Africans In China

JOHANNESBURG – President Barack Obama has tentatively accepted an invitation to attend the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Cup here next June, Joseph Blatter, the president of FIFA, said Monday.

“He accepted,” Blatter told a small gathering of reporters here. “But you know that heads of state are extremely busy. Hopefully his schedule will allow him to attend.”

A visit by the American president – especially one whose father was born in the African nation of Kenya – would lend an additional measure of credibility and cachet to the World Cup, the world’s largest sporting event, which is being hosted in Africa for the first time and which faces significant challenges in terms of security, transportation and lodging for the 450,000 expected international visitors.

The American president is extremely popular here. Several times, an American reporter, asked where he is from, and replying that he is from the U.S.A., has then been asked, “How’s Obama?”

Obama has also lent his support to an effort by the United States to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022.
(goal.blogs.nytimes.com)

BEIJING, — The union is the second crucial step taken by the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, or COMESA, as the continent moves toward economic integration. The 19-member bloc was established in 2000 to become Africa’s first free-trade area.

As Africa’s largest trading group, the regional customs union aims to lift tariffs among member states and reduce trade barriers with third parties.

Sunday’s summit followed a Council of Ministers meeting from Tuesday to Thursday, and talks between COMESA foreign ministers on Friday and Saturday.

In other developments, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe replaced his Kenyan counterpart, Mwai Kibaki, as COMESA’s chairman.

The summit, which had originally been set for last year, was postponed twice, the first time to allow the host country Zimbabwe to complete its electoral process amd form an all-inclusive government.

The meeting was postponed again while organizers studied issues related to Free Trade Areas and common external tariffs.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Victoria Falls. (XHTV)
Editor: Chris

Have you ever wondered why, in today’s modern times, people across the world still tend to think that South Africa is a primitive country where you have lions walking around in your back yard, or that we don’t have the internet!? I mean, really, come on people! That would be like me thinking that Australians ride to work on kangaroos! But just how far does it go?

We hereby present to you a list of snappy answers to really stupid questions about South Africa:

Q: Does it ever get windy in South Africa ? I have never seen it rain.
A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.

Q: Will I be able to see elephants in the street? (USA)
A: Depends how much you’ve been drinking.

Q: I want to walk from Durban to Cape Town - can I follow the railroad tracks? (Sweden)
A: Sure, it’s only two thousand kilometres, take lots of water…

Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in South Africa ? (Sweden )
A: So it’s true what they say about Swedes..

Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in South Africa? Can you send me a list of them in JHB, Cape Town ,Knysna and Jeffrey’s Bay? (UK)
A: What did your last slave die of?

Q: Can you give me some information about Koala Bear racing in South Africa? (USA)
A: Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the pacific. A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe which does not…oh forget it. Sure, the Koala Bear racing is every Tuesday night in Hillbrow. Come naked.

Q: Which direction is north in South Africa ? (USA)
A: Face south and then turn 90 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we’ll send the rest of the directions.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into South Africa ? (UK)
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys’ Choir schedule? (USA)
A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which is…oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday night in Hillbrow, straight after the Koala Bear races. Come naked.

Q: Do you have perfume in South Africa ? (France)
A: No, WE don’t stink.

Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Can you tell me where I can sell it in South Africa ? (USA)
A: Anywhere where a significant number of Americans gather.

Q: Can you tell me the regions in South Africa where the female population is smaller than the male population? (Italy)
A: Yes, gay nightclubs.

Q: Do you celebrate Christmas in South Africa ? (France)
A: Only at Christmas.

Q: Are there killer bees in South Africa ? (Germany)
A: Not yet, but for you, we’ll import them.

Q: Are there supermarkets in Cape Town and is milk available all year round?
A: No, we are a peaceful civilisation of vegan hunter-gatherers. Milk is illegal.

Q: Please send a list of all doctors in South Africa who can dispense rattlesnake serum. (USA)
A: Rattlesnakes live in A-meri-ca, which is where YOU come from. All South African snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make good pets.

Q: I was in South Africa in 1969, and I want to contact the girl I dated while I was staying in Hillbrow. Can you help? (USA)
A: Yes, but you will probably still have to pay her by the hour.

Q: Will I be able to speek English most places I go? (USA)
A: Yes, but you’ll have to learn it first.

Do you have some of your own snappy answers? Feel free to drop them in the comments.

(blog.travelcrossings.co.za)

By: Matthew W. Sharp

After turning down advances from China Mobile (NYSE: CHL) earlier in the year, MTN (OTC: MTNOY) revived merger talks with India’s Bharti Airtel (BOM: 532454). If the deal goes through, the resulting telecom giant would intensely rival China Mobile’s expansion initiatives in emerging markets.

According to a Reuters report dated 25 May 2009, Bharti and MTN are mulling an initial deal worth over $23 billion, under which Bharti would pay cash and shares to end up with 49 percent of MTN, after MTN pays cash and stock for an effective 36 percent stake in the Indian firm. Ideally, trading equity stakes would eventually result in a total merger. By combining India’s largest mobile operator with MTN’s networks across 21 African and Middle Eastern markets, the merger would create the world’s third largest cell phone group by subscribers behind China Mobile and Vodafone (NYSE: VOD). The new firm would have 200 million users. Annual sales of $20 billion, however, would be dwarfed by both larger rivals, with China Mobile at $60 billion and Vodafone at $65 billion.

Trading equity stakes would give both firms exposure to new emerging mobile markets, while a full merger would yield cost savings, allow for technology sharing, and provide the financial muscle for more expansion, analysts say. And that expansion could be right in China Mobile’s backyard.

As China’s urban and rural mobile markets become rapidly saturated, the largest mobile operator in the world has its eyes set on emerging markets in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, and Africa - locations where the Bharti-MTN giant would be well-positioned to grow.  Indeed, MTN already operates in virtually untapped markets such as Afghanistan and Sudan, as well as throughout the rest of Africa, where some analysts believe users could almost double to 700 million by 2013.

The report did not hesitate to point out potential barriers to the deal, however:

MTN has been eyeing a big deal for some time and held failed talks last year with both Bharti and rival Reliance Communications. The Bharti talks collapsed when the South African firm proposed a new structure that would have seen Bharti become an MTN unit. [...] A full merger would need government and regulatory approval. South Africa’s powerful trade union COSATU, which has clout with new President Jacob Zuma and almost derailed Vodafone’s takeover of MTN rival Vodacom this month, said there were “worrying aspects” of the deal and it was looking at it closely.

(digitaleastasia.com)

By John Liu

May 25 (Bloomberg) — Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s largest lender by market value, received about 1.8 billion rand ($220 million) of dividends from Standard Bank Group Ltd. after buying a stake in the company last year.

The return on the investment amounted to 7.7 percent, Industrial & Commercial Bank, also known as ICBC, said in an e- mailed statement today. Johannesburg-based Standard Group, Africa’s largest bank, reported a 2 percent gain in net income in 2008 to 13.93 billion rand.

Beijing-based ICBC, which has more customers than Russia has people and $247 billion of cash and equivalents, is reaping returns after spending more than $6 billion on acquisitions in Indonesia, Macau and South Africa over the past two years as rivals overseas sold assets to shore up balance sheets. Chairman Jiang Jianqing aims to triple the share of profit coming from abroad to 10 percent.

State-owned ICBC’s international expansion began in December 2006 with the purchase of 90 percent of PT Bank Halim Indonesia for 90 billion rupiah ($8.8 million). The company has also agreed to buy 79.9 percent of Macau’s third-biggest bank for almost 4.7 billion patacas ($589 million) and bought a fifth of Standard Group for $5.4 billion in March 2008, the largest overseas acquisition by a Chinese bank.

ICBC and Standard Group have cooperated in 65 projects, including funding China Oilfield Services Ltd.’s $2.5 billion purchase of Norway’s Awilco Offshore ASA in September, according to today’s statement.

The partners agreed last week to arrange financing for the expansion of Botswana’s Morupule B power station, which involves the installation of four 150-megawatt coal-fired air-cooled units and is expected to cost about $1.6 billion.

