South Africans of all races are gearing up to mark a historic Zulu uprising against British colonial masters a century ago, seen as the birth of black resistance that later ended apartheid. Soldiers in uniform and Zulu warriors on Sunday will commemorate the 100th year of the Bhambatha rebellion in protest against a British tax.
To some, it’s the symbol of one of the most powerful rugby-playing nations in the world, united by former South African president Nelson Mandela. Others remember it as an icon of racial oppression and exclusivity based on skin colour. There is even a drink named after it.
The annual World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa opening in Cape Town on Wednesday will take stock of Africa’s strongest growth in three decades and the impact of China and India on the continent. Sub-Saharan Africa is poised to post growth of 5,8%, its best performance in more than 30 years, according to the International Monetary Fund.
South Africa’s famous Soweto township is undergoing an economic metamorphosis as more and more blacks join the middle class, creating a demand for top quality consumer goods. Plans are afoot in the township to build a world-class shopping mall as well as an upmarket hotel.
South Africa’s lumbering gold-mining industry is smiling broadly as commodity prices hit quarter-century highs on world markets, opening up new frontiers once thought financially unviable. Gold charged to a new high of an ounce in London on Thursday before cooling off to finish the week on Friday at ,50.
Residents in Harare say they live on a "cholera time-bomb" as the Zimbabwean city struggles to clean up garbage and maintain sewers in an outbreak that has already cost 27 lives. An unusually wet rainy season compounds the problem, especially in slum areas like Dzivarasekwa, about 10km north of the city, and the sprawling semi-urban area of Epworth, to the east.
No image available
/ 12 February 2006
South Africans of all colours this weekend celebrated the return to its original name of Johannesburg’s most famous suburb, once blighted by apartheid bulldozers more than half-a-century ago. The working-class area in western Johannesburg was renamed Sophiatown on Saturday as it was once known by the 65 000 black residents who lived there before being forcibly removed by the white minority government in 1955.
No image available
/ 8 February 2006
Botswana’s San Bushmen fighting for rights to Kalahari land went back to court on Wednesday with lawyers mooting the possibility of an out-of-court settlement. The Bushmen are taking the government to court to challenge their eviction four years ago from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
No image available
/ 25 December 2005
South African cellphone providers are looking back on a bright year. MTN and Vodacom, the country’s largest two mobile operators, have acquired or are finalising offers estimated at more than -million in Africa this year, placing them at the top of the market.
No image available
/ 15 December 2005
South Africans will on Friday mark a decade since the birth of its historic Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which exposed the brutal excesses of apartheid and for the first time gave mainly black victims a voice. The commission heard the harrowing testimony of about 21 000 apartheid victims and perpetrators.