People of the South

SOUTH Africa says Zambia is one of its top trading partners with an estimated bilateral trade value of KR3 trillion ( about 25 billion rands) in 2012. The total investment by South Africa in Zambia is more than US$2.5 billion. South African High Commissioner to Zambia Piet Mathebe said his Government is committed to working with Zambia in bringing more investment into the country.

allAfrica: African news and information for a global audience

Benguela — With the signing of the Benguela Current Convention, Angola, Namibia and South Africa will work together on the long-term conservation and sustainable use of the Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem, one of the richest ecosystems on earth.

Stretching from Port Elizabeth in South Africa to the province of Cabinda in northern Angola, the Benguela Current is an area of ocean that produces goods and services estimated to be worth at least US $54.3 billion per year.

Offshore oil and gas production, marine diamond mining, coastal tourism and commercial fishing and shipping are some of the most important industrial activities that take place in the region.

Southern Africa’s first multiracial school celebrates 50 triumphant years

Waterford school in Swaziland reflects on its historic role with a series of parades and tributes from students old and new.

Russell Palmer, a journalist from South Africa, described it as like landing on another planet, a feeling of having suddenly arrived in an environment so different from what he has known that there is overwhelming bewilderment. The place was Waterford school, just 14 miles across the border in Swaziland, but a brave new world in its attitude to race.

The first multiracial school in southern Africa was born in direct opposition to the apartheid regime, which branded it “sick” and “unnatural”, and became a haven for the children of struggle leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Desmond Tutu. On Saturday it celebrated its 50th anniversary with colourful parades, performances and reflections on its courageous role in the continent’s history.

“We were here during the era of apartheid and this school was an absolute beacon of what was to come,” former student Amanda West, a last-minute replacement for Tutu as guest speaker after he withdrew due to illness, told a gathering of alumni, donors and teachers past and present. “As a student population we were wildly involved in the politics … This is an astounding place.”

Eighty-six nationalities have studied there over the years and most were represented in a sports field parade featuring students in national dress and speaking national languages. Although it ran the gamut from Angola to Zimbabwe, the biggest cheer was reserved for the Swazi delegation.

thepeoplesrecord:

dynamicafrica:

Every year on April 27th, South Africa commemorates the first post-Apartheid democratically held elections in the country that took place on this day in 1994, by celebrating what is known as ‘Freedom Day’. The results of these historical elections saw Nelson Mandela elected as not only the first democratically elected president of South Africa, but the first black president as well. Mandela served as president until 1999.

Freedom Day is an annual reminder of the anti-Apartheid struggle that sought to bring about a free South Africa where all its oppressed citizens would be granted their full and constitutional human rights, and be able to participate in the development and progression of the nation.

Millions queued in lines over a three-day voting period. Altogether 19,726,579 votes were counted and 193,081 were rejected as invalid.

The African National Congress (ANC), whose slate incorporated the labour confederation COSATU and the South African Communist Party, fell short of a two-thirds majority.

As required by the Interim Constitution, the ANC formed a Government of National Unity with the National Party and the Inkatha Freedom Party, the two other parties that won more than twenty seats in the National Assembly.

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“If the United States of America or Britain is having elections, they don’t ask for observers from Africa or from Asia. But when we have elections, they want observers.” - Nelson Mandela

(via africaisdonesuffering)

dynamicafrica:

Happy Independence Day to all Zimbabweans everywhere!

Celebrating the country’s 33rd independence day today, April 18th, 2013, the country formerly colonized by the British in and known as Southern Rhodesia and later simply ‘Rhodesia’, after Cecil Rhodes, the southern African state gained independence in 1980. It had been a British colony since 1889.

At the independence day celebrations in April 1980, held in the capital Salisbury that would later be renamed as Harare in 1982, many foreign signatories were present including President of Botswana Seretse Khama, Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, Nigerian President Shehu Shagari and Indian Prime Minister Indira Ghandi.

Bob Marley, invited by the government of Zimbabwe headed by President Canaan Banana and Robert Mugabe as Prime Minister, performed a song he’d written for the historic occasion called ‘Zimbabwe’.

President Shagari of Nigeria pledged $15 million at the celebration to train Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe and expatriates in Nigeria.

Explore the Zimbabwe tag on Dynamic Africa.

S Africa Remembers Struggle Icon Chris Hani

The country is commemorating the 20th anniversary of struggle icon and general secretary of the South African Communist Party, Chris Hani, who was gunned down outside his home by Polish anti-communist immigrant Janusz Waluś using Clive Derby-Lewis’s gun. Both are serving life sentences.

(Source: allafrica.com)

misandric:

mercilessrose:

awkward-femme-pyro:

ingridmatthews:

One of the great mysteries of the world.   How are the Himba women of Namibia so classically beautiful, overall?  

I’m not talking about ‘exotic’ beauty, I’m talking about straightforward, symmetrical featured, almost scientifically-measured beauty.  At first, you think, oh that’s just brilliant skin care and awesome hair but that doesn’t explain the actual structured features, which are — almost uniformly — spectacular.  

Just … amazing.  It’s like God said, “And here are your supermodels. You’re welcome.”

Oh…

my sweet…

fucking…

christ.

Seriously thougj

gimme da cheekbones

(via blackblonde)

President Xi welcomes visiting Zambian president in Sanya

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L, front) holds a welcoming ceremony for visiting Zambian President Michael Chilufya Sata ahead of their talks in Sanya, south China’s Hainan Province, April 6, 2013. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)

(Source: english.cntv.cn)

South Africa to deploy troops in DRC

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) will be sending troops to the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of a UN intervention force, the defence force confirmed on Sunday.“Yes, the government of South Africa will be sending troops or will contribute troops to the United Nations intervention force into the eastern DRC,” said Brigadier General Xolani Mabanga.“Last week the UN Security Council adopted a resolution which approved the deployment of an intervention force into the eastern DRC. And the government of South Africa pledged to contribute forces to that force,” he said.

(Source: timeslive.co.za)

b-sama:

A critical look into Mozambique’s past: Licínio Azevedo’s “Virgin Margarida”

In Frelimo’s (Mozambique’s party in power since independence) official story of its liberation struggle and its socialist project after independence, many aspects get silenced. One among these are the re-education centers to “purify” the “compromised” that had not yet adhered to the values of the “new man” that Frelimo intended to create. Alleged criminals, traitors, reactionaries, sex workers, alcoholics, vagrants, and religious fanatics were sent to camps in the countryside for an extended period of time, often without trial. The 20th New York African Film Festival at the Lincoln Center is featuring a film about Frelimo’s re-education centers, “Virgin Margarida” made by Licínio Azevedo (screening today at at 3:30 pm and on Monday, April 8, 8:30 pm). Licínio Azevedo is a veteran film maker, originally from Brazil, but has lived in Mozambique for a long time. We held a short Q&A, below, but first the trailer

(Source: africasacountry.com)