JAPAN’S ex-premier Ryutaro Hashimoto left Johannesburg on Saturday after a four-day visit to South Africa that an embassy official said was “very successful.” Hashimoto met Deputy President Thabo Mbeki twice during the visit, aimed at cementing ties between the countries. Hashimoto, now a senior foreign policy advisor to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, arrived in South Africa on Wednesday after a short stay in Kenya. His visit coincided with the launch of the South Africa/Japan Partnership Forum, a body designed to improve relations between the two countries and boost trade.
STUDENT SHOOTS THREE LECTURERS
A STUDENT at the Tompi Seleka agricultural colleged in Northern Province on Friday ran amok, shooting three lecturers before escaping, according to an SABC-TV news report. Pursued by police, he later shot himself dead. The student, David Malebana (20), was apparently angered by a week’s extension to his training. Two of the lecturers he shot died on the scene, while a third died on the way to hospital.
POLYGAMY FOR WHITES
AN Afrikaner theology professor says South Africa should legalise polygamy for whites to beat a divorce rate amongst the highest in the world, a Johannesburg newspaper reported on Friday. “Timesharing awaits us, ladies. And that at a time Viagra was sent for men,” it quoted Christina Landman, a theology professor at the University of South Africa in Pretoria and member of the conservative Dutch Reformed Church, as saying. Only one in three South African marriages endures, and Landman argues that polygamy would allow a husband to take on additional mistresses without his wife feeling betrayed and left with no option but divorce.
NO LUNG SICKNESS
NAMIBIAN veterinary officials have dismissed allegations of an outbreak of the deadly disease lung sickness among cattle in Otjombinde, Rietfontein area. Namibia News Agency quoted state veterinarian Jason Ndikuwera on Friday as saying that such allegations are farfetched and unfounded. He said his office in Gobabis in Eastern Namibia near the Botswana border would have known long before any other person as they are directly dealing with animal diseases and the control of livestock movement. Nampa cited an unnamed source from the Gobabis veterinary office who indicated the disease rumour was sparked by recent activities of cattle “smuggling” between Namibia and Botswana.