JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s parliamentary speaker has apologised for calling an opposition MP “a cockroach”. Baleka Mbete made the remarks about Julius Malema at an ANC rally, after ordering him and other Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MPs out of parliament. Mr Malema was protesting during Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address. The EFF leader…
JOHANNESBURG – Foreigners will be banned from owning land in South Africa under new proposals outlined by President Jacob Zuma. Locals will have limits set on the size of their farms under the proposals. Mr Zuma first announced them in a state of the nation speech on Thursday overshadowed by violence in parliament. Two decades…
CAPE TOWN – South Africa’s parliament descended into chaos as leftist MPs scuffled with security during a key annual speech by President Jacob Zuma. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), led by Julius Malema, repeatedly interrupted Mr Zuma, demanding answers over a spending scandal. The speaker of parliament then ordered their removal, prompting scuffles. The largest…
GENEVA – The number of new cases of Ebola has risen in all of West Africa’s worst-hit countries for the second week in a row, the World Health Organization (WHO) says. This is the second weekly increase in confirmed cases in 2015, ending a series of encouraging declines. The WHO said on Wednesday that Sierra…
CAIRO – The Egyptian authorities have suspended football league matches indefinitely after at least 22 fans were killed in clashes with police at a Cairo stadium. People were crushed in a stampede after police fired tear gas at supporters of Zamalek trying to force their way in for a match against city rivals ENPPI. The…
LAGOS – Boko Haram militants have reportedly killed at least 70 people in an attack on the Cameroonian town of Fotokol, on the border with Nigeria. The Islamist militants attacked civilians in their homes and in the town’s mosque, local officials said, setting many buildings on fire. The attack comes a day after a regional…
LUSAKA — Zambia’s founding president, Kenneth Kaunda, has been hospitalised for an undisclosed ailment, his family said on Wednesday. Mr Kaunda, 90, was admitted to Lusaka Trust Hospital on Tuesday. His daughter Cheswa Silwizya confirmed that “the old man is in hospital” declining to reveal the nature of his hospitalisation. “He is doing well and…
LAGOS – A female suicide bomber has blown up herself in northern Nigeria’s Gombe city, minutes after President Goodluck Jonathan left a campaign rally there. At least one person was killed and 18 others were wounded in the blast, police and hospital sources said. Mr Jonathan is standing for re-election on 14 February against former…
MASERU – Two soldiers who warned Lesotho’s prime minister about last year’s alleged coup attempt have been shot and wounded and another man killed, officials say. The guards were not with Thomas Thabane at the time they were shot outside the gates of the presidential palace. The shootings come ahead of elections later this month…
JOHANNESBURG – South Africa has lost R700bn to corruption over the last 20 years, the Institute of Internal Auditors said on Wednesday. “The cost of corruption in the last 20 years… we have lost R700bn,” CEO Claudelle von Eck said at the launch of the Anti-Intimidation and Ethical Practices Forum in Johannesburg. Von Eck, who…
