Tutu warns South Africans may pray for their govt’s downfall after snub to Dalai Lama

Archbishop Desmond Tutu tells the African National Congress Government that they are worse than the Apartheid regime.


Archbishop Tutu had invited the Dalai Lama to deliver a lecture at the former's 80th birthday celebrations. The Dalai Lama was to be given a peace price by Mahatma Gandhi's granddaughter. He has cancelled, however, because his visa is not yet forthcoming, something the Archbishop described as a "mindblowing discourtesy". It seems some blame pressure from the Chinese. The Government blames bureaucracy.

The Archbishop delivers a firecracker of a press conference in which in addition to comparing the present regime unfavourably with the Apartheid regime, he denounces the Chinese oppression in Tibet. Follow the link for the video. Read the rest of this post...

Mandela was furious with Blair over Iraq invasion

It would be interesting to hear what Nelson Mandela thinks of Blair today, including his role in the Middle East peace process. When Blair joined forces with Bush to attack Iraq, Mandela phoned one of the UK government ministers to voice his strong opposition. BBC:

He said: "He rang me up when I was a cabinet minister in 2003, after the invasion.

"He said: 'A big mistake, Peter, a very big mistake. It is wrong. Why is Tony doing this after all his support for Africa? This will cause huge damage internationally'.

"I had never heard Nelson Mandela so angry and frustrated.

"He clearly felt very, very strongly that the decision that the prime minister had taken - and that I as a member of the Cabinet had been party to - was fundamentally wrong and he told me it would destroy all the good things that Tony Blair and we, as a government, had done in progressive policy terms across the world.

"He was always full of praise for the way our government had trebled the overseas aid and development budget for Africa; he just felt that all of this had been completely blown out of the water by the Iraq invasion.

When you compare the two, it would be hard to imagine Mandela selling himself like a cheap whore to the highest bidder the way Blair has. Of course, Mandela was always a true leader whereas Blair never had it in him and he still doesn't. People like Mandela don't come around often which is why we're so often stuck with the likes of Blair. Read the rest of this post...

Video of whale crashing onto sailboat in South Africa

The quality is not great but wow. Boats can be repaired but I hope that the whale is OK. The crew said previously that they saw the same whale later and it seemed to be doing well. Read the rest of this post...

Desmond Tutu to retire from public life

What a loss for us all but completely understandable. It's impressive that Tutu has managed to fight for justice this long. He has never shied away from criticizing those who deserve criticism and he has consistently fought for equality for everyone. Rather than backing down from a fight because the issue was controversial (for others) Tutu has never shown fear. World leaders could learn a lot from him.

"Instead of growing old gracefully, at home with my family, reading and writing and praying and thinking, too much of my time has been spent at airports and in hotels," Tutu said. "The time has now come to slow down, to sip rooibos tea with my beloved wife in the afternoons, to watch cricket, to travel to visit my children and grandchildren, rather than to conferences and conventions and university campuses."

Tutu trained as a teacher, but his anger at the poor education offered to black children turned him towards the clergy. His position in the church afforded him a degree of protection from the authorities, which he used to great effect in criticising the apartheid system, to the annoyance of the white minority government.

He was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1984. Two years later he became archbishop of Cape Town, the first black man to hold the position. In 1994, when an all-race election was held, he coined the term "rainbow nation", and introduced Nelson Mandela as president which, he said today, was one of the greatest moments of his life. "I said to God, 'God, if I die now, I don't really mind.'"

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Here's a real soccer star

What a beauty. Read the rest of this post...

Desmond Tutu blasts corruption in government

He also had some very positive remarks as well including the country staying together following the murder of the white supremacist Eugene Terre'Blanche. The bulk of his criticism was probably aimed at the shamed ANC Youth leader Julius Malema who is eager to stoke racial hatreds and divides. If South Africa ever falls into the hands of Malema or anyone like him, it's game over and another Zimbabwe. The world needs a lot more like Desmond Tutu.

Expanding on this, Tutu wrote: "Issues such as corruption would certainly hurt him, as well as the gutter level of discourse by some politicians within the ruling party. We naively thought struggle attributes such as altruism were transferable, but sadly this was not the case, as seen by the high level of corruption that has plagued us since we gained our democracy."

The 78-year-old continued: "Poverty, health issues such as HIV and Aids, inadequate service delivery and lack of balanced discourse are some of the issues that would worry Mandela. One would have imagined that in our old age, we would sit back and watch the younger generation making a go of turning South Africa into a pride."

