The situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remains as unstable as ever as vote counting continues following landmark elections two weeks ago, with incumbent president Joseph Kabila leading with 53% of the votes counted by Tuesday.
A strike at Shoprite stores around South Africa enjoyed widespread public support and is impacting on the company, the South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers’ Union (Saccawu) said on Tuesday. ”The strike is continuing today [Tuesday] and the fact that Shoprite are closing some stores is proof that the strike is having an impact,” said Saccawu negotiator Thoko Mchunu.
Northern Somali authorities loyal to the interim government on Tuesday hunted down clerics trying to spread the grip of Mogadishu-based Islamists, and peace talks scheduled for Sudan were put on hold. The Islamists asked for a two-week delay in Arab League-brokered talks, now past a Monday deadline, to form a Cabinet after its dissolution for non-performance last week.
A jubilant South African athletics team arrived home on Tuesday from the 15th African Athletics Championships in Mauritius where they retained their number-one spot in Africa and increased their medals tally, against a stronger field, compared with Brazzaville two years ago.
Eskom on Tuesday disputed the findings of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa that the energy supplier’s negligence and breaches of licence conditions were causes of power outages in the Western Cape. Eskom CEO Thulani Gcabashe said it accepted certain shortcomings on its part but that these did not amount to a breach of licence conditions or negligence.
South African petrochemicals group Sasol on Tuesday argued that a windfall tax on the company would not achieve sustainably lower fuel prices but would "hamstring a South African company against its multinational competitors". The group was presenting oral evidence to a special task team appointed by the National Treasury.
South African economic relations with Iran were "on the increase", but peace and stability in the Middle East was key to the relationship, South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Tuesday. Addressing a media conference in Cape Town, he said that a joint commission would be held in Pretoria on Monday and Tuesday next week.
Developments for the 2010 Soccer World Cup will continue to benefit South Africans after the tournament is over, the South African Football Association’s boss Danny Jordaan said on Tuesday. ”There will be an impact on tourism, transport, sports facilities and on the economy that will benefit the country even after the World Cup,” Jordaan said.
The United Nations children’s agency and Nordic truce monitors on Tuesday rejected Sri Lankan claims that dozens of children killed in an air force bombing raid were child soldiers. A team from the UN children’s fund visited the bombed site and said they had found no evidence to support claims the rebels had been using the facility as a military training centre.
Michael MacDonald, professor of political science at Williams College in the United States, was in South Africa recently to launch his book <i>Why Race Matters in South Africa</i>. He talked to the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>’s Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya.