A new range of leather jackets, aimed at inspiring a sense of collective identity in members of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC), has been branded a crime against taste by catwalk critics.
The 19 jackets in the range, in the ANC colors of black, green and gold, have been variously likened to uniforms worn by children, drum majorettes and the crew of Star Trek’s Starship Enterprise.
South African President Jacob Zuma may have started the designer jacket trend at the ANC’s victory party after last year’s election, when he wore a cream and olive green striped number. The design is now being marketed as the “President No. 1.”
This is relatively conservative by the standard of the range, which have the lurid greens and yellows of a luminous safety bib to be worn only after dark. They range in price from 1,620 rand (US$212) to 1,944 rand — well beyond the reach of most ANC supporters.
“Oh dear,” said Jeremy Gordin, who has written a biography of Zuma. “I suppose the best that one can say is that the jackets could have been worse. A couple are almost wearable, I suppose. One looks like the kind of shirt Nelson Mandela would wear on an off-day, when his best ones haven’t come back from the laundry.”
“And then there’s one that seems to be a straightforward black leather jacket — for a long-time de rigueur wear for ANC members anyway. But the others are pretty scary,” he said.
The clothes have met with a lukewarm reception all round.
Thula Sindi, a leading fashion designer, told the BBC: “I wouldn’t be caught dead in them. It all just looks like patchwork. I don’t think anybody younger than 40 would wear that, out of fear of being ridiculed.”
Thousands gathered across New Zealand yesterday to celebrate the signing of the country’s founding document and some called for an end to government policies that critics say erode the rights promised to the indigenous Maori population. As the sun rose on the dawn service at Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was first signed between the British Crown and Maori chiefs in 1840, some community leaders called on the government to honor promises made 185 years ago. The call was repeated at peaceful rallies that drew several hundred people later in the day. “This government is attacking tangata whenua [indigenous people] on all
A colossal explosion in the sky, unleashing energy hundreds of times greater than the Hiroshima bomb. A blinding flash nearly as bright as the sun. Shockwaves powerful enough to flatten everything for miles. It might sound apocalyptic, but a newly detected asteroid nearly the size of a football field now has a greater than 1 percent chance of colliding with Earth in about eight years. Such an impact has the potential for city-level devastation, depending on where it strikes. Scientists are not panicking yet, but they are watching closely. “At this point, it’s: ‘Let’s pay a lot of attention, let’s
The administration of US President Donald Trump has appointed to serve as the top public diplomacy official a former speech writer for Trump with a history of doubts over US foreign policy toward Taiwan and inflammatory comments on women and minorities, at one point saying that "competent white men must be in charge." Darren Beattie has been named the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, a senior US Department of State official said, a role that determines the tone of the US' public messaging in the world. Beattie requires US Senate confirmation to serve on a permanent basis. "Thanks to
UNDAUNTED: Panama would not renew an agreement to participate in Beijing’s Belt and Road project, its president said, proposing technical-level talks with the US US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday threatened action against Panama without immediate changes to reduce Chinese influence on the canal, but the country’s leader insisted he was not afraid of a US invasion and offered talks. On his first trip overseas as the top US diplomat, Rubio took a guided tour of the canal, accompanied by its Panamanian administrator as a South Korean-affiliated oil tanker and Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship passed through the vital link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. However, Rubio was said to have had a firmer message in private, telling Panama that US President Donald Trump