EXPLAINER: The scandal engulfing South Africa's president
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa could face criminal charges and is already facing calls to step down over claims that he tried to cover up the theft of millions of dollars in U.S. currency that was hidden inside furniture at his game farm.
South Africa's Ramaphosa to speak about nation's challenges
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will Thursday outline how his government will tackle the country’s pressing problems including corruption, nationwide power cuts, high unemployment, a troubled economy and the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
My Polyglot Perspective on National Parks and Politics
I’m so excited to be writing this blog on the last day of January, as I have not missed a month of writing about national parks in 20 years. Enjoying coffee on the balcony and waiting for the first rays of the sun to appear over the mountains, I suddenly realized that I was looking at a national park!! Those rugged mountains are home to the Blue and John Crown Mountains National Park, a World Heritage Site designated by UNESCO. By extrapolation, I am a polyglot of national parks and the environment, speaking their language as an explorer, advocate, consultant to concessionaires and historical societies operating within the parks and multiple other capacities. I plan to share podcasts that look at current events through the eyes of a Jamaican-born woman who is receiving the National Parks Conservation Association’s Centennial Leadership Award in April and provide easy ways for us to make our leaders know what we value.
thewestsidegazette.comHope that South Africa's COVID-19 corruption inspires action
(AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, file)CAPE TOWN – There's some hope in South Africa that this time the outrage against corruption inspires effective action. The new charges of the misuse of public money earmarked to fight the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to be a turning point, say those experts. AdIt would be shocking, corruption experts say, if graft hadn't already been deeply entrenched in South Africa. “I get the outrage but not the surprise," said David Lewis, executive director of Corruption Watch in South Africa. South Africa was in recession even before the devastating effects of the virus.
Mexico's last island penal colony may now host cruise ships
Visitors will be able to tour the remote island jail, but not stay overnight. Ad“Visitors will have their first contact with the former island prison which for 100 years sheltered numerous criminals,” Torruco said. When Panama closed its Isla Coiba penal colony in 2004, Isla Marias became the last one remaining in the Americas. But in the end, the Islas Marias wound up costing Mexico far more per prisoner than did mainland jails. Chile closed its Santa Maria prison island in the late 1980s, Costa Rica’s Isla San Lucas penal colony closed in 1991 and Brazil’s Isla Grande in 1994.
Malala takes her passions to the small screen with Apple
FILE - Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize winner, appears at the Cricket World Cup opening party along The Mall in London, on May 29, 2019. In her home country, Pakistan, she was outspoken in insisting that girls have a right to an education. You know, I’m still at the stage where I’m exploring ideas. We are often told that you have to grow older and get a PhD or something, and then once you are 50 or 40, then you can change things. Follow that path if you want, but you can change things now as well.
South Africa's president fights own party over corruption
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa arrives at a hospital in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021, to receive a Johnson and Johnson vaccine. It's in defiance of Ramaphosa and ANC policy that officials facing corruption charges should step aside until their criminal cases are finalized. I’ll prove (it) in court," Magashule said outside the courthouse, where people wearing green and yellow ANC T-shirts gathered in support of him. Both Zuma and Magashule have challenged Ramaphosa since he replaced Zuma as ANC leader in 2017 and became South Africa's president in 2018. AdThat scandal further angered South Africans who have been inundated with allegations of high-level corruption during the state corruption commission, which is probing Zuma's time as president from 2009-18.
South Africans swap firecrackers for candles amid pandemic
Many South Africans will swap firecrackers for candles to mark New Year's Eve amid COVID-19 restrictions including a nighttime curfew responding to President Cyril Ramaphosa's call to light a candle to honor those who have died in the COVID-19 pandemic and the health workers who are on the frontline of battling the disease. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell)JOHANNESBURG – Many South Africans swapped firecrackers for candles to mark New Year’s Eve amid COVID-19 restrictions including a nighttime curfew. Urging all South Africans to battle the virus, Ramaphosa called on the nation to celebrate New Year’s Eve in a different way. Instead, the mayor of South Africa's largest city will light a candle on the landmark Nelson Mandela Bridge. At midnight he will light a candle with his family and pray for everybody who has suffered from the pandemic.
Mandela's widow, Graça Machel, says global leadership during the pandemic has been 'inadequate'
Graça Machel, an internationally-renowned advocate for equality and the widow of former South African President Nelson Mandela, told CNBC the response from global leaders to the Covid-19 crisis has been "inadequate." Machel, who is also the founder of the Foundation for Community Development in Mozambique, specifically criticized the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization. Trump has also previously cited what he called "the World Health Organization's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus." A senior administration official at the White House told CNBC that the president has been clear that the WHO needs to reform. We account for more than 40 percent of total global health funding," the official said in a statement.
cnbc.comRugbys Springboks are exactly what Mandela envisioned
We are incredibly proud to be South Africans, Tutu and his wife, Leah, said in a public message to the victorious South Africa team. Unlike 95, this wasnt at home and in front of Mandela, South Africas beloved anti-apartheid leader and first democratically elected president who died in 2013. The team Mandela cheered on in the 95 final was all white save for one player. And for years after Mandela and 95, rugby in South Africa remained a white-dominated sport and the Springboks a white-dominated team. On Saturday, South Africans cheered on their Springboks because they were truly their Springboks.
sfltimes.comNew Mount Olive Baptist Church Grants Scholarships and Laptop Computers to 2019 High School Graduates
Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the World. Attorney Nelson MandelaThe New Mount Olive Baptist Church celebrates its 101-year anniversary the weekend of November 8 10, 2019. Thechurch under his guidance and leadership established a scholarship in his honor. He acknowledges, that without financial assistance someof our high school graduates may not ever reach their goals. Olive must stay the course, remain vigilant and committed towards Gods word, leadership, nurturing and financial assistance for their success. Pastor Davidson and the entire New Mount Olive Family congratulate all of our graduates and pray for their ultimate success.
thewestsidegazette.comHell No! That is my message to those who would divide us
Mandela, upon being released from the South African jail where he spent 28 years, made Dearborn, Michigan, one of his very first stops on a trip that included addressing the United Nations. He stopped to speak to UAW Local 600 members to thank them for their anti-apartheid efforts to bring freedom to South Africa and to extol the America labor movement. It is you who have made the United States of America a superpower, a leader of the world, he told his audience. With a historic 55 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, the CBC represents 82 million Americans and more than 17 million African Americans. To the end of his days, he served as the honorary president of South Africas National Union of Mineworkers.
thewestsidegazette.comThis Week In History: Nelson Mandela freed from jail, Dick Cheney shoots his friend, and Donald Trump's divorce drama
Nelson Mandela is freed from jail after 27 years, Princess Diana announces her second pregnancy, and "Taxi Driver" makes its theater debut. All this and more as CBSN's Vladimir Duthiers and Kristine Johnson take a look in the CBS News archives in "The Way It Was."
cbsnews.comMorgan Freeman on "Madam Secretary," directing and his voice
The Academy Award-winner is one of the most sought-after actors in Hollywood, having played characters like a prisoner in "The Shawshank Redemption" to Nelson Mandela in "Invictus." He's even played god -- twice. Freeman joins “CBS This Morning” to discuss his experience directing and acting in Sunday night's premiere episode of “Madam Secretary.”
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