Nigerian troops and gangsters fought gun battles in the oil city of Port Harcourt on Thursday, killing several people, army and private security sources said. The army launched a dawn raid on several criminal hide-outs after six days of street battles between rival gangs last week, and the gangs responded by staging an armed assault on the state government headquarters.
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) opted on Thursday to increase its key repo rate by 50 basis points to 10%, its monetary policy committee said. The repo is the rate at which the SARB lends to commercial banks, whose prime lending rate will rise — also by 0,5 percentage points — to 13,5%.
The Public Protector is at an "advanced stage" in a reinvestigation of the so-called Oilgate scandal, originally uncovered by the <i>Mail & Guardian</i>. Advocate Lawrence Mushwana says his office is finalising its investigations and a report will be tabled in Parliament soon.
Eskom, the government and the electricity regulator are identifying weaknesses in power-supply systems in the nine 2010 Soccer World Cup host cities. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Joe Phaahla, director general of the 2010 unit, pointed out that the event would be held in winter when demand would be at its peak.
Sheffield United announced on Thursday they plan to sue West Ham for the cost of their relegation from England’s Premier League. The Yorkshire side have already failed in their High Court bid to force new Premier League disciplinary action against West Ham over the Carlos Tevez affair but now plan to take a new course of action.
The Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) cannot replace its dismissed former president Motsoko Pheko until the outcome of the party’s internal appeal process, the Cape High Court ruled on Thursday. Delivering judgement, Judge Dennis Davis said there was no evidence that Pheko had waived his right to appeal.
The Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) posted an ”outstanding” set of results on Thursday, which were underpinned by strong economic growth. Passenger growth in 2007 at Acsa’s airports was 10,8% and was expected to average 8% in 2010, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe told the results presentation in Johannesburg.
A Zimbabwe man stole a bus because he needed transport to pick up his driving licence, state media reported on Thursday. The Herald newspaper said Stead Mashushire waited until the driver of a bus parked in a central Harare rank had gone to buy food before ordering all the passengers out and driving off in the vehicle.
Sierra Leone’s elections, the second vote since the West African country emerged from one of the most brutal wars in modern history, has sparked a new battle for the airwaves. Days after accusing the main opposition All People’s Congress of broadcasting post-election hate messages, the ruling party this week conducted a test transmission for its own station.
World leaders on Thursday insisted that the United States credit crunch would not cause an economic crisis but stock markets across the world plummeted yet again as investors remained unconvinced. US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson admitted that American growth will be hit but said the economy would weather the storm.