SARAH BULLEN in Johannesburg | Tuesday 6.00pm. SOUTH Africa is experiencing a slowdown in economic activity, with economic growth weak and the current indicator of employment in the formal sectors of the economy having declined to its lowest level in nearly twenty years, was the word from Reserve Bank governor Chris Stals on Tuesday. Announcing […]
SARAH BULLEN in Johannesburg | Wednesday 5.30pm. THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange lost 8% of its value this morning in a massive crash — but recovered somewhat in the late afternoon to close with losses of 6,21% — still one of the year’s largest falls. At midday all indices had taken some of their worst falls […]
SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Tuesday 5.00pm. THE inflation rate — the annual rate of change in the Consumer Price Index — was 6,6% at July 1998, the latest figures from the Central Statistical Services released on Tuesday indicate. This rate is 1,4 percentage points higher than the annual rate of 5,2% calculated in June, largely […]
SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Monday 7.45pm. GROSS domestic product rose an annualised 0,3% in the second quarter this year, slowing down from a 0,5% growth in the first quarter, the latest figures released by the Central Statistical Service on Monday indicated. ING Barings chief economist Kristina Quattek said the weak GDP growth figure give an […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Monday 6.45pm. A HANDFUL of supporters gathered outside the Cape Town High Court on Monday waving placards in support of former anti-apartheid activist and cleric Allan Boesak who entered his first day on trial for 32 counts of fraud and theft. Forensic accountant Dawn King gave comprehensive details of the […]
SWAPNA PRABHAKARAN, Durban | Monday 7.00PM THE brother-in-law of Health Minister Nkosasana Zuma was arrested in KwaZulu-Natal on the weekend on suspicion of large-scale misappropriation of health department funds. Sipho Ngxongo, the director of health in Empangeni on KZN’s north coast, was arrested on Saturday in connection with R3,5-million which is missing from his department’s […]
SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Tuesday 5.00pm. THE inflation rate — the annual rate of change in the Consumer Price Index — was 6,6% at July 1998, the latest figures from the Central Statistical Services released on Tuesday indicate. This rate is 1,4 percentage points higher than the annual rate of 5,2% calculated in June, largely […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kinshasa | Tuesday 2.30PM DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila returned to Kinshasa on Tuesday from an undisclosed location, a presidential aide said. Kabila’s return to Kinshasa after a 10-day absence coincides with an offensive by government troops backed by Angolan soldiers against rebels in the country’s south-west. After Kabila failed at […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday 10.00AM SUPERINTENDENT Andre Edward Lincoln, former chief of the Western Cape’s witness protection programme, appeared in the Cape Town Regional Court on Monday to face 46 charges of fraud, theft and defeating the ends of justice, only to have a drunken driving charge added to the list. Lincoln appeared […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Umtata | Tuesday 9.30pm. A TRUTH and Reconciliation Commission judge in Umtata, Transkei on Tuesday issued a subpoena against former Transkei president Kaizer Matanzima for failing to appear before the TRC’s amnesty committee hearing into the murder of former University of Transkei student Batandwa Ndondo. Ndondo was shot and killed by police in […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 11.00PM ANGOLAN rebel group Unita has said it has interests to defend in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but has stopped short of openly giving support for the insurrection against President Laurent Kabila. The Angolan government, which fought a 20-year civil war against Unita, is providing significant military support for […]
SARAH BULLEN in Johannesburg | Tuesday 6.15pm. THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange remained soft on Tuesday although managing to slow down the aggressive slide of the past two days. Firmer Asian and European markets should have lent a stronger undertone to the battered market with a strong opening for S&P futures adding weight to the more […]
LEONARD NDZHUKULA, Secunda | Tuesday 11.30AM TWO Coin Security guards were rushed to hospital on Tuesday morning after they where wounded while fighting off 12 heavily armed robbers in the third unsuccessful attempted cash-in-transit heist in Mpumalanga over the past two months. The attackers, armed with AK47s and R5 assault rifles, were unable to breach […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 9.45pm. BOLAND played stunning rugby to beat an uncharacteristically out of form Griqualand West side 17-13 in a Bankfin Currie Cup match played in Wellington on Sunday. A penalty in injury time of the first half gave Griquas a 8-7 lead, which they increased to 13-7 five minutes into the […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cabinda | Monday 10.30PM THE Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday accused South Africa of “behind-curtains manoeuvres”. DRC justice minister Mwenze Kongolo, in SA to represent DRC President Laurent Kabila at the Southern African Development Community summit called by President Nelson Mandela at the weekend, told reporters in Pretoria that a signal from […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Monday 1.00PM FORMER cleric and anti-apartheid activist Dr Allan Boesak (52) appeared in the Cape High Court on Monday to face 32 fraud and theft charges totalling R1,1-million, relating to alleged misuse of overseas donor funds. Boesak pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The charges relate to funding for […]
