OP grills journalists over new party?

30 April, 2010 in Botswana

source: Mmegi BAME PIET Staff Writer At least three Radio Botswana journalists were summoned to the Office of the President yesterday for a grilling because they granted airtime to Sidney Pilane, the spokesman of the newly formed Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD). Mmegi is reliably informed that Thuso Letlhoma, Ketirele Matlhape and Sakaeyo Jani were [...]

South Africa: Zuma Says SA Will Not Copy Zimbabwe`s Land Invasions

30 April, 2010 in South Africa

source: allAfrica Business Day (Johannesburg) Karima Brown 30 April 2010 Johannesburg — PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma said yesterday that SA would not emulate Zimbabwe’s land grab. Addressing a symposium on constitutionalism hosted by the Black Management Forum in Johannesburg, Zuma said land reform would be conducted “within the law”. “There will be no similar kinds of [...]

Govt support SMMEs

30 April, 2010 in Botswana, Business

source: BOPA 30 April, 2010 GABORONE – The governments decision to use its purchasing power to buy locally produced goods and services has given impetus to local businesses, says Vice President Lt Gen. Mompati Merafhe. He said the initiative will also reduce the countrys huge import bill. Officially opening the 2nd Local Enterprise Authority (LEA) [...]

Africa: Infrastructure Transformation in Continent an Urgent Priority

30 April, 2010 in Africa

source: allAfrica America.gov (Washington, DC) Charles W. Corey 29 April 2010 Now is the time for transformation of Africa’s infrastructure, and African leaders understand the importance of that task, a senior World Bank official told the fourth annual U.S.-Africa Infrastructure Conference April 28. Addressing a packed ballroom in Washington on the first day of the [...]

`Gaborone is a potential aviation hub`

29 April, 2010 in Botswana, Business

source: Mmegi BRIAN BENZA Staff Writer Botswana can use the expanded Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (SSKIA) to become a regional aviation hub, particularly in the untapped short-haul market. Speaking in Gaborone on Monday, Captain Edward Boyo of Aviation and Allied Business Publications said as a landlocked country with such a facility under construction, Botswana [...]

Okavango River floods

29 April, 2010 in Botswana

source: BOPA 28 April, 2010 SHAKAWE – The Okavango River has begun flooding for the second time in a space of only two years after many years of relative calm. So far 59 people from Mohembo East have been evacuated as at Friday last week, according to Mr Edison Chaba of Metereology Services in Shakawe. [...]

Zimbabwe: Country Loses 45,000 Teachers to Brain Drain

29 April, 2010 in Zimbabwe

source: allAfrica The Monitor (Kampala) Kitsephile Nyathi 29 April 2010 Harare — More than 45, 000 teachers have left Zimbabwe to look for greener pastures abroad in the past decade, a new report indicates. An unprecedented economic decline blamed on the political squabbles and President Robert Mugabe’s questionable policies has seen millions of Zimbabweans, including [...]

Police officers and corruption

29 April, 2010 in Botswana

source: Mmegi ISAIAH MOREWAGAE Staff Writer Police corruption is a growing problem in Botswana today. An examination of a local newspaper or any police-related publication in an urban city during any given week would most likely have an article about a police officer caught committing some kind of corrupt act. A most recent case is [...]

South Africa: Zuma: Let`s develop ourselves

29 April, 2010 in South Africa

source: News24 2010-04-28 19:06 Pretoria – Residents of the historically neglected rural area of Winterveld, north-west of Pretoria, were elated when President Jacob Zuma visited the area on Wednesday to launch a solar water heating system. A total of 270 households were already enjoying the benefits of this system, which government was expecting would be [...]

`No`, Siele tells employers of illegal immigrants

29 April, 2010 in Botswana

source: Mmegi EPHRAIM KEORENG Staff Writer Investors have called on the Botswana government to give illegal immigrants temporary permits to allow them to work in the country. Speaking yesterday at a Labour and Home Affairs Pitso, a conference organised by the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs in Gaborone, Ishmael Komanyane of the Association of [...]

Zimbabwe: No movement towards implementing constitutional reform process

29 April, 2010 in Zimbabwe

source: SW Radio Africa By Tichaona Sibanda 28 April 2010 Several MPs from the mainstream MDC on Wednesday said they had little hope the country would have a new constitution by next year. The process of drafting a new Zimbabwean constitution has been further delayed, which means the country’s new charter is now running almost [...]

Recession pulls FDI 69% down

28 April, 2010 in Botswana, Business

source: Mmegi MBONGENI MGUNI Staff Writer The value of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) facilitated by the Botswana Export Development and Investment Authority (BEDIA) dropped by approximately 69 percent last year as the global recession restricted capital flows and blunted the country’s allure to investors. Yesterday, the government’s key foreign investment agency unveiled lacklustre FDI figures [...]

Africa: Poor Infrastructure Scares Away Investors, Africa Told

28 April, 2010 in Africa

source: allAfrica The Citizen (Dar es Salaam) Samuel Kamndaya 27 April 2010 Poor infrastructure is eroding Africa’s competitiveness as an investment destination. To improve the situation, the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (Waipa) is calling on the continent to find a lasting solution to the problem. In a statement obtained in Dar es Salaam, [...]

High Court orders Kgafela to leave church alone

28 April, 2010 in Botswana

source: Mmegi GREG KELEBONYE Staff Writer Kgosi Kgafela and his regiments do not have any legal or administrative authority to impose civil or criminal reprimand upon the Family of God Church (FoG) or other affiliates of the Evangelical Fellowship of Botswana (EFB). In an interim ruling issued yesterday following an urgent application by both the [...]

Zimbabwe: Govt Gets Nod to Start Selling Diamonds

28 April, 2010 in Zimbabwe

source: allAfrica The Nation (Nairobi) Kitsepile Nyathi 27 April 2010 Harare — A High Court judge has given the cash strapped Zimbabwe government the nod to start selling diamonds from a controversial diamond field whose exploitation has been met with sharp criticism from human rights groups. President Robert Mugabe’s administration in 2006 seized mining claims [...]