Africans In China

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)

CHINA took another bite of Africa’s potential wealth yesterday with the launch of the South African branch of the China-Africa Development Fund.

The organisation, established in 2006 at the China-Africa co-operation summit in Beijing, is designed to facilitate the investment of Chinese companies into Africa’s agriculture, mining and infrastructure.

A selection of powerful players in politics and business gathered at the Sandton Convention Centre to witness the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the fund and the department of trade and industry.

Among these was Robert Gumede, chairman of listed IT firm GijimaAst, a known supporter of the ANC who donated R10-million to the party last year, and made his entrance flanked by several Chinese businessmen.

He was joined by the president of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, Ren Zhengfei.

It was clearly an ANC-led deal, with Mathews Phosa, treasurer general of the ruling party at the centre of the podium, wearing a bright red tie to match the banners overhead.

Phosa said: “Any attempt to assist entrepreneurship is welcome by the ANC. Your initiative cements the friendship we’ve had for many years and will strengthen our economic and political partnership.”

ANC president Jacob Zuma was an advertised special guest, but he did not attend.

In attendance was former minister in the presidency Essop Pahad, who resigned his post last year when former president Thabo Mbeki was ousted from the government.

The ceremony was sealed with signatures of the MOU by Elizabeth Thabethe, deputy minister of the DTI and Chen Yuan, chairman of the board of the development fund.

In 1999, the trade volume between China and Africa was 6.5-billion. By 2006, the amount had ballooned to 55-billion, making China Africa’s second largest trading partner after the US.

There are an estimated 800 Chinese corporations doing business in Africa, mostly private com- panies investing in infrastructure energy and banking.

(thetimes.co.za)

NPC,  CPPCC Annual Sessions 2009

John Bailey, a correspondent for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), on Monday received his first press card for the annual sessions of China’s parliament and top political advisory body. It is the first time for South Africa to send its journalist to cover the “two sessions”.

“The two sessions will help me know China comprehensively, and I can cover China from an African perspective,” Bailey told Xinhua.

Bailey Came to China last April and has been working as the first SABC correspondent based in Beijing. The eleven-month stay in China enabled him to witness and cover some important happenings in the country, including a devastating earthquake in southwest China’s Sichuan Province and the Beijing Olympic Games.

“We recognize the important role that China is playing in the world,” Bailey said. “South Africa and China have witnessed increasing good relations over past years, so it is good to have journalists here covering news from an African perspective.”

“I am not only representing South Africa but also the whole Africa,” he added.

The “two sessions” — the Second Session of the 11th National People’s Congress (NPC, the top legislature) and the Second Session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, the top political advisory body) — are set to start March 5 and March 3, respectively.

As the global downturn continues to take its toll on China’s economy, responses to the turmoil will be high on the agenda of lawmakers and political advisors.

Echoing that, Bailey also stressed that the global economic downturn would be the focus of his coverage.

“How Chinese government and people reacting to the crisis would be the most important question for my report to answer,” he said.

He added he would be interested in China’s policies on creating jobs, training the unemployed and encouraging entrepreneurship, as those policies concern millions of jobless migrant workers and new graduates.

South Africa and other African countries can learn a lot from the Chinese government’s practice of expanding domestic consumption, the correspondent said.

“You can never import the Chinese model, but at least you can learn and adjust your system so as to benefit yourself as well,” he said.

Having been working on the food safety issue for the past months, Bailey commented on China’s first-ever Food Safety Law just approved, saying it was important for the government to “take actions” on the problem.

The law, which was approved by the NPC Standing Committee Saturday, will provide a legal basis for the government to strengthen food safety control “from production line to dining table”.

Other topics such as China’s education, housing system reform and anti-corruption campaign are also in Bailey’s coverage plan.

China’s annual “two sessions” have attracted world attention. Statistics show that as of March 1 more than 3,000 journalists had registered to cover the event, including more than 800 from abroad.

“China’s influence over the world is growing so fast that stories about China always attract people in Africa including those in our country,” Bailey said.

