Staff Reporter

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Wednesday PHARMACEUTICAL companies are fuelling the myth that anti-retroviral drugs are the only way forward in the fight against HIV/Aids because “they have a vested interest in doing so”, says Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. Speaking at the launch of the South African Mayors’ Chapter Launch on HIV/Aids, Tshabalala-Msimang said there was […]

WELL diggers have unearthed a mass grave in a central Angolan village which was the scene of clashes between government troops and rebels, official radio reported this week. The grave, containing an undetermined number of skeletons, was discovered in the village of Catabola, about 700km southeast of the capital Luanda. The slaughter of those in […]

NIGERIA’S President Olusegun Obasanjo says the bulk of some $800m looted by late military ruler Sani Abacha and his associates and since recovered will be used for development. The amount will go into the federal government budget for 2001 expected to be presented this week to the National Assembly, an official statement from the presidency […]

FORMER Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith returned this week to Zimbabwe after more than a month abroad, amid threats by the government to prosecute him for war crimes. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe last month threatened to bring Smith to trial for genocide and other crimes committed during the war to end white minority rule here, […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Wednesday A FORMER SA Defence Force intelligence chief of staff has told the Pretoria High Court of his “dissatisfaction” about a lack of information on the end destination and ultimate use of millions of rands transferred to overseas bank accounts on behalf of the shadowy Project Coast. Project Coast was the […]

BRONWEN ROBERTS, Cape Town | Wednesday SOUTH African farmers have made an impassioned plea to the international community to rescue them from rural attacks, saying the violence was an “orchestrated bid” to force farmers off their land, as the government announced a land restitution programme was picking up speed. “It’s about forcing them to either […]

BATTERED by spiraling petrol prices and predictions of a slow Christmas season for brick-and-mortar businesses, growing numbers of South African retailers are making an early bid for a slice of the expected 100% boom in online transactions predicted by leading e-commerce provider ECnet. The retailers form part of ECnet’s www.cybergifts.co.za website, a secure and easy-to-use […]

STOCK exchanges in Africa have adopted a joint rule governing the listing of equities in the capital market and pledged to support their growth, said a statement released in Nairobi this week. Participants at the two-day Annual Conference of the African Stock Exchanges Association (ASEA), called for sustained efforts to create and support institutions facilitating […]

PRESIDENT Festus Mogae says at least half of the people who die natural deaths in Botswana do so from Aids-related diseases, adding that he hoped more people would take HIV tests and feel able to discuss a positive result as a way of destigmatising the disease. “We cannot plan our future without accommodating the impact […]

Burundi’s peace process facilitator, South African former president Nelson Mandela, has expressed concern over the slow progress on ceasefire talks in Burundi.

PHILLIP NKOSI, Pretoria | Tuesday THE Directorate of Public Prosecutions has vowed to tame the tiger in Mapogo-A-Mathamaga, the country’s most feared vigilante group, by setting up a special task team to probe the group’s activities. The formal justice system has proved ineffective in dealing with the excesses of the group, whose name comes from […]

SENEGAL’S President Abdoulaye Wade has “declared war” on “pirates” he accuses of pillaging the country’s offshore fish stocks, singling out Russian trawling fleets in particular. He denounced the former Socialist Party government which he accused of “looting our coasts by making secret deals with Russian trawlers” and an “anarchic” distribution of fishing licences. Fishing employs […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Tuesday THE South African government is preparing to bring home the bodies of freedom fighters that died in exile, the justice ministry has announced. “The government wants to ensure that those who died outside the country are brought back for a proper burial. The preparations are being made,” said ministry […]

THE long-ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party has won a majority of the contested seats in Zanzibar’s legislature and is likely to win others filled by appointment, the electoral commission said. Citing massive electoral irregularities, the opposition in this semi-autonomous offshore Tanzanian state has said it will not recognise results of internationally condemned elections nor […]

THE US-funded Namibian Red Cross has withdrawn humanitarian aid to the overflowing Osire refugee camp in central Namibia after two US officials were refused entry to the camp after failing to present the proper documents. The Red Cross was responsible for supplying water and offloading food at the camp, which houses some 17000 refugees from […]

NAMIBIAN Land Minister Pendukeni Ithana has left for Germany and Austria to enlist the help of those countries in Namibia’s land reform programme, state radio reported. Her departure coincided with a statement by Prime Minister Hage Geingob that Namibia would let foreign countries intervene in its land reform programme rather than face a land crisis […]

FUNDAMO, a mobile payments platform provider financial services initiative of Sanlam, has signed an equity deal with VenFin Ltd and Archway Venture Partners, to further the company’s ambition of establishing an interoperable, pervasive mobile payment platform. The investment funds will be used to refine the product architecture and local infrastructure in preparation for a South […]

