OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday FACING legal challenges over the governments moratorium on crime statistics, Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete has now indicated the gag will probably be lifted during the second half of this year. The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday said it was convinced the moratorium was unconstitutional, while Independent Newspapers announced it […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday THE South African government is facing legal challenges on two fronts over its moratorium on the release of crime statistics. The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday said it was convinced the moratorium was unconstitutional, while Independent Newspapers announced it was taking Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete to court on the […]

CLAIRE KEETON, Johannesburg | Thursday SOUTH Africa is the world’s largest producer of mandrax, a sedative often crushed and smoked with cannabis to create a addictive mixture which has now become the country’s “main drug problem”, authorities said on Wednesday. “The immediate evil in South Africa is the ‘white pipe’ (cannabis and mandrax),” the chairman […]

SIX painters died when they crashed some 27m to the ground after a hoist at the ninth floor of a building in Johannesburg spun out of control. Witnesses said the bucket containing the men started swinging wildly, flinging the men out. Three painters died instantly and three others died in hospital. The sole survivor of […]

NIGERIAS state-run electricity company (NEPA) has warned Nigerians to expect a “significant drop” in power supply from now until July due to a shutting down of several hydro power units in anticipation of a seasonal shortage of water. NEPA projected daily average of load-shedding (power reduction) of between 770 and 1_075 megawatts, and said authorities […]

THE United Nations’ food agency needs $170m to provide aid for 1 million people in Angola, where a 25-year civil war has uprooted a third of the population. The World Food Program’s representative in Luanda, Ronald Sibanda, said the budget covered a 15-month period beginning in April. The fighting between the government and UNITA rebels, […]

FORMER head of Vlakplaas, Eugene de Kock, and two other ex-Vlakplaas operatives, Jacob Kok and Wybrand du Toit, have been granted amnesty for the murders and attempted murders of unidentified ANC operatives by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Amnesty Committee. De Kock, Douw Willemse, Izak Bosch and Eugene Fourie also received amnesty for conspiring to […]

MORE than 100 supporters of Zambian President Frederick Chiluba have protested in favour of amending the constitution to allow him to run for a third term in office. The demonstration came one day after the Lusaka conference of Chiluba’s Movement for Multiparty Politics (MMD) voted against a possible third term, becoming the first province to […]

SOUTH Africa’s white-dominated newspapers display “rank hostility” toward the government, a minister close to President Thabo Mbeki has charged in a speech to industry leaders. The ruling African National Congress (ANC), in a virtually unique situation among the democracies, has no representation in the mass media, Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad told the advisory […]

SENEGALESE authorities are throwing cars and tubs into their coastal waters to create an artificial reef that will hopefully boost the fish population. Some 40 old vehicles and tubs piled up along Dakar streets and at the port were recently dropped into the water off the capital. Authorities hope the makeshift reef will draw fish […]