Staff Reporter

bus Patrick Bond Last week, while global bureaucratic financial elites had trouble even pretending they possessed the tools to fix the world economy’s cracked engine, some passengers at the back of the bus debated whether to hijack the stalled vehicle or set out on foot. Urgent strategic planning for progressive resistance to globalised finance occurred […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Wednesday 5.00pm. SOUTH African markets bucked an negative day on international markets to end firmer across the board as a long-awaited cut in the repo rate fuelled expectations that an interest rate cut is imminent. Dealers said that although the 25 basis point fall in the repo rate was only a […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 10.15pm. SOUTH Africa’s three-time World Matchplay Championships winner Ernie Els will meet rising European star Lee Westwood in the quarterfinals of this year’s event after Westwood thrashed Australian Stuart Appleby eight and seven on Thursday. Dimunitive Welshman Ian Woosnam, who replaced German Bernhard Langer at the last minute, beat Northern […]

LEONARD NDZHUKULA, Nelspruit | Thursday 10.00pm. THE African National Congress in Mpumalanga on Thursday strongly denied a Nelspruit newspaper report that accused Premier Mathews Phosa of being involved in secret business deals with Alan Gray, suspended chief executive officer of the Mpumalanga Parks Board. It also denied reports in the Mpumalanga News that Phosa was […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Goma | Thursday 7.00pm. REBELS in the Democratic Republic of Congo who this week captured the strategic eastern town of Kindu, are still ready to negotiate with President Laurent Kabila, a spokesman said on Thursday. The rebels’ position on negotiations “has not changed” after their victory in Kindu, said Ernest Wamba dia Wamba, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Thursday 7.30pm. A MEMBER of the group responsible for the Bronkhorstspruit cash-in-transit heist in July last year was given R50000 of the spoils, even though he did not take part in the robbery itself, the Pretoria High Court heard on Thursday. Jerry Mashigo, who has turned state witness, said that while […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 7.00pm. THREE Swiss women tourists leaving the Umfolozi game reserve on Wednesday afternoon were attacked and abducted by five men, and two of them gang-raped. According to KwaZulu-Natal police spokesman, the women, travelling in a hired car, were fired upon 200m from the gate of the reserve around 3pm, forcing […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Thursday 3.00pm. IN a landslide vote on Thursday, 99,5% of Sanlam policy holders approved the assurance giant’s proposal to demutualise. The demutualisation proposal, which will see Sanlam convert into an ordinary, listed company with shareholders instead of members, required only a 75% approval. Although not required by law to hold a […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday 9.00pm. POLICE on Thursday revealed evidence that crime in Johannesburg is being reduced and the police force becoming more effective. Nationally, the numbers of cash-in-transit heists and bank robberies dropped nearly 50% in the period January to July 1998 from the same period in 1997. Cash heists were down 57,8% […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 10.45pm. THE Natal Sharks will be fired-up for their big Currie Cup rugby match against Western Province at Newlands Saturday with the return of Springbok skipper, number eight Gary Teichmann and midfield bonecrusher Pieter Muller returning to the pack. Teichmann replaced Brad MacLeod-Henderson who played a sterling game last Saturday […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 8.00pm. THE NSPCA has been given court permission to seize 30 young elephants whose training in captivity at Hartebeespoort near Johannesburg has created controversy around the world. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals won an urgent interdict against African Game Services, the company which owns the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 10.15pm. OPPOSITION-allied Swaziland Solidarity Network on Wednesday asked for South Africa to mediate the rising tension in Swaziland ahead of Friday’s parliamentary vote, amid rumours of human rights violations by Swazi troops and a crackdown on opposition leaders. Earlier on Wednesday the People’s United Democratic Movement (Pudemo), Swazi’s strongest opposition […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Wednesday 7.00pm. A PAIR of Tanzanian Siamese twins, joined in an extremely rare manner, arrived in Cape Town on Tuesday where they will be separated at the Red Cross Children’s Hospital. The twins, eight-month-old girls named only as Helen and Agnes, are joined at the pelvis. The twins, however, are facing […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 10.15am. SOUTH Africa’s Amanda Coetzer, ranked 13th in women’s world tennis, adavanced to the second round of the European Championships in Zurich on Tuesday when she beat Natascha Zvereva of Belarus 7-5, 6-4 in the first round. Coetzer and her opponent traded serves twice in the first set before the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 7.45pm. TWO Durban High Court judges on Wednesday said that they made a mistake in co-signing a letter earlier in the year opposing the nomination of Judge Vuka Tshabalala as Natal’s Deputy Judge President. Speaking at Judicial Services Commission in Pretoria, Judge Brian Galgut and Judge Jan Hugo said they […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Wednesday 11.00pm. THIRTY-ONE people were involved in the careful planning which led to the R17,4 million Bronkhorstspruit cash-in-transit heist last July, the Pretoria High Court heard on Wednesday. Jerry Mashigo told the court he had known two of the accused, Dennis Nqobezi and Thabo Stimela, for about a year. He met […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Wednesday 10.00pm. THE mothers of two girls who went missing 10 years ago have requested the son of the alleged murderer be subjected to narco-analysis, a form of deep hypnosis, to try to establish the truth of what happened. Flippie van Rooyen, the son of paedophile Gert van Rooyen, is standing […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Wednesday 9.30pm. ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe, who returned home from the Democratic Republic of Congo on Wednesday, has vowed to continue supporting the DRC’s embattled President Laurent Kabila. The meeting between Mugabe and Kabila in Kabila’s southern stronghold, Lubumbashi, took place hours after the Tutsi-led rebels captured the town of Kindu, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 10.30am. ITCHINESS for a rates cut from Reserve Bank governor Chris Stals is beginning to increase, now that liquidity in the money market has improved and the rand gained in strength. The repo rate has now been stuck at 21,855% since the beginning of September, due to the Bank’s policy […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Wednesday 12.15pm. THE reformist Nigerian military government of General Abdulsalami Abubakar is searching hard for billions of dollars in public monies stolen by cronies of former ruler General Sani Abacha. Information Minister John Nwodo says the government is busy seeking the assistance of the countries in which the money is being […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Wednesday 10.00pm. NIGERIAN Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka arrived back in Nigeria on Wednesday to a tumultuous welcome, greeted by thousands of friends supporters as he ended almost four years in exile. Soyinka, the most prominent critic of the late dictator General Sani Abacha, flew into Lagos from London. Thousands turned out […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 12.30pm. INLAND teams were generally more successful in BobSave Super Bowl weekend premiliminary round matches, while most coastal sides turned belly up. Spareco Black Leopards worked hard against Matsena Giant Killers at Ga-Kgapane stadium, but eventually triumphed 4-1 on penalties after a no-goal game. In Pietersburg, Ria Stars pulled off […]

