AFRICAN National Congress members disgruntled with Mpumalanga Premier Mathews Phosa’s leadership made personal submissions to the party’s president,Thabo Mbeki, during his low-key three-day visit to the province earlier this week. The series of meetings, initially planned as a review of the ANC’s organisational status, reportedly included a series of one-on-one meetings between Mbeki and unhappy […]
FORMER Lesotho prime minister Ntsu Mokhehle died on Wednesday night at a hospital in Bloemfontein, Lesotho government officials confirmed on Thursday. The 80-year-old former head of state fell ill during celebrations to mark his birthday on December 26 and was rushed to hospital in Bloemfontein, where he remained until he died. Mokhehle was treated for […]
Few acts could have been better calculated to ensure that public confidence in the South African Police Service and the morale of police officers plummet than the armed robbery this week at one of Cape Town’s largest police stations. Coming on the heels of the New Year’s Day car bomb at the waterfront, it appears […]
KAIZER Chiefs’ Franco-Yugoslav coach Paul Dolezar was held by police at Johannesburg international airport for an hour this week because of a visa bungle. Dolezar was released only after he had been identified by an official and paid a fine for not having a re-entry visa in his French passport. The coach slammed an official […]
POLICE have arrested a suspect in connection with Monday’s fatal attack on a police van transporting prisoners in Soweto. Spokesperson Captain Sipho Ngubane said on Wednesday a 30-year-old suspect was arrested on Tuesday morning in Emndeni, Soweto. A handgun and a BMW car, believed to have been used in the attack, were seized. The suspect […]
BUSINESS South Africa has been refused leave to appeal against dismissal of its earlier application to force the health minister to refer Medical Schemes Bill to the National Economic Development and Labour Council. The refusal of leave to appeal was made in the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein on Thursday. The appeal related to […]
SIERRA Leonean Finance Minister James Jonah said on Thursday said that Nigerian-led Ecomog troops are in control of all strategic points in the capital, Freetown, a day after rebels stormed the city. “All the major strategic points are fully under Ecomog control, including the Wilberforce barracks [Ecomog HQ],” Jonah said. “The rebels never made a […]
OWN CORRESPONDENT, Freetown | Thursday 8.45pm. SIERRA Leonen President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and rebel leader Foday Sankoh have agreed to a ceasefire and further negotiations, Kabbah announced on Thursday, while fighting still raged in the capital Freetown. Kabbah announced at Freetown’s Lungi international airport that he and Sankoh agreed on Wednesday to a seven-day ceasefire. […]
LIBYA warned Seoul on Thursday that South Korean companies operating in the North African country will be expelled if the government does not back off from supporting United States attacks on Iraq. Libya’s official news agency Jana reported that, “South Korea…must know that its companies operating in the Arab states would be expelled in case […]
ZAMBIA’S inflation levels soared to 30% at the close of 1998, the highest figure recorded in the last 21 months. According to the December edition of Zambia’s Central Statistics Office’s Consumer Price Index (CSO), the inflation levels continued to increase despite government’s reduced targets. The annualised inflation rate for December stood at 30,6% from the […]
ONE in three South African teenage girls are victims of sexual abuse, according to a study published on Thursday by the Community Information Empowerment and Transparency organisation. Of the victims, two out of three had never previously spoken of the abuse, the study of 1500 teenagers between 14 and 18 and from a cross-section of […]
THE United Nations Population Fund announced the appointment of Nigerian literary legend Chinua Achebe as its goodwill ambassador on Thursday. The appointment will see Achebe, currently professor of literature at New York’s Bard college, acting as a voice for the population fund on such issues as family planning, gender equity and reproductive health. Achebe, author […]
AN officer of the police VIP protection unit and bodyguard to Deputy President Thabo Mbeki appeared in the Mamelodi Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday charged with murder. Sergeant Evans Modise (33) was released on R1000 bail and the case was postponed to January 21. Modise was arrested after Samuel Baloyi was beaten to death on New […]
THE Bank of England cut its base lending rate by 0,25 percentage points to 6,0% on Thursday, surprising most analysts who had expected rates to be hold steady. The cut was the fourth in as many months. The British rate stands at exactly twice the euro-zone 3% rate. The unexpected move boosted share prices on […]
THE Zambian state has closed its case in the trial of 77 soldiers charged with treason over a coup attempt against President Frederick Chiluba in October 1997, defence lawyers said on Wednesday. “The state closed its case on Tuesday, and we are now trying to have some of the detainees released because some of them […]
NEW Algerian Prime Minister Smail Hamdani will spell out his economic reforms to the national assembly on Thursday. Hamdani, who was once considered one of the theorists of “Algerian socialism” under the late president Houari Boumediene, has said he plans to create almost 1,2-million jobs this year by “realising” 15850 investment projects currently in the […]
