Political diaries can be a damn good read — and they can also deepen our understanding of how power works. How nice by now to have had an insider’s account of the Mandela administration, or Mbeki’s. What a pity that someone like Pallo Jordan or Kader Asmal has not mustered the energy to produce a political memoir that sheds light on the choices made in the early years of democracy.
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Madagascar’s President Marc Ravalomanana has dissolved his country’s National Assembly ahead of elections he said would be held by the end of September. In a letter dated July 17 and addressed to the Constitutional Court, but only made public on Tuesday, Ravalomanana said Parliament no longer reflected national representation.
Twelve Romanians died and firefighters, soldiers and volunteers battled wildfires across south-eastern Europe on Tuesday as a heatwave broke temperature records across the Balkans. There was a blackout in many parts of Macedonia and some parts of Albania and northern Greece. In Romania, new deaths pushed the toll from the heatwave up to 30.
Ethiopia on Tuesday gave the Red Cross a week to leave the Ogaden region in the country’s volatile east, saying the aid group had been talking to rebels who operate there. The Red Cross workers ”are interfering with the political situation”, said Jama Ahmed, a vice-president of the Somali region.
Zaphanias Mathe, the father of prison escapee Annanias Mathe, was released from jail after the state withdrew all charges against him on Tuesday. An attorney at the Oliveira Serrao law firm, Nereyde Namitete, said the toxicology report found that the substance that the older Mathe tried to smuggle inside the C-Max prison in Pretoria contained nothing illegal.
Astana team leader Alexander Vinokourov failed a dope test after winning Saturday’s Tour de France time trial, his team announced on Tuesday. They did not give any further details but a cycling source said the Kazakh, who has won two stages on this year’s Tour, tested positive for blood doping.
Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua came to power under the shadow of disputed elections and an overbearing predecessor, but his first two months in office have shown evidence that he is quietly asserting his authority. The soft-spoken former state governor was plucked from obscurity by former president Olusegun Obasanjo to run for the top job.
A number of people were being held hostage at a supermarket in Mthatha on Tuesday afternoon, Eastern Cape police said. Superintendent Mzukisi Fatyela said police believed two armed men, part of a gang that robbed the store at about 1pm, were holding staff at gunpoint by 4pm.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) will be asked to explain last year’s blacklisting of political commentators and analysts to an Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) hearing on Wednesday. The Freedom of Expression Institute has complained that the blacklistings constituted a violation of the SABC’s licence conditions.