Botswana welcomes Zimbabwe power-sharing deal

28 January, 2009 in Botswana, Zimbabwe

source: The Zimbabwe Guardian
Ralph Nkomo/APA reporter
Wed, 28 Jan 2009 09:35:00 +0000

BOTSWANA’S acting Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Ramadeluka Seretse on Wednesday welcomed the recent developments in the power sharing deal between President Mugabe’s Government and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change parties.

Speaking in Gaborone a day after the Extraordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) held in South Africa, Seretse said Botswana supported Sadc’s recommendations of an all-inclusive government as both parties expressed confidence the new government will be formed in February.

“We support the recommendations of a [continue reading]

`Debswana won`t shut its mine hospitals`

28 January, 2009 in Botswana

source: Mmegi
BAME PIET
Staff Writer

Debswana mining company says it will not close down its two hospitals in Orapa and Jwaneng, allaying fears among members of the public.

The majority of the people in the two mining towns depend on the Debswana hospitals for medical attention, but a squeeze in diamond sales resulting from the global economic recession has caused uneasiness in the mining sector amid massive retrenchments, production cuts and fears of mine closures.

Fears that Debswana could close its mine hospitals down were also fuelled by scaled down medical services when some hospital staff went on leave during the Christmas holiday period.

Internal communications manager at the Debswana head office in Gaborone, Rachel Mothibatsela, said 89 percent of patients hospitalised at Jwaneng Mine Hospital last year were members of the public.

“In 2008, 60 percent of all [continue reading]

Hundreds of Malaysia Students to Return

28 January, 2009 in Botswana

source: The Botswana Gazette

Ministry Won’t Sponsor them anymore

Hundreds of Batswana students based in Malaysia are bound for home because the Ministry of Education and

Skills Development will not sponsor them anymore. They are said to have under-performed.
The Principal Public relations Officer at the Ministry, Ms Nomsah Zuze, confirmed to The Gazette that some students were returning home after they failed their courses. She did not elaborate.

Local based students also faced a similar fate after they had failed some modules. At the University of Botswana some students threatened to take government to court for withdrawing their sponsorship but later resolved to negotiate with the Ministry.

Some students who returned from Malaysia told The Gazette that their sponsorships had been terminated. One who spoke on condition of anonymity said he spent about six months not attending classes because the course he had applied for was not offered at the school.
He revealed that some students were being returned because their visas had expired. The majority were [continue reading]

Zimbabwe: SADC `Deal` Puts MDC`s Tsvangirai on the Spot

28 January, 2009 in SADC, Zimbabwe

source: allAfrica
Business Day (Johannesburg)
Dumisani Muleya and Hopewell Radebe

Johannesburg — ZIMBABWE’S main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is sharply divided over the Southern African Development Community (SADC) decision to instruct it to form a unity government headed by President Robert Mugabe.

The decision was announced yesterday morning after a marathon SADC extraordinary summit in Pretoria.

A faction in the party is understood to oppose entering a unity government with Mugabe and his Zanu (PF), and wants to withdraw from the agreement.

Yesterday, soon after the SADC communiqué was issued, the MDC said it fell “far short of our expectations”, casting doubt on its participation in a unity government, which has been delayed since a deal was signed last September.

Party insiders say leader Morgan Tsvangirai is at loggerheads with party secretarygeneral Tendai Biti, who has rejected the SADC communiqué setting out a timetable for a new government by February 13.

Much depends on the party’s Friday meeting in Harare. If Tsvangirai does not persuade it to accept the SADC communiqué, he runs the risk of [continue reading]

Letshego`s offshore acquisition brightens up dull market

28 January, 2009 in Botswana, Business

source: Mmegi
BRIAN BENZA
Staff Writer

Buoyed by news of another acquisition in Namibia, Letshego lit up the market last week in an otherwise dull trading period on a bourse still characterised by highly risk-averse investors.

Letshego recorded the highest trades during the week on increased buying as a total of five million shares were traded on the counter alone.

Investor sentiment on the counter has increased following the release of a trading update, advising that the company has acquired the entire share capital of Edu-Loan (Namibia) (Pty) Ltd., a private company incorporated in Namibia.

