JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Johannesburg | Thursday AN international conference of indigenous communities from five African countries has condemned alleged human rights abuses against the Kalahari Desert San people by the Botswana government. Describing the San as Africa’s oldest inhabitants, the conference accused the Botswana government and its wildlife authorities of an alarming pattern of forced removals […]

NIGERIA’S state carrier has agreed a three-month extension of its current joint venture accord with British Airways for the operation of the Lagos-London route. The debt-ridden and near-bankrupt Nigeria Airways sought the help of British Airways to run the lucrative Lagos-London route on daily basis in 1998, but there had been moves by the Nigerian […]

DARREN SCHUETTLER, Johannesburg | Thursday THE Southern African Development Community (SADC) said this week it did not expect competition from a rival African free trade area and said its own deal was on track to begin cutting tariffs early next year. ”I don’t see competition necessarily,” SADC acting chief economist Angelo Mondlane said after the […]

ZIMBABWE has raised fuel prices by up to 14.6%, the fifth hike this year, citing increased procurement costs and the devaluation of the local dollar. In a statement, state oil procurer National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM) said the retail price of unleaded petrol had gone up to Z$46.77 per litre from Z$40.80 while diesel […]

THE trial of three Pep Stores employees accused of painting a 14-year-old girl white after accusing her of shoplifting, has been postponed to allow the accused to get legal representation. Thelma Strydom, Julia Munyai and Albert Mbezi were released on a warning and have not been asked to plead on charges of assault, theft and […]

TWO men have been arrested in connection with the murder of Mpumalanga’s Lowveld Assistant Commissioner of police, Mandla Mahlangu. The men, aged 31 and 32, were arrested in Orange Farm and Alexandria in Johannesburg after Northern Province murder and robbery unit detectives received a tip-off. One of the men was arrested in a bank, while […]

TWO mentally retarded men were arrested in the Northern Province this week after police caught one of them cooking a human liver and thumb over a campfire. The body of a 56-year-old man reported missing 11 days previously was found in a shallow grave about 20 metres from the scene. Police said that while searching […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Wednesday A FORMER security policeman has told the Wouter Basson trial in the Pretoria High Court how he was informed in 1989 of a plan to poison the clothes of SA Council of Churches stalwart Rev Frank Chikane, and had helped to pick the lock of Chikane’s suitcase. Bomb disposal expert […]

LEGISLATORS in Nigeria’s lower house of parliament exchanged blows this week over charges that President Olusegun Obasanjo had tried to bribe some of them to support a probe into corruption charges against their leadership. The house adopted the motion to investigate the bribery allegation against Obasanjo, his deputy and others, but rejected a second motion […]