In Europe, they call it ethnic cleansing; according to Zimbabwe government apologists, it is settlement of the land question. Whichever view we take on the situation in Zimbabwe, there are facts in common to each. People are being chased off land to which they have legal title because of the colour of their skin. Those […]
BODY LANGUAGE Khadija Magardie I’m still not sure what to think of a Chicago woman who recently made headlines for her “ono-manism”. The hapless dame so impressed the court that she was spared jail time for fleecing her former bosses of thousands of dollars. And no, this is not about someone with a thing for […]
If I interpret the buzz correctly, effort and money is being invested in getting the ailing sport of kings on its feet again. And not a moment too soon. By the time this column appears The Vaal racecourse will have had its meeting on its spanking new sand track, adding a new dimension to racing […]
Evolution of Humankind Geophysics building, University of the Witwatersrand August 18 The Institute for the Study of Mankind in Africa is holding a symposium entitled Evolution of Humankind on Saturday August 18. Speakers include Dr Samuel Asala, head of morphological anatomy at Wits; Professor Trefor Jenkins of the department of human genetics at Wits; Kevin […]
Several dentists working in Eastern Cape hospitals have been sent from pillar to post as they try to find out why they haven’t been paid Glenda Daniels and David Macfarlane Ten dentists doing community service at various hospitals in the Eastern Cape have not been paid and are considering a work stoppage if their plight […]
Stefaans Brmmer and Mungo Soggot One of the men implicated in a bribe scandal that rocked the state oil industry was this week made chairperson of Armscor. Seth Phalatse has admitted he took a $20 000 (about R165 000) cash bribe in May last year. He subsequently returned the money and, months later, helped blow […]
A kaleidoscope of people are getting ready to participate in protests before and during the World Conference against Racism Khadija Magardie The frenetic pace of activity in Geneva around the finalisation of the draft declaration for the World Conference against Racism is being matched by those working around the clock to touch up the controversial […]
Johannesburg | Thursday THE strike in the automobile manufacturers industry was set to enter its tenth day on Thursday as late night negotiations between employers and Numsa reached a dead end on Wednesday. Automobile Manufacturers Employers Organisation (Ameo) representative Dave Kirby said that there were still two key areas which the parties could not agree […]
THE Botswana government will cut services to members of the nomadic Basarwa tribe living in the southern African country’s largest game reserve because it has become too expensive to maintain them, a minister said on Wednesday. Assistant Local Government Minister Gladys Kokorwe said services to the nomads, living in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, would […]
THE prime minister of Mozambique on Monday vowed that the suspected murder of a top banker at the weekend would not sway the government from re-privatising the country’s commercial banks. “The privatisation will go ahead as planned in line with our government’s policy,” Prime Minister Pascoal Mocumbi told state radio. The body of Antonio Siba […]
AFRICAN heads of state agreed on Tuesday to liquidate troubled Air Afrique and form a new regional airline with Air France as the majority shareholder – but with the original name and logo. The decision, based on a proposal from shareholder Air France, was announced in a statement after a last ditch meeting of the […]
Vatican City | Wednesday A ZAMBIAN archbishop whose marriage scandalized the Vatican is giving up his wife and returning to the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican said on Tuesday. It said Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo was also breaking his relationship with the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. He was married in a mass Moon ceremony on May […]
Maseru | Monday THE Amalgamated Banks of South Africa has begun assessing the financial situation of Mozambique’s Banco Austral, ahead of the troubled bank’s reprivatization and only days after its chairman was apparently murdered. Police have indicated that Antonio Siba Siba Macuacua was on Saturday apparently pushed down the steps from the 15th floor of […]
AFFIRMATIVE action and the law on employment equity has had virtually no effect in South Africa, with white men still filling nine out of ten positions in top local companies, according to a report published on Tuesday. The report by auditers Deloitte and Touche, printed in the Johannesburg-based Business Day newspaper, said white men still […]
DUMISANE LUBISI, Bushbuckridge | Thursday AN 11-YEAR-old boy became yet another victim of a botched circumcision in the Northern Province when he died just hours after being admitted to hospital on Sunday. Sipho Mathe of Cork Trust village in Bushbuckridge was admitted to Mapulaneng Hospital on Sunday afternoon after being circumcised at an initiation school […]
London, Harare | Thursday BRITISH and European diplomats in Zimbabwe have held secret talks on the possible evacuation of up to 25 000 British citizens from the country, The Independent newspaper reported on Thursday. Amid widespread violent looting of white-owned farms, the talks were held to update a contingency plan to help British nationals and […]