“We do not expect the new acquisition to contribute significantly towards the group financial results for the year ending 31 January 2009, but will certainly go a long way in boosting the firm’s operations and top line growth in the long run,” said Gary Guma of [continue reading]

South Africa: 2010 costs go up

28 January, 2009 in South Africa

source: IOL
January 28 2009 at 09:40AM
By Colleen Dardagan

Durban’s 2010 stadium will finally cost R3,1-billion, R500-million more than originally expected, but ratepayers will not be asked to foot the bill and there is no crisis about the funding of the massive structure.

This is according to municipal manager Michael Sutcliffe, who told a sitting of the city’s executive council on Tuesday that a full report on the stadium costs was pending a decision by the national treasury, on what allocations would be made to cities to meet escalating infrastructure costs related to the 2010 World Cup.

“The original cost of the stadium was R2,6-billion – with R1,8-billion coming from the national treasury, R500-million from the city and R300-million from the provincial treasury.

The city has already allocated the R500-million, and province their R300-million. However, we are still inquiring with [continue reading]

Phikwe Bus/Taxi Rank Project to Forge Ahead

28 January, 2009 in Botswana

source: The Botswana Gazette

The Selebi-Phikwe bus and taxi rank project will not be put on ice after all.

Acting Town Clerk Barulaganye Mosetlha told The Gazette in an interview this week that at first the project was deferred but the Ministry of Local Government later wrote, advising the council to reinstate the project.

Mosetlha said the only project that has been deferred is the backlog eradication in primary schools. She explained that the project was meant for toilets and administration blocks to be built in Selebi-Phikwe primary schools.

Some of the major ongoing works in Selebi-Phikwe include sewerage and storm water drainage projects. She said the bus/taxi rank project will cost the council P61, 441,399 and when it was deferred, they were about to award the tender. It means they will continue were they had [continue reading]

Communique of Sadc Extraordinary Summit on Zimbabwe

28 January, 2009 in SADC, Zimbabwe

source: The Zimbabwe Guardian

COMMUNIQUE
EXTRAORDINARY SUMMIT OF
THE SADC HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT: PRESIDENTIAL GUEST HOUSE, PRETORIA, REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
26-27 JANUARY 2009

1. The Extraordinary Summit of the SADC Heads of State and Government met at the Presidential Guest house in Pretoria, Republic of South Africa on 26-27 January 2009. The Extraordinary Summit met to review the implementation of the Zimbabwe Global Political Agreement.

2. The Extraordinary Summit was chaired by H.E. Kgalema Motlanthe, Chairperson of SADC and President of the Republic of South Africa

3. The Extraordinary Summit was attended by [continue reading]

Government moves to ban Chinese trade in clothes

28 January, 2009 in Botswana, Business

source: Mmegi
MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer

Government has moved to put in place trade laws that will ban Chinese traders from dealing in clothes.

The Chinese traders were given 24 months from May last year to rearrange their businesses or face being sent back to China.

The government’s decision to bar non-citizens – especially the Chinese traders – from dealing in clothing comes at a time when the Chinese traders are found at every corner of the country, selling all types of clothes, mainly fake overseas clothing brands.

The clothes include jerseys for popular soccer clubs like Manchester United, which are selling for P30 or three Pounds Sterling. The Chinese shops are also awash with Botswana national football team jerseys, which are also selling for about P40.

Director of Trade in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, John Matsheng, says that the likes of Chinese traders exploited a loophole in the specialised licences to trade in various goods which they would then sell [continue reading]

Questions raised over cholera threat to 2010 World Cup

28 January, 2009 in South Africa, World Cup 2010, Zimbabwe

source: SW Radio Africa
By Alex Bell
27 January 2009

As Zimbabwe’s cholera death toll continues to rise, and as fears grow that the epidemic has yet to reach its peak, concerns have been raised about what the disease will mean for the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa.

Zimbabwe’s neighbour has also been hard hit by the cholera epidemic that officially has claimed almost 3000 lives in Zimbabwe, and the infection rate is fast approaching the ‘worst case scenario’ of 60 000 cases predicted earlier this year.

