Pretoria – On a public holiday dedicated to reconciliation, South Africans started coming to terms with the loss of Nelson Mandela, unveiling a giant statue on Monday to honour his struggle for equality.

A day after he was buried with full honours in Qunu a 9mbronze likeness was unveiled in the vast gardens of the Union Buildings.

This is where generations of apartheid heads of state signed many of the racial laws Mandela spent most of his life fighting against, but also where he was inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president in 1994.

Last week, up to 100 000 people stood there in hours-long queues to file past Mandela’s open casket as he lay in state for three days.

President Jacob Zuma presided over the unveiling of the effigy of a smiling Mandela in mid-stride, arms outstretched in a welcoming gesture, sporting a trademark “Madiba shirt”.

Zuma said the open-armed gesture denoted that “South Africa is now a democratic country, he is embracing the entire nation, he is advancing to the nation to say: ‘let us come together, let us unite’”.

For 50 million compatriots, Mandela was not just a statesman and president, but a moral guide who led their polarised country away from internecine racial conflict.

“Yes, he has a history of struggle, and yes, he used to be a soldier, but now we wanted to create a peaceful figure that embraced the whole nation, the whole South Africa,” sculptor Andre Prinsloo, who helped assemble the colossus, told AFP.

The 4.5-ton statue is the largest of many erected around the world in honour of the anti-apartheid hero.

“When one looks at comrade Madiba’s statue out there… it is almost like we are hitting the last nail in the coffin of apartheid,” Cyril Ramaphosa, deputy president of the ruling ANC, told the ceremony.

“Now our father is up there saying to the world we have defeated apartheid.”

The towering effigy had been planned long before Mandela’s death.

Built at a cost of R8m, it replaces a statue of Barry Hertzog, an Afrikaner nationalist who was prime minister of South Africa from 1924 to 1939.

Zuma thanked a representative of the Hertzog family who attended the ceremony for granting permission to move the Afrikaner’s statue elsewhere in the gardens.

And he announced the Union Buildings would become a national heritage site, “to write a new and inclusive narrative for our country”.

“We are now one nation and… our national symbols need to reflect that unity in diversity,” the president said.

‘Reconciliation, peace, that’s what this is about’

South Africans gathered at the Union Buildings to follow the unveiling on big screens as a 21-gun salute rang out and air force jets flew over in a “missing man” formation usually reserved for honouring a fallen pilot.

“Reconciliation, peace, that’s what this is about,” said Afrikaner Retha Jansen, 63, who came to be part of history.

Zuma stressed that for true reconciliation to be possible, “glaring socio-economic disparities” still had to be corrected.

The Day of Reconciliation was first marked in 1995.

Before that, 16 December had been commemorated by Afrikaners, the custodians of apartheid, for over 150 years to mark a 1838 victory over Zulu warriors in the Battle of Blood River.

But 16 December is also the anniversary of the founding of the ANC’s military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe.

Zuma described the loss of Mandela as “the moment of our greatest sorrow as the Rainbow Nation” – a term coined for country’s different races uniting in peace.

But “there should be no more tears. We must celebrate and take forward his legacy,” the president said.

“Let us all get back to work tomorrow, to build the South Africa that Madiba sacrificed 27 years of his life in prison for.”

Ten days of official mourning ended at midnight Sunday, and the national flag went back to flying at full-mast.

AFP

Johannesburg – The ANC had nothing to do with the appointment of a bogus sign language interpreter at former president Nelson Mandela’s memorial service, the party said on Monday.

“The ANC reiterates that the organisation did not take part in the government process to procure the service provider for the memorial service,” ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu said in a statement.

He was reacting to media reports that some employees of the ANC owned a company that employed the interpreter, Thamsanqa Jantjie.

The Sunday Times reported that Jantjie was employed by a company owned by the ANC’s religious and traditional affairs desk head, Bantubahle Xozwa.

Xozwa told the paper that Jantjie was employed as an administrator and facilitator in his company, South African Interpreters.