ROB DAVIES, Johannesburg | Monday 3.00pm. THE proposed issuing of 20 whale-watching licences to boat-based opearators by the environmental affairs and tourism department in order to capitalise on the tourism value of southern right whales off the Southern African coast has caused a stir in environmental circles. Environmentalists like Nan Rice director of Save the […]
SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Monday 7.45pm. GROSS domestic product rose an annualised 0,3% in the second quarter this year, slowing down from a 0,5% growth in the first quarter, the latest figures released by the Central Statistical Service on Monday indicated. ING Barings chief economist Kristina Quattek said the weak GDP growth figure give an […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Washington | Monday 8.00pm. BRITAIN and the United States on Monday agreed that the two Libyans accused of the 1988 Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, should be tried under Scottish law, with a panel of Scottish judges, in the Netherlands. Announcing the agreement US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright called […]
JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Monday 10.00PM THE leopard that attacked and killed a 25-year-old Kruger National Park ranger, Charles Swart, over the weekend was old and desperately hungry after apparently being forced out of its traditional hunting area by younger challengers, park director David Mabunda said on Monday evening. Preliminary medical examinations indicate that Swart […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Sunday 7.30PM BUOYED by his allies’ weekend military successes against advancing rebels, Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila has rejected Sunday’s Southern African Development Community ceasefire proposal, insisting all Rwandan and Ugandan troops must first withdraw from DRC territory. “What we have said all along is that this rebellion is […]
SARAH BULLEN, Johannesburg | Friday 5.15pm. INVESTORS pulled out of South African markets with a flood on Friday leaving the market to end the week on bear run that eroded most of the week’ earlier gains. Dealers described the day as “utterly dismal” with uncertainty in the currency market and general global market jitters pulling […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Monday 4.30pm. SOUTH African Airway’s newly-appointed chief executive officer Coleman Andrews on Monday described the airline on June 15 this year as in a “very, very fragile” position, in desperate need of a clear and compelling vision of what its future could be. Speaking before the National Assembly’s environment and […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 11.00am. LEHLOHONOLO “HANDS OF STONE” LEDWABA has moved up into the second spot in the International Boxing Federation rankings after winning a unanimous points decision against Arnel Barotillo of Australia in a 10-rounder at the Carousel on Saturday night. The judges gave the fight to Ledwaba 97-93, 97-94, 97-94, making […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 3.30pm. National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) on Friday announced that 220000 of its members in the motor industry are to start a nationwide strike on September 1 following a breakdown in wage negotiations on August 1. The notice to strike comes just three days after 20000 workers […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 10.45am. KENYAN athlete Simon Biwott won the men’s division of the 16th annual Mexico City International Marathon Sunday with a finishing time of 2 hours, 16 minutes, 45 seconds. Biwott ran the fourth-best finish in the race’s history and finished 28 seconds ahead of Mexican Francisco Bautista. Mexico’s Luis Reyes […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 2.15pm. THE tourism industry could create five million jobs in South Africa in the next 12 years, but only if the country can provide good service and ensure the health and safety of tourists, Environment Affairs and Tourism Minister Dr Pallo Jordan said on Monday. Speaking at the Food & […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Luanda | Monday 6.30pm. ANGOLAN rebel movement Unita on Monday announced that it is to sever all contact with the United States, Russian and Portugese observers monitoring the crumbling peace process under the auspices of the United Nations. In a written statement issued from Unita’s central highland stronghold Bailundo, the movement said the […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday 4.45pm. THE European Investment Bank on Monday granted the first private South African company a R229-million loan. The loan, granted on the strength of a new new guarantee facility provided by the Development Bank of Southern Africa, is viewed as a breakthrough for the private sector as the EIB does […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Dakar | Sunday 9.45pm. NIGERIA won 23 medals, including 11 golds, earning the tag of being the best athletic team on the continent at the 11th African athletics championships which ended in Dakar on Saturday. South Africa placed second with a haul of 11 medals, including seven golds. The Kenyan team did not […]
JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Friday 8.30PM THE African National Congress expelled its controversial former deputy speaker in Mpumalanga, Cynthia Maropeng, on Friday after finding her guilty of bringing the party into disrepute. Provincial ANC spokesman, Jackson Mthembu, said on Friday evening that the party’s provincial executive committee (PEC) formally ratified a recommendation to revoke Maropeng’s […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Thursday 9.15pm. A GERMAN grant of 28 mini-satellite terminals has boosted the setting up of a communication network linking the defence forces of the 14 members of the Southern African Development Community, the SA Army said on Thursday. A telecommunications working group of the Inter-State Defence Security Committee, comprising representatives of […]