FRIDAY, 1.30PM: JOHN MASHEGO , Ashley Roestoff and Michael Scholtz currently share the lead at the Trust Bank Gauteng Classic golf tournament at Randpark golf course in Roodepoort. They lead after scoring 68 in the first round. TRUSTBANK GAUTENG CLASSIC 68 – J Mashego , A Roestoff , M Schultz 69 – D Fichardt, C […]
THURSDAY, 5.00PM ZIMBABWEAN Congress of Trade Unions president Gibson Sibanda has castigated the government for high budget deficit, saying it is a major contributor to workers’ suffering through high interest rates and inflation levels. “The biggest problem in this country is the budget deficit, which is causing high inflation, which is the worker’s enemy number […]
MFANA, the dagga-growing official who works for the Justice Department, highlights the fact that the police are waging an expensive – but losing – battle against the country’s most tenacious industry. Since 1928, the cultivation and use of cannabis has been a criminal offence in South Africa. The legislation was toughened in 1971 when the […]
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ON Wednesday night the Mail & Guardian received a faxed letter from a firm of lawyers in Pretoria representing the arms manufacturer, Denel, which can only be described as impertinent. The letter demanded a “written undertaking” by 10am last Thursday that we would not publish the name of a country with which Denel is negotiating […]
Jonathan Freedland in London SO, soon a man will be able to love another man from the day he turns sweet 16 – trouble is, neither will be allowed to have a cigarette afterwards. The British government’s recent dual announcements – one proposing a lowering of the homosexual age of consent to 16, the other […]
FRIDAY, 1.30PM: SOUTH AFRICA’S John Bland leads the Senior British Open after the first round on Wednesday at Royal Portush in Northern Ireland. Bland fired a six-under-par 66 to take the lead. “I played good, drove beautifully, but I’m just happy to be playing,” he said. Bland is two strokes ahead of compatriot Gary Player, […]
An unholy alliance between tycoons and trade unionists in Hong Kong seems to be driven by Beijing. Andrew Higgins in Hong Kong reports TAM YIU-CHUNG, a former department store window dresser who now sits in the inner circle of Hong Kong’s new elite, went to the London School of Economics to study trade unions just […]
MARIA McCLOY reports on an ongoing dispute between sportswear manufacturer Nike and the popular cartoon Doonesbury THE impact of cartoons seems to be stronger than most thought, judging by the reaction of sportswear billion-dollar giant Nike to Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury cartoon strip that runs in newpapers round the world, including the Mail & Guardian. The […]
FRIDAY, 2.00PM A COURT case in the Thabazimbi Magistarate’s Court in Northern Province on Friday may hold the key to the recent spae of assinations of National Union of Mineworkers officials at Anglo American Planinum Mines in the Northern and North-West provinces. Twenty-two suspects arrested by police in the past fortnight at Amplats’ Amandelbult mine […]
Chris McGreal in Bukavu, Congo, uncovers new evidence of genocide as mass graves are unearthed around the country SIX villagers led the way up the narrow path off the main road about 15km from Bukavu, on the far-eastern border of the former Zaire. One carried a spade. He knew where he was headed, but the […]
THURSDAY, 4.00PM ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe reshuffled his cabinet on Wednesday, merging eight ministries into four, creating a new one and appointing three ministers of state and two deputies. The ministry of local government, rural and urban development has been merged with public construction and national housing to become the ministry of local government and […]
THURSDAY, 3.00PM The investigation into the “canned” lion hunting industry has been set back by death threats and intimidation of witnesses and investigators. The practice of hunting tame or drugged lions, often in small enclosures, was first exposed by the Mail & Guardian prior to the screening of a British documentary on the subject, in […]
THURSDAY, 4.00PM THE Zambian supreme court has dismissed an application by opposition parties to have President Frederick Chiluba undergo a DNA test to prove his parentage. Four of the five judges ruled that there is no law in Zambia to compel an individual to undergo a DNA test. But Justice Earnest Sakala, in a minority […]
THURSDAY, 10.30AM AS government prepares for the release on Thursday of its Green Paper on restructuring of the Post Office, the parastatal, which was funded by government to the tune of R572-million last financial year, has been told to clear all debt and get into the black within five years. This year’s Budget allowed for […]
THURSDAY, 10.30AM The bond market leapt ahead again on Wednesday after taking a two-week breather, and analysts are predicting the benchmark R150 government long bond will push the 14% level this week. The R150 yield fell to a 17-month low on Wednesday, trading down to 14,04%, a sharp comeback from Friday’s 14,45% weak point. Part […]
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela will meet exiled East Timorese activist Jose Ramos-Horta for talks on Friday, presidential spokesman Parks Mankahlana confirmed on Thursday.