(news.xinhuanet.com)

TEXT OF STORY

Bill Radke: If you’ve done some travelling abroad, you may have bought some ethnic arts and crafts for your home. A mask from Mexico, a wood carving from Kenya. But are you sure they’re authentic? Globalization means more and more African arts and crafts are being made in factories not in the countries they claim to be from. Gretchen Wilson reports from Johannesburg that real crafters are struggling to compete.

Gretchen Wilson: This sidewalk serves as a studio for South African artist Boas Manzvenga. He strings wires with tiny beads to make the distinctive sculptures this region’s known for.

Boas Manzvenga: This one is a small, small leopard. And this one is a lion.

He’s asking $35 for this lion, about the size of a house cat. It’s these skills that put bread on the table for his wife and sons. And his extended family.

Manzvenga: I think it’s nearly 20 people. They depend on me. So I need to support them.

Many of the 1 million traditional craft artists in South Africa might otherwise be unemployed. But they pump more than $300 million a year into the economy. It’s tough for them to compete with Chinese manufacturers who flood the market with cheaper replicas.

Manzvenga: They can buy things at cheaper price. Then they can go there and remake it and they make a profit out of us.

And they do, at shopping malls like this one, in Johannesburg, where shelves are loaded with foreign-made baskets, beaded jewelry and wooden giraffes. All mass produced.

Priscilla Nyoni is with Craft Yarona, a company that promotes local artists:

Priscilla Nyoni: It’s something that has been happening for years now, and our government hasn’t been intervening.

She says there’s more at stake than just employment:

Nyoni: That’s African identity, and they’re actually stealing it.

Artists sometimes turn to copyrights and intellectual property laws to protect their work. But that’s expensive. So African artists are easily exploited — especially the rural poor.

Anitra Nettleton is an art historian at Wits University:

Anitra Nettleton: They don’t have access to the kinds of legal ways of protecting their designs, and so anyone can use them. Because there is nothing to stop. And that’s immoral.

South Africa’s artists are trying to innovate to keep one step ahead of look-a-like imports. And they say it’s now up to consumers to make sure they’re buying the real thing.

In Johannesburg, I’m Gretchen Wilson for Marketplace.

()gretchenlwilson.com

We’ve had Ubuntu and Impi, now there is a new African-named Linux distribution. South African developers today announced the first cut of a new Linux distro which they are calling Kongoni. Named after the Shona word for the GNU, Kongoni has a strong BSD-Unix influence and includes a ports-like package management system. The underlying code is, however, based on Slackware and the makers are promising to keep the distribution free of proprietary software.

The initial “baseline” release of Kongoni is codenamed Aristotle and is more a base for future developments than an end-user-focused release. Lead developer AJ Venter says that the idea behind the baseline release “is to establish a common working platform for the further development of the system. A previous baseline release was made available only to current developers of the system while this second baseline is being made available to the public at large.”

He says that from this point on Kongoni will follow a more traditional release pattern with alpha, beta and stable releases.

“The baseline release is not intended for end-users except as a curiosity but rather for interested developers and GNU/Linux experts. It does not fully represent the ideas or unique features of kongoni, but instead a platform on which those ideas can be created.” Venter says that while the release is aimed at developers it is nevertheless fully installable and usable.

BSD inspiration
Technically, says Venter, Kongoni adopts a BSD ports-like approach to package management. “Ports represent a powerful way to distribute software as a set of tools that automatically fetch the sources of the program and then compile it locally,” he says. “This is more bandwidth friendly for users as source code is usually smaller than prebuilt packages. This benefit is particularly useful in Africa where bandwidth is expensive, and since Kongoni came from Africa this was a major concern.”

Ports also allow power-users to manage the compilation of applications, allowing them greater control over the performance and capabilities of the software, he says.

The core system includes a KDE 4.2 desktop as the default desktop manager but the system intended to be easy to remaster, says Venter. Users can easily build and replicate the system with their own preferred setups and desktops.

The Kongoni baseline release is available as both an installable and live CD for both 32-bit and 64-bit systems. Torrents for 32-bit and 64-bit systems are also available.

