NIGERIA?S state-run electricity company NEPA is anxiously awaiting the launch of a US power project in the economic capital Lagos, officials said on Wednesday. The US firm Enron was due to have begun supplying electricity to the city grid in December, but the project has yet to take off. Authorities in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, […]
TWO very loud explosions rocked the Ethiopian capital late on Sunday, blasts which the police immediately attributed to artillery fired in error. State radio, citing Addis Ababa police, said that “the RPG (rocket-propelled grenades) mortar shots were fired accidentally.” There was no loss of life and no material damage, the radio said. Shortly after the […]
DUMISANE LUBISI, Pietersburg | Tuesday LAWYERS defending nine rugby players accused of killing a rural teenager have demanded that the presiding magistrate recuse himself after he was caught chatting to the prosecutor in the case during lunch recess. Magistrate Ronnie Rambau of the Pietersburg Magistrate’s Court is presiding over the bail application of nine members […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Paris | Tuesday FRANCE has denied that it is behind a damning UN report accusing Uganda, Rwanda and rebels fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of looting the country’s mineral resources. French Cooperation Minister Charles Josselin described as “totally aberrant” accusations by rebels that Paris had dictated the conclusions of a […]
THE European Commission has approved 282m euros ($254m) in aid to Senegal over five years. The new allocation is 10% more than the last one accorded to the West African nation, and is in the form of grants and gifts, said the statement from the commission’s office in Senegal. The aid comes from the 9th […]
POLICE in Tanzania’s northwestern region of Kagera are holding two refugees from Burundi and Rwanda on suspicion that they killed a Roman Catholic priest last week. Kagera Regional Police Commander Ignas Mbinga named the suspects as Twagilemungu Ibrahim, 30, a Burundian and Yusuph Kazungu, 23, of Rwanda. Mbinga said that the suspects allegedly killed Father […]
A ridge of cowrie shells braided into her hair, the Amazon reaches out and smashes a rebellious slave to the ground with a brutal blow. The she-warrior is just one member of an elite army running slave raids for King Adanggaman, a powerful African monarch who seizes villagers to sell to European slave traders.
It’s a truism as old as Hollywood itself that no one ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the public.
SOUTH African soldiers leaving for the Democratic Republic of the Congo for peacekeeping duties should do their country proud, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and SA National Defence Force chief General Siphiwe Nyanda said on Friday. “You leave as heroes. Come back as even bigger heroes,” Lekota said as they bade farewell to 90 SANDF members […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, London | Monday AN international panel of high-ranking lawyers returning from a fact-finding visit to Zimbabwe reported on Monday that democracy and the rule of law there were “in the gravest peril.” In the report written for the International Bar Association (IBA) they said the government of President Robert Mugabe was deeply implicated […]
THE chief editor of Sudan’s independent newspaper Al-Rai Al-Akher has won an international award for her courage in reporting news. Amal Abbas, the newspaper’s editor, said she had received a fax at the weekend from the Washington-based International Women’s Media Foundation announcing they had granted her the bravery award for 2001. “I believe in freedom […]
THE Sudanese government said on Sunday it viewed favourably a recent call by the UN Human Rights Commission for a ceasefire in the country’s brutal three decade civil war between the Muslim north and Christian and animist south. “The government has always advocated a comprehensive ceasefire as a prelude to a negotiated settlement to the […]
DISGRACED former chief executive officer of the Premier Soccer League, Joe Ndhlela, is to remain in custody after losing his second bail application in the Johannesburg Regional Court on Friday. Ndhlela’s R20 000 bail was earlier forfeited to the State after he failed to appear in court. His lawyers are considering lodging an appeal in […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Monday A CIVIL society conference in Johannesburg starting on April 24 with Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton as speakers could be boycotted by unions and non-governmental groups, the organiser said on the weekend. The organiser and chairman of the Civil Society Initiative (CSI) conference, Roelf Meyer met powerful Congress of […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday A POLICE investigation is underway into claims that President Thabo Mbeki is in “physical danger” from high-profile leaders within the ANC who are plotting to oust him, The Sunday Times reports. Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete told the newspaper that police intelligence units had since last year been investigating […]
Peter Cunliffe-Jones, Lagos | Monday NIGERIA, which this week hosts a major conference on tackling Africa’s three biggest killers – malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/Aids – is a case study of how not to go about public health, experts and concerned officials here say. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with a population of more than 120 […]
