Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's prime minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai warned he would break off all negotiations with President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF if dozens of his party members and activists that have been abducted by suspected state agents were not released.

Tsvangirai put at 42 the number of people from his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and civil society activists, including Zimbabwe Peace Project director Jestina Mukoko, that have been detained by police or suspected intelligence agents in recent weeks and since disappeared.

Johannesburg  - Zimbabwe is short on laughs these days, so short, in fact, that the capital Harare, the epicentre of a cholera outbreak that has felled over 1,000 Zimbabweans, is dubbed Ha-Ha-Rare.

But the sound of mirthless laughter did ring out over the city lately, when Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, by way of explanation for the cholera epidemic, told journalists that Britain had planted the cholera germ in Zimbabwe's soil before quitting the country in 1980.

The outbreak of the water-borne disease that began in August when water and sanitation systems in townships creaked to a halt, was the culmination of a 28-year "gestation" period, he claimed.

Nairobi/Johannesburg  - You know it has been a bad year when the only news to cheer is the election of a president in another country.

Unfortunately for many nations in Africa this has been the case this year, with the election of Barack Obama bringing small comfort to countries struggling with conflict and political instability.

While Obama's election may turn out to bring little in the way of concrete benefit to the continent, many Africans felt their self-respect was boosted by the victory of a man whose roots lie in Kenya.

Johannesburg  - 2008 in South Africa was bookended by two watershed political events that reflected the coming of age of the teenage democracy, despite accompanying signs of growing demagoguery and intolerance.

December 16, 2007 was the opening day of the landmark African National Congress leadership conference in Polokwane at which prickly ex-president Thabo Mbeki was trounced for the top post by populist Zulu politician, Jacob Zuma.

A year later to the day, on December 16, 2008, in equally exultant scenes, a group of Mbeki loyalists and fellow losers in the battle for control of Africa's oldest political party launched a new party to challenge the ANC in upcoming elections.

Johannesburg  - Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe has a new calling in South Africa ... as a fly swatter.

Johannesburg- Less than a week after South Africa suspended imports of all meat and dairy products from the European Union because of the Irish pork dioxin contamination, the ban was relaxed Wednesday.

"The temporary suspension on the importation of animal products from the EU (excluding Republic of Ireland & Northern Ireland) will be lifted," the department of agriculture in Pretoria said in a statement.