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/ 29 November 2005
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Seven years ago, passers-by barely glanced at a handful of protesters on the steps of a Cape Town cathedral, unaware that they were witnessing the birth of Africa’s most powerful Aids lobby group. They were the first members of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), an NGO led by activist Zackie Achmat.
Big business in South Africa has become a leading force in the fight against HIV/Aids, investing effort and money into treatment programmes to put ailing workers back on the job. ”It’s absolutely essential,” said Alex Govender, head of Volkswagen South Africa’s health services.
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/ 25 September 2005
In Berea, an inner city suburb in Johannesburg, a worn-out sign next to a hole in a wall reads: ”Place your newborn baby in the door of hope. Anytime day or night. We will care for your baby.” Inside is a square steel container with a colourful teddy bear blanket, ready for the next arrival.
The trial of eight South Africans accused of plotting a coup d’état in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea is due to open in Malabo on Monday with claims of torture and denial of due process casting doubts over the proceedings. The eight men detained at the notorious Black Beach prison in Malabo along with six Armenians and a German — who died in custody — were arrested in early March for conspiring to topple leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
South African exports will get a boost from a weaker rand after the Reserve Bank unexpectedly cut its prime lending rate last week but economists say the move holds no long-term guarantee to save jobs. The rand has been powering ahead for the past three months, breaking the six-rand-to-the-dollar threshold in July as the mining and textile sectors complained that the strong currency was hurting their business.
Shackled and handcuffed in pairs, the 70 men sporting bushy beards and khaki prison uniforms shuffle silently into a barn-like building surrounded by barbed wire fences and imposing walls. It is here in Chikurubi Maximum Security prison that the magistrate’s court sits in judgement over the suspected mercenaries arrested on charges of plotting a coup in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.
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/ 8 December 2003
President Thabo Mbeki’s persistent policy of ”quiet diplomacy” toward Zimbabwe is a dangerous game that could ultimately claim his dream of an African renaissance, analysts warned on Monday. South Africa lobbied fiercely for its northern neighbour’s return to the Commonwealth at the weekend.
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/ 19 November 2003
Local polling in Mozambique started slowly on Wednesday as voters queued to cast their ballots in the first municipal elections contested by a former rebel group. The Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo) party is participating in local elections for the first time since independence from Portugal in 1975.
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/ 18 November 2003
Mozambicans cast their vote in municipal elections on Wednesday ahead of what is expected to be a tight presidential race next year, but opposition parties say their voters are under-represented since polling will take place mainly in cities.
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/ 17 October 2003
A group of uniquely informal churches that marry African traditions with Christian beliefs is experiencing phenomenal growth among black South Africans and is rapidly becoming the new mainline denomination. ”Some of us worship under trees, others in garages or sitting rooms or schools or flats. Our aim is to bring the people together. That is what made the African people survive oppression,” said Bishop Mshengu Tshabalala.