Andy Capostagno Rugby The only certainties in life are death and taxes. So wrote Woody Allen, a man who would have difficulty just pronouncing Loftus Versfeld, let alone finding Pretoria on a map. But he would have sympathised with a few disgruntled punters who last weekend had their dreams shattered by a scoreline of Blue […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Thursday 9.00pm. LESOTHO civil servants who took part in the recent mass protests are to lose their jobs. The government, in what is seen by some as a heavy-handed measure in the middle of delicate multi-party negotiations, has indicated that those any did take part in the mass actions should resign. […]
OWN CORRESPONDENTS, Johannesburg | Thursday 11.00pm. THE Democratic Republic of Congo rebels have warned South Africa not to become militarily involved in the conflict. During a meeting with the Democratic Party’s Tony Leon, Congolese Democratic Coalition representative Thomas Nziratimana said he was concerned that there is pressure within the Southern African Development Community for South […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Thursday 9.00pm. THREE important pieces of legislation brought forward by the South African Department of Justice were approved by the National Council of Provinces on Thursday. The bills related to witness protection, give more powers to the Public Protector and stipulate conditions under which children below the age of 18 […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Tuesday 9.30pm. A KEY witness in the Bronkhorstspruit heist trial has described how he was shot three times by one of the robbers, and has identified the man who shot him. Fifteen men are on trial in the Pretoria High Court for the daring heist, noted for the military precision with […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 2.30pm. SEVERAL thousand Iscor workers who downed tools on Wednesday morning in protest at a management bonus returned to work by midday. It is thought the unions involved have instead chosen a legal route to resolve the dispute. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, National Union of Mineworkers, […]
SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Tuesday 5.00pm. THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange appeared to have come out of a long winter on Tuesday as positive sentiment from Monday spilled through into the markets. Dealers said the market was firm across the board, largely as a result of a growing outlook that the worst of the domestic economic […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday 10.00pm. JUSTICE Minister Dullah Omar has dismissed newspaper reports that said he doubted that it was appropriate for a judge to remain at the head of the Heath Special Investigative Unit. Judge Willem Heath, interviewed on SABC TV, said that it had come as a surprise “that the Minister […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 4.30pm. ZIMBABWE went to lunch on 81/1 on the first day of their one-off Test match against the touring Indian team in Harare on Wednesday. The Zimbabweans were sent in to bat on a lively wicket by Indian skipper Mohammed Azharuddin, and started well against the Indian bowling, who struggled […]
MIKE METELITS, Johannesburg | Wednesday 6.00pm. SOUTH African markets held onto early gains on Wednesday as world markets rose and sentiment turned positive. The possibility of Japanese debt restructuring and global interest rate cuts cheered Asian and US markets. The rand strengthened to below the R5,90 mark as the dollar weakened against the mark and […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 10.45am. GOVERNMENT has facilitated the delivery of some 600000 low-cost houses since 1994, a move which is starting to get South Africans housed “in earnest”, Housing Minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele said on Tuesday night. Speaking at a Gauteng housing awards dinner, Mthembi-Mahanyele called for even more innovation in building homes for […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Windhoek | Wednesday 10.00pm. THE Namibian government has introduced a bill to parliament to alter the constitution to allow President Sam Njoma a third term in office. Controversy has surrounded the mooted legislation. Prime Minister Hage Geingob, introducing the Namibian Constitution Amendment Bill to the national Assembly on Wednesday, was greeted by a […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 6.30pm. A LAST-MINUTE amendment to Dr Nkosazana Zuma’s anti-tobacco bill will see a blanket ban on smoking in all public places. A further amendment has backed the R200 fine for smoking in the workplace with a jail sentence if the smoker can’t or won’t pay up. The changes are […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Freetown | Tuesday 8.00pm. KAMJOR traditional fighters in Sierra leone ambushed rebel forces in the densely forested north-east of the country on Monday, killing 52 and wounding an unknown number. The Kamajors, who are assisting the Sierra Leone government to defeat the remnants of the fomer junta and its allies the Revolutionary United […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 11.50am. PROPOSED changes to the Competition Bill suggested by the Congress of South African Trade Unions and diamond conglomerate De Beers were rejected by the National Council of Provinces’ economic affairs committee on Monday. Cosatu’s request that unions be represented in merger control proceedings was rejected by chief director […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Tuesday 9.30pm. A 19-year-old SBV security guard who survived the 1997 Bronkhorstspruit cash in transit heist, on Monday told the Pretoria High Court that he had to receive psychiatric treatment after seeing the mutilated bodies of two colleagues who were shot in the head at close range by the ambushers. A […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Tuesday 8.30pm. ELEVEN foreign doctors are free to work in the