Shares of ICBC will be suspended from trading in Shanghai today because of an annual shareholders meeting. The stock has climbed 20 percent in Shanghai this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Liu in Shanghai at jliu42@bloomberg.net

May. (China Knowledge) - Shenzhen Huaqiang Holdings Ltd, parent of Shenzhen Huaqiang Industry Co Ltd<000062>, plans to build a theme park in Johannesburg, South Africa, sources reported.

Huaqiang Holdings signed the contract with the China Development Bank, China-Africa Development Fund (CAD Fund) and South Africa-based Industrial Development Corporation at the China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair.

The theme park, namely Fantawild Adventure, will cover a land area of 770,000 square meters in Johannesburg. It will consist of three zones, which are distinguished by Chinese culture, African culture and global culture. The total investment is expected to be up to RMB 250 million.

Liang Guangwei, president of Huaqiang Holdings, said construction of the theme park would begin at the end of 2009.

The park is estimated to be completed in three years and will attract around 2 million visitors each year.

Huaqiang Holdings built its first theme park in Chongqing in 2006, which proved to be a huge success.

SHENZHEN,  (Xinhua) — A Chinese company signed an agreement Monday with three other partners to construct a Disneyland-style theme park in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Huaqiang Holdings Limited, based in Shenzhen, will cooperate with China Development Bank, the China-Africa Development Fund, and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa to build a 770,000 square meter theme park at a cost of 250 million U.S. dollars.

The theme park will consist of three zones: Chinese culture, African culture and world culture, according to Liang Guangwei, chairman of the board of Huaqiang Holdings Limited.

Construction will start late this year and will take two to three years to complete. The goal is to entice 2 million tourists a year.

Liang said he felt proud that China was the second country in the world after the United States in exporting theme parks to foreign countries.

Cassim Nakkooda, director of trade and investment promotion in Johannesburg City, was present at the agreement signing ceremony.

Huaqiang Holdings Limited, a state-owned company engaged in electronics and sugar production, expanded into making 3D cinematic equipment for overseas customers eight years ago.

It has built or is in the process of constructing amusement parks in five Chinese cities.

It began to build a theme park in Iran in May 2008. Chinese investment in this project totals 80 million euros. Huaqiang also completed designs for two other theme parks in Ukraine and Nigeria last year.

(nytimes.com)

South Africa has slapped provisional anti-dumping penalties of 62% and 96% respectively on stainless steel kitchen sink imports from China and Malaysia.

The provisional payment was gazetted (published in official government paper) by the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) earlier this month, and is the latest in the saga involving unlisted local kitchen sink manufacturer Franke Kitchen Systems’ battle against cheap imports.

Franke wants trade measures against cheap and subsidized imports, which it said had severely undercut the price of kitchen sinks in the local market - costing it a chunk of the market share.

Itac found in a preliminary determination that the local industry was suffering material harm as a result of dumping. It also determined a residual subsidy margin of 35% for Malaysian manufacturers that did not participate in the investigation.

While the dumping duties for the two countries are relatively high, lower levels of duties have been imposed on two individual Chinese companies and one Malaysian company that had participated in an investigation conducted by Itac in those countries at the end of last year.

The companies are presumed to be the predominant exporters of the kitchen sinks into the southern African market.

This is only the third time that provisional dumping duties have been awarded to a local manufacturer against imports from China, since South Africa granted that country market economy status two years ago and agreed to enhance debate with China on dumping investigations.

Previously, provisional duties had been awarded in complaints against the dumping of polyvinyl chloride and welded steel chain. The provisional anti-dumping payment will give Franke temporary respite.

Source African Press Agency

As I watch the electoral process unfold in SA from China I feel proud of my country. My heart jolted as I wrote the words, “my country”. The elections are being done peacefully, democratically. My heart was warmed by the sight in the Mail & Guardian of a picture of an IEC official helping a blind, elderly woman vote as that polling station had no Braille ballots.

