What would Oscar Pistorius face if he's sent to prison?

CNN.com

(CNN) -- A stuffy, overcrowded cell. Perhaps two or three men to a single bunk. Lockdown for most of the day.

Is this what awaits South Africa's Oscar Pistorius when he's sentenced for culpable homicide in the death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp?

Legal experts say it's impossible to predict what sentence Judge Thokozile Masipa may hand down. But many will be watching to see if the Olympian's dramatic fall from grace ends with time behind bars.

  Remembering the 'Blade Runner's' career

Before and after the killing: the Pistorius I knew

If that's indeed the case, the chances are that life would not be easy for South Africa's most famous disabled athlete.

A double amputee, he needs prosthetic limbs to get around. And rights campaigners warn that South African prisons -- which they say are notorious for overcrowding, gang violence and insanitary conditions -- are often a difficult environment even for the fittest of inmates.

Nooshin Erfani-Ghadimi, project coordinator for the Johannesburg-based Wits Justice Project, a civil society group, believes Pistorius would likely receive far better treatment than the average prisoner -- as he has throughout the judicial process, she says. That means he might get a cell to himself.

Even so, she told CNN, "I don't think anyone with a disability necessarily will be able to be provided for at the moment in a way that ensures that they would have the correct medical treatment, that they have the correct physical structures."

Some of South Africa's prisons are better than others, of course.

But whichever one might house Pistorius, there's no question that conditions would be a far cry from those in the $560,000 home in the luxury Silverwoods Estate, on the outskirts of Pretoria, where he shot Steenkamp dead last year.

Pretoria Central

South Africa's department of correctional services has policies in place for dealing with physically disabled inmates, Erfani-Ghadimi said.

What's next for Oscar Pistorius?

"Policy and practice, however, are often poles apart. Unfortunately, prisoners with disabilities face the same inhumane conditions as other able-bodied inmates."

Correctional Services Department spokesman Koos Gerber previously told CNN that South Africa's detention facilities, whether for remand prisoners or those serving prison terms, "can accommodate people with any disabilities."

There's been speculation that Pistorius could be sent to Pretoria Central Prison, although no one really knows.

It's not easy for rights researchers to get access inside, Erfani-Ghadimi said. But the prison does not have the best reputation.

The Pretoria News reported last year on a case brought by six inmates who told Pretoria High Court of having to share a single cell with others, with no ventilation, dirty mattresses and no bedding. They were locked up for 18 hours a day, the court heard, and threatened with sexual violence by gangs.

Steenkamp's mother stunned by verdict, wants to meet Pistorius

Medical care 'overstretched'

On average, Erfani-Ghadimi said, South African prisons are overcrowded, putting a strain on sanitation, ventilation and medical care.

The overcrowding means three men may share a single cell, or communal cells for 40 people are jammed with double the number they were intended to hold, with men sleeping in double or triple bunks, according to the Wits Justice Project.

One of the biggest risks associated with that is contracting tuberculosis, labeled the biggest killer in South Africa's prisons in a recent report, Erfani-Ghadimi said. The disease spreads easily in packed, steamy cells with little air.

In some prisons, overstretched nurses can never see all the people needing help on any day. Inconsistent treatment regimens mean drug-resistant TB strains develop and spread, while disruptions to antiretroviral programs also impact detainees who are HIV-positive.

"Also in terms of health management we've seen stories of people who are diabetic and have gone into insulin shock because they've been arrested and haven't been able to get to their medication," Erfani-Ghadimi said.

Speaking earlier this year, Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele said that "overcrowding at correctional facilities is a global challenge," and that South Africa's prison population had dropped over the past decade.

As of April this year, there were about 157,400 inmates, of whom nearly 28% were on remand -- a term used for pretrial custody, according to official figures. The country's total population is about 54 million.

Who is the judge that'll be sentencing him?

Double-edged sword

There's no doubt that Pistorius' case has put South Africa's justice system under the international spotlight.

While the scrutiny may have been uncomfortable at time for South African authorities, it appears to have worked in the track star's favor until now.

When he was first detained after Steenkamp's killing, the African National Congress Women's League complained that he got special treatment, both in where he was held and in access to his family.

Some impoverished suspects who can't afford a lawyer or bail spend months or even years waiting for their cases just to come to court. But Pistorius was released on bail with relaxed conditions, and his trial began little more than a year after Steenkamp's death on February 14, 2013.

Erfani-Ghadimi describes his progress through the legal system as "an anomaly" in terms of both speed and the expert resources dedicated to it.

"Other cases normally take much longer, and both the victims and the accused face the strong probability of a miscarriage of justice," she wrote in a piece published on The Conversation website.

However, when it comes to serving time in prison, the athlete's fame -- and the extra attention that goes with it -- could be a double-edged sword when it comes to getting special privileges, she told CNN.

"A lot of people are able to subvert (the system) and pay bribes and get away with things, but he hasn't been able to," she said. "But on the other hand he has been able to get advantages that other people haven't."

'Living here is very hard'

Some of these differences may be stark.

The Wits Justice Project has highlighted the case of paraplegic inmate Ronnie Fakude, held on remand for 28 months before being freed on bail earlier this year with an electronic tag, in a pilot monitoring project.

Before his release, he described his experience to Carolyn Raphaely, a senior journalist with the project.

"I'm a 50-year-old paraplegic and have been awaiting trial for more than two years since my arrest on fraud charges in December 2011. I can't walk, I can't control my bowel or bladder and have to wear disposable baby nappies which my family buy for me. I'm paralysed from level four and don't have a wheelchair," he said, according to the project.

"If I use my [crutches] I have to pull my legs and throw them to the front. That's how I walk. Living here is very hard. We are 88 men in this cell which is meant for 32. Sometimes there are more. Twelve people sleep in two bunks pushed together, that's six on the top and six on the bottom. I have my own bed on the bottom, which is a privilege. Luckily, I don't have to share because of my medical status.

"There are eight or 10 people with TB in this cell and four or five we know are HIV-positive. A guy with multi-drug resistant TB sleeps on top of me. I feel vulnerable all the time."

Erfani-Ghadimi argues that as a severely disabled man, Fakude should never have been in detention at all. And if she had her way, the same would be true for Pistorius.

Israeli Documents Show Mossad Gave Mandela Weapons Training

breitbart

AP

JERUSALEM, Dec. 21 (UPI) --
Nelson Mandela received weapons training from Israel's secret service, the Mossad, in the early 1960s, documents in Israeli archives show.

Mandela was identified in the documents as David Mobsari, an alias, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Friday. He worked with staffers who were almost certainly Mossad agents at the Israeli Embassy in Ethiopia.

At the time, Mandela, already a leader in the African National Congress, was being hunted by the apartheid regime in South Africa, which used the code name "the Black Pimpernel." Not long after his encounter with Israel, Mandela was arrested and sentenced to life in prison.

