Staff Reporter

A Fifa inspection team has described hotels in one of Nigeria’s venues for the World Youth Cup as “poor” and ordered the organisers to improve them within a month, state-run News Agency of Nigeria reported on Friday. “The hotels in the Ibadan centre are a shadow of their former selves, poor…but there is room for […]

UNDER-17 Meridian Cup holders Ireland beat South Africa’s Under-17 squad 2-1 on Thursday at the start of the 1999 Meridian tournament at Athlone stadium in Cape Town. In other matches, Italy and Nigeria drew 1-1 in Bellville and the scheduled meeting between Portugal and Ghana was postponed due to the non-arrival of the Ghanaian team.

A STRIKE by staff at the Beit Bridge border post between South Africa and Zimbabwe, which caused a backlog of hundreds of trucks, ended late on Thursday night. All of the 110 workers at the border post stopped working for most of Thursday afternoon over dissatisfaction with affirmative action and an alleged lack of progress […]

South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela made a brief stopover in Nigeria early Sunday on his way home from the World Economic Forum meeting.

THE Dutch Reformed Church’s official newspaper, Die Kerkbode, celebrates its 150th birthday this month. The church mouthpiece, which is South Africa’s oldest weekly newspaper, was first published on January 13 1849 under the title De Gereformeerde Kerkbode,. Its aim was to counter liberal thinking that placed a high value on human sovereignty and questioned the […]

MOZAMBIQUE’S navy commander Rear-Admiral Pascoal Jose Nhalungo is in critical condition in a Maputo hospital after a group of unknown gunmen shot him on Wednesday night. The Mozambican’s Defence Force said on Friday that Nhalungo was shot at point blank range in his car in a quiet Maputo suburb. His is in intensive care at […]

MICHAEL METELITS, Johannesburg | Saturday 5.30m. SOUTH Africa took a 3-1 lead in the One-Day International (ODI) series with the West Indies with a commanding 99 run win on Saturday at St George’s Park. Herschelle Gibbs and Hansie Cronje carried the day batting for South Africa, breaking a 3rd wicket record with 160 as Gibbs […]

FORMER soccer player Hilton Grainger (50) was shot dead in what appears to be a botched hijacking attempt on Thursday morning. Grainger was accosted by three men, described by witnesses as “very well dressed”, in his garage just before 7am. They fired two shots at him before fleeing without taking anything. Grainger’s watch, jewellery and […]

THE Independent Electoral Commission expects to register at least 70% or 1,1-million of all potential voters in Mpumalanga following a surge in last minute applications at polling stations in the province. The province was, however, unable to provide detailed figures indicating exactly how many voters had registered by Sunday because of minor communication hitches. “Initial […]

THE Siza Water Company won a 30-year privatisation contract on Friday for water and waste water services provision to the Dolphin Coast — the first contract of its kind. The borough north of Durban includes Ballito, Chaka’s Rock, Salt Rock, Uhlali, Sheffield Beach, as well as the Dolphin Coast municipal area, and has a population […]

ZIMBABWE Iron and Steel Company (Ziscosteel) is planning to extend its operations into Namibia and is considering the possibility of setting up a steel smelter plant. The firm has already entered the Namibian market through Ondangwa-based Lancashire Steel Namibia, a joint venture with Zebra Holdings. Ziscosteel CEO, Dr Gabriel Masanga, said that expansion into Namibia […]

THE five victims of a slaughter carried out by Islamist extremists on Friday night in the Algerian town of Bekhaitia were all children aged from five to 14, press reports said on Sunday. Security services had not given any details of the victims or the killings, which took place 200km from Algiers.Press reports said the […]

SWEDISH aid organisation, Sida, has extended a N$2,9-million concessional loan to the Namibian Stock Exchange to upgrade its computers for share trading and administration. The loan, to be repaid over 10 years, is expected to boost the exchange’s contribution to Namibia’s economic development. Phase One of the new computer systems — equity trading and client […]

THE International Panel of Eminent Personalities (IPEP) established by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to investigate the 1994 genocide in Rwanda left for Kigali on Sunday on its first fact-finding mission after holding its inaugural session in Addis Ababa. The six-member panel under the chairmanship of Ketumile Masire, former president of Botswana, will later […]

FIGHTING — light arms fire followed by shelling — broke out on Sunday between Guinea-Bissau government forces loyal to President Joao Bernardo Vieira and army rebels in the capital Bissau, sources in the west African city said.The clashes were the first since a November ceasefire. Thousands have gone to Bissau’s port, controlled by Senegalese troops […]

