Staff Reporter

THE sale of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines’ (ZCCM) remaining mines is expected to effectively end a crisis period in the Zambian economy, Barclays Bank said on Tuesday. According to a bank newsletter, the sale of Nkana and Nchanga mines — previous to the sale they were a key obstacle to donor aid — has now […]

TANZANIA’s foreign reserves reached $586-2-million at the end of last November, an equivalent of 23,4 weeks of the country’s import requirement, the central bank reported. In a monetary policy statement presented to parliament on Tuesday, the Bank of Tanzania said gross foreign reserves improved from $502,5-million, the equivalent of 16,7 weeks of imports, recorded in […]

SCOTLAND captain Bryan Redpath has warned his team’s Five Nations rivals to expect a much improved performance from the Scots this season. Redpath, who joined Wales captain Rob Howley, England’s Lawrence Dallaglio, France’s Raphael Ibanez and Ireland’s Paddy Johns for a sponsorship launch in London on Monday, spelled out to each of them what they […]

THE launch of South Africa’s first home-grown satellite, Stellenbosch University’s Sunsat, has been postponed yet again. In the 12th delay since the new year, the launch was once again aborted due to unfavourable weather conditions.

SWAZILAND’s national Olympic committee will decide on Wednesday whether to fire its president, David Sibandze, following his resignation from the International Olympic Committee on Sunday. Sibandze (66) resigned along with three other members at the weekend in the worst corruption scandal to rock the IOC in its 105-year history. IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch also […]

President Nelson Mandela left Pretoria late on Wednesday for a brief visit to Germany and Switzerland.

DISSIDENTS of Angola’s Unita movement, who last year disavowed rebel chief Jonas Savimbi, on Tuesday elected the leaders of the group they have named the Unita Renewal Committee. The dissidents, including ex-aides to Savimbi who formed a splinter group as Angola plunged back into civil war last year, elected Silvestre Gabriel Samy the secretary-general of […]

CASUALTY figures in the Sierra Leonean capital rose dramatically on Wednesday as mortar fire was heard on the western edge of the Freetown peninsula. This comes a day after the Nigerian-led intervention force warned it would launch an offensive against the rebels. In the first official death toll since fighting broke out in Freetown on […]

DRIEFONTEIN Consolidated gold mine reported on Wednesday that its profits are up 9% to R242-million in the quarter ending in December. However, headline earnings were down at 63 cents a share against 68 cents a share in the September quarter. An interim dividend of 75 cents a share was declared. Gold output rose 13% to […]

COMOROS interim President Tadjidine Ben Said Massonde has postponed the election for the successor to Mohamed Taki Abdoulkarim who died last November. Tadjidine said on Wednesday: “My interim period was to last for three months and enable the organisation of the presidential vote,” he said. “But … it is impossible to organise elections in which […]

TREVOR Phillips, former chief executive Officer of the Professional Soccer League (PSL), launched a company on Tuesday that will be one of the first African-based sports management groups to apply for Fifa accreditation. “The company will focus on providing the soccer industry with a two-pronged service — player management and sports marketing,” Phillips said. “While […]

FORCES of the Wildlife Conservation Administration in Sudan have foiled an attempt by a group of tourists to smuggle 100 antelopes to Saudi Arabia across the Red Sea. Colonel Abdulazim Awad, director of poaching control at the administration, put the value of the gazelle antelopes at $50000. He said on Monday that the smugglers were […]

ZIMBABWEAN attorney general said on Wednesday that he will order an investigation into the torture in detention of two journalists. Chinamasa said he will direct police to investigate accusations by Mark Chavunduka (34) editor of the independent Standard newspaper, and reporter Ray Choto (36) that they were tortured by the military after reporting on an […]

THE bodyguard of assassinated United Democratic Movement KwaZulu-Natal national secretary Sifiso Nkabinde was discharged from hospital on Tuesday. Simphiwe Dlamini, along with his mother Lendele, were both wounded in the attack outside a supermarket in Richmond that left Nkabinde dead. Radio reports indicated on Tuesday that Dlamini has gone to ground following his release.

A BOMB threat by an anonymous caller on Monday disrupted work at the Liberia Telecommunications Corporation in Monrovia, the country’s only communications link to the outside world. The caller said the bomb would go off at 14.00 GMT inside the building, but nothing had happened. The caller first phoned the corporation’s managing director, Charles Roberts, […]

THOUSANDS of Democratic Republic of Congo soldiers have “invaded” the border town of Zemio in the Central African Republic, where they are robbing and raping residents, the town’s MP said on Wednesday. On January 8, several thousand soldiers from DRC “invaded (Zemio) … where they now behave as if they are on conquered territory,” said […]

TWO health workers were beaten to death by a crowd in Mozambique’s northern province of Cabo Delgado for allegedly contaminating their wells with cholera bacteria, Radio Mozambique reported on Tuesday. The radio said the incident occurred in the district of Montepuez, one of several areas in the province stricken by cholera, where the health workers […]

PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela on Tuesday cancelled his scheduled trip to Germany in response to unrest in the wake of the the assassination of United Democratic Movement leader Sifiso Nkabinde in KwaZulu-Natal on the weekend. Mandela was due to arrive in Baden-Baden in Germany on Thursday.