Since leaving SA nearly five years ago to explore the world, live elsewhere – a dream of mine since childhood – I have never really missed the country much as I was too busy absorbing one or another culture. Sure, I had travelled overseas several times before leaving, SA (perhaps for good, perhaps not) but I had never worked in another country. Believe you me a quick two week or two month tour of a country does not get it into your being. Not at all. It was too difficult to miss SA as I was too occupied with experiencing (not always enjoying) other countries, England, France, New Zealand and, omigod, especially trying to crack China as my regulars well know. The latter was the serious culture shock, France was simply enchante.

Today, at school between lessons, as I watch through the window the spring leaves slowly flare out of the street side plane trees, I miss the old girl: SA I mean. What almost comes first to mind and heart is the purple drama of Gauteng (Gauteng! You make my heart sing…) thunderstorms: that electric hush and thrill to the air as I cycled in the Magaliesberg, then the rain pounding down and the sudden klap of lightning loosening the bowels. The smell of wet veldt and the bluegum and fir trees’ leaves darkly boiling sideways into the storm. Ten minutes of clobbering rain: then that spiky silence again as the Magaliesberg emerges from the storm again, shrugging herself off, refreshed and slowly starting to smoulder again in the long, dusty summers…

Braais come next (barbeques for non South Africans), and I suppose it is a question of upbringing, but there is nothing like a SA braai. I haven’t had one in fricken three years, and the last one was in New Zealand where I had to grudgingly (I emphasise grudgingly) admit the beef and lamb was better than South Africa’s, my bru. The Chinese have no clue; just about everything is cooked and drowned in oil. The first thing the Chook wants when we get to New Zealand next year is: 1) Her daughter Michelle to have a large packet of biltong with her when she collects us at the airport. 2) A braai with pap (sudsa) and tomato bredie and mielies simmering on the grate.

What still features in my nightly dreams like a spiritual yearning for transcendence are the forests in the Eastern and Western Cape, particularly the Tsitsikamma forest and hiking the Otter Trail. I was always way ahead of the group I was with and it was great to sit for a bit on a completely desolate strip of beach butt naked with a glass of whiskey and water, sweating from the day’s hike and look at the whales’ spume arcing in the distance, Plettenberg Bay starting to twinkle as the night breathed in. The forests: sitting under tall masts of pine as they sang and whispered, sailing me off into a deeper peace, only occasionally broken by a falling pine cone chuckling to the ground. I will never forget the smell of wept pine gum on my hands: my eyes moisten at that miracle of remembered scent even now.

My first alma mater is Rhodes University and today for the first time in many, many years, about two decades in fact, I looked at some pics of Rhodes on the internet and my heart ached to see all those white buildings and the hill leading up to the 1820 Settlers National Monument.

But I do not really miss the people. I have often thought about that and can only relate it to my ambivalent feelings for the Chinese. So here goes.

Things I dislike and find amusing about mainland Chinese is that they hawk and spit on the streets periodically right in front of you, they do not queue a lot of the time, and will happily jump in front of you in queues (Beijing had special training days for months before the Olympics to get people in bus and subway queues to behave like civilised people). On the street they point out foreigners and seem to ridicule us with their laughs and grins, talking about us openly. For the most part, even in the school I teach at (and I get on with the staff and kids very well) I am still just known as lawei, the foreigner. Wherever I go I am just referred to as lawei and of late it has been freaking me out.

I can’t go to the park on People’s Square and just smell the flowers and relax in silence under the pine trees, because every second Chinese has to walk up to me and try out their swak English on me. Now their friendly efforts might sound very sweet, dear reader, but when all you want to do is time out and just enjoy the beauty of the flowers in peace, but can’t, because nearly every time there are endless people quite happy to single you out as the only lawei in the park and disturb you. (My trick when I see someone about to start talking to me is to pretend I am asleep.)

The Chinese are daft, nutty, half-baked. (Anal-retentive, “politically correct” readers have accused me of being distasteful when I describe the Chinese; I don’t care a fig. ) For example, right now workers are refurbishing our apartment building, as part of Shanghai’s general facelift for World Expo 2010. We are on the twenty-second floor and live in a green cocoon of scaffolding and netting. This is the view from our kitchen window, somewhere on this blog.

