TANZANIA has joined Inmarsat, the satellite telecommunications group, becoming its 85th member, the company said on Friday. Tanzania is the 14th African country to join the group. Tanzania’s joining Inmarsat ”illustrates the persistent need for mobile communications by satellite, and for computers, which are essential for growth and development in this region,” said Shola Taylor, […]

THE Prime Minister of Burkina Faso, Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, has resigned along with his government following President Blaise Compaore’s inauguration for a new seven-year term. Compaore, who was re-elected on November 15, approved the resignation of the government late on Friday in the capital Ouagadougou. Compaore is expected within the next few days to appoint […]

THE United States embassy building in central Nairobi, which was the scene of the August 7 1998 bomb blast in which over 250 people including 11 Americans died, will be demolished ”n the near future”. US ambassador to Kenya Prudence Bushnell was on quoted Sunday by the Nairobi-based Sunday Standard as confirming that the building […]

The David Gleason Column First you saw it, now you don’t. Shareholders, investors and analysts alike will be forgiven for being truly nonplussed by the turns of events surrounding Driefontein, one of South Africa’s richest gold mines, and Gold Fields and Anglogold. One minute Driefontein was the subject of a takeover which would have left […]

FORMER European soccer champions Ajax Amsterdam will form an affiliated squad in Cape Town, the Dutch club said on Thursday. Ajax Cape Town will be set up to play in the South African Premier Soccer League, the club said in a statement. The Dutch side, for whom Benni McCarthy plays, is training in South Africa […]

Chiara Carter Concern about the National Party’s decline in voter support has led to several senior party members mooting the possibility of unseating their leader, Marthinus van Schalkwyk, before the elections. While no clear contenders have emerged, there are several factions jostling for power in the party and a strong drive for a change in […]

Angella Johnson: VIEW FROM A BROAD There are many clubs for travellers. There’s the mile-high club, that exclusive group of people who have copulated 10 000m above ground. Then there are numerous frequent-flyer clubs. Well, I’ve just joined what should be called the deportation club. It was not by choice and certainly does not have […]

Belinda Beresford and David Shapshak The Department of Health has reassigned the posts of more experienced hospital medical officers to make way for inexperienced interns for its community service programme. Senior doctors charge that funding cutbacks have meant that rather than creating new posts in areas deprived of medical care, the community service plan for […]

Emma Forrest First Person Among the strangest remakes in recent years is Cruel Intentions, a teen reworking of Dangerous Liaisons. Just what the world needs: a just-17 version of one of the great pieces of Western literature. It seems like a pathetic concept, the point being that you simply don’t play those sort of cynical, […]

Few acts could have been better calculated to ensure that public confidence in the South African Police Service and the morale of police officers plummet than the armed robbery this week at one of Cape Town’s largest police stations. Coming on the heels of the New Year’s Day car bomb at the waterfront, it appears […]