COPS BURGLED THIEVES broke into Cape Town’s new eastern metropolitan police headquaters in Bellville on Wednesday night, and stole a TV set, a computer, portable radios and personal items of staff members. The front door was apparently left open on Wednesday night by building contractors who were finishing renovations to the building. HUGE PUBLIC SERVICE […]
THURSDAY, 1.00PM: WESTERN Province will play their Bankfin Currie Cup match against Border at Newlands on Sunday without their captain Dick Muir, because of injuries. Muir, who is expected to return next week for the game against Boland, will be replaced by Robbie Fleck. WESTERN PROVINCE: Justin Swart, Andy Marinos, Christain Stewart, Robbie Fleck, Simon […]
THURSDAY, 11.00AM SASOL Technology said on Wednesday it has established an alliance with four international oil companies to develop new processes for the conversion of natural gas into synthesis gas. The alliance will develop Sasol’s new gas conversion technology which, the company claims, reduces the capital and energy costs of synthesis gas production. The other […]
THURSDAY, 1.00PM: MAMELODI Sundowns and Nigerian striker Raphael Chukwu has not arrived for pre-season training. Sundowns coach Stanley “Screamer” Tshabalala said he knows that Chukwu is still in Nigeria and, contrary to the club’s code of conduct, has extended his leave. “This is unacceptable and I am going to have strong words with him when […]
THURSDAY, 11.00AM INTERNATIONAL diamond cartel De Beers on Wednesday failed to secure the purchase of diamonds from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Miba mine, after being outbid at an auction by Belgian company Susskind. De Beers has been the sole purchaser of Miba’s diamonds for more than a decade. According to Maurice Nabahola, adviser to […]
WEDNESDAY, 8.30AM RESCUE workers found the bodies of five more miners at Hartebeesfontein mine overnight, taking the death toll to 15. Three more miners are missing, presumed dead. Two teams of rescue workers are tunneling through debris to reach the area where the miners are believed to have been trapped. The rockburst that killed the […]
RULING PARTY WINS IN MALI The ruling Alliance for Democracy in Mali (Adema), according to returns from 50 of the 55 electoral districts, has won 110 of the 147 legislative seats in the national elections held on Sunday. The elections were boycotted by most opposition parties. Adema won all the districts in the capital Bamako. […]
WEDNESDAY, 4.00PM THE Comorian army moved in to restore calm on the island of Anjouan after violent clashes between security forces and separatist militants there, residents said on Wednesday. In unrest sparked by the arrest on Monday of separatist leader Abdallah Ibrahim, two police officers were seriously wounded in Domoni, where protesters torched the residence […]
WEDNESDAY, 1.30PM: THERE are two changes to the Free State side to play North-West in a Currie Cup match in Potchefstroom on Friday. Naka Drotske and Werner Swanepoel are in the South African squad to tour Australia and New Zealand and will be replaced by Charl Marais and Kat Myburgh respectively. Free State :Christo Potgieter, […]
WEDNESDAY, 1.30PM: UMTATA Bush Bucks striker Wilfred Mugeyi, who signed up with German soccer club Werder Bremen last week, will play for Zimbabwe on Sunday in the African Cup of Nations qualifying match against Angola, before joining his new club. He was expected to leave for Germany on Wednesday but received a notice from the […]
WEDNESDAY, 11.00AM DAVID RICHTER, a former director of defunct stockbroking firm Ed Hern, Rudolf, was on Monday found guilty by the Johannesburg Stock Exchange committee of improper conduct involving R100 000 in investors’ funds. Rudolf was suspended from the JSE broking community for 10 years, which would fall away if he paid a R150 000 […]
WEDNESDAY, 11.00AM TELECOMS parastatal Telkom’s plan to provide millions of new telephone lines before the end of the millennium was set in motion on Tuesday with the award of a R2-billion contract to Alcatel Altech Telecoms and Lucent Technologies for radio systems involved in the provision of 400 000 new lines over the next two […]
WEDNESDAY, 8.30AM A FORMER senior MK commander told the Truth Comission yesterday that he spent four-and-a- half years in detention in ANC camps, where he was tortured with electric probes, beaten and humiliated. Dilizu Mthembu said he fell from grace with the ANC after his father, an MK founder, was executed for “selling the movement […]
WEDNESDAY, 3.00PM NAMIBIAN authorities on Wednesday denied claims made a fornight ago that security forces have killed 1 768 people, mostly Angolan refugees, in the north-east of the country, but confirmed that seven deaths are being investigated. The Windhoek-based National Society of Human Rights in June 1994 said that 376 people had either been shot […]
WEDNESDAY, 1.30PM: GAUTENG LIONS forward Bruce Thorne will replace flank Andre Vos in the team to play against Eastern Province in a Currie Cup fixture in Port Elizabeth on Saturday. Thorne missed last Sunday’s match against Mpumalanga because of his religious beliefs. Vos moves to No 8 to replace Warren Brosnihan, who is in the […]