CONGO-BRAZZAVILLE’S National Petroleum Company, set up to market the country’s crude oil, was launched at the weekend. Endowed with a capital of 900 million CFA francs, the company has signed an assistance agreement with its sister branch, SNPC UK, to sell Congo’s crude oil, provide services and develop its relations with banks and other financial […]
WHILE government assistance to 80000 disabled people in the Eastern Cape has recently been cut on the grounds that it encourages dependency, disabled people entering Parliament need not fear that they will be elected. African National Congress national executive member Essop Pahad said on Tuesday that the costs of accommodating five blind, deaf or crippled […]
AFRICAN soccer chiefs will reconsider their decision to take the 2000 Nations Cup away from Zimbabwe at a meeting in Guinea on March 15. A five-member Zimbabwean delegation met Confederation of African Football (CAF) president Issa Hayatou in Ghana at the weekend before the African youth championship final. Hayatou said the CAF executive committee will […]
INFLATION in Botswana has risen sharply over the last four months to 7,2% in February, from 5,9% last October. Measured from a November 1996 base of 100, the cost of living index is now at 117, following increases in the food, fuel and power, and household operations components of the index. Increased electricity tariffs announced […]
CAF Cup holders Club Sportif Sfaxien of Tunisia have received a bye into the second round following the withdrawal of Energy of Benin. The clubs were due to meet this weekend when 46 first-round matches are scheduled in the annual Champions League, Cup Winners Cup and CAF Cup competitions. Coffee of Ethiopia have pulled out […]
THE government has announced that it will be sending an air force rescue mission to extract tourists and locals trapped by floods in Mozambique. The mission will comprise two Oryx helicopters and five planes, including two massive C130 Hercules. Light planes will perform reconnaisance in the affected southern Inhambane province before other aircraft are mobilised […]
EQUATORIAL Guinea’s ruling Democratic Party looks set to retain its comfortable majority in the People’s Chamber after initial election results on Monday, says the head of the national election committee. As expected, the Democratic Party was leading Sunday’s legislative poll, with ballots representing 67% of the 196000 eligible voters counted, said Clemente Engonga Nguema, who […]
IN a joint cross-border crime prevention operation last week, South African police and army seized suspected stolen livestock including some 300 sheep and 20 cows, as well as 14 sacks of dagga. Police said on Monday that the operation, carried out by about 20 police and 40 SA National Defence Force troops using horses and […]
A JAPANESE safari park has withdrawn from an agreement to buy three of the young elephants at the centre of a legal dispute over their fate. The Brits Magistrate’s Court heard on Monday that the Fuji Safari Park decided it no longer wants the beasts after discovering they are wild. The park had been under […]
THE cost of international calls drops from Wednesday, when Telkom rates will drop between 1,7% and 29,3% during weekdays between 8am and 8pm. Telkom said on Monday that it has now dropped its international call charges five times in the last two years. When the cuts were first announced in late 1998, it was clear […]
ETHIOPIAN Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has warned African diplomats that he views Eritrea’s acceptance of a peace plan in their border dispute “with skepticism,” national television reported on Monday. Eritrea’s acceptance “lacks clarity and is open to interpretation,” Zenawi told African delegates from the Organisation for African Unity, which drew up the plan. Eritrean President […]
MPUMALANGA has exceeded its share of the national housing target by 6000 houses and is building eight new low-cost houses every hour, housing MEC Craig Padayachee said in the provincial legislature on Monday. The houses are larger than those being built by other provinces, and are the product of community partnerships. The national target for […]
THE Fourth African Oil Trade and Finance conference is to be held in Namibia from April 27-30, according to a Namibian mines and energy ministry announcement made on Friday. The conference will cover recent developments in marketing, financing and risk management. Participants will include an expert panel of speakers from African, American and European oil […]
NORTH-West beat Namibia 30-11 after leading 18-11 at half-time in a Vodacom Cup rugby match played in pouring rain throughout at Olen Park in Potchefstroom on Saturday. The wet conditions made handling extremely difficult. As a result both sides made numerous mistakes and occasionally had to play on the retreat. North-West lock Kleinjan Tromp was […]
THE 63-year-old Hungarian herbalist accused of drugging girls as young as 10 and then having sex orgies with them was remanded in custody in the Belfast magistrate’s court in Mpumalanga on Monday. Members of the Congress of South African Students filled the courtroom where Charles Josef Baksai of Machadodorp appeared on two rape charges and […]
DISCARDED former Springbok flyhalf and centre Hennie le Roux may get a call-up to the Cats following Saturday’s disastrous 39-10 defeat to the New South Wales Waratahs. Le Roux, who has been in good form for the Lions in the Vodacom Cup, is likely to replace Boeta Wessels at flyhalf in the Cats side for […]
