JOHANNESBURG, July 9, 2024 (AFP) – Strong winds and heavy rains have damaged buildings and left thousands of people homeless in South Africa, authorities said, as weather services warned Tuesday that more bad weather was coming. The Cape Town region has been battered by several cold fronts over the past few days, with mountainous areas experiencing rare heavy snowfalls. The Western Cape government said 82 schools were damaged, forcing five to remain closed on Tuesday. […]
Tag: SAfrica
12 dead in South African flooding
JOHANNESBURG, June 3, 2024 (AFP) – Twelve people have died in flooding caused by torrential rain on South Africa’s eastern coast, local authorities said on Monday. In Eastern Cape province, “the death toll is currently sitting at seven,” a spokesperson from Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, at the heart of the floods, told AFP. More than 2,000 people have been evacuated from Nelson Mandela Bay, notably from makeshift homes in the municipality’s slums. Local authorities […]
Zuma’s new party emerges the big winner in South Africa vote
By Zama LUTHULI DURBAN, South Africa, May 31, 2024 (AFP) – South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma staged a surprise comeback at the head of an upstart party that is only a few months old but already the country’s third largest. Zuma is 82, he was banned from standing in this week’s general election because of a contempt conviction and his former rule is synonymous with the capture of the state by corrupt interests. But […]
Tanzania heavy rains, floods kill 58 so far in April: govt
DAR ES SALAAM, April 14, 2024 (AFP) – Heavy rains and flooding have killed at least 58 people, including children, in Tanzania since the beginning of April, a government spokesman said on Sunday. “From April 1 to April 14, 2024, there were 58 deaths caused by the heavy rains, which led to flooding,” Mobhare Matinyi told a press briefing, stressing that the coastal region of the East African country was one of the worst affected. […]
S.African president sends condolences after bus crash kills 45 Easter pilgrims
JOHANNESBURG, March 29, 2024 (AFP) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his condolences on Friday over an Easter bus crash that only an eight-year-old girl survived out of 46 people on board. She had been admitted to hospital after Thursday’s crash but did not suffer serious injury. Police have said they are investigating a case of culpable homicide, with the driver among the dead after allegedly losing control. The accident occurred when the bus […]
Top UN court rejects S.Africa request for more Gaza measures
By Jan HENNOP THE HAGUE, Feb 16, 2024 (AFP) – The UN’s top court Friday rejected South Africa’s request to put more legal pressure on Israel to halt a threatened offensive against the Gaza city of Rafah, saying it was “bound to comply with existing measures”. Pretoria has already filed a complaint against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, alleging that its assault on Gaza amounts to a breach of […]
S.Africa urges ICJ to pressure Israel to halt Rafah offensive
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 13, 2024 (AFP) – South Africa urged the UN’s top court Tuesday to place more legal pressure on Israel to halt a threatened offensive against the densely crowded Gaza city of Rafah. Pretoria has already made a complaint against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, alleging that its assault on Gaza amounts to a breach of the Genocide Convention. The court has yet to rule on the underlying […]
Top UN court starts ruling on landmark Israel Gaza case
By Richard CARTER THE HAGUE, Jan 26, 2024 (AFP) – The head of the top United Nations court on Friday began reading the initial decision in the case against Israel over alleged genocide in Gaza, a landmark case that has sparked global interest. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) could in theory order Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza, sparked by the October 7 attacks by Hamas, or to facilitate humanitarian aid. The […]
Israel faces ‘genocide’ charge at UN top court
By Charlotte VAN OUWERKERK THE HAGUE, Jan 11, 2024 (AFP) – Israel will face accusations at the UN’s top court on Thursday that it has committed “genocidal” acts in Gaza, charges the country’s president dismissed as “atrocious” and “preposterous”. South Africa has lodged an urgent appeal to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to force Israel to “immediately suspend” its military operations in Gaza. Robed officials from both countries will go head-to-head in the Great […]
S.Africa’s Pistorius released from prison
JOHANNESBURG, Jan 5, 2024 (AFP) – South Africa’s ex-Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius was released from jail on parole Friday and “is now at home”, authorities said, almost 11 years after he shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in a crime that gripped the world. Having served more than half his sentence, the 37-year-old double-amputee was quietly whisked out from the Atteridgeville prison on the outskirts of the capital Pretoria, avoiding the hordes of media gathered […]
Second Cape Town wildfire forces evacuations
CAPE TOWN, Dec 22, 2023 (AFP) – South African firefighters on Friday battled two major wildfires on mountains near Cape Town that have forced the evacuation of scores of families, authorities said. Authorities closed access to the Cape of Good Hope, one of the country’s most visited tourist attractions, because of the fires. Fierce summer winds have fanned flames toward resorts around Cape Town as it braces to receive tens of thousands of visitors for […]
BRICS leaders to debate expanding membership at summit
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 23, 2023 (AFP) – BRICS leaders on Wednesday will debate admitting new members to their five-nation bloc as it pursues a bigger role in shaping world affairs it sees as dominated by western powers. China is seeking to rapidly grow the club of large emerging economies amid rising competition with the United States, and more than 40 nations are lining up to join. But the BRICS other major power, India, is wary of […]
