New voter statistics out in Zimbabwe this week showed the urban centres will be a major battleground in the elections in two weeks’ time. Harare and Bulawayo, the two largest urban centres in the country, now account for a combined 20% of the total voter count of 5,5-million.
The African National Congress effectively owns The Network Lounge, the company that hosted a controversial meeting place for business at the party’s Stellenbosch and Polokwane conferences in 2002 and last year. This has emerged amid fallout from the Mail & Guardian‘s exposés on the ruling party’s use of front company Chancellor House.
African National Congress secretary general Gwede Mantashe has warned councillors in Kimberley that if they refuse to endorse the provincial leadership’s decision to remove the mayor of the Northern Cape capital they could be redeployed elsewhere.
After a prolonged fight and years of negotiation, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has finally succeeded in wresting mining environmental impact assessments from the Department of Minerals and Energy, after the two departments reached a settlement through its two ministers.
The Constitutional Court has ruled that a man who spent five years in jail because of an administrative error may sue the minister of justice for unlawful arrest. Chief Justice Pius Langa, delivering the unanimous ruling this week, noted that the Grahamstown High Court in 1999 forgot to issue a warrant for Jonathan Zealand’s release.
Kenya’s 10th Parliament opened on March 6 this year, with upbeat expectations that a ”new dawn” would end the violence and turmoil that wracked the country after December’s presidential election. It is set to endorse, in the coming weeks, the different elements of the political solution brokered by Kofi Annan’s African Union mediation team.
A major Saudi Arabian marine company has accused controversial Coega prawn farm SeaArk Africa of lying about an alleged R70-million deal between the companies. Three weeks ago, the Mail & Guardian revealed the identities of the people behind SeaArk Africa.
France on Tuesday won European Union approval to give €99-million to several companies hoping to build a European rival to United States internet search giant Google. The EU executive says this helped fill a funding gap for something that might not otherwise win financial support.
This week, Jacob Zuma; his lawyer, Michael Hulley; and French arms company Thint argued in the Constitutional Court for search warrants served on them to be declared invalid. Although it would be premature to predict an outcome, it was evident that the Constitutional Court judges recognised the enormity of their task.
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