(NNPA/GIN)—All South Africans will enjoy national health insurance under a program scheduled to kick off in 2011 and be implemented during a period of 14 years.

Details of the program were discussed recently at the mid-term conference of the African National Congress.

Thousands are attending the week-long review of the party’s progress in the port city of Durban which featured health care high on the agenda.

by Bashir Adigun

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP)—President Goodluck Jon­athan announced Sept. 15 on Facebook that he will run in the oil-rich nation’s January election, ending months of speculation over his plans after he assumed power following the death of Nigeria’s elected leader.

ANNOUNCES CANDIDACY—In this May 31 file photo, Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan waves as he arrives for a dinner at the Prefecture in Nice, southern France, during the 25th Africa-France Summit.

Jonathan’s announcement, as well as a campaign rally last Wednesday by former military dictator Ibrahim Babangida, signaled the start of campaigning ahead of the Jan. 22 presidential election in Africa’s most populous nation.

JOHANNESBURG (AP)—A 16-year-old who believes she was kicked out of class for speaking her first language at school has prompted government investigations, and the case is demonstrating how volatile the issue of language in education remains in South Africa.

School officials insist a disciplinary problem and not racism sparked the case, but it’s now making headlines a generation after hundreds here were killed when students revolted over being forced to learn in Afrikaans, the language of their White oppressors under apartheid.

VOLATILE SITUATION—This photo taken Sept. 22, shows 16-year-old twin sisters Luthando and Lusanda Nxasana in their Johannesburg home after a day at school. (AP Photo/Tawnada Mudimu)

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP)—Sales of beer have surged by 50 percent in Zimbabwe over the past year amid the misery of daily power and water outages and ongoing economic woes.

BEER SALES SURGE—A man drinks a beer in Harare, Sept, 9. Beer sales have surged by 50 percent in Zimbabwe over the past year amid the misery of daily power and water outages and ongoing economic woes.

Health authorities also are reporting increases in illnesses linked to the consumption of illegal, homemade drinks with a high alcohol content made from potatoes, rags, chemicals, rotting vegetables and sugar.

One illegal liquor distilled over wood fires in the bush around Harare is known as “Take Me Quick.”