In the early 1960s, Israel was trying to cultivate newly independent states in Africa and supported groups trying to oust colonial or whites-only regimes, Haaretz said. After the 1967 Six-Day War and the occupation of the West Bank, many African leaders supported the Palestinians and Israel developed close ties with South Africa's apartheid government.

Israeli documents describe Mandela as expressing sympathy with Israel and interested in the tactics used against the British in the struggle for nationhood.

"He greeted our men with 'Shalom,' was familiar with the problems of Jewry and of Israel and gave the impression of being an intellectual," a staffer in the Ethiopian embassy and probably a Mossad agent, said in a letter to the Africa desk of the Israeli foreign office, the newspaper reported. "The staff tried to make him into a Zionist."

Nelson Mandela: Terrorist or Hero?

Wretched

Also:

Nelson Mandela - The Bombing Record | CENSORBUGBEAR.org >>

Mandela was not Gandhi: Mandela's freedom fighter days not part of 'saintly' image

World News

By Jim Maceda, Correspondent, NBC News

All week long, the tributes have soared for the man who South Africans say created their country, but an important chapter seems to have gone largely missing from the testimonials.

This “giant of history” was compared to Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and even Jesus Christ – often wrapped into one.

But only a few, like Jacob Zuma, South Africa’s current president and himself a former militant, touched on Mandela’s controversial embrace of violence and his plan to topple the apartheid regime through a campaign of potentially lethal sabotage.

“To him,” Zuma said during the large memorial service in Johannesburg on Tuesday, “for South Africa to attain peace, the armed struggle was inevitable, but it was a means to an end but not an end in itself.”

Not part of the ‘saintly’ image
But some South Africa experts say there’s a clear reason why the details of Mandela’s freedom fighting have been largely airbrushed out of the memorializing. 

“If you were to ask, was the armed struggle an essential component to the defeat of apartheid, the answer would have to be ‘yes.’ One that doesn’t sit comfortably with the saintly images the media wish to portray,’’ said Wayne Dooling, Professor of History at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies.

Many argue that the Sharpeville massacre on March 21, 1960, when police opened fire on a peaceful protest in a black township killing 69 people, was the turning point when black resistance went from a non-violent campaign to an armed resistance movement. 

The icon of the anti-apartheid movement and international human rights leader died December 5. He was 95 years old.

Mandela, far from remaining a passive, non-violent activist, became the first commander in chief of the African National Congress' military wing, called the “Umkhonto we Sizwe,” or “Spear of the Nation,” (and better known as “MK” - the South African version of the IRA) after Sharpeville. 

Inspired more by the writings of Mao Zedong and Che Guevara than Gandhi, Mandela built up from scratch a small insurgent force, trained in blowing up easy targets, like electricity transmission towers and rail lines. His recruits learned to make primitive bombs from ingredients normally found on South African farms.

The ‘Black Pimpernel’
By 1962, Mandela was already an underground “terrorist,” wanted by the police and living an outlaw existence who the media had dubbed the “Black Pimpernel” — a twist on the fictional “Scarlet Pimpernel” who struck at will and, Zoro-like, always avoided capture. 

That year, according to multiple historical accounts, he made a secret, six-month-long trip to a dozen African states, seeking political support and money from other African revolutionary armies. He returned to South Africa with about $30,000 in funds and a revived enthusiasm for guerrilla warfare.

He even underwent his own military training, having spent weeks on the firing range and perfecting his explosives skills in Moroccan and Ethiopian military camps. The night before his arrest on charges of treason and sabotage, Mandela was reportedly seen at a party in Durban proudly sporting khaki fatigues, with pistol at his side.

“He openly talked about the necessity to move toward guerrilla warfare,” wrote Max du Preez in his book, “The Rough Guide to Nelson Mandela.”

But Mandela, the guerrilla commander, said he intended to target the apartheid regime’s infrastructure, not the people.

“Now all over South Africa we had buildings that said ‘Non-Europeans and Dogs Not Allowed,’” Ahmed Kathrada, one of Mandela’s earliest surviving comrades, recalled to NBC News this week. “So the recruits had to lay bombs, but an oath had to be taken that when the bombs are placed, there’s no injury to human beings. So this had to be done at night, when nobody was around.”

But “Plan M” — Mandela’s plan for insurgent victory — left many good intentions in its wake. Over the next 30 years, the MK launched more than 3,000 attacks and killed at least 100 people, mostly civilians, according to subsequent reports from South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. 

And while Mandela himself spent most of those years in prison, he never gave up on the armed struggle, keeping in touch with successive MK commanders on tactics by secret messages passed through occasional prison visitors, including his (then) wife Winnie Mandela and lawyer George Bizos.

“Mandela was not Gandhi,” said Dooley, the South Africa historian. “Once he had committed himself to armed struggle, he did not waver until the onset of political negotiations in 1990.” 

During that era, both the U.S. State and Defense departments dubbed Mandela’s political party, the African National Congress, a terrorist group, and Mandela’s name remained on the U.S. terrorism watch list till 2008. The U.S. government described it as a “bureaucratic snafu” when it was finally removed 14 years after he was elected president and nine years after he had left power. 

Prison life offered path to peace
As Anthony Sampson pointed out in his book, “Mandela, The Authorized Biography,” it was prison life that prepared the hot-tempered militant for his eventual path to peace.  

“Constantly up against other prisoners, he became more sensitive to other people’s insecurities and resentments,” Sampson wrote. “He seemed much less arrogant, no longer the chiefly autocrat, but the flexible democrat who could listen and take note….Trying to find common ground in the context of the nation.’’

Zuma, in his tribute to the man, expressed the belief that Mandela may have been a terrorist to a white separatist minority, but was a hero to the rest of South Africans.

“This freedom fighter had always stated that the ANC had resorted to arms because of the intransigence of the apartheid regime, which responded with violence, bannings and detentions to simple demands for equal citizenship, human rights and justice,” Zuma said.

Mandela's "long walk" included many stops along the way: passive resistor, firebrand revolutionary and, finally, forgiving statesman. At every stage, many of his peers say, he led from the front. 

Jim Maceda is an NBC News foreign correspondent based in London who covered South Africa frequently in the 1980s.

5 out of 6 “foreign dignitaries” listed on the official Mandela memorial service are known Marxists

Trevor Loudon's New Zeal Blog 

By: Cliff Kincaid*
Accuracy in Media

If President Obama’s handshake with Cuban dictator Raul Castro is news, Castro’s featured presence at the Nelson Mandela memorial service and what the South African government said about him are equally newsworthy. South Africa was described as “joined at the hip” to Cuba and in its debt for “liberation.”

Yet, this part of the memorial service has been carefully edited out of most of the “mainstream media” coverage of the event.

