BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair landed in South Africa on Wednesday at the start of a visit aimed at putting the seal on defence contracts and cementing relations with Deputy President Thabo Mbeki. Blair was met at Waterkloof Air Force base outside Pretoria by South Africa’s Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad. The British leader is […]
KWAZULU-NATAL traffic police issued close to 400000 traffic fines last year, provincial traffic spokesperson Logan Maistry said on Wednesday. Traffic offences included: 242687 for speeding, 3442 for overtaking on barrier lines,17099 for driver’s licence offences, 24004 for not wearing seat belts, 6041 for overloading and 68187 for vehicle defects. Maistry said 1713 people were arrested […]
SURVIVORS of the 1986 air crash which killed Mozambican president, Samora Machel, met with government representatives in Maputo on Wednesday to finalise preparations for the inauguration of a monument at the crash site in South Africa. Machel’s widow, Graa, and her husband, President Nelson Mandela, will inaugurate the monument at Mbuzini in Mpumalanga on January […]
A PROMINENT traditional leader and his son were among three men shot dead in an ambush in Ematimatolo in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands on Tuesday morning, according to a police report on Wednesday. Senior Superintendent Henry Budhram said Themba Nyoka (55), his son Sicelo (21) and Sipanelo Dladla (30) were shot dead while travelling along the […]
CONGO (Brazzaville) government forces killed dozens of militia foes in fighting near the capital and prepared for a new offensive after losing at least four men and two armoured vehicles, army sources said on Wednesday. Forces backing President Denis Sassou Nguesso killed several dozen of the so-called Ninja militiamen in operations on Tuesday to flush […]
A NUMBER of large airlines thought to be interested in buying the Cote d’Ivoire’s national airline, Air Ivoire, have snubbed the deal and are refusing to commit to any proposals. Aviation source said on Tuesday that 19 major airlines which initially showed interest in buying the 51% shares at stake in Air Ivoire have not […]
NEW Algerian Prime Minister Smail Hamdani will spell out his economic reforms to the national assembly on Thursday. Hamdani, who was once considered one of the theorists of “Algerian socialism” under the late president Houari Boumediene, has said he plans to create almost 1,2-million jobs this year by “realising” 15850 investment projects currently in the […]
ISAAC MOFOKENG (29), the man accused of shooting Johannesburg Zoo’s Max the gorilla, fell asleep during his trial in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. He has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges, including rape, abduction, housebreaking and malicious damage to property (Max the gorilla). Mofokeng has managed to delay his trial through bizarre behaviour […]
TANZANIA’s first president Julius Nyerere has the government for its decision to privatise public firms. Addressing the fourth provincial chapter of the East African Province of the Holy Ghost, the elder statesman said that to privatise the economy of a country like Tanzania, where there is no private sector, is to “foreignise” it.
THE Kenyan government has instructed the state-owned National Cereals and Produce Board to immediately set up 26 new depots in the country to store maize, the state-owned KBC radio reported on Wednesday. The radio, quoting Agriculture minister Musalia Mudavadi, said famine is threatening some regions of Kenya because of drought, and that the government will […]