The first thing the workers did was paint the corridors white, just one or two coats, and no protective enamel paint, which is typical. Then, oh sweet heaven and all the saints and angels, only then did they start repairing windows, the elevator, the paving and wiring. The paintwork, only a few weeks old, is already spoilt with indelible grime, scuff marks and spatters of cement mix. What an utter waste of money and labour. Repairs to the building first surely, then the cosmetic bit where you paint all the walls. But honestly, these okes just don’t think, dammit think! And this is one of endless episodes I can tell you. It’s hilarious living in “The Middle Kingdom”!

But I love the Chinese. They are unbelievably friendly, viscerally so. And generous. I have got friends for life and two wonderful god-daughters. Once in the rain a distinguished looking Chinese rolled down his electronic car window and tossed me an umbrella, singling me out from the dozen or so Chinese also standing in the downpour. Positive discrimination. We gave our ayi (maid) Salina a Christmas present of chocolates once and she got us socks, scarves and legwarmers. We weren’t expecting anything. We were embarrassed and moved by her loving kindness and knew she really just wanted to be part of our little family.

I will be talking and writing about the daft, wonderful Chinese for years to come and will definitely miss them, but South Africans? Not really. (Though I am thrilled I recently made contact with an old school mate of mine, a friendship that goes back to standard seven in Boksburg High in 1978 and with whom I stowed away on a ship in Cape Town in 1982 headed for France because we took great exception to compulsory military service.)

Why? I don’t know. But I can make some guesses, such as maybe, just maybe too many are too busy being “politically correct” or playing one race card or another. Maybe I will try and answer the question in a future blog, depending on the response, if any, of that glorious, hilarious, multi-faceted and feisty character, the ta-daah…Thought Leadership Commentary!

(thoughtleader.co.za)

By Heinz de Boer and Mpume Madlala

The textile industry - one of the hardest hit manufacturing sectors in the sagging economy - has been dealt another blow with T-shirt orders for the ANC worth R15-20 million being given to Chinese manufacturers.

At least 850 000 shirts bearing “Made in China” labels and emblazoned with various ANC slogans - including one promising “jobs for all” - have flooded South Africa before the April 22 elections.

Among the logos on the T-shirts are many emblazoned with the picture of party leader Jacob Zuma.

The foreign order has caused an uproar in the textile industry with one manufacturer noting that the ANC and its allies had previously targeted large retailers for selling Chinese textiles, saying they were undermining the jobs market.
“It’s a crying shame for a government that wants to create jobs in South Africa, giving them to people in another country,” a prominent Durban clothing manufacturer said on Thursday morning.

“If they really supported the country the ANC could have paid a rand or two more to get South African T-shirts which would have kept many people in work,” he said.

The manufacturer said he was also staring into an empty factory because of the transport strike.

“If this is how things are to be the country is going crazy.”

Democratic Alliance parliamentary candidate and local councillor Rory Macpherson, himself heavily involved in the textile industry, said he first became aware of the huge T-shirt order after being tipped off by a concerned member of the ANC. It was shameful, he said.

Also worrying was that both provincial and local government were pumping money into the textile sector “cluster” to help limit job losses but continued to deprive the local economy of jobs by ordering from China and India.

“The real tragedy is that for every job created in China there is one lost in South Africa. This sector has the biggest potential to create jobs, but unfortunately is also the first to lose jobs.

In real terms, this order of 850 000 shirts is worth about R20 million. An order of this magnitude could keep several small CMT (cut, manufacture and trim) manufacturers busy and alive for months,” Macpherson said.

“Another reality is that there is a marginal price difference between the same locally produced goods, which are of a better quality, and imported shirts that quickly lose their dye,” he said.

The IFP joined the fray by saying that given the relationship between the ANC and China it was to be expected that the Dalai Lama was refused entry to South Africa.

Premier candidate Zanele KwaMagwaza-Msibi said she believed the ANC may also have received some form of funding from China.

