A GROUP of police reservists will protest outside police headquarters in Pretoria on Tuesday demanding that they be incorporated into the police service. The protesters say they represent around 2000 reservists who were promised incorporation into the police service. Police human resources spokesman Senior Superintendent Johan Smal said no such promise was ever made but […]
TALKS between Zambian and Angolan officials to ease the tension between the two countries opened in Swaziland on Monday. The five days of talks, mediated by Swaziland as chair of the security committee of the Southern African Development Community, are “to discuss the whole range of issues affecting our relationship,” a Zambian foreign ministry official […]
MOZAMBIQUE will allow hunting of wild elephants and buffalo should an international tender to be held later this month prove successful, a provincial governor said late last week. Governor Aires Aly of the northern Niassa province said the tender will aim to select a company or organisation that can successfully organise the safaris. A recent […]
THE starting 15 players in this weekend’s final round Super 12 games will not be eligible for their provincial union’s Vodacom Cup semi-finals or finals, it was announced on Tuesday. “In essence this means only those players who are selected on the reserve bench for this weekend’s Super 12 matches will be available for selection […]
A PETTY thief who admitted to shooting dead two Swedish athletes holidaying in South Africa’s Umhlanga resort last year was on Tuesday sentenced to 50 years in jail. Justice Jan Combrink delivered the sentence in the Durban High Court saying self-confessed thief Francois Minaar, 27, was a cold and calculating murderer, public SABC radio reported. […]
TWO naked thieves with painted faces and leaves in their hair leapt from bushes on a Zimbabwean golf course and did a war dance around two startled women golfers before making off with their handbags, a newspaper reported on Tuesday. The state-run Herald newspaper said the thieves, whose only weapons were their birthday suits, left […]
THERE is fewer than one anaesthetist operating in Nigeria for every 1,2-million citizens, a top official from the Society of Anaesthetists of West Africa said on Monday. Navy Surgeon Olaniyi Oladapo said there are fewer than 100 trained anaesthetists in the country whose population is put by the United Nations at 121,8-million. “We have more […]
QUEENSLAND’S Nathan Sharpe may miss the rest of this season’s Super 12 competition after suffering a fractured cheekbone in Saturday’s win over the Cats. Sharpe’s injury takes some of the gloss of Queensland’s 22-12 win over the Cats to virtually guarantee their place in the Super 12 semi-finals. Sharpe, who suffered the injury during the […]
TUESDAY, 7.00PM: THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s buoyant start to the week ended swiftly on Tuesday, with only the all gold index closing in positive territory as all share, industrial and financial indices lost almost 2%. Much of the slump was ascribed to the disappointing figures released by South African Breweries’ annual results presentation. Again, the […]
THE Australian Rugby Union (ARU) yesterday ignored a plea by their New Zealand counterparts to censure New South Wales coach Matt Williams for meeting with referees before Super 12 matches. ARU MD John O’Neill said there was no law in place preventing the meetings called by Williams before the Waratahs’ last two matches in New […]
A MASSIVE cache of arms and ammunition — sufficient in quantity to cause full-scale war — were discovered in a bunker in in northern KwaZulu-Natal, National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka announced on Tuesday. The arms cache, believed to be the biggest uncovered in South African history, was found by detectives of the directorate, […]
INJURY-plagued Graham Thorpe and Neil Fairbrother gave World Cup hosts a boost here on Friday as both came through unscathed in a tournament warm-up game against county side Kent. Thorpe, who missed the end of the recent Ashes series with back trouble, scored 55 before chipping out to short mid-wicket. Fairbrother – whose career has […]
THE gold price dropped to below the $280,00 per ounce mark on Monday, its lowest point in eight months, following concern about the Bank of England’s decision to sell more than half of its gold reserves. In London, on Monday afternoon, the gold price was fixed at $278,00 compared with Friday’s fixing of $282,40 and […]
FORMER Springbok Sevens No 8 Dion O’Cuinneagain will captain Ireland on a four-month tour of Australia late in May. The South African beat out former captains Paddy John and Keith Wood. O’Cuinneagain’s leadership skills make him a contender for Irish World Cup captaincy. He was born in South Africa, but qualifies fo rthe Irish team […]
PICK ‘n Pay announced on Monday that it will sell its shareholding in 7-11 Stores back to 7-11, giving the Western Cape-based company total ownership. Pick ‘n Pay formed a joint venture with 7-11 Stores in February 1997 to form 7-11 Africa, which was designed to operate outside of the Western Cape. Pick ‘n Pay […]
NTSIKI Biko, the widow of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, is in a stable condition at the St Dominic’s Hospital in East London after she was injured in a head-on collision on the N2 between Umtata and Idutywa in the Eastern Cape late on Saturday afternoon. A minibus taxi she was travelling in collided with another […]