Venter says that Kongoni is intended to be a “truly free distribution” with strict Free Software Foundation compliance. He says that FSF chairman Richard Stallman was involved in the discussions that led to the foundation of the project and his input was sought on critical decisions to ensure the system really was free software.

(tectonic.co.za)

George W. Bush died today according to a South African TV station. During one of its broadcasts, ETV News ran a moving banner across the screen announcing the death of the former US president.

Minutes later, jubilant crowds thronged the streets across the nation hoisting up flags and banners in celebration. In the capital Pretoria, tens of thousands of people marched upon the Union Buildings which include the official seat of the South African government. There they sang songs, danced and even joyously wept. Some reporters at the scene are said to have heard clapping and cheering coming from within the parliament building itself.

In Johannesburg, home to 3.8 million people, around 750,000 revellers danced in the city’s large Botanical Garden. Fireworks were set off, bungee-jumps erected and roses handed out to passers-by. Unfortunately, the local council is said to be devastated after the garden’s main attraction, the famous Rose Garden, was left bereft of its 10,000 roses.

Table Top Mountain, which overlooks the city of Cape Town saw its largest influx of visitors on record. Close to a million people flocked to the flat-topped mountain in order to attend a gigantic prayer service in thanksgiving for the day’s extraordinary news. One of South Africa’s prominent bishops was on hand to lead the act of worship.

However, it was later discovered that the TV moving banner news had been a mistake which had taken place when a technician had pressed the wrong button. The staff member had selected the “broadcast live for transmission” button instead of the test-run alternative. Apparently he had just wanted to see what the test banner would look like and had typed in “Bush is dead” as a gap filler.

“The technical director pressed the wrong button, it took a second for the words to appear and then the words were on screen for only three seconds before they were taken off.” said spokesman Vasili Vass.

Unfortunately, the correction was announced on television after most people had left their houses to celebrate the original, but mistaken, news piece. Police and the army have been put on high alert in case of widespread violence and rioting once the general public hear of the corrected news. It’s expected alcohol sales and the use of firearms will increase dramatically over the next week as people try to dull the pain.

The new US president, Barack Obama, has so far refused to comment on the story. Some Western media journalists are calling this the ‘Bushism of Bushisms’.

(http://politicsandpoetry.com)

We’re a mere 485 days from the start of the 2010 World Cup … seems like a long time, but in reality, it’s right around the corner!

The world’s biggest sporting event kicks off on June 11, 2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The first tickets to the event go on sale February 20, 2009.

The first of a total of five sales phases for tickets will run from February 20 to March 31, 2009, with tickets being allocated by a random selection draw for over-subscribed matches and ticket categories.

All orders will be entered into a random selection draw on April 15, 2009 at the same time regardless of whether they were submitted on the first or the last day of the first sales phase. Should demand exceed availability for a certain category or match then available tickets will be awarded by ballot (i.e. through an electronic random selection draw).

That’s a mouthful!!

According to FIFA’s press release:

There are two ways for fans to order tickets: firstly, you can log on to FIFA.com, the official website of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa where fans can sign up for the FIFA.com Club for free. Those living in South Africa can also order tickets via the “FNB Visa Official Mascot Pre-paid card” available at First National Bank (FNB), by filling in an official application form and handing it in at one of the participating FNB branches around the country. The “FNB Visa Official Mascot Pre-paid card” will be the unique Ticket payment card for the fans who are successfully awarded tickets through the official paper application forms handed in at FNB branches in South Africa.

As well as individual tickets for the 64 matches, team-specific ticket series are also available for the country of your choice. These are valid for anything from three to seven games.

Tickets are available in three categories with category 4 reserved exclusively for South African residents. The least expensive ticket in category 3 costs $80 USD.

There will be four further sales periods for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, with the second running from May 4 to November 16, 2009. During this period, tickets will be attributed based on the order in which the application is received and, of course, subject to availability.

All information on ticket sales is available on FIFA.com. Sign up for the FIFA.com Club for free and take part in competitions, meet new online friends, set up your own personalized version of FIFA.com and get all the latest news from around the world of football in a weekly newsletter.

So make sure to sign up for the FIFA.com Club, check FIFA.com, fill out the application and hope your number comes up!!

