SUGAR production in Zimbabwe is expected to stay level this year at 580000 tonnes but may increase next season, despite political upheavals and farm seizures, the head of the Zimbabwe Cane Farmers Association said. Next season looked promising, with an expected harvest of between 580000 and 620000 tonnes, he said. – Reuters

IMPALA Platinum Holdings Ltd (Implats) Chief Executive Steve Kearney has stepped down owing to ill health. John Smithies, currently operations director, will take up the position of acting CEO for the time being, although he intends to retire at the beginning of next year. Implats said in a statement it would consider the appointment of […]

IRREGULAR rains in Niger are threatening nearly two million people with famine and thousands have been left homeless by flooding in some regions of the usually arid African country. Nearly 1.8 million people – over 10% of the population – have been at risk of famine since August due to either a lack or an […]

MALI has cut its growth forecast for 2000 because of low export prices but it said debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative should allow it to withstand future external shocks better. Figures published by the finance ministry cut the forecast for gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year in 2000 to […]

GROWING violence in the Somali capital is damping down optimism that followed last month’s appointment of the country’s first president in almost a decade. Bus owners pulled their vehicles off the roads in Mogadishu to protest the rising violence after armed militia wrecked several vehicles. Residents said a wave of looting and banditry has hit […]

TANZANIA’S national electoral commission has revealed that 97,87% of targeted voters have registered for the multi-party elections scheduled for October 29. NEC chairman Judge Lewis Makame said a total of 10,07 million targeted voters had registered on both mainland Tanzania and the island of Zanzibar. Of these, 9,6 million were on the mainland, while just […]

HUNDREDS of endangered giant sable antelope have fled Angola’s Cangandala National Park and run into a region where government and rebel forces have fought over the last week, Angolan radio has reported. The rare antelope is a symbol of Angola, used as an emblem both by the national airline and the national football team. In […]

STEVEN MANN, Cape Town | Tuesday WILLIAM Bantom, the mayor of Cape Town’s metropolitan council, resigned on Tuesday after being caught for the second time viewing pornography in his office. Bantom, an ordained and widely respected minister, was first caught downloading porn sites from the Internet and watching pornographic videos in his office in October […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday MUSLIM vigilante group Pagad’s shadowy G-Force core has been described by police as a “golden thread” running through various acts of terror – including the fatal bombing of Cape Town’s Planet Hollywood – in the Western Cape in the past two years. Police investigating the August 1998 bombing of […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Helsinki | Tuesday ONE or more of the women among the hostages recently released by the Abu Sayyaf group on the Philippine island of Jolo was raped by the rebels, released Finnish hostage Risto Vahanen has revealed to Finnish television MTV3. The hostages included South African couple Callie and Monique Strydom. “We talked […]