THE Competition Board will be disbanded in mid-year and its functions assumed by the Competition Commission and Competition Tribunal, the board announced on Thursday. It said in a statement that, due to the Maintenance and Promotion of Competition Act 1979 being replaced by the Competition Act 1998, it has been decided that certain notices of […]
AIDS is killing around 1 200 people a week in Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe said on Sunday. Mugabe revealed the figures at a rally to mark the country’s independence anniversary. “The diseases situation in 1998 was dominated by the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic. With an estimated average of some 1 200 AIDS-related deaths per week, AIDS […]
South Africa have drawn Ukraine, Denmark and Latvia in their Europe/Africa Fed Cup Group I qualifying tournament. The first seeded South Africans will play Denmark on Monday.
THE public feud between Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and ex-husband President Nelson Mandela took another turn on Friday when she accused her ex-husband of using apartheid-era laws to try seize the home they shared in the 1960s. Madikizela-Mandela has launched a court challenge to the president’s claim to ownership over the tiny house in Soweto. Mandela bought […]
EGYPTIAN President Hosni Mubarak inaugurated the first subway line beneath the Nile River on Sunday. Cairo started expanding an underground commuter railway a decade ago to relieve traffic congestion and has just finished phase three. The third portion of the city’s second metro line links Sadat station in central Tahrir Square, site of the Nile […]
NORTHERN Province Premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi’s office is being probed for allegedly abusing government officials and equipment for party political purposes. Provincial director general Bennedicta Manching Monama confirmed on Friday that she is probing the irregular use of government staff, facsimile machines and computers in Ramatlhodi’s office to distribute African National Congress speeches to the media. […]
FALCONS have signed four Tongan players for the next Currie Cup campaign. Coach Phil Pretorius, who is also a coaching adviser to the Tongan national team, has agreed to bring backrow forwards Johnny Koloi, Vic Tulutu, scrumhalf Sililo Martens and centre Salesi Finau to South Africa. The quartet will join the Falcons in May once […]
POLICE on the weekend finally identified the first of five decapitated people believed to be the victims of a muti-murder gang operating in the small farming towns of Sundra and Delmas in Mpumalanga. Farm labourers stumbled on the most recent victim, a decomposing and headless middle-aged woman, two weeks ago. Three other badly decomposed and […]
A MAN has appeared in court, charged with the Charlene Smith rape that made headlines two weeks ago. Police have opposed bail for the man, who also has an outstanding murder charge against him. Smith reports that abusive phone calls from the rapist, which she received several times a day both before and after the […]
RUGBY should be an Olympic sport in the 15-man code and not just for the seven-a-side, International Rugby Board (IRB) chairman Vernon Pugh said on Thursday. Speaking at a meeting of the world rugby governing body in Buenos Aires, Pugh said he was determined to get Olympic status for rugby union although he knew that […]
PROFESSIONAL golfer Wimpie Botha was killed in a car accident after the third round of the Vodacom Tour’s Lombard Tyres Classic at the Krugersdorp Golf Club on Friday. The accident occurred only a few kilometres from the club after Botha, 28, had left the pro-am prizegiving on Friday night. Botha, in his sixth year as […]
A WOMAN was shot and wounded in Durban on Friday, apparently by a reveller on his way to witness President Nelson Mandela receive the freedom of the city. KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman Director Bala Naidoo said the shot accidentally discharged when a man put a firearm into his pocket. The bullet ricocheted and caused the injury. […]
SOUTH African number seven seed Wayne Ferreira beat Dennis van Scheppingen 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 in the second-round of the Japan Open on Wednesday. Number one seed Richard Krajicek, of the Netherlands, was gifted win when his injured opponent, compatriot John van Lottum, retired retired after four games due to neck and shoulder strain. Andre Agassi, […]
ORLANDO Pirates ground down Cape Town Spurs 2-1 while Jomo Cosmos spanked Hellenic 2-0. Pirates went ahead 2-0 against Spurs on goals by Nigerian Sam Pam and Phumlani Mkhize. Spurs came back with one in the 80th minute on a strike from Vassili Sofiadelis, but both teams gave lacklustre preformances with poor finishing and attacking. […]
NIGERIA’S military ruling council said on Friday that it will not impose Islamic Sharia law on the country. Provisional Ruling Council member rear admiral Taiwo Abiodun Odedina said at the end of a four-day council meeting in Abuja that no plan exists to impose Islamic law. He said the military government will continue to recognise […]
LOCAL Super 12 favourites, the Fedsure Stormers, thrilled a capacity crowd as they powered to a 28-19 win over the Canterbury Crusaders at Newlands. They scored three tries and came so close to another two, but will be happy for the crucial victory. Full match report to follow.
