TUESDAY, 11.00AM The new government in the Democratic of Congo (formerly Zaire) has paved the way for SA rail parastatal Spoornet to return to the country after admitting its earlier nationalisation of the Congo rail network was a mistake. Spoornet operated parts of Zaire’s rail network for the past two years through its Sizarail subsidiary. […]
TUESDAY, 8.30AM NIGERIAN ships shelled Freetown yesterday from daybreak until lunchtime, reportedly killing about 20 civilians. The coup leaders, backed by rebels, continued their attack on the seafront hotel (see below) where about a thousand foreigners have taken refuge, under guard from Nigerian soldiers. The rebels appear to suspect that a Nigerian attack will start […]
TUESDAY, 8.30AM ENVIRONMENT Minister Pallo Jordan on Tuesday reiterated the SA government’s commitment to support resumption of the trade in ivory and rhino horn. Jordan told the National Assembly’s environment committee that his department was presented with a fait accompli after decided to support a Southern African Development Community position on a resumption of the […]
TUESDAY, 5.30PM AFRICAN leaders attending the Organisation of African Unity summit in Harare on Tuesday held the historic first meeting of the African Economic Community, an organisation founded to promote economic unity and fight poverty and deprivation. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who assumed chairmanship of the 53-member OAU at its 33rd summit, said the establishment […]
TUESDAY, 9.00AM: IF eleventh-seed Amanda Coetzer beats second-seed Steffi Graf in their French Open quarterfinal match on Wednesday, Graf could slip one position in the rankings. The five-time winner of the French Open was beaten hollow by South African Coetzer at the German Open in Berlin last month, losing 0-6, 1-6. Graf said on Tuesday […]
TUESDAY, 10.00AM: SPRINGBOK rugby coach Carel du Plessis has made six changes to this season’s South African international Test side. World Cup 1995 favourites Kobus Wiese and Hennie le Roux have been omitted from the team and Edrich Lubbe and Krynauw Otto have stepped in to replace them. The team will play their first 1997 […]
TUESDAY, 11.30AM THE United States trade surplus with SA, which hit record levels last year despite the rand’s crash, fell in the first quarter this year largely due to a 10% decline in the value of US imports to SA. The first quarter tarde surplus decreased 28% from $299-million to $217-million. At the same time […]
TUESDAY, 11.00AM LATEST Reserve Bank figures show foreign capital flowed into SA like never before in May, boosting the Bank’s gold and foreign exchange reserves by R7,4-billion to an all-time high of R21,8-billion. The massive inflows, which came a month before the lifting of foreign exchange controls, were much bigger than anyone had forecast, even […]
MONDAY, 4.30PM THE Motheo construction company at the centre of the Mpumalanga housing scandal is not about to close its doors, and the Mpumalanga rural housing project is going ahead, Motheo director Thandi Ndlovu said on Tuesday. Ndlovu was responding to rumours which surfaced in a parliamentary housing committee hearing into the project, when Motheo […]
BISHO MASSACRE AMNESTY FORMER members of the Ciskei Defence Force have applied for amnesty for their part in the 1992 Bisho massacre. The applications were submitted after Bisho attorney-general Leon Langeveld warned them earlier this year that they may still face prosecution for their actions. DP-IFP TALK SHOP PARTY leaders from the Inkatha Freedom Party […]
TUESDAY, 11.30AM FINANCE Director General Maria Ramos said on Monday that SA plans to borrow R4-billion in foreign currency during the rest of this financial year. Speaking at the South Africa in Europe conference, Ramos said her department is aiming at a R2-billion yen issue in about a fortnight, to be followed by a similar-sized […]
MONDAY, 11.00AM: THE National Olympic Committee of South Africa (Nocsa) wants to submit urgent representations to Sports minister Steve Tshwete on the draft Sport and Recreation Bill, despite it being after the official deadline. Tshwete granted an extension to the deadline, and a Nocsa delegation will meet sports officials this weekend to discuss the bill. […]
MONDAY, 12.30PM The rash of Eurorand bond issues this year have proved a boon for the rand, keeping outlook for the local currency positive and helping to keep it stable, according to Reserve Bank international banking GM Bertus van Zyl. Total outstanding Eurorand bond issues stand at about R19-billion, R13-billion of which were launched this […]
MONDAY, 9.30AM AT least 50 000 people are expected to converge on Johannesburg city centre today for a Congress of SA Trade Unions march pushing for changes to the new Basic Conditions of Employment Bill, including increased paid maternity leave and a 40-hour working week. A heavy presence is being maintained by police, SANDF soldiers […]
MONDAY, 3.00PM THE Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Council took another blow at the weekend when the Democratic Party and two independent councillors prevented the adoption of the Eastern Metropolitan Substructure’s 1997/98 budget. After Johannesburg’s Northern, Western and Southern Substructures successfully passed their budgets at the weekend, it is now likely that a legal battle is looming, […]
PAGAD MARCHFIVE HUNDRED members of People Against Gangsterism and Drugs marched on Caledon Square police station on Saturday, in an appeal to police to work harder to fight crime. Police stopped the march twice, to remove some marchers’ face masks, as this is illegal. A house in Athlone, in the Cape Flats region, was bombed […]
