SUSAN NJANJI, Harare | Friday ZIMBABWE’S government on Thursday unveiled the troubled nation’s 2002 annual budget, seen as clearly populist, and admitted it had failed to salvage the crumbling economy. Zimbabwe’s finance minister Simba Makoni painted a bleak picture of Zimbabwe’s economy, predicting another year of economic depression. The economy is expected to shrink 7,3% […]

THABO Mbeki will lead a South African delegation to attend the General Debate of the 56th annual Session of the UN General Assembly starting in New York on November 10. Mbeki will be the third speaker to address the General Assembly in his capacity as the chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) behind Brazil and […]

PHILIPPE BERNES-LASSERRE, Johannesburg | Monday AFTER three months of hearings, a probe into a stampede at a Johannesburg football stadium has heard an astonishing catalogue of errors, omissions and negligence surrounding the death of 43 spectators. Lack of police co-ordination, security guards taking bribes to allow those without tickets to enter, television cameras blocking ambulances, […]

A COUP attempt in the breakaway Comoran island of Anjouan has been foiled and its mastermind, former leader Lieutenant-Colonel Said Abeid Abderemane has fled, a military source said on Sunday. An unnamed military source announced on Radio Anjouan that “the army and loyalist forces are in control of the situation,” after the attempted putsch by […]

CAPE TOWN, Dirk van Zyl | Monday NEGOTIATING teams from the African National Congress and the New National Party met on Sunday to discuss the structures of future co-operation between the two parties. This would be based on principles agreed on at a number of meetings between the two working groups during the past week, […]

Lusaka | Thursday AFRICA’S first free trade area (FTA), launched a year ago by some nine countries of the 21-member Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), has been a success, an official said on Wednesday. ”Trade and investment has increased in the Comesa region after the FTA came into effect,” said Sebiso Ngwenya, […]

JENNI EVANS, Johannesburg | Monday WINNIE Madikizela-Mandela will be told to stop the reconstruction of her businesses which were demolished last month and will be assigned an inspector to help her comply with bylaws to resolve the matter, Johannesburg’s mayoral representative said on Monday. The tavern, club and tuck shop outside her house were demolished […]

HEALTH authorities were looking for ways to come up with lucrative packages to encourage people to work in rural areas, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Sunday. ”There are financial and other non-monetary incentives, including the improvement of working and living conditions, for our health workers in the rural areas that will be investigated,” Tshabalala-Msimang […]

A 25-YEAR-old man shot and wounded three children before turning the gun on himself at Tambo section in Mbalenhle on Saturday afternoon, Mpumalanga police said. Captain Sibongile Nkosi said the man went to his girlfriend’s house at around 1.30pm, and on arrival, apparently told her that he had an argument with his brother. He then […]