Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | The number of rhinos killed for their horns by poachers in South Africa dipped in 2017, but more than 1,000 were still slaughtered, the government said on Thursday. South Africa is battling a scourge of rhino poaching fuelled by insatiable demand for their horn …
Read More »S.Africa in ‘new era’, likely next president tells Davos
Davos, Switzerland | AFP | South Africa’s likely next president promised pro-business reforms and tough justice for those guilty of state corruption, as he wooed investors on Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Cyril Ramaphosa, who could replace Jacob Zuma as president within weeks, told investors in Davos …
Read More »RIP: Hugh Masekela 1939-2018
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South African jazz legend Hugh Masekela who died on Tuesday aged 78 has triggered an outpouring of tributes to his music, his long career and his anti-apartheid activism. “After a protracted and courageous battle with prostate cancer, he passed peacefully in Johannesburg,” Masekela’s family …
Read More »S.Africa’s Winnie Mandela hospitalised
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s Winnie Madikizela-Mandela who is popularly known as “the mother of the nation” has been admitted to hospital with a kidney infection, the family of her ex-husband Nelson Mandela said Tuesday. Winnie, 81, is an icon of the anti-apartheid struggle and was persecuted …
Read More »S.Africa’s ruling ANC confirms discussing Zuma exit
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s ruling ANC party confirmed Monday that discussions were underway on President Jacob Zuma leaving office, but said no date for his departure had yet been agreed. Zuma has been under growing pressure to resign since he was replaced as head of the …
Read More »S.Africa’s ANC vows change as Zuma exit looms
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s ruling ANC party said Saturday it would “act decisively” to rebuild its reputation, as local media reported that President Jacob Zuma could soon be forced from office. Zuma has been under growing pressure to resign since he was replaced as head of …
Read More »Winnie loses battle for Mandela’s rural home
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | A South African court on Friday struck down a long-running effort by late president Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela to claim ownership of his former rural home. The Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed her appeal against a lower court’s ruling that she was not …
Read More »Pro-apartheid S.Africa ‘homeland’ leader dies
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | A former leader of a black tribal homeland that was one of the so-called Bantustans that helped to underpin South Africa’s apartheid system has died, local media reported on Friday. Lucas Mangope, 94, was president of Bophuthatswana until democracy in 1994 after which the …
Read More »South Africa central bank chief to head IMF steering committee
Washington, United States | AFP | South Africa’s central bank chief Lesetja Kganyago will take over as chair of the International Monetary Fund’s policy advisory committee, the IMF announced Thursday. Kganyago, who has served as governor of the South African Reserve Bank since late 2014, takes on a three-year post …
Read More »S.Africa aims to patch-up threadbare clothing industry
Maitland, South Africa | AFP | South Africa is fighting to revive its frayed clothing industry, once a crucial provider of jobs in a country suffering from high unemployment, as a flood of cheap imports forces local factories to shutter and lay off workers. Once the economic lifeblood of many small …
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