THURSDAY, 11.00AM: MICHAEL CHEESEMAN of Gauteng leads in the KWV Berg River Canoe marathon, after the first stage between Paarl and Zonquasdrift on Wesnesday. Cheeseman opened up a comfortable lead of three miutes fourteen seconds gap ahead of Western Province paddlers. Cheeseman, 29, finished at 4:16:59, followed by Pual Marais of Cape Town with 3:13. […]
THURSDAY, 3.30PM AZANIAN People’s Liberation Army cadre Gcinikhaya Makoma, who was jailed for 23 years for his part in the 1993 St James Church massacre, on Thursday told for the first time how he opened fire indiscriminately on congregants as they attended a Sunday evening service, leaving 11 dead and 58 injured. Makoma pleaded not […]
THURSDAY, 10.30AM The gold price edged lower on Wednesday after taking a breather from its headlong fall on Tuesday. The precious metral lost another $2,20 to close in London at $319,75, after seeing $315,75 in the morning. Local markets reflected bullion’s fortunes, with the JSE’s gold index losing 2% to end the day 18,4 points […]
NO PEACE IN BRAZZAVILLE HEAVY weapons fire continued in the Congolese capital Brazzaville on Thursday. On Wednesday, the head of the national mediation committee, Brazzaville mayor Bernard Kolelas, indefinitely postponed political talks to seek a negotiated solution to the crisis after former strongman Denis Sassou Nguesso refused to attend. According to Sassou Nguesso’s spokesman Francois […]
THURSDAY, 11.30AM EXPORTS of SA-built motor vehicles increased by 90% in the first five months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to latest figures from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of SA. A total of 6 207 locally manufactured vehicles were exported between January and May this year, compared […]
THURSDAY, 11.30AM TRANSPORT Minister Mac Maharaj has accepted proposals on the easing of the Mulitlateral Motor Vehicle Accident fund’s growing deficit, which will likely see the fuel levy that finances the fund being increased. Special adviser to the minister Joel Joffe said on Wednesday: “Every month that passes without changing the system adds R160-million to […]
THURSDAY, 3.30PM POLICE on Thursday said Wednesday night’s killing of People Against Gangsterism and Drugs national secretary Sharief Khan was not gang-related. The statement came amid fears that Khan’s murder was the beginning of a war between Cape Flats gangsters and the vigilante movement, in revenge for Pagad’s lynching last year of gangster Rashied Staggie. […]
THURSDAY, 2.00PM SOLDIERS are attempting to form an army trade union, called the SA National Defence Union, and may go to court to force the military to lift its ban on union activities. The union claims that army officers have barred members from organising for the union or wearing union T-shirts, and have insisted that […]
THURSDAY, 8.00AM LABOUR minister Tito Mboweni warned labour and business leaders yesterday that if they feel to reach agreement on the disputed conditions of employment bill, he will pull it back from Parliament. Mboweni said it would be of great concern to the ANC if the bill, which aims to improve the conditions of vulnerable […]
THURSDAY, 10.45AM: THE South African Broadcasting Corporation has bought the rights to broadcast all matches involving South Africa in the 1998 African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso. The SABC bought the rights from M-Net. SABC Topsport GM Edward Griffiths said that Bafana Bafana supporters will be able to see their heroes defend their title. […]
THURSDAY, 10.30AM NATIONAL Sorghum Breweries chairman and CEO Mohale Mahanyele resigned his positions on Wednesday. Following a long board meeting, Mahanyele “elected to resign” because he does not want to be seen as an “impediment” to the growth of the company. He said he will join an investment company as chairman. The company said he […]
THURSDAY, 8.00AM ROELF MEYER, who on Monday announced a formal deal with Bantu Holomisa to form a joint party, may be close to making a similar deal with Tony Leon’s Democratic Party. Leon was quick this week to welcome the proposed new party, and to say that his own discussions with the two men — […]
WEDNESDAY, 1.00PM NAMIBIAN President Sam Nujoma, who hosted Congo-Kinshasa President Laurent Kabila this week, wants the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to admit the Democratic Republic of Congo to its ranks. Nujoma has repeatedly advocated a scheme for a pipeline to tap the Congo river for water to feed dry Southern African countries including Namibia. […]
WEDNESDAY, 11.30AM GENCOR chairman Brian Gilbertson, fresh from an investor roadshow to promote the group’s Billiton listing on the London Stock Exchange, said on Tuesday the share offer is looks set to attract far more than the 1-billion originally predicted. Rejecting cliams that Gencor is “emigrating”, Gilbertson said government’s green light for the share offer […]
WEDNESDAY, 10.30AM VIRGIN Atlantic Airlines, which last month pulled out of the bidding stake for parastatal Sun Air, on Tuesday expressed interest in bidding for a majority stake in any future privatisation of SA Airways. “WE recently pulled out of the bidding for Sun Air. We’ll be looking for an alternative source of investment in […]
WEDNESDAY, 1.00PM A NAMIBIAN human rights group has released a report claiming that 1 768 Angolans from the former Unita stronghold of Cuando-Cubango have disappeared or been killed while in the custody of Namibia’s army. At a press conference in Windhoek, National Society for Human Rights director Phil ya Nangolo said the killings and disappearances […]