THE Nigerian government has decided to review a $214,98-million oil refinery maintenance contract with the French oil company Total, a government official said on Tuesday. The official, who was not named, told reporters at the refinery at Kaduna in northern Nigeria, that the government is not happy with Total’s performance at the Kaduna Refinery and […]
GOLD Fields, born from a merger of Gold Fields Ltd and Driefontein, made a dull debut in Johannesburg on Monday as investors held shy of bullion shares after the metal’s latest tumble. Shares in the new Gold Fields, the world’s second largest gold producer, opened at a below-expectation R24,25, feeling the weight of Friday’s news […]
SHELL South Africa has pledged R3800 to the Nelson Mandela Children’s fund after its Ultra City in Umtata inadvertently upped the price of petrol a day early. A technical error resulted in Wednesday’s 18 cents a litre price rise coming into effect at midnight on Monday. The mistake was rectified only eight hours later when […]
LIBYAN leader Moammar Gadaffi held talks Wednesday in Tripoli with the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Issa Hayatou. After the talks, Hayatou said that Libya will soon be able to host CAF games after the lifting of the international embargo against it over the Lockerbie Affair. He arrived Sunday evening in Tripoli […]
THE department of Home Affairs on Monday announced that it has completed the processing and issuing of ID books to people who registered for the June 2 elections using temporary registration certificates. The department said in a statement issued in Pretoria applications which have resulted in queries are still being completed. ID book applicants who […]
GOVERNMENT troops in Congo have killed dozens of hostile Ninja militiamen in fighting north of the capital, where army reinforcements have been deployed, a military source said on Monday from Brazzaville. A few civilians also died in Sunday’s fighting, which took place around the military training centre at Bilolo, 25km north of Brazzaville, and on […]
WORLD Cup holders Sri Lanka impressed observers in a warm-up against English county side Northamptonshire. Eric Upashantha upstaged his better-known team-mates by grabbing three for 33 in nine overs as Northamptonshire were dismissed for 199 with two balls of their 50 overs remaining. Part-time seamer Chandika Hathurusinghe took two for 41. Off spinner Muttiah Murlitharan, […]
WITS University and SuperSport United played to a 1-1 draw in their Castle Premiership soccer match at Milpark Stadium on Friday night. Supersport’s Glen Salmon scored in the 84th minute after a rebound from substitute Michael Thurling, who had come on for Richard Peer in the 67th minute. Wits substitute Nicky Shaw levelled matters in […]
THE Organisation of African Unity on Monday urged all countries to refuse all cooperation with the new junta in the Comoros and decided to withdraw the military officers from its observer team in the Indian Ocean island chain. A communique issued after an ambassadorial level meeting of the OAU’s central organ for the prevention, management […]
MONDAY, 1.00PM: AFTER months of delays over the planning of the Presidential jobs summit, Labour Minister Tito Mboweni has taken the plunge and proposed that it should happen no later than early July, at least two months earlier than anticipated. It is not clear, however, whether this leaves sufficient time for the preparations required. Business […]
CALM returned to the Dukuduku forest in northern KwaZulu-Natal on the weekend after eight protesters were arrested during clashes with police on Thursday. On Friday morning police and the army were patrolling the road where protesters went on the rampage and opened fire on police on Thursday. After the skirmish with police the residents fled […]
EMPOWERMENT group NextCom, which is hoping to win the third cellular network licence, said Monday that, if successful, it will give business to small and medium-sized black contractors. These contractors, it said, will be responsible for building base stations across the country to run the network under an empowerment structure — Prov-Con. Sifiso Pretorius, chief […]
MONDAY, 7.00PM: THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange opened the week on a strong note on Monday, with all major indices climbing. Andre Crawford-Brunt of Deutsche Morgen Grenfell said the positive sentiment was from two factors: a strong day of short-covering, and renewed conference in the New York Stock markets Dow Jones industrial average gained over 100 […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 3.30pm. SOUTH African soccer officials have reacted with delight to Nigeria’s decision to withdraw their bid to host the World Cup finals in 2006 and instead support the South African bid. South Africa 2006 World Cup bid chairman Irvin Khoza said on Tuesday that the Nigerian decision comes as a […]
SOUTH Africa beat South Korea 3-1 in Perth on Saturday to qualify for a final showdown with Olympic champions Australia on Sunday in the four-nation Telstra Challenge women’s hockey tournament at Perth Hockey Stadium. Trailing 0-1 at half-time, South Africa fought back with great spirit after the interval, indicating they will be tough opponents for […]
BAHRAIN and Egypt are a step closer toward linking their stock exchanges following talks between officials from both markets, a newspaper said on Monday. Sameh al-Turjuman, chairman of the Cairo/Alexandria stock exchange, told the Gulf Daily News that efforts to implement a $20-billion-market capital agreement reached last September in Egypt are “encouraging.” But regulatory measures […]