ZIMBABWEAN opposition leader Ndabaningi Sithole has died in the United States of a heart problem. He was 80. Sithole, one of Zimbabwe’s leading black nationalist leaders in the 1960s and 1970s, was founding president of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) party in 1963, now the ruling ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe. Mugabe ousted […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Wednesday A FORMER anti-apartheid freedom fighter who killed three bus commuters in Cape Town’s transport wars for R350 has been sentenced to three life terms in prison, plus another 75 years. Bandile Botya, 31, had pleaded guilty in the Cape High Court to three charges of murder and 36 of […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Wednesday ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe this week begins the most desperate struggle of his political career to survive a wave of antagonism against him from within his own party ranks. Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party starts a four-day extraordinary congress on Thursday, where the question on everyone’s mind – whether Mugabe will […]

CLAIRE KEETON, Johannesburg | Wednesday SOUTH Africa’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) has exposed a list of abuses against illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers in a new report, including unlawfully long detentions, abuse and corruption by those in charge of them. Violence towards detainees is “frequently present” at the Lindela repatriation centre near Johannesburg – which hosts […]

THE Harvard School of Public Health is to donate $25m to programmes to fight Aids in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, US officials said. The money will be released in five grants over 18 months. More than 5.4% of the sexually active population in Nigeria carries the HIV virus. – AFP

BRIAN LIGOMEKA, Blantyre | Wednesday MALAWI President Bakili Muluzi deliberately undermined investigations into human rights abuses in the small central African country to hide his possible complicity in politically motivated murder, torture and assault, a scathing new international study alleges. Respected international human rights watchdog Article 19 claims in its “Malawi: Who Wants To Forget” […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday CROCODILE attacks have claimed a third victim within a week in South Africa’s muddy, flood-swollen rivers in spite of repeated warnings by game rangers. In the newest attack, a crocodile killed Sizakele Manyoni (35), who was crossing the Enseleni River in eastern KwaZulu-Natal province at a well-known crossing place on […]

THE World Bank has approved a $50m interest-free credit to help Kenya improve its health care sector and step up the campaign against Aids. The bank described HIV/Aids as a “development crisis,” noting that the prevalence rate for HIV among people in Kenya 15 to 49 years old has been increasing an average of 11% […]