News — south africa

A church in South Africa has carried out a virginity test on unmarried female members and gave a certificate of virginity to each female who passed. The test is said to be an effort to encourage chastity among the ladies in society. The church identified as Nazareth Baptist Church is located at Ebuhleni, northern part of Durban in South Africa. The church carries out a free virginity test on ladies who attend their church and are 18 years and above.

It is an annual event carried out by the church, and at the end of the exercise, a Certificate of Virginity is awarded to the successful ones. Also, a white mark of purity is placed on the forehead of the virgins.The test is usually conducted in the middle of every year and the certificate issued becomes invalid by the middle of the following year when the next virginity test is conducted by the church. The test for the 2022/2023 session was conducted this week and certificates were issued to the successful ladies. The certificate was signed by the Leader of Nazareth Baptist Church and the specialist who carried out the test.

A church in South Africa has carried out a virginity test on unmarried female members and gave a certificate of virginity to each female who passed. The test is said to be an effort to encourage chastity among the ladies in society. The church identified as Nazareth Baptist Church is located at Ebuhleni, northern part of Durban in South Africa. The church carries out a free virginity test on ladies who attend their church and are 18 years and above.

It is an annual event carried out by the church, and at the end of the exercise, a Certificate of Virginity is awarded to the successful ones. Also, a white mark of purity is placed on the forehead of the virgins. The test is usually conducted in the middle of every year and the certificate issued becomes invalid by the middle of the following year when the next virginity test is conducted by the church. The test for the 2022/2023 session was conducted this week and certificates were issued to the successful ladies. The certificate was signed by the Leader of Nazareth Baptist Church and the specialist who carried out the test.

Sibahle Zwane is a 13-year old maths genius and a businessman in the making through his amazing talent.With a remarkable ability to work out huge numbers in his head, he goes around the Lehae neighbourhood near Lenasia making a quick buck from shocked strangers.His mom Mbali Zwane says she was surprised when she saw videos of her son making money from his maths skills trending on Facebook.His sheer passion with numbers transcend the barriers which other children of his age cannot. Being only ten, Sibahle Zwane can calculate numbers just from his head. It's a special, unique and extraordinary gift he has. Numbers are just too easy for him. And because of that, he easily is a human calculator. For his age, better than a calculator.

Sibahle Zwane is a math genius who has a special ability of working out huge numbers just from his head. He has exploited this amazing talent to create some money he might as well become a very proficient businessman. He goes around the Lehae neighbourhood near Lenasia making a quick buck from mesmerized strangers.Videos of Sibahle Zwane exhibiting his special skills surfaced on social media, and even his mother, Mbali Zwane, was surprised. Watching videos of her son trending on Facebook making money from his math skills greatly surprised her.

Born in Apartheid-era South Africa to white Afrikaner parents, she developed the skin colour and facial features of a black African. By the age of ten she had been officially reclassified as 'coloured' and expelled from white society. As well as being cut off from her family and friends, Sandra suffered imprisonment and domestic abuse. However, with the end of Apartheid she tracked down her mother and enjoyed a tearful reunion. This emotional film exposes racism and questions the whole notion of racial identity.

Prophet Mboro is a charismatic yet controversial church leader from South Africa. He is adored by his thousands of followers and renowned as much for his dancing as he is for the `miracles' he performs. Boasting a collection of expensive cars and wearing an array of jewelry, Mboro has emerged as a millionaire from the boom in Pentecostal `mega-churches'. The question that lingers is if Mboro can possibly be a messenger from God. In such a case, his followers seem to praise him more than they praise God. What do you think?

The Sol Plaatje University in Kimberley, South Africa, named for pioneer black journalist, author, and founding member of the African National Congress, Sol Plaatje, is a 21st century public university. Created under Section 20 of the Higher Education Act of 1997, it opened its doors to 124 students in 2014. As of 2019, the student body, initially drawn largely from the Northern Cape province but now from every province in South Africa, has grown to over 2,000 and the university has graduated 400 students to date.

As one of only two universities established in post-Apartheid South Africa, the other being University of Mpumalanga, it contributes to the expansion of access to Higher Education to formerly dispossessed and disenfranchised communities. Students come primarily from communities based in rural or urban townships; approximately 70% are African and 25% Colored. Sixty (60%) percent of students have an African home language and 25% speak Afrikaans. Figures fluctuate but those for 2017 indicate that 57% of the students are female and 58% of the staff are black.

Sol Plaatje University is centrally located in Kimberley. It has three campuses in close proximity: north campus houses primarily the administrative functions, south campus has student residences and sports facilities while central campus houses the academic functions in 21st Century state of the art buildings, including the award-wining university library.

Sol Plaatje University has four Schools: National and Applied Sciences; Economic and Management Sciences; Education; and Humanities. In addition to the Bachelors’ degrees, a sizable number of diplomas and certificates are offered. Additionally, by 2027, the university plans to grow postgraduate enrollment to 10% of the envisaged total of 7,500 students.

Approximately half of the student body majors in Education which in turn provides the Northern Cape province with badly needed teachers. The Economics and Management Sciences School contributes to local and provincial government capacity-building in Public Administration. Among its Information and Communication Technologies programs within the School of Natural and Applied Sciences, is an undergraduate degree in Data Science, the only one of its kind in South Africa. This degree responds to unique resources in the Northern Cape province, home to the South African Large Telescope (SALT), and joint host to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope.

Kimberley, known as Teemane in the local language, Setswana, means diamond and Kimberley, was once a major mining center, world-famous for its diamonds, discovered in 1870 and aggressively mined on an industrial scale until around World War I when the town began to decline economically, as Egoli, land of gold, known in English as Johannesburg, became the locus of South Africa’s economic growth. Today Kimberley boasts a mine museum with the largest man-made hole in the world. It also has a number of museums, important heritage and archaeological sites, as well as the rich cultural and human resource in indigenous local languages (Setswana, isiXhosa, Khoi and San languages). The Humanities School at Sol Plaatje University takes advantage of these local cultural resources through its flagship programs in Heritage Studies and Creative Writing in African Languages.

Pharmaceutical giants Pfizer asked South Africa, among a few other countries, to accept indemnity clauses in contract proposals for securing Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccines. These clauses would indemnify Pfizer against lawsuits relating to the usage of its vaccines.

South Africa was one of a few middle-income countries that were told to put up assets which “could include federal bank reserves, embassy buildings or military bases”, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ). Pfizer hoped that these countries would bear the costs of lawsuits and damages if vaccine recipients have complications.

The BIJ reported that its interrogations of unredacted draft contracts between Pfizer and two other countries revealed that the pharmaceutical company wanted to protect itself against unfortunate eventualities in the supply chain “including packaging, manufacturing and storage”.

Pfizer, who initially defended the plan to force an indemnity clause has so far reneged on this in their dealings with South Africa. On behalf of his government, South Africa’s Minister of Health, Zweli Mkhize, disclosed last week that his government was “relieved” by this.

“As [a] government, we found ourselves in a precarious position of having to choose between saving our citizens’ lives and risking putting the country’s assets into private companies’ hands,” Mkhize told a parliamentary committee. He pointed out that the proposal had “posed a potential risk to our assets”.

South Africa was a destination of four different vaccine trials, including J&J’s. At the beginning of the year, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, who until recently was chairperson of the AU, indicated that his country intended to lead the charge for vaccine equity on behalf of Africa.

South Africa hoped to come to an agreement with Johnson & Johnson to obtain affordable vaccines for the country and others in Africa. But while Johnson & Johnson undertook a trial in the Rainbow Nation, it made no promises of donating or selling vaccines to South Africa or any other country on the continent. J&J is said to begin manufacturing its vaccine in South Africa and will make about 300 million before the end of 2021.

Nelson Mandela in a cell on Robben Island has become one of the most emotive mental pictures anyone can come up with when the story of Black South African push against white domination is told. But what if you were told that two hundred years before Mandela, a Black African broke twice from the Dutch penitentiary?

The man was a chief of the Khoi people, a group from one of the oldest, if not the oldest traceable lineage on earth. He has for long been called David Stuurman but that is not his real name. He is thought to have been born around 1773 and details about his upbringing are not known to us. The name he was identified by is of Dutch extraction, with the first name sometimes spelled Dawid.

What we do know is that he was born near the Gamtoos River in what is now known as the Eastern Cape. We also know that while a teenager, Stuurman was a farm laborer on the farm of the Dutch Vermaak family, who lived in Gamtoos. The Khoi, as well as their tribal kinsmen the San, were mistreated, a fact recorded by Christian missionaries in Bethelsdorp. The patriarch of the Vermaak family, Johannes extended the cruelty to Stuurman. All of this was happening while the European settlers dispossessed the native Black population of their lands.

Indeed, the relationship that existed between the Europeans and many of the Khoi people was one of indentured servitude on the part of the latter.

Dispossessing the Khoi and the San of their lands expectedly brought about tensions between the locals and the white settlers. These tensions are what collectively are called The Xhosa Wars. After 1790, Stuurman, along with his family. like many others, had to relocate to avoid the violence. But he was leaving the place of his birth a man permanently scarred by the events of his childhood.

Those who fled were welcomed in association with the Xhosa people, the main enemies of the Europeans. Having found security the Khoi who fled like Stuurman and his family refused to return to indentured servitude. This obviously incensed the white people who had usurped ownership of the lands.

But from this vantage point, Stuurman distinguished himself by leading the Khoi composite of the Xhosa opposition to Dutch and British settlements. He led expeditions, as a warring chief, against the Europeans and made life imaginably unpalatable for them. His efforts momentarily paid off when in 1802, he was granted land to settle on by the British governor, Francis Dundas. This was only to quiet Stuurman down because soon enough the British attacked. And so did the Dutch.

In 1809, Stuurman was arrested and according to cultural activist, Stephen Langtry, “charged for resisting colonial rule as well as opposing the conscription of the Khoi into militias that were created to defend the colony and to attack the San and amaXhosa”. He was essentially an enemy of settler interests since he would not go to war against other natives. He was taken to Robben Island.

That year, in December, Stuurman and a host of others escaped from the island using a whaling boat. When he arrived on land, Stuurman sought and found reunification with the Xhosa with whom he had enjoyed a camaraderie for two decades. But he was rearrested ten years later, only for him to escape again in 1820.

But the second escape was only short. He was recaptured as he tried to swim his way to shore. When he was taken back to the island, he was chained, unlike previous times. He was kept there for nearly three years and then transported to Australia where Stuurman would die in 1830.

In South Africa, Stuurman has been immortalized with a statue in the National Heritage Monument Park in Pretoria. The international airport formerly known as Port Elizabeth is now also the Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport.

One person has been arrested in connection with a fire that has destroyed scores of historic buildings in Cape Town. A wildfire on the slopes of South Africa’s Table Mountain National Park on Sunday spread to the nearby University of Cape Town campus, burning the school’s historic library and prompting the speedy evacuation of staff and students. The Rhodes Memorial Restaurant was also destroyed.

The fire erupted Sunday morning near a memorial to politician Cecil Rhodes. Firefighters were alerted at 09:00 local time (07:00 GMT) and have been battling through the night to bring the fire under control. More than 120 firefighters have been deployed to the area. One has since been sent to a hospital for treatment with burn wounds. Helicopters also dumped water on the area to contain the blaze.

