The United States said it supports the appointment of former president Nelson Mandela to be the new mediator in Burundi.

Robben Island have been declared world heritage sites by the United Nations’ culture and science body.

SARAH BULLEN and Reuters, Cape Town | Thursday 10.45am COMBINED gold and foreign exchange reserves beat economists’ forecast continuing their upwards rise in November to $7,4-billion — a $500-million rise from October’s reserves, Reserve Bank figures released on Thursday show. In rand terms this translates into a rise of R2,6-billion to R45,2-billion from October’s R42,6-billion. […]

WESTERN Cape police commissioner Lennit Max says transforming the police service to make it representative of the communities it serves and a crackdown on corruption are among his priorities, reports Marianne Merten. The former Eastern Cape deputy commissioner on Wednesday morning officially assumed office in the province which this week was rocked by another bomb […]

PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday referred the appointment of a new 12-member board for the SABC to Cabinet on Tuesday instead of mooting the choice, fuelling fuelling speculation that he is not satisfied with the candidates. The National Assembly’s communications committee’s recommendations were adopted by all parties in Parliament, except the Democratic Party, which raised […]

SARAH BULLEN, Cape Town | Wednesday 10.30am CAPE Town on Wednesday is still feeling the after shock of the St Elmo’s bomb blast after two of its larger hotels received bomb threats on Tuesday night. No bombs, however, were found. The pipe bomb blast that destroyed St Elmo’s, a popular pizzeria in Camps Bay, injured […]

MOZAMBICANS look set to re-elect President Joaquim Chissano at weekend elections, but he could lose the parliamentary majority that has helped him jump start the economy after a 16-year civil war. Although opinion polls are hard to come by, local political analysts see the 60-year old Chissano as a clear favourite to win the presidency, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Wednesday 8.15pm. ZIMBABWE’s President Robert Mugabe on Thursday marked World Aids Day by defending the country’s proposed Aids levy, which has provoked a public outcry since it was announced in October. The country said it would introduce a new tax in January to be levied at three percent of individual income […]

MPUMALANGA’S capital, Nelspruit, has frozen all new development projects until rates defaulters pay it the R41-million owned for basic services such as water and electricity. Nelspruit city treasurer Nantes Kruger said the council will also cut electricity to anyone owing it money before Christmas and will hand over all outstanding accounts to attorneys for prosecution. […]