Tag Archives: South Africa

Newswire : In South Africa: former President Obama denounces Trump without using his name

Posted on by

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

President Barack Obama in Johannesburg, South Africa

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Former President Barack Obama spoke at the centennial celebration in Johannesburg, South Africa, of Nelson Mandela’s birth by denouncing President Donald Trump without mentioning his name.  A day after Trump met in Helsinki, Finland, with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Obama criticized strongmen politics. “The politics of fear, resentment is on the move at a pace unimaginable just few years ago,” Obama told thousands at Wanderers Stadium. The audience gave him a standing ovation. He added that the free press and other values are under threat. Obama noted that there is a loss of shame when political leaders are caught in lies and they double down and lie some more. Mandela, South Africa’s first black president, was elected to office in 1994. He was born July 18, 1918. He was 95 when he died in 2013. Obama praised Mandela’s style of leadership and encouraged the youth to emulate it. “Every generation has the opportunity to remake the world,” Obama said, speaking directly to the youth in the audience. “Mandela said, ‘Young people are capable, when aroused, of bringing down the towers of oppression and raising the banners of freedom.’ Now is a good time to be aroused. Now is a good time to be fired up.” He continued, “And, for those of us who care about the legacy that we honor here today – about equality and dignity and democracy and solidarity and kindness, those of us who remain young at heart, if not in body – we have an obligation to help our youth succeed. Some of you know, here in South Africa, my Foundation is convening over the last few days, two hundred young people from across this continent who are doing the hard work of making change in their communities; who reflect Madiba’s values, who are poised to lead the way.”

Newswire : Cape Town, South Africa, in survival mode as water supplies near zero

Posted on by

 

  • Capetown, S. A. water shortage
    Community leader Myolisi Magibisela with dry water pump in Khayelitsha neighborhood

    Feb. 5, 2018 (GIN) – Only days remain in Cape Town, South Africa, before a jewel of natural beauty and one of the wealthiest destinations in Africa becomes the first major city in the world to run out of water.

    Rationing has already begun with some 200 collection points around the city. Security guards stand watch as anxious residents fill up plastic jugs.

    Cape Town is in the middle of an unprecedented drought, with some researchers estimating the dry spell to be a once-in-a-millennium event.

    After three years of far below normal rains, Cape Town’s main water source stands at about 27 percent, but the final 10 percent is considered unusable because of mud, weeds and debris at the bottom. Silt in the tap water makes it undrinkable, many complain.

    Municipal water will continue to reach hospitals and large low-income developments, but sanitation and public health conditions could deteriorate further.

    A stark wealth gap and social inequalities have only worsened the crisis with lawns and pools of the wealthy diverting water from poor neighborhoods with limited access to water.

    Kirsty Carden with the Future Water Institute at the University of Cape Town pointed to the city’s leafy suburbs. People who have gardens and swimming pools, she said, are much more extravagant in the way that they use water. They’re used to the water just coming out of the taps. In the more affluent areas, people say ‘We’ll pay for it,’ she told the Associated Press.

    For the quarter of Cape Town’s population living in unplanned settlements, water comes from communal taps rather than individual taps at home. Scolding fingers point at leaking taps and broken fixtures. “But the reality is that those one million people out of a population of four (million) only use 4.5 percent of the water,” Carden said.

    Meanwhile, the region’s two major industries– tourism and agriculture, including the lucrative wine industry, are suffering. Analysts estimate between 30,000 and 70,000 seasonal workers could lose their jobs.

    While extreme droughts are difficult to predict, researchers fault the city council for failing to adapt the local water supply to the demands of a growing metropolis.

    Two strategies seem to be having an impact: South Africa’s biggest artists have remixed their top selling songs into two minute shower songs (all you’re allotted under water rations). They can be heard on https://2minuteshowersongs.com Also, a map showing excessive use of water is online and can be seen at https://mg.co.za/2018-01/18-cape-towns-map-of-water-usage-has-residents-seeing-red