Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday sacked the head of the country’s tax collection agency, an ally of scandal-tainted former leader Jacob Zuma, said the presidency. The president dismissed Tom Moyane after a judiciary inquiry recommended his immediate removal “to forestall any further …
Read More »S.Africa coal belt among world’s pollution hotspots: Greenpeace
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s eastern Mpumalanga province has the most polluting cluster of coal-fired power stations in the world producing record levels of nitrogen dioxide, a report by environmental campaign group Greenpeace said Monday. Mpumalanga, which borders Mozambique, is the hub of South Africa’s coal industry …
Read More »Former S.Africa president FW de Klerk hospitalised: foundation
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s last apartheid era president FW de Klerk has been hospitalised with a lung condition, his foundation said Saturday, adding that the former leader had undergone successful treatment. The 82-year-old was admitted to a hospital in Cape Town, the FW de Klerk foundation …
Read More »Africa’s largest train-making plant opens in Johannesburg
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday unveiled the continent’s largest train manufacturing plant, a joint venture between the national rail firm and French transport group Alstom. The factory is a part of a 51-billion-rand ($3.5 billion, 3.1 billion-euro) deal between Alstom and the …
Read More »DR Congo opposition parties agree to name unity candidate by mid-November
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | The Democratic Republic of Congo’s opposition parties agreed on Thursday to name a single unity candidate by mid-November to run against President Joseph Kabila’s choice in December elections. Tensions are running high before the long-delayed December 23 vote to chose a successor to Kabila, …
Read More »‘Holy plant’: Cannabis legalisation delights South African users
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | A bucket containing a soupy green mixture sits under a table in Nduna Ewrong-Nxumalo’s consultation room in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic hub. The traditional healer, or sangoma, has trusted and prescribed the pungent mixture — cannabis tea — to his patients for years. …
Read More »S.Africa president denies ignoring fraud at failed bank
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday denied accusations that he ignored widespread looting and financial misconduct at a major retail bank that collapsed weeks after he came into office. VBS Mutual gained notoriety in 2016 when it lent scandal-tainted former president Jacob Zuma $540,000 …
Read More »Zimbabwe says VP Chiwenga in South Africa to treat blast injuries
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwean Vice President Constantino Chiwenga is in South Africa receiving treatment for injuries sustained during a blast at a ruling party rally in June, state media reported Monday. A grenade blast at an election rally in the second city Bulawayo killed two people and narrowly …
Read More »As rape crisis grows, South African pupils learn how to fight back
Soweto, South Africa | AFP | In a classroom in the South African township of Soweto, girls listen carefully, knowing they need to learn how to avoid the threat of rape that hangs over their daily lives. “You are going to pretend that it is the rapist’s testicles,” says trainer …
Read More »S.Africa’s Ramaphosa promises to accelerate land reform
Empangeni, South Africa | AFP | President President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday symbolically handed back land to a community of black South Africans who were forcibly removed from it under apartheid and promised to accelerate land reform. “We are making history and celebrating the return of your land today. We are …
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