AT least 32 people were killed and 26 injured when a passenger train derailed and overturned between the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, and the port city of Mombasa early on Wednesday, police said. Of the injured, 23 are deemed in critical condition. The Kenyan army and African Medical and Research Foundation have sent plane to assist […]
CIVIL debt continues to rise, with the number of civil summonses for debt recorded for the three months up to January 1999 increasing by 7,2% compared with the corresponding period last year, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday. After seasonal adjustment this rises to an increase of 10,6% on the preceding three months. The total […]
TWELVE unions representing about 1,2-million public servants walked out of wage talks in Pretoria on Thursday, accusing the state of intransigence. Unions have dropped their pay rise demand from 15% to about 10% since the start of negotiations in February. The employer’s offer remained at 5%. The union have given the government 21 days to […]
A ZIMBABWEAN warplane has been shot down over the southern Democratic Republic of Congo, the head of the official Rwandan news agency said on Wednesday. “A Zimbabwean MiG was shot down on Tuesday by rebel forces while it was carrying out an air raid on rebel positions in the Kabalo region,” Major Wilson Rutayisire said. […]
THE Australian women’s hockey team beat South Africa 4-1 in the third of five tests in Potchefstroom on Wednesday. The series was locked at 1-1 coming into this match following Australia’s 3-0 victory in the first test and South Africa’s 2-1 win in the second. But any hopes the South Africans had of another upset […]
MARK FISH pledged on Tuesday to help Bolton Wanderers, his English club, get back into the English Premiership, denying rumours he wanted to leave. Despite Bolton’s recent slump, with the club fifth in division one and nine points adrift of an automatic promotion place, Fish said: “There’s nine games to go and there’s no way […]
DOUBTS have crept in over the quality of the Sydney Football Stadium pitch, where Friday’s Super 12 clash between the Stormers and New South Wales Waratahs will be played. Stormers coach Alan Solomons is worried the pitch, where the grass is parasite-infected and consequently weakened, could increase the chances of tripping and injury. A lawyer, […]
AFTER four years of tough negotiations and months of grandstanding over the final details, the European Union on Wednesday approved an historic free trade pact with South Africa, the first with a developing nation and likely to be a precedent for others. The decision came at a summit of EU leaders in Berlin. President Nelson […]
AN international uproar is brewing in the small KwaZulu-Natal holiday town of St Lucia after a local guest house reportedly turned a senior Dutch diplomat and his family away on racist grounds. Namib Chalets allegedly barred Netherlands diplomat Dr WHLM Hoppers and his family from the guest house in December after finding out the family […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, London | Thursday 1.50pm. BOB WOOLMER, who quit as South Africa’s cricket coach last weekend, says he is tempted by the prospect of taking charge of England in place of David Lloyd. However, Woolmer said on Wednesday he has not been approach by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as they search […]
MOZAMBIQUE’s second multiparty general elections, due in October, may be postponed to early 2000 because preparations are behind schedule, a government official said on Thursday. “The elections will have to be postponed unless the National Elections Commission (CNE) manages to squeeze the entire electoral timetable,” said minister of state administration, Afredo Gamito. The CNE should […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Cape Town | Wednesday 7.00pm. A SPECIAL office will be established in the presidency to oversee minority language and cultural rights, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki announced in Parliament on Wednesday, during the debate on “The Afrikaner”. Mbeki said the new office, to be called the Commission for the Promotion and Protection […]
YET another New National Party member is defecting to the African National Congress, and this time it is senior Western Cape leader Patrick Mackenzie. Along with NNP MPs David Chuenyane and John Gogotya, Mackenzie was expected to make his defection formal on Thursday morning.
