Staff Reporter

Thebe Mabanga The Department of Trade and Industry is experiencing simmering discontent over its restructuring process, with its Director General, Alistair Ruiters, and two other officials accused of centralising power and sidelining senior colleagues. Sources said that those who have been pushed to the margins include the chief economist Dave Kaplan, whose office is said […]

Maputo | Tuesday THE European Union is providing Mozambique with 11 million euros (about 12 million dollars) to boost cash crops, including cotton and cashews, a senior government official said on Monday. “The whole programme is aimed at reducing the incidence of poverty and creating food security in the rural areas,” said agriculture and rural […]

Comment Greg Mills and Tim Hughes Pretoria has responded predictably to the imposition of European Union sanctions on Zimbabwe, describing them as “regrettable and unfortunate”. President Robert Mugabe has called the act “disgraceful” and “illegal”. Both might well have added “inevitable” given the nature of unfolding events. After all, the past 18 months have seen […]

About two dozen government projects will be rewarded in April for achieving effective and creative service delivery Suzan Chala For the fourth year running the Impumelelo Innovations Award Programme will hand over close to R1-million to government and public-private partnerships in recognition of their efforts in alleviating poverty and addressing key development issues. The money […]

WITH THE LID OFF John Matshikiza The Belgian government has set an extraordinary precedent in its recent admission of guilt in the slaying of Patrice Lumumba, first and last elected leader of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The killing of the charismatic Lumumba early in 1961 has always been shrouded in mystery. It was an […]

SUDANESE Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail on Monday voiced his country’s opposition to any US strike on Iraq as part of Washington’s “war on terror.” “We refuse any strike on Iraq. If Iraq is hit today, Sudan will be tomorrow and other Arab countries the day after tomorrow,” Ismail told reporters on arrival in the […]

STUDENTS in the northern Nigerian city of Kano went on the rampage on Monday when striking teachers tried to stop them from taking their semester examinations. Students at Bayero University chased security guards and damaged cars of faculty members, who began a one-week strike on Monday over reports that the government planned to cut their […]

THE International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is to increase the number of its aid workers in Liberia, following a recent upsurge in clashes between government troops and rebels. However, the ICRC could not say how many additional staff would be sent to Liberia before the situation in the country had become clear, said […]

Rome | Wednesday The UN food agency has warned that more than four million people in southern Africa faced severe food shortages because of bad weather and a reduction in the areas planted with crops. The aggregate output of southern Africa’s main staple, maize, is a quarter lower than 2000 levels at 13,4-million tons and […]

ABOUT 160 MPs and other politicians have begun meeting on Monday to pave the way for a national dialogue to end years of instability in the Central African Republic (CAR), the UN mission in Bangui said. The head of the conflict resolution body of the Organisation of African Union is attending the two days of […]

THE Katorus Child Protection Unit has arrested a 14-year-old boy in Vosloorus for rape and indecent assault. The boy was arrested after it was alleged that on Thursday he raped a two year old girl and sodomised her five year old brother in the house where he lives, Superintendent Andy Pieke said. The two children […]

SEIF al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, is to visit Paris next week on a cultural mission to coincide with the return of regular Paris to Tripoli flights, Libya’s ambassador to Unesco said on Monday. The 30-year-old, who is head of the Gaddafi’s Foundation and has said he wants to be seen as a […]

JIM MCKENNA, Washington | Thursday US FEDERAL investigators have concluded the 1999 crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 off the US Atlantic coast happened as a result of intentional human action, said sources close to the probe. A report compiled by the investigators states the Boeing 767 crashed 100 kilometres south of Nantucket Island “as a […]

THE principal of an Egyptian school was sentenced to 12 years in jail with hard labour for seeking “sexual favours” from the mothers of pupils and from the wife of a job seeker, court sources said on Monday. A court sentenced the private school administrator, Samir Wahdan, to five years of forced labour for asking […]

Cape Town | Thursday THE South African government on Wednesday presented a R287,9 billion budget which lowers taxes and raises welfare grants and spending on Aids but failed to satisfy calls for poverty relief. Finance Minister Trevor Manuel forecast economic growth of 2,1% in 2002 and vowed to increase spending by four percent in the […]

The JSE’s gold index tumbled by 5,4% by noon Monday after the price of bullion retreated to $297,75/oz. The JSE overall index dropped by 1% to 10921 following a weaker Wall Street close on Friday.With the rand stronger at R11,35/$, the JSE’s resources counters dropped almost two percent while the banks and financial services index […]