AT least two civilians were wounded and several thousands forced to flee their homes in Nyambuye — a hilly area to the east of the capital — following renewed clashes Wednesday between the Burundese army and the rebels of the Hutu-controlled National Liberation Front (FNL). The heavy fighting was concentrated in the Kibingo, Kinuke and […]
EAST African cellular operator Mobitel has been accused of running an illegal cellphone network by the Tanzanian Minister of Communications and Transport, Ernest Nyanda, Wired News reported on Wednesday. Mobitel has been running its network in the country for seven years. The minister said in parliament that Mobitel has been running its network without a […]
THE South African governments immediate concern is to quell the fears of the minority community, said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad on Wednesday, in reaction to the incidents of farm attacks by war veterans in neighbouring Zimbabwe. We have to reassure our people in South Africa that a similar situation will not arise […]
A GOVERNMENT appointed panel has found that more than 2 000 projects awarded between 1976 and 1998 are yet to be completed in Nigeria, the Guardian newspaper reported on Tuesday. The commission was set up by President Olusegun Obasanjo, who came to power in May 1999, to verify and assess the extent of work done […]
A CHILD was killed in Lagos and a policeman seriously injured on Wednesday after an attempt to make an arrest in the city’s main market spiralled out of control. Traders said the market in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital was shut down on Wednesday afternoon after efforts by police to catch a child-thief degenerated […]
POLICE in Osun State, southwest Nigeria, have interrogated a commissioner over an alleged attempt to poison the state deputy governor. Osun State Deputy Governor Iyiola Omisore claimed last week that Governor Adebisi Akande and senior aides had conspired to kill him by arranging for someone to poison his food. For more than a year, relations […]
South African Environmental Affairs Minister Valli Moosa will on Friday sign a memorandum of understanding in Windhoek with his Namibian counterpart Philemon Malima to set up a cross-border conservation area. The department said in a statement the environmental collaboration programme would establish the Richtersveld/Ai-Ais Transfrontier Park, a protected conservation area. The area was part of […]
More than 40 Northern Province farmers have offered to sell 16 852 hectares of land to the provincial department of land affairs as part of a project to transfer 30% of agricultural land to blacks within 15 years. Provincial land affairs representative Phumudzo Makharemedza said on Wednesday that 43 farmers had responded to government advertisements […]
Unicef chief Carol Bellamy said on Wednesday that rebel groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo had agreed to work with her organisation towards the demobilisation of child soldiers and to stop recruiting children. “The rebel forces too, want to work with us in the program to integrate these children back to their normal […]
THE Algerian oil company Sonatrach and British Petroleum this weekend signed three contracts worth $2,5-billion (2.8 billion euros) for the development of gas reserves in the Algerian desert. When complete, the project is expected to yield nine billion cubic metres of natural gas per year. One contract is for a gas processing plant, pumping networks […]
AN eight-year-old Nigerian girl, held by US immigration authorities for a year after entering the country illegally, has been handed over to relatives. The girl, who was abandoned by her parents in New York and taken to an immigration centre, has been handed over to her cousin, who lives in Connecticut, according to Immigration and […]
Lisbon | Tuesday ANGOLAN rebels from the Union for the Total Independence of Angola (Unita) said on Monday they were responsible for a deadly ambush last week of a passenger train east of Luanda that killed more than 150 people. A Unita statement released in Portugal, Angola’s former colonial power, said at least 152 people […]
THE United Nations has condemned Britain for its policy of jailing asylum seekers while they wait to hear if their claims are successful. The acting head of the UN’s refugee agency in London says it is unacceptable for asylum seekers to be detained on arrival in Britain in prisons alongside criminals. Many are confined to […]
MORE than 3 000 Pakistani blue helmets have arrived in Sierra Leone and a further 1 300 are expected by the end of the month, a Pakistani military official said on UN radio on Monday. The official said the troops who had already arrived included an artillery regiment, engineers and logistics units as well as […]
A GIANT ancient Egyptian statue abandoned for 15 years in the grounds of a Cairo hospital has finally been given a home in a museum, Egypt’s antiquities chief said on Monday. The statue was moved to the Arab Contractors hospital for unknown reasons from a quarry in the Red Mountain region east of Cairo, said […]
SEVENTEEN people have been killed by an armed group manning a roadblock in Algeria, locals in the Relizane region where the attack took place said on Monday. The victims, all farmworkers, were travelling on small trucks when they drove into the ambush overnight on Sunday close to the town of Sidi M’hamed Benaouda, some 300 […]