Staff Reporter

President Nelson Mandela will hold talks with visiting Zambian President Frederick Chiluba on Wednesday.

A 34-year-old German special forces paratrooper, Jobst Norbert, died on Valentine’s day near Nylstroom when his parachute failed to open properly and he fell 11000 feet to his death while his wife watched. Norbert’s 27-year-old wife, Gute, had to be treated for severe shock. Norbert, who had over 100 jumps to his name, was rushed […]

SENIOR United Nations envoy to Angola Issa Diallo is to deliver a report this week to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Angola’s civil war and worsening humanitarian plight. The agenda for their meeting is likely to include UN plans to withdraw from Angola and the Diallo’s recent closed-door meeting with Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos […]

ZAMBIA is the sixth biggest military spender in the 14-member South African Development Community, the 1998 SADC regional human development report has revealed. The SADC report, which was released in the Zambian capital Lusaka on Friday, shows that Zambia spent nearly 60% of its combined health and education expenditure from 1990 to 1991 on the […]

THE South African Football Association has complained to world governing body Fifa about midfielder Delron Buckley’s German club Bochum and its reluctance to release him from the team. Safa chief executive Raymond Hack has written to Fifa about Buckley, who has not yet arrived in South Africa for training Bafana Bafana’s Cosafa Cup clash against […]

HARD labour in prisons should be reintroduced, Federal Alliance leader Louis Luyt said in Pretoria on Tuesday. He told a public meeting at University of Pretoria that prisoners forfeited all rights they might have when they committed crimes against society. “Convicts should be used to build houses, hospitals and schools. We will force them to […]

SUPER 12 rugby’s governing body Sanzar has rejected bids from Australia and South Africa to expand the competition. Sanzar and New Zealand Rugby Football Union chairman Rob Fisher said no expansion is likely for at least three years. New Zealand has five teams, South Africa four and Australia three in the competition which leads up […]

KING LEKA I, the flamboyant exiled pretender to the Albanian throne, was granted R15000 bail on Monday after being arrested on arms charges. Leka was arrested with three other men at his Johannesburg home on February 5 after police found a large quantity of firearms, ammunition, anti-personnel mines and rocket launchers. Transferred from his jail […]

ENGLAND A earned victory by one wicket in the first of three one-day internationals against Zimbabwe A in Bulawayo on Tuesday with just three balls to spare. The home side reached 262 all out in 49,4 overs and England A scrambled to the required target at 263 to win in 49,3 overs with the last […]

POLLEN Ndlanya’s suspension proved the vital ingredient for Kaizer Chiefs as stand-in striker Thabang Lebese scored the two goals to overcome traditional Foes Orlando Pirates 2-1 on Saturday. The 27-year-old midfielder was retreaded to the front line for the PSL derby, slotted the goals in the 25th and 51st minute with help from stalwart Doctor […]

ALGERIAN international midfielder Moussa Saib is one of three overseas players UK soccer club Tottenham Hotspur have put on the transfer list in a bid to trim their wage bill after recent buys. Saib, a 2,3-million buy in February last year, has made only five substitute appearances this season. He joins Portugal’s diminutive Jose Dominguez […]

AGRICULTURE Minister Derek Hanekom on Monday warned farmers in Mpumalanga and Northern Province to vaccinate their animals and wear rubber gloves when handling carcasses after the outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in the Kruger National Park. Rift Valley Fever is a mosquito-borne viral infection that usually results in in abortions or neo-natal mortalities in sheep, […]

THE JSE Securities Regulation Code could effectively prevent life assurer Fedsure, pharmaceutical company Adcock Ingram and empowerment investment group Sekunjalo from making another offer for South African Druggists shares until next February. Business Report on Sunday reported that the code will also prevent them from making another bid — acting on their own, as a […]

A MAN was stoned to death in Carletonville after he ran over a two-year-old boy in his car. Police spokesperson Herman Esterhuizen said the driver hit the boy on Satuday, killing him instantly. A crowd gathered around the car, throwing stones at it. The driver got out of his car and was stoned by the […]

KING Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain arrived in Cape Town late on Sunday at the start of a four-day official visit to South Africa. The royal couple were met at Cape Town airport by Foreign Minister Alfred Nzo and Western Cape provincial premier Gerald Morkel. They are are accompanied by Spanish Foreign Minister […]

FOUR people were killed late Sunday and 35 wounded, several of them foreigners, when two bombs exploded in a nightclub and restaurant district of Uganda’s capital Kampala, police said on Monday.A senior security source said the bombs were the work of an urban terrorist wing of the Allied Democratic Forces rebels. The wounded included an […]

