Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | The normally calm and often jovial Jacob Zuma is a former herdboy who fought in the anti-apartheid struggle and clung on to the presidency for as long as he could, despite a string of scandals. Now aged 75, he survived by building a network …
Read More »Zuma’s reluctant exit ushers in new S.African president
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa readied to welcome wealthy former businessman Cyril Ramaphosa as its new president Thursday after scandal-tainted Jacob Zuma resigned under intense pressure from his own party. Zuma announced he had stepped down in a late-night television address in which he took some digs …
Read More »ANALYSIS: S.Africa’s Zuma resigns, forced out by own party
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African President Jacob Zuma resigned on Wednesday as the ruling ANC party finally turned against him after nine years of corruption scandals, economic slowdown and falling popularity. Zuma railed against the African National Congress (ANC) for “recalling” him from office and threatening to …
Read More »LIVE: Zuma speech from 11pm
S.Africa’s Zuma to make TV address Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African President Jacob Zuma will make a TV address to the nation at 2000 GMT Wednesday, an official statement said, after he earlier spoke out against an order from his own party to resign. Zuma, whose reputation …
Read More »Zuma no-confidence motion set for parliament Thursday
Cape Town, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s parliament will hold a motion of no-confidence in President Jacob Zuma on Thursday, the ruling ANC party said, signalling its determination to eject him from office after days of stalemate. Soon after Zuma went onto SABC TV to defend himself. (Live …
Read More »S.Africa police raid house of Zuma’s allies in graft probe
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African police Wednesday raided the Johannesburg home of the business family accused of overseeing government corruption under President Jacob Zuma, who has been ordered to resign by his party. Zuma is expected to respond to the ANC party’s order later Wednesday, hours after …
Read More »South Africa on tenterhooks as Zuma to respond to ouster push
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africans were on tenterhooks Wednesday as their scandal-tainted President Jacob Zuma was expected to respond to his party’s decision to “recall” him from office in an atmosphere of growing political turmoil. The embattled president, who could be ousted in a parliamentary vote of …
Read More »South Africa: a giant of Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa is the continent’s most industrialised economy and among its most developed, but marked by gaping inequalities rooted in years of racist white-minority rule that ended in 1994. – Apartheid – Black South Africans, around 80 percent of the population, voted for the …
Read More »South Africa’s Zuma: a rocky presidency
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma, in power since 2009, is under pressure to quit before the official end of his term in mid-2019. Here are some of the key dates of his presidency. – 2009: First Zulu president – As the leader of the …
Read More »Water: Why the taps run dry
Paris, France | AFP | The world has abundant freshwater but it is unevenly distributed and under increasing pressure, UN agencies say, as highlighted by the severe shortages in Cape Town. – Water, water ‘everywhere’ – More than 97 percent of the planet’s water is salty, most of it in …
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