JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Dirk Coetzee, who led an apartheid-era death squad and later sought protection from the resistance movement that brought down South Africa’s white minority government, has died, a hospital said on Thursday.

Coetzee, 57, was a former police captain who blew the lid on his hit squad and fled the country in 1989, unleashing revelations that deepened the global isolation of the apartheid regime.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Trying to prevent HIV infection through vaginal gels or daily tablets has proven ineffective in the southern African region ravaged by the disease because people failed to use the medicines as required, a study released on Monday said.

A ground breaking study issued in 2010 indicated a vaginal gel containing a prescription drug can sharply reduce HIV infections in women who use it before and after sex, raising the possibility to slow the spread of the disease by giving women a way to protect themselves.

PRETORIA (Reuters) – Eight South African policemen have been arrested on suspicion of murder after dragging a man tied to the back of a police truck through a busy Johannesburg street in an incident broadcast around the world, a government watchdog said on Friday.

The video-recorded treatment of the Mozambican taxi driver has further damaged the reputation of the police force in South Africa where more than 1,200 people a year die in police custody.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African police were caught on video dragging a man hundreds of meters from the back of a pick-up truck, hours before he died in custody, drawing a storm of protest against a force accused of routine brutality.

The 27-year-old Mozambican taxi driver, Mido Macia, was found dead in detention with signs of head injuries and internal bleeding, according to an initial post mortem report released by the country’s police watchdog.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Respected anti-apartheid activist Mamphela Ramphele launched a new political party on Monday to challenge South Africa’s ruling ANC, saying self-interested and corrupt leaders were threatening the continent’s biggest economy.

Invoking the spirit of Nelson Mandela and the optimism that prevailed at South Africa’s first all-race elections in 1994, Ramphele said the dream of the “Rainbow Nation” was dying under the African National Congress (ANC).

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Respected anti-apartheid activist Mamphela Ramphele launched a new political party on Monday to challenge South Africa’s ruling ANC, saying self-interested and corrupt leaders were threatening the continent’s biggest economy.

Invoking the spirit of Nelson Mandela and the optimism that prevailed at South Africa’s first all-race elections in 1994, Ramphele said the dream of the “Rainbow Nation” was dying under the African National Congress (ANC).

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 13 (Reuters) – Respected anti-apartheid
activist Mamphela Ramphele resigned as chairwoman of Gold Fields
on Wednesday, intensifying speculation she is about to
launch a political party to challenge the ruling African
National Congress (ANC).

The medical doctor and former World Bank managing director
will make a statement about her “political plans” on
Johannesburg’s Constitution Hill on Monday, a public relations
consultancy working for her said this week.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – When Nelson Mandela and his ANC party dreamed of South Africa’s future after apartheid, they probably imagined someone like Fulufhelo Davhana, a young black who has seen the doors of opportunity opened wide and is destined for achievement.

But Davhana, a 23-year-old accounting student at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto Campus, is dreaming of a future when the African National Congress elders who ended white minority rule no longer call the shots.

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 28 (Reuters) – When Nelson Mandela and his
ANC party dreamed of South Africa’s future after apartheid, they
probably imagined someone like Fulufhelo Davhana, a young black
who has seen the doors of opportunity opened wide and is
destined for achievement.

But Davhana, a 23-year-old accounting student at the
University of Johannesburg’s Soweto Campus, is dreaming of a
future when the African National Congress elders who ended white
minority rule no longer call the shots.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Former South African President Nelson Mandela has recovered from a lung infection and surgery to remove gallstones that kept him in hospital for nearly three weeks, the government said on Sunday.

Mandela, 94, who has been in frail health for several years, spent most of December in a Pretoria hospital – his longest stay for medical care since his release from prison in 1990.