President Nelson Mandela said in Durban on Tuesday that he is optimistic a solution will be reached to end the policital crisis in Lesotho.

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 7.30pm. THE World Bank and other interested parties are planning a damage assessment mission to the battered kingdom of Lesotho, a senior bank official said in Cape Town on Tuesday. Nat Colleta, the manager of the bank’s post-conflict assessment unit, told a conference on the restructuring of conflict-torn societies […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kampala | Tuesday 7.45pm. A UGANDAN non-governmental organisation worker said on Tuesday that at least 18 street children aged from 14 upwards have been picked up by the Ugandan army in an apparent forced recruitment programme. “For a month, we have been having reports of army trucks coming and recruiting street kids, as […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 11.00am. THE Golden Cats may end up using the Riverside Sun resort as their base for the Super-12 season next year, while taking advantage of training facilities in Vanderbijlpark, according to new coach Andre Markgraaff. Soon to be called simply “the Cats”, the team feels the Riverside Sun has the […]

MIKE METELITS, Johannesburg | Monday 6.30pm. Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) plans to drop Malaysia from its Emerging Markets Free Index on November 30. The move will increase the weighting of other emerging markets in the index’s calculations. South Africa has the second largest weighting in the index at 11,8%, and this will increase to […]

SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Monday 5.30pm. SOUTH African markets continued to climb on Monday as stronger international market continue to provide a firmer base for local stock. International markets perked up on Friday evening when the New York’s Dow Jones Industrial Average kicked its earlier slump to gain 2,15% (167 points) to 7 899. Positive […]

EMMANUEL GOUJON, Kindu | Tuesday 7.30pm. DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo rebels, now in control of the strategic town of Kindu, have admitted that Rwandan soldiers are fighting with them. They have also admitted that Rwanda has been controlling all flights in rebel-held territory, and to and from Kigali in Rwanda and Kampala in Uganda. Rebel […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 4.30pm. WHETHER South African Davis Cup captain Danie Visser will continue to head the team remains undecided after Sunday’s crisis meeting between senior SA tennis officials. Two weeks ago, South Africa suffered a major loss in Prague, threatening Visser’s contract. Sources, however, believe that SA tennis leadership is as much […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lagos | Monday 9.30pm. THE Anglo-Dutch oil group Shell has evacuated staff from the most volatile parts of the Niger Delta after a previously unknown group threatened the safety of foreign oil workers, Shell officials said on Monday. Armed youths last week seized 15 flow-stations belonging to the oil giant, which is the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT | Monday 8.30pm. TANZANIAN police and FBI investigators uncovered a vital clue in their inquiry into the August 7 bomb blast in Dar es Salaam on Monday when they stumbled on a piece of metal with the vehicle’s chassis number on it. The Tanzanian Daily Mail claims that Tanzanian and FBI investigators have […]