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Last Update: April 8, 2001 |
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Police probing plot within ANC to oust Mbeki Police are investigating claims that President Thabo Mbeki is in "physical danger" from leaders within the African National Congress who are plotting to oust him, according to a Sunday newspaper. Safety and Security Minister Steve Tshwete told the newspaper that police intelligence units had been investigating the allegations since last year. "As the department charged with protecting the safety and security of this country, we have to ensure that these plots do not culminate into something ugly," Tshwete said. "As far back as last year, we picked up clandestine activities involving certain individuals and we are monitoring this on a day-to-day basis to ensure that the president is safe," Tshwete added, without giving details or naming the individuals. But Mbeki's spokesperson, Bheki Khumalo, declined to comment on the report when contacted on Sunday, referring all queries to the police. A spokesperson in Tshwete's office, Joseph Ngobeni, also declined comment. The newspaper quoted Tshwete as saying evidence gathered during the investigation would be "very damaging" to some ANC leaders. "If people want to be president, that's fine. There are ANC structures... where they can canvass properly. They must not do things in a sinister and clandestine way," he said. There have been rumours before in the media about plots within the ANC to unseat Mbeki, who has had a torrid time in office since taking from Nelson Mandela in June 1999. Mbeki incurred international outrage by questioning the link between HIV and Aids - and failing to condemn quickly and openly the violent land invasions in neighbouring Zimbabwe. He also alienated many whites when he described his country as two nations - one rich white and one poor black. More recently he and his government have come in for trenchant criticism over the handling of a parliamentary inquiry into allegations of corruption surrounding a multi-billion rand international arms deal. Thanks to IOL.co.za [ Top ]  Kytie Koekblik ColumnKytie Koekblik Washington D.C. - In Amerika is niks normaal nie. Veral nie die temperatuur nie. Ek het nou ‘n tan en dit terwyl dit kouer is as ‘n Kaapse winter hier in Washington. Laas naweek was dit pragtige weer, en ons het gaan fietsry deur die parke van die pragtige stad. Die hele wereld was vol bloeisels en skaamgroen blaartjies. Die lente is hier, het gedink, finally. EK het my wintersklere weggepak en my toonnaels geverf en die sandale uitgehaal. Ek het in die park in die middel van die sirkel in Dupont Circle in die son gaan sit tussen al die Washington tipes, en geweet dit was wat die leefstyl hier in die VSA so aanloklik maak. Die hele Washington word wakker in die lente en somer. Almal ry fiets en gaan sit in die son op die betontrappies in die middel van die stad langs die rivier by gebrek aan ‘n see, en almal le op handdoeke met boeke in die middel van besige paaie op oop stukke groen, groen gras. Ek het aan ‘n stad in Suid-Afrika probeer dink waar die hip en die young ook sokkies en skoene uittrek en met ‘n boek op ‘n sementrap gaan sit op Saterdae. In Kaapstad le ons by die see, ons hang nie uit in die stad nie. Nie eers in die Gardens in die Kaap nie, ook nie in Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens nie, dalk wandel ons deur die tuine en dalk ook nie as ons te paranoies is nie…Johannesburg het nie parke nie. Ek het aan Washington Square in New York City gedink, aan al die yuppies, dramastudente en tv-tipes wat in die park optree. En ek het geweet ek het van die karakter van hierdie plek begin HOU. Ek is ‘n Washingtonian. As jy die ekstreme seisoene begin waardeer, en jou lewe daarvolgens rangskik; as jy die weervoorspellings vir die naweek dophou sodat jy vir ‘n piekniek of ‘n bike ride kan gaan, dan verdien jy jou status as Washingtonian. Besigheidsmanne, bums, yuppies, studente - dis asof daai switch aangaan in almal op ‘n mooi dag, en almal raak skielik aktief, en neem nie die mooi weer for granted nie. Ek waardeer die seisoene. Ek sien selfs uit na winter omdat ek kan ysskaats. Ek het ‘n Washingtonian geraak het oor die afgelope tien maande. Ek het nou al die seisoene beleef, en die abnormale temperatuur van die sogenaamde lente verras my nie meer nie. Selfs vir die koue is ek nie meer bang nie. Geen wintersdepressies vir my meer nie. Hierdie week moes ek weer die handskoene opdiep en die koue lagie kon ek voel oor my vel en in my neusgate, dit was VREK KOUD. Soos die koudste dag in die Oos-Kaapse winter, net kouer. Vingervrieskaslaag-op-laag klere koud, en dit in die middel van die lente. Nou’t hierdie Washingtonian alles beleef. ‘n Spierbabawitvel a.g.v. van die winter wat my net soos ‘n Amerikaner laat lyk, en ‘n erge rooi suntan na die geringste ou lentesonnetjie… Die Baas kom vanoggend in die kantoor ingestap met ‘n kortmouhemp aan. Spierwit. “You know the weather has changed when they start talking about “the heat index,” se die Big Cheese. Dit is die begin van die somer, se die Baas. Wanner hulle begin praat van die “heat index factor.” Wat