Staff Reporter

Katharine Whitehorn: FIRST PERSON So Arthur Koestler, giant thinker, whose Darkness at Noon helped to turn a generation of intellectuals away from communism, whose Thieves in the Night can make one almost understand Israel, whose forays into science and mysticism teased and intrigued us for three decades, turns out to have been a compulsive womaniser, […]

Wonder Hlongwa The growth of loan sharking to a R10- billion business in South African cities has prompted the Department of Trade and Industry to intervene and regulate the business. The proposed regulations, to be published by Minister of Trade and Industry Alec Erwin later this month, will be incorporated in a revision of the […]

Oral poetry has always played an important role in South African culture, write Richard Bowker and Peter Makurube When President Nelson Mandela entered his birthday bash at Gallagher Estate in July, he was led in by the boy-poet Samkhelo Mcandi, waxing lyrical about Madiba’s greatness. All in impeccable Xhosa. He was following in the footsteps […]

Gail Smith With everyone clamouring for the attention and income of the youth market (the black is silent), The Kwaito Storm is an event-in-waiting. Set to take place on Saturday night, October 31, at Johannesburg’s Electric Workshop, it promises to bring together some of the hippest, most happening of the blackoisie, kwaito’s latest and greatest, […]

Sharon Hammond The Kruger National Park will present its much-awaited proposal for a new policy on managing its elephant population on Saturday. This follows decades of highly emotional criticism for culling the animals in an effort to keep the population in the park at a fixed number of between 7 000 and 7 500. “We […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Johannesburg | Thursday 9.30pm. THE United Nations Security Council voted on Thursday extended sanctions against Libya for a further four months to press Tripoli to surrender two Lockerbie bombing suspects. UN Security Council president Sir Jeremy Greenstock noted that the 15 members were formally offering to suspend the sanctions as soon […]

SEGUN ADEYEMI, Lagos | Thursday 6.15pm. THE Nigerian government announced on Wednesday that it is to embark on an accelerated massive importation of fuel within the next few weeks in an effort to end the prolonged fuel scarcity in the country. Speaking from the capital Lagos, special adviser on petroleum matters Aret Adams said the […]

MIKE METELITS, Johannesburg | Thursday 3.00pm. A NEW twist in the Reserve Bank’s repo system of lending short-term money to banks emerged Wednesday, as the Bank overestimated market liquidity demands by about R300-million, offering R7,1-billion while tendering banks only took up R6,8-billion. This shortfall indicates that liquidity conditions in the market are easing, making banks […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Thursday 10.30am. THE Lesotho government and 11 opposition parties on Wednesday signed a draft bill for the creation of a transitional body to steer the kingdom to fresh elections. South African Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi, who chaired deliberations on the bill, said it will create a 24-member structure called […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 11.00am. DINGAAN THOBELA blew his much-hyped big comeback at Nasrec on Wednesday night, fighting to a draw with Argentina’s Carlos Baldomir. The scores were 115-113 to Baldomir, 116-112 to Thobela and 114-114. It was not a sparkling performance for the South African, who simply did not show the dynamism required […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 10.30am. THE 1998 Super-12 rugby draw, released on Tuesday by the New Zealand Rugby Football Union, sees the defending champions Canterbury Crusaders hosting The Chiefs in the opening match of the competition, which features regional sides from Australia and New Zealand. For a fourth consecutive year, New Zealand will host […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 11.30am. PRIZE money for the Comrades Marathon has increased dramatically, with R100000 now lined up for the winners of the mens’ and womens’ races. The Comrades Marathon Association on Tuesday announced that an increase in the entry fee from R75 to R80 has helped push the total prize money up […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 11.30am. BRAZILIAN Football Federation president Ricardo Texeirra will be part of a delegation that will visit South Africa in December on a fact-finding mission, and former Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira will arrive on November 20 to be interviewed for the Bafana Bafana coaching position, The Star reports. The visit […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 9.15pm. TWO sections of the Harmful Business Practices Act have been declared unconstitutional by Pretoria High Court Judge K van Dijkhorst, who refused to declare the entire Act to unconstitutional. Judge van Dijkhorst ruled that section 7(3) of the Act, which allows officers investigating in terms of the act automatic […]

President Nelson Mandela is to meet the chairman of the Congolese Democratic Coalition, Ernest Wamba dia Wamba.

