POLICE in Botswana’s Thamaga Village are investigating an incident case in which a 40-year-old pastor of the Botswana Babirwa New Jerusalem Church drowned while baptising his followers. It is reported that the congregation had a night vigil the day before and the following morning went to a nearby river for a baptism ceremony. The pastor, […]

Lagos | Friday VIGILANTES in Nigeria’s commercial capital Lagos crucified and then set ablaze a suspected robber, in the most grisly demonstration of violent vigilantism, the newspaper Vanguard reported on Friday. Akanni Arikuyeri, a suspected armed robber, was seized and nailed to a cross by the members of the anti-crime vigilante group, the Odua Peoples […]

A MOZAMBICAN woman and her three-year-old child who illegally tried to enter South Africa through its largest game reserve were trampled to death by an elephant, a Kruger National Park representative said on Thursday. William Mabasa said the woman and child were part of a group of about 14 Mozambicans who tried to get into […]

FORMER South African president Nelson Mandela will continue radiation treatment for his prostate cancer after considering all options, his office said on Wednesday. Mandela’s representative Zelda la Grange said in a statement that two physicians, a radiotherapist and five urologists — including Mandela’s own urologist — met on August 3 to review the 83-year-old’s treatment. […]

MARIANNE MERTEN, Cape Town | Friday A BILL of at least R220 000 – excluding legal fees of tens of thousands of rands – is expected for the two official probes into whether public submissions on the renaming of two Cape Town streets might have been manipulated. The costs for the current inquiry by corruption […]

SURVIVAL International, a world-wide organisation supporting tribal peoples, has intensified its battle with the government of Botswana over the situation of the Basarwa. In their annual report, published to coincide with the United Nations’ Day for Indigenous Peoples (9 August), the organisation has identified the most vulnerable tribe in each of three continents; Africa, Asia […]

SULPHURIC acid has accidentally spilled into the municipal water reservoir of Kitwe, Zambia’s second largest city in the northern Copperbelt mining region, a municipal official said on Wednesday. The spillage occurred after a train transporting the chemical derailed. Municipal authorities in Kitwe, 400 kilometres north of Lusaka, have shut down the water supplies to the […]

THERE was no cause for alarm at present but people including doctors, parents and teaching should be on the lookout for symptoms which could signal an outbreak of meningitis, the Western Cape health department said on Thursday. In the past week three people in the province have died of meningococcal meningitis. ”The department is issuing […]

TRAVELLERS from six African countries are to face tougher rules for entry into Malaysia in a fight against crime, reports said Thursday. The countries have not been named officially, but the New Straits Times said they were believed to be South Africa, Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Liberia and Nigeria. A government official said the move was […]

THE body of a one-month-old baby girl, and a newborn baby, were found abandoned in the Pretoria area on Wednesday, police reported. Neither baby has been identified. The body was discovered by a passer-by in a refuse bag left beside the Ben Schoeman highway south of Pretoria. Inspector Percy Morokane said the baby had sustained […]