op die aarde is die heat index, vra ek. Dis glo daardie bedompige hitte wat jou laat dink dat dit warmer is as wat die temperatuur se dit is. Humidity. Die teenoorgestelde van die “wind chill factor”, laat jou weer dink dit is kouer as wat dit is, omdat die wind waai. “Washingtonians are infatuated with the weather” se die Big Cheese. “In America there is no such thing as normal temperature.” In my dae, het ons niks geleer van hierdie abnormale weersfaktore nie. Ons het geleer van die Kaapse dokter en klaar. In America, is dit kouer as koud, en warmer as warm, verduidelik die Baas aan. Want dit is 80 degrees plus heat index, dus 96 degrees. Pasop vir die heat index. Ek dink die weer word gesensasionalise, soos als in hierdie country. Van die os op die jas, KYTIE KAN NIE WAG op Freedom Day nie. Die hele klein Suid-Afrika hier in Washington met al sy bagasie en kontradiksie soos verteenwoordige deur elke single SA’ner met ‘n chip of sonder ‘n chip op die skouer, gaan mos Freedom Day Activities bywoon. Die Vrydag-aand, woon Kytie ‘n toedoe by die Ambassade by, die uitnodiging se jy kan in tradisionele klere of formal attire kom. Kytie besit nie so iets nie. Ek dink ek het ‘n paar bloomers uit die voortrekker dae somewhere. Die Big Cheese gaan sy safari-suit opdiep uit sy traveltrunk sodat hy die talk van die town kan wees. Ek vermoed hy gaan ‘n kortbroek, met lang kouse en ‘n kam daarin gedruk aantrek. Net virrie pret, dis mos tradisioneel ne… Die Saterdag gaaan jy nou ‘n ding sien. Die Ambassade het mos sy helpende hand finally uitgesteek na die SA community, of is dit die Ambassade wat die helpende hande vol dollars nodig het van sy ekspat community? Volgens ‘n hoe profiel wat ons almal uitgenooi het na die high catered affair, in die Residence van haar Excellency nogal, is hierdie event die geleentheid waar die Ambassade en die Ekspats Versoen gaan word. Dus die Bonding Session van die Nuwe Millenuim, volgens my heeltemal overdue want die transition het mos al lankal plaasgevind… Nou, die Sondag gaan die vonke spat en boere braai. Op ‘n plaas 50km oos van die Embassy, kan jy boeresport, biltong en touch rugby kry, met All Gold tomatosauce en driebeenresies en toutrek. Kevin van die Cape Dutch Bakery is die breins agter die braai. Die Big Cheese is aan sy kant as ons toutrek, want Kevin was ‘n powerlifter. Ek sien nou al, hoe skryf ek daai lekker politieke kleurtjie stories vir die SA Sondagkoerante…die boere braai saam. Ek speel maar net, ek skryf die ou kolommietjies mos in die gees van Versoening. So in die spirits van Freedom Day. Kytie K. Kytie Koekblik would like you to respond to her tongue-in-cheek running commentary on suburban life in America in this editorial. Fresh off the boat, she is ready to explore and experiment with American bath plugs and to drive on the other side of the road. You can contact her here. © RSA-Overseas & Matheson Communications [ Top ] South African executed in US for murder Carson City, Nevada - A South African national convicted of killing his estranged wife's lover in the desert outside Las Vegas has been executed at the Nevada State Prison. Sebastian Stephanus Bridges, 37, was executed late on Saturday by injection after spending the day with his minister and dining on a final meal of crab salad, shrimp, lobster, mangoes, strawberry cheesecake and vanilla ice cream. Bridges, wearing his double-breasted Pierre Cardin suit and strapped to a gurney in the prison's execution chamber, was injected with three lethal substances. The execution was delayed for several minutes as Bridges' minister and lawyer tried desperately to get him to appeal. Bridges could be heard screaming, "I will not stop it." He also said, "I killed nobody, nobody." A few minutes later, strapped on the gurney in the execution chamber, Bridges raised his head and turned to the witnesses. "This is murder," Bridges said. Bridges, who had refused to give any interviews, had insisted in a final statement that he wasn't suicidal even though he wouldn't take advantage of available appeals. Bridges said he was a victim of a corrupt criminal justice system and wanted no further litigation "within the non-existing and fictional appellate process..." He termed his execution, for the 1997 murder of Hunter Blatchford, "an act of illegal state murder." Early on Saturday Bridges met Michael Pescetta, the assistant federal defender who tried unsuccessfully to get him to take advantage of available appeals that would result in an automatic stay. Bridges also met with the minister who had often counseled him and his ex-wife Laurie Bridges when their marriage was breaking up in 1997. The minister also urged the condemned man to appeal rather than die by injection. Bridges asked the minister, from Thousand Oaks, California, where the condemned man once lived, to witness his death. Other witnesses included Walt Blatchford, who traveled from Tennessee to view the execution of the man who killed his son. "I feel no grief over what had happened here tonight," he said. "There is a somewhat twisted man there." "It's a closure on a part of my life," the father said. "The loss of Hunter is something that no one in the family will ever really