”Corruption is everywhere — in the villages, wherever”, Zambia’s Lands Minister Gladys Nyirango acknowledged at a major conference on graft in Africa last week. Hours later she was sacked. Africa has long had a reputation as the most corrupt continent, with only two countries, Botswana and Mauritius, making it into the top 50 of the latest annual Transparency International index on clean governance.
No image available
/ 17 February 2007
The leader of Lesotho’s new opposition party was confident on Friday of turfing his old colleagues out of power ahead of an election in Southern Africa’s mountain kingdom pundits found too close to call. Former foreign minister Tom Thabane, who only formed the All Basotho Congress in October after walking out of the Cabinet, called time on the Lesotho Congress for Democracy’s nine-year rule.
No image available
/ 16 February 2007
The leader of Lesotho’s newly formed opposition party expressed confidence on Friday of turfing his old colleagues out of office on the eve of an election that pundits have found too close to call. As electoral officials put ballot boxes in place for Saturday’s election, security was tightened across the Southern African nation.
No image available
/ 6 February 2007
African economies face a daunting challenge to catch up with the rest of the world after missing out on two decades of growth, a new report by the World Bank said on Tuesday. The author of the study, Benno Ndulu, said Africa has been losing the battle against poverty in comparison to the rest of the world, but expressed hope there is enough ambition to reverse the current situation.
No image available
/ 2 February 2007
Male nurse Moshoeshoe Makhubu has helped in many circumcisions but is visibly nervous as he prepares to undergo the snip himself, a procedure he grudgingly admits may boost chances of remaining HIV-free. In Swaziland, staying clear of the virus is hard as close to 40% of adults are living with HIV/Aids, the highest infection rate anywhere in the world.
No image available
/ 28 January 2007
Generations too late to be classified as Europeans, white South Africans are fighting for the right to be seen as African amid doubts about their loyalty, fuelled by a growing white diaspora. In the 13 years since the demise of the apartheid regime, about 400Â 000 white people have voted with their feet and deserted the rainbow nation — usually for countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Britain.
No image available
/ 28 December 2006
The coming year promises to be the most turbulent in South Africa since apartheid’s demise with an already acrimonious battle for the leadership of the governing African National Congress (ANC) set to spill out into the open. ”I would say it will be the most divisive year” since the end of the whites-only regime in 1994, said Cape Town-based analyst Daniel Silke.
No image available
/ 27 December 2006
Right-wing extremists who have nursed their grievances on the sidelines since the end of the apartheid era are poised to throw themselves into the mix of South Africa’s multi-racial democracy. Long convinced that Aids and abortion are all part of a plot against the white community, followers of the Boerestaat party are hoping the electorate will start listening to their siren calls.
No image available
/ 22 December 2006
A two-year-old cheetah, who had her paw mangled in a crude snare, is to have a prosthetic leg fitted in a ground-breaking operation by animal surgeons in South Africa. Betty Blue was operated on at the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre, near Johannesburg, after being rescued from the iron jaws of the trap which had clamped down on her left hind leg in Mpumalanga.
No image available
/ 10 December 2006
South Africa, the world’s top gold producer, has launched a crackdown against ”pirates” who live for months in the bowels of abandoned pits, plundering booty worth millions of rands. Known as the ”Zama Zama”, which means ”Let’s try our luck”, the so-called ”gold pirates” have struck terror among local miners as well as police by setting up booby traps and homemade bombs to keep them away.