“Thamsanqa is not an interpreter,” Xozwa was quoted as saying.

“He was disqualified years ago on the basis of his health. He was interpreting at the memorial service in his personal capacity.”

Jantjie had a history of mental problems.

He told the newspaper that he was a patient of Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital in Krugersdorp.

He was discharged and started working after being medicated and monitored by doctors.

On Wednesday, Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane said government would investigate claims that Jantjie did not use intelligible sign language.

Mthembu said the ANC supported the probe by government.

After the memorial at FNB Stadium in Soweto on Tuesday, Jantjie told various media outlets he had suffered a schizophrenic episode in which he had seen angels, and that he had panicked when he realised he was surrounded by armed police.

SAPA

Following his side’s 3-0 thumping of Platinum Stars on Monday afternoon, Orlando Pirates coach Roger de Sa says he is happy to see his side move off the bottom of the Absa Premiership log.

The Buccaneers moved up to 15th place on the table after six matches played and still have a lot of games to catch up with the majority of league teams having played 11 fixtures or more.

For more http://www.soccerladuma.co.za

Absa Premiership

Result: SuperSport United 1 -1 Mamelodi Sundowns

Date: 16 December 2013

Venue: Loftus Versfeld Stadium

Katlego Mashego’s free kick cancelled out Sibusio Khumalo’s wonder strike, as SuperSport United and Mamelodi Sundowns played out to a 1-1 draw at Loftus Versfeld.

For more http://www.soccerladuma.co.za

Pretoria – The Union Buildings in Pretoria have been added to the list of national heritage sites, President Jacob Zuma said on Monday.

“As we celebrate 100 years of the Union Buildings today, we do so satisfied and happy that this seat of government is now not only rich in terms of its aesthetic beauty only,” he said at the annual Reconciliation Day celebrations at the seat of government in Pretoria.

“It is also rich in moral value and symbolism as well. Given its growing national importance, we have decided to declare the Union Buildings a national heritage site. It had all along been a provincial heritage site.”

Zuma addressed the Reconciliation Day commemorations shortly after unveiling a 9m bronze-plated statue of a smiling former president Nelson Mandela.

“We are happy that we are here. You will notice that in all the statues that have been made of Madiba, he is raising his fist… That derives from the slogan of the ANC,” Zuma said.

“This one is different from many. He is stretching out his hands. He is embracing the whole nation.”

The R8m bronze-plated statue was created by South African sculptors André Prinsloo and Ruhan Janse van Vuuren.

It is close to the Union Buildings’ lawns, overlooking Arcadia.

Zuma thanked South Africans, the media, SA National Defence Force (SANDF) and the inter-ministerial committee for state funerals, chaired by Minister in the Presidency Collins Chabane, for contributing to a dignified farewell for Mandela.

He was buried in Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, on Sunday.

“The military health services had first touched the nation in the manner in which they looked after him while he was ill. And later, the SANDF put out all stops to give him a befitting farewell. We also thank the media, both locally and internationally, for taking the Madiba story to the world with dignity and respect,” he said.

“Working together the rainbow nation ensured that Tata is laid to rest in a manner befitting a global icon.”

Mandela died at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg, aged 95, on 5 December.

SAPA

ABSA Premiership

Result: Mpumalanga Black Aces 1-0 Free State Stars

Date: 16 December 2013

Venue: Kanyamazane Stadium

Mpumalanga Black Aces beat Free State Stars 1-0 in the ABSA Premiership on Monday afternoon at the Kanyamazane Stadium.

Former national captain Mbulelo Mabizela scored the goal to give Clive Barker’s team the win.
Source: http://www.soccerladuma.co.za

Johannesburg – The EFF on Monday rejected the centenary celebration of the Union Buildings and called for the seat of government in Pretoria to be renamed.

“To celebrate the Union Buildings as ‘union’ is to celebrate history of black dispossession and exclusion,” spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said in a statement.

He said Monday’s celebration of the Day of Reconciliation was meant for the country to reflect on its progress in defeating the legacy of apartheid and colonialism.

