THE release of some 18 000 prisoners from South Africa’s overcrowded jails has run into fresh criticism after weekend reports that one man accused of car theft pointed a pistol at a woman’s head and stole her car less than 24 hours after being released. The release last week, mostly of suspects awaiting trial who […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Kampala | Monday A SPECIAL committee appointed to investigate the farms crisis in Mpumalanga has painted a picture of dirt-poor farm workers being beaten up by vigilantes, while farmers live in fear and carry guns on their hips. In its report to the provincial legislature, committee chair Victor Windvoel said farm workers were […]

THE new prime minister of Mauritius, Anerood Jugnauth, and the 23 members of his government have been sworn into office in the presence of President Cassam Uteem. At the head of an alliance with Paul Berenger’s Mauritian Militant Movement, Jugnauth’s Militant Socialist Movement won a sweeping victory in a general election last week, obtaining 54 […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, New York | Monday SOUTH African gold producer Anglogold is to boycott this week’s Bank of England gold auction, which it says is likely to receive an “unenthusiastic” response from the marketplace. Echoing the sentiment of many other gold market industry players, AngloGold marketing executive director Kelvin Williams described the auction format as […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pietermaritzburg | Monday GOVERNMENT is racing to quell fears over the potential economic implications for South Africa of an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease on a pig farm in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands, but warns that the country could face disaster if the disease is not contained. Strict emergency measures have been put in place […]

THE trial of six Bulgarians, who face the death penalty if found guilty of deliberately infecting nearly 400 Libyan children with AIDS, has been postponed again – the fifth postponement since it opened in February. The six Bulgarians, five nurses and a doctor, as well as a Palestinian doctor, stand accused of “triggering an AIDS […]

A TOGOLESE employee of the UN refugee agency has been killed in a rebel attack on the south-eastern Guinean town of Macenta, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva said. UN staff discovered the body of their colleague, who had apparently been killed by his attackers as they retreated. An Ivorian UN employee […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday WORKERS at the Anglo American Platinum Corporation (Amplats), the world’s largest producer of the precious metal, are set to strike from this evening after failed wage negotiations. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) is to advise employees at the company to strike if their demands for a 10% wage increase […]

KHANYISILE MAEPA, Mbabane | Monday THE shift by SABC television from analogue to digital broadcasting has left thousands of Swazis cut off from their favorite channels – and reinforced calls for media diversity in the tiny kingdom. The South African broadcaster switched off its SABC 3 analogue service on September 11, and will cut off […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Cairo | Monday AFRICAN nations need to push for closer trade links if they want to call the shots at World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations, an international trade official said ahead of a meeting of African trade ministers. Chungu Mwila, an official with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, […]