ZIMBABWEAN liberation giant Joshua Nkomo, who died on Thursday aged 83, will be buried on Monday. Nkomo, who died at Harare’s Parirenyatwa hospital where he was admitted in May with prostate cancer, will be buried at the country’s national shrine, the Heroes Acre, on the outskirts of the city. Reacting to Nkomo’s death, South African […]

THE riddle of the Lowveld “bear”, sighted last week about 10km outside Nelspruit, was solved this week when the creature showed his bark was worse than his bite. The Lowvelder newspaper reports it was all a case of mistaken identity and the “bear” is a brown bouvier cross-labrador. The dog looks so much like a […]

HUNDREDS of riot police have been deployed in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare as a maize shortage continues to grip this southern African country, once an exporter of the staple crop. Although no explanation has been given by the government, the deployment of the riot squad, which began this week, is seen as an attempt […]

SOUTH Africa will benefit from joint investments in Mozambique which are expected to ignite an economic boom in the impoverished country, Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin said on Thursday. Erwin told an international conference on investment opportunities in Mozambique that closer economic ties with Mozambique are fundamental to South Africa’s transformation into an internationally […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Lusaka | Sunday 8.00pm. DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo (DRC) peace negotiations are being hampered by disagreements over the wording of a ceasefire document in various languages, sources close to the meeting said on Sunday. Disputes over translations of the document from English into French and Portuguese are delaying the finalization and signing of […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Algiers | Sunday 8.00pm. ALGERIAN President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has pardoned thousands of imprisoned Islamic militants as part of a campaign for national reconciliation in Algeria. The pardon, timed to coincide with Algeria’s independence day on Monday, is aimed at people convicted “on charges linked to terrorism and subversion, not implicated in blood crimes […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Saturday 6.45pm. SCOTLAND, in deep trouble at half time against Gauteng’s Lions on Saturday, staged a courageous fightback in the second half — getting within metres of a winning try in the dying seconds of the game. But in the end, it was the Lions who won 33-31, after frittering away […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Sunday 7.00pm. TRADE and Industry Minister Alec Erwin said on Sunday negotiations to create a regional free trade deal in Southern Africa are progressing but cautioned that difficulties still lay ahead. Erwin addressed the ninth annual Southern African economic summit in Durban this weekend following a meeting with Zimbabwean trade minister […]

SOUTH African Airways has announced a code-share partnership with Varig (Viacao Aerea Riograndense) and with Aerolineas Argentinas, ensuring that it will double its frequency between South America and South Africa from two flights to four a week. Effective from Thursday, the airline will fly every Sunday and Thursday non-stop between Johannesburg and Sao Paulo. On […]

THE United States has ruled out the lifting of UN sanctions against Libya, which were suspended in April, because Tripoli has “failed to fully cooperate with Lockerbie trial proceedings,” US ambassador Peter Burleigh said in Washington on Thursday. Burleigh said “there are outstanding requests from the Scottish prosecutors which are very specific requests for Libyan […]