“The ANC obviously has many dealings with China that people do not know about and should therefore carefully exercise their right to vote - and vote wisely,” she said.

The Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry said although it was not aware of the transaction it could not condemn the import of Chinese goods. The chamber promoted fair enterprise and if businesses were dictated to, it could affect the trade foreign countries enjoyed with SA, said chamber chief executive Gugu Mazibuko.

Asked to respond to the allegation that it had purchased 850 000 shirts from China the ANC said it did not directly purchase shirts, but left the work to sub-contractors.

“The ANC, as the biggest organisation in the province, appointed various service providers to develop and print its election paraphernalia. Service providers tender and get appointed in line with all supply chain regulations,” party spokeswoman Nomfundo Mcetywa said.

“The ANC has not directly purchased its material but service providers did. We are then not privy to where service providers get their material as we merely place orders for what we need.

“In fact during the elections season there are thousands of various designs of ANC T-shirts which people and various service providers are selling, without being commissioned as they know there is a market out there, therefore making it hard to regulate where the material is coming from,” she said.
(iol.co.za)

Johannesburg - The body of a Chinese woman was found covered by a heap of boxes at a warehouse after a robbery at China Market in Crown Mines on Thursday, Johannesburg police said.

Security guards, who had been monitoring their cameras and keeping guard on her while she offloaded stock in the warehouse, were alarmed when she suddenly was nowhere to be seen, said Inspector Lorraine van Emmerick.

“They went to check in the warehouse but could not find her and alerted the police who arrived at the scene around 17:15. They found her lying under a heap of boxes.”

The woman, who was an employee in one of the shops that sells bags at China Market, was strangled with a packaging bag and her feet and hands were bound, Van Emmerick said.

The woman’s killers got away with a safe consisting of an undisclosed amount of money, she said.

“Security personnel never saw the murder happening. No arrests have since been made but police are investigating.”

- SAPA

(news24.com)

JOHANNESBURG, (Xinhua) — A South African court has rejected an urgent application here on Thursday to grant a visa for the Dalai Lama to attend a conference in the country.

The Cape High Court dismissed the application by Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi to grant the Dalai Lama an entrance visa to attend a peace conference here in Johannesburg, since the conference has been cancelled, the South African Press Association reported.

Judge Rosheni Allie ruled that Buthelezi had failed to show the matter was sufficiently urgent to be brought to court, and he had also failed to show in court papers of another possible date that the Dalai Lama might come to South Africa.

There was also no proof of an urgent, ongoing need for the Dalai Lama to come to South Africa to attend to matters of peace on a general basis, she added.

The South African government has refused to grant a visa to the Dalai Lama, who was to attend a peace conference in Johannesburg on March 27, the South African Foreign Affairs Department announced on March 22.
Editor: Mu Xuequan

By Mike Cohen

(Bloomberg) — South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel backed the government’s decision to deny the Dalai Lama entry to the country to attend a peace conference.

The reason the Dalai Lama wants to visit South Africa “is to make a big global, political statement about the secession of Tibet from China,” Manuel said in an election debate hosted by the University of Cape Town today. “We shouldn’t allow him to raise a global issue that will impact on the standing of South Africa.”

The peace conference was to be hosted by organizers of the 2010 Soccer World Cup and Nobel Peace laureates from around the world were invited. The conveners said yesterday the March 27 event had been postponed indefinitely as a result of the controversy surrounding the Dalai Lama.

Health Minister Barbara Hogan yesterday said the decision to refuse entry to the Dalai Lama was “an example of a government that is dismissive of human rights” and that the South African public was owed an apology.

The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibet, where Chinese authorities in March 1959 put down an armed rebellion by his supporters. China alleges that the Dalai Lama, who has visited South Africa several times previously, is bidding to separate Tibet from China.

The Dalai Lama had established a government of Tibet in exile “to counter the reality of a single China,” Manuel said. “To say anything against the Dalai Lama is in many circles equivalent to trying to shoot Bambi.”