The service was organized and orchestrated by officers of the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party of South Africa which operates as a front for the South African Communist Party. Baleka Mbete, ANC chairperson, introduced Raul Castro’s speech by saying, “Comrades, we will now get an address from a tiny island—an island of people who liberated us, who fought for our liberation in Cuito Cuanavale—the people of Cuba.”

Cuito Cuanavale refers to the foreign intervention of thousands of Cuban military troops on behalf of communist Angolan government forces in Africa under the guidance of Soviet military officers during 1987 and 1988. This was a critical time when communist forces backed by the Soviet Union, Cuba and China were determined to crush the non-communist pro-freedom movement UNITA (The National Union for the Total Independence of Angola).

As part of his effort to turn the tide against communism in Africa and elsewhere, the “Reagan Doctrine,” President Ronald Reagan strongly supported UNITA and its leader, Jonas Savimbi.

In the end, the communists solidified control of Angola, assassinated Savimbi (shot 15 times, twice to the head and once to the throat), and then took over Namibia and South Africa as the white population—fearing extinction in the face of the onslaught—made deals with the communists.

Mandela, in commemorating the 20th anniversary of the battle in 2008, referred to it as “a turning point for the liberation of our continent and my people.” This helps explain why the Cuban regime is held in such high regard by the South African government. The ANC and SWAPO (the South West Africa People’s Organization) communists in Namibia greatly benefitted from the Cuban imperialistic intervention. Of course, Mandela’s communist movement also enjoyed the support of Libya and the PLO.

After Raul Castro’s speech, during which he highlighted Mandela’s visit to Cuba to meet with and thank Fidel Castro, ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa said, “Thank you President Castro. We thank you for all the support and help that we continue to get from the people of Cuba during our years of struggle, and our countries continue to be joined at the hip in the areas of development…”

AIM noted in our column about current South African President Jacob Zuma that he traveled to Cuba in 2010 to receive the top Communist award from Raul Castro himself. Zuma also told a meeting of young communists in South Africa, “Work begins today in earnest to improve the quality of life of all our people and to build Cuban-style patriotism and internationalism within our ranks.”

Of the 6 “foreign dignitaries” listed on the official Mandela memorial service program as giving a tribute to Mandela, five are known Marxists: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (a former terrorist herself); Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao; Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba; Cuba’s Raul Castro; and of course President Obama. The other speaker was President Pranab Mukherjee of India, described as a “close friend” of Marxists in India who has “remained a friend” of the Communist Party of India during his political career and leadership in the United Progressive Alliance. Indeed, he has been labeled a “communist agent.” The Indian delegation to the memorial service included Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

Earlier in the memorial service, Andrew Mlangeni, identified as a Mandela “family friend,” spoke on Mandela’s behalf. Now considered an “elder statesman” in the ANC, he had studied “military science” and “guerrilla theory” in China. The Stephen Ellis book, External Mission, confirms that Umkhonto we Sizwe, which became the military arm of the ANC, was launched by the South African Communist Party after negotiations with Chinese Communist mass murderer and dictator Mao Tse-tung. The cover of the book, which also reveals that the East German secret police trained the ANC’s security personnel, shows a photograph of Mao Tse-tung meeting with SACP leader Yusuf Dadoo, a Muslim Indian South African communist.

Mandela ran Umkhonto we Sizwe, which carried out violence and terrorism, and he went to prison as a result. He was never a “political prisoner.” He refused to renounce violence in order to be released early. He could have been hanged for his conviction for terrorism.

Although Mandela is being widely praised for his spirit of “forgiveness” and “reconciliation,” the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), led by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, was never fully accepted as a legitimate partner and actor in South African politics by Mandela’s ANC. The IFP advocated the abolition of apartheid, or racial segregation, but refused to engage in violence and terrorism against innocent people. It also had an anti-communist orientation.

“The armed struggle, and Inkatha’s refusal to engage it, had driven a wedge between our organizations,” Buthelezi says. “Propaganda against me and Inkatha was rife and there were many attempts on my life.”

But the U.S. government under Obama is in complete support of the South African government and provides an estimated $500 million a year in foreign aid to the regime.

The United States ambassador to South Africa, former Democratic Party operative and radical organizer Patrick Gaspard, recently announced that American taxpayers would provide an additional $100,000 in U.S. government funding for the purpose of the “preservation of documents” relating to Mandela. The money was given to the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, the official home of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. This is the same group offering a poster featuring a quotation of Mandela under an image of communist murderer and Castro henchman Che Guevara.

In supporting South Africa, the U.S. is supporting Cuba. Obama’s handshake with Castro only confirms this fact.

-------------------

*Cliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism

Desmond Tutu Home Robbed While at Mandela Memorial

breitbart

By RAY FAURE
Associated Press
JOHANNESBURG
Police in South Africa say retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu's home was robbed while he was away to attend a memorial honoring Nelson Mandela.

A statement Wednesday from the South African Police Service said the robbery of Tutu's home in Cape Town happened between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Tuesday. That was the day the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and foe of apartheid spoke at the memorial service at a soccer stadium in Soweto township of Johannesburg.

The statement said: "At this stage, we cannot give further details, as the investigation into the matter is still ongoing. No arrests have been made as yet."

The 82-year-old Tutu had his home robbed in August as he and his wife slept inside. Both were unhurt.

Burglaries and home-invasions frequently occur in South Africa. 

Did Obama know date of Mandela’s death was June 26, 2013?

canadafreepress/ Judi McLeod

President Barack Obama may have already known the real date of Nelson Mandela’s death and studiously planned funeral when he made his June 2013 African trip—and was even able to take the photo he would later Tweet on the day of Mandela’s officially announced death while he was still in South Africa.

Claiming to defer to Mandela family members on visiting the ailing Mandela during his June 28-30 whistle-stop trip through Johannesburg, Obama instead met with South African President Jacob Zuma. 

Zuma was one of the key figures who kept the news that doctors had been keeping Mandela alive in a vegetative state, a top world secret.

Among thousands of news outlets,  only one newspaper made a valiant attempt to get the true story out and keep it there.

According to the read-by-millions Las Vegas Guardian Express, Mandela died on June 26th, 2013, but was kept on life support until December 2013.

On December 5,  2013, the White House tweeted a picture showing Obama behind the bars of the Robben Island prison, where Mandela had been incarcerated for 27 years.  The picture tweeted on Dec. 5, 2013 had been taken on June 29, 2013, when Barack and Michelle Obama visited the world famous site.

As president and first lady of the USA,  the Obamas make pretty good vultures.

