source: International Herald Tribune
By Alan Cowell
Published: November 10, 2008
LONDON: Miriam Makeba, a South African singer whose voice stirred hopes of freedom among millions in her own country though her music was formally banned by the apartheid authorities she struggled against, died overnight after performing at a concert in Italy on Sunday. She was 76.
The cause of death was cardiac arrest, according to Vincenza Di Saia, a physician at the private Pineta Grande clinic in Castel Volturno near Naples in southern Italy, where she was brought by ambulance. The time of death was listed in hospital records as midnight, the doctor said.
Makeba collapsed as she was leaving the stage, the South African authorities said. She had been singing at a concert in support of Roberto Saviano, an author who has received death threats after writing about organized crime.
Widely known as “Mama Africa,” she had been a prominent exiled opponent of apartheid since the South African authorities revoked her passport in 1960 and refused to allow her to return after [continue reading]
source: Mmegi
By Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
Staff Writer
Workers at an Indian owned Gaborone garage were thrown into a panic on Friday when a witchdoctor stormed their workshop to smear them with ‘muti’.
It was a traumatic day for workers at Swift Pty Ltd, dealers in general car maintenance. The day started with one of their eight colleagues who had been fired early that morning for allegedly stealing P3 from the boss’s car. Then the workers were called into their workshop where a traditional doctor suddenly appeared, cast lot, and started smearing them with some powder from the horn he was brandishing.
When the workers objected, the company’s witchdoctor had already smeared two of their colleagues with the muti on their eyes.
The workers told the Monitor that their boss warned them at a Thursday meeting that they would start “losing their genitals” if he continued to have his property stolen from the workshop. True to [continue reading]
source: News24
10/11/2008 22:05 – (SA)
Johannesburg – The Constitutional Court will hear arguments on whether the South African government should have provided diplomatic protection to a South African citizen who had land taken away by the Zimbabwean government, when it sits in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The Pretoria High Court ruled in July that the government had failed to consider and deal with Crawford von Abo’s application for diplomatic protection after his farms there were expropriated without compensation and he was arrested with a warrant for being on one of these farms.
The failure of the government to help him in respect of the violation of his rights in Zimbabwe was found to be inconsistent with South Africa’s Constitution, the judge found.
The respondents – the government, the president, the foreign affairs minister, trade and industry minister and justice minister – were constitutionally obliged to provide diplomatic protection for him and were ordered to take steps to remedy this.
In that judgment, the [continue reading]
source: SW Radio Africa
By Tichaona Sibanda
10 November 2008
SADC leaders at the extraordinary summit on Zimbabwe allowed Robert Mugabe to dictate the terms, giving him the coveted backing of the regional bloc, Newsreel learned on Monday.
The summit ruled that the Ministry of Home Affairs must be co-managed by ZANU PF and the MDC T, a proposal presented by Mugabe. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has rejected this.
It’s reported that the ZANU PF leader took advantage of the absence of his critics, namely Botswana President Ian Khama, to advance his accusations that Khama was actively working with the MDC to destabilise Zimbabwe. Botswana has strongly refuted the accusations.
The latest failed diplomatic effort – which attracted only five leaders from the 15-nation bloc – leaves the country sinking deeper into a humanitarian crisis. Only Kgalema Motlanthe, the South African host, Joseph Kabila from the DRC, President Hifikepunye Pohambo of Namibia, Armando Guebuza of Mozambique and Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili were present. The rest had representatives standing in [continue reading]
source: International Herald Tribune
By Celia W. Dugger
Published: November 10, 2008
JOHANNESBURG: Southern African leaders called Monday for political rivals in Zimbabwe to share control of the crucial ministry that oversees the police and to form a joint government immediately, but the opposition flatly rejected the proposal as unworkable and unfair.
Impatient with a crisis that has dragged on for more than seven months since disputed elections in March, the regional leaders sought to force a resolution of the deadlocked power-sharing talks between the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe, and the opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, in a day of talks on Sunday.
“We cannot afford to postpone the formation of an inclusive government because there is a dispute over who gets the Ministry of Home Affairs,” said Tomáz Salamão, executive secretary of [continue reading]
source: Standay Standard
by REUBEN PITSE
09.11.2008 9:10:26 P
Tens of citizen companies are fighting for survival after they were ruined by alleged corruption at the Citizen Entrepreneurial Mortgage Assistant Fund.
Patrick Ketsitlile, Managing Director of N&N Fund Managers, the company that won the tender to manage the government fund, is the central figure in what could become one of Botswana’s biggest political and corruption scandals ever.
Allegations against Ketsitlile range from conflict of interest to money laundering. A reconstruction of Ketsitlile’s rise shows that he was an ingenious dealmaker who hatched interlocking companies that exploited loopholes in the fund and trampled the norms of running public businesses more often to serve his desire for wealth.
This inside account of Ketsitlile’s career is [continue reading]
source: Mmegi
By Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
Staff Writer
Botswana has described its November 1 ivory auction as disappointing, after reaping only US$7 million or P14 million from 43.3 tonnes of ivory sold to Chinese and Japanese bidders recently.
Botswana was hoping its ivory stockpile would rake in a substantial amount, according to Gaborone based Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) desk officer Diana Chimidza. She told Monitor they were not expecting to get this much from the sales considering the expensive nature of wildlife conservation. ” We had high expectations, especially from the Japanese bidders.
“They were 20 companies from Japan. If you have so many competing you hope for stiffer competition, but it did not turn out like we had anticipated. Only seven of the Japanese bidders were active, while the rest were observers. We did not manage to up the prices as a result,” Chimidza said in an [continue reading]
source: BOPA
10 November, 2008
PARLIAMENT – Parliament on Friday, deferred a motion calling on government to amend the Constitution and ensure that persons accused of stock theft were denied legal representation.
