HEIST suspect Collin Chauke and two others on hunger strike in Pretoria’s C-Max prison are refusing medical attention, the correctional services department said on Wednesday. Department spokesperson Rudi Potgieter said the three claimed to have stopped eating on Friday, although they only received official notification of the hunger strike a few days later. “We arranged […]
UGANDA’S Vice President Specioza Wandira Kazibwe, who also holds the agriculture portfolio, has defended herself against charges that her ministry mismanaged a World Bank-funded project. Speaking before Parliament on Tuesday, Kazibwe asked the House, which has demanded that she resigns as agriculture minister or face a censure motion, for “justice and fairness”. She urged the […]
KALAHARI Holdings, the firm controlling holdings of Namibia’s ruling South-West Africa People’s Organisation is indebted to the tune of R32-million, The Namibian reported on Tuesday. President Sam Nujoma told party leaders last weekend that Kalahari was near collapse and proposed a number of rescue measures. Plans to save the troubled firm include selling De Rust, […]
TROUBLED Air Namibia has finalised an agreement with South African Airways to lease a Boeing 747-SP to replace the Boeing 767-300 used on its intercontinental routes. The aircraft is scheduled to arrive at Windhoek’s Hosea Kutako Airport tomorrow. Since its inception until March last year, Air Namibia had leased a similar aircraft, the popular ‘Etosha’, […]
WELFARE organisation Operation Hunger on Tuesday said they have received thousands of letters from people destitute after their pensions and disability grants were stopped while the government weeds out “ghosts” and unnecessary payouts. Felicity Gibbs, national manager for Operation Hunger, said: “Rural areas are worst hit as people cannot afford to contest the judgments, cannot […]
TRADE union federation and ruling party ally the Congress of South African Trade Unions came out in support on Wednesday of the African National Congress’s campaign for the June 2 elections. The 1,8-million-member Cosatu has agreed to embark on a campaign to “mobilise workers for a decisive ANC victory on June 2”, Cosatu secretary general […]
OLD Mutual Unit Trusts temporarlity suspended its R2,9-million Global Equity Fund on Wednesday, and will not accept new investments. MD Pieter van Niekerk told a press conference in Johannesburg that the move follows a decision by the Reserve Bank to limit offshore investment to 15% of financial institutions’ South African-based assets, rather than total assets […]
NEW South Wales captain Michael Brial has been ruled out of the Waratahs side to meet Auckland in their Super 12 match in Sydney on Saturday. Brial injured his leg during training on Monday. Former Springbok captain Tiaan Strauss takes over the captaincy and will also move from number eight to Brial’s position at flank. […]
FIVE opposition parties are to meet the Cabinet on Wednesday to discuss what they are claiming is an abuse of taxpayers money by the African National Congress in a publicity campaign. New National Party, the Democratic Party, the Freedom Front, the African Christian Democratic Party and the Pan Africanist Congress have claimed that a recent […]
THE CATS rugby side will propose that Andre Markgraaff be appointed to a minimum two-year term as coach this week. Cats CEO Johan Botes will discuss the matter with South African Rugby Union chief Riaan Oberholzer on Wednesday. Markgraaff’s success and reputation as a top forward coach have lent weight to arguments that continuity and […]
PETER POLLOCK, the United Cricket Board’s convener of selectors, will announce the World Cup cricket squad on Saturday. It will be announced at 2.50pm on M-Net and SuperSport1.
