OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki has launched the African National Congress’ (ANC) local election campaign with a pledge that free basic services will be provided to the poor – but first faces a potential showdown with traditional leaders threatening to derail the elections. Mbeki unveiled his party’s manifesto to a subdued crowd […]

REUTERS, Jerusalem | Monday INTERNATIONAL efforts to end bloodshed in the Middle East have redoubled, but tension remains high as an Israeli deadline nears for Palestinians to halt their wave of protests which has seen at least 84 people – mostly Palestinians – killed in 11 days of bloodshed. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was on […]

AFP, Harare | Monday CONFLICT is simmering in Zimbabwe between the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the government over threats to arrest MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai for allegedly treasonous statements. The MDC said the intended arrest was “legally unjustified and politically unwise and dangerous”, as it is likely to lead to unnecessary […]

PHILLIP NKOSI, Nelspruit | Monday A RISING star in Mpumalanga’s ANC ranks has been banned from the swish Emnotweni Casino in Nelspruit for two years after he was caught having sex in the toilets. Sipho Monareng, a member of the ANC constituency in Hazyview, was caught with his pants down by a security guard in […]

AT least 10 soldiers and 80 rebels were killed last week in fighting near the Burundi capital Bujumbura, state radio reported. Heavy fighting broke out last week between ex-FAR (Rwandan Armed Forces) and Interahamwe (Hutu militiamen who carried out the 1994 genocide in Rwanda alongside the FAR), lasting more than two days and claiming “losses […]

SOME 52 Rwandan soldiers were killed by pro-government forces in the far east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the presidential press service said. The Popular Self-Defense Forces (FAP), attached to the government army, includes members of the Mai-Mai, a group of traditional warriors in the area who have taken several towns in recent […]

NIGERIA’S state-run telecommunications company NITEL will be sold off by the end of 2001, says President Olusegun Obasanjo’s chief economic adviser Phillip Asiodu. Asiodu said privatisation was ”still going ahead” and ”would be completed by the end of 2001.” The break-up and privatisation of the state-run electricity company NEPA would take longer but the government […]

POLICE forced their way into a South African experimental facility to allow animal rights groups to rescue 14 baboons destined for use in nuclear weapons testing by the French military. Policemen used a bolt cutter to force the locks of the French-run Centre Africaine Primatologie Experimentale (CAPE) near Hazyview in eastern Mpumalanga, after an animal […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday PROVINCIAL and Local Affairs Minister Sydney Mufamadi has postponed the announcement of the date of South Africa’s local government elections for the second time in a week after an impassioned plea by traditional leaders. Mufamadi admits the government does not see the need to postpone the elections – “as this […]

A COMMISSION to investigate human rights abuses in Nigeria dating back to the country’s civil war will start public hearings on October 23. The panel has spent a year sifting through thousands of petitions detailing alleged human rights abuses. Among the cases put to the commission are the extrajudicial killings of prominent opposition leaders under […]