ALLAN SECCOMBE, Johannesburg | Wednesday A RECOVERY in resource and banking stocks on renewed investor appetite for the issues pushed the Johannesburg bourse to levels not seen in three weeks during robust Tuesday trade, brokers said. ”We have seen a very nice rally in the resource sector and the market appears a lot more solid […]

ADRIAN BLOMFIELD, Nairobi | Wednesday A BRITISH animal welfare group has exposed a ”cruel and secretive trade” in endangered baboons, which are being sold from Tanzania to medical research organisations in the United States. The British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV) said hundreds of Olive Baboons were being trapped and held for weeks […]

THE ruling African National Congress (ANC) reacted sharply this week to a declaration by an opposition party mayoral candidate that South Africa’s liberal constitution was written by ”communists” and was un-Christian. ”Christians must choose between the Constitution and the Bible,” the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) mayoral candidate for Cape Town Peter Marais reportedly said. The constitution […]

INTERNATIONAL human rights watchdog, Transparency International (TI), has criticised Malawi’s President Bakili Muluzi for retaining six cabinet ministers and various parliamentarians implicated in a US$2.5bn fraud scandal. The scandal saw politicians and their administrators award massive contracts to ghost companies run by relatives, secret lovers or close acquaintances. Most companies simply failed to deliver services, […]

POLICE shot at and beat civilians in Zanzibar as tensions mounted amid calls for the total cancellation of widely condemned presidential and general elections. At least one riot policeman in Zanzibar town opened fire indiscriminately at a group of about 300 protesters who had been chanting “Bye, bye CCM,” meaning the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi, […]

SUDAN has decided to end custom duties for nations in the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), state television said. President Omar al-Beshir issued a decree cancelling the tariff on the eve of his departure to a COMESA summit in Zambia. Sudan and nine other countries will sign an agreement at the summit […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Tuesday FORMER anti-apartheid cleric and now director-general in the Presidency, Reverend Frank Chikane, says he wants those responsible for him being at death’s door four times to admit it and apologise. Speaking outside the Pretoria High Court after testifying in the trial of apartheid chemical warfare expert Dr Wouter Basson, Chikane […]

THE South African government has announced its intention to sell about 30% of state owned Eskom’s 24 power stations, in a move that will cut debt and open the market to competition, the Bloomberg news service reported. Sivi Gounden, director general of the department of public enterprises, said the assets would be offered to multinational […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Tuesday US-BASED watchdog group Human Rights Watch has slammed South Africa for exporting weapons to countries where they risk fuelling conflicts. The group said in a report that half of the 10 top destinations for South African arms between 1996 and 1998 – India, Algeria, Colombia, Pakistan and Congo (Brazzaville) – […]