MONDAY, 4.30PM NEDCOR group chairman Chris Liebenberg sais at the weekend that he forewarned both Housing Minister Sankie Mthembi-Mahanyele and Mpumalanga Premier Mathews Phosa that the banking group was firing “Mr Housing”, Kevin Gibbs. He also told them that Nedcor was investigating a series of “highly unethical” irregularities allegedly committed by Gibbs. Lienbenberg said on […]
MONDAY, 12.00NOON THE Reserve Bank is examining the possibility of reducing its role as the major marketer of SA gold production abroad, Bank sources say, with the likelihood of private sector participation by the end of the year. Bank international banking GM Bertus van Zyl said on Friday the Bank is in negotiations with the […]
MONDAY, 9.00AM: AMANDA COETZER eased her way into the quarterfinals of the French Open in Paris on Sunday, when she beat eighth-seeded Conchita Martinez 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 in their fourth-round match, the first time she has beaten Martinez. Coetzer said after the two-and-a-half hour match: “Obviously I’m really pleased with the way I’m playing. I […]
MONDAY, 4.30PM AS preparations get under way for the ‘media truth commission’, the Freedom of Expression Institute on Monday handed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission a report which says that agreements between the Newspaper Press Union and police and military establishments led to collusion between media management and the apartheid-era government. FXI leaders told a […]
MONDAY, 9.00AM: THE British Lions beat Western Province 38-21 at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town on Saturday, playing to a capacity crowd. Lions led 18-14 at half-time, and kept their concentration levels high throughout the game. Western Province, including eight Springbok players, tried to keep up, and even had a 21-18 lead just after half […]
MONDAY, 12.30PM THE World Bank on Friday approved its first loan to SA in over 30 years, awarding $36-million in credit to help small businesses compete in the global marketplace. The $46-million loan is repayable over 15 years, after a three-year grace period. SA’s last World Bank loan was awarded in 1966 for transport and […]
MONDAY, 3.00PM NAMIBIA’s ruling South West African People’s Organisation at its weekend conference resolved to amend the country’s constitution to allow President Sam Nujoma to stand for a third presidential term. Nujoma said he was deeply moved and will make himeslf available “to answer the call of duty and to serve my people in whatever […]
MONDAY, 10.00AM: CROWD-pleasers Kaizer Chiefs drew 1-1 with Qwa Qwa Stars in the crowded Northern Free State Rugby Stadium in Welkom on Sunday, in their Castle Premier League match. Amakhosi had a couple of near-misses in the first half, thanks to the lacklustre performance of striker Mark Williams. When Williams did get a shot into […]
MONDAY, 10.30AM: TONGA beat an Eastern Province Invitation team 34-19 in their second South African tour match on Sunday, scoring five tries, three conversions and a penalty. At half-time Tonga led 15-5, and kept going strong to 27-5 at one stage. The EP forwards tried to patch things up — Cecil du Plessis and Willie […]
FRIDAY, 4.00PM FOUR people were arrested on Friday after police and Mpumalanga Parks Board investigators raided two Johannesburg houses and seized 45 endangered cycads stolen from nature reserves near the Swazi border. Seven of the stolen lebomboensis cycads were implanted with microchips, allowing investigators to track their movement from the Mananga cycad reserve to Johannesburg. […]
Marion Edmunds THE government is to be urged to set up a special inquiry into district surgeons and health professionals who betrayed their ethical codes in complicity with apartheid authorities. The call will be made at health hearings at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission next month and will come from among the 30 organisations making […]
`ZAMBUK. My grandmother used to put that on everything,” a friend said to me when I told her about a new TV campaign for the balm. Let’s face it, most adverts for an affordable green medicated ointment show a mother tending to her kid – not black and white images of some sexy naked woman […]
Andrew Worsdale AT the age of 73 and with 54 years in the industry, Italo Bernicchi is a veteran of South African cinema. He started in movies as a cinematographer, shooting second unit on the original version of Cry, the Beloved Country, made by Zoltan Korda. After that he put down the camera and took […]
THE freedom of the press depends on the number of newspaper titles available to the public rather than nonsensical claims to objectivity by a few newspaper groups trading in monopolistic conditions. We are therefore extremely concerned by the manner in which the closure of the New Nation has been passed off with little comment and […]
rapist appears Stuart Hess TWO thousand Katlehong people marched on the Germiston Magistrate’s Court this week when the man accused of raping a seven- year-old girl made his appearnance. Dan Mabote is charged with raping Mamokgethi Malebana and two other children, all from the Mosiliki section in Katlehong. Mamokgethi, a sub-B pupil, disappeared on March […]
IF you include his comedy In the Bleak Midwinter and his appearance as Iago to Laurence Fishburne’s Othello, Hamlet is Kenneth Branagh’s fifth screen engagement with Shakespeare, and it is by some way the best film he has directed. Conceived on an epic scale, it is shot in 70mm, uses the full four-hour text and […]