MAURITIUS Telecom has acquired 66% of the private Madagascar telephone company Sosaiety Misahna Varotra Sylndostria, the Mauritian national company said on Tuesday.The installation of expansion facilities will begin in April at a cost of 15 million dollars to MT, which will oversee the financial, commercial, technical and administrative management of SMVI. According to 1996 figures, […]

NIGERIA’S centre-left Peoples Democratic Party won the governorship of Rivers State in a re-run vote this weekend, taking its national tally to 20, officials said on Sunday. PDP candidate Peter Odili won the southeastern state with 770074 votes, against 710280 votes for Ebenezer Isokrari of the centre-right All Peoples Party. Eric Bekwele Aso of the […]

A LIGHTNING bolt struck a house and killed a family of seven in the Transkei region of the Eastern Cape late on Sunday, police said. Two other people were injured and admitted to hospital. Police said a grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, two teenage boys and a girl were killed by the bolt in the Libode […]

WATER levels in Mozambique’s Pungue valley continue to rise after widespread flooding at the weekend. Maputo daily Noticias reports that the rising Pungue river in the central Sofala province are threatening to cut off the main highway between Zimbabwe and the Indian Ocean port of Beira. The newspaper reports flood waters were lapping at the […]

AT least 18 people were killed in a clash between Ethiopian government troops and rebel Oromo Liberation Front militiamen at the Kenyan frontier town of Moyale on Saturday, Kenyan newspapers reported on Monday. Several people were also injured in the fighting which, other reports said, killed as many as 40 people on both sides of […]

A BOTSWANA judge granted an eleventh-hour stay of execution for two men due to be hanged for murder on Saturday amid an outcry from human rights groups that the men were convicted on circumstantial evidence. Justice Reynolds ruled late Friday night that the death sentences for Gwara Brown Motswetla, and Tlhabologang Phetolo Maauwe were unconstitutional. […]

PUBLIC prosecutors staged a placard demonstration outside the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court at lunch time on Monday, in protest at 6% salary increases announced last month by Justice Minister Dullah Omar. Spokesperson for the picketers Yolande Labuschagne said the prosecutors restricted their protest to lunch hour after they were threatened with dismissal if they protested during […]

THE trial of 50 Lesotho soldiers on mutiny charges hit an unexpected snag on Monday when all six lawyers in the defence team withdrew. Spokesperson for the defence team Khalaki Sello said the lawyers withdrew to register their objection to the trial being held inside a maximum security prison. The trial was adjourned to Tuesday […]

BAFANA Bafana have suffered a series of setbacks just 48 hours before flying to Mauritius for an African Nations Cup qualifier on January 23. A knee injury rules out Swiss-based striker Shaun Bartlett, midfield anchor John Moeti has been suspended by Orlando Pirates and wingback Steve Lekoelea was briefly detained by police at the weekend […]

YOUTH clubs in Mpumalanga are being urged to introduce the ancient SiSwati custom of virginity testing in an attempt to fight the spread of the pandemic. Mpumalanga has the second highest Aids and HIV infection rates in South Africa. The first youth club to adopt the practice, Vukuzakhe Youth Club in the small farming towns […]