South Africa will hold it fourth elections since the end of apartheid rule on April 22.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.net

© 2009 AFP

Johannesburg, March 24 (DPA) The organisers of a peace conference in South Africa Tuesday postponed the event indefinitely after the government refused to issue the Dalai Lama a visa to attend, causing other Nobel peace laureates to pull out.

The conference, which was due to be held Friday, had planned to promote peace through football in advance of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa next year.

The decision to postpone it had been expected after South African archbishop emeritus, Desmond Tutu, former president F.W. De Klerk and the Norwegian Nobel Committee all said they would boycott it unless the government came back on its decision to refuse entry to the Dalai Lama.

Irvin Khoza, one of the committee members of the conference, told reporters: “Given that the purpose of the conference is peace, the convenors don’t want to put the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in a position where there will be conflict.”

A Dalai Lama aide in India’s Dharamsala, where the Buddhist monk is heading the Tibetan government-in-exile, told IANS that the organisers of the peace event had no other option.

“There is no alternative for the organisers as Nobel laureates like Desmond Tutu and F.W. De Klerk and the Norwegian Nobel Committee have announced that they would boycott the conference unless the government gives a visa to the Dalai Lama,” said Sonam N. Dagpo, secretary of the international affairs of the government-in-exile.

“China has influenced South Africa over issuing visa to His Holiness (the Dalai Lama)… such tactics are very, very disappointing. The spiritual guru does not want to put people, foreign countries and organisers to inconvenience,” he said.

“South Africa had succumbed to Chinese pressure,” Dagpo added.

The South African government has assured it has “nothing against the Dalai Lama” but that his presence would not be “in the best interests of the country” and would detract attention from the World Cup.

In reality, the government is believed to have bowed to pressure from China, a close ally, not to allow the Tibetan spiritual leader visit.

A presidential spokesman Monday admitted that Chinese authorities had approached the government over the visit but denied that was the reason.

South Africa’s Premier Soccer League was organising the tournament.

Former South African president Nelson Mandela had signed the letter of invitation sent by Tutu and de Klerk to the Dalai Lama but had not been scheduled to attend, his foundation said.

His grandson Mandla Mandela, a traditional chief in Mandela’s home village of Mvezo in Eastern Cape province and also a member of the conference committee, accused the government of tarnishing the country’s reputation.

“This rejection by the government to not issue a visa, is really tainting our efforts at democracy,” he said.

“I don’t think that as sovereign democracy country, we need to succumb to international pressure.”

China is one of South Africa’s leading trade partners and one of the biggest investors on the continent, which supplies it with the oil and minerals it needs to fuel its growth.

Last week the billion-dollar China-Africa Development Fund opened its first Africa office in Johannesburg in the presence of presidential hopeful and ruling African National Congress party leader, Jacob Zuma.

The scandal comes on the 50th anniversary of a failed anti-Chinese uprising in Tibet, an autonomous Chinese region that the Chinese claims as part of its sovereign territory but which the Dalai Lama says was independent before being colonized by China.

[LM2]

The Associated Press

The controversy over South Africa barring the Dalai Lama from a peace conference in Johannesburg later this week is a reminder that China is deeply involved in Africa.

China’s exports to Africa last year rose 36.3 percent from 2007 to $50.8 billion, while imports of African goods rose 54 percent to $56 billion, according to customs data reported by Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, in February.

Critics say China’s investment in and aid to Africa is meant only to secure access to the continent’s natural resources, and they accuse China of being willing to do business with dictators to get what it wants. African governments, though, laud China for giving aid without the strings Westerners often attach, and are counting on China standing by them in tough economic times.

A glance at recent developments in Chinese-African relations:

-China, which buys two-thirds of Sudan’s petroleum exports, in March backed calls by African and Arab countries to have the International Criminal Court drop its warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur.

-In February, Chinese President Hu Jintao signed agreements with Tanzania to ease the flow of investment, provide loans for the purchase of farm equipment and send Chinese advisers to help develop infrastructure, according to Tanzanian state television. Hu promised while visiting Tanzania to import more from Africa to help developing economies weather the global economic crisis.

