Harare | Tuesday A MEETING of southern African foreign ministers to assess Zimbabwe’s land reforms sharply criticised the West on Monday over attempts to impose sanctions on President Robert Mugabe’s government. “We would like to make it clear that we don’t support sanctions,” said the meeting’s chairwoman, Lilian Patel, Malawi’s foreign minister. Zimbabwe’s Foreign Minister […]

Bisho | Tuesday AT least 52 initiates were receiving treatment for circumcision complications in hospitals in the Eastern Cape, hospital officials said on Monday. At Hewu Hospital in Whittlesea, 20 young men were being treated, while Cecilia Makiwane Hospital (CMH) in Mdantsane was treating 17. One of the boys was still in the intensive care […]

Johannesburg | Tuesday THE proposed merger between New Africa Investments Limited (Nail) and Kagiso Media Limited (Kagiso) has been approved unconditionally by the Competition Commission, it was announced on Monday. Nail is listed on the JSE as a public company and has interests in number of markets including radio broadcasting, print media, and investments. Kagiso […]

A R10-million fraud involving some Eastern Cape public works department officials and contractors has been exposed, the department said on Monday. Roads and public works MEC Phumulo Masualle said four department officials, some companies and professional services providers to the department had allegedly been running a fraud network. Four different companies had their contracts with […]

United Nations | Tuesday MOST countries are ill-prepared to face the rapidly growing problem of ageing, and developing states in particular lack the resources to tackle it, senior UN officials warned on Monday. ”This is not just an industrial countries problem,” the UN’s under secretary general for economic and social affairs, Nitin Desai, told a […]

Bern | Monday A US attorney who played a key role in compensation claims by Holocaust survivors against Swiss banks is seeking plaintiffs to sue Swiss banks which financed South Africa’s former apartheid regime, a Swiss newspaper said on Sunday. Attorney Ed Fagan placed advertisements in South African newspapers this weekend asking for possible victims […]

OLA AWONIYI, Abuja | Monday NIGERIA will on Monday launch Africa’s first trial programme to use cheap, imported, generic Aids drugs to combat the disease sweeping the continent, officials said on Sunday. Aiming to tackle the effects of an epidemic now affecting almost 3,5-million Nigerians, and 28,1-million Africans, the programme will start in 18 federal […]

Harare | Monday FOREIGN ministers from six southern African countries are due in Harare on Monday to audit developments in Zimbabwe’s controversial land reforms, a government representative said on Sunday. The meeting is a follow-up to a Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit of heads of states held three months ago as part of an […]

EGYPTIAN police said on Monday they had arrested a gang which robbed gullible victims of their cash by pretending to change their Egyptian pounds into US dollars with the aid of genies. The four members of the gang gained 150 000 pounds, the equivalent of $35 295, in just a few days, the police said. […]

THE second strike to hit South African ports in two weeks ended on Thursday morning when Portnet management and unions signed an agreement. Two unions — the SA Logistics Services and Transport and Allied Workers’ Union, and the United Transport and Allied Trade Union –downed tools on Monday in a dispute over performance bonuses. Last […]