Elected, accused of corruption. Fired, accused of rape. Acquitted, elected president. Accused of corruption again. Denied again, ousted, imprisoned for contempt of court. Freed, barred from becoming an MP. For most politicians almost any of these punches would have proved fatal to their career, but not for South Africa’s Jacob Zuma. Like a resolute prize-fighter,…
Category: African News
Nigerian unions shut down power grid with indefinite minimum wage strike.
Nigeria’s main labour unions on Monday shut down the national grid and disrupted flights across the country as they began an indefinite strike over the government’s failure to agree a new minimum wage. This strike is the fourth embarked upon by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), two of the…
South Africa president faces up to poor poll result.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has admitted his African National Congress (ANC) party has suffered a challenging election result, after the party lost its majority for the first time since apartheid ended 30 years ago. The ANC, once led by Nelson Mandela, won 159 seats in the 400-seat parliament in Wednesday’s election, down from 230…
Former first lady of Zambia arrested on fraud charges.
Zambia’s former First Lady, Esther Lungu, and her daughter, Chiyeso Katete, have been arrested for the possession of properties suspected to be proceeds of crime. The two were arrested on Thursday in the capital, Lusaka, along with another close relative identified as Charles Phiri, authorities said. Ms Lungu “failed to give a reasonable explanation” of…
ANC is projected to lose majority.
Partial results from Thursday’s parliamentary election suggest that South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), is likely to lose its majority in parliament for the first time since it came to power 30 years ago. With results from more than 50% of voting districts counted so far, the ANC is leading with 42%,…
Counting under way in South Africa’s crucial election.
Votes are being counted after what is seen as South Africa’s most closely fought elections since the African National Congress (ANC) came to power 30 years ago. Long lines snaked outside polling stations across the country. One electoral official in Johannesburg told the BBC the queues were reminiscent of the historic 1994 election, when black…
Egyptian soldier killed in Israel border incident.
An Egyptian soldier has been killed in an incident involving Egyptian and Israeli troops in the border area near Rafah. The Egyptian and Israeli militaries are investigating what happened. Israeli media say there was an exchange of fire, but there are few other details and no reports of Israeli casualties. Tensions between Egypt and Israel…
Some 160 villagers reported taken in deadly raid
Ten people have been killed and at least 160 other villagers have been kidnapped from a remote community in Nigeria’s central Niger state, officials say. A large number of armed men, suspected to be from Nigeria’s militant Islamist group Boko Haram, invaded Kuchi village on Friday night, local official Aminu Abdulhamid Najume told the BBC’s…
