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South Africans have become used to voting, a political analyst said about Wednesday’s quiet and uneventful local government elections. ”We are used to voting by now and local elections have always been ‘lower temperature’ elections than national elections,” political analyst Hennie Kotze said on Wednesday.
Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party is probing some of its senior officials in Masvingo province for allegedly campaigning for opposition candidates in last November’s controversial Senate election. But insiders say the probe is just an extension of power struggles in Zanu-PF over President Robert Mugabe’s succession.
The cash earmarked to fight the Aids pandemic is often not making it to the people who need it most.
The United States oil giant Chevron has been forced to cut production in Nigeria by 13 000 barrels per day after a pipeline in an area patrolled by armed militants sprang a leak, a company spokesperson said. The damage came at a time when separatist guerrilla fighters were sabotaging nearby facilities operated by Shell.
More than 20 years have passed since former conservative German chancellor Helmut Kohl came to power, promising to follow the lead of Britain and the United States with a rigorous round of economic reforms. However, the Kohl era ended with very little to show in the way of major changes to Europe’s biggest economy.
Order has returned to the privately owned Kutama Sinthumule Correctional Centre in Makhado, Limpopo, a spokesperson said on Wednesday — this after a strike by prison officials led to the death of a 37-year-old inmate and the injury of another. The Department of Correctional Services and police were called in on Tuesday night.
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A holiday atmosphere took hold of strife-torn Khutsong early on Wednesday afternoon as residents opted for soccer instead of voting. However, Khutsong voters make up only a fraction of 1% of the country’s 21-million voters and should not be concentrated on to the detriment of the others, President Thabo Mbeki said.
A British Chinook helicopter, which has seen action in the Falklands War, Afghanistan and Iraq, was taken out of action after a head-on smash-up with a pigeon, the Royal Air Force said on Wednesday. The 10-tonne chopper was forced into an emergency landing.
Snake charmers have given the all clear for United States President George Bush to go ahead with plans to deliver a speech from a medieval fort in New Delhi during his three-day India visit, officials said on Wednesday. Police roped in the charmers over concerns that reptiles would gatecrash Bush’s scheduled address on Friday.
United States President George Bush on Wednesday made his first visit to Afghanistan and said he was confident that Osama Bin Laden would be brought to justice. Bush arrived this on Wednesday morning for a five-hour stop in Afghanistan ahead of his three-day visit to India, where thousands of protesters rallied before his arrival, shouting ”Death to Bush”.