Rahul Gandhi, whose father, grandmother and great-grandfather were prime ministers of India, said last night that he would stand in the country’s forthcoming general election, reigniting a bitter political debate over whether the world’s biggest democracy was being ”hijacked by dynasty”.
Namibia celebrated its 14th independence anniversary on Sunday as well as 10 years of the reintegration of the harbour town of Walvis Bay, which was first under British and then under South African control for 100 years.
The Zimbabwe government plans to tighten electoral laws ahead of next year’s parliamentary polls, the state-run Herald newspaper reports. The proposed amendments to the Electoral Act include giving the state control over voter education.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s special envoy for HIV and Aids in Africa has slammed authorities for turning a blind eye to the pandemic, resulting in a record 40% prevalence rate.
The South African government has condemned the assassination of Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. The Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that such extra-judicial assassinations were in contravention of international law and United Nations conventions.
Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana has condemned employers who allegedly threatened and assaulted labour inspectors when they conducted inspections at their businesses. This comes after three inspectors were attacked by employers in Pretoria and the Northern Cape last week.
The bomb that killed three black policemen and one informer in Motherwell in 1989 will feature at an amnesty hearing starting this week. The justice ministry says the three former security policemen, including Gideon Nieuwoudt, who had been convicted of being responsible for the bomb would apply for amnesty.
Thousands of Capetonians participated in Monday’s Freedom Parade, the public launch of the 10 Years of Freedom celebrations in the Western Cape. The parade saw two processions parading from opposite sides of the Cape Flats to converge at Athlone Stadium.
Education Minister Kader Asmal’s intention to appoint a truth commission to deal with the damage of apartheid education would be a divisive step, says Western Cape education minister Andre Gaum. It would merely open up old wounds and not contribute to improving the education system, says Gaum.
The government is concerned by reports that the risk of infectious diseases was high in prisons as a result of rapes, says Health Minister Manto Tshabalala Msimang. She says HIV/Aids was reported to be high in prisons, especially among male inmates, because of the rape cases that were reported.