WEDNESDAY, 1.00PM: SOUTH AFRICAN Rugby Football Union president Louis Luyt has called all 14 provincial rugby coaches to attend a meeting at Ellis Park on Thursday, following recent poor perfomance by the Springboks. The meeting will provide national coach Carel du Plessis and other coaches a chance to thrash out short and long-term plans to […]
WEDNESDAY, 3.30PM CONVICTED Hani murderer and former Conservative Party politician Clive Derby-Lewis continued his testimony before the truth commission’s amnesty committee on Wednesday by describing his extensive political links with foreign right-wing organisations. Derby-Lewis and Polish immigrant Janusz Walus were convicted of the April 10 1993 murder of SA Communist Party and African National Congress […]
WEDNESDAY, 1.00PM: SOUTH AFRICA’S Theo Verster and Renate du Plessis broke South African and African records on the third day of the Pan Pacific swimming championships in Fukouka, Japan on Tuesday. Verster finished eighth in the men’s 100m butterfly final with a time of 54,58sec, just above his own national and African record of 52,22sec. […]
WEDNESDAY, 10.30AM: The board of directors of Sentrachem on Tuesday decided to recommend that shareholders reject US-based chemicals giant Dow Chemicals Company’s R10,50 a share takeover offer, leaving the R2-billion proposed deal hanging in the balance. The board said it believes the offer “does not adequately represent the value of Sentrachem’s business”. Sentrachem shares jumped […]
WEDNESDAY, 8.00AM DE BEERS chairman Julian Ogilvie Thompson is to step down after 13 years, to make way for Nicholas Oppenheimer, now deputy chairman. Oppenheimer, 52, becomes the third generation Oppenheimer to chair the company, following grandfather Ernest and father Harry. Ogilvie Thompson will retain his position as overall chairman of the greater Anglo American-Minorco-De […]
TUESDAY, 1.00PM: SOUTH AFRICA’S women’s hockey team beat their Scottish counterparts 2-1 in the World Cup qualifying tournament in Harare, Zimbabwe on Monday. South Africa have already qualified for the Cup finals. Now they are looking at improving their world ratings which have risen dramatically recently. South Africa’s sensational striker Pietie Coetzee and Megan Dobson […]
TUESDAY, 11.00AM LOW prices, production problems and continued losses from Columbus Stainless saw Samancor’s profits nosedive 40% to R409-million in the year to June. The manganese producer, which is the steel and ferralloys division of Billiton, produces as its main products stainless steel, manganese alloy and chrome, which have all been weak on world markets. […]
TUESDAY, 1.00PM: HANSIE CRONJE was reappointed as captain of the South African cricket team for the 1997/98 season on Monday. Cronje’s reign will start with next month’s tour of Pakistan and will run up to the conclusion of next year’s five Tests against England. Western Province’s Gary Kirsten was appointed as vice-captain. SOUTH AFRICA’S Test […]
TUESDAY, 1.00PM: NORTHERN Transvaal rugby selectors on Monday named an unchanged squad to face Free State in a Bankfin Currie Cup match in Bloemfontein on Saturday. Springbok wing Andre Snyman was left out even though national coach Carel du Plessis gave permission for him to play. Northern Transvaal convenor of selectors Deon Boardman said they […]
TUESDAY, 10.30AM The system of government subsidies to Mossgas and SA oil companies needs a fundamental review, according to auditor-general Henri Kluever in a special report tabled in Parliament on Monday. Kluever described as possibily unreasonable the huge payments made to Mossgas from the Equalisation Fund, financed by levies on retail fuel sales, which enabled […]
TUESDAY, 4.30PM TREVOR TUTU, son of truth commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was denied bail by an East London Regional Court magistrate on Tuesday pending the outcome of an appeal against his three-and-a-half-year jail sentence for making a bomb threat. Tutu was arrested on Monday after living as a free man for the past three […]
TUESDAY, 1.00PM: THE National Olympic Committee of South Africa (Nocsa) and the Netherlands signed a co-operation agreement in Johannesburg on Monday. Nocsa secretary general Dan Moyo said the agreement will help South Africa’s preparations for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. “The agreement covers both elitist and developmental aspects of Olympism, with special coaching clinics in […]
TUESDAY, 5.30PM THREE men, including a policeman absent without leave and a police reservist, appeared in the Richmond Magistrate’s Court in KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday afternoon on a charge of attempted murder. The accused are policeman Bongaleni Robert Ntolo, 26, reservist Thembinkosi Muqga Ngwenya, 39, and Bongani James Phiri, 32. The case was remanded until August […]
TUESDAY, 3.30PM FOLLOWING last week’s secession of the Comoran island of Anjouan, a second island in the Indian Ocean archipelago on Monday seceded from the federation. A small group of secessionists on the island of Moheli on Monday named a new president and prime minister and called for a return to French rule. Meanwhile the […]
MANGOPE TRIAL OPENS The fraud trial of former homeland autocrat Lucas Mangope began on Monday in Mafikeng. Mangope faces fraud, theft and foreign exchange control charges totalling R1,8-million. The charges rise out of an investigation by the North-West government, and the trial is expected to last several months. BUBONIC PLAGUE IN MOZ THERE has been […]
MONDAY, 11.30AM: INVESTMENT Bank SBC Warburg on Monday scotched speculation about the status of its recent huge purchases of Sentrachem shares when it revealed it bought 3,4-million Sentrachem shares last week, at R10,20 each, and that the purchase was for Dow SA’s account. Until the announcement that the purchase was for Dow’s account there had […]