-Also in February, Hu signed a bilateral agreement promising Senegal over $90 million in grants and loans.

-In Malawi in January, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi signed an agreement to build a $90 million hotel conference center in the capital, Lilongwe. China is also building a Parliament house and a highway linking northern Malawi to Zambia.

-Last July, China and Russia vetoed a U.S.-sponsored U.N. Security Council resolution that proposed worldwide sanctions against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, accusing him of trampling Zimbabwean’s democratic rights and ruining the once prosperous nation’s economy.

(kansascity.com)

OHANNESBURG (AFP) — South Africa’s embassy in New Delhi has denied travel documents to Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, barring him from attending a peace conference in Johannesburg, activists said Sunday.

The Dalai Lama had planned to join other Nobel peace prize winners including Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk at a conference Friday to discuss ways of using soccer to fight racism and xenophobia, as South Africa prepares to host the 2010 World Cup.

South African Friends of Tibet said in a statement that the Dalai Lama has been denied travel documents, saying the country’s high commissioner in New Delhi had asked the Dalai Lama to postpone his trip.

“We believe that the barring of his holiness from the peace conference makes a mockery of the intentions of this conference,” the group said in a statement.

The Sunday Independent newspaper quoted China’s minister counsellor at the embassy in Pretoria, Dai Bing, as saying that his government had urged South Africa to deny the visit, warning it would harm bilateral relations.

Dai told the paper that it was an “inopportune time” for the Dalai Lama to visit, coming just after the 50th anniversary of a failed uprising against China’s rule of Tibet, which led to the exile of the Dalai Lama, the region’s most revered spiritual figure.

The paper quoted Archbishop Desmond Tutu and a spokesman for de Klerk as saying they would reconsider their participation in the conference if the Dalai Lama were not allowed to come.

“We are shamelessly succombing to Chinese pressure. I feel deeply distressed and ashamed,” Tutu told the paper.

De Klerk has expressed concern to the president and the foreign ministry over the visa, said Dave Steward, spokesman for his foundation.

“If the visa is not granted, Mr de Klerk and other laureates will reconsider their participation in the event, and this would not be a good thing for South Africa and the World Cup,” he told the paper.

Copyright © 2009 AFP.

A zoologist keen to cool off in the South African heat was joined by an unlikely swimming partner - a giant lioness.

Animal behaviourist Kevin Richardson raises and interacts some of the most dangerous animals known to man.

With his unusual methods, he has developed some exceptionally personal bonds with his students, playing, sleeping and even swimming with animals. Taking a well deserved swim in the Crocodile River, just south of the Magaliesburg mountains, Mr Richardson, 34, was joined by Meg the lioness.

Weighing a staggering 185 kg this boisterous tawny lioness playfully splashed around with the experienced behaviourist.

“We went swimming purely for Meg’s enrichment,” Mr Richardson said.

“That’s one of the reasons I believe my animals are so relaxed.

“Those who like it go for swims, others go for walks in the greater area and others just prefer to go and chill under a tree in the middle of the park.”

Meg, 7, and her sister Amy, live in “The Kingdom of the White Lion”, near Johannesburg, South Africa. Lions, hyenas and leopards reside in the 650 hectare area not too far from the banks of the river.

‘The Kingdom of the White Lion’ help to fund predator research in Botswana and are actively involved in creating awareness around the globe.

Kevin, who has been involved in countless documentaries and has just finished working on a new film about white lions, works to create awareness and being active in lion conservation.

With lion numbers in the wild dropping from around 350,000 animals to 25-30,000 over a period of 15 years, the statistics paint a grim picture.

“People are always amazed that she doesn’t rip me to pieces with her claws,” he said.

“I assure you every now and again I get a claw going into me. It’s unintentional and just reconfirms to me how gentle and in control she tries to be.

“She gets like an excited dog going for a ride in a car. She takes no coaxing to get her to swim.

“You get in and start swimming and the next thing you know there’s a full grown lioness beside you doing doggy …ummm I mean…. lion paddle towards you.”

(telegraph.co.uk)