ALFRED LIBOMBO, Maputo | Monday 1.00pm. A PILOT binational agreement to promote the free movement of people and goods between Mozambique and South Africa has become bogged down in bureaucratic red tape and budget cuts, Mozambique’s national roads director, Lucas Nhamizinga, said on Monday. Confirming that the 1997 agreement has still not been implemented, Nhamizinga […]

MINING concern Lonmin, previously Lonrho, plans to improve the liquidity of Duiker Mining over the next three years as part of the holding company’s ongoing restructuring. As well as rebuilding the listed coal mining firm’s liquidity, Lonmin is also considering expanding Lonplats, the group’s platinum firm. Lonplats saw record profits last year. While permission has […]

SOARING temperatures have forced organizers of the Safari Rally to shorten the first and second legs of the competition through the hilly countryside to the southwest of Nairobi. With only 10 days to go before the start of the Safari, considered one of the toughest in the world championship circuit, temperatures have reached nearly 29C […]

A NEW political alliance seeking to oust President Bakili Muluzi at elections on May 18 was formally launched at a weekend rally, with a pledge to end hunger in Malawi. The alliance is between the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) of the late former dictator Kamuzu Banda and the Alliance for Democracy (AFORD), which has strong […]

BRITAIN’S “Black Widow” murder case could be at end with the arrest in Johannesburg of two men named in court as the hitmen hired to kill British private detective Barry Trigwell. The Sunday Times reports that Paul Petrus Rus (36) and Lorenz Sundkvidst (44) were arrested on Friday night after the government received an official […]

MEDICAL researchers seeking an Aids vaccine were lambasted on Monday by South African Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma for ignoring the region where the disease is most prevalent. “About 70% of the cases of Aids in the world are in sub-Saharan Africa, but world research into a vaccine is not into the type of virus found […]

A BUILDER single-handedly fought off three lions this week in the town of Marloth Park, which is in a game reserve near Malelane in Mpumalanga. Speaking from hospital on Saturday, Thomas Hlatswayo (22) said he was cycling along a road at on Wednesday night when he spotted three lions. Hlatswayo was carrying firewood tied in […]

INTERNATIONAL rating agency Standard & Poor’s on Wednesday reaffirmed South Africa’s BB+ long-term foreign currency rating and said the country’s outlook remains stable. Although the rating is one notch below investment grade, it was widely interpreted as positive by the markets as a possible downgrade had been expected. SA has investment grade ratings from Moody’s […]

BELGIAN Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene will arrive 24 hours later than he was expected in South Africa — meaning he will miss a concert of Belgian singer Helmut Lotti in Johannesburg on Sunday. Dehaene was unable to leave Brussels on Saturday evening as scheduled because of a technical problem with the military plane on which […]

SOUTH African packaging group Nampak said on Thursday that the competition board has approved its revised proposal to merge with United States-based Crown Cork & Seal. Nampak will take over the beverage can, aerosol and metal crowns operations of Crown Cork in South Africa. Crown Cork will continue to operate its existing food-can business independently.

THE Nigerian government has agreed to plans to dredge the river Niger, from the coast to the federal capital, Abuja, opening it up to major river boat traffic. The project will cost 8,3-billion naira (about $10-million), said Major-General Mohammed Buhari, chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund and a former military ruler of Nigeria. Contracts are […]

THREE people were killed and one injured when a light aircraft crashed on a farm outside Heilbron in the Free State on Saturday evening. The dead were identified as Gert van der Merwe (48) his wife Katy (59) and their son Corrie (24) who was piloting the aircraft. A friend, Gerhardus Labuschagne (22) sustained a […]

THE Democratic Party on Sunday announced that the leader and chairperson of the Freedom Front caucus in the Greater Pretoria Metropolitan Council have defected defected to join its ranks. Caucus leader Philip de Wet and chairperson Wickus Theron, who announced the move at a DP fundraiser on Saturday night, automatically lose their seats.

MINING production fell 1,0% in 1998 compared to the previous year, Statistics South Africa said on Thursday. However, mining production for the fourth quarter of 1998 reflected an increase of 5,7% after seasonal adjustment compared with the third quarter of 1998. This increase was mainly due to the contribution of platinum mines. The value of […]

FORMER military ruler Olusegun Obasanjo early Monday won the presidential nomination of Nigeria’s largest political party, setting him on course for the February 27 presidential elections, party officials said. Obasanjo won 1658 out of more than 2400 votes from delegates at the convention of the centre-left Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), roundly defeating former civilian vice […]

AUSTRALIA’S Samantha Riley scored a confidence-boosting victory over Olympic champion Penny Heyns in the 100-m breaststroke at the World Cup short course meet on Saturday. The world-record holder from Brisbane led from the gun and touched in 1:07.63 to edge out South African Heyns by 0.25 seconds.