Staff Reporter

THE surface of the Inyaka Bridge showed cracks more than a month before it collapsed, according to testimony at the inquiry into the disaster in Pretoria on Wednesday. Fourteen people died when the bridge, near Bushbuckridge, collapsed last July 6. Contract manager for construction company Concor Les Wardaugh testified that work on the bridge continued […]

CHINESE Vice President Hu Jintao, on a five-day official tour, attended the opening in Johannesburg of his country’s second consulate in South Africa on Wednesday.The vice president then went to Soweto to visit the Hector Petersen memorial, now a regular event on the itineraries of visiting dignitaries. Hu is heading a 70-member trade and business […]

LIBERIA’S ambassador to South Africa has accused white police or traffic officers of assaulting him, the foreign ministry said on Thursday. Llwellyn Witherspoon sent a written complaint to the ministry saying he was assaulted last month after he lost his way in Centurion, near Pretoria, a spokesperson said. Witherspoon claimed the officials told him to […]

THE Free State has become the third province to be rescued by central government following the effective collapse of its own financial administration. Cabinet has invoked section 100(1)(a) of the constitution, and may now instruct the provincial government on the steps it must take meet its obligations. Finance Minister Trevor Manuel will announce the details […]

A THAI princess and chemistry professor, Chulabhorn Mahidol, will be a keynote speaker at a science conference at the University of Cape Town next week, the Thai embassy announced on Thursday. The princess, youngest daughter of Thailand’s King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit, is professor of organic chemistry at Mahidol University in Bangkok and president of […]

INTERNATIONAL Boxing Federation junior featherweight champion Vuyani Bungu will try to gather boxing organisations titles in a bid to line up a fight with Briton Prince Naseem Hamed — a World Boxing Organisation featherweight — in July. Bungu faces contender Victor Llerena of Colombia on Saturday. At the pre-fight medical, promoter Rodney Berman said he […]

ANGLOGOLD shareholders on Wednesday voted in favour of buying international mineral group Minorco’s gold interest for $550-million. The move was supported by 99,9% of the issued shares represented at the meeting. Should the deal go ahead, Minorco interests in the Americas will fall under AngloGold management from January 1 1999. AngloGold will pay $150-million in […]

THE Namibian economy is projected to grow by between 2% and 3% during 1999 and overturning a dismal 1% growth recorded last year, Old Mutual Namibia economists predict. Old Mutual’s forecast far outstrips the 0,7% growth predicted for South Africa during the same period. Old Mutual’s investment manager Floris Bergh attributes the optimism for Namibian […]

WORLD champion Carl Fogarty finally lost a race in Wednesday’s test session at the Vodacom Winter Superbike Tests at Kyalami. The Ducati rider had to give way to American Colin Edwards on the factory Castrol Honda, who posted a fastest time of 1 minute 44,27 seconds. The primary battle is still between the Ducati and […]

COMMERCIALISATION of the Zambia Telecommunications Company (Zamtel) will not attract enough capital to rationalise operations, Zambia National Farmers Union’s president Ajay Vashee said on Tuesday. Vashee said commercialisation of Zamtel will not attract enough capital to extend its network to all farmers. “Similarly the contribution of $210-million to Zambia Electricity Supply Company should mean more […]

SOUTH African golf star Ernie Els, ranked world number five in the latest rankings, heads the European Tour money list after the Heineken Classic in Australia. Els has earned 169045. over the past year. FIFA WARNING COUNTRIES bidding to host the 2006 World Cup have been warned by FIFA that they will be struck off […]

FOREIGN military experts are serving in Ethiopia and presumably also in Eritrea as the two countries confront each other over their disputed border, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told said on Tuesday. “I assume the Eritreans have foreign technicians,” the prime minister said in an interview. “We have foreign technicians to train our pilots.”In January, […]

THE Red Cross in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, is assessing damage caused by Tuesday night’s floods near the town. At least 15 shacks were washed away in Copesville and there was severe damage at Bulwer, Edendale and Mountain Rise after a heavy downpour. Two people are believed to have drowned trying to cross a flooded bridge.

THE corpses of several white men believed to be mercenaries who fought along side Sierra Leonean rebels have been found washed up on beaches in Freetown, sources said on Wednesday.The bodies were found along Milton Margai, Juba and Lumley beaches. According to sources from the west African Ecomog intervention force, the mercenaries were to have […]

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) has set up a special court to arbitrate disputes related to economic development and market integration. Comesa secretariat member Onyango Matata said the Comesa Court of Justice, launched in September last year, the Lusaka-based court will be empowered to place sanctions on countries reneging on agreement […]

SEVENTH seed tennis star Amanda Coetzer won her first round Pan Pacific Open match against Magui Serna of Spain 6-2 6-1 on Tuesday. She faces Belgian Els Callens in the second round.

