Johannesburg - Nine people, including four children, died when their light aircraft crashed in mountains in north-east South Africa, police said Monday.

The plane was travelling from Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport, near the renowned Kruger National Park, towards the central city of Bloemfontein, when it disappeared Sunday in bad weather.

Rescue workers on Monday found the bodies of the pilot and two families, each with two children, in a mountainous area of Mpumalanga province, which borders Mozambique.

Johannesburg- Two weeks after former South African president Thabo Mbeki was forced by his party to resign, his ouster continued to make waves Sunday, with respected Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu threatening to boycott upcoming general elections over the move.

"I would be sufficiently unhappy not to vote," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and renowned anti-apartheid activist told the Sunday Times, South Africa's biggest selling newspaper, in an interview.

Johannesburg - South Africa's petrochemical giant Sasol on Friday announced it would appeal a hefty fine imposed on it by the European Commission for participating in a cartel in the paraffin wax business.

While making clear it was not quibbling with the Commission's finding of anti-competitive behaviour, Sasol questioned how the European Union's executive arm had concluded that it was the ringleader in the 10-company "paraffin mafia".

Sasol also questioned whether the 318-million-euro (445 million dollars) fine was appropriate.

Johannesburg  - South Africa's rhinoceros population is under threat from poachers, who are killing the leathery quadripeds in growing numbers for their valuable horns, according to a report released Wednesday.

The Witness daily in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal reported that 12 white rhinos had been killed in game reserves in the province so far this year. Their horns were harvested and the carcasses left to rot.

A spokesman for the provincial wildlife authority, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, confirmed the killings, which marks a steep increase on previous years.

Harare - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has described as "devastating" the removal from office of his South African counterpart Thabo Mbeki, who is seen as a key ally of the of ageing authoritarian Mugabe in the last eight years.

"It's devastating news that President Thabo Mbeki is no longer the president of South Africa," the Zimbabwe's state-controlled daily Herald newspaper quoted Mugabe as saying Thursday.

"But that is the action of the South African people," he added. "Who are we to judge them? But it is very disturbing."

Mugabe was speaking to journalists from Zimbabwe's state media in New York where he is due to address the United Nations general assembly.