The Tanzanian high commissioner to South Africa — who was beaten unconscious last week by robbers — remained sedated and breathing with the help of a ventilator in the Pretoria East Hospital’s intensive-care unit (ICU), doctors said on Wednesday.
At least 700 villagers have had to abandon their homes in south-eastern Zimbabwe as floods wreak havoc in many parts of the country, state radio said on Wednesday. Helicopters have been flying relief supplies to villagers in the Chipinge and Middle Sabi areas, who left their homes after the Save River burst its banks at the weekend, reports say.
More than 100 backyard dwellers from Delft and other areas of Cape Town will return to the Cape High Court on Thursday to contest their eviction from a government housing scheme. They occupied the N2 Gateway houses before Christmas and were granted a stay of eviction by the court.
The head of the Portuguese agency responsible for enforcing a new ban on smoking in public was seen lighting up at a New Year party, breaking the law on the first day it came into effect. Antonio Nunes, president of Portugal’s food standards agency, was photographed by the daily, Diario de Noticias, smoking a cigar at a casino on the outskirts of Lisbon.
At least 12 people were killed over New Year in Nigeria’s oil capital, Port Harcourt, when gunmen attacked two police stations and a hotel, a military officer in the city said on Wednesday. ”For now what we are looking at is between 12 and 16 dead in total,” the officer, who asked not to be named, said, adding that the total included both civilians and police.
Power capacity will be strained in 2008 but gas-turbine stations and the reopening of old stations will help to deal with the load, Eskom said on Wednesday. Sipho Neke from the Eskom media desk said the maintenance of Eskom’s generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure would continue until the end of summer.
The South African government has joined the international community in expressing concern at the high level of violence, death and destruction of property that has occurred since the outcome of the election in Kenya was announced, Ronnie Mamoepa of the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday.
The news business remained a dangerous profession in 2007 with 171 journalists killed while pursuing their work, nearing the record 177 deaths of 2006, the International Federation of Journalists said in a statement. Iraq accounted for nearly a third of the deaths, with 65 journalists and media staff killed, the Brussels-based organisation said.
Graham Briggs has been appointed CEO of Harmony Gold Mining with effect from January 1 2008, the company said on Wednesday. Harmony — the world’s fifth biggest gold producer — appointed a selection panel at the end of October 2007, made up of four non-executive board members, to oversee the selection process for the position of CEO.
President Mwai Kibaki’s government accused rival Raila Odinga’s backers on Wednesday of responsibility for an explosion of tribal violence over a disputed presidential poll that has plunged Kenya into turmoil. ”Supporters of Raila Odinga are involved in ethnic cleansing,” said spokesperson Alfred Mutua.