President Umaru Yar'Adua's administration has halted an initiative of his predecessor to privatise 102 elite public secondary schools across Nigeria. “The manner and rush in which the pubic-private partnership arrangement was put in place did not give room for consideration of wider views and ideas on how best the schools could be effectively and efficiently managed,” said Education Minister Igwe Aja-Nwachukwu in a 27 September statement.

Zambia’s Justice Minister George Kunda has accused The Post newspaper of working against the government on the Constitution-making process. In the edition of September, 17, Kunda referred to former president Frederick Chiluba as one of the main architects of the current constitutional problems, and asked, '…is it not a contradiction that [editor] Fred M’membe and the Press Freedom Committee of The Post wittingly or unwittingly should be working with Dr. Chiluba?'

Every day a bus, usually packed to capacity, leaves Malawi for South Africa. Most of the passengers are traders, off to sell wooden curios in the main South African cities of Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. A few stop in Harare, Zimbabwe, with pieces of cloth and food products such as flour and sugar. From South Africa, the traders bring back items of clothing, shoes, electronics and personal accessories. Those who go to Zimbabwe buy butter, jam and tomato sauce to sell in Malawi.