No image available
/ 19 February 2004
President Thabo Mbeki’s assurances to the world that a resolution to the economic crisis and political impasse in Zimbabwe is imminent are meaningless, the Democratic Alliance said on Thursday. Media reports earlier on Thursday quoted Zimbabwe state radio as saying Mugabe had no plans to retire from political life.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/pd.asp?ao=31473">Mugabe: ‘I’ll never be defeated'</a>
No image available
/ 19 February 2004
The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Thursday that the crushing drought in Swaziland, now entering its third year, has prompted the government this week to declare a state of national disaster. WFP Johannesburg information officer Richard Lee said it was the first time the government had taken this step since 1992.
No image available
/ 19 February 2004
With the current legal loopholes that exist around electronic communication companies should be more vigilant and prevent undue liabilities. E-mail recipients could sue companies if an employee sends or forwards a virus-infected e-mail, Cape Town-based law firm Jan S de Villiers warns.
No image available
/ 19 February 2004
Insurgents launched new attacks on Thursday against United States troops as the US was reported ready to make changes to its blueprint for handing over power to a new Iraqi government. Officials were awaiting an announcement by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on the feasibility of holding legislative elections before June 30.
No image available
/ 19 February 2004
Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel does not appear to have applied his mind fully before rejecting the call to scrap value-added tax (VAT) on books, Care campaign coordinator Terry Bell said on Thursday. Manuel said the case for reducing tax on magazines or coffee-table publications was not very compelling.
No image available
/ 19 February 2004
Prominent Zimbabwean businesswoman and women’s activist Jane Mutasa and her son Terence have been detained on suspicion of corruption, the latest casualties in President Robert Mugabe’s anti-graft blitz. They were detained under Mugabe’s new anti-graft regulations, which allow for detention of up to 30 days without trial.
No image available
/ 19 February 2004
Rwanda is to release a large number of prisoners accused of participating in the country’s 1994 genocide who have confessed to their roles in massacres that claimed the lives of up to a million people, the chief prosecutor said on Wednesday.
No image available
/ 19 February 2004
Advertising writers in Florida were planning to pitch haemorrhoid-relief products with a commercial featuring Johnny Cash’s classic song <i>Ring of Fire</i>, but his family says there’s no way they’ll let it happen. "We would never allow the song to be demeaned like that," said Cash’s daughter, singer Rosanne Cash.
No image available
/ 19 February 2004
A prankster working for Cape Town’s former South Peninsula municipality who put an envelope supposedly containing anthrax on a colleague’s desk was sentenced on Thursday to a fine of R2 000, or 90 days in jail.
No image available
/ 19 February 2004
Photographer Sean Wisedale became the first South African to have stood on the summit of each of the seven continents’ highest mountains on Thursday when he conquered the one closest to home — Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro. ”The view from the top is awesome and it is a fantastic experience,” Wisedale said.