OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Monday ZIMBABWE’S farm invasions and current economic slump have left the country “extremely vulnerable” to an epidemic of the deadly cattle anthrax disease, which has already killed nine people and hospitalised more than 600 since it was first detected two weeks ago. British Airways Travel Clinic medical director Dr Andrew Jamieson […]

AN Mpumalanga man accused of killing his wife and hacking her genitals has applied for legal aid. The 31-year-old mechanic was not asked to plead. He was arrested after his 25-year-old wife’s mutilated body was found naked near the N4 highway at Ngodwana on Monday. The woman’s identity is being withheld until her family has […]

A CONGOLESE human rights association has expressed concern about the alleged extra-judicial execution of a Congolese army commander and dozens of his colleagues by the Kinshasa regime. The Congolese Association for the Defence of Human Rights (Azadho) has accused President Laurent Kabila’s government of having executed Commander Masasu Lindaga and 36 of his colleagues early […]

A NURSING sister who stole a heart monitoring machine valued at R75000 is still working for the Northern Province health department. Eunice Nthlane, 38, of Mokopane Hospital near Potgietersrus was found guilty in September of stealing the electro cardiograph (ECG) machine and was fined R2000 and given a suspended 12-month jail term. An internal disciplinary […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday INTERNATIONAL financier George Soros has criticised South Africa’s policy on Zimbabwe and launched a fierce attack on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in an interview published on Sunday. “Mugabe has poisoned the neighbourhood,” the Hungarian-born philanthropist told the Sunday Independent. South African President Thabo Mbeki’s policy of “quiet diplomacy” towards its […]

SOUTH Africa’s defence ministry is probing a report that an army instructor ordered soldiers to fire on targets depicting President Thabo Mbeki and other leaders. Sam Mkhwanazi, spokesman for Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota, announced the probe after members of the National Ceremonial Guard, who train at Pretoria’s Thabo-Tswane base, told a Sunday newspaper of the […]

RELATIVES of King Mswati III of Swaziland have threatened to bewitch 50 women who bared their buttocks at the King’s older brother, Prince Maguga Dlamini Maguga. The women were protesting against the King’s appointing Maguga, 64, as chief of Macetjeni outside Manzini, ousting two other chiefs and evicting their subjects. Maguga’s uncle, Ncutfu Mongomezulu, said […]

SOUTH Africa’s summer holiday road death toll has reached 331 – the highest in the last two years on the country’s roads. The highest provincial death toll so far is in the Eastern Cape, where 55 people have been killed in 30 fatal crashes. KwaZulu-Natal has seen 54 fatalities, Gauteng 47 and the Western Cape […]

MARIANNE MERTEN, Cape Town | Monday THE controversial delays around establishing a statutory body to distribute national lottery proceeds has taken another twist with the allocation of emergency funding to some cash-strapped organisations. Although non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have welcomed the pre-Christmas emergency relief, some have questioned the legality of the once-off disbursement and say government […]

EMSIE FERREIRA, Cape Town | Monday SOUTH Africa is luring tourists to view the whimsical side of a country known for its beaches and bush – visits to houses haunted by aristocratic ghosts and audiences with a rain queen. Cape Town, if the brochures are to be believed, has several dozen ghosts that spook the […]