This is the story of Mandela’s June 26 death following his persistent vegetative state as reported by the Guardian Express:

“On the morning of June 26, we received a message from one of our South African correspondents, Laura Oneale that Nelson Mandela had passed away the previous evening. The news had come to her in the form of a text message from an acquaintance who was well-placed in the South African media. It should be understood that this organization was not authorized to break the news. Clearly, the South African government and the Mandela family had already decided that the news would not be made public. Undoubtedly, this decision had been made even before his death; at least, that’s what we were thinking.
“Our assumption, at the time, was two-fold: firstly, we doubted that such news would not long escape the attention of the international media, even if the South African media was being muzzled. As is the nature of the news media industry, we saw that we had been handed a major scoop and that our window of opportunity to be the first to break this news was limited. Cynical? Perhaps, but we did not doubt the integrity of the source, given that individual’s position. We are in the news business. What other publication – given the gravity of the story and the knowledge of Mandela’s health condition – would not have immediately prepared to publish? We began both to work on a couple of articles and to seek out verification. We found no other corroborating evidence. We wrote our stories.
“In the interests of being completely honest, we cannot say that we did not second – guess ourselves. Did we have direct, first-hand proof that Nelson Mandela was dead? No, we didn’t. One must look at how news stories are broken, though: A media publication receives information from a trusted source; every good faith attempt is made to verify the information. In the absence of verification, the editor or editorial team must make a decision to publish or not to publish. What we did have was the best source we could have, other than first-hand, eye-witness testimony. Moreover, Mandela was seriously ill; according to reports, the icon and former African leader was on his deathbed; hooked up to medical devices that enabled him to breathe.
“We published.
“Now, we were walking on eggshells; our reputation was at stake. What were we thinking? Other news outlets actually published stories announcing Mandela’s death; they quickly retracted, without actually justifying why they had done so. To us, that in itself indicated that they had been told to retract, rather than doing so because they had discovered that Mandela was still alive. The Las Vegas Guardian Express, however, was a relatively new and completely independent publication with no government ties and no corporate owners or shareholders. We could not be pressured into retracting, other than through legal action. In addition, we were a tiny speck on the world news radar.
“Naturally, it was in our own interests to quickly verify Mandela’s condition. Is that an admission that we published news of his death without being sure? No, it is not; we were sure and we could clearly see that an official announcement could be kept under wraps for any number of reasons; a visit by US President Barack Obama was already scheduled and there were obvious security implications. Additionally, the South African government is absolutely capable of using such news for political purposes. Our only misgiving was that we had failed to uncover any corroborating source. The strength of our conviction is proven by the fact that, even as the days went by and no word of his death came from official or family sources, we maintained our position. It seemed logical enough that there was no reason to retract without absolute proof that Nelson Mandela still lived.
“As the few articles we published drew attention – along with numerous comments – it became self-evident that both the South African government and the Mandela family were aware of our reports. Had we been wrong – and had the family been able to prove that Mandela was still alive – it is beyond doubt that the Las Vegas Guardian Express would have received some form of legal threat. Not only did such action never transpire, but our publication was subjected to cyber-attack: Denial of Service attacks, originating in South Africa, disabled our site on more than one occasion. We took this as proof that we were reporting something that the South African government did not want us to report.
“It should be remembered that our publication was relatively small and generated only modest revenue through advertising. Nevertheless – and at considerable expense – we dispatched a senior editor to South Africa. During his time there, Michael Smith uncovered intriguing details of the situation regarding Nelson Mandela, the family, the African National Congress and South African President Jacob Zuma. Our investigations opened a door into the corruption and dishonesty of the aforementioned parties. During a Mandela family legal battle, documents emerged which stated that doctors had advised the family to turn off Mandela’s life support as he was brain-dead. At a later point, Zuma made a statement denying this, but we noted carefully that, while other news organizations were reporting that the doctors themselves had retracted their claims that Mandela was brain-dead, no such retraction had been made; Zuma himself claimed that the doctors had retracted this assertion.
“Now that it has been officially announced that Nelson Mandela has passed away, our position on the matter has not changed in any way. Inevitably, his passing had to be revealed. Many of our South African readers have believed us from the start; those that have criticized us have presented not one shred of evidence that we were wrong. The idea that we are proven wrong because the official announcement comes only now is absurd.
“This article has not detailed every piece of evidence that fell into place during our investigation into why Nelson Mandela’s death was covered up. One of the most compelling discoveries was brought back from South Africa by Michael Smith: He returned with an audio tape of a recorded telephone conversation Between a South African Defense Force officer and a private security contractor. The audio can be found in the first of the links listed at the foot of this article. For the reader who wishes to get the full story of our reporting on this story, each of those articles listed provide, collectively, the complete picture. During the call, the officer details the circumstances of Mandela’s death – which, according to him, occurred even earlier than we reported – and the possible implications of it, as well as the Mandela family’s motives for not releasing the news.
“Even now, the South African government, it seems, is attempting to prevent the Las Vegas Guardian Express from revealing the truth to the people of South Africa. Our Facebook page received a telling comment today. The comment reads:
Hallo
I am from South Africa and for some reason I cannot view your website or any articles regarding Nelson Mandela. Is it possible that your site being blocked by our country?
could you kindly send the the articles you recently wrote.
Kind regards
“Nelson Mandela is now officially dead – but he was already dead. Nothing has transpired between our initial June 26 reports and the present time to prove otherwise.
“Nevertheless, we would be remiss if we did not convey to the South African people, that we have the utmost respect for Madiba and the great legacy he has left the world. However, as a publication, read by millions across the globe, we have an obligation and responsibility to report the truth and what we were thinking.”

On the White House.gov website, the itinerary for Michelle Obama’s June African trip is still online.  The links from her page to Barack Obama’s page with information of the South African trip produce an error advising viewers that the page they’re looking for can’t be found.

Confirma Granma que Mandela era un terrorista

no me simpatizan los personajes que no solo no tienen enemigos sino ni siquiera rivales. es mas, desconfio. no me refiero a lo personal sino a lo politico. el background intelectual del terrorista madiba pero sobre todo su capacidad de controlar a las enardecidas hordas de soweto all the way around al parecer fue lo que inclino la balanza para que occidente construyera el patriarca buena gente y pacifista que homenajean hoy. hay por lo menos 22 atentados probados en los que participo el hijo de nonqaphi nosekeni fanny la tercera esposa del nieto del rey ngubengcuka y cientos [sino miles] de millones de dolares desaparecidos por los cuales no fue cuestionado, pues se le paso las "fallas" contables a la nalga alegre de winnie que segun afirman algunos tenia derecho de pernada con mas de 500 de los mas briosos bodyguards. de acuerdo a las buenas costumbres de la dinastia del clan madiba se hacia necesario una 1ra dama presentable en occidente, que no pudo ser otra que la viuda oportunista del aquel samora machel que le trocaron los sistemas de navegacion del avion a pesar de los pilotos sovieticos que le asignaron.

hoy sudafrica afortunadamente sin el oprobioso apartheid no es mas prospera aunque pudo ir a hacer yunta con el zimbawe del mugabe, pero los herederos del clan controlan como en angola y en tantas otras partes una buena parte no solo de las cuantiosas donaciones sino del producto interno bruto.

