FRIDAY, 5.00PM: OUSTED Zairean dictator Mobutu sese Seko is welcome to return home, Democratic Republic of Congo Foreign Minister Bizima Karaha, on a visit to SA, said on Friday. Mobutu is receiving treatment for prostate cancer in Morocco, where he fled days after being deposed. The Moroccans are uncomfortable with his presence and have insisted […]
FRIDAY, 11.30AM: IT has emerged that US-based Dow chemical Company mopped up batches of Sentrachem shares on the open market before announcing its offer this week to buy the local chemicals group for R10,50 a share. It is also believed that SBC Warburg, which is advising Dow on the deal, brokered a sale of 2,3-million […]
More money has been spent, more foreign players have been bought. Amy Lawrence gives the A to Z of the new English Premier League season A is for Ales. Krizan that is, of Slovenia. The Stg 500 000 defender from Maribor Branik, his Barnsley team-mate Macedonian Georgi Hristov, and Chelsea’s Uruguayan Gustavo Poyet, will be […]
Education’s poor relations need a massive financial boost, writes Ann Eveleth The government will have to find an extra R3-billion a year over the next decade to end educational backlogs and equalise conditions between poor and rich schools, according to an economic adviser to the national Department of Education. Luis Crouch said the department still […]
FRIDAY, 5.00PM TREVOR TUTU, the son of truth commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was on Friday arrested by members of the Soweto Fraud Unit at his home in Randburg north of Johannesburg. Police said Tutu was arrested on the strength of an arrest warrant issued against him for contempt of court arising from his failure […]
Sechaba ka’Nkosi on Cosatu’s September Commission report A long-awaited report on strategy for the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) threatens setting up a new left- wing opposition movement – if the African National Congress does not return to its socialist roots. The document, leaked to the Mail & Guardian, warns that if the […]
their leaders Beata Lipman It’s a funny old world. There we are, interviewing Jessie Duarte, Minister of Safety and Security for Gauteng, on rampant police corruption. She sounds off strongly. Then we interview a guy called Wilfrid Scharf from Cape Town for SABC television and he tells us politicians must do more than talk. After […]
The Mail & Guardian can now back up its claim to be the newspaper with the most sought-after readers in South Africa. Statistics released this week by the All Media Products Survey (Amps) show the M&G has 81 000 readers and nearly half of them are black, with more professionals reading the paper than any […]
Mungo Soggot Advocates at the Johannesburg Bar are smarting after finding themselves at the receiving end of hefty legal fees. The ruling council of South Africa’s biggest Bar has decided to charge its advocate members for an R850 000 high court application to expel one of their colleagues over tax irregularities. The costly high court […]
FRIDAY, 11.00AM TWO of the bidders shortlisted for a 100% stake in parastatal Sun Air have submitted offers for the airline, both of which are believed to fall well short of the R100-million government had hoped to raise by selling the airline. Public Enterprises Minister Stella Sigcau and Transport Minister Mac Maharaj on Thursday announced […]
Wally Mbhele The Eikenhof saga took yet another dramatic twist this week when it emerged that a large portion of the crucial docket has gone missing amid new claims by three more witnesses that they were duped by police into giving false testimony against the accused in court. The latest confessions, including a witness who […]
THE ANGELLA JOHNSON INTERVIEW `You’re not wanting to talk about that driving licence thing, are you?” questioned Ina, the formidable secretary for Baleka Mbete-Kgositsile, when I requested an interview with her boss. “If you are, then I’ll stand six feet tall to protect her. The whole thing has been blown totally out of proportion.” Well, […]
THURSDAY, 1.00PM: SOUTH AFRICA’S 800m medal hopeful Hezekiel Sepeng was eliminated in the semi-finals at the World Athletics Championships in Athens on Wednesday night. Sepeng finished fifth and second last with a time of 1min 47,00sec. He was boxed in and tried to pull out of the pack unsuccessfully. Sepeng refused to blame the hamstring […]
THURSDAY, 1.00PM: HELLENIC and Orlando Pirates drew their Premier League match 1-1 at Greenpoint stadium in Cape Town on Wednesday. Pirates opened the score through defender Willem Jackson and thereafer were all over Hellenic, but failed to penetrate the tight Hellenic defence. Hellenic took control of the second half and equalised through Peter Kirsten after […]
HIGHWAY ROBBERS IN COURT THREE of the four men arrested for alleged involvement in a highway heist last week in which two security guards were shot dead and R17-million stolen appeared ion the Pretoria Regional Court on Wednesday. The fourth man arrested was released for lack of evidence against him. Oupa Edwin Sihani, 39, Themba […]
WEDNESDAY, 5.30PM THE SA Chamber of Business said on Wednesday that business confidence declined slightly in July from 114,6 to 114,4 as the country anxiously awaits a relaxation in monetary policy. Sacob economic policy director Ben van Rensburg said on Wednesday consumers are under severe pressure from the sustained high interest rate environment. He said […]
