Staff Reporter

JOHANNESBURG sprinter Wendy Hartman upstaged several bigger-name athletes at the Absa Permit meet held on Saturday afternoon in Bloemfontein. The 22-year-old athlete twice upset sprint darling Heide Seyerling, winning the 100m in a personal best 11,29 seconds. “I have done powerlifting as my second sport for some time now, and this has given me much […]

TANZANIAN police and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigations are holding one person for questioning in connection with last year’s US embassy bombing Dar es Salaam, press reports said on Monday. Tanzania’s Criminal Investigations Department director Rajabu Adadi would not name the suspect and also refused to say whether the he was one of […]

A HUGE debt burden remains a major impediment to attainment of sustainable socio-economic development of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) members, said vice- president Christon Tembo on Monday. Tembo, opening the sixth Comesa council of ministers meeting in Zambia, said most of the organisation’s member states used over 50% of their […]

ZAMBIAN President Frederick Chiluba on Friday apologised to the Zambian people for the mistakes that his government has made over the years. In an uncharacteristic address at the opening of parliament, Chiluba admitted that the quality of life for most Zambians has deteriorated further last year despite the government’s commitment to reverse the trends. “Along […]

WESTERN Areas gold firm sustained its steady performance improvement for the fourth successive quarter in the three months to December, boosting production, curbing costs and posting a further profit increase. Gold production for the quarter rose by 115kg or 3,8% to 3134kg. Gold revenue increased from R336,1-million to R336,7-million, helped by the higher production and […]

THE army, police and traffic services on Monday patrolled the streets of Rustenburg in the North-West province after clashes between taxi operators and mine employees on Sunday night. Taxi operators reportedly assaulted and robbed a number of mine workers who were running lift clubs to work. Taxi operators claim that by charging for the rides, […]

INVESTMENT banking group Investec Botswana is to launch Botwana’s first private bank on February 1, Investec Private Banking (SA) MD Steve Helibron announced on Monday. Investec established itself in Botswana in 1995 and is dual-listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Helibron said in a statement that although the bank will […]

MARTIN Dreyer became the first paddler from the Cape to win South Africa’s premier endurance canoe challenge by overpowering a machine-like Natalian challenge on the final day of the three-day race from Inanda Dam to Blue Lagoon on Saturday. Dreyer and Gauteng’s Mark Perrow are considering teaming up for victory when the KwaZulu Natal epic […]

SAUDI Arabia has lifted a ban imposed on imports of live animals and birds from South Africa, traders in the kingdom said on Tuesday. “The sanction has been lifted nearly two weeks ago,” one trader said in Dammam. A copy of the memorandum said: “We have received a letter…regarding the lifting of a temporary ban […]

THE National president of the 35000-strong vigilante organisation, Mapogo-a-Matamaga Business Shield, on Monday joined the United Democratic Movement. UDM provincial leader Reverend Kingsley Masemola welcomed Montle Magolego and said Mapogo-a-Matamaga has a role to play in governance. “The whole province and the UDM in particular acknowledge that Mapogo-a-Mathamaga has successfully eradicated crime in this province. […]

HEAT ON THE BUREAUCRATS SENIOR public service managers will have to work for pay rises in future, according to Public Service and Administration Minister Zola Skweyiya. Signing a performance agreement with his director general, Paseka Ncholo, on Tuesday, Skweyiya said he believes the new regime will improve relations between directors general and ministers and reduce […]

EAST and Central African leaders have suspended economic sanctions imposed on Burundi almost three years ago, official sources said at the end of a summit of heads of states of the region held in Arusha, northern Tanzania. The decision was taken on Saturday, based on a report submitted by former Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere, who […]

CIVIL servants in north-east Nigeria have abandoned their cars and taken to cycling to work because of the scarcity of fuel in the region. In Borno State, a semi-desert region on the border with Chad, fuel scarcity is so bad that pedal power has replaced motorised transport for all but the most senior of officials, […]

KENYAN President Daniel arap Moi paid an official visit to Eritrea on Sunday for talks with President Isayas Afeworki on the Ethiopian-Eritrean border conflict. Moi appealed to Afeworki to exercise restraint to avoid an outbreak of hostilities, local radio said. Moi said he had delivered a similar message to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi when […]

MILO, the six-month-old Jack Russell terrier who underwent open heart surgery at the University of Cape Town last week, died overnight. The puppy died of heart failure shortly after landing at Johannesburg International Airport while being moved from Cape Town to Onderstepoort veterinary research institute near Pretoria.

