/ 16 April 1999

ZIM RIOTS FOR SHORTER HOLIDAYS

RIOT police in Zimbabwe used tear gas on Wednesday to stop protesting students marching into the centre of Harare to press home demands for better loans and shorter vactions. Police fired tear gas at thousands of students who were trying to leave the Univeristy of Zimbabwe campus — situated in one of Harare’s upmarket suburbs — and march to the education ministry offices in the city centre. The students, who lost eight months of lectures when the university was closed last year over unrest, are objecting to plans for a five-month vacation, which they say is too long.

CLAMPDOWN ON LEFTHAND DRIVES

THE Department of Transport is clamping down on most types of lefthand-drive vehicles, SABC radio news reported on Wednesday. The department has prohibited the importation or manufacture of such vehicles in South Africa after the first of July. Department spokeswoman Deidre Briesch said it will now also be an offence for ordinary citizens to operate a vehicle fitted with a blue emergency light.

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