Zambian secret agents recently abducted the wife of opposition United Party for National Development spokesperson Charles Kakoma in a mafia like operation targeted at the official, who was apparently not home at the time of the incident. UPND officials did not know who the abductors were and reported the matter to police, but reports say State agents were involved in the operation that seeks to cripple the leadership of the opposition.
Generals sue
Eight Angolan generals acting as private prosecutors recently filed a suit for damages in Portugal against Angolan journalist and human rights defender, Rafael Marques and his publisher,
Tinta-da-China. The generals are seeking about $390,000 in damages for libel and defamation. In 2011, Marques published the book “Blood Diamonds:
Corruption and Torture in Angola” in Portugal. The book is a chilling account of systematic human rights abuses by soldiers of the Angolan Armed Forces and guards of Teleservice, the nation’s largest private security company.
Flood rescue begins
Close to 1,000 villagers displaced by floods in Namibia’s Caprivi Region were evacuated to a safer area over the weekend. An estimated 5,000 people displaced by floods will be relocated to various camps within the next two weeks. As all roads remained difficult to access, evacuation teams could only ferry villagers up to Mwandi border post in neighbouring Zambia, from where
Namibian government trucks would transport them through Zambia to the Wenela border post.
Macia autopsy
A recent autopsy on
Mozambican-born taxi driver, Mido Macia, pulled behind a police van before he died in police custody at Daveyton, South
Africa, found he died from lack of oxygen. The Benoni Magistrate’s Court heard that the autopsy found that Macia had extensive internal and external injuries.
Prayer meeting banned
The Swazi government recently banned a prayer meeting scheduled to mark the first anniversary of the formation of a trade union federation. The government, without recourse to the law courts, announced that the intended meeting, organised by the Trade Union Congress of
Swaziland, was illegal because the Industrial Court had recently decided that TUCOSWA could not be a registered federation because there was no law in the kingdom that allowed it.
Post published in: Africa News