THE unseeded pairing of Jeff Coetzee and Damien Roberts captured the doubles title at a $50000 challenge in Singapore at the weekend. The MTN Super Squad pairing beat another unseeded tandem, Oleg Ogorodov of Uzbekistan and Israel’s Eyal Ran, 7-5 6-3 in Sunday’s final. It was the Israeli’s serve that came under fire in the […]
NIGERIA’S trade union umbrella body, the Nigeria Labour Congress, has ordered an indefinite public sector strike from next Monday if workers are not paid a promised minimum wage. NLC President Adams Oshiomhole said that the federal government and the governments of Bayelsa, Delta, and Lagos states should abide by promises to pay all workers a […]
THREE South African films took top honours at the Panafrican Film and Television Festival in Ouagadougou, Burkino Fasa on the weekend. Fools, a film by South African director Ramadan Suleiman won the prize for the best debut, while the award for the best documentary film went to Masseko Zola for The Life and Time of […]
THE South African short-term insurance industry notched up some significant underwriting losses last year, compared to the previous year, the South African Insurance Association said on Monday. Chief executive Barry Scott said that 12 out of 23 insurance companies reported underwriting losses for the year to December, compared to only seven in 1997. He said […]
THE rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army and southern factions loyal to the Khartoum regime have agreed to observe a ceasefire, an official of one of the factions said on Monday. Teny Youk of the United Democratic Salvation Front and a state minister in an interim governing body, said SPLA leader John Garang himself gave instructions […]
SOUTH African netballers were whipped again, losing their fourth straight match in Kingston, Jamaica on Sunday. The team was beaten 61-35 by Jamaica, in apparent retaliation for the Windies’ humiliation at cricket recently. The game was never in contention, and poor passing sank the Proteas again. The team has lost all of its games on […]
AGRICULTURE authorities in Malawi, which normally faces a maize deficit, said on Monday they expect a record yield of the crop this year. Ellard Malindi, principal secretary in the ministry of agriculture, said estimates show that 2,35 tons of the staple maize will be harvested. “This will be the highest ever maize yield to be […]
ORLANDO Pirates put nine goals past Olympics amateur club in the first round of the BobSave Super Bowl, winning handily 9-0. Two goals were disallowed, from Joseph Ngake and Simon Makhubela, keeping the rout from ending 11-0. Goals which were allowed came from Thabo Mngomeni (2) Phumlani Mkhize (2) and Makhubela (2). The remaining hat […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Monday 4.30pm. SWISS journalist Jean-Phillipe Ceppi, arrested last week for possession of a “secret” military document, was released from custody on Monday when all charges against him were withdrawn in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court. Ceppi’s lawyer Richard Rosenthal said afterwards that Attorney General Frank Kahn dropped the charges after […]
THE Ugandan government has closed Bwindi National Park following the killing of eight foreign tourists by Hutu rebels last week. The Ugandan daily newspaper New Vision said the park will be off limits to tourists for one month. The Ugandan army said on Saturday it had killed ten Rwandan Interahamwe rebels inside the Democratic Republic […]
THE bidding contest for copper mining firm Namibian Tsumeb Corporation Limited is continuing, with a Namibian company insisting that it remains in the running for the lucrative copper mines. Namibian bidders — Namibia Mining and Processing (Pty) Limited, formerly Namibia Base Metals — offer to buy TCL for N$360-million remains on the table and is […]
DAVID LE PAGE, Johannesburg | Monday 5.30pm. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange was one of the few markets to buck Monday’s trend to decline. Led by industrials’ 105-point push to 7241, all the major indices pushed their way upwards on Monday. Gold climbed 13 points to 964 and financials 89 points to 9495. The overall index […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kinshasa | Monday 8.00pm. DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila said on Monday that fighting in the east of the country is “developing” in favour of government forces and that the war could be over in “several months”. He told state television: “At the front it is going well, it is developing […]
GHANA won the African Under-20 championship Sunday, beating arch-rivals Nigeria 1-0 in the final at the Accra Sports Stadium. Laryea Kingston scored in the 39th minute. The two teams had earlier been inspected by the Ghanaian head of state Jerry Rawlings.
MALAYSIAN billionaire Dato Samsudin, who owns 75% of the beleaguered New Republic Bank, says the if the bank is liquidated it will not hurt him as his assets are diverse and spread throughout the world. In an interview with Business Times on Sunday, Samsudin blamed “inaccurate reports” in the press for causing a run on […]
NIGERIA might rejoin the Commonwealth on May 29, when the military government is due to hand over to president-elect Olusegun Obasanjo, Commonwealth Secretary General Emeka Anyaoko said on Sunday. Anyaoko, himself a Nigerian, told the BBC: “The Commonwealth has become an association of democratically elected governments and until that is in place in Nigeria, I […]