British Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed to commit British troops to battle in Iraq in the full knowledge that Washington had failed to make adequate preparations for the post-war reconstruction of the country. The disclosures come in a new television documentary about Blair’s decade in Downing Street.
As children, we used to play a game of hide-and-seek called ”black mampatile”. One of us was asked to look the other way while the others would quickly scatter in search of a place to hide. Another version of the game involved hiding an object; to know that s/he was looking in the right direction, the searcher would be guided by those who knew the location of the object.
Years ago I had a conversation with somebody in Cape Town who was helping to develop a tourism marketing plan. She told me that the largest number of tourists to South Africa came from the continent and that they spent the most money. None of this was the result of a plan — at least up to that point.
Replacement back Francois Steyn knocked over two late drop goals to give South Africa a nail-biting 22-19 win over Australia at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday in the Tri-Nations opener of 2007. Trailing 10-19 after 44 minutes, the Springboks rallied to score 12 unanswered points in the second half.
At Youth Day celebrations in East London on Saturday, President Thabo Mbeki questioned whether this generation is living up to the tradition of past youth leadership. Also, African National Congress deputy president Jacob Zuma called on the party’s youth to go to its upcoming policy conference and be clear on what they want.
The development and empowerment of South Africa’s youth must form one of the focal points of the country’s reconstruction and development programmes, President Thabo Mbeki said in his weekly online letter. But, he questioned whether the youth is well organised to play the role of drivers of progressive change.
More than 2Â 000 jobs in road construction and maintenance in Gauteng will go to young people, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa told a Youth Day rally at the Johannesburg Stadium on Saturday. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change said the ”spectacular courage” shown by the youth of South Africa on June 16 1976 inspires Zimbabwe’s youth.
Six men, including a former Zimbabwe army officer charged with allegedly plotting a coup against President Robert Mugabe, will appear in the High Court next Friday on treason charges, their lawyer said on Saturday. The six were late on Friday refused bail at the request of state prosecutors by the High Court.
A car buried half a century ago in a time capsule had been transformed into a hunk of junk by the time it was unveiled on Friday as part of Oklahoma’s Centennial. The concrete vault was built in 1957 and meant to be opened this year to celebrate Oklahoma’s Centennial as an American state.
A convicted double murderer in Texas is holding a joke contest on the internet so he can use the winning entry as his last words when he is sentenced to die by lethal injection on June 26. Convicted of murdering two neighbours in 1991, Patrick Knight has spent the past 16 years on death row in Texas.