Good luck!! I’ll see you in South Africa!

(http://roadto2010final.blogspot.com)

China has had a number of dealings with South African weapons manufacturers over the past decade, most of which have not resulted in actual weapons purchases. However, several recent China-made military technologies bear suspicious resemblances to their South African counterparts.

In 2008, China acquired a fourth-generation air-to-air missile equipped with a thrust-vector control engine. The PL-10, or PL-ASR, is comparable to the U.S.-made AIM-9X air-to-air missile, or AAM.

According to a representative from the South African Denel Group, the PL-ASR is almost a replica of its A-Darter AAM. The Denel representative told the author during an interview in Cape Town that the Chinese had contacted the company in 2001 to explore the possibility of importing fifth-generation A-Darter infrared-guided AAMs, which included a TVC propulsion system and pilot helmet-mounted displays.

In the end, Denel did not sell the technologies to China, which it regards as its key competitor in selling air-to-air missiles on the African market. Company engineers were therefore surprised to find that the Chinese PL-ASR is nearly identical to the A-Darter in exterior structure, tail engine and even the diameter of the missile body.

The company strongly suspects that China reverse-engineered its A-Darter AAM after acquiring its technological materials.

This fits a pattern that China has followed in acquiring military technologies from many sources. When seeking a new technology, China contacts a foreign manufacturer and requests substantial technical information about its product, supposedly with the intent to buy. Instead, Chinese engineers study the materials and imitate the relevant concepts and designs.

Something similar occurred in the course of China’s development of a combat helicopter. In 1996 China and South Africa signed a memorandum to jointly develop a combat helicopter, when China was in the process of building its ZW-10 helicopter.

After being given a focused inspection of the Rooivalk combat helicopter’s subsystems, China wanted to purchase one helicopter from Denel, but the South African company considered the purchase of a single aircraft the equivalent of giving away its technologies. As a result, Denel decided not to sell China the helicopter and the cooperation came to an end.

Another item that appears to have been copied from South Africa is the optical-electronic pod on China’s ZW-9 combat helicopter, which bears a strong resemblance to the Leo-II serial O/E pods produced by the Zeiss Company.

Technical experts from the Zeiss Company told the author that about seven to eight years ago Zeiss exported two sets of an earlier variant of the Leo-II O/E pods to China, intended for use on helicopters. According to the source, the Chinese side explained that they needed a large number of this type of O/E pods for civilian helicopters, and therefore would like to purchase two sets initially for testing purposes. The source said the Chinese took no further action after receiving the test pods.

Currently, both the ZW-10 and the night version, the ZW-9, are equipped with O/E detectors very similar to those on the Leo-II.

China’s interest is not only in the O/E pod technologies used for helicopters. Chinese manufacturers have also engaged in active discussions with South Africa in hopes of acquiring TV video cameras and second-generation thermal imaging cameras used in Denel’s Seeker II unmanned air vehicle surveillance system.

The top military technology that China aspires to acquire from South Africa is without doubt the unmanned air vehicle. China’s New Era Group Corporation had several rounds of negotiations with Denel on the possibility of producing in China two types of Denel UAVs, which were on display at the 2006 Zhuhai Air Show, called the Golden Eagle and the Seeker II.

China hopes to obtain the technologies to assemble these two UAVs domestically. However, according to a source from the Denel Group, negotiations on the UAV deals have come to a halt and the company has decided that unless substantial progress is made on these negotiations, the company no longer wants to spend time dealing with the Chinese.

Denel had a similar experience in trying to negotiate a deal with Chinese company Norinco for its Mokopa anti-tank missiles. The Chinese company expressed an interest in importing Denel’s technologies, but once again the negotiations ended with no result.

Since 2007, Norinco has attempted to contact the Denel Group again, saying that it wants to import the company’s G5 155-mm howitzer ammunition handling system. But Denel is not eager to enter into an agreement with China on this project; Chinese-made 155-mm howitzers have already appeared in quite a number of countries in Northern Africa, including Algeria, Sudan and Egypt.

