FRENCH oil company Total has taken control of Forzando coal mine in South Africa by purchasing shares in the mine from South Africa’s Anglovaal Minerals (Avmin), Total announced on Tuesday. Total previously had a 50% stake in Forzando. The mine has been operational since 1996, last year producing some 1,1-million tons of coal. Output is […]

THE sale of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines’ (ZCCM) remaining mines is expected to effectively end a crisis period in the Zambian economy, Barclays Bank said on Tuesday. According to a bank newsletter, the sale of Nkana and Nchanga mines — previous to the sale they were a key obstacle to donor aid — has now […]

THE bodyguard of assassinated United Democratic Movement KwaZulu-Natal national secretary Sifiso Nkabinde was discharged from hospital on Tuesday. Simphiwe Dlamini, along with his mother Lendele, were both wounded in the attack outside a supermarket in Richmond that left Nkabinde dead. Radio reports indicated on Tuesday that Dlamini has gone to ground following his release.

ARMY units have arrested over 103 illegal Mozambican immigrants hundreds of kilometres from the border near the small farming towns of Piet Retief and Delmas in Mpumalanga over the past week. South African National Defence Force spokesperson Lize Pienaar said on Wednesday that the arrests formed part of a concerted anti-crime campaign in the region […]

A BOMB threat by an anonymous caller on Monday disrupted work at the Liberia Telecommunications Corporation in Monrovia, the country’s only communications link to the outside world. The caller said the bomb would go off at 14.00 GMT inside the building, but nothing had happened. The caller first phoned the corporation’s managing director, Charles Roberts, […]

TWO health workers were beaten to death by a crowd in Mozambique’s northern province of Cabo Delgado for allegedly contaminating their wells with cholera bacteria, Radio Mozambique reported on Tuesday. The radio said the incident occurred in the district of Montepuez, one of several areas in the province stricken by cholera, where the health workers […]

THOUSANDS of Democratic Republic of Congo soldiers have “invaded” the border town of Zemio in the Central African Republic, where they are robbing and raping residents, the town’s MP said on Wednesday. On January 8, several thousand soldiers from DRC “invaded (Zemio) … where they now behave as if they are on conquered territory,” said […]

SENIOR public service managers will have to work for pay rises in future, according to Public Service and Administration Minister Zola Skweyiya. Signing a performance agreement with his director general, Paseka Ncholo, on Tuesday, Skweyiya said he believes the new regime will improve relations between directors general and ministers and reduce the temptation for ministers […]

TANZANIA’s foreign reserves reached $586-2-million at the end of last November, an equivalent of 23,4 weeks of the country’s import requirement, the central bank reported. In a monetary policy statement presented to parliament on Tuesday, the Bank of Tanzania said gross foreign reserves improved from $502,5-million, the equivalent of 16,7 weeks of imports, recorded in […]

SWAZILAND’s national Olympic committee will decide on Wednesday whether to fire its president, David Sibandze, following his resignation from the International Olympic Committee on Sunday. Sibandze (66) resigned along with three other members at the weekend in the worst corruption scandal to rock the IOC in its 105-year history. IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch also […]