ZAMBIAN President Frederick Chiluba announced on Tuesday that the long awaited Democratic Republic of Congo peace talks will be held in Lusaka in mid-January. The talks, say Chiluba, will be attended by the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy — a significant breakthrough if it occurs as DRC President Laurent Kabila has refused to talk to […]
A NUMBER of large airlines thought to be interested in buying the Cote d’Ivoire’s national airline, Air Ivoire, have snubbed the deal and are refusing to commit to any proposals. Aviation source said on Tuesday that 19 major airlines which initially showed interest in buying the 51% shares at stake in Air Ivoire have not […]
SOME 2000 Namibian refugees who fled the Caprivi Strip during a recent crackdown on secessionists will know “within days” if they are to be granted political in Botswana. According to a spokesperson of the Botswana government, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees is expected to finish interviewing the asylum seekers within the next few […]
THE holiday season road death toll rose to 787 by noon on Wednesday, according to Arrive Alive. This figure compares favourably with the 812 people who died in traffic accidents over the same period last year. Most deaths were reported in KwaZulu-Natal with 151, followed by the Western Cape with 122, Gauteng 112, the Eastern […]
THE Kenyan government has instructed the state-owned National Cereals and Produce Board to immediately set up 26 new depots in the country to store maize, the state-owned KBC radio reported on Wednesday. The radio, quoting Agriculture minister Musalia Mudavadi, said famine is threatening some regions of Kenya because of drought, and that the government will […]
BRITISH Prime Minister Tony Blair landed in South Africa on Wednesday at the start of a visit aimed at putting the seal on defence contracts and cementing relations with Deputy President Thabo Mbeki. Blair was met at Waterkloof Air Force base outside Pretoria by South Africa’s Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad. The British leader is […]
KWAZULU-NATAL traffic police issued close to 400000 traffic fines last year, provincial traffic spokesperson Logan Maistry said on Wednesday. Traffic offences included: 242687 for speeding, 3442 for overtaking on barrier lines,17099 for driver’s licence offences, 24004 for not wearing seat belts, 6041 for overloading and 68187 for vehicle defects. Maistry said 1713 people were arrested […]
TANZANIA’s first president Julius Nyerere has the government for its decision to privatise public firms. Addressing the fourth provincial chapter of the East African Province of the Holy Ghost, the elder statesman said that to privatise the economy of a country like Tanzania, where there is no private sector, is to “foreignise” it.
THE Tanzania Netball Association faces expulsion from the world netball governing body if it fails to remit some 300 in affiliation fees before the end of January. The association has been unable to raise the amount and is currently looking for well-wishers to bail it out.
ISAAC MOFOKENG (29), the man accused of shooting Johannesburg Zoo’s Max the gorilla, fell asleep during his trial in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. He has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges, including rape, abduction, housebreaking and malicious damage to property (Max the gorilla). Mofokeng has managed to delay his trial through bizarre behaviour […]
SURVIVORS of the 1986 air crash which killed Mozambican president, Samora Machel, met with government representatives in Maputo on Wednesday to finalise preparations for the inauguration of a monument at the crash site in South Africa. Machel’s widow, Graa, and her husband, President Nelson Mandela, will inaugurate the monument at Mbuzini in Mpumalanga on January […]
THE outbreak of cholera in Mozambique which began in late November in northern Cabo Delgado province, has reached the central province of Manica. The first case was diagnosed on December 29. The local Noticias newspaper reported on Tuesday that the five cases identified so far are all from the locality of Vanduzi, although no deaths […]
CONGO (Brazzaville) government forces killed dozens of militia foes in fighting near the capital and prepared for a new offensive after losing at least four men and two armoured vehicles, army sources said on Wednesday. Forces backing President Denis Sassou Nguesso killed several dozen of the so-called Ninja militiamen in operations on Tuesday to flush […]
A PROMINENT traditional leader and his son were among three men shot dead in an ambush in Ematimatolo in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands on Tuesday morning, according to a police report on Wednesday. Senior Superintendent Henry Budhram said Themba Nyoka (55), his son Sicelo (21) and Sipanelo Dladla (30) were shot dead while travelling along the […]
FIFA on Monday suspended Cameroon from all international competition for an indefinite period following a ticketing scandal which surfaced at the World Cup in France.”FIFA is forced to suspend the Cameroon Federation (Fecafoot) with immediate effect and for an indefinite period,” FIFA said in a statement.FIFA accuses Fecafoot of not applying an emergency plan to […]
MOZAMBIQUE’S Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy has announced cuts in fuel prices with effect from Wednesday. The price of jet fuel is down 11,2% and petrol 2,5% while the price of diesel falls by 2,3%. The price of cooking gas has been reduced by 15,2% and kerosene by 13,1% a litre. The price cuts […]