GOLD producer Goldfields posted headline earnings of R188-million for the last quarter of 1998, 25% down on the September quarter, it was announced in Johannesburg on Thursday. While gold output remained much the same, Goldfields was affected by a 4% decline in the gold price receipt, the company said. Maiden interim dividend of 50 cents […]

SOUTH Africa’s first home grown satellite is set to spend at least the next 10 days earthbound after yet another aborted launch. Sunsat, developed at Stellenbosch University, was to have been launched last year, but continual weather problems have seen the launch delayed innumerable times. The latest scheduled launch, on Thursday, was aborted after one […]

THE chairman of a private Zambian airline David Torkoph who was arrested by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) on Tuesday, has reportedly fled the country for Harare. The Zambian newspaper The Post reported on Friday that DEC spokesperson Mukutulu Sinyani, who confirmed that Torkoph was detained, said he was not aware that Torkoph had left […]

GOLD producer Western Areas was given long-term foreign and local currency ratings by Duff & Phelps Credit Rating on Thursday. The foreign currency rating is BBB-, and for local currency BBB. Western Areas said on Thursday night that the foreign currency rating is the highest attainable by a South African company given the sovereign-risk ceiling […]

A STUDENT who was held hostage at the women’s hostel at the University of Venda on Monday now has to face a disciplinary hearing, despite her ordeal, for allowing a man into her room without permission. The student, who is doing her postgraduate degree, may also face charges of harbouring a wanted criminal. She was […]

KENYAN students protest the destruction of a forest outside Nairobi and alleged corrupt land deals clashed with police for the second consecutive day here on Sunday.At least 30 students were injured on Saturday when police baton-charged and tear-gassed hundreds of students trying to enter Karura forest in the northern fringe of the city to plant […]

SAM Molokomme won the Cartoria Half Marathon in Pretoria quite comfortably on Saturday morning, running pretty close to Matthews Temane’s record of 63:38 and only missing the R1000 incentive by 31 seconds. The second place was grabbed in the closing stages by Simon “Baby Face” Mphulanyane, who is on the comeback trail and might just […]

INDUSTRIAL gold production will begin in Niger from 2001, according to Burkina Faso’s minister of mines, who estimates that 90 tons of the precious metal lie in three sites in the Komabandou zone, near the borders with Mali. International companies have been prospecting over the last four years, Mai Manga Boukar said on Thursday. Oil […]

NORTHERN Bulls coach Eugene van Wyk expressed concern on Thursday about a lack of depth in player resources for the Super 12 league. Van Wyk said most of the Northern Bulls side will come from the Blue Bulls of Pretoria. Only two props and one backline player from the smaller provinces in the region — […]

UNISA named Antony Melck as the new vice chancellor and principal on Friday. Melck, currently acting principal of the university, will begin his duties in March on a two year contract.

EGYPTIAN firefighters doused a blaze overnight at an oil pipeline in the desert south of Cairo. Police said it took the team more than 10 hours to extinguish the fire, caused by an explosion on Thursday afternoon at the Mostorod pipeline in the Zahraa al-Maadi area. Energy Minister Hamdi al-Banbi told the government newspaper Al-Ahram […]

FIFA has announced the soccer rankings for African nations, placing South Africa second, and Nigeria a surprising 10th. Morocco snatched first place from Bafana Bafana, while current holders of the African Cup of Nations, Egypt, are fourth. The full list of rankings is: 1 Morocco, 2 South Africa, 3 Tunisia, 4 Egypt, 5 Zambia, 6 […]

THE 20th session of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) opens in Nairobi Monday in the presence of environment ministers and government representatives from all over the world. The week-long council meeting provides the international community an opportunity to address major emerging environmental policies. Attention will be focused on the result […]

NINE African countries will send advisers to the Comoros within 10 days to prepare for a peace conference in the strife-torn Indian Ocean archipelago. OAU chief Salim Ahmed Salim said in Pretoria on Thursday that the first task of the team, led by South Africa, will be to evaluate security on the breakaway island of […]

ERNIE LETS IT SLIP AFTER three good rounds at the Heineken Classic, Ernie Els finished with a disappointing round of 3 over par 75 to slip back into 2nd place. Australian Jarrod Moseley shot a 3 under 69 to get to 14 under and take the title, one ahead of Ernie, Berhard Langer and another […]

Germaine Greer:SITE SEEING I’m not impressed with the general availability of books online. I’m glad a United Kingdom edition of Amazon’s online bookshop was launched because it was infuriating not being able to buy books from UK distributors on the United States site. But I find this site slow. Virtually all its titles are available […]

DEPUTY President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday officially launched a revised government website from the State Theatre in Pretoria, saying it will help government communications. It carries legislation, records of parliamentary proceedings, speeches, press releases and background on members of the government, national and provincial. Most of it works.