FELIX ONUAH, Abuja | Monday NIGERIAN President and former civil war commander Olusegun Obasanjo has painted a bleak picture of corruption, which he says is the biggest single obstacle to Nigeria’s development since independence from Britain, as the country marked 40 years of independence amid renewed internal strife. ”Nigeria is now perceived as the most […]

AN ITALIAN Roman Catholic missionary was killed in a grenade attack by Sudanese-backed Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in northern Uganda, a Catholic missionary news agency said. The rebels killed Father Raffaele Di Bari, 71, near his mission in Pajule after he had celebrated mass some 20 km south of the city of Kitgum, and […]

THE Ivory Coast has confirmed that a presidential election to restore civilian rule will take place as planned on October 22, rejecting a call from mediating Organisation of African Unity presidents for a delay. The elections, called to restore civilian rule after the traditionally stable former French colony’s first coup in December 1999, have already […]

RETAILER Pepkor is to split into three listed entities, with the Pepgro holding company being unbundled to shareholders and delisted. Chairman Christo Wiese said that for every 100 Pepkor shares, shareholders would earn 150.6 Shoprite shares and 50 shares in a new company, Tradehold Limited, which would hold Pepkor’s 69% stake in British subsidiary Brown&Jackson. […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday THE office of the South African has declared war on an internationally syndicated journalist, author and former Oxford professor, RW “Bill” Johnson, for suggesting that Thabo Mbeki is “off his rocker,” The Sunday Independent reports. Johnson, the director of the Helen Suzman Foundation and a freelance journalist who writes a […]

DEBT-ridden Nigeria Airways has started to settle its “critical” foreign debts ahead of its privatisation, the minister of aviation, Kema Chikwe announced. “We will ensure that that the airline is not privatised as a scrap and this explains why we are strengthening its asset base prior to privatisation,” he said. Recently, the national carrier also […]

SOUTHERN African heads of state and leading international business and finance figures will gather in Windhoek for the International Herald Tribune’s sixth annual southern Africa Trade and Investment summit from October 9 to 11. The summit, which has become of the most important and respected investment forums in the region, provides unique networking opportunities for […]

SOUTH African construction firm Aveng Ltd expects to achieve real earnings growth in 2001 on the back of recent acquisitions to consolidate its position in the sector. ”Aveng in its current form should achieve real earnings growth in the year ahead. Any revival in the economy and construction industry will further improve performance,” said managing […]

SOUTH African motorists will pay more for their fuel from October 4 because of higher international petroleum prices and a weaker rand against the dollar. Diesel will jump 36c a litre from early next month, while petrol will rise by five cents a litre, the Department of Minerals and Energy said. Petrol in the main […]

FROM Friday, smokers who light up in an enclosed public place outside designated smoking areas are liable for a fine of at least R200, according to harsh new tobacco regulations published in the Government Gazette. The new laws, which are effective immediately, also ban all tobacco advertising and sponsorships, and make the sale of tobacco […]