The source from Denel did disclose that the company has successfully completed a deal with China for its 35-mm multirole machine gun. This technology in fact was exported to China 10 years ago. China seems to have upgraded this 35-mm gun to an air-defense machine gun.

China’s New Era Group Corporation has also been negotiating with Denel for the transfer of African Eagle UAV technologies. The Chinese introductory brochure of the cooperation program claims that the African Eagle UAV is capable of taking a payload of 500 kilograms, which could be six Mokopa anti-tank missiles or two Umbani MK 81 precision-guided bombs. The theoretical combat radius of the African Eagle is 750 kilometers.

China also hopes to obtain the South African Angel high-altitude and high-speed UAV attacker system. This attacker UAV is capable of carrying precision-guided weapons and attacking targets 1,400 kilometers away. The UAV is also capable of carrying A-Darter AAMs to launch unmanned aerial attacks.

The Angel attacker and reconnaissance UAV is equipped with aperture radar and is capable of conducting tactical reconnaissance missions. It can also be fitted with Mokopa active laser-guided anti-tank missiles to attack armored combat groups.

Nonetheless, the source from Denel disclosed that no substantial progress has been made on this project, indicating it may end up as one more failed deal. It remains to be seen whether China’s latest explorations with the company will yield technological information it can convert to its own purposes, however.

(http://www.india-defence.com)

The prisoners at Gruoenpunt Maximum Security prison in Free State province are among the most violent in South Africa.

They have raped, murdered, smuggled drugs or abused children. Many are HIV-positive and can expect to die in jail.

Inside prison their anger boils over and violence is common.

But a new programme of yoga lessons is helping inmates to discover ways to calm themselves and take a more positive look at their lives, even if they never get out from behind bars.

Honest smiles

From the deck of a rusty old boxing ring Ansuya Khoosal takes the prisoners through a series of yoga positions and breathing exercises.

Prisoners say they are more relaxed, and warders agree

“Breathe in… And let go,” she repeats.

The prisoners have their eyes shut, listening to her soothing voice.

They appear at peace with themselves.

“I can’t see any smiles!” Ansuya says, and wide, honest grins appear on their faces.

They stand in their bright orange uniforms, flinging their arms up in a flurry of stretches.

Some inmates take it very seriously, others treat it like a bit of a lark, but it is clear that the lessons are popular.

It is the last day of a seven day programme of lessons, teaching the inmates basic yoga positions, as well as breathing exercises devised by yoga master Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

The organisation that provides the teaching, Art of Living, say they hope the inmates will take what they have learned and practice in their cells on their own.

The organisation cannot run classes every week, but they have identified enthusiastic inmates to carry on encouraging their cell-mates to continue.

A life inside

Maxwell Buthelezi, 24, is in jail for life.

I was talking on the phone and someone was bothering me. Normally I would fight him, but I stopped myself Maxwell Buthelezi Serving a life sentence Audio slideshow: Prison body art

He says he fell in with the wrong crowd at university.

While other students were studying, he was out with his friends, robbing motorists at gunpoint wearing a fake policeman’s uniform.

He got deeper and deeper into a gang.

Until one day, he and his friends went to rob a cargo ship they knew was carrying drugs.

But the police were waiting for them.

They suspected one of the gang sold them out, and as the ensuing gun battle with police raged, they brutally murdered him.

“My family is very ashamed of me,” he says.

He is two years into his 20-year minimum sentence.

His prison identity card is marked that he is in for life, and can only be released when the Department of Corrections decides.

“This programme has helped me with my anger,” he says.

“Just the other day I was talking on the phone and someone was bothering me. Normally I would fight him, but I stopped myself.”

“I said to him: ‘Listen my brother, what is it that you want me to do?’”

“That night in my cell I felt happy, because I knew I’d dealt with the situation in the right way.”

Sceptical

Mrs Khoosal says she has seen a change in the prisoners in just the seven days since she first met them.

When I first heard about it I thought how can that help? Anita Hanekom Head of social services

“When we arrived they were very suspicious.”

“They thought it was an Indian thing, and heckled us, but by the end I could feel they weren’t just doing it for the certificate.”

The yoga technique she teaches can control emotions, she says.

“When we are angry we breath a certain way and when we are sad we breath another.

