Far From the Africa Crowd

What now for South Africa?

Photo Credits:BBC

The results are in. Jacob Zuma is South Africa’s new president. Zuma , elected with a near 2/3 majority(65.9%) votes April 22, comes in after interim president Kgalame Mothlanthe quietly bowed out after serving as interim president for seven months. The elections were held several months after then president Thabo Mbeke was forced to resign.

The BBC characterized Mr Zuma’s ascension to power and the challenges SA faces as follows:

“Mr Zuma, a populist who spent 10 years in prison during the apartheid era for ANC membership, faces challenges including a struggling economy and soaring violent crime.
Charges of corruption against the 67-year-old were dropped just two weeks before the poll after state prosecutors said there had been political interference in the case”

Photo credits: CNN

The pirate story is in the news again and world attention is now focused on Somalia. It is being reported that pirates have seized an American flagged ship and taken hostage of the ship and its crew members. Somalia, located in the infamous horn of Africa is the subjects of U.S. talk shows, unending 24 hours news analysis, ridicule and scorn from world leaders. The most noted media description of the country is that is has been without a central government for over 15 years, is a breathing ground for terrorists, al-Qaida and out of control militias.

Is there something that Africans and African governments can do about this troubled African nation?

A five day conference to commemorate the 1994 Rwandan genocide opened at Metro State College of Denver on Monday April 6. The opening remarks were made by Dr. Lucas Shamala and Dr. Akbarali Thobhani of the department of Africa and African American studies. Mondays lecture was delivered by Rwandan native Dr. Hadidja Nyiransekuya, who is also visiting professor at Metro State College Denver. In her lecture Nyiransekuye outlined the history of Rwanda, its many tribes, languages, customs and relations with neighbors including Congo and Burundi. She discussed the origins of hatred amongst the Tutsi’s and Hutu’s and traced the causes of what eventually led to the mass killings in 1994. The theme of the lecture was Dismantling the Myth of the other.

“We cannot allow history to repeat itself”, she cautioned the audience during her presentation. Also, she explained that “if we keep making it someone else’s problem, just remember that it can happen to you too”

Dr. Nyiransekuye who is also a social worker and former secondary school teacher, is actively involved in the community and lives in Denver with her four children.

The rest of the conference schedule is listed below

Monday April 6: 10am to 12pm St. Cajetan’s Lecture: The migration Thesis and the Genesis of

the Genocide

Tuesday April 7: 11:30am to 2:45pm TV320 ABC Movie: Sometimes in April

Rwanda Refugee Student Panel

Wednesday April 8: 1pm to 4:15pm TV640 Movie: Ghosts of Rwanda

Faculty Panel

Thursday April 9 11:30am to 2:45pm TV320A Movie: Children of War

Testimony

Saturday April 11: 2pm to 6pm TV640 Catered Lunch Buffet

How Violent Crimes Affect People

Rwanda Dancers & Socializing