David Macfarlane About 75% of schools expel girls who fall pregnant, but only 25% of schools also expel the father of the child. “There’s not a school in the country that doesn’t have to face the problem of pregnancy among learners,” says Ken Alston, acting rector of the Teachers’ Centre in East London. He bases […]
THE Swaziland government is planning to bus thousands of rural people to a meeting called by King Mswati III on Friday, in a bid to counter stayaway calls from pro-democracy groups. Swaziland Commercial Amadoda Road Transport (Scarta) confirmed on Thursday that it planned to transport people to the meeting using petrol supplied by the government. […]
DAVID LE PAGE, Johannesburg | Friday FOR two weeks the Internet has been the spawning ground for widespread, distorted rumours about the government’s alleged plan to institute Internet “censorship” measures, “similar to those introduced in China”. The Interception and Monitoring Bill about to be introduced to Parliament contains no recipe for Internet censorship, though provisions […]
THE United States has donated crime-fighting equipment worth $150 000 to the Nigerian police, officials said this week. The equipment, including vehicles, computers, generators, fax machines, fire-proof safes and VHF radios, was presented to a special fraud unit on Wednesday. Also included in the package is special training for investigators of international fraud and financial […]
TWO Zambian police officers have been sentenced to death by hanging, after the Lusaka High Court found them guilty of murder. The senior police officers were arrested in March 1999 for murdering a truck driver after hijacking his vehicle laden with copper destined for South Africa, a Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) report said. In […]
TANZANIAN police have seized 151,5 tons of marijuana, destroyed 42 hectares of the narcotic plant and arrested 1 100 suspected drug traffickers, police announced on Wednesday. Police also impounded a kilogram of cannabis resin, an unspecified quantity of bhang seeds and 150,27 grams of heroin. “What is worse are reports that in 10 regions, people […]
PAUL KIRK, Durban | Friday INTELLIGENCE agencies and the state attorney this week sought to stop the Mail & Guardian from publishing information about documents that expose serious irregularities in the R50-billion arms deal. Shortly after the M&G, asked Minister of Trade and Industry Alec Erwin to comment on the documents, Pretoria state attorney Caroline […]
SOUTH African millionaire Mark Shuttleworth, who wants to become the world’s next “space tourist,” could make his flight onboard a Russian craft as early as April, the head of the Russian space agency said on Thursday. Shuttleworth’s flight is possible either in April next year on a Soyuz “taxi flight” to the International Space Station […]
THE Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (Apcon) said on Thursday that radio and television advertisements for tobacco and alcohol would be banned starting next year. Apcon chairman Olu Falomo said the council had also banned hoardings advertising tobacco or alcoholic beverages at sporting events. Falomo said manufacturers could sponsor sporting events but could not display […]
THE National Society for Human Rights yesterday released the names of three more Namibian Defence Force soldiers it alleges died while fighting Unita in southern Angola last month. The NSHR statement was mainly aimed at backing up its earlier claims that eight NDF soldiers were killed in combat with Unita in July. The human rights […]