South Africa and Britain have agreed in principle on the desired outcome of the Zimbabwean crisis, and differ only in tactics, Britain’s Minister for Africa Chris Mullin said on Wednesday. Mullin told reporters in Johannesburg that South Africa and Britain wanted to see a democratically elected government in Zimbabwe, and a free press.
Fisticuffs in Zimbabwe Parliament
The vuvuzela, the braying trumpet which has become an ubiquitous symbol of South African soccer, will in future be fully trademarked to prevent its inventor being ripped off, SAB-Miller said on Wednesday. The beer company will give entrepreneur Neil van Schalkwyk legal and mentoring aid.
A group of 70 suspected mercenaries held in Zimbabwe on charges of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea are proceeding with an application to take the South African government to court. The men had given President Thabo Mbeki’s office 24 hours to respond to a request to either seek their extradition to South Africa or ensure they were not handed over for trial in Equatorial Guinea.
South African gold miner Durban Roodepoort Deep (DRD) on Wednesday announced that it has lodged a second supplementary bidder’s statement in relation to its hostile takeover bid for Australia’s Emperor Mines. But an independent report says DRD’s offer to Emperor shareholders is neither fair nor reasonable.
South African-listed diversified industrial company Bidvest Group chairperson Brian Joffe is to take on business leaders from 31 nations for the 2004 World Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Monte Carlo. The global contest has been likened to the Oscars of the business world.
Results of a survey conducted by the International Telecommunication Union on the perceived importance of agreed-upon targets for improving connectivity and access in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) show overwhelmingly that cyberspace should be a shared resource.
Rebels and government forces may be talking peace in Sudan’s civil war, but minority ethnic groups are still being attacked and more than one million people have been displaced, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers said on Tuesday.
An investigation into how 35 awaiting trial prisoners managed to escape from Durban’s Westville prison in broad daylight, using a warder’s vehicle, was launched on Wednesday. Police spokesperson Superintendent Vish Naidoo said eight of the men, wielding knives, overpowered the prison warden and a police officer.
Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) stalwart Mosebjane Malatsi died aged 70 in a car crash at Thaba Ntsho (Maleoskop) on Saturday, the PAC said in a statement on Tuesday. During the democratic era he worked at the Development Bank of Southern Africa and served on the Johannesburg Metro council.
Human rights groups are warning that a controversial documentary on Tibet could lead to the imprisonment and torture of people who were secretly filmed watching an illegal recording of their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. The film, entitled What Remains of Us, reports on the political and religious persecution faced by Tibetans living under Chinese rule.