Staff Reporter

OWN CORRESPONDENTS, Johannesburg | Wednesday WITH just over six million votes counted in South Africa’s key local government elections, the ruling African National Congress has wrested control of 24 local councils countrywide, double that of the opposition Democratic Alliance – but the DA is looking ominous in the hotly-contested Western Cape. By Wednesday morning, the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Wednesday MURDER charges have been dropped against the Zimbabwean war veteran alleged to have shot dead a white farmer, David Stevens – ostensibly for “lack of evidence”. Stevens, an outspoken supporter of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was the first of six white farmers killed in more than nine […]

THIRTY people have been killed on the country’s roads since the start of summer holidays, Arrive Alive said on Monday. Most of the accidents were caused by speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol, unroadworthy vehicles and negligent driving. Arrive Alive was also concerned about the number of pedestrians killed as a result of failure […]

PHILLIP NKOSI and JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Standerton | Tuesday MORE than 40 Mpumalanga politicians tried to award themselves a R1m golden handshake as a “farewell” payout before the local government elections. Mpumalanga local government department director Bruno Vilane confirmed that four city councils attempted to give outgoing councillors large irregular severance packages. Council finance officials advised […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday HARVESTING plants for medicines to treat anything from mad cow disease to malaria could help alleviate the poverty of African communities, a Commonwealth conference has been told. “There is a demand for African herbs and plants to be used in medicines and our aim is to exploit that for […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Monday FINANCE minister Trevor Manuel says government is considering doing away with South Africa’s virtually worthless 1c and 2c coins. According to Manuel, the South African Mint and the South African Reserve Bank have already recommended to government that these coins should be withdrawn from circulation as the high rate […]

AN American couple that was hijacked near the Kruger National Park will fly to South Africa to testify against nine suspects in the Nelspruit Regional Court next year. New Yorkers Scott and Lesley Newman were hijacked and robbed near the Kruger Gate in Northern Province on September 9 while on honeymoon. The nine accused, including […]

UNIDENTIFIED gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons on a Belgian passenger aircraft landing in Burundi’s capital on Monday, hitting it several times and wounding two people. The plane, a Sabena airlines Airbus A-3300 arriving from Brussels, was targeted at an altitude of 200m as it was about to touch down, passengers said. The aircraft was […]

WILDLIFE authorities say an increase in the number of elephants migrating to Uganda from the war-torn east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a sign of worsening poaching in the area. Over 50 elephants have fled the DRC into western Uganda, according to a statement by the Uganda Wildlife Authority. The poaching had […]

WARRING parties in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are expected to meet in Zimbabwe this week finally to sign a pact to pull back troops back at least 15km from the front lines. Parties to the two-year conflict – the DRC government, its allies from Zimbabwe, Angola, Namibia, with Rwanda and Uganda, which back […]

NORTHERN Province police are looking for a group of primary school children who allegedly attacked their teacher in protest against failing. Grade 7 teacher Mzamani Kenneth Mthathi was handing out reports at Mahlakatzi Primary School near Giyani when six boys lost their tempers after they learnt they had to repeat the year. The boys then […]

AN unpopular Swazi chief has narrowly escaped the ultimate insult from about 50 angry women, who threatened to take their clothes off and flash their buttocks at him. The women, aged between 30 and 50, gathered outside Chief Maguga Dlamini’s house last week in preparation for their unique protest. In Swazi culture it is considered […]

ACTING on the orders of then head of state General Ibrahim Babangida, the Nigerian army in 1993 killed 118 people engaged in a pro-democracy protest, a rights panel has heard. Babangida ordered troops to break up protests against his regime’s annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections, human rights activist Beko Ransome-Kuti said. He […]

UN SECRETARY General Kofi Annan has launched a conference on new and restored democracies, praising Benin in his opening address as a “shining example” of democracy in Africa. “In transferring power smoothly, through the ballot box, Benin is a shining example for Africa and other continents to follow,” Annan told representatives from more than 90 […]

ALGERIA intends to increase its crude oil output by more than 50% by 2004, said Algerian Energy and Mining Minister Shakib Khelil, from its present level of 900000 to 1.4m barrels per day. The hydrocarbons sector is the backbone of the Algerian economy, accounting for roughly 52% of budget revenues, 25% of Gross Domestic Product […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Addis Ababa | Tuesday THE United Nations’ top Aids official has appealed for a social mobilisation against Aids, which affects more than 25 million people in sub-Saharan Africa. “Reducing vulnerability to Aids and its impact is about creating a social vaccine, or better a social immune system,” UNAIDS head Peter Piot told African […]

