Daily Archives: December 12, 2013

Mandela wa best dressed Wits student-Bizos


Johannesburg – Former president Nelson Mandela was one of the best dressed students during his time at the University of the Witwatersrand, his friend and advocate George Bizos said on Thursday.
“I remember Nelson Mandela as tall, handsome and the best dressed student always,” said Bizos.

“I don’t know where he got the money from.”

He said Mandela was always in a suit and wore shiny shoes.

He was speaking at Mandela’s celebration event held at the university.

In a laid-back public conversation before the crowd, Bizos told Wits Chancellor and deputy of chief justice Dikgang Moseneke that he met Mandela in the Great Hall in Wits in 1948.

“In this hall,” Bizos said in response to Moseneke’s question of their meeting.

Mandela’s friend and fellow prison mate Ahmed Kathrada said he met Mandela in 1946.

He said Mandela could relate to anyone, whether it be children or people of royalty.

Kathrada said he one day heard Mandela speak to someone who he referred to as “Elizabeth” over the phone.

Kathrada said he asked Mandela who was the Elizabeth he was referring to.

He said it was the queen.

“Mandela said he referred to the queen as Elizabeth because the queen referred to him as Nelson,” said Kathrada.

The crowd roared in laughter.

Earlier, president of convocation Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng said Mandela spent six years at the university, studying his LLB.

While Mandela did not obtain his degree at Wits, Phakeng said Mandela’s life was shaped by his time there and on Robben Island.

Mandela went on to complete his LLB through correspondence with the University of SA.

“His only life on campus was at Wits,” Phakeng said proudly.

She said while Mandela did not leave Wits with a certificate, he went through many life-shaping events during his six years as a Wits student including marrying his first wife Evelyn and becoming a father.

Honouring Mandela

SRC president Shafee Verachia also gave a moving tribute to Mandela, attempting to sing the song “Nelson Mandela, there is none like you,” in Zulu.

Verachia said Mandela proved that a young boy from Eastern Cape in Qunu could rise to make something great of his life.

The Great Hall at Wits was packed to capacity for the celebration, while television screens and seats were placed outside to accommodate those who could not be let in the hall.

Johannesburg Mayor Parks Tau delivered a speech.

The Wits choir, the institution’s school of music as well as globally acclaimed musician, Lira, provided the entertainment at the event.

Mandela, 95, died at his Houghton, Johannesburg, home last week.

He is to be buried in Qunu, Eastern Cape, on Sunday.

SAPA

Court orderly appears over prison sex bribe


Cape Town – A police warrant officer, accused of accepting a bribe to allow a prisoner out of his holding cell to have sex, appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Cape Town on Thursday.
At the time, Warrant Officer Bongani Ndikho, 42, was a court orderly in charge of prisoners appearing in the Wynberg Regional Court.

He was allegedly given R150 by prisoner John Maggot so he could have sex with his girlfriend. Maggot was also in the dock.

Ndikho faces two counts of corruption.

One for allegedly receiving the R150 bribe, and the other for allegedly receiving additional bribes totalling R12 000, in exchange for smuggling dagga parcels to Maggot.

Maggot faces two counts of corruption, for allegedly paying Ndikho the bribes. Both face another charge of dealing in drugs.

The charge sheet detailed a number of SMSes allegedly arranging for dagga in parcels to be given to Ndikho to smuggle to Maggot in the court holding cells, and for the payment of bribes.

In one SMS Ndikho allegedly sent, the writer said if the bribe was “not a block [R1 000], don’t bother coming”.

Magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg postponed the matter to 28 January.

SAPA

Court orderly appears over prison sex bribe


Cape Town – A police warrant officer, accused of accepting a bribe to allow a prisoner out of his holding cell to have sex, appeared in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Cape Town on Thursday.
At the time, Warrant Officer Bongani Ndikho, 42, was a court orderly in charge of prisoners appearing in the Wynberg Regional Court.

He was allegedly given R150 by prisoner John Maggot so he could have sex with his girlfriend. Maggot was also in the dock.

Ndikho faces two counts of corruption.

One for allegedly receiving the R150 bribe, and the other for allegedly receiving additional bribes totalling R12 000, in exchange for smuggling dagga parcels to Maggot.

Maggot faces two counts of corruption, for allegedly paying Ndikho the bribes. Both face another charge of dealing in drugs.

The charge sheet detailed a number of SMSes allegedly arranging for dagga in parcels to be given to Ndikho to smuggle to Maggot in the court holding cells, and for the payment of bribes.

In one SMS Ndikho allegedly sent, the writer said if the bribe was “not a block [R1 000], don’t bother coming”.

Magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg postponed the matter to 28 January.

SAPA

African Traditions, Military Pomp For Mandela Burial


Johannesburg – Nelson Mandela will be laid to rest on Sunday in an elaborate ceremony combining a state funeral and all its military pomp with the traditional burial rituals of his Xhosa clan to ensure he has an easy transition into the after world.
Many South Africans will revere Mandela, who during his life became a global symbol of peace and reconciliation, even more now that he has died, since ancestors are widely believed to have a guiding, protective role over the living.

