CHINA has won the support of African allies against linking international economic and political ties to human rights issues at the first Forum of Sino-African Cooperation in Beijing. “The politicisation of human rights and the imposition of human rights conditions on economic assisstance should be vigorously opposed as they constitute a violation of human rights,” […]

SOUTH Africa’s Sekunjalo Investment Holdings is among several groups interested in acquiring the Health & Racquet fitness club chain of LeisureNet, Business Report newspaper said. The newspaper, quoting Sekunjalo Chief Executive Iqbal Surv, said the black empowerment group, had already received approaches from possible domestic and offshore backers interested in funding the buy. Sekunjalo held […]

STEVEN SWINDELLS AND OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday PLATINUM output at industry giant Anglo American Platinum (Angloplat) may fall below two million ounces this year because of a prolonged miners’ strike and earlier flooding, analysts said this week. But the world’s largest platinum producer is still expected to post record financial results for the year […]

ANTHONY GOODMAN, United Nations | Thursday A WORSENING of the situation in civil war-ravaged Angola could affect the border regions of neighbouring Namibia and Zambia and further threaten peace and security in the whole subregion, says UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. His warning came in a written report to the Security Council recommending a six-month extension, […]

KENYA’S Finance Minister Chris Okemo has rejected newspaper reports this week suggesting the country might not fulfill some of the conditions set by the International Monetary Fund for its aid package. He was reacting to comments attributed to President Daniel arap Moi this week that Kenya will not implement some of the IMF conditions for […]

THIRTEEN amateur diamond prospectors have been killed in a landslide in northeastern Angola, state radio reported. Four other diamond-seekers were seriously injured in the tragedy, which occurred at a mine in Chassuala, near the city of Saurimo. Police managed to pull the four out of the debris from the landslide. The government recently launched a […]

SIX of 14 Chachma baboons saved from being used in French nuclear weapon testing have been released into new enclosures with natural vegetation. Karen Pilling, a representative for the Centre for Animal Rehabilitation and Education (Care), said the baboons were doing well and were being fed better. Care forcibly removed the emaciated baboons with police […]

ZENZELE KUHLASE, Nelspruit | Wednesday THREE former Security Force members who operated under notorious Vlakplaas commander Eugene de Kock have applied for amnesty for several crimes, including burning houses in search of alleged activists. Police officers Izak Bosch and Willie Nortjie and former soldier Eugene Fourie applied for amnesty for political crimes committed between 1986 […]

ZIMBABWE’S main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has avoided arrest upon his return to Harare, despite the arrests of three opposition lawmakers and repeated threats from the government to charge him with treason. Tsvangirai said he was afraid that if police arrested him at the airport, the public outcry could run out of control. He has […]

MAURITIAN-led consortium Sena Holdings is investing more than $100m to rebuild what was once Mozambique’s largest sugar factory in the central province of Sofala. The formerly British-owned Marromeu sugar mill in the Zambezi River valley is expected to resume production by mid-2001 after more than two decades of paralysis. Estimates put the factory’s initial output […]