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Luanda | Tuesday 5.30pm. ANGOLA’S National Assembly on Tuesday opened debate on a ruling party motion to strip the “special status” accorded to discredited Unita leader Jonas Savimbi. The ruling MPLA wants to divest Savimbi as “leader of the main opposition” with the right to a 400-strong bodyguard, for his failure to respect […]

DAVID LE PAGE, Johannesburg | Tuesday 6.00pm. THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange climbed nearly 2% on Tuesday, helped by a steadily falling yield on the R150, well below 16% at 4pm, and a steady rand-dollar exchange rate. According to Quintus Kilburn of Barnard Jacobs Mellet, the steadiness of the European bourses — now fueled by a […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lusaka | Tuesday 9.00pm. TWO days of talks aimed at ending the civil strife in the Democratic Republic of Congo ended Tuesday with the adoption, in principle, of a draft ceasefire agreement. A communique issued at the end of the talks said defence and foreign ministers from a dozen countries had also agreed […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 1.00pm. THE Springbok rugby squad for the grand slam tour to the United Kingdom in November was announced by Springbok manager Arthob Petersen on Saturday. The squad includes eight new caps, Eastern Province scrumhalf Chad Alcock, EP right wing Deon Kayser, Western Province centre Robbie Fleck, Western Province flanker Corne […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Dakar | Monday 8.00pm. BISSAU, quiet after a week of heavy fighting, braced itself for the first meeting, set for early Tuesday, between President Joao Bernardo Vieira and his rival General Ansumane Mane. However the venue for the meeting, seen as essential to ending the four-month-old conflict in Guinea-Bissau, remained at issue on […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 1.00pm. GRIQUALAND West and former South African cricket skipper Kepler Wessels led his side to a stunning 30-run Standard Bank league victory over home favourites Gauteng at the Wanderers on Friday night. Wessels topped the boards with a polished 76 and his effort helped the diamond farmers to score 200/6 […]

MIKE METELITS, Johannesburg | Friday 6.00pm. LOCAL markets continued to weaken on Friday as Asian markets were sharply split and European and US markets continued a downward trend. The Nikkei lost 150 points and the Hang Seng gained 150, while European markets were down by varying degrees. The FTSE-100 was down 58 points at 15:48 […]

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Monday 10.00am. OFFICERS of the West African intervention force Ecomog are preventing it from wiping out the forces of Sierra Leonean rebel Johnny Paul Koroma because of links to the diamond trade, soldiers alleged on Monday. Nigerian Ecomog soldiers on medical leave in Lagos said that some of their officers in […]

RONNIE ELLIOT, Pretoria | Monday 3.30pm. The government would abide by the ruling should a court try to stop the handing over of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report to President Nelson Mandela on Thursday. Justice Minister Dullah Omar would not be drawn of the merits of former president FW de Klerk’s Cape High […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, London | Monday 10.00pm. FIFA president Sepp Blatter dealt a blow to England’s chances of staging the 2006 World Cup on Monday when he emerged from a meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair to say it would be “logical” for the tournament to be held in Africa. Blatter said after a 45-minute […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Johannesburg | Sunday 9.00pm. FORMER president FW De Klerk is engaged in a last-ditch attempt to prevent the Truth and Reconciliation Commission from publishing an interim report which implicates him in apartheid-era bombings, the Sunday Times reports. De Klerk will apply for an interdict in the Cape High Court to stop […]

OWN CORRESPONDENTS, Kinshasa and Lusaka | Sunday 10.30pm. AUTHORITIES in the Democratic Republic of Congo have confiscated the passport of opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, who was due to fly to Brussels at the weekend. DRC immigration officials gave no explanation for the confiscation. During his trip, Tshisekedi was to have addressed the European Parliament. Tshisekedi, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Friday 9.00am. THE government will raise its low-cost housing subsidies by R1000 across the board from next April, Housing Minister Sankie Mtembi-Mahanyele announced on Thursday. The increase is to offset the effects of inflation and a consequent rise in the price of building materials. Speaking at the Institute for Housing of […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Mbabane | Sunday 7.30pm. SWAZILAND’S general election ended at 5:00pm on Saturday, after being suspended eight days ago when rain prevented many voters from casting their ballots. Votes cast during the quiet and generally slow day of voting will be counted with those from October 16. The results will be released “before the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Sunday 8.300pm. A STRIKE by thousands of municipal workers over non-payment of their October salaries turned violent on its second day on Saturday. On Friday workers found their pay had not been credited despite an announcement by a Harare city council spokesman on national radio that by Saturday they would be […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Friday 4.30pm. THE much-debated Broadcasting Bill was bulldozed through Parliament on Friday with a small concession made in that several amendments put forward by opposition parties were preserved. The National Party, Democratic Party, Freedom Front and Inkatha Freedom Party all voted against a motion of desirability on the bill, signalling […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Bulawayo | Sunday 7.00pm. SOUTH African police have found the container truck in which 18 Zimbabweans died of suffocation in Botswana on Tuesday, the Matabeleland North Province police commander, Alfred Musengi, said on Sunday. Musengi said the truck, believed to be South African, was found abandoned in that country. He added that police […]