Southern Africa

Frederik Willem de Klerk, the South African apartheid-era President, has been diagnosed with cancer. The announcement has been done by his foundation. It said the former president was found with « mesothelioma, which is a cancer that affects the tissue that lines the lungs ». Mr De Klerk, the last white man …

Cyril Ramaphosa the South African President has expressed his “deep sadness” following the death of Tanzania’s President John Magufuli. On his Twitter account, President Ramaphosa said he had spoken to Tanzanian Vice-President Samia Suluhu Hassan “to express condolences in his personal capacity and on behalf of all South Africans”. Read …

In order to help Mozambique respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, a group of 39 Cuban intensive care health experts have been received in the country. On Tuesday, the doctors and nurses joined another group of 14 healthcare workers who had arrived in the country in January. Read also: Activist jailed …

Zimbabwe on Tuesday received a second batch of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines. It includes a Chinese donation of 200,000 doses and 144,000 doses bought by the government, and comes four weeks after the arrival of the first batch, BBC News reports. President Emmerson Mnangagwa was at the airport in the capital, …

Two months, is the time the American special operations forces will spend training troops in Mozambique in an attempt to prevent the spread of militant Islamist violence in the north of the country. Insurgents have staged regular attacks in the gas-rich Cabo Delgado province since 2017, leaving at least 2,500 …

Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini will be buried in a private ceremony on Wednesday followed by a memorial on Thursday. Zulu traditional leader Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi announced the arrangements for the burial on Sunday. According to the leader, only a select group of men would attend the burial. « He said he …

South Africa’s Police Minister Bheki Cele says there can’t be a « grain of explanation » to defend Wednesday’s killing of a bystander as police dispersed protesting university students. The minister said « someone went crazy » during the protest in Johannesburg leading to the shooting. The victim, identified as Mthokozisi Ntumba, was shot …

The US has designated rebel groups in Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique as foreign terrorist organisations. It said the groups, Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and Al Ansar al-Sunna, locally known as al-Shabaab in Mozambique, were affiliated to the global jihadist group Islamic State (ISIS). Their leaders have been named …

South African police have fired rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse students at the University of Witwatersrand, who are demanding changes to registration and financial aid policies. One person was killed, but it’s unclear if it was a student or passer-by. The students, in Johannesburg, have been protesting since …

Member states of the World Trade Organisation will on Wednesday begin talks on a joint proposal by India and South Africa to suspend patents on coronavirus vaccines to increase production. It’s supported by more than 100 developing countries, many of whom have not yet made a meaningful start to their …