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/ 14 October 2007
Ponte City, one of Johannesburg’s most famous landmarks — and a notorious slum — is getting a facelift, boosting urban renewal efforts in one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Gray and drab, the cylindrical concrete apartment block towers 173m above the flatlands of Hillbrow.
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/ 29 September 2007
The country’s chief prosecutor has been suspended, its top cop may be wanted for corruption — and South Africans are wondering whether both are casualties in a battle for leadership of the African National Congress. The South African Broadcasting Corporation, reported on Thursday that a warrant had been issued for the arrest of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi.
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/ 27 September 2007
The construction cranes towering and the cacophony of concrete churning and trucks rumbling are the sights and sounds of a business boom in South Africa’s most famous township. Black South Africans are reaping the benefits of a growing economy, and at the heart of it all is Soweto, the huge township south-west of Johannesburg.
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/ 17 September 2007
A council of peacemaking world leaders and Nobel laureates launched by former South African president Nelson Mandela is taking up Darfur as its first mission, with a trip to Sudan planned later this month, the organisation said on Monday. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who chairs the group known as The Elders, will lead a delegation.
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/ 1 September 2007
South African unions have wrested hefty wage increases from employers, wielding strikes as weapons at a time of high inflation and strong performance in the key mining sector and government surpluses. The strength of unions, traditionally allied with the left wing of the African National Congress (ANC), could become critical with a looming showdown over who will succeed President Thabo Mbeki as president of the ANC.
Zimbabwe’s elections must be free and fair next year and economic recovery in the troubled country will only be achieved by a government viewed as legitimate by all its citizens, South Africa’s president said on Sunday. Thabo Mbeki heads the regional mediation process between Zimbabwe’s government and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
South African publishers have placed restrictions on the comic book Tintin in the Congo following complaints of racism in Britain. The illustrated work by Belgian author-cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under a pen name, is the second in a series of 23 tracing the adventures of Tintin and his dog, Snowy.
Bill Clinton charmed crowds in Southern Africa this week, mingling with barefooted children and joking with Malawians — showing the diplomatic skills he could put to use if his wife becomes America’s first woman president. Hillary Clinton has said she would make her husband a roaming ambassador, using his talent to repair America’s tattered image abroad.
Brazilian soccer great Pele and three-time African player of the year Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon delivered a special birthday gift on Tuesday to former South African president Nelson Mandela. The players are among 50 past and present international stars taking part in a soccer friendly to mark his 89th birthday on Wednesday.
Nelson Mandela’s July 18 birthday is annual cause for celebration in South Africa and draws attention from his many local and international admirers. This year, the partying also has a serious side, with the launch on Wednesday — Mandela’s 89th birthday — of a humanitarian campaign.