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 — […]
THURSDAY, 10.00AM: FOUR of the country’s provincial rugby clubs want a special meeting with the South African Rugby Football Union (Sarfu) to object to a proposal by the Sarfu chief executive last Friday. The union presidents of Natal, Free State and Western Province met in Durban on Wednesday to discuss Rian Oberholzer’s proposal that next […]
THURSDAY, 3.30PM DEPUTY President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday announced the names of the five-member Independent Electoral Commission to oversee the 1999 general election. The commissioners, who will serve on a part-time basis, are: Brigilia Bam, Judge Johann Kriegler, NF Mpulwana, Fanie van der Merwe and Professor Herbert Vilikazi. Presidential spokesman Parks Mankahlana said the chair […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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; […]
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 […]
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, […]
TUESDAY, 12.00NOON A JOHANNESBURG inquest into the deaths of 21 people during attacks on commuter trains in 1990 heard at its start on Monday that nine of the 10 suspects in the case have “disappeared” from Jeppe Hostel, where they were living at the time. Five people were killed and 17 injured on September 6 […]
TUESDAY, 2.00PM AFRICAN National Congress Women’s League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is set to enter the race for the party’s deputy presidency as the women’s league demands two positions among the ANC’s top six. The Sowetan on Tuesday quoted ANCWL sources as saying that since Deputy Presidnet Thabo Mbeki’s position for the party’s presidency is unassailable, […]
TUESDAY, 12.00NOON: MANNING RANGERS general manager Afzal Khan has asked the team’s supporters not to worry just because George Koumantarakis is gone. Rangers will soon sign five top players, three of them from outside the country. “Our supporters should not lose sleep because George is gone. In fact, the club is going to grow stronger […]
TUESDAY, 11.00AM NEW regulations are about to be promulgated which compel local authorities to submit quarterly financial reports to the provincial affairs and constitutional development ministry. The move comes in the wake of findings by Project Viablity, a ministry initiative to monitor local government finances, that show about 200 local councils are in financial trouble […]
TUESDAY, 11.00AM DESPITE arms industry executives making dire warnings about job cuts and project closures following the latest defence budget cuts, Denel acting MD Seshi Chonco on Monday announced preliminary talks with three Mediterranean and Persian Gulf states regarding possible purchases of the Rooivalk combat helicopter. Algeria, Turkey and Saudi Arabaia are reported to be […]
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. […]