pero el tema no viene por ahi, sino porque la megalomania cayuela protesta porque nadie menciona que les corresponde el 50% de los homenajes que se estan tributando, aunque no este claro si se le habra podido informar de las nuevas al napoleoncito en jefe en adidas. la queja es airada, aunque ciertamente le dan la tareita al atilio "m"oron y al granma que siempre pueden ser descalificados y no como "nota oficial" del gobierno "revolucionario".------------------------
ATILIO BORÓN

Sudadrica 1998

La muerte de Nelson Mandela ha precipitado una catarata de interpretaciones sobre su vida y su obra, todas las cuales lo presentan como un apóstol del pacifismo y una especie de Madre Teresa de Sudáfrica. Se trata de una imagen esencial y premeditadamente equivocada, que soslaya que luego de la matanza de Sharpeville, en 1960, el Congreso Nacional Africano (CNA) y su líder, precisamente Mandela, adoptan la vía armada y el sabotaje a empresas y proyectos de importancia económica pero sin atentar contra vidas humanas.

Mandela recorrió diversos países de África en busca de ayuda económica y militar para sostener esta nueva táctica de lucha. Cayó preso en 1962 y, poco después, se le condenó a cadena perpetua, que lo mantendría relegado en una cárcel de máxima seguridad, en una celda de dos por dos metros, durante 25 años, salvo los dos últimos años en los cuales la formidable presión internacional para lograr su liberación mejoraron las condiciones de su detención.

Mandela, por lo tanto, no fue un "adorador de la legalidad burguesa" sino un extraordinario líder político cuya estrategia y tácticas de lucha fueron variando según cambiaban las condiciones bajo las cuales libraba sus batallas. Se dice que fue el hombre que acabó con el odioso apartheid sudafricano, lo cual es una verdad a medias.

La otra mitad del mérito le corresponde a Fidel y la Revolución Cubana, que con su intervención en la guerra civil de Angola selló la suerte de los racistas al derrotar a las tropas de Zaire (hoy, República Democrática del Congo), del ejército sudafricano y de dos ejércitos mercenarios angoleños organizados, armados y financiados por Estados Unidos a través de la CIA. Gracias a su heroica colaboración, en la cual una vez más se demostró el noble internacionalismo de la Revolución Cubana, se logró mantener la independencia de Angola, sentar las bases para la posterior emancipación de Namibia y disparar el tiro de gracia en contra del apartheid sudafricano.

Continuar leyendo en el Granma >>

Breaking News: Nelson Mandela has died at age 95

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By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News

Nelson Mandela, the revered South African anti-apartheid icon who spent 27 years in prison, led his country to democracy and became its first black president, died Thursday at home. He was 95.

"He is now resting," said South African President Jacob Zuma. "He is now at peace."

"Our nation as lost his greatest son," he continued. "Our people have lost their father."

A state funeral will be held.

Though he was in power for only five years, Mandela was a figure of enormous moral influence the world over – a symbol of revolution, resistance and triumph over racial segregation.

He inspired a generation of activists, left celebrities and world leaders star-struck, won the Nobel Peace Prize and raised millions for humanitarian causes.

South Africa is still bedeviled by challenges, from class inequality to political corruption to AIDS. And with Mandela’s death, it has lost a beacon of optimism.

Feb. 1990: NBC's Robin Lloyd reports on Nelson Mandela on the eve of his release from prison in 1990. Mandela's name has become a rallying cry for the overthrow of apartheid, but no one but prison guards and visitors have actually seen him since he was jailed 27 years ago.

In his jailhouse memoirs, Mandela wrote that even after spending so many years in a Spartan cell on Robben Island – with one visitor a year and one letter every six months – he still had faith in human nature.

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion,” he wrote in “Long Walk to Freedom.”

“People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” 

Mandela retired from public life in 2004 with the half-joking directive, “Don’t call me, I’ll call you,” and had largely stepped out of the spotlight, spending much of his time with family in his childhood village.

His health had been fragile in recent years. He had spent almost three months in a hospital in Pretoria after being admitted in June for a recurring lung infection. He was released on Sept. 1.

In his later years, Mandela was known to his countrymen simply as Madiba, the name of his tribe and a mark of great honor. But when he was born on July 18, 1918, he was named Rolihlahla, which translated roughly – and prophetically – to “troublemaker.”

South Africa's anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela turned 93 today, as 12 million school children celebrated his life in song. Brian Williams reports.

Mandela was nine when his father died, and he was sent from his rural village to the provincial capital to be raised by a fellow chief. The first member of his family to get a formal education, he went to boarding school and then enrolled in South Africa’s elite Fort Hare University, where his activism unfurled with a student boycott.

As a young law scholar, he joined the resurgent African National Congress just a few years before the National Party – controlled by the Afrikaners, the descendants of Dutch and French settlers – came to power on a platform of apartheid, in which the government enforced racial segregation and stripped non-whites of economic and political power.

As an ANC leader, Mandela advocated peaceful resistance against government discrimination and oppression – until 1961, when he launched a military wing called Spear of the Nation and a campaign of sabotage.

The next year, he was arrested and soon hit with treason charges. At the opening of his trial in 1964, he said his adoption of armed struggle was a last resort born of bloody crackdowns by the government.

“Fifty years of non-violence had brought the African people nothing but more and more repressive legislation and fewer and few rights,” he said from the dock.

“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

April, 1994: Former political prisoner Nelson Mandela is on the verge of being elected South Africa's first black president.

He was sentenced to life in prison and sent to Robben Island. As inmate No. 466/64, he slept on the floor of a six-foot-wide cell, did hard labor in a quarry, organized fellow prisoners – and earned a law degree by correspondence.

As the years passed, his incarceration drew ever more attention, with intensifying cries for his release as a global anti-apartheid movement gained traction. Songs were dedicated to him and 600 million people watched the Free Mandela concert at London’s Wembley Stadium in 1988.

In 1985, he turned down the government’s offer to free him if he renounced armed struggle against apartheid. It wasn’t until South African President P.W. Botha had a stroke and was replaced by F.W. de Klerk in 1989 that the stage was set for his release.

After a ban on the ANC was repealed, a whiter-haired Mandela walked out prison before a jubilant crowd and told a rally in Cape Town that the fight was far from over.

“Our struggle has reached a decisive moment,” he said. “We have waited too long for our freedom. We can no longer wait.”

Over the next two years, Mandela proved himself a formidable negotiator as he pushed South Africa toward its first multiracial elections amid tension and violence. He and de Klerk were honored with the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts.

When the elections were held in April 1994, the ex-prisoner became the next president and embarked on a mission of racial reconciliation, government rebuilding and economic rehabilitation.

