SWAZILAND’S traditional Prime Minister Dibanisa Mavuso has been fired by King Mswati for violating his duties, including poaching in a royal game park, a brother of the king said. The traditional prime minister is the main advisor to the Queen Mother, who co-rules Swaziland with her son Mswati. Mavuso frequently had the police bring cabinet […]

THE community of Pilgrim’s Rest in Mpumalanga is counting the hours before the 2004 host of the World Gold Panning Championships is announced in Poland. If South Africa is announced as bid winner, the town will erupt into a street party, says executive member of the South African Gold Panning Association, Cheryl van Dyk. “Gold […]

A POLITICAL slanging match over a Swazi chieftaincy has erupted into a media reform row after Information Minister Mntonzima Dlamini banned two chiefs from using the airwaves but allowed King Mswati III’s brother to continue airing his views. After banning his two opponents, the minister said Magugu could continue making announcements over the national radio […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Sunday THE ousted leader of Zimbabwe’s war veterans association has been reinstated as the leader of the group that occupied white-owned farms in the run-up to the country’s June elections. Chenjerai “Hitler” Hundzvi was ousted from the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association last weekend after being accused of running the […]

GROOTE Schuur Hospital’s world-renowned heart transplant unit faces possible closure if a new quota system is introduced forcing the hospital to perform perhaps only five heart transplants a year, the Cape Argus newspaper has reported. This would shut off access to heart transplants – and the consequent chance at a new life – for the […]

PANDEMONIUM broke out in the Cape High Court when the four Franschhoek Pass murderers were each sentenced to two life terms in prison. Relatives of the accused started shouting as the sentences were passed, forcing the judge to raise his voice in an attempt to complete the sentencing of Heinrico Pietersen, 18, Morne Lakay, 23, […]

SWAZILAND has agreed to open its prisons for convicts in Rwanda, easing pressure on the United Nations to find suitable prisons for them. Jails in Rwanda have been crammed with awaiting-trial prisoners since the 1994 genocide and thousands of suspects are expected to be tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. UN assistant secretary […]

A FORMER Rwandan army major accused of murdering his prime minister and 10 Belgian UN peacekeepers has begged a Tanzanian court not to extradite him to Rwanda, saying he feared execution. Bernard Ntuyahaga, 48, is wanted in Rwanda for the 1994 murder of Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and the UN troops sent to protect her […]

THE price of petrol will rise by a further six cents a litre – and diesel by 15 cents a litre – from September 6, the Department of Minerals and Energy has announced. The increase follows a surge in international crude oil and petroleum product prices close to their highest level since the 1991 Gulf […]

Fiona Macleod Southern Africa’s most newly endangered species on the verge of extinction is the winter impala lily, a plant used by traditional healers to treat stomach ailments. Conservationists warn that agriculture and development have virtually wiped out the plant in the wild and unless drastic steps are taken it will soon be extinct. Mpumalanga […]