TWO hundred and thirty two people were taken by surprise when they were arrested during a police operation dubbed “cul de sac” in the North West’s Mooiriver area in the early hours on Friday, police said. Superintendent Louis Jacobs said the operation, which began at midnight, was launched simultaneously in 27 cities and towns throughout […]
TWO men convicted for the murder of a senior policeman in 1999 were on Thursday each sentenced to 15 years in jail by the Umtata High Court . Ncedile Dana, 43, and Morris Sophangisa, 33, from Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape, were found guilty of murdering Senior Superintendent Zola Sigotyana, who was gunned down on […]
A DRC government-appointed commission is turning over its findings on the January assassination of Congo President Laurent Kabila, the attorney general said on Thursday. Joseph Kabila would determine whether to make public the results, Attorney General Luhonge Kabinda Ngoy said. Laurent Kabila was shot and killed at the presidential palace on January 16. A presidential […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Malkerns, Swaziland | Saturday THE murder in Swaziland of at least 28 people – mostly women – in a spate of suspected serial killings has rattled the sense of well-being in the sleepy mountain kingdom, known for its low crime rate and friendly people. Stunned residents are blaming everything from religious excess to […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Eastern Cape | Saturday THE agriculture department on Friday confirmed an outbreak of horse sickness in the Eastern Cape and announced it had scheduled a vaccination campaign. “This campaign will be accompanied by random sampling of the horses so as to ascertain the extent of the problem,” said provincial agriculture representative Mike Ngwane. […]
PAUL KIRK, Durban | Friday ARMSCOR bosses are set to make a killing by buying arms from companies of which they are shareholders or directors. This week the Mail & Guardian obtained Armscor documents showing that Armscor chair Ron Haywood is a director of another company, Dynamic Cables, which is among the front-runners to supply […]
Barry Streek The notorious tot system the payment of workers in liquor, normally cheap wine is to be banned in the Western Cape. The outlawing of the centuries-old tradition is part of proposed changes by the Democratic Alliance-controlled provincial government to the liquor licensing system that are aimed at bringing the 18 000 to 20 […]
Stefaans Brmmer and Jaspreet Kindra A pamphlet said to have originated in the African National Congress alliance calling for “one president, one term” has fuelled the latest round of accusations around supposed plots against President Thabo Mbeki. This has been the month in which tensions around the president, long simmering in the ANC and tripartite […]
Jaspreet Kindra It is boom time for the Pan Africanist Congress. The probe into the arms deal and the controversy surrounding the African National Congress chief whip Tony Yengeni’s acquisition of a Mercedes 4×4 has raised the party’s public profile tremendously. The PAC emerged from its annual policy conference last weekend with a real chance […]
Paul Kirk A top detective from the Durban murder and robbery unit is being investigated on at least six counts of murder and attempted murder. This emerged after Detective Inspector Robin Singh appeared briefly in the Durban Magistrate’s Court last week on a murder charge. It is suspected the murder may be related to a […]
Tova Herzl A Second look The 27th day of the month of Nissan, this year on April 20, was chosen by the state of Israel soon after its inception as the annual commemoration of the Holocaust and the heroic and all but futile attempts to rise up against it: it is the anniversary of the […]
whipping boy It was during a night meeting at Greyville in Durban, four months ago, that horse racing seemed to go through the looking glass into the realm of the absurd. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, until jockey Andrew Fortune stepped into the footlights with his own brand of tragicomedy. Fortune’s mount, a smart-looking […]
Noreena Hertz, one of the world’s leading young thinkers whose new book on corporate power is sparking intense debate, argues that governments’ surrender to big business is the deadliest threat facing democracy today In the hullabaloo following the United States presidential election, with hanging and pregnant chads, and ballot forms that needed a PhD to […]
A seventh league title in nine years could not ease the pain of losing in Munich and Alex Ferguson’s team might split up David Lacey and M&G reporters A championship hat-trick is still sufficiently rare in English football to be worth a second glance. Yet such are the changed priorities among top clubs that no […]
South Africa’s victory over the West Indies puts the Proteas within reach of greatness Peter Robinson Just over two years ago South Africa beat the West Indies 5-0 in a home series, only the fourth five-Test clean sweep in Test history. Rather than acclaim for a considerable achievement, however, the triumph was dogged by incessant […]
Roshila Pillay food In Hindu mythology, King Dasaratha greatly desired an heir. As part of the prescribed ceremony, he gave each of his three wives a cake to eat and subsequently the gods generously granted him four sons (one of his wives had twins). Desserts or sweetmeats, as they’re known in Indian culture are an […]