Tag Archives: SAfrica

  Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  Mangosuthu Buthelezi, head of the once-feared Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), on Saturday stepped down as party leader after 44 years. Buthelezi, 90 led the party from its inception, a reign marked by bloody territorial battles with ANC supporters in black townships …

Searching for lost lives: S.Africa’s unidentified corpses Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | At Olifantsvlei cemetery on the outskirts of southern Johannesburg, undertakers clad in white plastic overalls, boots and face masks take on a grim task: mass pauper burials. They are burying 46 bodies that have been lying in …

Cape Town, South Africa | AFP | South African lawmakers on Wednesday re-elected Cyril Ramaphosa as the nation’s president, two weeks after the ruling ANC party returned to power in legislative elections. Ramaphosa was “duly elected president of the Republic of South Africa,” chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng told parliament. Ramaphosa …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP |  Over the course of his 66 years, Cyril Ramaphosa has experienced the poverty of Soweto, jail for fighting apartheid, trade union activism, fabulous wealth — and now elected leadership of his country. Ramaphosa, who became president last year through internal ANC politics, won a …

Pietermaritzburg, South Africa | AFP | Former South African president Jacob Zuma said Monday that he was victim of a “witch hunt” over corruption charges as lawyers argued in court that he could not expect a fair trial. Zuma, who was forced to resign by the ruling ANC party last …

ANC wins election, to lead S.Africa govt with diminished majority Pretoria, South Africa | AFP | South Africa’s ruling ANC was Saturday declared winner of general elections, handing it a sixth straight term in the post-apartheid era on what was nevertheless its worst electoral showing. The African National Congress (ANC) …

Pretoria, South Africa | AFP | South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ruling ANC was in touching distance of election victory Friday but with diminished support, complicating efforts to revive the country’s flagging economy and fight corruption, results showed. The African National Congress (ANC), in power since 1994, held a very …

Three party leaders battle it out in S.Africa election Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | South Africa goes to the polls Wednesday with the leaders of the three main parties vying for votes in a race that could test the ruling ANC’s long-held dominance. Here is a look at the …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | The election 25 years ago of South Africa’s first black president, the late Nelson Mandela, who inspired the struggle against apartheid, was a time of soaring hope that the bruised country would reconcile after decades of discrimination and inequality. “You have mandated us to …

Paris, France | AFP |  Black South Africans voted for the first time in April 1994, turning out in droves for a jubilant election that was the final death blow to centuries of white domination. Here is an account of that historic event, based on AFP reports from the time. …