SUNDOWNS snatched a 3-1 win over lowly Santos through three goals at the Newlands cricket ground on Wednesday night. Striker David Notoane took the home side into the lead in the 66th minute but pulled a muscle doing so and was forced to leave the field. Sundowns super sub Kenny Niemach netted the leveler in […]
AN identification parade for the suspected torturers of three alleged United States mercenaries took place in Harare on Friday, a spokesman for the defence lawyers said. The three Americans are charged with sabotage and terrorism after they were arrested in Zimbabwe on March 7 in possession of arms of war in their luggage as they […]
MANNING Rangers were ejected from the race for the Castle Premiership by Chiefs and Sundowns on Wednesday night. Both teams won their mathces and are tied at 60 points, but Chiefs took their points directly from Manning Rangers in a 4-1 blowout. Pollen Ndlanya and Thabang Lebese snatched two goals apiece against fittingly named Solo […]
HOME Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Friday launched an investigation to probe allegations that his director-general Albert Mokoena ran a basketball team from his office. Buthelezi said that the investigation will be conducted by Public Service and Administration deputy director-general Mpumelelo Sikhosana. Mokoena allegedly used the department’s telephone and fax to run his basketball team. […]
MANNING Rangers have said coach Gordon Igesund will not be for sale to any club for less than R1-million, underscoring the value they place on his guidance this season. Two clubs have expressed interest in Igesund, whose reputation has soared in the wake of Rangers’ remarkable season. Rangers’ boss KC Reddy says he is negotiating […]
THE Botswana Football Association is courting premier league coach Jefff Butler to lead the national team. Butler, who has coached PSL sides such as Kaizer Chiefs, Sundowns and Seven Stars, as well as several other African sides, has confirmed that he is considering taking the position of national coach, but that nothing has yet been […]
A BROKEN finger has ruined plans for an IBO world middleweight title fight in South Africa between defending champion Mpush Makambi and Dingaan Thobela — and has also thwarted the comeback plans of former promoter Thinus Strydom. Makambi advised Strydom that he had broken the finger in training and would not be able to go […]
FRIDAY, 12.00NOON: IT was tough times for the South African Fed Cup team playing their final round-robin tie against a fired-up Romanian side at the Europe/Africa qualifying tornament in La Manga, Spain, on Thursday. Both Jessica Steck and Mariaan de Swardt were in trouble in their respective matches, facing tough challenges from opponents whose skills […]
Malachy McCourt 44: A DUBLIN MEMOIR by Peter Sheridan (Macmillan) Will the Irish ever stop the churning out of novels, poetry, epics, histories, stories (short or long, individual or collected) and now a flood of memoirs? Not bloody likely, sez the man, not with the world standing with eagerness and wallets agape to pay for […]
SIEMENS (SA) announced on Thursday that it has been awarded a $15-million GSM supply contract by Zamcell, the third cellular network to operate in Zambia. Zamcell was launched in December 1998. In terms of the turnkey contract, Siemens provided the equipment for the network, which was installed in time for the first commercial trials which […]
THE United Nations will facilitate upcoming talks in Togo between Sierra Leone rebel leader Foday Sankoh, facing execution for treason, and his field commanders, for peace in Sierra Leone, its envoy announced. UN Special Representative to Sierra Leone Francis Okello met President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah late Thursday and said that the United Nations will also […]
invasion Two of South Africa’s top kwaito groups play in London this weekend, and if they are a success they could pave the way for other township acts, writes Bongani Madondo Flashback – 1985. Soweto, Thokoza and its satellites are burning. The only recognisable fragrance in the air being burning tyres, if not human flesh. […]
I was extremely disturbed to read in the Daily Mail & Guardian the other day that the South African government had refused political asylum to Catherine Kaunda, daughter of former president Kenneth Kaunda. I do not know the full particulars of the case. Whatever the reason, it is the right of a sovereign government to […]
Peter Dickson Just two months before the election, Eastern Cape chiefs, whose influential vote is the hotly contested key to victory for the African National Congress or the United Democratic Movement in the densely populated rural Transkei, have been given a massive salary increase that will cost taxpayers R30-million a year. Eastern Cape Premier Makhenkesi […]
Powerful politicians have embarked on a two-pronged strategy to influence the ANC’s selection of the Gauteng premier candidate, writes Wally Mbhele As Gauteng Premier Mathole Motshekga’s tight grip on his post begins to falter, it appears that his political opponents are winning a battle to remove him from the most powerful provincial office in the […]
ZIMBABWEAN authorities on Wednesday postponed without explanation an identification parade for the suspected torturers of three alleged United States mercenaries, defence laywers said. The three US citizens are facing terrorism charges after arrested on March 7 in possession of arms of war in their luggage as they attempted to board a Swiss Airline to Zurich. […]