…Harare – Zimbabwe’s government has had to fend off charges that it isencouraging teen sex after deciding to grant parental leave to pregnant schoolgirls and soon-to-be dads. The Education Ministry of Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government announced last week that schoolgirls who fell pregnant would no longer face automatic expulsion. Instead, they would be given three months’ [...]

…Blantyre, Malawi – Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika threatened last week to shut down newspapers he accused of lying that up to one million Malawians will need food aid. “I will close down newspapers that lie and tarnish my government’s image,” a visibly angry Mutharika said as he opened a week-long agriculture fair in the [...]

…HARARE – An 18-year-old Zimbabwean who caused the loss of another man’s eye in a fight over a vuvuzela has been jailed for a year. The magistrate suspended a third of an 18-month sentence on Curtis Ager on condition that he reimburses his victim’s 800-US-dollar medical bill, The Chronicle newspaper reported. Ager and two associates [...]

HARARE – Gibson Sibanda, a veteran labour activist and co-founder of Zimbabwe’s former opposition party, has died after a long battle with cancer at the age of 66, his party says. In 2005, Sibanda left Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change over sharp policy differences. He had been deputy leader in Tsvangirai’s party [...]

JOHANNESBURG – A teenager is suspected of having murdered an alleged rival gangster in Athlone three days after being released on parole, in order to “prove himself” and be promoted within his gang. The 17-year-old, who previously faced charges including robbery and attempted murder, is now behind bars again, along with a 35-year-old man arrested [...]