AFRICA

South Africa could see up to 50,000 coronavirus deaths and as many as 3 million infections by the end of the year as the southern hemisphere winter leads to a higher rate of infection, scientific models showed on Thursday. The country already has the highest number of infections and deaths …

The World Health Organisation is to sign a confidentiality clause with Madagascar on the formulation of its herbal remedy for coronavirus. The WHO had for long criticised Madagascar for promoting the herbal remedy and distributing it to African countries. According to the WHO using the herbal drug without enough scientific …

The head of Malawi’s electoral commission has resigned a month before a presidential election re-run. The vote was ordered by the Constitutional Court which overturned last year’s poll giving a second term to President Peter Mutharika. Protesters had demanded that Jane Ansah stand down over irregularities in the original election, …

Police have launched a manhunt after three taxi owners were shot dead in a drive-by shooting on Thursday afternoon in Mabopane, northern Pretoria. Confirming the incident on Friday morning, police spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo said the three men were having a meeting when they were attacked on the corner of …

Around 200 members of an opposition party in Burundi were arrested on election day, the party says. National Freedom Council (CNL) spokesperson Terence Manirambona says the arrests went on until Thursday. “Most of those arrested were CNL observers at polling stations, it happened in every province of the country, we …

A Nigeria pastor has told the BBC about how he was tortured and flogged for two hours because of Facebook posts in which he criticised a local official for failing in his duty to build roads. Okochi Chukwu Obeni said a local traditional council in the Afikpo North area of …

Families rushed to buy sweets and biscuits in Cairo as they prepared to celebrate the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan under a tightened coronavirus curfew and lockdown. The Eid al-Fitr festivities are usually a time of release when people pack the streets and visit families, cafes and …

A 66-year-old man was sentenced to 15 life terms and an additional 30 years in the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday for rape, abduction and sexual assault, according to the police. Herman Harker, who the police termed a serial rapist, was sentenced for four counts of abduction and sexual assault. …

The cause of death of the baby born prematurely, and said to have died of Covid-19 after a two-day struggle for survival, will be investigated, the Western Cape government said on Thursday. “We are saddened by this tragic loss of such a young life and send our deepest sympathies to …

Voting in Burundi’s presidential election passed calmly on Wednesday despite simmering political violence, the coronavirus pandemic and the opposition accusing the authorities of fraud. In what could be the first competitive presidential election in Burundi since a civil war erupted in 1993, the ruling CNDD-FDD party’s candidate, retired general Evariste …