Former South African president Nelson Mandela, fresh from being feted at home and abroad on his 90th birthday, hosted a banquet yesterday for the new generation of South African leaders as well as hundreds of friends.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, who served as Mandela’s deputy president before becoming only the country’s second black head of state in 1999, and Jacob Zuma, leader of the ruling ANC party and favorite to become president next year, were among the 500 guests scheduled to attend the celebrations in the rural Eastern Cape.
Mandela’s fellow Nobel peace prize winner Desmond Tutu and former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda were also expected for the feast, which was to include traditional food such as tripe and sheep’s heads on the menu.
While Mandela spent his birthday on Friday with his family, yesterday’s event was meant to give some of his legion of admirers an opportunity to express their best wishes in the flesh at his homestead in the village of Qunu.
“We would like to thank him [for] what he has done for us, what he has done for the people of South Africa,” Mbeki said on TV.
While the focus of the celebrations would be in Qunu, those unable to secure an invite were planning to stage their own tributes, with a concert in Johannesburg’s landmark Nelson Mandela Square among the highlights.
Youngsters were to get the chance to pay their respects at an exhibition of painting by children from across the world that was being staged at the Nelson Mandela Museum, close to Qunu.
“The museum is what Madiba [Mandela’s clan name] stands for: humility, courage and wisdom,” said Kader Asmal, the chairman of the board of the museum, who served as a minister during Mandela’s five years as president.
Pre-recorded video messages from US presidential contender Barack Obama and Tutu were to be be shown at the museum, located about 3km from Mandela’s house, a family member told reporters.
Mandela served 27 years as a prisoner for his role in the fight against the whites-only apartheid regime before being released in 1990. He was elected president in 1994.
A long-time hero of the majority black population, he then won over the white minority by pursuing a policy of racial conciliation before stepping down after one term.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including