Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change remains unsure about contesting crucial parliamentary elections due in the next 12 months. The dilemma is whether to participate in a poll the party fears will not be free or fair, or to boycott and risk becoming politically irrelevant, political analysts say.
Education Minister Kader Asmal defended his department’s education policies on Tuesday and praised the progress made since 1994, saying the extraordinary damage done by the apartheid education system should not be forgotten.
The Minister of Health has until close of business on Wednesday to respond to a letter of demand from the Treatment Action Campaign, or face litigation. The letter, sent on March 10, gave her seven days to authorise the immediate procurement of anti-retroviral drugs.
The Witwatersrand National Botanical Garden in Roodepoort was renamed the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden on Tuesday, the Environmental Affairs Department said. Spokesperson John Louw said the renaming was part of the Ten Years of Democracy celebrations.
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South Africa faced five major crises, and it was the responsibility of voters in the coming election to judge whether these could be solved by the current government, or whether a profound change was required, IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said on Tuesday.
One step forward, three steps backwards: that’s how various Aids activists, parents and teachers in Zambia are describing government’s decision to ban the distribution of condoms in schools on the grounds that it promotes promiscuity.
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Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon spelled out on Tuesday the goals of his party’s ”Coalition for Change” with the Inkatha Freedom Party, and predicted the two parties would win up to 30% of the national vote on Election Day. He said the coalition aimed to provide the ”core of an alternative government”.
Oil prices fell on Tuesday as investors rushed to cash in a day after prices spurted to a post-Iraq war high when OPEC indicated it would shun importers’ calls to scrap a planned cut in output. The price of reference North Sea crude oil for April delivery lost 40c to .40 per barrel in early deals here.
The only survivor of the Sizzlers massage parlour massacre held his arms up in victory as he exited the Cape High Court on Tuesday after the two men responsible for the brutal crime were sentenced to nine life sentences. Adam Roy Woest and Trevor Basil Theys were also sentenced to 20 years for the attempted murder of Taylor, the only man to survive.
Martha Stewart, the disgraced American businesswoman, on Monday resigned from the board of the company that bears her name. The expected move came a little more than a week after Stewart was found guilty of obstruction of justice, conspiracy and making false statements to federal investigators who were looking into a suspicious share sale.