He said a radical macro-economic framework based on the Economic Freedom Fighters’ seven cardinal pillars could bring justice to South African society and break with the apartheid past.

“Firstly, the EFF celebrates the sterling contribution of [former president] Nelson Mandela and his generation in laying a solid foundation for the process of reconciliation to genuinely occur,” he said.

The party said the struggle to humanise blacks who had been victims of centuries of racial segregation and injustice was far from complete.

He said the democratic gift of Nelson Mandela’s generation had not translated into liberation from abject poverty, unemployment and inequalities along racial lines.

“Black people without land remain visitors in their own country, and without access to quality education they are subjected to permanent providers of cheap and easily disposable labour.

“This makes any claim to reconciliation today disingenuous.”

SAPA

Pretoria – A smiling Nelson Mandela stands nine metres tall, looking out over and embracing the city of Pretoria with outstretched arms.

President Jacob Zuma unveiled the bronze-plated statue at the Union Buildings on Monday, a day after the former president was buried in Qunu.

“We are happy that we are here. You will notice that in all the statues that have been made of Madiba, he is raising his fist and at times stretching it. That derives from the slogan of the ANC,” Zuma said.

“This one is different from many. He is stretching out his hands. He is embracing the whole nation. You shouldn’t say this is not Madiba because we know him with his one (raised) hand.”

The R8m bronze-plated statue was created by South African sculptors Andre Prinsloo and Ruhan Janse van Vuuren. It is close to the Union Buildings’ lawns, overlooking Arcadia.

Monday, the Day of Reconciliation, also marked the centenary of the Union Buildings.

Thousands of people packed a giant marquee erected on the lawns for the public holiday. Zuma delivered the keynote address.

He thanked all the roleplayers for their part in all the key events after Mandela’s death.

He also thanked the media for its coverage.

The unveiling ceremony was slightly delayed as the dignitaries waited for the arrival of members of Mandela’s family travelling from Qunu, in the Eastern Cape. Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela arrived accompanied by two family members.

Zuma arrived soon afterwards with his wife Thobeka Madiba Zuma. Dignitaries, including former president Thabo Mbeki, Arts and Culture Minister Paul Mashatile, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, and Dali Tambo, head of Koketso Growth, which made the statue, were present.

Inkatha Freedom Party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Democratic Alliance federal chairperson Wilmot James were also in attendance.

Many local and international journalists were nearby. Broadcasting equipment had been set up on the lawns of the Union Buildings.

Mandela died at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg, aged 95, on 5 December.
SAPA

Johannesburg – A man and a woman were stabbed to death in Beyele village near Ngcobo, Eastern Cape police said on Monday.

The man, 50, and woman, 46, were killed in their bed on Sunday night, Colonel Mzukisi Fatyela said.
They had stab wounds all over their bodies.

“Seemingly they were stabbed with a spear because we found a handle on the scene.”

A murder case was opened and police were investigating.

In another incident, a 25-year-old man allegedly raped a young woman in the Mthintloni area, Ngcobo, on Sunday, Fatyela said.

He told an 18-year-old woman that her relative was looking for her.

He offered to accompany her, but then took her to his house where he allegedly raped her.

The man would appear in the Ngcobo Magistrate’s Court soon.

SAPA

Johannesburg – A 4-year-old Cape Town boy kidnapped by his father a year-and-a-half ago has been found alive and well in Evaton, Gauteng, police said on Monday.

The boy was found on Friday living with his 62-year-old paternal grandmother, Limpopo police spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said.

He was kidnapped in Muizenberg, Cape Town, in June 2012.

“The child has since been reunited with his mother in Cape Town.”

After questioning the father’s girlfriend, police caught the 29-year-old father in Makotopong, near Mankweng, in Limpopo, on Saturday.

The arrest was the result of a joint operation between Western Cape, Gauteng, and Limpopo police.

The man would appear in the Muizenberg Magistrate’s Court in Cape Town on charges of kidnapping and assault on Tuesday.

SAPA