THURSDAY, 2.30PM The eceutive committee of the Northern Province government will follow the African National Congress line on border disputes in Bushbuckridge and Groblersdal, local government MEC John Dombo said on Thursday. If the proposal is accepted by the provincial legislature, it will mean that Bushbuckridge will remain in Northern Province, while Groblersdal will remain […]
THURSDAY, 12.00NOON: THE British Lions management announced their team for the match against Eastern Province XV on Saturday, with tour captain Martin Johnson having been left out of the game. Prop Jason Leonard will lead the team in Port Elizabeth while Johnson rests, manager Fran Cotton said yesterday. “A lot of the guys have played […]
INTERPOL ON LION CASE The investigation into lion hunting in South Africa, first exposed in the Mail & Guardian, has received a boost with the news that a team of Interpol agents will join SAPS detectives investigating the practice of hunting drugged or tame lions in enclosed areas. See M&G’s expos of canned lion hunting. […]
THURSDAY, 5.00PM UGANDAN President Yoweri Museveni, widely regarded as the key supporter of Laurent Kabila, has advised his protege not to let himself be stampeded into “unrealistic” early elections. Museveni, who has resisted elections in his own country, urged Kabila to first rehabilitate infrastructure, arrest the country’s runaway inflation, and then set up the infrastructure […]
THURSDAY, 11.30AM: SOUTH African seeds Dawn Kaiser and Bryony Joscelyne were both victorious in the women’s section of the Macmed World Masters squash championship in Johannesburg on Wednesday. Kaiser beat Barbara Sanderson of England in the 55-60 division, while Joscelyne did battle with Jenny Clarke of Australia in the 45-49 division, to win 10-8, 6-9,9-10, […]
THURSDAY, 10.00AM: DARRON Smit of Auckland caused an upset when he beat Neil Burkett 21-12 in the Absa Insurance South Africa Men’s Bowls Championships in Killarney on Wednesday. Meanwhile Mark Kromhout also defeated SA champ Robbie Rayfield 21-12 in the quarterfinals. Gerry Baker remained in fine form — he beat KWV’s Stoffel Lambrecht 21-14 and […]
THURSDAY, 10.30AM MINERAL and Energy Affairs Minister on Wednesday detailed far-reaching plans to restructure the energy, mining and petroleum industries, including consolidating Central Energy Fund companies and other state assets into a major public energy company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchenge. In his maiden budget speech to Parliament, Maduna said the new energy company […]
THURSDAY, 2.30PM THOUSANDS of banking staff marched in Pretoria and on Parliament in Cape Town on Thursday in protest at the recent spate of bank robberies. During the last 10 months of 1996, there were 506 bank robberies in SA, 193 of them in Gauteng. There have already been over 50 bank robberies in Gauteng […]
THURSDAY, 8.00AM DEFENCE MINISTER Joe Modise put on a spectacular fireworks display for delegates to a world anti-landmine conference, detonating the first of 4 700 mines at the remote Alkantpan army base in the Northern Cape. South Africa will destroy some R39-million worth of landmines in 18 more explosions over a five-month period ending in […]
THURSDAY, 8.30AM DELEGATES to the World Economic Forum in Harare called for a regional Southern African common market amid criticism from business delegates that the target date — eight years away — was far too slow. “No country can work on its own,” said keynote speaker Nelson Mandela. “The pressures of a global economy increasingly […]
The West owes the region a debt of support "not as a question of charity, but because we are entitled to it," says Mandela.
THURSDAY, 2.30PM The moratorium on new police recruitment, in place since August 1994, has been suspended with immediate effect, Safety and Security Minister Sydney Mufamadi announced on Thursday. Mufamadi said an additional 5 250 new police officers and civilians will be appointed over the next three months, at a cost of R150-million. Mufamadi said the […]
THURSDAY, 10.30AM MONEY market players are expecting the Reserve Bank to engineer a “soft landing” for about $1-billion in poroceeds from the partial privatisation of parastatal telecoms corporation Telkom. The money is expected to enter the financial system from Thursday, and the Bank has promised to ease its impact on the money market. Without intervention, […]
THURSDAY, 5.00PM GHANA has expelled a senior United States diplomat for “activities unacceptable for a diplomat”. Nicolas Robertson, head of US Information Service in Accra, appears to have intervened in the trial of two independent newspaper editors, on charge for libel after accusing government officials of dealing in drugs to buy arms. The acting Ghanaian […]
WEDNESDAY, 11.00AM: CRAIGHALL Park A took out defending champions Durbanville at the Absa South Africa Bowls men’s fours championships at Wanderers in Johannesburg yesterday. Craighall Park A, under former world champion Doug Watson, won the match 21-11. Durbanville captain George McKelvey said: “No regrets. We were outplayed all the way down the line. In fact […]
WEDNESDAY, 10.30AM SOUTH African wine exports to the United Kingdom increased by 48%, to 833 265 cases, in the first quarter of this year, despite predictions that wine exports would level off. The growth in exports to the UK took place alongside huge increases in exports of SA wines around the world. SA wine exports […]