“If you can control the breathing, you can therefore control the emotion.”

The inmates weren’t the only ones who were sceptical.

“When I first heard about it I thought: ‘How can that help?’” Anita Hanekom, head of Social Services at the prison told the BBC.

“But now I’ve seen it can work.”

Now the Department of Correctional Services which runs South Africa’s prisons wants to implement the programme in other jails.

It has worked in other countries too.

But South Africa’s prison system remains a brutal and frightening world.

Many inmates join gangs for protection, and the gangs’ influence extends into the world outside where violent crime is rampant.

“We can only hope that they take these techniques with them if they leave prison,” says Mrs Khoosal.

(http://news.bbc.co.uk)

Really people, there are no tigers in Africa. And we don’t have lions walking in the streets of our towns in South Africa. And it doesn’t always rain in England. And Germans do have a sense of humor. And the baseball World Series really do include the best teams in the world. Okay, maybe the last three pushed it a bit too far. But I am really getting sick and tired of ad people getting it so very wrong when they try to paint a global picture. Or when they try to grab the ‘mysterious Africa’ in their ads. I don’t mind them trying to put an African face to it. Hey, I was born in Africa and appreciate it when people use the images of Africa to inspire others. But, really people, just get the basic facts right when you do include Africa or when you try to include an African story into your ad.

One ad that was so bad that I blocked the company name from my mind was up in Back Bay Station in Boston for a few months. (I know it was a financial company.) It tried to tell the story that they can turn the tables on conventional thinking and conventional actions. And one specific ad had a Kenyan Masai (or Maasai) warrior run across the Serengeti. Being chased by a tiger. The ad is trying to tell us that the sometimes the tables are turned, and that they can help you turn the financial tables. BUT the Masai is well known for hunting LIONS for their entry into manhood. LIONS people. NOT tigers. THERE ARE NO TIGERS IN AFRICA. Can someone hunt down the ad guy who had this moment of ‘brilliance’ please. And then feed him to the tigers. Wherever they might be - try Asia as a start…

Sometimes it is simple mistakes. Unknowingly trying to capture a bit of Africa into your product. And that is especially true when the product comes from Africa. Nothing wrong with that. Except when you associate the wrong part of Africa into the product. For example, Teavana recently opened a store close to where I work. (Or I just walked past them almost every day for the last year and never noticed them.) I really like the shop. Good and healthy teas from everywhere around the world. Problem - they have a rooibos tea from Africa. Well, to be more specific, all rooibos tea come from a small area about 100 kilometers from Cape Town. Right at the bottom of Africa. I know this because I come from that area and my brother-in-law still farms with the stuff. The logo that Teavana use is an elephant. You know, elephants are all over Africa. Hum, not really. No elephant at all in that area. None, nada, zilch, zero. Never had any elephant. Never will. But it doesn’t stop there. The bloody elephant they use is not an African elephant. It is an Indian elephant. The smaller ears gave it away, you see. Teavana’s slogan is ‘Opening the Doors to Health, Wisdom, & Happiness’. I am not happy and therefore not healthy. No wisdom to be found in their messy logo for their rooibos. And I’ll close the door with that.

(AngryAfrican)

I just landed in La Guardia and got into a taxi heading off to Manhattan. I settled in and gave the driver the details of my hotel. I was surprised - he was one of the few taxi drivers in New York with a New York accent. Imagine that. An ex-firefighter he told me. He leaned back in that taxi driver way and half looking over his shoulder asked me where I am from (out the corner of his mouth the way taxi driver do). “South Africa”, I replied, not really thinking about it. He went quiet for a little bit - no small feat for a New York taxi driver. I could see him frowning at himself - thinking what to say in reply. He leaned back and said, “So where is that?” Huh? “Hum, it is a country in the Southern part of Africa”, I replied - not sure what to actually say. Silence again. I could see his eyes in the review mirror and it was clear he had no idea where to go with this conversation. He looked at me in the review mirror and said, “So, who’s the President of Africa?” WTF? How do I answer that one? “Well. Hum”, was all I could initially think of saying. Silence from my side trying to figure out an answer. Do I ask if he has ever heard of Nelson Mandela? Do I explain Africa is a continent and not a country? Do I say South Africa is the name of a country? No wait - I got it. I looked at him and said, “Robert Mugabe”.

