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, 5.00PM 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, […]
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, 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 […]
MONDAY, 1.00PM THE Labour Court has acted decisively against labour consultants hoping to represent employees before the court of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration by masquerading as unionists or officials of employer organisations. The Labour Relations Act prevents labour consultants from appearing in the Labout Court or CCMA, specifying that parties can only […]
MONDAY, 5.00PM DEMOCRATIC Republic of the Congo President Laurent Kabila arrived in the Namibian capital Windhoek on Monday morning for a two-day official visit, during which a major Windhoek street will be named after him. Kabila, on his second official visit to an African state since he took power in May, was due to hold […]
MONDAY, 3.30PM ARMS manufacturer Denel on Monday confirmed the resignation of MD Johan Alberts. In a statement in Pretoria, the group said: “The Minister for Public Enterprises, Ms Stella Sigcau, has accepted Mr Alberts’s request to be relieved of his responsibilities at the Denel Group.” Although the group did not give reasons for Alberts’s resignation, […]
MONDAY, 11.30AM: ALL Blacks coach John Hart added three new players to the 23-member squad to play against South Africa in a tri-nations match on Saturday July 19 at Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg. Mark Cooksley, Canterbury Crusaders’ captain Todd Blackadder and Jon Preston were added to the squad. Preston was recalled to the squad […]
MONDAY, 11.30AM: THE Springboks won Saturday’s third Test match against the British Lions 35-16, salvaging some of their honour after losing the first two matches and the series. Bok captain Joost van der Westhuizen said he and his teammates were suprised by the visitors’ play, their handling skills and the way they took the ball […]
MONDAY, 11.00AM WITH the gold mining industry facing crisis as the bullion price plunges, the National Union of Mineworkers and the Chamber of Mines, locked in annual wage negitiations, cannot reach agreement on the number of additional shifts required to raise production by 90 tons a year in a bid to ensure the industry’s survival. […]
MONDAY, 1.00PM SPOORNET, the railways division of transport parastatal Transnet, has a bought 20% stake in Interferrea, a Brazilian-owned transport consortium. The deal is the first step towards Spoornet’s goal of entering joint venture opportunities in South America, the Far East and Africa. According to Spoornet executive director Mafike Mkwanazi, Interferrea recently acquired the Brazilian […]
NO CERTIFICATES GAUTENG’s 1996 matriculants are still without certificates because issuing of the certificates was scheduled for after the supplementary examinations. Only 62 000 of the 79 000 matriculants have certificates. Gauteng education MEC Mary Metcalfe said because some candidates have been involved in irregularities, certificates are being re-checked. HEADLINE HERE THE Australian Deputy Prime […]
MONDAY, 2.30PM: SOUTH African Football Association general manager Dennis Mumble said Safa is surprised at reports that Four Nations Tournament sponsor Foodcorp has withdrawn its R7-million backing of the competition. Mumble expressed his disappointment that “Awesome Sports International did not make us aware of this development”. He said Safa only learnt of the issue over […]
MONDAY, 5.30PM SHARE prices on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange fell across the board on Monday as the bullion price continued its free fall. Gold fixed in London in the afternoon at $318,00, before falling further to $316, a new ten-and-half-year low. The continued fall of bullion precipitated a four-and-a-half-year low on the JSE’s gold index, […]
MONDAY, 11.30AM: The new managing director of Amazulu, Lawrence Ngubane, has signed three Zimbabwean internationals in a bid to strengthen his side. Steward Murisa, Alois Bunjira and Callisto Pasuwa have moved from Zimbabwean champions Caps United. Ngubane said he was impressed by the three players when Orlando Pirates played United in the Africa club soccer […]
AS part of the Mail & Guardian’s continued efforts to provide our readers with the best newspaper reading in South Africa, from this week we add to and welcome back some of the top voices in journalism in the country. Robert Kirby joins the team with Loose Cannon, a humorous column itching to take on […]
An international organisation to stir `bystanders’ to act against genocidal violence was established at a conference in Sweden last month. Benjamin Pogrund was there FIFTY-THREE years ago Ervin Staub was saved from a Nazi death camp by Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. Staub is now an eminent professor of psychology at an American university — and […]
A new strain of TB may signal potential disaster for 10 000 buffalo in the Kruger National Park, writes Ellen Bartlett SOUTH AFRICA, already facing the worst human tuberculosis epidemic in the world, is now confronting a new TB threat. Mycobacterium bovis, the strain commonly known as bovine TB, is sweeping the buffalo population in […]
PRESIDENT Nelson Mandela brought joy and excitement to the lives of 1 200 children with life-threatening diseases on Friday when they joined him at a party in Cape Town to celebrate his forthcoming 79th birthday.
