JOHANNESBURG (AP) — An anti-apartheid activist who died in 1971 was tortured and killed by South African police, a court said Thursday, a landmark decision that raised hopes that dozens of similar cases would be investigated. The inquest into Ahmed Timol’s death had riveted South Africans as legal experts said it could set a precedent … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Recent violent protests at some South African universities have caused about $44 million in property damage and threaten to sabotage the country’s system of higher education, President Jacob Zuma said Monday. Zuma spoke at a national education forum as the University of Cape Town re-opened despite some disruptions by students who said … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Laos has promised to phase out farms that breed endangered tigers for their body parts, a positive step from a country believed to be a major hub of wildlife trafficking in Asia, conservation groups said Friday, Sept. 24. The announcement by Laotian officials in South Africa came one day before the start … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The death of a South African university worker who was hospitalized after a student protest has deepened tensions over unrest roiling campuses across the nation. The government on Tuesday called for an investigation, saying protesters were responsible for the death last week at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, which has … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African court ruled Thursday that Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, has no rights to his rural home. The court in Mthatha town dismissed Madikizela-Mandela’s claim to the Qunu property, where the anti-apartheid leader who became South Africa’s first black president in 1994 is buried. The couple divorced in 1996 and … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s struggling economy was the focus point of the president’s state-of-the-nation address on Thursday Feb. 11, which went ahead despite disruptions and heckling from opposition politicians. President Jacob Zuma outlined various steps to help the economy including plans to increase investment and grow small businesses. Zuma also announced plans to cut … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The cellphone video pans from passengers, some wearing oxygen masks, in seats toward the back of the airliner in flight, and then swivels to the empty front area with a hole in the side of the cabin, the result of an explosion soon after takeoff from Somalia’s capital. The passengers bunched in … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — With more than half of Africa’s population expected to live in cities by the year 2050, a gathering in South Africa on Sunday is exploring new models for urban Africa. Hundreds of city officials from across Africa have gathered for the seventh Africities Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city, to discuss … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — An appeals court decided Thursday that Oscar Pistorius got away with murder when he stood trial for killing his girlfriend, a ruling that will almost certainly send the disgraced Olympian back to prison. The court overturned his conviction on the lesser charge of manslaughter in the 2013 shooting death of model Reeva … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Britain’s Prince Harry saw the carcasses of a slaughtered rhino and her calf during a visit Wednesday to South Africa’s Kruger National Park, which has been hard hit by poachers. Harry also stepped into a conservation debate in South Africa, saying he believes legalization of the rhino horn trade will “accelerate the … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The eight suspected poachers stood under a tree, apparently unaware they were being tracked by 10 rangers from Congo’s Garamba National Park. But as the rangers approached, gunfire rang out from the tall grass nearby, where other heavily armed men were hidden. The dragnet swiftly turned into a desperate fight for survival. … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A temporary bridge that was part of a construction project collapsed onto one of South Africa’s busiest highways on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring 21 others, South Africa media reported. Those killed in the accident at the M1 highway on the edge of Johannesburg’s Sandton district included a taxi driver, news … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A vehicle carrying a rhino sculpture led anti-poaching marchers in Johannesburg on Saturday. Kenya’s environment minister joined conservationists at a similar rally in Nairobi, the capital. In London, activists in elephant costumes demanded an end to the ivory trade. The demonstrations were part of what organizers called a “global march” for rhinos … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African prison that once held Nelson Mandela is being evacuated after two prisoners died from a disease carried by rats, authorities said on Wednesday. More than 4,000 prisoners will be moved from Cape Town’s Pollsmoor Prison due to a rat infestation, provincial spokesman Simphiwe Xako said. The inmates, both men … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Recent attacks on immigrants and their businesses in some parts of South Africa revealed anger over limited economic opportunities and a degree of intolerance, but they also gave rise to charity and solidarity. Police in KwaZulu-Natal, where the violence first broke out this month, said Monday that the tensions have abated … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Only a few kilometers (miles) separate Alexandra, a gritty Johannesburg township where South Africans attacked immigrants last week, from Sandton, a district jammed with high-end stores, restaurants and gleaming office towers symbolizing the upper reaches of the prosperity that attracted so many job-seekers to South Africa. Adding to South Africa’s allure … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — About 1,000 workers have been fired following an illegal strike that halted construction at an already delayed but much needed power plant in South Africa, a spokesman for the state-owned power utility said on Friday. Even more workers may be dismissed as a result of an investigation into the illegal strike … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Bob Hewitt, a former Grand Slam doubles tennis champion, was on Monday convicted in a South African court of rape and sexual assault decades after the alleged assaults. Judge Bert Bam said he is satisfied that the two women who had accused the retired tennis player of rape and a third … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — About 500 people fled their homes in South Africa’s city of Cape Town as a wildfire defied rain and firefighters with smoke and flames rising for a fourth day Wednesday. Three homes were destroyed and five more were damaged overnight by the fire that illuminated the night sky around Table Mountain National … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Warning of a threat to national security, a top South African official on Wednesday condemned an alleged leak of South African intelligence documents and said an investigation is underway. The comments by David Mahlobo, South Africa’s state security minister, followed the publication this week of the purported spy files by The … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nelson Mandela insisted that he wanted to walk out of prison, when then President F. W. de Klerk told him he would finally be freed 25 years ago. On Wednesday, South Africans marked the anniversary of the release of Mandela who four years later became the country’s first black president. Mandela … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A third woman testified Wednesday that she was sexually abused while a minor by former tennis star Bob Hewitt, and that he once said to her at a coaching session “rape is enjoyable.” The woman testified in a South African court that she was sexually assaulted while Hewitt gave her tennis … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Nelson Mandela insisted that he wanted to walk out of prison, when then President F. W. de Klerk told him he would finally be freed 25 years ago. On Wednesday, South Africans marked the anniversary of the release of Mandela who four years later became the country’s first black president. Mandela … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Last year, an American disappeared while traveling alone in a small plane in West Africa, heading to a new job as an anti-poaching pilot in a national park. Investigators think he hit a mountain but the location of his Cessna 172 remains a mystery after a search stymied by limited resources, … Continue reading
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Two suspected looters in South Africa were fatally shot bringing to six the number of people killed in more than a week of attacks on shops owned by African immigrants in the Johannesburg area, police said Monday. The slain men were part of a group that allegedly went to loot a Somali-owned … Continue reading