EMBATTLED South African soccer chief Joe Ndhlela refused to confirm on Tuesday suggestions that he could be relegated to the role of a clerk in the Premier Soccer League administration. The City Press newspaper reported the PSL chief executive faced the sack if he refused to accept a six-month contract, which restricts his powers of […]

THE Northern Transvaal Agricultural Union (NTAU) denied on Tuesday that commercial farmers in the province used juveniles as cheap farm labour. The denial follows reports to the contrary by the Human Rights Commission and non-governmental organisations in the province. NTAU spokeswoman, Ria van der Merwe, said in a statement on Tuesday that none of its […]

OLD Mutual Fund Managers — UK-based unit trust arm of Old Mutual International — was last week fined 20000 by an investment regulatory body for failing to correctly price the assets of four unit trusts under its management. Business Report reports that the British Investment Management Regulatory Organisation said the breaches occurred between July 1 […]

TANZANIA’S Dar es Salaam port will soon be on the Internet after commissioning an electronic transmission system for shipping manifests. This Advanced Cargo Information System connecting the port to others in neighbouring countries will facilitate internal and transit business. By co-ordinating and routing cargoes based on manifests, costs will be reduced and there will be […]

THE N1 highway south of Warmbaths in Northern Province was closed on Wednesday morning after 800 bags of highly explosive, powdered Xanthnate fell on to the road. Police spokesperson Captain Blackie Swart said waste disposal experts were called into remove the powder before it rained. People within a one-kilometre radius were evacuated. The powder — […]

MOZAMBIQUE’S ailing light aircraft charter service, TTA, threatened to return the company to the state on Tuesday unless it was granted domestic passenger routes. TTA was initially promised a share of domestic passenger routes when it was privatised in August 1997 but has been unable to pry licences for flights out of the national airline, […]

MPUMALANGA highway patrol has crashed and written off one of ten new hi-tech patrol vehicles — only 48 hours after receiving them. The patrol vehicles, which cost the province R1,2-million, are being punted as the most technologically advanced in the country with radar, computer tracking systems and surveillance cameras. The equipment however failed to prevent […]

THE number of companies and close corporations liquidated last year rose to 3351, a 12,4% rise from 1997, Statistics South Africa announced on Tuesday. Stats SA said that the increase was mainly due to a 38,5% increase in the total number of voluntary liquidations. Voluntary liquidations by companies jumped by 46,5% and those of close […]

SOUTH African Breweries announced to retailers on Monday that it is to increase the price of its wholesale beer by up to 10%. The rise could see the consumer paying considerably more for a beer after accounting for VAT and varying mark-ups. According to SAB the price of cans — both 340ml and long-toms — […]

THE controversial appointment of disgraced attorney Ramesh Vassen as consul general to India will continue as planned, Foreign Affairs Minister Alfred Nzo said on Tuesday. At a media conference in Pretoria, Nzo called objections to the appointment “political opportunism”, saying Vassen deserves a second chance. He was struck off the attorneys’ roll in 1996 for […]

A LAWSUIT by former employees of Thor Chemicals in Cato Ridge near Durban will go ahead in England, the British Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday. The British-based multinational appealed on Wednesday against a lower court ruling in July 1998 that the group of workers, who claim they suffered mercury poisoning at Thor’s Cato Ridge […]

DEADLOCK between the Justice Department and prosecutors seems likely after unions submitted a demand for a 25% salary increase. Justice Minister Dullah Omar, who has committed himself to professional-level salaries for prosecutors, said on SABC radio news on Tuesday that he cannot see how such a demand can be met, but will discuss the matter […]

THE Egyptian people “will never forgive me” if I visit Israel while hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads the government, President Hosni Mubarak said in on Tuesday. Mubarak made the remark at a meeting of Jewish community leaders in Paris in reply to a question on why he had not visited Israel, the Egyptian government […]

DEPUTY President Thabo Mbeki and visiting Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao signed several agreements on Monday to boost bilateral trade between the two countries. The bilateral agreements target air services, trade, economic and technical co-operation, and a joint economic and trade commission. Trade between the two countries stood at $1,8-billion last year.

RONNIE ELLIOTT, Pretoria | Wednesday 8.30pm “PEOPLE’s poet” Mzwakhe Mbuli denied on Wednesday that he was involved in a robbery at the First National Bank in Waverley in Pretoria on October 28 1997, implying he was framed. Mbuli, Happy Shikwambane and Ben Masiso are on trial in the Pretoria Regional Court in connection with the […]

THE United States will trigger Moslem wrath and pay a “heavy price” if the ailing spiritual guide of Egypt’s main armed Moslem fundamentalist group dies in his US prison cell, according to his American lawyer Ramsey Clark. Clark, a former US attorney general, was referring to Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (61), blind spiritual guide to […]