Nana Rawlings injured in car crash

The wife of former Ghanaian president Jerry Rawlings was slightly injured in a traffic accident in Johannesburg on Thursday, metro police said.

Inspector Edna Mamonyane said the accident happened around 8.30am on the M1 highway near the Glenhove road offramp.

"The Johannesburg metro police and the SA police service were escorting the former president and his wife when the metro police officers leading the convoy swerved to avoid an accident," said Mamonyane.

"Everyone in the convoy also swerved to avoid the accident but the bodyguards travelling behind the former president collided with his vehicle, causing an accident in which his wife was injured."

Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings was taken to Milpark hospital in a stable condition.

Mamonyane said no one else was injured in the accident.

Tanzania, Ghana ex-presidents in S.Africa car crash

Two cars carrying former presidents of Tanzania and Ghana were involved in a crash in Johannesburg on Thursday, and one of the two ex-rulers was briefly admitted in hospital, officials and police said.

Ali Hassan Mwinyi of Tanzania was taken to Johannesburg's Morningside Clinic for checks after the early morning accident. Hospital officials said he was unharmed and had been released.

"He just seemed to be in shock, and was taken to hospital to make sure he is ok," an official at Tanzania's High Commission in Pretoria, Felix Mwijarubi, said.

Nana Rawlings, wife of Ghana's ex-president Jerry Rawlings, was taken to another hospital in the South African city after the car in which Mwinyi was travelling rammed into the rear of the one ferrying the Rawlings' to a meeting.

"The former first lady was slightly injured and was taken to hospital," police spokeswoman Edna Mamonyane said. Hospital officials declined to comment.

A Ghana embassy spokesman said Rawlings appeared to have been unharmed, and had joined the conference.

Mwinyi and Rawlings were in a convoy of several police-escorted cars taking 10 former African leaders to the start of a two-day meeting on U.S-Africa relations, an annual event held at the University of the Witwatersrand.