THURSDAY, 10.30AM BIG trades in certain blue-chip stocks ensured the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s industrial index held record levels for the second consecutive day on Tuesday. Industrials leapt to anotther record high, climbing 64 points to 9 247. The gold index kept ahead of another fall in the bullion price, helped by the rand’s further weakening […]
WEDNESDAY, 5.30PM KENYA’s pro-reform coalition decided on Thursday to go ahead with a national strike to pressure the government for electoral reforms, although the plan has been rejected by two opposition leaders and several trade unions. The National Convention Executive Council (NCEC), grouping political parties, citizens’ groups and religious leaders, announced it will go ahead […]
WEDNESDAY, 5.30PM NEW Africa Investments Limited is set to purchase the Independent group’s 42,5% stake in the Sowetan, South Africa’s largest circulation daily newspaper. The price of the deal values the Sowetan at R150-million. The Sowetan was unbundled by Argus (now Independent) Newspapers in 1994 with Nail, chaired by Dr Ntatho Motlana, taking a controlling […]
THURSDAY, 1.00PM: SOUTH African Football Association CEO Danny Jordaan said on Wednesday the Four Nations tournament might be called off if there is no answer from China and Nigeria by Friday. Jordaan said only Namibia has confirmed its participation in this year’s tournament. “We have received no response from China or Nigeria to our invitation,” […]
THURSDAY, 1.00PM THE Cahora Bassa power line was finally completed on Tuesday this week — almost 20 years late. The Cahora Bassa power project, initiated in the mid-1960s as an arrangement between the government of John Vorster and the Portuguese colonial administration of Mozambique, has been delayed by years of civil war and tension between […]
R17m ROBBERS FOUND POLICE have discovered the lair belonging to the gang that robbed a security van of R17m last week, and arrested four gang members. The 15-man gang lay low in a house in southern Johannesburg for a week after the heist in which two security guards were murdered. Police have recovered R630 000 […]
WEDNESDAY, 5.00PM The new leader of the Comoran island of Anjouan, Abdullah Ibrahim, on Wednesday held the first meeting of his “cabinet” since Anjouan and Moheli broke away from the Comoros Islamic Republic at the weekend. The new cabinet ordered an audit of the amount of money left in government coffers on Anjaoun, where all […]
WEDNESDAY, 10.30AM PARLIAMENT’s finance committee on Tuesday approved a draft Bill giving wide powers to the Reserve Bank and the finance minister jointly to disclose confidential information about SA’s banking system. Urging the committee to adopt the SA Reserve Bank Amendment Bill, which will make the Reserve Bank one of the most open to scrutiny […]
WEDNESDAY, 1.00PM: NORTHERN Transvaal Rugby Union president Hentie Serfontein said on Tuesday that he will not be available for re-election at the union’s annual general meeting later this year. The announcement was made after a closed doors meeting called because of the pressure from local rugby fans, who are calling for the sacking of both […]
WEDNESDAY, 4.30PM The recent massacre of five African National Congress members in Richmond in KwaZulu-Natal had an unexpected effect on the peace pact in the province betwen the ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party when violence betwen supporters of the two parties broke out in nearby Fredville after security forces were moved from the area to […]
WEDNESDAY, 4.00PM INKATHA Freedom Party leader Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Wednesday morning denied any knowledge of hit-squad killings by Caprivi-trained IFP members, and said he was astounded such allegations are being made. On Tuesday the self-confessed commander of the Caprivi trainees, Daluxolo Luthuli, said there was no way Buthelezi could deny he was aware of […]
WEDNESDAY, 10.30AM THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s industrial index rocketed to a new high yesterday as investors took hope from Reserve Bank statements that monetary policy will not be affected by the latest depreciation in the rand and widespread expectations of an imminent interest rates cut resurfaced. Industrials added 73 points to take the index to […]
WEDNESDAY, 10.30AM: NEW car sales in July increased for the second consecutive month, rising 2,1% against last July to 21 994 units. Latest figures from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA show new passenger car sales for the first seven months of this year up 2,9%, at 144 446 units, over the same […]
WEDNESDAY, 10.30AM The proposed free trade deal between South Africa and the European Union will cost SA’s Southern African Customs Union partners R350-million, according to the final report on the effects of the deal. The other Customs Union partners, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland, share external tarfiis with SA and are heavily reliant on income […]
WEDNESDAY, 5.30PM ADVOCATES of constitutional reform in Kenya on Wednesday gave President Daniel arap Moi an ultimaltum to accept constitutional negotiations or face a general strike. The ultimatum was handed down late on Tuesday by opposition figures, 22 religious leaders and the executive council of the National Convention Assembly, the umbrella organisation seeking the reforms, […]
WEDNESDAY, 1.00PM: AMAZULU have signed up Zimbabwean international striker Stewart Murisa from Caps United in Zimbabwe. Murisa will replace Simon Magagula, who moved to Orlando Pirates earlier this month. Murisa said on Monday he was looking forward to the new challenge with great interest. “If I am selected in the starting line-up on Sunday, I […]