SOUTH Africa’s negotiations for a free trade agreement with the European Union may not even make it onto the agenda of Monday’s EU council of ministers meeting, a senior official warned on Thursday. South Africa hopes a draft deal struck between Trade Minister Alec Erwin and the EU Commissioner responsible for Africa, Joao de Deus […]
POLICE are investigating the possibility that Mpumalanga’s outspoken African National Congress Youth League secretary James Nkambule, may have petrol bombed his own car late last week. Nkambule has, however, vehemently denied any complicity in the incident and described the allegations as part of a wider smear campaign by his political opponents within the ANC. Nkambule […]
TURN-out appeared low as Togolese voters began casting their ballots on Sunday in legislative elections boycotted by the opposition to veteran President Gnassingbe Eyadema. The capital Lom, home to about one in five of the west African country’s 2,3-million eligible voters, witnessed short queues at the polling stations. Turn-out was especially low in Lom districts […]
ZAMBIA’s copper output fell to 18970 ton in February, due mainly to a shortage of concentrates and production problems at largely state-owned Zambian Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM) , a report said on Thursday. Zambian copper production totalled 21&nbssp;708 ton in January, Citibank’s Lusaka office said in a report. Aside from production problems at ZCCM, the […]
THREE more journalists from Zambia’s The Post newspaper have been charged with espionage over a report on Zambia’s defence capability, their lawyer said on Sunday. Six other Post reporters were booked under the same charges last week. The latest three, Douglas Hampande, MacPherson Muyumba and Reuben Phiri, were charged on Saturday and told to appear […]
THE descendants of Saartjie Baartman, the Khoikhoi woman known as the Hottentot Venus, have given a French museum until July to return her remains to South Africa, SABC TV news reported. Baartman was displayed as a freak in Europe at the turn of the century until she died in Paris at the age of 25. […]
BALLOONISTS Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones made a picture perfect landing in the desert sands of Egypt on Sunday, ending their record-setting 20 day dash around the world in the Breitling Orbiter hot-air balloon. The pair touched down near the remote town of Mut, some 700km south-west of Cairo. Swiss Piccard (41) and Briton Jones […]
LAWYERS representing three Americans suspected of being mercenaries have said they were denied access to medical reports that might show their clients were tortured, a Sunday paper reported. The Standard quoted a statement released to it by the lawyer, Jeremy Callow, saying he had been unable to gain access to the reports by two government […]
BOTH of the last two years’ winners gave way to Mpakaletsa Sephali who took line honours in the Old Mutual Om-die-dam 50km around Hartebeespoort Dam on Saturday. Michael Mphotane repeated last year’s feat when he held off the course record holder Stemmer Lekoto to take second in 2:55,53. Lejkoto finished 39 seconds further back. The […]
SOUTRHERN African defence ministers have agreed a timetable for establishing a multi-national United Nations-style peacekeeping brigade for the region, the Sunday Times reports. Quoting from a confidential paper reportedly endorsed by the 14 Southern African Development Community members in Swaziland last week, the newspaper said December next year has been set for the allocation of […]