TUESDAY, 4.30PM ZIMBABWE’s first privately owned mini hydroelectric power station, which will feed electricity into the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority national power grid, will come on stream later this week. The 750 kW hydroelectric station, constructed at a cost of Z$7,5-million ($681 000), is situated on the Nyahode river, in the Chimanimani mountains. The project […]
WEDNESDAY, 10.30AM NEVER one to ditch a tried and tested formula, the Walt Disney Corporation is following an illustrious line of colonisers who viewd the Cape of Good Hope as the gateway to the Dark Continent, with its announcement on Tuesday that it is to use its Cape Town subsidiary as a springboard into Africa. […]
TUESDAY, 5.30PM SHARES on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange recovered on Tuesday as sentiment improved following the arrest of gold’s headlong slide. The gold index gained 2% to end the day 20,7 points up at 924,6, while industrials gained 13,6 points to close at 8 756,6, together pulling the all share index up 13,2 points to […]
WEDNESDAY, 4.30PM ALLAN BOESAK and his co-trustees in the defunct Foundation for Peace and Justice were on Wednesday sequestrated in the Cape High Court. Boesak, Jan de Waal and Pierre van der Heever were placed under provisional sequestration in May. As no one opposed the provisional order, Justice Chetty on Wednesday granted FPJ creditor Boland […]
BRAZZAVILLE FIGHTING ESCALATES FIGHTING in the Congo capital Kinshasa escalated on Tuesday, once again putting peace talks in jeopardy. The tense situation in the city has been characterised by almost daily ceasefires, which are broken as they are announced. The opposing sides were reported to have spent the day trading mortar and machinegun fire near […]
WEDNESDAY, 2.30PM: MIKE TYSON’S fall from the World Boxing Association (WBA) rankings could give two South African heavyweights a crack at the world title. Fransie Botha and Corrie Sanders are in line for title shots soon. The American-based Botha is now the number one challenger for Evander Holyfield’s title. The former World Boxing Organisation (WBO) […]
WEDNESDAY, 8.30AM THE US economic forecasting and consulting service DRI/McGraw Hill, reported on ten major emerging markets yesterday, ranking South Africa the riskiest of them. The report ranks each country against 50 variables, ranging from government policies to political and economic risks, and deems South Africa risky because unemployment is increasing while economic growth slows; […]
TUESDAY, 8.00AM POLICE broke up rallies in Kenyan towns yesterday, firing rubber bullets and beating pro-reform demonstrators with truncheons and pick-axe handles in violent clashes which left nine people dead — some of them children — and many injured. Demonstrations and rallies were held in 56 towns around the country, demanding constitutional reforms before presidential […]
TUESDAY, 4.00PM The killers of American exchange student Amy Biehl appeared before the truth commission’s amnesty committe on Tuesday, where they explained that Biehl’s murder was inspired by the Pan Africanist Congress slogan “one settler, one bullet”. Earlier, Peter and Linda Biehl, the parents of the slain Fulbright scholar, shook hands with the parents of […]
TUESDAY, 9.30AM: THE 1997 Comrades marathon winner Charl Mattheus will run in the Davos 67km mountain race in the Swiss Alps on July 27. Mattheus was unsure whether he would run in the marathon after pulling a hamstring muscle while on a training run. “It was touch and go whether I would accept the invitation. […]
TUESDAY, 10.30AM: ENGLISH Second Division soccer side Fulham have snapped up South Africa’s number one goalkeeper Andre Arendse for an undisclosed amount. Fulham signed Arendse from Cape Town Spurs. “The club has apparently been highly impressed with Andre and he in turn feels that with Fulham aiming at a spot in the English Premier League, […]
TUESDAY, 5.00PM THE “Wit Wolwe” (white wolves), the shadowy rightwing group that rose to prominence after self-confessed Wit Wolf Barend Strydom went on a killing spree in Pretoria in 1988, never existed, but was a propaganda project of the Vlakplaas police hit-squad unit, Afrikaans daily Beeld reported on Tuesday. Quoting an unnamed former Vlakplaas operative, […]
MONDAY, 8.00AM FORMER Zimbabwe President Canaan Banana finally made his court appearance yesterday on 11 sodomy and indecent assault charges — but neither the public nor the press were there to see the case. First, prosecutors switched the court room at the last minute in an abortive attempt to fool the public. Then magistrate Jaqueline […]
TUESDAY, 11.00AM ISCOR is considering ending production at its Pretoria steel mill after the loss-making plant failed to turn around despite cost cutting and production changes. If the plant is mothballed, 1 400 jobs will be on the line. A decade ago the Pretoria mill led Iscor’s production, producing 800 000 tons of carbon steel […]
TUESDAY, 5.30PM A JOINT committee of the National Consultative Forum, led by Bantu Holomisa, and the New Movement Process, led by Roelf Meyer, on Tuesday announced a new political party will be launched on September 27. In a statement from Johannesburg the committee said it believes the formation of the new political party is long […]
TUESDAY, 11.00AM: THE South African Football Association (Safa) terminated its contract with its controversial marketing arm, Awesome Sports International (ASI), on Monday. From now on every soccer event will be controlled by Safa. Awesome Sports International was appointed three years ago to promote the Four Nations Tournament, to organise most of Bafana Bafana’s international matches, […]