Around 46% of the population practises traditional African religions, according to a 2010 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, a Washington-based research centre.

Mandela, of the abaThembu people and South Africa’s first black president, died a week ago at the age of 95.

Thousands of people have filed passed his body as it lies in state in Pretoria this week.

He will be buried by his family following their traditional burial rites on Sunday in Qunu, their ancestral home in the rural Eastern Cape province, 700km south of Johannesburg.

If the rites are not carried out, the abaThembu believe the dead will come back in spirit to demand they are performed.

“We as Africans have rites of passage, whether it is a birth, marriage or funeral. Mandela will be sent off into the spiritual world so that he is welcomed in the world of ancestors. And also so that he doesn’t get angry,” said Nokuzola Mndende, a scholar of African religion.

“His wrath won’t be on the state if these ceremonies don’t take place, it will be on his children,” Mndende said.

A man who for many embodied the Christian values of forgiveness, Mandela was the product of Xhosa traditional upbringing and Methodist schooling.

In his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, Mandela spoke approvingly of the Xhosa rituals which his mother, a convert to the Methodist faith, resisted but his father followed, presiding over slaughter rituals and other traditional rites.

Cattle slaughter

For the abaThembu, the ritual of accompanying Mandela’s spirit will include the slaughtering of an ox in the early hours of Saturday morning before receiving his body, flown in from Pretoria.

The ox meat is then boiled without spices in big, iron black pots in open fires outside.

“On Saturday, once the body has been received, the elders will speak and perform some rituals and then the body will spend the night at the home,” said Chief Mfundo Mtirara, spokesperson for the abaThembu royal house.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, before the funeral officially begins, another ox will be slaughtered as part of the family ritual of saying goodbye.

After that Mandela’s body will be handed over to the church and then to President Jacob Zuma for the state funeral.

Finally King Dalindyebo, king of Mandela’s clan, is expected to perform salutations to the dead that will send Mandela to the world of the ancestors.

The king’s men will then join him in a last salutation before everyone returns home to wash their hands outside the family yard and have lunch.

A week later, the family take part in a ritual to “wash the spades” that dug his grave and, after a year has passed, another ox is slaughtered and the mourners remove their black mourning garb.

Reuters

Mandela changed Rlhistoric Rivonia speech


Johannesburg – Former president Nelson Mandela’s lawyer George Bizos advised him to slightly alter the speech he delivered shortly before he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia trial in the 1960s, it was revealed on Thursday.

Speaking at Mandela’s celebration and memorial held at the University of the Witwatersrand, Mandela’s friend and anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada said Bizos advised Mandela to add the word “if needs be”, to a pivotal part of the speech he delivered.

The altered stanza which has become globally known as one of Mandela’s most famous quotes read: “It is an ideal for which I have lived; it is an ideal for which I hope to live and see realised. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

The penned note was screened at Mandela’s memorial and celebration at Wits on Thursday, showing the words “needs be” squeezed into Mandela’s orginal note.

Bizos said he knew the night before the sentencing that Mandela, Kathrada and a group of other accused would not be handed the death penalty.

He said the apartheid government knew that they would have no one to negotiate with if they sentenced the group, Mandela and his co-accused, to death.

Bizos added that the judge who sentenced Mandela was against the death penalty as he had previously sentenced a man to death. He later found out the information against the man had been false.

Bizos and Kathrada were speaking in a laid back public conversation before a crowd with Wits Chancellor and deputy of chief justice Dikgang Moseneke leading the conversation.

They shared their memories of Mandela and their experiences of the struggle.

Mandela, 95, died at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg, last week.

The former statesman is to be buried in Qunu, in the Eastern Cape on Sunday.

SAPA

Sanef in talks over Mandela funeral coverage


Qunu – National editors held talks on Thursday with the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) on media coverage of Nelson Mandela’s funeral in Qunu, Eastern Cape.
“The SA National Editors’ Forum [Sanef] is concerned over restrictions of media coverage in Qunu,” forum member Adriaan Basson said.

Journalists were being barred from entering the village and taking pictures. They were told to go to the media centre, about 3km from Mandela’s homestead.

The restrictions have forced journalists renting houses nearby to find alternative accommodation.

A police officer said: “We were briefed not to allow you access or to let you take pictures. You can go to the white tent,” he said, referring to the nearby media centre.

On Wednesday, Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane said the media had violated protocols.

“It has… come to our attention that some members of the media have violated the protocols and arrangements that are in place in Qunu, and that this is causing frustration for the authorities and the Mandela family and community of Qunu,” said Chabane.

Basson said they were in talks with GCIS and hoped to have an amicable solution soon. Brian Dube of GCIS said there would be a meeting on Friday to discuss coverage and restrictions in the area.

SAPA

Sanef in talks over Mandela funeral coverage


Qunu – National editors held talks on Thursday with the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) on media coverage of Nelson Mandela’s funeral in Qunu, Eastern Cape.
“The SA National Editors’ Forum [Sanef] is concerned over restrictions of media coverage in Qunu,” forum member Adriaan Basson said.