get over." Earlier in the week, Governor Kenny Guinn said he wouldn't block the execution, Nevada's ninth since the US Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in the 1970s. It was the first execution in the state since 1999. "It's his decision, not mine," Guinn said. "All he has to say is 'I'm not walking in that room.' I'm not going to make that decision for him." Bridges, who changed his name from Carl Coetzer, had repeatedly told public defenders that he wanted no appeals. He even sent word to the South African government to keep out of the case. Blatchford was shot in the stomach and died in the desert outside Las Vegas. Laurie Bridges was present, and Bridges has alleged that she shot the victim - but he took the blame out of "fatal, unconditional love and loyalty to her." Outside the prison, about 30 people held a vigil on the chilly, wind-swept night. Standing across the street around a makeshift altar with lighted candles on it, they chanted "Give peace to every heart" and held signs opposing the execution. Father Chuck Durante led an earlier vigil at St Teresa of Avila Catholic Church to show opposition to what the congregants called state-assisted suicide. "For Christians this day is in the octave of Easter," Durante said. "From Easter Day until a week later we celebrate life and hope. And tonight the state celebrates death." Thanks to IOL.co.za [ Top ] First bilateral discussion between Powell & Zuma The first bilateral discussion on Wednesday between the Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Nkosazana Zuma and her counterpart, US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, took an unexpected turn when a coup in Burundi was reported. Zuma reassured Powell that South Africa was committed to a democratic, constitutional transfer of power. "Both countries were concerned about the coup," Zuma said. "We were both concerned, that if there was a coup, there is a problem." Shortly after the hour long discussion at the State Department in Washington, Zuma received a first hand report from South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma about the state of affairs in Burundi, which confirmed that the government was still in place. Zuma announced after her meeting with Powell, that the Bush administration will not relaunch a binational commission based on the Mbeki-Gore model. She assured that the US is committed to a dynamic relationship between South Africa and the US, as South Africa is viewed as an important strategic partner on the African continent. "Clearly we're in for very good relations," Zuma confirmed. The disbanded vice-presidential initiative will be used to as a framework for potential institutional mechanisms of co-operation between the two countries. Zuma said the logistics of a new structure would be finalised once an Assistant Secretary for Africa was appointed by the Bush administration. "South Africa has a big responsibility towards working towards betterment of the continent," Zuma said after the hour long discussion with Powell. Zuma presented Powell with the Millenium Africa Plan (MAP), to which Powell responded with great interest. "He had not seen it before," Zuma said. Zuma emphasised that MAP was only in its infant stages. "Priorities in the plan are still being fleshed out in terms of its details." Zuma explained. Zuma brought MAP to the bilateral agenda in the hope to gain US support for the plan for the G8 summit later this year. "We need support from them as a country and a part of G8," Zuma said. According to MAP, different African countries will be responsible for specific areas of growth and development. South Africa is responsible for human resources development, Algeria for micro-economic policy and good government, Nigeria for peace and stability, and Egypt for agriculture. A task team will integrate the details of the plan before it is presented to the G8. Afro-Arabian co-operation and South African mediation was also on the agenda for the meeting. South Africa expressed its support for the important role that the US has to play. "The Middle-East is an issue of concern to both countries." Zuma said. "We agreed that the US needs to stay very close to the matter." Zuma expressed her satisfaction with the meeting, which was "cordial and constructive." Zuma and her counterpart also agreed on a working visit by South African President Thabo Mbeki to be introduced to President George W. Bush. The details and dates of the visit have not been finalised, as "both presidents are very busy." The AIDS/HIV issue was not discussed at the meeting between Powell and Zuma. Powell expressed his condolences to South Africa after the Ellis Park tragedy last week. © RSA-Overseas & Matheson Communications [ Top ] SA embassy in DC approaches estranged expats With Freedom Day approaching next week, the South African embassy in Washington DC has reached out to the fragmented and dysfunctional South African expatriate community. “Ms. Sheila Sisulu believes that a fresh start should be made to re-kindle communications between the Embassy and South Africans in the Washington area. She has no blueprint as to how this should be done and what shape it should take; she