The Zimbabwean government has now set its sights on foreign newspapers circulating in Zimbabwe. Officials are making threatening noises about foreign publications, including the Mail & Guardian, which they deem to be hostile to the ruling establishment.
”Maybe he didn’t rape me. Maybe he loved me,” said 15-year-old Amelia Borens (not her real name) as she explained to Cathy du Toit why she had taken over a week to report her rape. A forensic nurse at the Camdeboo Victim Empowerment Centre in Graaff-Reinet, Du Toit says she frequently hears this story from young rape victims.
A pioneering R175-million game park development inspired by former president Nelson Mandela has run headlong into a court challenge by evicted farmworkers.
Marakele National Park, near Thabazimbi in Limpopo, is a public-private partnership widely seen as a model for the African continent, where many impoverished national parks are under severe threat.
African National Congress chief whip Nkosinathi Nhleko moves into Parliament’s backbenches following a third surprise reshuffle of top party officials within two months. Former speaker Frene Ginwala was replaced, and was not sworn in as an ordinary MP after the April election. And Kader Asmal, the former education minister, was redeployed as parliamentary committee chairperson.
State arms maker Denel’s campaign to sell artillery to India is in danger of failing, a report in an influential United States defence journal says. DefenseNews reports that a hybrid self-propelled gun mating Denel’s T6 turret with an Indian-made Arjun main battle tank (MBT) chassis ”is not successful.”
Controversial Nelspruit mayor Jeri Ngomane seems to have been an unusually considerate companion — two of his ”wives” won tenders with his council totalling almost R2-million while he was in charge. Ngomane this week denied having any relationship with the two women.
Swazi prince and his ‘rainbow harem’
A KwaZulu-Natal primary school that draws its learners from poverty-stricken households is taking the government to court for refusing to grant it access to the national school feeding scheme because the area is not considered "disadvantaged". The majority of the learners at Clareville Primary School come from informal settlements where unemployment is high.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s brag about a bumper harvest this season received a major jolt this week as a report from the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) said 2,3-million people will need food aid this year. Mugabe’s government maintains the country will produce 2,4-million tonnes of maize, against 1,2-million tonnes forecast by aid agencies.
Police arrested two directors of the Bush Bucks soccer club in East London on Thursday night in connection with alleged match fixing. The men, aged 45 and 40, were arrested at the club’s offices on Thursday afternoon by a team of about 10 policemen from Johannesburg.
Insurgents in Iraq signalled their determination to provoke havoc ahead of next week’s handover of power by killing as many as 100 people in simultaneous attacks in five cities on Thursday. The attacks appeared to be coordinated and showed a new level of planning and sophistication.