hot air Will the airship called Nelson ever get off the ground? It’ll be surprising if it does, writes Dawn Blalock JONATHAN HAMILTON has a dream: to transport people in gas-filled airships. Others suggest he is full of hot air. The 31-year-old Sandton entrepreneur is the founder of The Hamilton Airship Company, a business he […]
In the fight between belief and science, an open mind should be the winner, writes Steve Jones LAST week, an Australian judge intervened in a matter of belief. In the creation versus evolution debate, he took the side of the angels. Ian Plimer, a Melbourne geologist, faces huge costs for taking creationism to court – […]
Marion Edmunds ROELF MEYER is to test support for his new movement in the Western Cape next week, hoping to win over the hotly contested coloured community. Meyer’s Athlone-based organiser, former Labour Party member Ken Lategan, said this week: “There has been unprecedented interest in the last two weeks. People are looking for something new, […]
Angella Johnson BRITISH AIRWAYS (BA) took what it described as a major step in consolidating its position as a “global airline” when it became the first national carrier to dump its country’s flag from the corporate logo to broaden the company’s appeal. Instead of a single identity, BA’s planes will sport 50 different images created […]
bloods Rehana Rossouw AGE has made way for youth in the Nasionale Pers (Naspers) media stable. Their executive chairman Ton Vosloo and Rapport editor Izak de Villiers will retire in October. De Villiers said this week there was no coup: Naspers’s retirement age for editors was 61 and he reaches that age in July; Vosloo […]
New charges of conflict of interest point to further irregularities in the province’s Housing Department, increasing the pressure for a full-scale commission of inquiry, write Justin Arenstein and Mungo Soggot FRESH revelations surrounding the Mpumalanga housing scandal emerged this week, increasing the likelihood that the government’s current probe will be widened into a full-blown commission […]
THURSDAY, 4.30PM SOUTHERN African states seeking a reversal of the Cites ivory trade ban scored a tactical victory on Wednesday when a procedural committee approved the continued use of secret ballots in votes no motions proposed at the conference in Harare of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. The decision has led to […]
THURSDAY, 10.30AM MOSSGAS confounded its critics by doubling operating profit in the year to March to R715-million, but is also seeking government approval for an additional R1-billion investment to bring the EM field on stream. The increase in profits from last year’s R532-million (1994/95, R517m) was achieved on higher oil prices, increased production volumes and […]
THURSDAY, 11.00AM: COMRADES marathon runners who wear Nike branded nose strips during the run face the prospect of disqualification from the race. Runners were warned by Athletics South Africa and Comrades Marathon Association that no brand names or logos will be allowed “inside the competition area”. Nike, manufacturers of sports goods and clothing, posted a […]
THURSDAY, 8.30AM RESERVE BANK governor Chris Stals, at a conference in Warsaw, was reported last night (Wednesday) to have hinted that the ceiling for individual South African investment abroad will be set at around R160 000. Stals said the figure would only be settled next week, but would be in the region of R160 000. […]
THURSDAY, 11.00AM: ORLANDO PIRATES are still in the running to overtake Kaizer Chiefs and nab second spot in the Premier Soccer League log, after their 2-0 victory over AmaZulu at FNB Stadium outside Soweto on Wednesday night. After a dull and goalless first half, Pirates’ Jerry Sikhosana scored the first goal in the 83rd minute, […]
THURSDAY, 8.00AM: THE British Lions put on a brilliant display against Gauteng at Ellis Park on Wednesday night, winning 20-14. Part of the march was played in semi-darkness, after the lights on the west side of the stadium succumbed to a power surge. The Lions, defeated by Blue Bulls at the weekend, were desperate for […]
THURSDAY, 11.30AM THE SA Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has warned parastatal telecoms monopoly Telkom against claiming a monopoly over internet access until Satra has decided whether the internet falls into the category of telecommunications over which Telkom has a statutory monopoly. Satra is currently adjudicating a dispute between Telkom and the Internet Service Providers’ Association arising […]
THURSDAY, 8.30AM THE US rating agency Duff & Phelps, considered the third most influential in the country, has rated South Africa “investment grade” which should immediately improve South Africa’s standing in the US. One of the other “big three” investment agencies, Moodies, gave SA an “investment grade” rating several months ago. The finance ministry was […]
THURSDAY, 11.00AM: FEARS of relegation for Premier Soccer League team AmaZulu were allayed on Wednesday, when the PSL disciplinary committee awarded them two points. The points were awarded to AmaZulu as a result of a three-month battle to disqualify two Bush Buck players who played without identity cards in a league match against AmaZulu in […]
THURSDAY, 2.30PM THE Angolan government has signed a deal with former rebel movement Unita in which Unita is granted two diamond concessions in the country’s central and southern provinces, according to an official in the mining ministry. The deal was apparently approved at the end of May by the council of ministers, headed by President […]
THURSDAY, 3.30PM THE Human Rights Committee on Thursday told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that between 1960 and 1989, at least 1 750 children died in political violence in SA, and another 517 were killed between 1990 and April 1994. Addressing special commission hearings on child and youth victims in Johannesburg, the committee added that […]
THURSDAY, 3.30PM SOUTH Africa has been ranked 90th out of 175 countries on this year’s United Nations Human Development Index, which provides a country-by-country measure of achievements in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income. According to UN Development Programme official David Whaley, “South Africa is very difficult because of the inequities […]
LESOTHO WALK-OUT OPPOSITION parties in the Lesotho parliament on Thursday walked out for the second consecutive day in protest at Prime Minister Dr Ntsu Mokhehle’s new government, which they call illegal. Members of the Basotholand Congress Party and Sefate Democratic Union leader Bofihla Mkuebe walked out at the end of question time. Mokhehle at the […]
THURSDAY, 2.30PM A FORMER bodyguard of African National Congress stalwart Walter Sisulu told the Shell House inquest on Wednesday how he had fired on a group of advancing protesters with an AK-47 assault rifle after being given a “repel” order by security chief Gary Kruser. Eddie Khumalo told the inquest into the deaths of 19 […]
WEDNESDAY, 12.30AM: MAMELODI SUNDOWNS midfielder Zane Moosa will move to Moroka Swallows soon, if Swallows make good their offer of R400 000 for the player. Sundowns manager Natasha Tsichlas said: “If Swallows put their money where their mouths are and come up with the cash they can have Moosa.” She added however that she thinks […]
WEDNESDAY, 8.30AM THE SA Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has begun its long-awaited hearings on the claims by parastatal Telkom to a five year monopoly over basic Internet access provision. Chariman Nape Maepa said the hearings are likely to take as long as three months, at the end of which, a regulatory framework would be set up. […]
WEDNESDAY, 11.30AM ONE of SA’s largest poroperty owners, Anglo American Property Services (Ampros), has dealt a severe blow to the country’s struggling city centres, by announcing it will sell all its central business district properties in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town. Ampros’s three listed vehicles, Apex Property Fund, Compass Property Holdings and Anglo American […]
WEDNESDAY, 2.30PM A CAPE Town schoolgirl has been awarded R70 000 in damages for emotional anguish suffered at the hands of her mother’s lover, who raped her repeatedly from the age of nine to 12. The girl sued the rapist in a civil case after he was jailed for seven years in 1995 for the […]
WEDNESDAY, 4.30PM HEALTH Minister Dr Nkosazana Zuma announced in Parliament on Wednesday that she is withdrawing her controversial health Bills to allow her department to further study submissions that had been made. The bills will be resubmitted to the Cabinet next Wednesday for re-approval, she said in a special statement at the start of business […]
WEDNESDAY, 12.00AM: MARATHON runner Desmond Witbooi was banned for four years on Tuesday after he tested positive for steroids in the SA Marathon championships in February. Athletics SA held a tribunal on the findings, and announced the four-year ban as effective from February 23. Witbooi said the drugs he took were prescribed by his doctor, […]
MONDAY, 1.30PM THE National Assembly’s welfare committee on Wednesday unanimously agreed that the welfare department’s controversial proposals for child support benefits of R75 a month per child with an age limit of six years are inadequate, committee chairman Ismail Mohamed said on Wednesday. Mohamed said it appeared that all parties broadly agreed on several aspects […]
WEDNESDAY, 8.30AM TWO provincial governments are in dire financial straits, having discovered that they will need massive central government funding to avoid disaster. Mpumalanga legislative committee chairman will attend an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss ways to cope with an R900 million deficit. The current budget of R5 billion already represents a cutback of […]
WEDNESDAY, 11.30AM ANGLO American Platinum Corporation (Amplats) is to be restructured under a single listed entity through Rustenburg Platinum Holdings, the group said on Tuesday. Amplats MD Barry Davison said the deal involves exchanges of Rusplats shares for shares in Amplats and its operating companies, Lebowa Platinum and Potgietersrust Platinums, and the sale of the […]
JOINT DEFENCE DEFENCE Minister Joe Modise has signed a joint defence agreement with Namibian defence minister Philemon Malima. The two countries have agreed to co-operate on training, disaster relief, joint naval exercises, military intelligence, medical services and communications. JOINT POLICE SAFETY and security minister Sydney Mufamadi has met with Mozambique’s interior minister to discuss cross-border […]
WEDNESDAY, 5.30PM FORMER National Party cabinet ministers approved a strategy in 1986 to provide support for Witdoek vigilantes in the Western Cape as a counter-revolutionary measure, the Truth and Reconcillation Commission heard on Wednesday. Former regional development board member and town clerk of Crossroads, Ricky Schelhase, said the aim of the strategy was to reward […]
WEDNESDAY, 12.30PM The rand held on to the key R4,50 to the dollar rate on Tuesday despite fears of another slide due to impending relaxation of foreign exchange controls. The currency hit a four-month low on Monday on fears of capital flight precipitated by lifting of forex controls, which in turn led to concern that […]