The remarks could be seen as a swipe at Julius Malema, president of the African National Congress youth wing, who faced a party disciplinary hearing over his recent behaviour. Malema has hurled personal abuse at opponents, been convicted by a court of hate speech, and called a BBC journalist a "bastard" and "bloody agent". He has also been accused of using his connections for financial gain.

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It's time for the ANC to stop singing violent songs

Thanks to the leadership of Nelson Mandela, South Africa managed to peacefully move from the apartheid regime to the democratic government. It's not hard to understand that hatreds can take a long time to overcome when you think about the history there. Compared to many other governments across the continent, South Africa has fared very well and has prospered. Attempts to diversify the economic benefits throughout the population have been slow which has led to considerable frustration. That said, it's probably a good time for the ANC to stop singing songs about killing white people or grabbing your machine gun.

The outside world already talks about the violence in South Africa and with the World Cup arriving quickly, having political leaders singing songs of violence is not going to improve the image. Then again, maybe the leadership doesn't care about the image. As I've said before, I spent a lot of time traveling throughout South Africa and never once had any issue with violence.

Tension between every group - black, white and Asian - was always obvious though. South Africa needs to start behaving like the fantastic country that it is and move forward. Besides, the "kill the white person" song is especially ridiculous coming from an ANC leader who was practically a baby when Mandela came to power. Maybe he feels like a tough guy singing it but for the rest of the world he looks silly. Think like Mandela and be bigger than the hatred.

South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) has told its members to refrain from singing the anti-apartheid struggle song "Shoot the Boer".

It comes amid rising racial tensions following the weekend murder of white supremacist leader Eugene Terreblanche.

His supporters have blamed ANC youth leader Julius Malema for inflaming the situation by singing the song.

The ANC's Gwede Mantashe said the death had no political motive but the song had contributed to racial polarisation.

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South Africa going on high-carbon diet

It's unfortunate that South Africa is doing down this path. The good news is that they want financial assistance from the World Bank to build a new dirty coal plant, so this would be a good opportunity to reject that plan and encourage South Africa to build a cleaner alternative. The Guardian:

With its sky-high poverty levels and average life expectancy of just 51 years, South Africa is not a country we generally associate with extravagant binge-flying lifestyles, turbo-consumerism, and shopping trips to New York. How bizarre then that per capita carbon emissions in South Africa are now higher than in many European countries. While most South Africans are unlikely to ever own a plasma screen TV or Hummer, their carbon footprints still appear to be only slightly less than your average Japanese, and their national carbon emissions are now greater than those of France.

The situation becomes more comprehensible when you look at South Africa's industrial base, with 60% of South Africa's electricity being guzzled by heavy industry, and most of that comes from dirty coal. Now this key global climate player wants another coal station that would pollute as much as the two dirtiest plants in Britain put together, and cause a further surge in its national emissions – and they want you to pay for it. Far from benefiting ordinary South Africans, they will also be forced into subsidising this artificially low-cost electricity, for the benefit of multinational mining companies. It's no wonder that African civil society movements are leading the opposition to this development.

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Cultural attack or brutal honesty?

Supporting the family of any president is going to be expensive but in this case, the number is considerably higher than in the past. The new South African president has three wives and twenty children. The estimated budget for supporting the family of the new president is over $2 million which is almost three times the budget of the last family. Most costs are going to be much less in South Africa where the average household income is around $10,000 so these costs are noticeably high. Surely the issue is also an attempt by others to highlight the issue of polygamy as well as his tribe (Zulu) which accepts polygamy.

There was some friction a few weeks ago when Zuma visited the UK and he fought back against the UK press who repeatedly attacked his culture, in his opinion. At the time, I had noticed that even the normal press on left had one article about Zuma that somehow included a photo of him in tribal clothing though the article was about his visit to the UK. Seemed like a stretch and a silly attempt to diminish his position. I take issue with Zuma's history, his recent support for Mugabe and polygamy but am tiring of the cultural attacks. Does a large family really encourage corruption? That hasn't stopped individuals or leaders with smaller families, has it?

Is it fair to criticize such expenses or is it just another cheap shot against a different culture? The Guardian:

A bitter row has erupted in South Africa after it emerged that taxpayers are spending more than 15.5m rand (£1.3m) a year to support President Jacob Zuma's three wives and some of his 20 children.

The figure, almost double the presidential spousal budget a year ago, was condemned as "exorbitant" by the opposition leader, Helen Zille, who claimed the size of Zuma's family "makes corruption almost inevitable".

This prompted a sharp riposte from the governing African National Congress, which accused Zille, who is white, of "cultural intolerance". Zuma, 68, is a member of the Zulu tribe, in which polygamy is a traditional practice.