THE die-hard Northern Cape Afrikaner town of Orania will keep its council for the time being despite municipal elections under which it was to have been swallowed into a larger council, a court has ruled. The town, with an all-white population of 650, became a private settlement of right-wing Afrikaners in 1991 and elected its […]

EGYPTIAN police have arrested a gang of pickpockets who distracted their victims by pretending to produce the Egyptian version of the popular television show “Candid Camera.” The two truck drivers and an unemployed man made away with around $270000 in several months while robbing 28 people leaving banks in the capital, police said. They used […]

MORE than 60 Nigerians have died when an explosion ripped through a fractured pipeline at a state-run loading depot outside Lagos, police and witnesses said. Hundreds of people were illegally siphoning off fuel from the pipeline, operated by the state-run oil Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), when the blast occurred, witnesses said. The incident is […]

GOVERNMENT troops in Guinea Bissau have shot dead rebel General Ansumane Mane, who has been on the run since last week when a military revolt he staged in the capital was put down. Government and military sources said Mane had been killed in Quinhamel, north of the capital Bissau, in a gunfight which also left […]

THE Department of Public Service and Administration has gone online with its website: www.dpsa.gov.za or www.publicservice.gov.za . The site provides access to public service information, documents, reports, contacts, links, publications and services. Those interested in receiving regular information updates from the DPSA should e-mail Ramafoko with the subject SUBSCRIBE.

SOUTH Africa’s Department of Minerals and Energy says the retail price of petrol will be cut by two cents a litre with effect from December 6. The wholesale price of diesel will drop by 8.8 cents a litre and illuminating paraffin by 0.8 cents a litre. The price reductions, the first since February 2, were […]

THE Northern Cape Afrikaner community of Orania has staged a last-ditch bid to secure the town’s independent municipal status ahead of the December 5 local elections without resorting to court action to postpone municipal elections in the area. The community is objecting to its merger with Hopetown and Strydenburg into a single municipality. The Afrikaner […]

THE Moroccan government has banned three weeklies – Le Journal, Assahifa, and Demain – for “threatening the stability of the state”, Culture and Communications Minister Mohamed Achari announced. Achari told journalists that the three publications “published a very dubious document and commentary pieces that not only touch on a part of our history, but the […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Monday TWO South African fishermen have told how they escaped drowning to spend nearly two hungry weeks trapped against a rugged cliff-face on Gough Island, holed up with penguins for shelter and praying for rescue. Frank Wagenstroom and Patrick Watson saw two of their shipmates drown after the dinghies from […]

NELSPRUIT’S chief magistrate, David Ngobeni, has been awarded R20000 damages against Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete after police searched his townhouse for stolen goods without a warrant. Ngobeni sued Tshwete and Nelspruit police Captain Annelise Mathyssen for R100. The Nelspruit Civil Court awarded Ngobeni R20000 for the wrongful search, plus between R8000 and R10000 […]

SYDNEY police on Monday urged thieves who stole a BMW with a two-year-old boy inside to give themselves up after the toddler died from heart failure he suffered after hours locked up inside the car on a sweltering afternoon. The thieves are believed to have dumped the car after discovering they had made off with […]

The rate of new HIV infections is finally falling in Africa – but only because the epidemic has already struck so many people, says a new report by the United Nations. The report, released in time for World Aids Day on December 1, says 3.8 million Africans were infected with HIV this year. Sub-Saharan Africa […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Accra | Monday WHEN Ghanaians go to the polls later this week, they will mark the end of an era: nearly two decades of uninterrupted rule by Jerry John (“JJ”) Rawlings, one of Africa’s most colourful leaders. The man who won over the country when, as a dashing young flight lieutenant, he seized […]

SAAB and BAE Systems, the Swedish and UK aerospace companies, have placed a US$14,7m skills and technology transfer contract with South Africa’s state-owned Denel Aviation, the two foreign companies said. The contract forms part of the defence industrial participation programme linked to South Africa’s order for 28 Gripen fighter aircraft produced jointly by Saab and […]

THE Constitutional Court has refused disgraced anti-apartheid activist and cleric Allan Boesak application to it for leave to appeal against the Supreme Court of Appeals’ ruling upholding his conviction and sentence for fraud and theft. Deputy Constitutional Court President, Judge Pius Langa said Boesak had not established that any of his rights to a fair […]

HEAVY gunbattles raged overnight on Sunday in the West Bank town of Bethlehem in what the Israeli army said was an apparent attempt by Palestinian gunmen to take over an Israeli enclave there. Palestinians said the fighting broke out after soldiers and Jewish settlers attacked Muslim worshippers. The confrontation lasted for several hours, and at […]