A PLAM to prevent and end conflicts within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was brought a step closer on Friday with the adoption of a draft mutual defence pact. Defence ministers from 10 of 14 SADC countries approved the draft at the end of a two-day meeting in Maseru, Lesotho, said South African Defence […]
VOTING in a hotly contested parliamentary by-election began quietly on Saturday in the rural Zimbabwean constituency of Bindura, after months of campaigning marred by widespread violence. The election is the latest test for President Robert Mugabe’s ruling Zanu-PF party, pitted against the two-year-old Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). MDC candidate Elliot Pfebve is again trying […]
THE blind Egyptian cleric jailed in the United States in connection with the World Trade Centre bombing in New York, could have a foot amputated because his diabetes has been neglected, his son claimed on Friday. “American prison authorities have neglected the treatment of my diabetic father, which interrupted the flow of blood to his […]
THE decline in Africa’s economic growth rate was hampering South Africa’s ability to deliver basic services, said Northern Province local government MEC, Joe Maswanganyi, on Thursday. Addressing an Inter-Governmental Forum in Pietersburg, he said indicators for the continent showed that growth had declined from 4,9% in 1996 to 3,2% in 2000. “In fact, it is […]
A YOUNG male lion has been on the loose in White River, Mpumalanga, for the past week and is believed to be responsible for killing a cow on a nearby farm. The lion may have escaped from the Kruger National Park, north of the Mthethomusha Game Reserve, said Mpumalanga Parks Board spokesman Gary Sutter on […]
JODIE GINSBERG, Johannesburg | Saturday SOUTH Africa’s Chamber of Mines said on Friday it had reached a wage agreement with miners at three collieries and one gold mine and that a coal strike scheduled for Sunday had been called off. ”The strike on…Chamber of Mines collieries by members of the NUM planned to commence on […]
PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki said on Thursday he would never tolerate illegal measures to return land taken from blacks under white apartheid rule. Briefing reporters after a three-day cabinet policy review, Mbeki announced moves to accelerate housing delivery, crack down on corruption and fight crime syndicates working from jails. Asked about the recent illegal occupation of […]
A GHANAIAN panel probing Africa’s worst sports disaster recommended a number of policemen be prosecuted for their role in the death of 126 soccer fans at Accra’s stadium in May, a panel member said on Saturday. The 70-officer contingent responsible for security during the May 9 match between Hearts of Oak and arch-rivals Asante Kotoko […]
NOBEL peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu was in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday to discuss efforts to end the country’s war. ”We have been praying for this wonderful country to have peace and the people of this beautiful country to live together as people who are reconciled, who are united,” Tutu told state […]
SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki on Thursday appointed Willie Hofmeyr, the deputy national director of public prosecutions, as the nation’s chief corruption buster, heading the Special Investigating Unit. He takes over from former Judge Willem Heath, who was excluded from a probe into alleged corruption surrounding a $5,5-million arms acquisition deal and who resigned from […]