President Robert Mugabe will soon put before Parliament a Bill that will divert NGOs’ attention and energies from educating voters for the March 2005 election towards navel-gazing and concerns about their own survival. The Mugabe government blames human rights NGOs for its poor report card from the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights.
South Africa’s golden boys led Olympic news in Greece and the United States after Roland Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend and Ryk Neethling broke the world 4x100m relay record for gold in the biggest upset of the Athens Olympics so far. Ta Nea (The News) headlined its story: ”4x100m lashed by SA storm”.
SA swimming team win gold
”This is a war [in Iraq] which is splitting the world along religious lines … but the human race must not allow this to happen,” said Sheikh Mohammed Idriss, the leader of Kenya’s Council of Imams, a group with influence throughout East Africa — a region home to millions of Muslims. But while Idriss preached tolerance, African Muslims are being targeted in the war against terror.
The slogan of the Athens games is ”Welcome home”. Unfortunately for organisers, home is where the majority of Athenians appear to have stayed during the opening weekend of the Olympics. There was an anti-climactic feel to the start of competition at some venues, following the dramatic and well-received opening ceremony of the games’ official opening on Friday night in front of a sellout 77 000 crowd.
The men’s 100m relay swimming team opened the South African medal account at the Olympic Games in Athens on Sunday when they won gold, in a world record-breaking time of 3:13,17. Their time shaved half a second off the record set by the Australian swimming team at the Sydney Olympics.
Vijay Singh of Fiji won the 86th PGA Championship after a three-hole playoff against Justin Leonard and Chris DiMarco on Sunday. All three finished at eight-under 280 over the par-72 Whistling Straits course after Singh posted a 76, DiMarco a 71 and Leonard a 75.
China clung to its position atop the Olympic medal leader board on Monday after teenage marksman Zhu Qinan won the nation’s sixth gold medal, with the promise of more to come in the diving later in the day. Zhu (19) set a new world record of 702,7 points in the men’s 10m air-rifle gold, outshining compatriot Li Jie.
South Africa’s lone archer, Kirsten Lewis, shot herself through to the last 32 in the opening round of the Olympic archery competition, held at the Panathinaiko Stadium on Sunday. The South African advanced at the expense of India’s Dola Banerjee with a score of 141 to 131.
West Indies captain Brian Lara became the fastest batsman to score 10 000 Test runs when he made seven against England in the third Test at Old Trafford in Manchester on Sunday. Left-hander Lara, only the fourth man to score 10 000 Test runs, reached the landmark in his 111th Test and 195th innings.
Michael Schumacher will soon run out of records to set. In winning the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, he became the first formula-one driver to win 12 times in a season with teammate Rubens Barrichello completing the Ferrari 1-2 sweep. Schumacher has failed to win only once in the most lopsided season in formula-one history.