Newspaper posters hang along the sides of Johannesburg’s roads, telling the latest horrifying news: babies raped and people slaughtered. Electric fences and armed-response signs surround many homes in the city. It’s no wonder that youngsters from other countries staying in the city’s backpackers’ hostels think they know all about South Africa’s crime rate.
A wrong telephone number dialled by a 12-year-old girl sent Taiwanese security officials scrambling after the ambassador from Swaziland was threatened with death. The girl decided to chastise a friend for missing a date and, against the grain in Chinese-speaking Taiwan, she chose the English language to do it.
The Democratic Alliance accused the government on Monday of poor urban planning and allowing ”soulless slums” to develop. ”The legacy of the ANC government’s housing programme is mile upon mile of tiny, box-like houses, unbroken by trees, churches or parks,” the DA said in a statement.
An extra-large condom has been launched for South Africa’s well-endowed men. Durex brand manager Stuart Roberts said there is a huge demand for larger condoms in South Africa. ”A large number of South African men are bigger and complain about condoms being uncomfortable and too small,” Roberts said.
A gay Mexican man with HIV/Aids has been granted asylum in the United States after a judge ruled he would be in danger of persecution in his home country. The appeals court in San Francisco overturned earlier rulings in a case that has been closely watched by human rights campaigners.
The African National Congress has hailed the development of Afrikaans over the past 130 years as an inspiration for South Africa’s other indigenous languages. It has also pledged its commitment to protecting and promoting Afrikaans as well as South Africa’s other indigenous languages.
President Thabo Mbeki called on the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Monday to mobilise for the African National Congress in the upcoming local government elections. ”We will, of course, win the upcoming local government elections,” Mbeki told a Cosatu central committee meeting.
For children in Mozambique who are orphaned by Aids, burying parents may simply signal the start of their battle with the pandemic. All too often, these orphans also find themselves among those most at risk of contracting HIV. A conference was held recently in Maputo to discuss support for the elderly in caring for orphans.
”Crisis? What crisis?” asks the leader of an African country in which children are starving. Juxtapose his words with a picture of a malnourished baby, and the story writes itself. But the story of Niger may not be quite as simple as the media script. For one thing, Niger’s President Mamadou Tanja may be right when says there is no famine in his country.
The Japanese prime minister on Monday apologised for atrocities committed by his country during World War II, on the 60th anniversary of the end of the conflict. In a written statement, Junichiro Koizumi expressed his ”deep reflections and heartfelt apology” for Japan’s colonisations and invasions in Asia during the war.