THE Angolan government abandoned the 1994 peace accord on Tuesday and said it would use its military might to seize land held by Unita rebels. Faustino Muteka, minister for territorial administration, told parliament that an official declaration ending the validity of the 1994 Lusaka agreement would be issued before the end of February. The army […]

ZAMBIAN President Frederick Chiluba on Friday cited a prolonged donor aid squeeze and declining foreign exchange earnings from copper as among factors that led to the country’s poor economic performance during 1998. Despite projections that the economy would grow by 5% in 1998, it only registered a 2% growth rate. Chiluba reported that inflation, which […]

THE claims of armed robber Collin Chauke that he was assaulted while being arrested last week will be investigated by the Independent Complaints Directorate, SABC news reported on Monday. Chauke had visible abrasions above his right eye when he was spotted by press outside the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday. Police, however, said he probably […]

A SHARE swap announced last night between Johnnic and its 58%-held Omni Media subsidiary will result in MIH Investments becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Nasionale Pers. MIH Investments holds only shares in MIH (Multichoice Industrial Holdings) and M-Web. The swap means Omni Media is giving up 61,7-million shares in MIH Investments for 90,9-million M-Cell […]

A BAN on the export of raw timber by Cameroon’s parliament came into force last week. However, export licenses issued until 19 January, the day before ban, remain valid until 30 June. Passed in 1994, the new bill aims at promoting local timber processing. Apart from some 20 species explicitly barred from export, 600 others […]

SOUTH Africa’s first homegrown satellite, Stellenbosch University’s Sunsat, remains earthbound after the 11th postponement of the launch since the new year. Officials at the Vandenburg Air Force Base in California said the launch of a Nasa Delta II rocket carrying Sunsat and a Boeing Argos spacecraft was delayed due to unfavourable weather conditions, and will […]

WORLD Bank President James Wolfensohn has proposed a global approach towards an improved and efficient development. ” … There is the need to adopt a vision beyond projects, a global approach aimed at improving the efficiency of development activities,” Wolfensohn said in Abidjan on Sunday at the end of a three-day official visit to Cote […]

A HARDLINE Palestinian guerrilla group accused Libya on Monday of arresting members of the organisation and confiscating funds. Atef Zaki, a spokesperson in Lebanon for the Fatah Revolutionary Council of Abu Nidal, said members were arrested in August 1998 and funds of an unspecified amount seized. It said the moves came despite the fact that […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 8.00pm. SOUTH Africa’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Sam Ramsamy said on Tuesday he is ashamed that four Africans were among the six IOC members suspended in the votes-for-favours scandal. “I view the IOC membership as a total entity – not a continental grouping,” Ramsamy said. “On the other hand, […]

FLIGHT problems on Monday forced the ministers of defence and foreign affairs to cancel a trip to Uganda, where they were to stand in for President Nelson Mandela. “First they had flight clearance problems with some countries to the north and then there was a major technical problem with the aircraft they had chartered. It […]

ELLIS Ferreira and Chris Haggard, with their respective partners, won through to the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles draw at the Australian Open tennis championships on Monday. Ferreira and his American partner, Debbie Graham, downed fifth seeds Rick Leach of the US and Larisa Neiland of Latvia 6-4 2-6 6-4 while Haggard and Belgian Els […]

SUSPECTED Unita rebels killed at least 30 people travelling aboard two trucks on the road between Saurimo and Lwena in eastern Angola, radio reports indicated on Monday. Police in Luanda confirmed the ambush and stated that some of the members were among the casualties, but could give no details of the attack. Highway attacks generally […]

POLICE captain Johannes Hanekom, in charge of the 1997 identity parade in which people’s poet Mzwakhe Mbuli appeared in connection with the armed robbery of the First National Bank’s Waverley branch, admitted on Tuesday that the parade had been “irregular” and had contravened police regulations. Hanekom was testifying before the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on the […]

BEER giant South African Breweries Ltd said on Friday it plans to merge its interests in two Polish breweries, Lech Browary and Browary Tyskie, into one company with a single distribution system. SAB said the move follows the thumbs-up from the supervisory boards of Browary Tyskie Gorny Slask SA and Lech Browary Wielkopolski SA to […]