MALAWI and Mozambique reopened a railway that reconnects landlocked Malawi to an Indian Ocean port with a short and cheap route that civil war once made impassable. Presidents Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique and Bakili Muluzi of Malawi signed an agreement launching the Nacala Develepoment Corridor, as they have dubbed the road and railway linking Malawi […]

AFP AND OWN CORRESPONDENT, New York | Saturday SOUTH Africa’s former president Nelson Mandela called on rebels in Burundi to cease fire, saying they were killing only civilians and not hurting their military enemies. Mandela, who mediated in last month’s peace talks, held in Arusha, northern Tanzania, said: “Now that there is a peace agreement, […]

THE head of the anti-corruption unit in the office of Northern Province Premier Ngoako Ramatlhodi has appeared in court on charges of corruption. Paul Tanyani Nenzhelele, 34, was not asked to plead and his bail of R1 000 was extended. Nenzhelele is accused of promising a woman a job in return for R1 000. The […]

AFP, Cape Town | Friday A MAJOR obstacle in the country’s economic growth, besides unemployment, is HIV and Aids, South African Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni said. Speaking at a graduation ceremony at the University of the North at Turfloop, Mboweni said that despite the epidemic, South Africa had the best chance of all the […]

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 […]

SEVERAL thousand people have marched in Ivory Coast’s main city to denounce foreign interference in its transition to civilian rule after a coup last December. The march coincided with claims by a fugitive member of the ruling junta that soldiers detained after a September 18 attack on army ruler Robert Guei’s home had been killed […]

A SECOND mine disaster in a week has killed one gold miner and injured 10 in an underground rock burst at South Africa’s Driefontein gold mine. One miner was still missing after the tremor, which hit the mine at a depth of 2 500m and measured 2.5 on the Richter Scale. The accident comes nearly […]

VETERINARY teams have killed around half the cloven-hoofed animals targeted for destruction as the country grapples with a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, says an Agricultural Ministry spokesman. The foot-and-mouth disease control centre (FMD) said teams of vets assisted by the army killed 1 587 pigs, burnt the carcasses and buried the ashes. The animals were being […]

NINE people were killed and 14 injured by a dynamite explosion at a tanzanite mine in northern Tanzanian last weekend. Police said the victims were working in a pit and died of suffocation from inhaling poisonous fumes from the explosion in an adjacent mine. Tanzania’s artisanal miners mine the violet-blue gemstone in very unsafe and […]