SOUTH African meat producers say neighbouring countries are overreacting by banning meat imports after an isolated outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Namibia, Botswana and Mauritius have all banned imports of South African pork, cattle and sheep from the affected KwaZulu-Natal province, where the outbreak occurred on a single farm, and neighbouring Mpumalanga. The National Director of […]

SOUTH African financial services group Corpcapital Bank has received approval to set up a company to strip and market the components of domestic government bonds for the first time. South Africa’s Bond Exchange (BESA) had given the go-ahead to list the special purpose company, Stripco Ltd, to acquire the debt, break it up into interest […]

SIERRA Leone’s government forces have captured three bases from the West Side Boys, the maverick militia who held British soldiers hostage for over two weeks, state radio said. The West Side Boys seized 11 British soldiers and a Sierra Leonean officer on August 25. They released five Britons shortly afterwards, and British troops freed the […]

TWELVE people died in Algeria, including seven Muslim rebels, in the latest wave of clashes with security forces, local newspapers reported. A group of unidentified men shot dead five civilians and burnt their bodies in the town of Bou Ismail, 60km west of Algiers, while army soldiers killed seven Muslim rebels and captured two others […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, Johannesburg | Wednesday SOUTH African authorities have seized about R40m worth of assets, including a jet and helicopter, belonging to Zimbabwean billionaire Billy Rautenbach, a former boss of Hyundai Motor Distributors. A court order granted the seizure after on the basis of an 18-month investigation which allegedly links Rautenbach to customs […]

REUTERS, Cape Town | Wednesday THE South African oil industry is just months away from starting to hand over 25% of its assets to black-owned businesses, says Energy Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka. Mlambo-Ngcuka told a news conference she expected black empowerment deals to cover the whole range of the industry, including the mooted state oil company […]

Lunga Masuku and Justin Arenstein, Mbabane | Wednesday INTERNATIONAL pop icon and self-proclaimed Africa enthusiast Michael Jackson has been approached to design and underwrite a multi-million dollar theme park in central Swaziland, former Mpumalanga premier Mathews Phosa has confirmed. Phosa said Jackson had been requested to throw his weight behind the proposed ‘African’ theme park […]

REUTERS, London | Wednesday TANZANIA has assured major oil companies that its first offshore oil licenses, which have just been launched, will be corruption free and not bogged in red tape. The east African nation, which currently is not a major producer of hydrocarbons, launched the licensing round in Houston last week, followed by a […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT and AFP, New York | Wednesday SOUTHERN African foreign ministers have expressed deep opposition to proposed US legislation to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe if democratic reforms and changes to a controversial land reform program are not implemented. In a meeting here with US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the foreign ministers from the […]