WEDNESDAY, 10.30AM The soon-to-be-privatised Sun Air is only likely to realise between R50-million and R90-million — much less than the R200-milion originally estimated, government sources said on Tuesday. With the deadline of Thursday for finalists to make non-binding offers on the airline, it is suggested that the paucity of information on its operations will keep […]
WEDNESDAY, 10.30AM The government on Tuesday released its plans for the long-awaited National Development Agency and gave details about the transformation of the Industrial Development Trust into a development implementation agnecy. Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said Cabinet had recently adopted the recommendations of the National Development Agency advisory committee, including that the […]
WEDNESDAY, 1.00PM: TIMES of Swaziland manager Paul Loffler has been summoned to the royal court today for what he suspects will a “thorough bollocking” for his newspaper’s story that King Mswati owed the Mbabane City Council $6 400 in unpaid rates. Loffler said he was likely to face between 30 and 40 of the King’s […]
WEDNESDAY, 10.00AM: NEWLY appointed South African Football Association director of coaching, Horst Kriete of Germany, said on Tuesday he thinks victory is possible for underdogs Bafana Bafana in the match against England at Old Trafford this Saturday. He said the South African team, currently placed 25th in the world rankings, has “a psychological advantage because […]
WEDNESDAY, 4.30PM The senate of the University of South Africa on Tuesday voted to suspend university management under rector Professor Marinus Wiechers and to set up an interim management board to run the university. In order for the proposal to become reality, it has still to be passed by the university council, its highest decision-making […]
WEDNESDAY, 8.00AM The entire youth executive of the Gauteng National Party resigned last night to join up with their former leader Roelf Meyer, who quit the party at the weekend. Youth leader Paulo Andrade said Meyer was the “last enlightened visionary thinker” in the party. Meyer’s dismissal a week ago as leader of an NP […]
WEDNESDAY, 10.00AM: SOUTH AFRICAN golfing hero Ernie Els will break his commitment to the Dunlop Phoenix tournament in Japan for the second year running, to represent South Africa in the World Cup of Golf at Kiawah Island in the United States. Els won the 1996 World Cup in partnership with Wayne Westner in Somerset West, […]
WEDNESDAY, 1.00PM The sanctions committee of the UN Security Council says Libyan leader Moammar Kadhafi violated UN sanctions by flying in a flotilla of aircraft to Niger and Nigeria two weeks ago. Kadhafi also announced that he was flying to South Africa, but then returned home without explanation. Niger and Nigeria have denied knowingly violating […]
WEDNESDAY, 10.30AM The latest Global Competitiveness Report compiled by the World Economic Forum shows South Africa at 44th of the 53 countries listed, one place lower down the list than last year’s rating. New entry to the list, the Slovak Republic, entered at 35th position, which pushed SA down. There were three other newcomers to […]
WEDNESDAY, 8.30AM NELSON MANDELA heads a guest list of eight heads of state and 700 other political and business leaders from 45 countries in Harare for talks on regional economic integration. Organised by the SADC and the Swiss-based World Economic Forum, the massive conference aims to discuss ways to make the region more attractive to […]
WEDNESDAY, 5.30PM DEPUTY President Thabo Mbeki on Wednesday reported that negotiations to establish a transitional government in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are proving to be more complex than anticipated. Mbeki told the National Assembly that he is nonetheless confident that there will be an announcement on the authority in the next few days. […]
SERBIA JUDGES TWO African judges have been appointed to the international tribunal into war crimes in Bosnia and Serbia. They are Fouad Riad of Egypt and Florence Mumba of Zambia, chosen to join the tribunal along with nine other judges in the UN General Assembly Tuesday. ANGOLA PEACE NEEDS MONEY UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has […]
WEDNESDAY, 4.00PM THE Bushbuckridge Border Committee on Wednesday rejected “with contempt” the decision by the national executive commitee of the African National Congress that the area remain part of the Northern Province. Residents of Bushbuckridge have been attempting for some years to have the area incorporated in Mpumalanga, leading in recent weeks to several violent […]
TUESDAY, 5.30PM DEPOSED Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who fled to Togo as Laurent Kabila’s rebels consolidated their control over the country, is reportedly in a very weak state of health and overstaying his welcome in the tiny West African state. Mobutu’s arrival in Togo caught his old friend, fellow francophone dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema, off […]
TUESDAY, 8.00AM SOUTH AFRICA will destroy 4 500 landmines, a quarter of its stockpile, in front of delegates to a three-day anti-landmine conference today (Tuesday). The conference, organised by the OAU, has drawn 250 delegates from 41 of Africa’s 52 states. But only 11 African states have signed a treaty banning the use of anti-personnel […]
TUESDAY, 4.00PM The national executive committee of the African National Congress on Monday decided that Bushbuckridge should stay in Northern Province, a move which is bound to anger residents pushing for the area to be incorporated in Mpumalanga. In a statement released after the decision was taken, the ANC, referring to recent rioting in the […]