WEDNESDAY, 1.30PM: SOUTH AFRICA’S Wayne Ferreira advanced to the second round of the $2,3-million Canadian Open after beating Daniel Vacek 7-6 (7/5) 6-1 on Wednesday. Ferreira failed to convert three set points when he led 5-4 40-love in the opening set. He took a tiebreaker and after that he outclassed Vacek. The match was delayed […]
WEDNESDAY, 8.00AM SAFETY and Security minister Sydney Mufamadi is to ask police chief George Fivaz to defuse tensions in Richmond, scene of multiple political murders last week, by redeploying local policemen elsewhere. Mufamadi met with Richmond’s mayor and councillors yesterday to discuss the recent murders of six ANC members in the area, including three councillors. […]
WEDNESDAY, 11.00AM NEW private sector credit extension figures released by the Reserve Bank on Monday evening hit the markets on Tuesday, with industrial shares, bonds and currency losing out as hopes for an early interest rate cut were dashed. However, the losses could have been worse, but were saved by better than expected money supply […]
TUESDAY, 1.30PM: SANZAR has turned down a SA Rugby Football Union request to include an extra local team in next year’s Super 12. Sanzar said on Monday it resolved in the meting in Melbourne to suspend any talks over the inclussion of an extra team until 1999. Springbok coach Carel du Plessis has expressed his […]
TUESDAY, 11.00AM GENCOR’s newly unbundled base metals group Billiton found investors eager at its Johannesburg Stock Exchange launch on Monday, with local investors grabbing the shares at a slight premium to the price on the London Stock Exchange, where Billiton also saw its first day of formal trade. Billiton shares on Monday were the third […]
TUESDAY, 3.30PM AFRICAN National Congress lawyers told the Shell House inquest on Tuesday that police might be guilty of culpable homicide for failing in their duty to prevent clashes between supporters of the ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party during a march in Johannesburg in 1994. The inquest is probing the deaths of 19 people […]
TUESDAY, 3.30PM THE African National Congress in Mpumalanga on Tuesday nominated its chairman, provincial Premier Mathews Phosa, as its choice for the party’s deputy presidency. Phosa’s nomination, as well as the nomination of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki for ANC president, will be tabled by the Mpumalanga branch at the ANC’s national conference in North-West in […]
TUESDAY, 3.00PM THE Unted States and other countries will withhold economic aid to Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila if he “plays games” with a United Nations investigation into allegations that Kabila’s troops massacred thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugees, according to US ambassador Bill Richardson. “Well, the jury is still out on Kabila,” Richardson […]
TUESDAY, 11.00AM THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange experienced another record day on Monday, as new highs on the financial and industrial indices saw the all share index hit a new record high of 7 490,8, up 46,8 points over the day, based somewhat on market expectations of good credit extension and money supply figures. Industrials added […]
TUESDAY, 11.00AM GOLD mines managed by Randgold & Exploration on Monday posted disastrous results for the June quarter, reporting their worst-ever aggregate performance with a taxed cash loss of R41-million, from a R55-million taxed profit in the March quarter. Apart from the declining bullion price, Randgold mines suffered setbacks from undergorund fires, seeismic activity, flooding […]
HEAD-HUNTER ACQUITTED NICHOLAS MBAMBATHO, alias ‘Chief’ Nicholas Gcaleka, the man who made a much-publicised trip to Scotland last year to retrieve the skull of Xhosa king Hintsa, was on Monday acquitted in the Umtata Magistrate’s Court of fraud involving the purchase of large amounts of liquor. A second fraud count involving the purchase of R65 […]
MONDAY, 4.00PM THE European Union on Tuesday announced it is to fund a Southern African initiative to eliminate deadly landmines from the region, and especially in Mozambique and Angola. The EU contribution of 2,07-million European Currency Units (about $2,35-million) will cover the use of satellite and other technology to locate and count the estimated 20-million […]
TUESDAY, 1.30PM: SOUTH African Football Association president Molefi Oliphant shocked his audience at a press conference on Monday when he did not know the countries where Bafana Bafana overseas based players are plying their trades. In a conference called to announce tha cancellation of Bafana Bafana’s scheduled August 6 friendly in Cape Town, Oliphant made […]
TUESDAY, 11.00AM TRANSPORT parastatal Transnet’s loss-making parcel delivery service PX and its road transport operator Autonet are to be 100% privatised, Transport Minister Mac Maharaj said on Monday. Transnet has been forced to absorb PX’s whopping R500-million deficit, and is likley to report huge losses next week as a result. Maharaj’s announcement has angered labour […]
TUESDAY, 5.30PM THE Congress of SA Trade Unions appears set to implement its proposed campaign of rolling mass action from Monday next week following Labour Minister Tito Mboweni’s threat to withdraw the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill from Parliament. Cosatu plans to hold a one-hour national work stoppage on Monday, followed by 24-hour strikes in […]
TUESDAY, 11.00AM GROWTH in credit extension to the private sector fell only marginally in June, to 16,39% from 16,65% in May, delivering a blow to market expectations of an imminent cut in interest rates based on credit growth projections by economists of around 15,1%. Latest figures released on Monday evening by the Reserve Bank show […]
