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/ 12 October 2007
Three doors down from the old home of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela, make-up artists apply the finishing touches to the presenters of Soweto TV as they prepare to host a daily debate. ”Welcome to Dlala Ngeringas [Fun Debate],” says Zuko Xabanisa as the cameras start rolling in the classroom-turned-studio.
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/ 25 September 2007
Soweto, the vast township that was synonymous with neglect and revolt during apartheid, will become home to one of South Africa’s largest shopping malls this week when one of the country’s original black entrepreneurs fulfils a three-decade long dream.
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/ 19 September 2007
Some of South Africa’s most famous artists, including singer Johnny Clegg, have accused the country’s public broadcaster of demanding bribes if they want to be heard on air. ”It’s a very crazy situation … that we local musicians have to pay to get airplay on radio stations,” said Clegg, who is nicknamed the White Zulu.
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/ 12 September 2007
Samson Mashaba struggles to retain his sense of humour as he waits to see his doctor. ”If you’re unlucky, you’ll die standing here,” says the 69-year-old as he surveys the queue ahead of him at a rural hospital in Mpumalanga. While South Africa may boast some of the finest hospitals on the continent in cities like Johannesburg and Cape Town, rural healthcare is dogged by a lack of cash, personnel and facilities.
In sacking his deputy health minister, a vocal critic of the government’s Aids policies, South African President Thabo Mbeki has finally bared his authoritarian fangs, analysts said. Mbeki last week dismissed Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, who had campaigned vigorously for a more scientific approach to the battle against HIV/Aids.
Riots, marches on Parliament and the lynching of a local official have highlighted growing unrest at the failure to improve the lives of South Africans who bore the brunt of apartheid. ”It is like we are not living in South Africa, we are not part of the democracy everyone enjoys,” says Ngethembi Myaka.
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Nelson Mandela, the icon of South Africa’s struggle against apartheid, marked his 89th birthday on Wednesday by launching his fellow elder statesmen on a new venture to reduce conflict and despair. The former South African president was the host and star turn at a ceremony to announce the formation of a brains trust of world leaders.
South Africa’s public broadcaster will this week launch a rolling news network that aims to provide an African perspective in a market previously dominated by Western broadcasters. South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) News International will be officially launched by President Thabo Mbeki on July 20.
South Africa could experience a total economic shutdown on Wednesday as hundreds of thousands more public-sector workers join an ongoing strike in a pay dispute, labour unions warned on Tuesday. ”It’s going to be a total shutdown … in public services and the economy,” said Willie Madisha, president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions.
Martha Shilange and her fellow commuters dived flat on the ground when the bullets began flying around their heads in the latest bout of deadly violence between warring taxi firms in Johannesburg. ”It’s no longer safe travelling in these taxis, but what can we do?,” said the domestic worker after dusting herself down and continuing with her journey into town.