FRIDAY, 4.00PM THE North-West province government on Friday announced stringent austerity measures to be instituted with immediate effect in an attempt to reduce provincial and national debt and address developmental backlogs in the province. Included in the measures, announced in Mafikeng by acting premier Zacharia Pitso Tolo, is a ban on new vehicle and equipment […]
South Africa’s policy-makers should look beyond the propaganda of business – that improved labour standards prevent job creation. Society as a whole will benefit from new employment laws, argues Vishwas Satgar SOUTH African economic history has been afflicted with amnesia. The symbiotic relationship enjoyed by monopoly business with the apartheid state has become opaque in […]
JCI’s deal with Anglo is just the first step to realising its Lonrho ambitions, reports Madeleine Wackernagel MZI KHUMALO is not one to give up easily. Just three days after merger talks were called off by Lonrho, he was back on the phone to Nicholas Morrell, Lonrho’s chief executive, requesting another meeting, this time armed […]
UK COPS ARRIVE A BRITISH police team arrived in South Africa at the end of June to work closely with the Derpartment of Safety and Security and the South African Police Services. The team will review management systems and help in training, evaluation and monitoring of the department. It will draw up a report with […]
FRIDAY, 1.00PM BUSINESS confidence in the second quarter fell sharply against the first three months of the year, according to Stellenbosch University’s Bureau for Economic Research. The BER’s business confidence index fell to 34,4 in the second quarter, from 45,2 in the first, continuing a trend of falling confidence since the last quarter of 1995. […]
Numsa’s new general secretary aims to bridge the gap between the rank-and-file and union leadership, reports Ferial Haffajee THE switchboard-operator of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) is used to it by now. “That’s Mbuyi, M-B-U-Y-I,” she spells out for callers who want to speak to the union’s new leader. Numsa’s general […]
Ferial Haffajee GOVERNMENT has begun to reap the benefits of the new Labour Relations Act, with disputes increasingly being institutionalised. This has meant less action on the streets. Andrew Levy & Associates says strikes for the first half of the year dropped by more than a third compared with same period last year. Consultant Gavin […]
FRIDAY, 11.30AM DE BEERS and the National Union of Mineworkers have signed a historic two-year wage deal, the mining industry’s first, giving workers a 9,7% increase this year, and an inflation-linked rise next year. After earlier deadlock between the parties, the agreement was facilitated by Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration senior commissioner Attie van […]
Visiting author Ariel Dorfman tells how writing Widows mirrored his struggle to come to terms with Chile’s terrible past CHILE and South Africa are linked by their experience of tyranny. The parallels come especially to mind with the current visit of Chilean playwright and novelist Ariel Dorfman, who is speaking at the Grahamstown Festival and […]
FRIDAY, 12.10PM: NATIONAL marathon champion Helene Joubert has been dropped from the South African squad which left on Thursday for Hungary to prepare for next month’s world track and field championships in Athens. Joubert was dropped after she unwittingly broke the rules and ran in last month’s Comrades Marathon. Banele Sindani of Athletics South Africa […]
brigade Don’t make jocular remarks about the prime minister of Mauritius, warns Humphrey Harrison, who was jailed on the island I GAZED around the tiny ant- and mosquito- infested cell and mused at how misleading those glossy brochures about Mauritius had been. Even so, I should try to look on the bright side: at least […]
FRIDAY, 1.00PM LATEST figures from the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that new car sales last month rose 4,3% to 20 190 units against last June, offering some encouragement after May’s poor performance. New car sales in the first half of this year climbed 3,1% from the same period last year to 122 477 […]