is just convinced that we need to know each other and open up the lines of communication,” the newly appointed Deputy Chief of Mission, Professor Thandabuthu Nhlapo, said. Nhlapo has volunteered his services to see this “vision” realised. In an invitation to attend an event at the Embassy to commemorate Freedom Day, Nhlapo has asked the expats to view the Freedom Day event as an “attempt to meet and exchange views about the future relationship.” Nhlapu described the relationships between expats and the Embassy, as a venture into “uncharted waters.” “We believe that the intention to get to know each other and to do things together is the right way to go. There will be teething problems along the way, and we do not know what the future holds. We all hope to have a better idea after Saturday 28 April,” Nhlapo said. The Deputy Chief had hoped to have a meeting with the South African expats prior to Freedom Day, Nhlapo said. “We had rather optimistically hoped to have (a meeting) with you prior to the planning of the celebrations. At that meeting we had hoped to educate ourselves about the shape of the South African community in and around Washington DC, by hearing your views, experiences, concerns and desires.” Nhlapo emphasised the embassy’s regrets about the improbability of such a meeting. “With all that is going on in our lives, the luxury of an Embassy-driven “general meeting” was always a pipe dream,” Nhlapo said. The South African Embassy has decided to split the amount of money received from Head Office to cover the Freedom Day activities by hosting two events. The first is a traditional diplomatic reception on Friday evening, the 27th of April. The other is a general event on the Saturday during which they hope to strengthen relationships between the expats and the Embassy. This is event “will aim to bring South Africans to the Embassy, many for the first time,” Nhlapu said. Invitations were sent out to an old address list, supplemented by recent information and word of mouth. Nhlapu said invitations were sent out to everyone they could reach. Nhlapu also said the Embassy would be attending an open-air braai on the Sunday after Freedom Day, organised by Kevin and Amanda Fraser from the Cape Dutch Bakery. The Embassy event is not open for children, and Nhlapo have encouraged South Africans to rather take their children to the picnic. “To be blunt, the Embassy event on the Saturday would literally collapse if we brought children. The logistics would collapse; the catering would collapse,” he emphasised. © RSA-Overseas & Matheson Communications [ Top ] SA rugby influence in the USA So many foreigners have brought the rugby tradition with them to the States, that the Maryland rugby club has changed their name to the “Maryland Exiles Rugby Club.” The Maryland Exiles Club has attracted players from South Africa, Ireland, England, Fiji and the United States. There is currently three South Africans from Port Elizabeth on the Maryland Exiles rugby team. Two of them, Carl Snyman and Jacques Victor were brought out from South Africa earlier in February. Victor is a professional player from South Africa who plays center for the Uitendrag Rugby Club. He is currently on loan to the Exiles. Snyman is another professional rugby player who plays flanker. He played number eight for the Barks Rugby Club in the Vodacom Cup. Eddie Gilpin carries an American passport, but he was born and raised in South Africa. He is a recent graduate of the University of Port Elizabeth (UPE) and he used to be team leader for the UPE rugby team. Gilpin has been talked about as a potential selection for the USA National Team in the near future. South Africans in the tri-state area of Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC, also has an opportunity to introduce their children to the art of rugby. The Maryland Exiles Youth Rugby team have already attracted South African children in the area. Christoph de Montille is a 14 year old Wing playing for the Maryland Exiles High school team. He plays with teams 2ndXV, and he is a leader on the team and a sound tackler. Last summer de Montille captained the U15 side to a League and Tournament Championship. De Montille is a Freshman attending Landon School in Bethesda, Maryland. Steven Regotti is a 15 year old flyhalf who is also currently playing with the Maryland Exiles High School Team. He has also played two games with the teams 1st XV. Steven is currently a Sophomore attending Sherwood High School in Sandy Spring, Maryland. According to Dan Soso, coach for the Maryland Youth Exiles, they are currently getting their youth rugby programs ready to gear up for another summer league season. They are currently recruiting anyone interested in coaching, reffing or playing. They Youth Exiles are fielding U15, U11 and U9 sides. He welcomes anyone who has a child that would like to play for these teams. They will be playing both tackle and non-contact versions of rugby. For more information, or if you or your children would like to participate as a player, coach or an official, please contact Dan Sosa. © RSA-Overseas & Matheson Communications [ Top ] |
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