PHILLIP NKOSI, Pretoria | Tuesday THE Directorate of Public Prosecutions has vowed to tame the tiger in Mapogo-A-Mathamaga, the country’s most feared vigilante group, by setting up a special task team to probe the group’s activities. The formal justice system has proved ineffective in dealing with the excesses of the group, whose name comes from […]

SENEGAL’S President Abdoulaye Wade has “declared war” on “pirates” he accuses of pillaging the country’s offshore fish stocks, singling out Russian trawling fleets in particular. He denounced the former Socialist Party government which he accused of “looting our coasts by making secret deals with Russian trawlers” and an “anarchic” distribution of fishing licences. Fishing employs […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday THE South African government is preparing to bring home the bodies of freedom fighters that died in exile, the justice ministry has announced. “The government wants to ensure that those who died outside the country are brought back for a proper burial. The preparations are being made,” said ministry […]

THE long-ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party has won a majority of the contested seats in Zanzibar’s legislature and is likely to win others filled by appointment, the electoral commission said. Citing massive electoral irregularities, the opposition in this semi-autonomous offshore Tanzanian state has said it will not recognise results of internationally condemned elections nor […]

THE US-funded Namibian Red Cross has withdrawn humanitarian aid to the overflowing Osire refugee camp in central Namibia after two US officials were refused entry to the camp after failing to present the proper documents. The Red Cross was responsible for supplying water and offloading food at the camp, which houses some 17000 refugees from […]

NAMIBIAN Land Minister Pendukeni Ithana has left for Germany and Austria to enlist the help of those countries in Namibia’s land reform programme, state radio reported. Her departure coincided with a statement by Prime Minister Hage Geingob that Namibia would let foreign countries intervene in its land reform programme rather than face a land crisis […]

FUNDAMO, a mobile payments platform provider financial services initiative of Sanlam, has signed an equity deal with VenFin Ltd and Archway Venture Partners, to further the company’s ambition of establishing an interoperable, pervasive mobile payment platform. The investment funds will be used to refine the product architecture and local infrastructure in preparation for a South […]

A FORMER apartheid-era spy and police ministry spokesman has joined South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) because he “was tired of living in a mental ghetto”. Craig Kotze, as an undercover police agent, worked as a crime reporter for the Johannesburg daily The Star from 1982 to 1990, then became spokesman for the law […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pietermaritzburg | Tuesday A SENIOR South African agriculture official has voiced fears that the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in eastern KwaZulu-Natal that has seen South African meat banned from 17 countries may spread to more provinces, as well as neighbouring Lesotho. “We are warning our neighbours in the Eastern Cape, the Free State […]

THE trial of Sasolburg businessman Piet Odendaal, accused of killing an employee and dragging his body behind a bakkie, has been shifted to Viljoenskroon, about 150km from his home town, for fears of his safety. Last month, Odendaal’s legal team requested a change in the trial venue following violent protests by community members appalled by […]