The bulldozers came for Hamid Salim Hassan’s house just after dawn. Before the demolition began, the Bedouin family scrambled to gather what they could: a fridge, a pile of carpets, some plastic chairs, a canister of cooking gas and a metal bed frame. Now, with their house a wreck of smashed concrete and broken plastic pipes, Hassan and his family are living in a canvas tent on a neighbour’s land.
Could African National Congress secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe be the next president of the ANC? He is also in pole position to benefit from the confusion in the party, with a growing number of voices calling for him to be considered as a compromise candidate.
Former Transkei bantustan strongman Kaiser Matanzima made a rare appearance in the Grahamstown Magistrate’s Court this month, where he provoked a sharp exchange about authoritarianism, gagging orders and freedom of speech. Matanzima’s appearance four years after his death was, of course, on paper, as part of a defamation suit brought by University of KwaZulu-Natal communications chief Dasarath Chetty.
Nearly two years after it made a public commitment to do so, the ANC has made no progress in developing legislation to regulate private funding to political parties. The ANC’s pledge to develop legislation followed the dismissal in April 2005 of a high court application by civil society group Idasa aimed at forcing the DA, the ANC, the IFP and the former New National Party to reveal major private financial donors.
Animal activists have slammed the government’s latest elephant management plan, which is designed to relieve the pressure the growing elephant population is putting on the environment. The plan, called the Draft Norms and Standards for the Management of Elephants in South Africa, was released by Environment Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk recently.
Zimbabwe is going to be rocked by more ”illegal” protests following recent demonstrations in which 50 people were arrested for defying the recently imposed three-month ban on public protests, says Lovemore Madhuku, chair of the National Constitutional Assembly.
Trade union federation Cosatu has called on its members to “recapture” the ANC, echoing the South African Communist Party’s call last weekend for a major transformation and renewal of the ruling party. Cosatu’s statement, after a central executive committee meeting this week, signals an open campaign by the two ANC allies this year to shape the outcome of the ANC conference in December.
Joe Seremane, a former inmate of Robben Island, member of the PAC and ANC Youth League, joined the then Democratic Party in 1994 to provide stronger opposition to the ANC. As national chairperson, he remains the only senior black official in the DA, which is desperately trying to attract more black support.
Ten Western tourists feared kidnapped in Ethiopia are safe and well and have been in contact with their tour operator, Samson Teshome, head of Origins Ethiopia, told Agence France-Presse on Friday. ”One group has reappeared with 10 people,” said Teshome, refusing to give their nationalities. ”Their satphone was not working, that is why they couldn’t contact us.”
Mozambican marines rescued more than 1 700 people, including 900 children, from flooding in central Mozambique on Friday. The marines used eight boats to mount the rescue operation in the central town of Buzi in the province of Sofala, where at least 28 000 people have been affected by the floods.