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Winnie Mandela denies critical interview

Ahh, the good old "deny everything" approach. So ignore the photos of her meeting the interviewer Nadira Naipaul and her husband, Nobel laureate VS Naipaul during the interview. Sounds like a tough sell. Here's the original interview including the photograph.

The story took a new turn today when the 73-year-old rejected the inflammatory comments attributed to her.

"I did not give … an interview. It is therefore not necessary for me to respond in any detail to the contents of a fabricated interview," she said in a statement distributed by the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

"I will in the coming days deal with what I see as an inexplicable attempt to undermine the unity of my family, the legacy of Nelson Mandela and the high regard with which the name Mandela is held here and across the globe."

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Winnie Mandela slams Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu

I guess she forgot to also include Mother Theresa during her rant. Nobody ever said Nelson Mandela or Desmond Tutu were perfect but to attack two of the most respected people in African and world politics like this is nutty. It's especially annoying considering Winnie Mandela's own shady past. Unifying a country after decades of hate was really terrible, wasn't it? Barking mad:

Nelson Mandela's ex-wife has bitterly criticized the 92-year-old anti-apartheid icon as having "let us down," prompting outrage Wednesday in South Africa.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela said she could not forgive him for accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 alongside F.W. De Klerk, according to Tuesday's Evening Standard, a British newspaper. The white president released Mandela and went on to participate in negotiations that ended apartheid.

"He agreed to a bad deal for the blacks. Economically, we are still on the outside. The economy is very much 'white.' It has a few token blacks, but so many who gave their life in the struggle have died unrewarded," Madikizela-Mandela was quoted as saying.

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New South African government focusing on science to fight AIDS

It's about time. As beneficial as a good diet can be for general health and especially those who are sick, it still doesn't replace proven medicine. The problem has been much too serious for too long so it's a positive sign for a very hard hit country.

The United States is giving South Africa $120 million for AIDS treatment drugs in response to a plea from President Jacob Zuma that underlines his new approach to fighting the epidemic in the country with the world's heaviest AIDS burden.

His predecessor's health minister distrusted drugs developed to keep AIDS patients alive, instead promoting beets and garlic treatments. Zuma, who took over after April elections, and his health minister have said former President Thabo Mbeki's AIDS policies were wrong. Zuma's government has set a target of getting 80 percent of those who need AIDS drugs on them by 2011.

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Poverty gap continues to increase in South Africa

Thabo Mbeki failed South Africa in so many ways. He could have been worse, but it's sometimes hard to see how. AFP:

The Development Indicators report showed that the income of South Africa's poorest 10 percent rose by a third from 783 rand (105 US dollars, 71 euros) in 1993 to 1,041 rand a month in 2008.

The richest 10 percent got richer by nearly 38 percent over the same period.

While the report acknowledges a "racial underpinning" of inequality, figures show that while black South Africans' salaries increased by 38 percent, the incomes of white South Africans jumped by 83.5 percent between 1995 and 2008.

Haroon Bhorat, an economist with the University of Cape Town, said sustained growth up until about 2006 had partially reduced poverty, but at the same time the gap between the rich and the poor had widened.

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Pigeon mail?

No matter how bad your ISP may be, they're hopefully still better than this. As much as I love South Africa, their phone and internet network is awful.

Local news agency SAPA reported the 11-month-old pigeon, Winston, took one hour and eight minutes to fly the 80 km (50 miles) from Unlimited IT's offices near Pietermaritzburg to the coastal city of Durban with a data card was strapped to his leg.

Including downloading, the transfer took two hours, six minutes and 57 seconds -- the time it took for only four percent of the data to be transferred using a Telkom line.

SAPA said Unlimited IT performed the stunt after becoming frustrated with slow internet transmission times.

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Pepper spray added to ATMs in South Africa

My first thought was "huh, so how does someone trigger it if they're being robbed while at the ATM" but of course, they don't. It's to protect the machine and its cash from being physically removed or damaged due to a rapidly increasing problem. Whatever successful attempt to crack into the ATMs has definitely been repeated a few times though I'm not sold on this pepper spray model. The banks around the world always take care of number one.

Cash machines offer an ever-growing menu of services beyond merely dispensing money. For tampering criminals, this now includes a squirt of pepper spray in the face .

The extreme measure is the latest in South Africa's escalating war against armed robbers who target banks and cash delivery vans. The number of cash machines blown up with explosives has risen from 54 in 2006 to 387 in 2007 and nearly 500 last year.

The technology uses cameras to detect people tampering with the card slots. Another machine then ejects pepper spray to stun the culprit while police response teams race to the scene.