I mean really. What was I going to say?

I am from Africa. Here’s the problem with that. If I said I am from America what would you think? US of A right? There is only one America in the eyes of the world. When people talk about America they don’t mean the continent, they mean the country. But in Africa we have the opposite problem. People think Africa is just some uniform place somewhere off the coast of Australia or England. Yeah, many people think we are just a single entity with people who are all the same no matter where you go.

You can find Italian Americans in the USA and French Canadians in Canada, but there is no such thing as an Italian African or French African. Except if they got lost in the Dakar Rally somehow. No. To the world we are just Africans in Africa. All the same. A uniform country where we all speak Swahili or some or other version of clicking noises. (The God’s must be Crazy is seen as a hard hitting documentary!)

I wish we were this uniform. It would make things a bit easier. I mean really. In South Africa we have 11 official languages. And it doesn’t mean that if you knew one that you would know the other. Nope. It’s like Spanish and English - completely foreign to each other. Oh, we have some words we share - lekker and bakkie being a few we share in South Africa. Some more can be found at A-Broader View. Can you imagine 11 official languages? But we do have something in common. We are South African. And fiercely proud of it. Like all other countries we believe that our country is the greatest on this earth. A blessing from God. And we use our own criteria - like all other countries. The US measures it in wealth and the “American dream”. The German on their efficiency. The Brits on fish and chips, and warm beers. We measure ours on our past that we have overcome. That ours are the most just of societies. Where people from all backgrounds, ethnic groups, sexual orientation and religions can hang out together and have fun. Yes our great spirit is never better seen than when we are having a party. Which is most of the time. Oh, and don’t forget that we are the world champions in rugby, ranked number one in cricket for One Day Internationals and a string of players in the Top 20 in golf - and guess who will host the 2010 Soccer World Cup? Yeah! South Africa - the greatest nation in the world! (According to South Africans and a few of the most informed and wisest citizens of other countries.)

You know why Africans always smile and wave at each other? Because we are to sh*t scared of opening our mouths and having to speak to the other person. Which language do we pick? We have over 2,000 languages in Africa. So it makes it a bit difficult to pick one. Okay, we have the colonialist to thank for giving us English and French - most of us can speak one of the two. Badly, yes. But we can somehow communicate with each other. And a beer always helps to make the understanding a bit easier.

Here’s my other problem with people thinking of Africa as a country. I was on NewsBusters to “engage” them. If that’s what you want to call it… Well. Not everyone appreciated my superior wit and intelligence. (Hah - stop laughing!) What I found odd was that they always started talking about Africa and how bad it was - full or wars, Marxists, failed states, poverty etc. Well, they only did this when I pointed out flaws in some of their arguments - such as Obama not being Muslim or President Bush was maybe not a war hero. And then they got even more pissed when I started talking about Africa.

You see, Africa has many failed states. But we also have many good ones. Zambia, for instance, is more Swiss than the Swiss themselves. Yes, Zambia is as poor as you can get. Nothing there but some copper and poverty. They don’t even have a sea - they are landlocked. But Zambia has the friendliest people in the world Never been in a war - inside or outside their borders. And Botswana has been a fast growing economy for as long as I can remember. And Mozambique is growing at an enormous rate since the end of the war and offer so much in tourism. And Senegal has one of the greatest Presidents of Africa and the world - Wade. And…

Yes. There is a Zambia for every Zimbabwe. A Senegal for every Sudan. For every Equatorial Guinea an Egypt. A Botswana for Burundi. We are as diverse as the 52 independent states (60 if you include the territories) in Africa. As different as our languages. As straight or as crooked as our borders. We are black, brown, grey, white, pink, yellow - and any other shade you can think of. We are a crazy bunch who don’t get borders but will defend it to the death. We are mad, sometimes bad, too often sad, but always glad. We might not be a country. But we are Africans. And proud of it. Robert Mugabe or not.

(angryafrican)