NEWS - The African Mirror

Nov

26

2020

Burkina Faso’s Kabore edges closer to re-election as lead grows

NEWS

THIAM NDIAGA BURKINA Faso President Roch Kabore has edged closer to re-election despite opposition concerns over the validity of the count, extending a commanding lead with over half of districts reporting results. Tallies posted to the election commission website on Wednesday showed Kabore with over 593,000 votes, almost four times as many as his nearest rival, former finance minister Zephirin Diabre. Having secured 58% of total ballots cast, Kabore is on track to secure enough votes to avoid a second round. The commission began announcing results from additional voting districts late Wednesday afternoon. Opposition objections to the count complicate an…

Nov

26

2020

By The African Mirror

African envoys head for Ethiopia where thousands of war dead reported

NEWS

AFRICAN Union envoys arrived in Ethiopia hours before an ultimatum was to expire for Tigrayan forces to surrender in a war that has shaken the northern region and killed thousands of its fighters according to one report. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government has set a 72-hour deadline for the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) to lay down arms or face an assault on their highland capital Mekelle, home to half a million people. The deadline was due to run out on Wednesday evening. Large numbers have died and there has been widespread destruction in aerial bombardments and ground fighting since…

Nov

26

2020

By The African Mirror

ANC and mayor of Johannesburg implicated in damning kickback scandal

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER SOUTH Africa’s governing party, the ANC, faces damning allegations that it is funded through kickbacks from irregular state tenders. Evidence led at the judicial commission into state capture, chaired by the country’s Deputy President Raymond Zondo, contains traces of up to R16-million in “donations” to the ANC’s Johannesburg region from EOH, a company that got tenders, worth hundreds of millions, from the ANC-run Johannesburg City Council. Steven Powell, managing director of ENSAfrica, which conducted investigations of EOH transactions, presented damaging documented evidence which traced transactions of millions that were paid to the ANC and a company owned…

Nov

26

2020

By The African Mirror

Football stars, clubs’ reaction to the death of soccer legend

NEWS

FOLLOWING ARE THE REACTIONS TO MARADONA’S DEATH: ITALIAN SOCCER CLUB NAPOLI, WHERE MARADONA PLAYED FROM 1984-1991 A "devastating blow" for both city and club. "We are in mourning. We feel like a boxer who has been knocked out. We are in shock." "Always in our hearts. Ciao Diego." BRAZIL FOOTBALL GREAT PELE "Sad news to lose a friend like that. May God give enough strength to his family. For sure, one day we will kick a ball together in heaven." FORMER ENGLAND STRIKER GARY LINEKER "By some distance the best player of my generation and arguably the greatest of all…

Nov

26

2020

By The African Mirror

My special moments with El Diez in Africa

NEWS

JERMANE CRAIG ‘El Diez’ is no more. Number ‘10’ will live forever. Diego Armando Maradona has died, and a piece of football’s soul has died with him. Maradona was my first football hero, I absolutely adored him. As a 10-year-old, when I first truly began to understand and love the global game, it was the grainy images of Diego Maradona winning the 1986 FIFA World Cup almost single-handedly for Argentina that mesmerised me. He was sensational, magical, his talent defied belief. He caressed the ball, made love to the ball, it was seemingly glued to the laces of his football…

Nov

26

2020

By The African Mirror

Maradona now in the hands of God

NEWS

NICOLAS MISCULIN and CASSANDRA GARRISON DIEGO Maradona, widely regarded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time before drug and alcohol addiction marred his career, died on Wednesday at his home in Argentina after suffering a heart attack, his lawyer said. He was 60. Beloved in his homeland after leading Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986 and adored in Italy for taking Napoli to two Serie A titles, Maradona was a uniquely gifted player who rose from the tough streets of Buenos Aires to reach the pinnacle of his sport. He died four years to the day…

Nov

25

2020

By The African Mirror

One of football’s greatest of all time, Diego Maradona dies

NEWS

ARGENTINE soccer great Diego Maradona has died after suffering a heart attack. Maradona, 60, regarded as one of the greatest football stars of all time, passed away weeks after he was released from hospital and taken to a recovery clinic where he was to be treated for alcohol dependency, his doctor told reporters. The former Napoli and Boca Juniors player had emergency surgery for a subdural haematoma, a blood clot on the brain. Maradona is recognised as one of the greatest of all time, captained Argentina when they won the World Cup in 1986. Maradona was kept in for longer…

Nov

27

2020

By The African Mirror

African peace envoys meet Ethiopian PM in bid for peace in Tigray

NEWS

AFRICAN peace envoys have met Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, a day after he said the military was beginning the "final phase" of an offensive in the northern Tigray region that rights groups fear could bring huge civilian casualties. The government had given the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) until Wednesday to lay down their arms or face an assault on Mekelle, the regional capital of 500,000 people. The United Nations says 200 aid workers are also in the city. The African Union envoys were in Addis Ababa "with a view to helping to mediate between the parties to the…

Nov

27

2020

By The African Mirror

Dudu Myeni to face criminal charges for unmasking protected witness

NEWS

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER DUDU Myeni, businesswoman and chair of the Jacob Zuma Foundation is to be charged for disclosing the identity of a witness who had been granted anonymity by the judicial commission into state capture. Deputy Judge President Raymond Zondo, the commission’s chair, announced today that he had instructed his legal team to lay a criminal complaint against Myeni, the former chairperson of South African Airways. The police will be asked to investigate a possible violation, by Myeni, of the commission’s act and regulations.s During her appearance before the commission, revealed the identity of Mr X and was asked…

Nov

28

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero says he was kidnapped and blindfolded before arrest

NEWS

Paul Rusesabagina Rusesabagina, a political dissident who has lived in exile in Belgium and the United States, was arrested in August after returning to the country. At the time it was not immediately clear whether he had returned voluntarily or had been coerced. "I was kidnapped to come here," Rusesabagina said in court in the capital, Kigali, as he applied for bail. "...They tied my legs and my arms and I was blindfolded." Prosecutors denied he had been kidnapped and said due process had been followed. "No one kidnapped Paul Rusesabagina...he was detained at a legally recognised place after being…