At the same time, as South Africa gears up for the World Cup, health authorities there are still fighting to contain the spread of the disease after thousands of sick Zimbabweans continue to flee across the border in a desperate bid for medical treatment. The South African death toll has reached more than 30 with cases reported in at least four provinces, while the cholera bacteria has been found in major water sources including the Limpopo river. An estimated R5million is reportedly needed to fight the disease in the Limpopo province alone where the number of cases has shot up to more than 3000, with 11 reported deaths.

The questions now being raised are [continue reading]

Khama is a spoiled dictator – Saleshando, Motlhagodi

28 January, 2009 in Botswana

source: Mmegi
LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent

An official of the Botswana Congress Party, Annah Motlhagodi, has warned that Botswana is heading for a dictatorship.

Motlhagodi, who is the BCP’s parliamentary candidate for Gaborone West North constituency, was addressing a rally at Maru-a-pula on Sunday.She said everyone including soldiers and police officers, are leaving in fear of the dreaded Directorate on Intelligence and Security (DIS).

Motlhagodi, who is also a private attorney, said there is concern about the operations of the directorate. She said DIS agents do not identify themselves when they arrest people. She wondered how one can raise a complaint about the DIS agents when you do not know their identity. She said the directorate is allowed by law to use “reasonable force”.

She added that if DIS officials slap you, they might have been assumed to have used “reasonable force” and this means that no action will be taken against them. Motlhagodi said she knows of people who were questioned about their movements at night by unidentified agents. The BCP activist said journalists are also under threat from the state. She said dictatorial governments are identified by enacting media and intelligence services laws. “You will never find any [continue reading]

South Africa: 3 000+ cholera cases in Limpopo

28 January, 2009 in South Africa

source: News24
27/01/2009 18:04 – (SA)

Johannesburg – The number of cholera patients in Limpopo has passed the 3 000 mark since an outbreak hit the province almost three months ago, the provincial health department said on Tuesday.

Spokesperson Phuti Seloba said a total of 3 114 people affected by cholera had been through the province’s health facilities since November last year.

These cases included 82 people between Monday and Tuesday afternoon.

A total of 11 lives had been lost to the disease in the province.

African National Congress president Jacob Zuma and Health Minister Barbara Hogan visited patients in Musina in the Vhembe District on Tuesday.

Vhembe, together with Sekhukhune and Capricorn districts, was identified by Limpopo health MEC Seoparo Charles Sekoati as having the highest number of cholera patients with 68 new cases treated in the areas since Monday.

Zuma and Hogan arrived in the province to [continue reading]

DiamonEx placed under judicial management

28 January, 2009 in Botswana, Business, Mining

source: Mmegi
BRIAN BENZA
Staff Writer

Smarting from poor sales late last year and faced with gloomy prospects for the diamond industry, DiamonEx has been placed under voluntary judicial management by the High Court of Botswana, leading to suspension of trading of its shares on the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE).

DiamonEx successfully sought permission to be placed under judicial management last Friday by the High Court, citing cash flow problems as the main reason after last October’s disappointing results from its first sale of 10,613 carats of diamonds from its Lerala Mine.

The sale had an average price of US$20 per carat for the whole run of the mine parcel, much less than a preliminary valuation of between US$48 and US$58 per carat.

John Carr-Hartley of Armstrongs Attorneys, who acted for DiamonEx in court, has confirmed that the company has been placed under judicial management and the High Court named John Stevens as the judicial manager, though he [continue reading]

European Union targets UK companies linked to Mugabe regime

28 January, 2009 in Zimbabwe

source: SW Radio Africa
By Lance Guma
27 January 2009

The European Union on Monday stepped up pressure on the Mugabe regime by slapping financial restrictions and freezing the assets of at least 36 companies linked to the regime. EU foreign ministers also added 26 individuals to a list of 177 people barred from traveling in the EU. For the first time ever about 18 of the companies black listed are European and are registered in either Britain or British offshore dependencies such as the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands.

One individual added to the list is John Bredenkamp a wealthy white Zimbabwean businessman who has indefinite leave to remain in the UK. Bredenkamp is considered a close ally of Mugabe despite having fled the country for Britain in 2006. He is credited with having a [continue reading]