THE WEST may not like him, but Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe last week received a standing ovation when he arrived for the inauguration of South African President Thabo Mbeki. African dignitaries rose to their feet at Pretoria’s Union Buildings as the Zimbabwean leader arrived for the ceremony, accompanied by his wife Grace, as thousands of ordinary South Africans on lawns below the buildings whooped and cheered.

"We take pride in the great cheer the people gave President Mugabe, who clearly is welcome here despite attempts by some people to demonise him," gushed Simon Moyo, Zimbabwe’s ambassador to South Africa.

UGANDA’S MILITARY police last week arrested Major Charles Tebarura for allegedly torturing a subordinate by having him dragged behind a truck. The arrest came just weeks after a report by an international rights group said the use of torture against suspected political opponents was endemic in the Ugandan military and security forces.

Tebarura was placed under house arrest at his military barracks in the western town of Mbarara.

DR MARGARET Gachara, the former head of Kenya's National Aids Control Council (NACC) who is facing charges of defrauding the body of over $300,000, must think that the gods have abandoned her. 

Five times she has applied for bail, and five times the judges concerned have said Nyet!, consigning the lady, just months ago one of the country's highest flying civil servants, to prison garb.

THE PARENTS of a 13-year old Kenyan girl who had been raped were shocked when the police told them to investigate the whereabouts of the 28-year old suspect. According to the parents, officers at Kiganjo Police Station advised that the mother accompany her defiled daughter to a neighbouring village to look for the villain.

"This was the most outrageous thing I had ever heard," the girl's father protested to the press. "I refused outright as doing this would have exposed my wife and traumatised daughter to more danger."
 

KENYA'S SALARY increment epidemic last week spread to pensioners, with retired police officers asking the government to raise their stipends to levels commensurate with the salaries now being paid to working officers.

Of course, if the government even as much as entertains such a request, it will have to cope with millions of other pensioners, some going back to the Second World War, asking for a piece of the pie.

Police in Texas, US, last week said that they had no choice but to go by the book when they handcuffed a 97-year-old woman and took her to jail for failing to pay a traffic ticket.

Harriette Kelton was arrested after officers stopped her for having an expired registration and inspection sticker and realised there was a warrant for her arrest for failing to pay a traffic ticket. 

"A warrant begins with the words, 'You are hereby commanded to arrest'," police spokesman Detective Randy Millican said. "How do you decide who do you arrest and who you don’t? How about at age 90 but not at 91 and up? How about between 17 and 20?"

But handcuffing a 97-year old?

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