Newly qualified nurses in Mpumalanga have accused the provincial Department of Health of betrayal after it emerged that they would no longer be offered jobs after completing their training. They said they were frustrated and furious after the department disclosed the unpleasant news during the Public Health Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Chamber (PHSDSBC) meeting recently held in the provincial legislature. Itumeleng Maganedisa, the provincial secretary of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa), said they have taken up the…

THE firing of service chiefs and immediate dissolution of the boards of all government parastatals, agencies, institutions and companies is the latest blitz by the new president, Bola Tinubu, to carve a stranglehold on power in Nigeria. The purge comes three weeks after he was inaugurated as the fifth president of Africa’s political and economic powerhouse since the advent of civilian rule in 1999. Tinubu, who is also Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, has made unprecedented changes since…

THE killing of more than 40 people, a majority of them students, by a rebel group in western Rwanda has triggered global outrage. Among those killed are 37 students. Others were abducted during the attack, blamed on the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), on Lhubiriha Secondary School in the Mpondwe area of Kasese District. To add more misery, the attack occurred on Friday, when the annual Day of the African Child was commemorated. “This was a heinous and unconscionable act of…

A US$900 000 ($17,1 million) contribution to the World Food Programme (WFP) will boost food security and improve the livelihoods of nearly 9 000 people in southern Zimbabwe. Communities in the Chiredzi district will benefit from the funding provided by Japan as the WFP rolls out resilience-building activities. Funds will enable WFP to provide food assistance while at the same timestimulating local development through the construction of small-scale infrastructure such as small dams and nutrition gardens, the provisionof training for…

The National Department of Health is in the process of investigating Mpumalanga clinicians who failed to take specimens of patients who presented with cholera symptoms but simply gave them painkillers. This follows a number of cases that African Times investigated in Bushbuckridge, where water challenges have plagued some townships and villages for months. Residents of Dwarsloop township started receiving water after they embarked on a protest that was televised on SABC news. However, the quality of the water has worried…

A DISASTROUS food shortage crisis is looming in Sudan as conflict disrupts preparations for the planting season. At this time of the year, farmers usually prepare for the season but this year it is nearly impossible to access seeds and agricultural inputs due to a breakdown in critical supply chains, insecurity anddisplacement. This is the aftermath of the civil war that ensued in April. The warning by a humanitarian group also comes as Sudan is already into the typical lean…

At the height of human rights abuses globally, the World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna, Austria, adopted the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (VDPA) in 1993. This is a significant human rights document aimed to address the state of human rights globally and set a framework for promoting and protecting human rights in the future. Adopted unanimously, the VDPA recognises that the promotion and protection of human rights is a legitimate concern of the international community and…

EGYPT has applied to join the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) bloc. Georgy Borisenko, the Russian ambassador to the North African country, revealed the development. The envoy said Egypt had applied to join the group because one of the initiatives that BRICS was currently engaged in, such as the maximum transfer of trade to alternative currencies or the creation of a joint currency, was important to them. “Egypt is very interested in this,” Borisenko said, as per…

THE death of almost 3 800 people on migration routes within and from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in 2022 is the highest toll in six years. These deaths from January to December almost rival the 4 255 deathsrecorded in 2017. The 3 789 deaths recorded in 2022 was 11 percent higher than the previous year. MENA accounted for more than half of the total 6 877 deaths recordedworldwide by the Missing Migrants Project (MMP) of the InternationalOrganisation…

THE deadly upheaval in Senegal turns on the head the country’s strong record of democratic governance, rule of law and peaceful coexistence it has prided itself in. For decades, the West African country has been an island of peace in a sea of conflict that is the continent’s most populous regional bloc. Senegal’s history comprises credible elections, the peaceful transfer of power and the government’s non-interference in the economy, among others. In fact, the Gateway to Africa, as Senegal is…