The motion was deferred after MP for Kweneng East, Maj. Gen. Moeng Pheto proposed an amendment. Gen Pheto suggested that the motion should ask for magistrate courts to have assessors sitting and assisting in all cases of stock theft, instead of calling for the Constitution to be amended.
Tabling the motion, MP for Tonota South, Mr Pono Moatlhodi sought parliament “to request government to amend all relevant and applicable laws with a view to ensuring that there is no legal representation for persons accused of stock theft and further that all such cases be tried only at Tribal Courts.” He said government should protect cattle owners from criminals since cattle are important to the economy of the country. He suggested that people accused of stock theft be tried in magistrate courts in the absence of lawyers.
“The increasing number of cattle in Botswana and their relevance to the economy has led to [continue reading]
source: BOPA
10 November, 2008
GABORONE – Botswana’s beef sector has a bright future which could be fruitful if the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) does not lower its prices.
Botswana Cattle Producers Association (BCPA) chairperson Mr Philip Fisher expressed hope that BMC would continue to pay the amount it had been paying, while killing animals only for the local market.
Following the outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease in Ghanzi area, all abattoirs and slaughter houses in the country were closed with immediate effect, and this week however they re-opened but exports remain banned.
Mr Fisher is the Executive Chairman of The Hurvitz Group, the largest supplier of cattle to the Lobatse BMC.
Through its feedlot at Lobatse Estates, the company sells cattle to [continue reading]
source: News24
10/11/2008 16:00 – (SA)
Johannesburg – State-owned utility Eskom said on Monday it has signed a $500m 20-year loan with the African Development Bank to support its long-awaited power expansion programme.
Eskom, which provides 95% of the country’s power, has been rationing electricity since January, when the national grid nearly collapsed, affecting major industries, including mining.
“The extent and timing of the AfDB loan reinforces the extent to which institutions based on the continent can provide support which fosters growth,” Eskom’s chief financial officer Bongani Nqwababa said at a press briefing.
In its bid to reverse years of underinvestment in power, and to ease chronic power shortages, Eskom plans to spend a total of about R343bn over five years on new power plants.
This task has been made more [continue reading]
source: Mmegi
In a presentation, senior executives from De Beers, including the Managing Director of De Beers Group Gareth Penny, the Managing Director of Diamond Trading Company Varda Shine, and the Chief Strategic Officer of Forevermark David Lamb spoke of strong long-term fundamentals of the diamond industry, and De Beers’ strategy for maintaining its market share of discretionary spending during the current global economic crisis.
The presentations highlighted the company’s strategies on production, sales and marketing during the downturn.
Shine outlined a six-point action plan to ensure DTC maintains its competitive advantage for its sightholders thus:
DTC sightholders carefully look at their box mixtures and scheduling; as DTC has received a highly focussed set of applications from clients, consequently, the next two sights will be smaller with DTC prices reflecting sustainable polished outcome from [continue reading]
source: Standay Standard
by REUBEN PITSE
09.11.2008 9:14:17 P
Some well-known security companies are said to be at the centre of investigations after it emerged that they evade tax and use forged documents to be awarded government and private sector tenders worth millions of pula.
Police recently raided some security companies and impounded forged Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) documents.
It is understood that some of the security companies bribe BURS employees for help to evade tax.
It is alleged that some security companies owe BURS millions.
It is further understood that some security companies have been awarded tenders worth millions of pula, both from government and the private sector, using fraudulent documents.
Meanwhile, it has emerged that a warrant of arrest has been issued for one of the directors whose security company is [continue reading]
source: BOPA
10 November, 2008
KASANE – The Botswana Tourism Board has invited 26 local tourism operators to attend the annual World Travel Market to be held in London from the 10th to the 13th of November.
Operators alongside the Minister of Wildlife, Environment and Tourism, Mr Kitso Mokaila, the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr Edmond Moabi and the Botswana Tourism Board Chief Executive Officer, Ms Myra Sekgororoane are to attend the event.
While in London the minister will also attend a summit on “responding to the economic downturn and staying with the climate and poverty reduction agenda.” The Botswana Tourism Board Communications Manager, Mrs Keitumetse Setlang said the move serves the local tourism businesses to keep growing their market in the United Kingdom.
“The World Trade Market is a platform where trade on products and services of national or regional tourist organizations, tourists service providers and travel related services, is done,” she said.
The market is attended by over 45 000 travel professionals [continue reading]
source: IOL
November 10 2008 at 08:01PM
By Lindsay Dentlinger
The burden placed on the City of Cape Town to meet the shortfall of R1,9-billion over the next three years to host the 2010 World Cup could delay the improvement of services in the city next year and the appointment of staff.
The city’s 2010 team is expected to submit a revised budget requirement list to the council’s budget committee this week, after telling the committee on Friday that it needed R450-million more in operational spending during the 2009/10 financial year to meet shortfalls on developing the stadium precinct, the Green Point common and the urban park.
Meeting these requirements alone would require an extra 27 percent in the city’s rates income.
Budget committee chairperson Ian Neilson said the [continue reading]
source: Mmegi
By Lekopanye Mooketsi
Correspondent
The Botswana Horticultural Market opened its doors to the public last Thursday. Although it sells in bulk, the fruit and vegetable market is open to wholesalers, retailers, as well as members of the public.
The project, which is located at the old Hyundai car assembly plant at Broadhurst Industrial Estate in Gaborone, is a joint venture between the Botswana Development Corporation (BDC) and the Botswana Horticultural Council (BHC). The Ministry of Agriculture is also involved as a facilitator and is represented on the board of the directors.
The Market Master is Petrus Koswane who says the market operates on a commission basis; that is to say it earns a commission on products it sells for farmers and [continue reading]
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