Politically correct garbage Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi’s suggestion (”Corruption is inimical to development”, March 9) that corruption can be fought through ”ubuntu”, and that what Africa needs is a return to its traditional values is politically correct garbage. Fraser-Moleketi is normally an astute leader, and to think she might base policy […]
Six-nation talks aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear-weapons programme broke up on Thursday following four days of deadlock, throwing efforts to implement a disarmament accord into disarray. North Korea’s chief envoy Kim Kye-Gwan abruptly abandoned the talks and flew home on Thursday afternoon.
Thousands of people living in the coastal towns and cities of Mozambique have been displaced by Indian Ocean high sea tides that swept into residential and commercial areas this week, news reports said on Thursday. The same phenomenon had sent massive waves slamming into the South African coastline earlier this week.
Ethiopian tanks guarding a Somali government base in Mogadishu opened fire on unidentified attackers on Thursday as clashes broke out in the capital for a second straight day. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda has named a ruthless Islamist commander as its leader in Mogadishu, the Somali government said.
South Africa’s current-account deficit swelled to 7,8% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2006 on a surge of oil imports and higher service payments, the central bank said on Thursday. The shortfall widened from a revised 5,7% in the third quarter and 6,1% in the second quarter, bringing the deficit for the year to 6,4% of GDP, the highest yearly gap since 1981.
Zimbabwe’s High Court has allowed two opposition officials to travel abroad for medical treatment after they were barred from leaving the country by police last weekend, official media reported on Thursday. High court judge Barat Patel ordered that Sekai Holland and Grace Kwinje be released and their travel documents returned, according to the Herald newspaper.
![]()
The wife of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer has dismissed the possibility of a conspiracy behind the death of her husband and rejected suggestions of any match-fixing link. ”I don’t see any conspiracy in his death,” Gill Woolmer told India’s NDTV television in an interview late on Wednesday.
The robust performance of the South African economy during the past three years paved the way for significant employments gains, according to the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB) quarterly report released on Thursday. Employment growth in the public sector marginally outpaced employment gains in the private sector.
Household debt relative to disposable income reached a new high of 73,75% in the fourth quarter of 2006, the South African Reserve Bank said in its quarterly bulletin released on Thursday. The gross savings ratio as percentage of gross domestic product declined to 1,5% in 2006 from 1,75% percent in 2005.
European Union states called on Wednesday for closer international surveillance of human rights in Darfur after a United Nations-commissioned report largely blamed the Sudanese government for continuing war crimes there. In a proposal to the UN Human Rights Council, they said a team of experts should be formed to keep pressure on Khartoum.