FIVE more people have died of the deadly Ebola virus in northern Uganda, bringing the death toll in the latest outbreak to 69. The total number of cases of known victims of the gruesome disease also rose by nine to 191. However, 73 people are known to have recovered from Ebola, a viral disease which […]

PRODUCTS from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) trade bloc still find it difficult to penetrate the EU market despite an existing trade arrangement with African, Carribean and Pacific (ACP) nations, a Comesa official said this week. Erastus Mwencha, Comesa secretary general, urged Comesa members at a meeting of the ACP-EU Contonou […]

PRO-GOVERNMENT south Sudanese militia have razed three camps of the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) in the south-east, killing at least 53 rebels. The militia, identified as “Peace Forces,” destroyed equipment, killed 53 rebels and forced the remaining SPLA men to flee into the bush, the state-owned Al-Anbaa daily newspaper reported. The SPLA has […]

innovations Handspring is taking its range of personal digital assistants (PDAs) upmarket with a pair of highly specified new models. Available from Handspring’s website now (www.handspring.com) and due in the stores in November are the company’s first colour PDA, the $449 Handspring Visor Prism, and its fastest model, the $299 Handspring Visor Platinum. The products […]

Peter Dickson ‘Pot holes for the next 186km” is the wicked promise of eco-tourism’s new Wild Coast warrior, one that offers an alternative trip to the young European backpackers who are beginning to discover the Transkei in droves. Openly marketed as The Marijuana Trail – the so- called Transkei Gold variety is regarded by imbibers […]

1970: The release of Cotton Comes to Harlem and Sweet Sweetback’s Baad Asssss Song herald the start of the blaxploitation genre. 1971: Shaft is the first big-budget blaxploitation film. Isaac Hayes wins Oscar for the music. Shaft’s Big Score! and Shaft in Africa follow. 1972: Two of America’s biggest pop stars provide the soundtracks to […]

Robert Kirby CHANNELVISION These last two Tuesdays have seen the broadcast of the awesome BBC production of Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast on M-Net. The detail, the imagination and technical tour de force of this series is hard to praise sufficiently. It was received to rapturous critical acclaim in the United Kingdom and sets its own benchmark […]

James Hall The Kingdom of Swaziland has been wracked by an unprecedented bout of public protest after the eviction of two chiefs that cuts to the heart of a social compact that ties Swazis together. For centuries land has been obtained not by ownership but by use and allegiance to the king through his chiefs. […]

South Africa’s girl next door has swopped her down-to-earth image for something appealing to mortgage-laden post-30s Andrew Kay Sonja Herholdt is back with an exciting new image and album – one, in fact, that contains some of the most stunning new music to be heard on the contemporary pop scene in South Africa. Gone are […]