Thousands of refugees in and around Johannesburg faced another night filled with anxiety on Tuesday evening as xenophobic tensions and violence continued to spread through the province. The violence has so far claimed 24 lives and left up to 10Â 000 people seeking refuge in shelters across Gauteng.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was in Nairobi in a bid to mediate between newly-elected President Mwai Kibaki and defeated opposition leader Raila Odinga on Thursday, said at a media conference that Odinga had accepted his mediation. Sources close to the mediation also told the Mail & Guardian that Odinga had dropped his demand that Kibaki resign before the two sit down to talk peace.
Ghana’s two largest political parties have vowed to battle it out for the December 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections. Ghana News Agency reported that the ruling New Patriotic Party and the opposition National Democratic Party (NDC) had promised a ”tough showdown” for the vote in the country’s eastern region.
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/ 28 September 2007
National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli’s failure to give his political superiors full details of the investigation into police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi — and possibly of Selebi’s planned arrest — led to his suspension, according to a range of official sources.
Two weeks ago, the Mail & Guardian newspaper was interdicted by the head of the South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) legal services, Mafika Sihlali, from publishing a story on an explosive draft internal SABC audit report. On Wednesday, the interdict order was dismissed, and we can finally publish the full original report.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is launching an international news channel to compete with CNN and the BBC, joining the growing ranks of news outlets seeking to challenge media stereotypes about Africa. But media watchdogs say the SABC should focus on bolstering editorial independence at home.
The United States Justice Department has launched a corruption probe into Britain’s BAE Systems, a potential headache for Gordon Brown just hours before he succeeds Tony Blair as British prime minister. BAE, Europe’s biggest military contractor, said on Tuesday the probe will include its dealings with Saudi Arabia.
The Freedom Front Plus says it is to lay a charge of fraud against Imvume Management, the company involved in the so-called Oilgate scandal, on Monday. "If you ask for money for a specific purpose and you use that money for something else, that would constitute fraud," a party spokesperson said on Sunday.
The <i>Mail & Guardian</i> on Friday challenged the public protector to a public debate on its report into the Oilgate saga, which the newspaper called "rather meaningless". Earlier in the day, Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana said at the release of the report that he found no evidence of wrongdoing in the scandal.
No evidence of wrongdoing has been found in the so-called Oilgate scandal, involving a payment by black empowerment company Imvume to the African National Congress, Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana said on Friday. Mushwana was speaking in Pretoria at the release of the report into the Oilgate scandal.