Philip Littleton / AFP - Getty Images, file

Springbok captain Francois Pienaar receives the Rugby World Cup from South African President Nelson Mandela at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on June 24, 1995.

A year into his tenure, with racial tensions threatening to explode into civil war, Mandela orchestrated an iconic, unifying moment: He donned the green jersey of the Springboks rugby team – beloved by whites, despised by blacks – to present the World Cup trophy to the team captain while the stunned crowd erupted in cheers of “Nelson! Nelson!”

He chose to serve only one five-year term – during which he divorced his second wife, Winnie, a controversial activist, and married his third, Graca, the widow of the late president of Mozambique.

After leaving politics, he concentrated on his philanthropic foundation. He began speaking out on AIDS, which had ravaged his country and which some critics said he had not made a priority as president.

When he officially announced he was leaving public life in 2004, it signaled he was slowing down, but he still made his presence known. For his 89th birthday, he launched a “council of elders,” statesmen and women from around the world who would promote peace. For his 90th, he celebrated at a star-studded concert in London’s Hyde Park.

As he noted in 2003, “If there is anything that would kill me it is to wake up in the morning not knowing what to do.”

In April, de Klerk was asked on the BBC if he feared that Mandela’s eventual death would expose fissures in South Africa that his grandfatherly presence had kept knitted together.

De Klerk said that Madiba would be just as unifying a force in death.

“When Mandela goes, it will be a moment when all South Africans put away their political differences, take hands, and will together honor maybe the biggest South African that has ever lived,” he said.

Critican en Sudáfrica capacitación de médicos formados en Cuba

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La agencia Pretoria News informa que expertos de la medicina en Sudáfrica están criticando el programa de formación de médicos sudafricanos en Cuba, debido a que los graduados no regresan a su país preparados para enfrentar los problemas de salud del país.

"La carga de morbilidad en Cuba es muy diferente", explicó Elma de Vries, ex presidenta de la Asociación de Médicos Rurales de Sudáfrica. Según ella, los que estudian en la isla regresan sin la debida capacitación para lidiar con enfermedades extendidas en ese país como la tuberculosis, el VIH o las complicaciones de la diabetes. Tampoco son entrenados para tratar con mujeres en trabajo de parto, añadió.

De Vries señaló asimismo que para los estudiantes el programa --que incluye un año de aprendizaje de español y cinco estudiando medicina, así como otro año o año y medio de práctica preparatoria en su país-- resulta largo, tedioso y caro.

Por su parte Errol Holland, presidente del Comité de Decanos de Medicina Sudafricanos, que representa a las ocho escuelas de ciencias médicas del país, resaltó que los becarios que van a Cuba son entrenados en las necesidades del sistema cubano de atención a la salud. “Ellos tienen un sistema de salud preventivo, y nosotros todavía no lo tenemos", dijo.

Holland aseguró que su comité ha planteado estas inquietudes acerca del programa de intercambio al ministro de Salud de Sudáfrica, Aaron Motsoaledi,

Cifras del Departamento de Salud en Pretoria indican que hay actualmente 1.003 alumnos sudafricanos en las escuelas de ciencias médicas de Cuba.

El ministro Motsoaledi planea triplicar el número de galenos formados en escuelas locales, pero la escasez de instalaciones ha dado lugar al envío de estudiantes para ser entrenados en Cuba. 

Libya's loot: South African banks may hold $1B in gold, diamonds stolen by Qaddafi

Fox News

More than a billion dollars in cash, gold and diamonds believed looted by late Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi during his 40-year reign may have been found socked away in South Africa -- just a fraction of the wealth the dead dictator is suspected of stealing.

Libyan investigators, who believe Qaddafi may have taken as much as $100 billion of his North African nation’s wealth, have zeroed in on $1 billion or more being held by four banks and two security companies in South Africa, according to The Sunday Times of South Africa.

Libyan authorities, who are working with the Arab League and Interpol, believe stolen assets are squirreled away all over the world. The stolen loot is the sum of years of treating one of the world’s richest countries as his own piggy bank, according to Prof. Shaul Gabbay, a Middle East expert and senior scholar at the University of Denver.

“There was,of course, no transparency and he and his family's dealings with the nation’s wealth was as if it was their own,” said Gabbay. “This includes total control of the management of state and personal bank accounts.

- Professor Shaul Gabbay, a Middle East expert and senior scholar at the University of Denver

“People who worked in auditing or government ministries would be afraid for their and their family's lives if they would raise any concern,” he added. 

Some assets have been easy to seize, such as the $16 million mansion Qaddafi’s son Saadi owned in an exclusive London neighborhood. But tracing money in secret bank accounts and hidden investments is a much more complex process, especially given that the money being sought was likely taken by a host of Qaddafi loyalists.

"These assets are really difficult to find and also difficult to claim back," Libya's deputy ambassador to London, Ahmed Gebreel, told the BBC last year.

Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur has vowed to pursue the trail of looted funds, much of which are believed to be held in banks in Switzerland, the UK, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

But to date, the $1 billion-plus believed held in South Africa could be the biggest haul. The Sunday Times reported that Libyan investigators have already met top government officials to discuss locating and repatriating the loot.

A follow-up letter sent by ANC head of security Tito Maleka on April 23 confirms that the visit "with our president in Nkandla" is an indication that "the South African government is prepared to cooperate" in "identifying all assets belonging to the Libyan people".

Investigators tracing the funds are believed to be acting on information from Libya's former intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi, who was arrested last year for crimes against humanity. Letters from Libyan officials quoted by the newspaper seek for cooperation in securing "all funds and assets that have been illegally possessed, obtained, looted, deposited or hidden in South Africa and neighboring countries” by the dictator, “his wives, his sons, his daughters and other relatives, close associates, private and government [or] business persons in Africa."

The letters say that the Libyan investigators have "uncovered large funds and assets in South Africa and neighboring states." One bank account, which investigators claim was traced through check stubs found in Libya, is registered in the name of Qaddafi’s uncle, Abdulhafid Ahmed el-Qaddafi, a former Libyan Army general.

They are convinced that part of the loot in South Africa is held by Qaddafi's former chief of staff, Bashir Saleh, known as "Qaddafi's banker." Saleh, who also goes by Bashir al Shrkawi, is on Interpol's wanted list.

In the weeks before a mob yanked Qaddafi out of a drainpipe and killed him in October 2011, the longtime despot was on the run and rumored to have fled the desert nation. Reports of Niger-bound convoys of his wives and family members, laden with gold and cash, were common as the civil war that toppled him raged.

In addition to gold and cash, another of the oil-rich nation’s greatest treasures disappeared in the chaos of the 2011 revolution. Interpol alerted police around the globe of the theft of the so-called “Benghazi Treasure,” which was stolen from a bank vault in May 2011. The looted treasure, which includes Greek and Roman gold, had been stored in two padlocked chests inside a safe. It had never been displayed and had been virtually forgotten, except by specialist archaeologists, according to The Art Newspaper.

