PARANOIA, professional jealously and conspiracy theories have made normal management at the University of the North impossible, a national education department probe found this week. Education Minister Kader Asmal said in a statement that government was left with little choice but to appoint an independent management team headed by a handpicked administrator to try and […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday FORMER South African president Nelson Mandela has told a trade union rally that no white party can run South Africa, attacking the opposition Democratic Alliance in a bid to win votes for the ANC in Tuesday’s municipal elections. “You must not be misled by a party that only cares for […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Addis Ababa | Sunday MORE than 1500 key Africans are gathering here for a four-day forum to forge consensus on an African-owned, African-led response against the Aids pandemic on the continent. The organisers of the Addis Ababa “interactive forum” say the gathering aims to break a wall of silence and rejection around the […]

BARRY STREEK, Cape Town | Friday OUSTED Western Cape MEC and former member of the Democratic Alliance, Freda Adams, has upped the stakes in her sexual harassment battle with DA mayoral candidate Peter Marais, providing details of his raunchy and unsolicited advances. She has now signed a sworn affidavit giving particulars and dates of her […]

AT least 120 girls have been circumcised in the last month in Uganda’s northeastern region of Karamoja, Ugandan State Minister for Disaster Preparedness Jane Frances Kuka said. Female circumcision, also known as Female Genital Mutilition (FGM), is practised among some tribes in eastern Uganda bordering Kenya and involves the ritual cutting off of a girl’s […]

ALLAN SECCOMBE, Johannesburg | Saturday SOUTH African consumers could be hit by meat shortages and price hikes this festive season after the government banned livestock imports from Namibia because of a new outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, officials said. ”It’s a worry for us because that is a big supply source. Abattoirs and feedlots face a […]

MARIAM ISA, Johannesburg | Friday SOUTH Africa’s stock exchange has unveiled plans for an electronic link to the London Stock Exchange in a bid to boost disappointing trading volumes and stem a recent tide of offshore listings. The Johannesburg bourse’s Securities Exchange Executive President, Russell Loubser, said the coveted link to the LSE could be […]

MADAGASCAR’S government has asked Taiwan to close its office in the country, effectively severing the remaining ties between the two states, a Taiwanese official said. The decision follows a visit to China earlier this month by Madagascar’s Foreign Minister. As a ”special delegation”, the Taiwanese officials had maintained economic and commercial links between the two […]

SOUTH Africa and neighbours Swaziland and Mozambique have launched a major tourism project, inviting tenders for investment opportunities in the Lumbombo region in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province, southern Mozambique and Swaziland. The tourism investment projects on offer are valued at over R1bn. A crime awareness and prevention campaign will also be established. – Reuters