THE African National Congress has called for a commission of inquiry into Inkatha Freedom Party politician and member of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature Philip Powell, following his alleged interference with a police murder investigation. Powell, often accused of involvement in gun-running and hit squads in the violent province, allegedly tried to interfere with a police […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, London | Thursday 1.50pm. BOB WOOLMER, who quit as South Africa’s cricket coach last weekend, says he is tempted by the prospect of taking charge of England in place of David Lloyd. However, Woolmer said on Wednesday he has not been approach by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as they search […]
THE National Union of Mineworkers announced on Wednesday a breakthrough in attempts to reinstate over 950 dismissed workers at Grootgeluk Mine near Ellisras after negotiations with mine management. But mine management has denied any “breakthroughs”. The “breakthrough” follows one week of violent protest at the mine after management sacked 450 striking workers last week and […]
KWAZULU-NATAL manufacturer Thor Chemicals SA is demanding an apology from African National Congress MP and environment portfolio committee chairperson Gwen Mahlangu for comments she made about during an SAfm radio interview this month. Mahlangu is alleged to have said that people are “dying every day” in Cato Ridge and that Thor is the only employer […]
POLICE said on Wednesday afternoon that the complaint of assault laid against Springbok rugby player James Dalton has been withdrawn. The charge was laid at Johannesburg’s Bedfordview police station following a fracas at the local Health & Racquet Club, reportedly involving Dalton and H&RC employee Bruce Johnson, who suffered a number of facial injuries, including […]
A 63-year-old Hungarian herbalist charged with raping two young girls and indecently assaulting six others was refused bail by the Belfast Regional Court in Mpumalanga on Thursday. Charles Joseph Baksai of Machadodorp also faces eight child labour charges. Regional Magistrate Charles Combrink said as rape was involved, the defence has to prove that granting bail […]
RESULTS of the second round of the $215000 Casablanca Open tennis tournament in Morocco, played on Wednesday. Albert Portas (Spa x5) bt Alex Calatrava (Spa) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1; Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa) bt Jacobo Diaz (Spa) 6-2, 7-6 (7/2); Fernando Vicente (Spa x3) bt Marcio Carlsson (Bra) 6-3, 6-0; Stefan Koubek (Aut x6) bt Eduardo […]
SIX million Kenyan children are victims of child labour, United Nations Children’s Fund officer in charge of basic education, child protection and development, Dr Mamadou Bagayoku, said on Tuesday. Speaking from Nyeri, 190km north of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, Bagayoku said Unicef has set aside six million shillings (about $100000) to fight child labour in […]
THE Central Bank of Nigeria has devalued the currency by 4,34% from 86.25 naira to 90 to the dollar, officials said on Thursday. The move, announced on the country’s Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market on Wednesday, follows pressure from the International Monetary Fund to bring the currency into line with market forces. The naira sells for […]
FAILURE to meet export requirements, declining demand for locally produced goods and interference from the labour movement have forced some companies to withdraw from Namibia’s Walvis Bay Export Processing Zone (EPZ), an economic watch group says. This is taking place barely three years after Namibia’s EPZ plans got off the ground. In its quarterly review […]
CONTINUING low oil prices are decreasing Energy Africa’s exploration and production activity. The company reported on Thursday an operating loss of R74-million for the latest six-month period. The loss comes after a R27,1-million loss in the comparative 1998 period, as a result of a 36% lower realised oil price. MD John Bentley said that due […]
KENYAN solicitor general Judge Aaron Ringera has been appointed the new director of the country’s anti-corruption authority, according to a news release from the presidential press service. He replaces John Harun Mwau, who was suspended last August and became the subject of a tribunal to find out if he was competent to head the authority. […]
A CENTURY by Kennedy Otieno helped Kenya beat Bangladesh by 73 runs on Wednesday and assure them a place in the final against Zimbabwe in the three-nation cricket tournament. Man-of-the-match Otieno hit six towering sixes and eight fours to reach his 120, helping Kenya to score 231 in 48.4 overs in Dhaka. Steve Tikolo took […]
EGYPT earned $156,4-million in January from Suez Canal receipts, the same as in December, 1998, the cabinet’s March statistical bulletin said on Thursday. The receipts were $145,0-million in January, 1998, it said. The canal is a main source of hard currency for Egypt, along with expatriated remittances, tourism and oil.
THE Inkatha Freedom Party has called for severe disciplinary action to be taken against the editor of Durban daily Ilanga following publication of a racist editorial on Wednesday. Ilanga editor, Amos Maphumulo, in his leader article on Wednesday, wished that South Africa might one day be blessed with the birth of a new Idi Amin. […]
ANOTHER 160 government soldiers fleeing the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo have arrived in northern Zambia, bringing the total to more than 900, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees said. UNHCR spokesperson Dominik Bartsch said on Tuesday that the deserters crossed the border over the past two days. Last week, more […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 3.30pm. GREATER Johannesburg is R2,1-billion in debt, R1-billion of which is irrecoverable, says Kenny Fihla, chairman of Johannesburg’s Transformation Lekgotla [committee]. Interest owed on that debt is at least R721-million. The debt burden threatens to sideline eGoli 2002, the inner-city renewal plan touted by the Lekgotla. “No financial institution will […]
NIGERIAN footballer Peter Rufai prefers football to the prospect of becoming king of a million people in succession to his late father. Spanish press reports said on Tuesday that the 35-year-old reserve goalie for Spanish first division side Deportivo de la Coruna is being urged to return home to become king of the Idimu in […]
THE ruling Togolese People’s Assembly (RPT) won 79 of the 81 seats in the national assembly in weekend elections boycotted by the opposition, the head of the national electoral commission said late on Tuesday. Electoral head Abdoulaye Yaya said on state television that turn-out reached 66%, while the opposition said only 10% of voters cast […]