THE Cabinet has approved the appointment of advocate Wallace Mgoqi as the country’s new Chief Land Claims Commissioner. Mgoqi is the former regional land claims commissioner for the Western and Northern Cape, and replaces Joe Seremane, who was fired and has subsequently been elected a Democratic Party member of the National Council of Provinces. Announcing […]
AN ANTHRAX epidemic that struck Zimbabwe’s cattle in the early 1980s and also afflicted nearly 10000 people could be linked to South Africa’s chemical and biological warfare programme, reports Beeld. Dr Welbourne Madzima, deputy director of Zimbabwe’s veterinary services, said on Tuesday that his department will contact National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ncugka to […]
NAMIBIA Football Association spokesperson Sebastian Kamungu dropped a bombshell on Monday when he announced the association has suspended the entire national under-23 squad which did duty against Lesotho in two matches recently. “The suspension,” Kamungu said, “stems from the Young Warriors’ failure to stick by agreed match and camping fees and their decision to boycott […]
TANZANIAN authorities have arrested Rwandan ex-army officer Bernard Ntuyahaga, accused of killing Rwanda’s prime minister in 1994 and wanted for trial in Belgium on murder charges. Justice Minister Bakari Mwapachu said on Tuesday that Ntuyahaga was arrested in Dar es Salaam on Monday night after being released by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda sitting […]
AT least four thoroughbred horses have died in the Western Cape in the past week of African horse sickness, a development that may cripple South Africa’s thoroughbred export industry. As a result of the outbreak, no horses may be exported from South Africa. According to Onderstepoort head of equine research Professor Alan Guthrie, the European […]
ALL Black coach John Hart believes the New Zealand Rugby Union may have to reassess its strict line on not considering players for national sides if they take up overseas contracts. In the wake of New Zealand’s worst Super 12 results ever Hart agreed on Monday with former All Black captain David Kirk in his […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 10.15am. ANGLO American will bid to consolidate its corporate position by buying out minority shareholders in gold holding company Amgold and Anamint, which holds about 26% of De Beers. Anglo already owns 51,5% of Amgold, and 52% of Anamint. Anglo will offer 140 Anglo shares for every 100 Amgold shares, […]
THE African National Congress is “within reach” of obtaining a two-thirds majority in the June 2 genneral election, according to results of a Markdata poll published in Afrikaans daily Beeld on Tuesday. The poll shows the ANC’s strong position, despite the party and its alliance partner, the SA Communist Party, having acquired few new supporters […]
KENYAN cricket authorities have full confidence in the country’s team for the World Cup despite its dismal showing in the tri-nation tournament in Bangladesh, the selection committee chairman Asif Padamshi said on Monday. Kenya suffered a crushing 202-run defeat to Zimbabwe in the tri-nation competition in Dhaka on Saturday. It was Kenya’s eighth consecutive loss […]
FRENCH judges who visited South Africa probing a scandal that touches on former foreign minister Roland Dumas and his mistress Christine Deviers-Joncours, left Johannesburg on Sunday, judicial sources said on Monday. Examining Magistrates Eva Joly and Laurence Vichnievsky left for Paris after talking to South African police as part of an investigation into Alfred Sirven, […]
RWANDA’s local authority elections went into their second day on Tuesday, with officials expressing satisfaction at the conduct of the first poll since the genocide of 1994. Monday’s voter “participation was massive in administrative districts and there were no incidents,” Radio Rwanda reported. “In spite of the rain which lashed the whole country, people turned […]
A WORKER was crushed to death at explosive and chemical firm AECI’s Modderfontein dynamite factory on Tuesday after nine tankers full of hazardous chemicals derailed. Two other work were burned by sulphuric acid. GThe firm was on Tuesday evening taking emergency steps to mop up the chemicals.
REPRESENTATIVES of the parties involved in the African National Congress’s advertising campaign will hold an emergency meeting this week with Metrorail CEO Zandile Jakavula after Metrorail declined an initial request to print the image of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki on the back of 3,5-million train tickets. The announcement of the major advertising coup for the […]
THE National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union said on Monday that it will call a nationwide strike on April 28 in solidarity with tertiary education workers. Explaining the decision to strike, Nehawu spokesperson Makoko Lekola claimed tertiary education management used tactics at a recent Nedlac meeting to delay transformation in the sector. The union […]
OTAGO centre Jeremy Stanley has been suspended for three weeks after being cited for a dangerous tackle during a Super 12 match against the Sharks in Durban on Friday. The Sharks won the match 32-8. Stanley’s opposite number, Shaun Payne, did not have the ball when the New Zealander collided with him at full speed. […]
MICHAEL METELITS, Johannesburg | Monday 5.15pm. EQUITIES finished the day mixed as wider South African markets looked for direction on Monday. Bonds and the rand stayed within a tight trading range and the major JSE indices did not move very far. The all share index lost 22 points to finish at 6439 while the industrial […]
WORKERS at the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation went on strike on Monday morning, demanding increased salaries. The workers have threatened to switch off transmission if their grievances are not addressed by management, which is locked in discussions with the employees’ representatives. The workers say they are the least-paid employees of all Zimbabwe’s media parastatals and […]
OLD Mutual got the go ahead from the Cape High Court on Monday to convert to a listed company and demutualise. The firm also has permission to list in London and Johannesburg, adding to the list of South African corporate giants making the trek overseas. The ruling stated the demutualisation scheme is fair, commercially sound, […]
SOUTH Africa has ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty. In a statement on Tuesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs said South Africa deposited its instrument of ratification of the treaty with the United Nations secretary general on Tuesday. This follows the country’s signature of the treaty on September 24 1996, and approval by Parliament of […]
FRUIT and food firm Del Monte declared its first earnings increase since 1993 this week, after an extensive restructuring plan. European operations contributed significantly to the canning and distributor’s growth, as well as good results from the Philippines despite the Asian crisis which has hit so many industries. Headline earnings per share rose 69% over […]
THE managing editor of Inkatha Freedom Party-owned Durban daily Ilanga has been fired following a disciplinary hearing. Amos Maphumulo’s dismissal follows an editorial last week in which he accused whites and Indians of oppressing blacks and wished for the birth of a new Idi Amin in South Africa. The editorial was criticised from across the […]