private sector after the Pretoria High Court overturned a measure of the National Interim Medical and Dental Council restricting them to the public sector. The court ordered Health Minister Nkosazana Zuma and the NIMDC to register the doctors “without restrictions” […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, DURBAN | Tuesday 12.30pm. THE son of suspended Inkatha Freedom Party politician and local warlord Thomas Shabalala has been arrested for attempted murder in connection with a spate of violence in Lindelani near Durban. Mbuso Percival Shabalala (26) was arrested on Tuesday on two charges of attempted murder in connection with attacks which […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 7.30pm. JUSTICE Minister Dullah Omar on Tuesday cast a pall over the future of Judge Willem Heath and his anti-corruption watchdog, the Heath Special Investigation Unit. Speaking before Parliament, Omar questioned the whether having a judge serve full-time on as head of the unit raises the question: “What happens […]
JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Tuesday 10.00pm. DISCREDITED Mpumalanga legislature member David Mkhwanazi threatened to sue the provincial leadership of the African National Congress on Tuesday for implicating him in corruption and suspending him from the party. The former environmental affairs MEC said on Tuesday that he had been publicly defamed by a number of the […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Freetown | Monday 10,00pm. SIERRA Leone’s notorious rebel leader Foday Sankoh appeared in court in Freetown on Monday and pleaded not guilty to nine charges, including murder, treason and crimes against humanity. Sankoh, the self-confessed leader of the brutal Revolutionary United Front, stood quietly before Justice Samuel Ademosu when all nine counts were […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Monday 10.30pm. THE various political parties in the Lesotho dispute have agreed to take a Southern African development Community proposal for the formation of a transitional structure to their supporters. The proposed structure — a committee — will comprise one or two members from each party taking part in the election, […]
SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Monday 5.30pm. THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange had a buoyant start to the week on Monday, moving higher on general goodwill after international credit rating service Moody’s Investor Services announced it is to retain South Africa’s investment grade credit rating. The news overshadowed even global frustration after the G7 grouping of the […]
JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Monday 7.00pm. A FORMAL commission of inquiry headed by a senior retired judge will be established to investigate the Mpumalanga Parks Board in the province’s widest ranging anti-corruption investigation yet, premier Mathews Phosa has announced. Speaking from his Nelspruit house, Phosa said the commission will investigate all possible irregularities in the […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 10.15pm. DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo rebels admitted on Monday that they have not captured the airport at the government’s vital eastern military headquarters at Kindu, but are merely “around” the town. Rebel “information minister” Etienne Ngangoura on Sunday claimed that rebel troops had taken the town and airport in what […]
DANIELLE KNIGHT, Washington | Monday 8.30pm. UNITED States-based oil company Chevron on Monday admitted that it did have a role in an incident in Nigeria last May in which security forces shot at and killed two activists who had taken over one of the firm’s offshore oil platforms. Until now, Chevron held it was not […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 9.30pm. SOUTH African police will not interfere with a Namibian investigation into last Wednesday’s R60-million heist attempt at Karibib, 180km north-east of Windhoek, police director Reg Crewe said on Monday. The suspects arrested after the failed heist include three South Africans: Edward John Matjabane, Jacob Dugmore Sago and Mangaliso Peter […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Monday 10.00pm. INTERPOL is conducting an international investigation into the South African tourism marketing body, Satour, over the alleged misappropriation of R1,9-million, Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Dr Pallo Jordan said on Monday. In response to a written question by National Party MP Dr Marthinus Appelgryn in Parliament, Jordan said […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 9.30pm. THE Free State Cheetahs kept their Bankfin Currie Cup semi-final hopes alive when they beat the Boland Cavaliers 59-19 in Wellington on Sunday. The Cheetahs, who led 21-5 at the break, ran in nine tries to collect the maximum points and advance to fifth place on the Currie Cup […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 8.00pm. MEMBERS of the National Union of Metalworkers of SA will return to work on Monday after eight out of nine regions endorsed a wage package offered by employers. The ninth region is to meet to discuss the package on Monday. Numsa spokesman Peter Dantjie said workers would return to […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Monday 4.30pm. THE Zimbabwean economy is heading into a gruelling 18 months with both inflation and unemployment set to climb and the standard of living set to fall, a report by London-based Standard Chartered Bank said. The gloomy report by Zimbabwe’s largest bank cites a series of negative economic factors that […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Monday 7.50pm. The Land Claims Court will receive its first urban claim in Gauteng this week, the provincial commission on restitution of land rights said on Monday. Commissioner Emma Mashinini said in Pretoria that the case involved hundreds of former residents of The Highlands, who were forcibly removed from their homes […]