MONDAY, 9.00AM A THOUSAND people are believed to have fled the KwaZulu-Natal flashpoint area of Richmond over the weekend after two days of fighting. The triggers were the two funerals of the youth leader of the National Consultative Forum and his girlfriend, who were murdered earlier in the week. The recently established forum is allied […]
MONDAY, 4.30PM A JOINT operation by South African and Mozambican police between May 21 and the end of last week resulted in the recovery and destruction of thousands of firearms and millions of rounds of ammunition, found in scores of arms caches left over from Mozambique’s 20-year civil war. The operation, “Rachel III”, was aimed […]
MONDAY, 8.30AM: THE All Blacks trounced the Springboks 55-35 in Auckland — the highest-ever score against a ‘Bok team — in a dirty match in which ‘Bok flanker Andre Venter was sent off for stomping on the face of All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick. Springbok wing James Small was shown the yellow card for trying […]
MONDAY, 5.30PM INDUSTRIAL shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange followed the lead set by Wall Street on Friday, but gold stocks were saved further punishment by a 4$ rise in the bullion price. The all gold index had climbed 19,7 points by the close, breaking back into four-figure territory to close at 1 016,3. Industrials, […]
MONDAY, 1.00PM: JOHAN ROUX steered Gauteng Lions to a 46-37 victory over Griqualand West in their Bankfin Currie Cup match at Ellis Park on Sunday. Roux kicked 21 points for Lions. Gauteng Lions’ coach Dawie Snyman was very satisfied with the team’s perfomance even though they played without Louis van Rensburg. “We were disrupted with […]
MONDAY, 3.00PM The long-awaited amnesty application by Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Walus, the men convicted of murdering former SA Communist Party leader Chris Hani in 1993, got under way on Monday in the Pretoria City Hall. While a small crowd of SA Communist Party supporters carrying a banner reading, “No amnesty to Hani killers”, demonstrated […]
MONDAY, 3.30PM HEAVY fighting was reported over the weekend between Angolan government troops and separatist forces in the oil-rich enclave of Cabinda. Fighting is concentrated in Tandu-Zinze, Buko-Zawu and Belize, in the north of the province, the private pro-government Correio da Semana reported on Monday, adding that the separatists were using long-range weapons. The Angolan […]
MONDAY, 1.00PM: BAFANA BAFANA and Mamelodi Sundowns midfield strongman Linda Buthelezi is out of the squad to face Congo in the World Cup qualifying match on Saturday after injuring his right leg in the Premier League game against Orlando Pirates on Saturday. Buthelezi was given his marching orders by referee Des Goslett after he tackled […]
FRIDAY, 11.30AM: INVESTMENT Bank SBC Warburg has refused to publicly disclose the number of Sentrachem shares it has bought recently, after the SA Press Association lost two copies of an announcement to that effect last week. SBC Warburg is advising US-based Dow Chemical Company on its proposed R2-billion buy-out of troubled local chemicals giant Sentrachem. […]
MONDAY, 1.00PM: SOUTH AFRICA’S Des Terblanche won the $200 000 Sabah Masters golf tournament at Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia on Sunday. Terblanche beat third round leader Thammanoon Sriroj of Thailand at the third hole of a sudden-death play-off. Terblanche closed with 6-under 66 to force the play-off. He birdied the 513m par-5 18th hole four […]
MONDAY, 11.00AM THE National Party has complied a report on government corruption over the past three years, and concluded that between R13-billion and R20-billion has been lost at central and provincial levels, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. Most of that money — between R7,9-billion and R10,6-billion — has been lost to maladministration; the […]
MONDAY, 11.30AM NEW Africa Investments Limited is to dismantle and absorb as a subsidiary New Africa Finance Holdings Limited, a pyramid structure controlled by Nail. In a deal worth R600,7-million, Nail will acquire the remaining 32,7% interest in the holding company that are still owned by various other shareholders, and reconstitute it as a wholly […]
MONDAY, 8.30AM: THE South Africans threw away good chances of three medals in Athens at the weekend, when highly fancied local athletes fizzled out one by one. In the mens’ marathon, the best effort by the five experienced South African runners was by Xolile Yawa, who came in at 12th place. Pole valuter Rian Botha, […]
MONDAY, 10.30AM The dispute between SA’s internet service providers (ISPs) and parastatal telecoms corporation Telkom over Telkom’s claimed monopoly on internet services heated up last week when private operators complained to the industry regulator that Telkom is not supplying them with international bandwidth. In the latest skirmish in an unresolved battle over Telkom’s claim that […]
FRIDAY, 11.00AM RESERVE Bank governor Dr Chris Stals says he is open to proposed changes aimed at increasing transparency in the Reserve Bank’s setting of monetary policy. Pesponding at the weekend to suggestions that the Reserve Bank’s power to determine monetray policy be curtailed, Stals said he was “fairly neutral” about the possibility of expanding […]
THATCHER’S PRIVATE POLICE WESTERN Cape police are investigating allegations that Mark Thatcher, son of the former British prime minister, hired moonlighting policemen to guard his home, using police equipment. He also made a failed attempt to start a company called “Rent-a-Cop” which allowed police to earn extra money as security guards. Police commanders initially agreed […]