Pretoria  - South Africa on Tuesday confirmed it had provided its ailing neighbour Zimbabwe with humanitarian aid to the tune of 300 million rands (30 million dollars).

The move amounted to an about-turn on the part of Pretoria that had initially made the formation of a unity government in Zimbabwe the condition for such assistance.

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.

Sydney, Dec 19 : Legendary South African cricketer Barry Richards believes that Matthew Hayden can revitalise his Test career by using Allan Border as his mature age role model.

Richards believes the mounting scrutiny of Hayden's Test place has prompted him to adopt an aggressive mindset where he is trying to prove people wrong.

He feels Hayden, 37, is at his best when he adopts the more patient style that triggered his return to form with a century against England at the Oval in 2005 after a lengthy form slump, FOX Sports reported.

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- 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.