Journalists were being barred from entering the village and taking pictures. They were told to go to the media centre, about 3km from Mandela’s homestead.

The restrictions have forced journalists renting houses nearby to find alternative accommodation.

A police officer said: “We were briefed not to allow you access or to let you take pictures. You can go to the white tent,” he said, referring to the nearby media centre.

On Wednesday, Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane said the media had violated protocols.

“It has… come to our attention that some members of the media have violated the protocols and arrangements that are in place in Qunu, and that this is causing frustration for the authorities and the Mandela family and community of Qunu,” said Chabane.

Basson said they were in talks with GCIS and hoped to have an amicable solution soon. Brian Dube of GCIS said there would be a meeting on Friday to discuss coverage and restrictions in the area.

SAPA

Info Bill Note Causes Confusion


Cape Town – An internal parliamentary note listing draft laws passed in the legislature’s fourth term sparked unfounded rumours on Thursday that the protection of state information bill had been signed into law, a spokesperson said.

“It was an internal e-mail, referring to bills passed. This is how confusion arose,” Luzuko Jacobs told Sapa.

“The bill has not been signed by the President.”

The National Assembly in November passed the bitterly-contested official secrets legislation with a host of technical amendments, after President Jacob Zuma sent it back to MPs for review.

Critics have called for a comprehensive rewrite and reiterated threats to challenge the law in the Constitutional Court if Zuma were to sign it in its present form.

SAPA

A man confessed to murder


Johannesburg – A man confessed and handed himself over on Thursday for murdering a 73-year-old women in Aliwal North, Eastern Cape police said.
The man, 30, gave information on the murder to the police, who then found the woman’s body in a freezer at her house, said police spokesperson Nozuko Handile.

“It is alleged the suspect used to help the lady in her garden and around the house.”

The man would appear in the Aliwal North Magistrate’s Court next week.

SAPA

ANC fingers state for a ‘fake’ interpreter


Johannesburg – The memorial for Nelson Mandela at FNB Stadium where an inadequate interpreter was used, was organised by the state and not the ANC, the party said on Thursday.
“Since yesterday [Wednesday], the African National Congress has been inundated with enquiries from local and international media regarding the sign language interpreter,” spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said in a statement.

“The ANC confirms that the organisation has over the years utilised the services of Thamsanqa Jantjie. The official memorial service held for president Mandela, however, was organised by the state and not the ANC.”

Mthembu said the way Jantjie’s services were procured were thus government and not ANC processes.

“Because of this, the ANC is not in a position to offer a view on how his services were secured by government,” he said.

“It is important to make the point that, up until yesterday, the ANC had not been aware of any of complaints regarding the quality of services, qualifications or reported illnesses of Jantjie.”

The party would follow up the correspondence sent to it and, where necessary, act on it.

The ANC welcomed the investigation instituted by the government into the matter and urged all interested parties to await its outcome so the full facts of what happened could be ascertained.

“Our common responsibility at this time is ensuring a fitting send-off for the father of our nation, icon of our struggle Isithwalandwe/Seaparankoe comrade Nelson Mandela,” said Mthembu.

A mistake

Earlier on Thursday, Deputy Minister for people with Disabilities Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu said that using Jantjie’s services was a mistake, but that it was not something South Africa should be embarrassed about.

“We can’t be told we are embarrassed… did a mistake happen? Yes,” she said.

“I don’t think it would be accurate for me to stand here and say we are embarrassed.

“A mistake happened while we were trying…. We try to improve.”

She said the interpreter had been overwhelmed, and had trouble translating from Xhosa to English to sign language.

Xhosa was his first language, and there should have been a second sign language interpreter on stage as directed by regulations.

She said the company for which he worked, SA Interpreters, was found after the memorial to have provided sub-standard sign language services for some time.

“It appears that they had been cheating all along,” said Bogopane-Zulu.

Concerns over Jantjies

The company had been charging the interpreter’s services at R800 a day, when normally a sign language interpreter charged between R1 300 to R1 700 an hour.

Regarding who procured the company and the interpreter’s services, the deputy minister repeated Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane’s statement on Wednesday that the various government departments involved in Tuesday’s memorial were finalising what happened.

Bogopane-Zulu said Wednesday was the first time she had received complaints about the interpreter.

Deaf organisations have claimed that they first raised concerns about him some time ago.

Jantjie was metres away from the likes of President Jacob Zuma, US President Barack Obama, Cuban President Raul Castro, and Mandela’s widow Graça Machel during proceedings at Mandela’s memorial at FNB Stadium, in Johannesburg, on Tuesday.

The Cape Times reported earlier on Thursday that Jantjies said he had suffered a schizophrenic episode during the memorial.

He told the newspaper that he did not know whether it was the importance of the event or the happiness he felt on the day which triggered the attack.

Jantjies, who uses medication for schizophrenia, claimed that during the proceedings he lost concentration and began hallucinating.

He later apologised for his actions and said he “was alone in a dangerous situation” and there was nothing he could do.

SAPA