Own CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Thursday 10.30PM. ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe snatched the limelight on the final day of the Non-Aligned Movement’s 12th summit in Durban on Thursday, announcing that peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo is imminent and that a meeting of all warring parties will be held within three days. His statement followed […]

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Nelspruit | Thursday 6.30PM. MPUMALANGA’S provincial government is facing yet another corruption scandal following an urgent request for the Heath special investigative unit to probe a suspected R19,3-million salary scam. The request from Mpumalanga’s portfolio committee on public accounts was ratified by the legislature on Thursday after uncooperative officials managed to stall a […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Arusha | Thursday 11.15am. PROSECUTORS at the United Nations war crimes tribunal for Rwanda sitting in Arusha, Tanzania, have demanded a life sentence for former Rwandan prime minister Jean Kambanda, who pleaded guilty to genocide. Life imprisonment is the maximum penalty the international court can give Kambanda, who led Rwanda’s Hutu extremist government […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Arusha | Wednesday 7.00PM. THE United Nations war crimes tribunal for Rwanda has become the first international court to hand down a conviction for genocide, using legislation originating 50 years ago. The court has also defined rape as an act of genocide when women are assaulted because they are members of a targeted […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT in Johannesburg | Wednesday 10.30am. LIQUIDITY in South Africa’s foreign exchange market has dropped significantly in line with the Reserve Bank’s policy to tighten liquidity to keep currency speculators from pulling out of the market, the Bank’s head of international banking Bertus van Zyl said on Tuesday. Reserve Bank monthly data released on […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Abuja | Tuesday, 10.30PM. TEN political groups in Nigeria have collected party registration forms from the Independent National Electoral Commission, the commission said on Tuesday. Nigeria’s timetable for a return to democratic government, announced last week by INEC chairman Justice Ephraim Akpata, calls for all political associations to register with the electoral commission […]

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN and LEONARD NDZHUKULA, Nelspruit | Wednesday 10.00PM. MPUMALANGA’S legislature ordered police to arrest the province’s former head of environmental affairs, Jabu Mahlongo, on Wednesday after he ignored a summons to testify before its portfolio committee on public accounts. The order is the toughest disciplinary ruling yet against individuals who ignore subpoenas to testify […]

SARAH BULLEN in Johannesburg | Wednesday 9.45am. SOUTH Africa’s burgeoning rate of private-sector credit extension showed no signs of abating in July, rising an annualised 17,6% from 16% in June, despite restrictive interest rates which should have inhibited credit demand. The baffling rise in credit extension is being explained by some economists as pre-emptive buying […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Wednesday, 11.30PM. ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe has been mandated by Democratic Republic of Congo President Laurent Kabila and Namibian President Sam Nujoma to represent them at Thursday’s mini-summit on the crisis in central Africa, a spokesman for United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan said on Wednesday night. Annan met Kabila earlier on […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Luanda | Wednesday, 9.00PM. INFLUENTIAL members of the Angolan rebel movement Unita have announced a split from Unita leader Jonas Savimbi and said they are committed to the peace process. In a manifesto issued in Luanda, the defectors said: “The current leadership of Unita, under the direction of Jonas Malheiro Savimbi, has shown […]