OWN CORRESPONDENTS, Johannesburg | Thursday THE cholera epidemic gripping South Africa has killed three more people over the past 24 hours in KwaZulu-Natal, bringing the total number of deaths since August to 82. More than 1_000 new infections were reported on Monday this week, bringing the number of cases since the outbreak of the disease […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Thursday ADMINISTRATIVE slip-ups are costing the South African taxpayer tens of millions of rands in overpaid public service salaries, according to a report by Auditor General Shauket Fakie. More than R10.6m was paid out in the 1999/2000 financial year to 557 workers who had died, said the report, which was commissioned […]

CLAIRE KEETON, Johannesburg | Thursday THE single lightning bolt that killed 13 people in South Africa this week was one of the deadliest strikes ever in a country prone to electrical storms and where poor housing offers little protection. One family lost seven members when their thatch-roofed hut in a remote part of KwaZulu-Natal was […]

A SENEGALESE student has died after being shot in a clash between demonstrators and police near a university in Dakar. Several sources confirmed the student’s death without stating the cause, while university and government sources declined to comment. The students, who have been on strike for three weeks demanding lower food and lodging bills and […]

KENYAN tycoon Kamlesh Pattni has lost his bid to avoid being tried on charges related to the biggest – and most complex – financial scandal in Kenya’s history. Three judges in the constitutional court judges ruled that Pattni, a key player in the so-called Goldenberg Affair, must face trial on charges of defrauding the government […]

PRESIDENT Jose Eduardo Dos Santos of Angola has arrived in Seoul to start a three-day state visit to South Korea and talks dominated by economic cooperation. Dos Santos was greeted at Seoul airport by Foreign Minister Lee Joung-Binn and was to meet with South Korea’s President Kim Dae-Jung later in the day. Dos Santos is […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Thursday SOUTH African base metals group Anglovaal Mining has bought a 15% stake in mining and steel firm Iscor, making it Iscor’s largest shareholder, the Financial Mail business magazine reported. It said Anglovaal Mining, or Avmin, had invited the state-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), which holds 11% of Iscor, to join […]

SOUTH African President Thabo Mbeki flew into Kinshasa on Tuesday evening and held talks on ending the war engulfing the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) with new president Joseph Kabila. Mbeki appeared cheerful as they emerged from their hour-long talks at Kinshasa’s airport, but the 29-year-old DRC president appeared sombre, as he has since the […]

NIGERIAN President Olusegun Obasanjo’s plane developed a hydraulic problem while about to take off from Zurich on his way back from the Davos economic summit and was forced to delay his return by a day while it was seen to. Last year, the Nigerian leader requested parliament to approve money to buy a new plane, […]