TUESDAY, 1.30PM: THE National Olympic Committe of South Africa (Nocsa) has refused to be gorvened by the National Sports Council’s (NSC) resolution on affirmative action. In a NSC meeting on Saturday it was agreed to introduce affirmative action quotas in club sport as a matter of urgency. Nocsa general manager Dan Moyo said: “We are […]
TUESDAY, 11.00AM DEUTSCHE Morgan Grenfell has been selected as adviser for the proposed partial sell-off of parastatal Airports Company, Transport Minister Mac Maharaj announced on Monday. Maharaj said government will sell up to 49% of the R2,5-billion company, which controls nine major SA airports, with the sale intended to be completed by March next year. […]
MONDAY, 3.30PM FOLLOWING Denel’s interdict against the Mail & Guardian preventing the newspaper from naming a middle eastern client of the parastatal arms manufacturer, Sunday newspaper reports say Denel is involved in a deal to sellscores of G5 and G6 155mm howitzers to Kuwait. Denel has confirmed that it is marketing its weapons in Kuwait. […]
MONDAY, 2.00PM: NORTHERN Transvaal captain Adriaan Richter has come out in support of the team’s coach John Williams, who is under fire from rugby officials in Pretoria. This follows Northern Transvaal’s 34-36 defeat by Northern Free State. Northerns have lost all three of their cup matches. This was made worse by Williams’ failure to attend […]
MONDAY, 11.00AM AS rumours of an imminent interest rate cut continued to abound, the benchmark R150 government long bond on Friday broke through the 14% yield level amid bullish expectations about economic indicators to be released this week. The R150 traded between Thursday’s closing level of 14,03% and 13,955%, before closing at 13,98%. The R150 […]
NP THREATENS DEFECTORS THE National Party has threatened legal action against the eight Pretoria city councillors who recently defected to Roelf Meyer’s New Movement Process if they do not vacate their council seats. Each of the councillors will receive a written ultimatum to this end in the next few days, NP Pretoria regional chairman Fanus […]
MONDAY, 11.00AM MARKET analysts believe European Commission approval is imminent for Johannesburg Consolidated Investments’ purchase of Anglo American’s 26,8% stake in multinational Lonrho, after JCI chairman Mzi Khumalo met EC representatives last week to discuss the takeover. Meanwhile, on Friday Khumalo announced JCI’s disposal of its 8,7% stake in British company Johnson Mathey to SBC […]
MONDAY, 11.00AM MINE management at Tweefontein Colliery has begun large-scale dismissals of workers believed to have been involved in the mob murder of mine manager Fanie Venter at the colliery’s Waterpan section near Ogies in Mpumalanga last Wednesday. The National Union of Mineworkers has charged management with dismissing workers without disciplinary inquiries or any undertaking […]
MONDAY, 11.00AM THE Development Bank of Southern Africa released a R5-billion, 30-year, zero-coupon eurorand bond issue on Friday. The deal, led by underwriters Hambros Bank and Rand Marchant Bank, is the first with an explicit guarantee by the SA government. The offer attracted strong interest, according to a syndicate official at Hambros. Zero-coupon bonds in […]
MONDAY, 2.00PM: SOUTH AFRICA’S Gary Player fired a five-metre birdie putt at the second extra hole to win the $58 330 Senior British Open at Royal Purtush on Sunday. He finished ahead of countryman John Bland. Player shot a four-under 68 for his third Senior British Open trophy. “This is one of the two best […]
MONDAY, 3.30PM A FORMER police general told the Johannesburg High Court on Monday that senior African National Congress leaders contacted police on the eve of an Inkatha Freedom Party march through central Johannesburg in 1994 to express their concern about the potential for conflict. Testifying before the inquest into the deaths of 19 marchers killed […]
MONDAY, 3.30PM AN ongoing forensic audit into financial management at the SA Tourism Board has led Pretoria police to open four separate investigations into fraud at Satour. According to Michael Farr, leader of the special management team probing the parastatal, the forensic audit has so far uncovered inefficient management systems, a virtual absence of internal […]
MONDAY, 2.00PM: SOUTH African Football Association (Safa) CEO Danny Jordaan announced on Sunday night that the planned training camp for Bafana Bafana in Cape Town has been cancelled. National coach Clive Barker was planning to take a squad of 20 home-based players for training at the Sports Science Institute in Cape Town on August 3-8. […]
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela and Nigerian military dictator General Sani Abacha will personally resolve the latest diplomatic row between the two countries, presidential spokesman Parks Mankahlana said on Monday.
MONDAY, 2.00PM: ANGOLA have qualified for the African Nations Cup finals in Burkina Faso next year after beating Zimbabwe 2-1 on Sunday in Luanda, Angola. Angola have six points and are in second place in Group 1, two points ahead of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe were seeking to qualify for the first time for the prestigious competition. […]
MONDAY, 5.30PM A PERFORMANCE report by the auditor general has revealed that the SA National Defence Force wasted millions of rands buying unnecessary aircraft components and spare parts that became obsolete. The report, one of five carried out on national government departments in 1995/96, found stock worth an estimated R820-million had been kept in storage […]