My first car, a Ford Sapphire, was an absolute disaster. I owned it for six months before trading it in for a Toyota Corolla 1,3-litre. But my third car, a Corolla 160i, was, in my book, my first real car. I loved it. Its acceleration was smooth, it handled twisty bits with confidence and it never let me down, writes Sukasha Singh.
The tiny kingdom of Lesotho is the unlikely venue for ambitious plans to create the number one destination for skiers in Africa. "This is going to be the biggest ski resort in Africa," says Ollie Esplin, manager of the Afri-Ski resort, as he tries to explain how to minimise the risks of meltdown in Lesotho’s picturesque Mahlasela Valley.
His name is ”Average” and the story of his desperate flight from the wreckage of President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe is an increasingly common one. The tall 34-year-old, slouching exhausted in a Johannesburg church that has become a de facto transit camp, is one man in a tide of migrants washing up in South Africa.
Zimbabwe’s elections must be free and fair next year and economic recovery in the troubled country will only be achieved by a government viewed as legitimate by all its citizens, South Africa’s president said on Sunday. Thabo Mbeki heads the regional mediation process between Zimbabwe’s government and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was expected to walk a fine line in talks on Monday with President George Bush, keeping some distance on issues like Iraq while preserving the ”special relationship” with the United States. The Camp David meeting is the first between the new British prime minister and Bush since Brown succeeded Tony Blair last month.
Hosts Botswana upset Angola to win Sunday’s Cosafa Castle Cup Group C final with a 3-1 victory on penalties following a goalless draw after 90 minutes. Goalkeeper Modiri Marumo was the hero in the shoot-out as his saves denied Angola, who played in the 2006 World Cup finals.
The Gauteng provincial housing department has pledged R85-million towards the development of four hostels in the province. Provincial housing minister Nomvula Mokonyane held talks with African National Congress and Inkatha Freedom Party supporters who lived in hostels where a number of protests took place earlier this month.
Italy’s gay activists on Sunday organised a sit-in ”with collective kissing” at the Colosseum to protest against the arrest of two men, for what police described as an ”oral relationship”. They risk being tried for public indecency, punishable by up to two years in jail.
Former president FW de Klerk on Sunday defended his decision to authorise a raid in Mthatha in 1993 in which five teenagers were killed. ”Although the operation was tragically botched, Mr De Klerk himself acted in his capacity as head of government with due deliberation and care and in complete compliance with national and international law,” said a statement from his foundation.
In the bowels of Iran’s uranium conversion facility in Isfahan strands of black and red wire stretch from the concrete wall to giant white tanks full of a volatile uranium compound. It is by these slender cords that the international community hopes to hold Iran’s atomic ambitions in check.