Some of the treasure has reportedly surfaced in Egypt and on the black market in Libya. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s Director-General Irina Bukova has called the loss of the Benghazi treasure “one of the largest thefts of archaeological material in history.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/06/03/libya-loot-south-african-banks-may-hold-1b-in-gold-diamonds-stolen-by-qaddafy/#ixzz2VB4plX2l

Is THIS real reason Obama’s confronting North Korea?

wndI

JERUSALEM – Is the Obama administration’s military build up in the Pacific part of the president’s so-called pivot-toward-Asia strategy, a move that could demonstrate the biggest shift in world power since World War II?

Specifically, is Washington using the North Korean nuclear standoff as an excuse to shift massive military might to Asia just as China and other powers seek to create a new economic order that would rival the Western-dominated World Bank and International Monetary Fund?

It is difficult for most seasoned observers to explain why Obama is suddenly responding to North Korean aggression when the White House did little in 2008 when North Korea refused to allow United Nations inspectors into its nuclear plants.

The Obama administration also took little action when North Korea in 2009 carried out at least two nuclear tests, one of which is believed to have been the cause of a magnitude 4.7 seismic event.

The White House did not allow the U.S. military any significant response when in 2010 North Korea torpedoed a South Korean navy ship, killing 46 sailors. North Korea then shelled a South Korean island with little U.S. reaction.

Now, purportedly in response to aggressive action by North Korea’s new leader, the White House is sending to Singapore a new class of warship designed to fight in coastal waters.

The Pentagon also announced that it will deploy a missile defense system to the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam to strengthen regional protection against a possible attack. This after the Obama administration largely canceled a similar defense system intended for Europe.

U.S. warplanes, including fighter jets, U-2 spy planes and an A-10 attack jet, were seen flying in South Korea yesterday as part of a massive joint military exercise.

The U.S. says it stands “poised to respond” at the border of North and South Korea, where American troops are on high alert amid possible further Pentagon build-up in the region.

U.S. military ‘rebalance’

Why is the U.S. now responding to North Korea?

Time magazine says the “U.S. pivot toward Asia – and the potential for confrontation with China – became a little more real this week with the arrival of a new class of warship designed to fight in coastal waters.”

That pivot has been declared by the Obama administration itself – a professed strategy of putting a greater focus on the Asia region.

Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel “made clear the U.S. and the Department of Defense remain committed to the rebalance towards the Asia-Pacific region,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said after a meeting between Hagel and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Hagel told Loong that “in the future there will be even more opportunities for closer collaboration between the US and Singapore,” Little said.

‘New economic world order’

The U.S. military shift comes as the so-called BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – seek to create a monetary system to rival and even surpass the West.

While it received little U.S. media attention, last week at its fifth annual summit the BRICS group unveiled what it said was a new development bank aimed at breaking the monopoly held by Western-backed institutions.

The bank would use $50 billion of seed capital shared equally between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa but would clearly be dominated by China.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gave support for the bank while India’s trade minister said BRICS will “have a defining influence on the global order of this century.”

“It’s done,” said Pravin Gordhan, South African Finance Minister, last Tuesday, adding that “we made very good progress” on the formation of a World Bank-analogue development agency

Iran’s Press TV described the deal this way: “The BRICS bank will present an alternative solution to the Western-dominated global banking system comprised of the Bretton Woods institutions – the World Bank (WB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“The new bank will provide a collective foreign exchange reserve and a fund for financing developmental projects in order to address the needs of emerging and poor economies.”

Press TV reported, “BRICS members say the current global balance of power is unworkable, with institutions such as the WB, the IMF and the United Nations Security Council irrelevant in addressing matters concerning global economics.”

Under the deal, the two largest economies of the emerging power groups, China and Brazil, agreed to remove nearly half of their trade exchanges out of the U.S. dollar zone – a significant blow to the U.S. dollar.

Some in the U.S. are skeptical the BRICS moves will actually work.

Joseph S. Nye, a professor at Harvard University, wrote in The Australian newspaper: “Tellingly, the meeting in Durban failed to produce any details of the structure of the proposed new development bank, suggesting that little progress had been made in the year since the BRICS’ last meeting in New Delhi, where the plan was announced.”

Continued Nye: “In fact, despite a commitment to launch “formal negotiations” to establish the bank, disagreements about the size and shares of the bank’s capital have not been resolved.”

The New American took the other side, arguing the BRICS bank is a step closer toward a world government.

“Aside from a planetary fiat currency and central bank, the erection of a true world government was at the heart of BRICS regimes’ machinations outlined in their final agreement.”

The publication pointed out the BRICS declaration at the end of last week’s summit included, “We reiterate our strong commitment to the United Nations (UN) as the foremost multilateral forum entrusted with bringing about hope, peace, order and sustainable development to the world.”

See a report on the BRICS summit:

The BRICS statement added, “[W]e reaffirmed our commitment to the promotion of international law, multilateralism and the central role of the United Nations.”

BRICS clearly sees a reshaped economic world in which government-run companies play a significant role.

“We acknowledge the important role that State Owned Companies (SOCs) play in the economy and encourage our SOCs to explore ways of cooperation, exchange of information and best practices,” the declaration states.

“As the global economy is being reshaped, we are committed to exploring new models and approaches towards more equitable development and inclusive global growth.”

With additional research by Joshua Klein.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/04/is-this-why-obamas-responding-to-north-korea/#0vA1fxswZ4KKlO1p.99

Strike of medical students in Cuba sparks controversy

Nicola Jenvey/

The detention of South African medical students in Cuba, following their decision to embark on an ‘illegal’ hunger strike over food, low stipends and calls for a health attaché, has opened a debate over privilege versus expectations.

The students were released, but last week the South African government warned that they could be deported if agreement on disputed matters could not be resolved.

On 7 February, 187 of 1,200 South African students studying medicine in Cuba launched a strike, demanding a more than 300% stipend increase, the appointment of a South African health attaché in Cuba and that they not be served pork meals.

University food typically includes beef, chicken or pork, but the Cuban government has struggled to acquire beef and chicken, and so consequently has only been serving pork.

The students, completing their final year at a Cuban medical school, boycotted classes and threatened to abandon their studies and return home should their demands not be met. The Cuban authorities later intervened when the students gathered outside the South African embassy in Havana.

Some students complained to South African media that payments of food bills had been held up, leaving them without meals for days.

South Africa has a long-standing agreement with Cuba for the training of local doctors. Universities in this country are able to graduate only around 1,200 medical doctors a year – a number insufficient to fill vacant posts and alleviate a critical shortage of doctors.

The two governments jointly sponsor the students' accommodation, food, transport and tuition, with students receiving a US$200 monthly stipend. The students are demanding $700 to bring them “in line with diplomats' children”.

