. Boucher couldn’t pouch the ball after a return, and the ball lodged in […]
SASOL Chemical Industries announced on Thursday that it has signed an agreement with Air Products South Africa to combine their infrastructure, facilities and expertise for the production and marketing of high purity hydrogen. The two companies are investing more than R20-million into the project which will expand Air Products’ existing high purity hydrogen supply and […]
THE army chief in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Faustin Munene threatened on Monday night to “attack Bujumbura”, the capital of Burundi, in reprisal for Burundi’s alleged active support for rebels in the eastern DRC. Munene blasted what he called the “military involvement of the Burundian army” alongside rebels who took up arms against […]
THE African National Congress appears headed for a two-thirds majority and is likely to capture at least eight of the country’s nine provinces, the latest opinion poll revealed on Monday. Election 99, a survey conducted by the Institute for a Democratic South Africa, Markinor and the SABC, found that a low voter turnout on election […]
MONDAY, 2.00PM: IT will be at least two years before provinces get the powers to levy the taxes allowed by the Constitution and strongly urged by the Financial and Fiscal Commission, because the South African Revenue Service cannot collect and distribute taxes regionally. Originally, it was expected that legislation controlling such taxation would be in […]
DUMISANE LUBISI, Middelburg | Tuesday 1.00pm. POLICE investigating the Mpumalanga matric scandal have already questioned 40 of the 120 officials involved in marking the 480000 final exam papers last year. Pretoria police spokesperson, Captain Jennifer Chetty, said on Monday that the investigating team had taken 40 statements and was continuing with the investigation. “We’re still […]
A WARRANT has been drawn up for Trevor Tutu, the wayward son of Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu, for failing to pay a R8000 fine. Tutu could spend a year in jail as a result. He was fined R10000 earlier this year after being convicted for reckless driving, of which R2000 was […]
ZIMBABWE’S President Robert Mugabe has defended his extensive foreign travel despite economic troubles at home which have caused his trips to be criticised as unnecessary. Mugabe told state media before he left for Nairobi, Kenya on Sunday that the outcry over his trips and claims that they were draining millions of dollars from the cash-strapped […]
AMANDA Coetzer faces an uphill battle in her first round match at the French Open tennis tournament which begins in Paris on Monday. The 14th seeded Coetzer has lost twice to her opponent, Japan’s Ai Sugiyama. However, should Coetzer get past Sugiyama, the way looks clear to the quarter-finals, where she would probably play second […]
THE European Union and Rwanda have signed a 68-million-euro finance package deal, according to an EU statement received here on Thursday. The bulk of the package, worth some 66 million euros will take the form of direct budget support and constitutes the EU’s contribution to a structural adjustment plan and the economic reforms undertaken by […]
CATHY O’DOWD and Ian Woodall will reach the peak of Mount Everest on Saturday, if all goes well, Punt Geselsradio reported on Monday. O’Dowd and Woodall will leave for Camp 1 on Tuesday, where they will rest for a day. On Thursday they will try to reach the second camp and on Friday the third […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 5.00pm DEPUTY President Thabo Mbeki wants the Truth Commission to change its rules on amnesty to allow groups like his African National Congress to be granted blanket amnesty. Mbeki said in an interview with the Sunday Times that the rules should be changed so that members of political parties and […]
THREE Americans, members of an evangelical Christian group alleged to be mercenaries, go on trial in Harare’s high court on July 12 on charges of plotting terrorism and sabotage acts against the government, court officials said on Friday. Harare magistrate Jefta Makasa ordered prison authorities to bring them before him again on June 4 when […]
THE African National Congress and the Gauteng division of the Inkatha Freedom Party resolved to postpone the opening of the Thokoza Monument until after the June 2 elections. The move was taken to “ensure peace and foster reconciliation”. Campaign duties prevent the presidents of the parties being present before the poll, and their participation will […]
A BODYGUARD from the Eastern Cape premier Makhenkesi Stofile’s office was on the weekend caught by traffic police on his way from Durban to Umtata allegedly travelling at 190km/h in an official Mercedes Benz. He was one of 5 000 people caught speeding by the KwaZulu-Natal Traffic Inspectorate this weekend. An Audi driver was allegedly […]
THE main rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Rally for Congolese Democracy, has chosen Dr Emile Ilunga as its new chairman, replacing Professor Ernest Wamba dia Wamba who was ousted on Sunday night. Both the British Broadcasting Corporation and the Voice of America reported yesterday that Dr Ilunga, a medical doctor from […]