FRANCE has struck a deal with the Egyptian government to renovate the main subway line in Cairo after 15 years of operation have taken their toll, both sides said on Monday. Under a contract to be signed here on Tuesday, the French engineering group Alstom will do most of the work to repair 52 three-carriage […]

Al Ayatt | Wednesday At least 200 people were killed early on Wednesday in a fire on a train south of the Egyptian capital Cairo, according to a toll given by firefighters. Firefighters and an AFP reporter counted 123 bodies lying at the scene of the accident, around 70 kilometres south of Cairo. Firefighters said […]

Pretoria | Tuesday SOUTH Africa will hold talks with its neighbours to promote a regional free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States amid “general support” for the plan, Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin said on Monday. Speaking after lengthy talks with US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick in Pretoria, Erwin said South Africa’s partners […]

ROBERT MACPHERSON, Brussels | Tuesday EUROPEAN Union foreign ministers have unanimously agreed to go ahead with sanctions against President Robert Mugabe’s regime and to pull EU election observers out of Zimbabwe. The sanctions, against Mugabe himself and 19 other members of his administration, include a ban on travel to the European Union and a freeze […]

Durban | Tuesday FIVE men, facing 11 charges of fraud worth almost half a million dollars, sold soap and Vaseline as charms to people hoping to win South Africa’s national lottery, a court heard on Monday. In one of a series of scams, the accused allegedly sold muti (magic medicine) which they said could help […]

Johannesburg | Tuesday South Africa’s ruling party Monday said its position on Aids was correct, after its top leadership, including President Thabo Mbeki and Nelson Mandela met over reported tensions on the issue. African National Congress (ANC) representative Smuts Ngonyama said the meeting agreed that the provision of anti-retroviral drugs to pregnant women at test […]

DAVID SHAPSHAK, Johannesburg | Friday ULTIMATELY, 20twenty’s most famous billboard pay-off line, a quote from Microsoft chief Bill Gates – “Banking is necessary, banks are not” – has come back to haunt it – and most certainly its parent, Saambou. Despite being a rising local Internet star, the virtual bank is now part of the […]

Pretoria | Monday US Trade representative Robert Zoellick has announced grants totalling $8,7-million to help boost southern Africa’s capacity for international trade, the US embassy in Pretoria said on Sunday. Zoellick met with ministers and diplomats of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (Sadc) on Saturday. He informed Sadc ministers of three US initiatives under […]

Lagos | Monday The family of Nigeria’s legendary Afro-beat star, Fela Kuti, will be finally compensated for the 1977 razing of their house by the army, a senior official was quoted as saying on Monday. Bola Tinubu, governor of the state of Lagos, was quoted by the Guardian daily as saying that the Kuti family […]

BuyUSA.com, an electronic marketplace sponsored by the United States Department of Commerce and implemented by IBM, was formally launched on the African continent on Monday by US Commercial Service director general Maria Cino. BuyUSA.com is geared to enabling American small and medium-sized exporters to locate, assess and establish working relationships with distributors and suppliers globally. […]

REBELS in eastern Burundi killed a civilian and seriously wounded four others, including a senior UN aid worker, during a raid in the province of Ruyigi. The attack occurred on Saturday when rebels from the Forces for the Defence of Democracy (FDD) ambushed a private vehicle, a source said. “The driver died during the attack […]

Tripoli | Monday A TWO-year trial of six Bulgarians accused of deliberately killing Libyan children by infecting them with the HIV virus folded on Sunday because of lack of evidence that they had threatened state security. A decision by the Tripoli court trying the case to refer it back to state prosecutors for reconsideration and […]

WOUTER Basson, South Africa’s chemical and biological warfare mastermind under the apartheid regime, is on the mend after suffering a stroke and could be out of intensive care soon. Basson (51) who has been dubbed “Dr Death” for his involvement in shady sanctions-busting deals and chemical and biological experiments during the apartheid era, suffered a […]

SOUTH Africa will host an annual benefit concert at which renowned African musicians will help raise funds for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The all-night TeleFood 2002 concert at a Johannesburg soccer stadium on March 2, to be broadcast worldwide, will kick off an eight-month food and poverty awareness campaign, organisers said in a […]

FRANCE has struck a deal with Nigeria to borrow for 25 years three works of art which were put on display in a Paris museum after being illegally exported, Culture Minister Catherine Tasca said Wednesday. The three statues from the Nok and Sokoto traditions were found by mining prospectors in the early 1990s, exported without […]