A FORMER apartheid-era spy and police ministry spokesman has joined South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) because he “was tired of living in a mental ghetto”. Craig Kotze, as an undercover police agent, worked as a crime reporter for the Johannesburg daily The Star from 1982 to 1990, then became spokesman for the law […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pietermaritzburg | Tuesday A SENIOR South African agriculture official has voiced fears that the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in eastern KwaZulu-Natal that has seen South African meat banned from 17 countries may spread to more provinces, as well as neighbouring Lesotho. “We are warning our neighbours in the Eastern Cape, the Free State […]

THE trial of Sasolburg businessman Piet Odendaal, accused of killing an employee and dragging his body behind a bakkie, has been shifted to Viljoenskroon, about 150km from his home town, for fears of his safety. Last month, Odendaal’s legal team requested a change in the trial venue following violent protests by community members appalled by […]

BURKINA Faso’s Prime Minister Kadre Desire Ouedraogo has handed in his resignation and that of his government to president Blaise Compaore. The move was made “to allow the president to implement changes aimed at speeding up the objective of reaching consensus and the active participation of all the players on the socio-political scene,” according to […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Tuesday A CHILLING account of how former SA Defence Force assassins killed South African soldiers regarded as a security risk and “hundreds” of Swapo detainees – using rubber hammers from OK Bazaars and tranquillisers and deadly muscle relaxants – has emerged in the trial of apartheid chemical expert Wouter Basson. In […]

THE World Bank has lodged complaints with authorities in Chad over the country’s diversion of oil revenues to the defense ministry. Under pressure from the bank and the International Monetary Fund, Chadian authorities revealed on November 25 that nearly $4.1m in oil revenues had been allocated to the defense ministry. This could jeopardise Chad’s efforts […]

JUSTIN ARENSTEIN, Pietersburg | Monday NORTHERN Province’s director general has launched an investigation into the abuse of State resources for electioneering by the African National Congress (ANC) following alleged abuses in the Office of the Premier. The probe follows media questions about the use of tax funds and government officials to organise a rally in […]

AT least 200 people were killed when a petrol tanker lost control and rammed into vehicles before bursting into flames in southwest Nigeria at the weekend. The victims, including a newly wed couple, were burnt beyond recognition. The accident, which involved more than 10 vehicles, occurred on Saturday and cut into heavy traffic on the […]

DEFENCE and veterinary personnel say every animal in the KwaZulu-Natal province might have to be put down to contain the spread of foot-and-mouth disease. Veterinarians slaughtered more than 4000 animals in September and October, but the disease, believed to have been imported in swill bought from a ship in Durban harbour, has spread from the […]

THREE people have died of Ebola in the north Ugandan district of Gulu during the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 90 since an epidemic broke out in mid-September. Eleven people with the highly contagious viral disease were admitted to hospitals in Gulu town during the same period. All the deaths, save for […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Monday CONFLICT is looming between government and South Africa’s traditional leaders (amakhosi) over proposed changes to the law governing local authorities, which the leaders have rejected as “annoying and insulting”. Saying the law seeks to reduce their powers, Nkosi Mpiyezintombi Mzimela, chair of the Coalition of Traditional Leaders, said the amakhosi […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, Mbabane | Wednesday THE United States has rescinded a decision to impose trade sanctions against Swaziland after the tiny kingdom amended a controversial labour law the International Labour Organisation (ILO) deemed restrictive. The US embassy in Mbabane said the outgoing administration of President Bill Clinton had decided to keep Swaziland in the Generalised […]

TOKYO Sexwale, former ANC premier of Gauteng turned businessman, has been named chairman of platinum producer Northam Platinum Ltd following the retirement of Alan Wright. The move was widely expected after Sexwale’s Mvelaphanda Platinum (Pty) Ltd (Mvela) took a controlling 22.5% stake in Northam on August 29 in an empowerment deal worth around R530m involving […]

OWN CORRESPONDENT, London | Monday SOUTH African scientists believe the source of William Shakespeare’s powerful imagery was drug-induced – and they plan to check the bard’s pipes in the hope of finding traces of cannabis. Researchers are now investigating whether the secret of the Bard’s creativity was his dope smoking, according to the Independent on […]

MALAWIAN President Bakili Muluzi has axed three key ministers in a cabinet reshuffle in a bid to improve the government’s image following damaging allegations of top-level corruption. Those dropped were former education minister Cassim Chilumpha, whose ministry is at the centre of a $2m corruption scandal, former transport minister Brown Mpinganjira and former labour minister […]