Staff Reporter

PRESIDENT Sam Nujoma has appointed Zimbabwean-born Judge Simpson Mtambanengwe as chairperson of Namibia’s Electoral Commission. Prime Minister Hage Geingob informed the National Assembly on Tuesday that Mtambanengwe would be chairperson for an interim period of six months. The National Assembly will be asked to approve the appointment today. Mtambanengwe will take over from Judge Fonnie […]

EASTERN Cape transport and public works MEC Thobile Mhlahlo was on Tuesday arrested by Umtata High Court Judge Stefaans Visser, for contempt of court. Mhlahlo and his secretary were ordered in November 1998 to explain to the court why 35 former civil servants were not paid voluntary severance packages. Visser said then that the former […]

THE European Union on Tuesday announced the imposition of punitive anti-dumping duties on imports of steel ropes and cables from China, Hungary, India, Mexico, Poland, South Africa and Ukraine. China was the hardest hit with duty of 74,8% imposed provisionally for six months. Hungary and South Africa got off lightest with a rate of 33,9%. […]

PRESIDENT Sam Nujoma is to meet his South African counterpart Nelson Mandela in Pretoria on Wednesday. Neither the Namibian State House nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would say what the meeting was about. “We are all in the dark about this day trip,” a foreign affairs official said. However, a well-placed source indicated that […]

CADBURY Schweppes (SA) will have a tough first half in 1999, but it should be offset by an upturn in the economy in the second half and restructuring, the company’s chairman said. “It was a tough year… There is no doubt in the second half that consumer demand fell off and it coincided with a […]

ZAMBIA beat Malawi 1-0 in the opening group B match of the 11th Africa Under-20 football championship played at the Kumasi Sports Stadium in Kumasi on Monday. The Zambians owe their victory to midfielder Stephen Kabwe, who tied the defence into a knot, and crossed from the right for substitute Lundu Ezzie to head the […]

GOVERNMENT on Monday began a drive to identify potential partners or investors for a stake in state-owned South African Airways, which is due for partial privatisation this year. “The pre-marketing exercise has started and it involves visiting whichever investors [the government] think would like to be strategic equity partners for SAA,” Errol Frankel from transaction […]

LONDON-BOUND Old Mutual said on Monday it has agreed to merge its linked investment services division with that of Nedcor Investment Bank, in which it already holds a majority stake. “The amalgamation is in line with closer co-operation between Old Mutual and Nedcor that takes advantage of scale, scope and expertise in the combined, wider […]

HOPING to speed up its work, the United Nations tribunal, which is trying suspects in the 1994 Rwandan genocide of nearly 800000 opened a third courtroom on Monday and swore in three new judges. The new chamber, in Arusha, Tanzania, will help “bring to justice those who committed heinous crimes in Rwanda,” said tribunal spokesperson […]

MEMBER countries of the River Nile Basin signed a joint management agreement on Monday for its sustainable development. Member countries of the basin are Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania. The basin covers 3-million km. The Council of Ministers, who met in Dar es Salaam, […]

INTERNATIONAL sprinter Michael Johnson will come to South Africa for the Engen Grand Prix Summer Series. The series consists of meets in Pietersburg on March 13, Roodepoort on March 19 and Cape Town on March 26. Johnson (31) dominates international sprinting at 200m and 400m and has done so since the 1990 season and his […]

ANGLO American Platinum Corporation on Monday announced an increase in headline earnings of R291,1-million or 70,3% to R705,2-million for the six months to the end of December. This comes after headline earnings of R414,1-million for the same period last year. Dividends per share rose by 69,6% to 195 cents per share.

A BUMPER crop of 905000 tons of sunflower seeds is expected this season, the National Crop Estimates Committee said on Monday. In its first official estimate for the 1999/2000 season, the crops body said 828000 hectares have been planted compared to 511000 hectares last season. Last year’s crop was 562000 tons.

QUEENSLAND Reds, already hit by a long-term injury to key forward John Eales, have more injury problems ahead of Saturday’s opening Super 12 match against Wellington in Brisbane. The Reds have named Test centre Daniel Herbert and winger Ben Tune for their first game even though both are considered doubtful. Coach John Connolly’s decision to […]

PRESIDENT Ibrahim Bare Mainassara of Niger arrived in Paris on Tuesday at the start of a four-day official visit. He is due to meet his French counterpart Jacques Chirac on Thursday. A meeting with top officials of Codema, one of the main players in the mining of uranium, Niger’s most lucrative resource, is also planned. […]

ONE of the five People Against Gangsterism And Drugs vigilante group members arrested at Prince Albert in the Western Cape two weeks ago is an agent for the National Intelligence Agency, it was revealed on Tuesday. SABC TV news reported that Ayub Mangalee claims he was given explosives by the NIA to use in framing […]

