Despite the provocations of its title, Lewis Nkosi’s new novel, <i>Mandela’s Ego</i>, says little about Mandela himself, writes David Attwell
The FBI uncovered a plot to bomb New York’s Holland Tunnel, subways and other tunnels by Muslim extremists, one of whom has been arrested in Beirut, The Daily News reported on Friday. The daily said the terrorists hoped to flood lower Manhattan’s financial district.
South African President Thabo Mbeki led the tributes to Percy Sonn, who was named as the new president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday. ”The ICC was the first international sports body to recognise a democratic South Africa through the membership of the United Cricket Board of South Africa in 1991,” said Mbeki.
The South African Chamber of Business says although the announcement of a proposed fuel levy to be implemented in the Western Cape comes as no surprise, the timing of the announcement by the region’s Transport MEC is ”unfortunate.” The figure of the proposed fuel levy has not yet been announced, although sources have suggested figures of between 10 and 50 cents per litre.
Britain fell silent for two minutes on Friday in memory of the victims of the London bombings, as its top police officer warned that the threat of more outrages has ”palpably increased” in the year since then. It was the worst terrorist to date attack on British soil, as well as Europe’s first experience with a suicide bombing.
While South Africa will urge North Korea to stop its missile testing, it is not convinced that United Nations Security Council action is the best way to solve the crisis, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Aziz Pahad said on Friday. He said the issue will be on the agenda for a meeting on Tuesday with his North Korean counterpart.
Serious crime has decreased in Johannesburg, with a 5,6% drop in murders, a 9,9% drop in hijackings and an 18,8% decrease in attempted murders during the metro police’s Operation Token Days. ”There is a huge mountain of work which has been done,” Johannesburg metro police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said on Friday.
A former Rwandan mayor convicted for the country’s 1994 genocide saw his 30-year sentence boosted to life in prison on Friday, as a United Nations-backed court rejected his appeal, accusing him of ”sadism”. Appeals judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda said the term handed down in June 2004 to Sylvestre Gacumbitsi had been too lenient.
A mini-documentary will put destination South Africa on centre stage during the final 2006 Fifa championship match between France and Italy on July 9, South African Tourism said in a statement on Friday. The two-minute production will be screened on giant television screens in Berlin’s Olympiastadion during half-time.
Zimbabwean gay rights activist Keith Goddard has been arrested five times, beaten up by police and warned to stop his ”deviant” life. But he says he never wants to leave his African home. ”I made sure that I followed all the regulations to get rid of my British nationality so that the government would never come up with an excuse to throw me out,” says Goddard (46).