THE South African government urged its citizens on Monday to light candles, torches and lanterns on Tuesday next week to demonstrate their commitment to tolerance, and said official torches would burn until the end of a world conference against racism. Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad, who made the plea, also asked South African churches to ring their bells and hold special services at noon on Tuesday, August 21, and asked motorists to turn their headlights on at the same time. The racism conference will start in Durban on August 31 and end on September 7. A new kind of prejudice taking root in the country, xenophobia, had to be nipped in the bud, he added. – AFP