THE Gauteng Lions wiped the floor with the MTN Falcons 40-18 in their Vodacom Cup match at Ellis Park on Sunday. The match saw a sea of yellow as off-the-ball offenders on both sides were booked rather than sent off. Falcons flank Jaco Booysen threw several punches although judgments that he had been provoked mitigated […]

THREE as yet unnamed South Africans have had their helicopter, two large trucks and a bulldozer impounded by Mozambican police and have been charged with illegal poaching. Police detained the men during a raid on a Chimoio bush camp on February 12 after they allegedly tried to herd and capture rare sable antelope and other […]

A FREAK storm, which swept through Alice in the Eastern Cape on Sunday afternoon, left at least one person dead and three others injured, television news reported on Monday. Over 188 households were destroyed and uprooted trees were strewn in the streets. Villagers said roofs from their houses were lifted by a violent wind and […]

TWO team members of Cape Town Spurs were seriously injured in a car accident near Harrismith in the Free State on Sunday evening. David Kannemeyer and Breslyn Hempe sustained fractures and bruising. Team chairman John Comites said three other unidentified people were killed in the accident, which happened as the team was driving back to […]

VILLAGERS in Mpumalanga’s rural hinterland have refused to register for the coming elections and have instead accused the Independent Electoral Commission of paving the way for the Anti-Christ. People in villages such as Daggakraal chased IEC registration officers out of their villages last week, insisting the campaign to issue bar-coded ID books smacks of biblical […]

RESULTS in Cape Town on Sunday of the World 1,3 litre Offshore Powerboat Championship at Table Bay: 1. Sweden Magnus Osterhoom (driver)/ Stefan Bohlmark (navigator) 869 points. 2. Sweden Per Oscarsson (driver)/Per Holmin (navigator) 640 points. 3. Sweden Thomas Rosen (driver)/Carin Nylen (navigator) 557 points. 4. Sweden Johan Fourong (driver)/Annika Tibblin (navigator) 467 points. 5. […]

BOTSWANA on Monday raised the thorny issue of Namibian asylum-seekers during its opening day of arguments in the Kasikili-Sedudu border dispute before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Molosiwa Selepeng, an aide to President Festus Mogae, argued that the safe passage of more than 2000 would-be refugees into Botswana demonstrated that the Botswana […]

A MEMBER of vigilante group People Against Gangsterism and Drugs was granted bail in the Oudtshoorn Magistrate Court on Monday. Yacoob Jacobs and four other Pagad accused face charges with car theft and illegal possession of firearms, ammunition and two detonators in connection with an alleged plot to bomb Parliament. They were arrested en route […]

ZIMBABWE is planning to build a multibillion-dollar oil pipeline from the Mozambican port of Beira to its National Oil Company depot, a distance of about 800km. The existing Beira-Feruka-Msasa pipeline has a capacity of 1,2-million tons a year, 300000 short of the current national demand, Transport and Energy Minister Enos Chikowore said. According to Chikowore, […]

INJURED key players Gary Teichman and Henry Honiball have been excluded from the Sharks’ opening Super 12 clash against New South Wales in Durban on Saturday.Despite the absence of injured prop Adrian Garvey and centre Pieter Muller, South Africa’s most successful side in the regional competition against New Zealand and Australia still features an impressive […]

SHARES in chemicals and explosives group AECI fell by nearly 3% on Tuesday ahead of the company’s announcement of its 1998 results. Analysts expect AECI to drastically cut its dividend and earnings per share, with the firm weighed down by rising debt and the restructuring of its business lines. It has already warned that its […]

SOUTH African Rugby Football Union chief Rian Oberholzer reminded provincial rugby coaches on Monday that unless they choose black players for the Currie Cup, Sarfu will force them to do so. Oberholzer stressed that the burden of proof lay with the provinces, since black players had not been given a fair chance so far. The […]

ETHIOPIA claims that its air force and artillery have inflicted heavy losses on Eritrea during the last two days. The country’s state-run television reported on Monday night that Ethiopian heavy artillery units had shelled Eritrean positions on the Bademe front earlier in the day. The Ethiopian air force attacked Eritrean positions on Sunday both on […]

BRIAN LARA was retained on Monday night as West Indies captain for the first two of four Tests against Australia, the West Indies Cricket Board president Pat Rousseau said. There have been calls for Lara’s dismissal as captain after the West Indies were beaten 5-0 in Tests and 6-1 in one-day internationals in South Africa […]

ZIMBABWE will try and reverse a decision to strip them of the 2000 African Nations Cup when they meet African soccer supremo Issa Hayatou on March 6 in Ghana. Hayatou chaired Confederation of African Football talks in Cte d’Ivoire last month which charged Zimbabwe with making insufficient progress in building stadiums or developing media infrastructure. […]

NIGEL BRUCE, former editor of the Financial Mail, appointed by the Nasionale Pers group to edit Finance Week and Finansies & Tegniek, has resigned from both positions. F&T and FW publisher Gert Marais on Monday morning informed staffers at the two publications of Bruce’s move. Marais, who will take over as editor.