A RESCUE team on Monday reached the site of a United Nations cargo plane downed on January 2 in Angola, the second shot down in a month, a UN spokesman said. The team was composed of 25 people who had traveled earlier to Bailundo, a stronghold of the rebel group, Unita. No other details are […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Monday 7.30pm. ZIMBABWEAN newspaper executive Clive Wilson, who was freed on Monday after being detained over a report of an alleged coup plot, vowed that Zimbabwe’s independent press will not be cowed. “Not for a moment,” said the British-born former editor in response to a question at a news conference at […]

MANUFACTURING concern CS Manufacturing opened South Africa’s first commercial cassava starch factory in the Northern Province on Friday. The investment in the factory is estimated at R28-million. CS Manufacturing MD Jim Casey said the new factory will produce 60 tons of starch a day, with 50% of the factory’s capacity to be sourced from surrounding […]

THE South African Revenue Service announced on Friday that it is to outsource its entire dispatch function to Paragon Business Forms in an initial contract worth approximately R60-million over two years. The contract, which also includes warehousing and distribution, will see the SARS phase out its inhouse computerised forms operations early this year. Paragon’s major […]

FRANKLIN Sonn, flamboyant former ambassador to the United States, has been appointed to the board of directors of both Absa Group and Absa Bank, it was announced on Friday. Absa chairman Danie Cronje said in a statement that Absa is “delighted to have a man of such stature and vision serving on our board”.

ETHIOPIA is to receive $255-million in long-term lending from the Abidjan-based African Development Bank for the implementation of projects in agriculture, transport and public utilities, according to an agreement signed in Addis Ababa on Friday. The agreement stipulates that the Ethiopian government receive $235-million as loan and $20-million as grants to pay for project studies […]

THE survival of a young Senegalese stowaway who hid for some five hours in the landing gear of an Airbus bound from Dakar to Lyon is almost a miracle, French doctors say. The stowaway, about 15, was found unconscious “in bad shape but alive” on January 17. After eight days in hospital, doctors on Sunday […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 9.00pm. A FORMER member of the Afrikanerweerstandsbeweging (AWB) who boasts he planted at least 32 bombs in the run-up to the country’s first democratic elections in 1994, has been granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Dries Kriel was given indemnity from prosecution for a spate of bombings […]

BRITISH actress Helen Mirren slated the European small arms trade on Saturday, blaming it for fuelling South Africa’s rampant crime. “European countries are very culpable for the spread of arms throughout the world and it’s time to stop them,” she told a press conference in Johannesburg. Mirren, star of the Prime Suspect television series, is […]

DUTCH football giants Ajax Amsterdam completed a two-match tour of South Africa with a 3-2 victory over a Cape Town selection at Athlone Stadium on Wednesday. Jasper Gronkjaer put the four-time European Cup holders ahead after two minutes and former South Africa striker Grant Young levelled just before half-time. Gronkjaer struck again early in the […]

LIFE assurance giant Old Mutual is still trying to persuade the government to grant it the approval it needs to list in London this year, the finance ministry said this week. “They have to convince government why they want to move,” a ministry spokesperson said. He added that Finance Minister Trevor Manuel would not respond […]

THE funeral of slain United Democratic Movement secretary general, Sifiso Nkabinde, will be held in Richmond next Sunday, the party’s Eastern Cape spokesperson Mabandla Gogo said on Sunday. A memorial service will be held in Umtata on Thursday, he said as he appealed for calm and restraint among UDM supporters. “His death must be accepted […]

FORMER African Nations Cup champions Cameroon were held to a draw with Eritrea this weekend in a second-round qualifying match for the 2000 finals. Cameroon were held 0-0 in Asmara while Nigeria defeated Burundi 2-0 in Abeokuta and Senegal and Burkina Faso drew 1-1 in Dakar. Frenchman Pierre le Chantre selected only European-based professionals for […]

MILO, the six-month-old Jack Russell puppy who underwent open heart surgery on Thursday, is showing an improvement, the University of Cape Town’s medical school said on Friday. Milo, who has a rare congenital condition which causes defects in all four chambers of his heart, was in a critical condition on Friday morning. University spokesperson Paddy […]

GARBA Lawal and Finidi George scored to give Nigeria a 2-0 victory over Burundi on Saturday and moved the 1996 champions to the top of Group 5 in African Cup qualifying. The 1994 champions, who withdrew the week before the 1996 tournament and were banned from the 1998 finals because of it, improved to 1-1-0 […]

AN officer of Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organisation pleaded guilty in a Masvingo court on Thursday to assaulting six newspaper staffers on Wednesday. Antony Jacob Gono pleaded guilty to six charges of common assault. He was refused bail and remanded for sentencing on Friday. Gono allegedly entered the newpaper offices and assaulted the staffers after accusing […]

THE Pretoria Regional Court on Friday ruled that people’s poet Mzwakhe Mbuli will remain in Pretoria Central Prison following an application by Mbuli that he be moved because his fans will not leave him alone. Mbuli’s lawyer, Wessie Wessels, requested that his client be moved to a police station to isolate him from the attention […]