CONTINENTAL DRIFT

Beauty queen on death row

Amnesty International in Kenya has condemned the death sentence handed down to 24-year-old Ruth Kamande for murdering her boyfriend in 2015. Kamande, who won a prison beauty pageant while awaiting trial, was convicted in May of stabbing her partner, Farid Mohammed, 25 times. The death penalty is still provided for under Kenyan law but has not been applied since 1987. Rights groups say they are concerned the country still uses this “inhumane form of punishment”.

Ex-minister sentenced in Zim

A Zimbabwe court has found a former energy minister guilty of corruption. Samuel Undenge, a minister in former president Robert Mugabe’s Cabinet, has been sentenced to four years in jail. He will only serve two and a half years, with 18 months suspended. Undenge has been accused of issuing a $12 650 contract to a company that did no work. His lawyers say he will appeal the court’s “shocking” decision.

Elephants re-homed in Moz

Diamond producer De Beers has opted to relocate 200 elephants from its Limpopo game farm Venetia to Mozambique, because Venetia is overpopulated. Mozambique’s elephants are threatened with extinction because of poaching. De Beers will also donate $500 000 over the next five years to the Peace Parks Foundation nongovernmental organisation to combat poaching in Mozambique. Sixty of the elephants will be homed at the state-owned Zinave National Park, which spans 408 000 hectares.

Former slave runs for office