But the mechanism backfired in one incident last week when pepper spray was inadvertently inhaled by three technicians who required treatment from paramedics.

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'Shocking' report on rape in South Africa

South Africa has come a long way in terms of at least discussing it's trouble past of race relations. Unfortunately they're still struggling to get serious about rape but maybe with a horrifying study like this, the debate may start to change. During my time in South Africa I had to stop reading the newspapers due to the ugly stories of rape, often related to false HIV cure myths or gang rapes. As much as I loved the country, the reports were beyond anything I ever read anywhere.

Nearly 28 percent of men interviewed said they had forced a woman or girl to have sexual intercourse against her will, according to the survey. It said that 14 percent said they had raped a former or current girlfriend; 12 percent said they had raped someone who was not their partner; and 10 percent said they had raped both a stranger and a partner.

The research council survey said that nearly 20 percent of those who admitted sexual abuse had the AIDS virus — only slightly higher than the 18 percent infection rate among men not involved in rape.

It said that 17 percent of the men surveyed admitted to attempted rape, and 9 percent said they had taken part in gang rapes. In all, 42 percent of men surveyed said they had been physically violent to an intimate partner (current or ex-girlfriend or wife), including 14 percent in the past year.

"Our study suggests that the pathway which leads to these ideas and the practices of rape and other forms of violence toward women starts in childhood," said Jewkes, head of the research council's gender and health unit. She said the results backed up findings of earlier research among younger men.

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South African peace conference postponed after they ban the Dalai Lama

(NOTE FROM JOHN: Chris wrote about this overnight, and I was going to write a separate post so folks saw it. It's important. And illustrative of the worst of human nature. South Africa, a country of people who were up until recently brutally oppressed by others, is turning its back on Tibet, a country of people who are brutally oppressed by others. Why? Because of money. It's absolutely sickening. It also shows how quickly even the best of us can forget where we came from. The struggle really never ends.)

The gutless wonders in the ANC have botched it yet again. They've chosen cash over human rights. If ever there was a country that should appreciate standing up for human rights it is South Africa.

An international peace conference in Johannesburg has been postponed after South Africa refused the Dalai Lama a visa to attend the event....

South Africa thinks that, if the Dalai Lama attended the conference, the focus would shift away from the 2010 World Cup — the global soccer championship it will host next year.

“We cannot allow focus to shift to China and Tibet,” said presidential spokesman Thabo Masebe, adding that South Africa has gained much from its trading relationship with China.

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South Africa supports pro-apartheid approach

Business is more important than human rights. Back during the bad years, the apartheid government, and friends like the Republicans in the US, all supported a policy of putting business before human rights. What cowards they are today in the ANC.

South Africa barred the Dalai Lama from a peace conference in Johannesburg this week, saying Monday it did not want to endanger the government's relationship with China. The move prompted sharp criticism from the Nobel Committee, among others.

Thabo Masebe, spokesman for President Kgalema Motlanthe, said now was not the time for such a high-profile visit from the Tibetan spiritual leader and added that South Africa hoped to avoid being "the source of negative publicity about China."....

"We do value our relationship with China," Masebe said Monday.

Too bad the ANC doesn't value peace and human rights. How quickly some forget. Read the rest of this post...

New South African health minister seeks AIDS vaccine

What a pleasant change from the previous policy of pretending as though there isn't a problem. I would be the last person to argue against using foods to help address health issues but there is no replacement for a serious medical approach to a serious health problem. To deny medical treatment in such an environment, especially since funding was not the issue as it is elsewhere, is irresponsible and dangerous. During my own travels across South Africa and the region, I was shocked at toll AIDS has taken. It's one thing to read about it but quite another to see fresh graves in every town and village. How the previous minister could sleep at night always escaped me.

South Africa’s new health minister asked scientists on Monday to intensify their efforts to find an AIDS vaccine amid widespread gloom overrecent research setbacks.

Health Minister Barbara Hogan said government policies over the past 10 years had failed. Her speech Monday marked a radical break in policy from her predecessor Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who had downplayed the seriousness of the epidemic, mistrusted anti-AIDS medicines and instead advocated garlic and beetroot as a remedy.

Hogan told an international AIDS vaccine conference that countries such as South Africa — where life expectancy has fallen to 52 years — desperately need scientists to come up with a weapon against HIV.

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Mugabe's police raid opposition HQ and take 60 people

Most of those taken by police were women and children who had been seeking refuge from the political violence. Thabo Mbeki's "quiet diplomacy" could not be any more quiet if he tried. What a horrible failure Mbeki has been and it's no wonder the opposition MDC views him as a Mugabe ally rather than an independent observer. Read the rest of this post...