In all, South Africa invests about R500,000 (US$60,000) per student over the six-year training for a Spanish language course, medical education and living costs.

Department of Health spokesperson Joe Maila claimed that the students wanted more money to buy food rather than eat what was on offer. They wanted to buy “goodies and party” and were “spoilt”.

The move prompted Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi to write the students letters, suspecting that their issues arose from cultural differences, adaptability and “perhaps psychosocial changes”.

The health department therefore dispatched a team including a social worker, psychologist, human resources manager and doctor to “assist the students”. The team joined the South African ambassador in Cuba, university staff and the Cuban government in negotiations with the students. 

More on universityworldnews >>

South African medical students in Cuba may be deported

amsterdamnews

Medical students are pictured at East London airport in September, 2011,
as they prepare to depart for Cuba. Of the 1,200 South African students studying
medicine in Cuba, 187 have gone on strike, demanding that their monthly
stipend be increased. Picture: DAILY DISPATCH.

Feb. 26 (GIN) – South Africa’s Education Minister, Blade Nzimande, has called for the deportation of over a hundred South African medical students in Cuba who launched a hunger strike over conditions they considered unacceptable.
“The sense of entitlement and lack of gratitude displayed by these students who come from a country with such high levels of desperate need for higher education and training, and limited state resources, is totally unacceptable. I condemn it in the strongest terms,” Minister Nzimande said. “If they are threatening to come back home, then maybe they should do just that.”’
But emails sent to the South African daily City Press painted a different picture. A bottleneck apparently held up payment of student food bills which left the students without meals for four days. Meals are primarily pork, not acceptable to some students. The stipend is insufficient, they say, to cover incidental expenses and amounts to a third of what children of the South African diplomatic corps receive.
“The department of health might say our demands are unreasonable, but, honestly, we wouldn’t go to such lengths for something we didn’t believe in,” said one student who asked to remain anonymous.
“None of us are trying to be heroes here, and none of us want to go home and lose our careers,” he added in an email.
Some 2,000 South African medical students are enrolled in the 6 year program which includes one year of practical work in South Africa. This week, about 187 of the student doctors staged a protest outside the South African embassy in the Cuban capital of Havana and were arrested.
They were detained overnight but have refused to give up their fight over food and money.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi’s spokesman, Joe Maila, initially promised a “fact-finding mission” to look into the complaints. “We really want to find out what is happening with the food. Where there are serious concerns we will do something immediately. We want these students to succeed. We need more doctors.” According to the students, the mission never arrived.
He defended the pork diet. “Our students are usually served alternate meals consisting of beef, chicken or pork but for the past two or three weeks the Cuban government had problems acquiring beef and chicken. They could only serve what was available, which was pork.”
The students responded: “Whenever we ask for change we are reminded of the fact that we are from poor families, squatter camps, that we are women and men with difficulties, children of the storm and we should be grateful for the little we have."
The father of a student detained this week told City Press it was unfortunate the department felt this way.
“When our kids complete their studies they return to serve South Africans. In many cases, they work in rural areas where local doctors refuse to go.

'BLADE RUNNER' BOMBSHELL: Top Detective Faces Shooting Charge

 

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Dr. Baden breaks down evidence against Oscar Pistorius

MODEL MURDERED: Pistorius' Girlfriend Was Set To Give Speech on Abuse

foxnews

www.dailymail.co.uk

PRETORIA, South Africa –  Reeva Steenkamp, the stunning model allegedly shot to death by her boyfriend Oscar Pistorius on Valentine's day, had planned on drawing on her past abusive relationship for a motivational speech on the day she was murdered.

The Daily Telegraph reports that Steenkamp had written a valentine's day speech and was set to give it before the students of Sandown High School in Johannesburg, South Africa, urging them to "be brave," "always see the positive" and to make their voice heard.

"I was in an abusive relationship at the same time (his mother used to abuse him)," reads a draft of the speech obtained by the UK newspaper. "I lost a lot of self-worth during my last year in PE [Port Elizabeth] before I moved to Jozi [Johannesburg] and it took some serious soul searching to remind myself of my value in this world."

"being loved by others, although an amazing feeling to have the appreciation of others, does not define your place in the world," the draft continues.

News also surfaced on Saturday that a reality show featuring Steenkamp will premiere as scheduled this weekend in her native South Africa.

“Tropika: Island of Treasure,” whose TV spots feature a beaming, bikini-clad Steenkamp, will air as scheduled on South Africa Network SABC1 — and her distraught family will be watching her performance.

“Reeva would’ve liked us to watch it,” her uncle, Mike Steenkamp, told People magazine. “She indicated that before the tragedy.”

Producers for the show said not airing the prerecorded show would be an “injustice” to the model’s memory.

“Every episode that she is in, every frame that she so ably dominates, shines with the light and her light and her laughter echoes in every conversation, and we want to share these special memories with the rest of South Africa,” Tropika producer Samantha Moon said in a statement.

This week’s episode will be dedicated to Steenkamp’s memory and begin with a tribute to the model.

Steenkamp's boyfriend, Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is "numb with shock, as well as grief" after the shooting death of his model girlfriend at his home in South Africa, the runner's uncle said Saturday, as his family "strongly refutes" charges that he planned to kill her.

Arnold Pistorius spoke with The Associated Press and two other South African journalists about his nephew's arrest in the killing of Reeva Steenkamp, who was shot four times on the morning of Valentine's Day. Arnold Pistorius spoke to reporters from his three-story home in the eastern suburbs of South Africa's capital, Pretoria.

The statement, the first on camera and directly made in person by Pistorius' family, also came out strongly against prosecutors seeking to upgrade the charge against Pistorius to one of premeditated murder, which carries a sentence of life in prison.

"After consulting with legal representatives, we deeply regret the allegation of premeditated murder," Arnold Pistorius said. "We have no doubt there is no substance to the allegation and that the state's own case, including its own forensic evidence, strongly refutes any possibility of a premeditated murder."

The track star's arrest in the killing of 29-year-old Steenkamp shocked South Africa, where Pistorius was a national hero dubbed the Blade Runner for his high-tech prosthetics and revered for overcoming his disability to compete in the London Games. She was discovered in a pool of blood before dawn Thursday by police called to Pistorius' upscale home in a gated community in Pretoria. Authorities said she had been shot four times, and a 9 mm pistol was recovered at the home.

Pistorius remains held at a police station pending a bail hearing Tuesday.

Arnold Pistorius did not discuss the circumstances of the shooting, but said that his nephew and Steenkamp had become very close since they started dating in November.

"They had plans together and Oscar was happier in his private life than he had been for a long time," the uncle said.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2013/02/16/slain-model-reeva-steenkamp-planned-to-give-speech-on-abuse-day-was-allegedly/#ixzz2L52jApGe