Category: Nelson Mandela

Botswana, democracy, Helen Zille, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Julius Malema, Nelson Mandela, rule of law

South Africa’s Election a Triumph of Democracy

The biggest winner in South Africa’s May 7th parliamentary election is democracy itself. Twenty years after the first all race ballot, Nelson Mandela’s rainbow nation is alive and well in the country of 50 million. The election is a triumph of constitutional government and rule of law. Eighteen million people, 74% of registered voters, peacefully cast ballots at 22,000 polling stations across nine provinces from … Continue reading South Africa’s Election a Triumph of Democracy

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apartheid, Desmond Tutu, FW deKlerk, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Izak Smuts, Jacob Zuma, Nelson Mandela, Oscar Pistorius, Robert Mugabe, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, South Africa, Soweto, Thokozile Masipa

The May 7th Vote in the New South Africa

To understand the new South Africa, look no further than the red-robed female jurist presiding at the televised trial of blade runner Oscar Pistorius. “My lady,” as she is addressed in court, is Thokozile Masipa, a 67-year-old lawyer from Soweto. In 1998 she became only the second black woman appointed to a South African high court. Judge Thokozile Masipa (photo: SABC)  Here is a judge … Continue reading The May 7th Vote in the New South Africa

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Africa, Angola, European Union, FW de Klerk, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, Ian Smith, Johannesburg, Maputo, Mozambique, Nelson Mandela, Portugal, Rhodesia, South Africa, Zimbabwe

Remembering Portugal’s Revolution That Changed Africa

Forty years ago a brave band of junior officers overthrew Portugal’s dictatorship. On April 25th, 1974 thousands poured into Lisbon’s plazas in celebration. Flower sellers did a brisk trade in red carnations that poked from the barrels of soldiers’ rifles. Marcelo Caetano, the despot who headed the fascist government in power since 1932, fled to Brazil. The young captains behind the coup had seen for … Continue reading Remembering Portugal’s Revolution That Changed Africa

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