Authorities said the flames spread quickly due to the low humidity and dry bush. According to South African National Parks, the fire “created its own wind further increasing the rate of spread.” It said firefighters would need at least three days to fight the blaze. “After the initial investigation, it is surmised that the origin of the fire is from a vacated vagrant fire,” it said. “Due to the extreme Fire Danger Index for today, which is Red with temperatures of 36 degrees noted and an extremely low relative humidity of under 10%, the fire spread rapidly in the direction of Rhodes Memorial,” it explained.

Local media say the police are now investigating what could be a deliberate case of arson following the arrest of the suspect.

Sunday’s fire did not only partially destroy the University of Cape Town’s Jagger Library, but it also damaged the Mostert’s Mill, South Africa’s oldest surviving windmill which was built in the 18th century.

Hikers in the Table Mountain National Park have since been asked to leave while residents have been told to keep doors and windows closed. As of Monday morning, the fire has spread towards the direction of Vredehoek, where residents have been evacuated.

Table Mountain, which overlooks the whole of Cape Town and the surrounding area, is a protected conservation area. Home to 8,200 plant species, it is one of South Africa’s most iconic tourist attractions.

It is not that there are five linguistic renditions of South Africa’s national anthem even though there may as well be. But the legitimate anthem of the Rainbow Nation since 1997 is a five-language lyrical composition, making it the most unique anthem in the world in this regard.

The five different languages are Xhosa, Zulu, Sesotho, Afrikaans and English.

Having that much linguistic diversity can only be for the purpose of tapping into the strength of differences. And it would seem that is exactly what the 12-member committee that oversaw the foundation of the anthem took into cognizance. Indeed, this vision was stated in the document that founded the committee and was authorized by Nelson Mandela.

The native Black populations of South Africa are different and many. The country has 11 official languages and nine of them are originally African. These differences are also a fact that the apartheid government tried its possible best to help it realize a white-dominated and separate nation.

South Africa’s anthem is informally known by the Xhosa reference ‘Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika which translates as Lord Bless Africa. That name is taken from a hymn authored in 1897 by Enoch Sontonga, a Xhosa man who was a Methodist clergyman. However, that does not tell the whole story of the anthem.

The anthem is mainly a combination of two songs – ‘Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and Die Stem van Suid-Afrika – The Call of South Africa – the apartheid-era anthem composed in the 1930s. After 1994, both anthems were used by South Africa until 1997.

For a long time, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika stood as an anthem of defiance of white-minority rule and apartheid. It was adopted by the African National Congress (ANC) in 1912 and it has been associated with African nationalism in South Africa and southern Africa ever since. Apart from South Africa, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika was in various forms, the anthem of Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, with Tanzania still retaining a Swahili version.

When Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and Die Stem van Suid-Afrika were married, a few other verses in other languages were introduced leaving South Africans with the following:

Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika (Xhosa)
Maluphakanyisw’ uphondo lwayo (Xhosa)
Yizwa imithandazo yethu, (Zulu)
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho Iwayo. (Zulu)
Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso, (Sesotho)
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho, (Sesotho)
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso, (Sesotho)
Setjhaba sa, South Afrika, South Afrika. (Sesotho)

Uit die blou van onse hemel, (Afrikaans)
Uit die diepte van ons see, (Afrikaans)
Oor ons ewige gebergtes, (Afrikaans)
Waar die kranse antwoord gee, (Afrikaans)

Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom
In South Africa our land.

Black Twitter is sorely upset about a viral TikTok video in which a White woman is seen peeling off a Black prosthesis that made her resemble South Africa’s Nomcebo of ‘Jerusalema’ fame. Many social media users claim this is wrong on all levels.

The entire music show on a Bulgarian TV called Kato 2 Kapki Voda has people dressing up and transforming themselves into various artistes and then go on stage to perform their music. Now, this is an extreme form of any musical show that I have seen.

In their defense, the contestants do transform into Black artistes only. On their Instagram page, one can see the host of impersonations from Justin Timberlake, Dua Lipa to Britney Spears and Fran Sinatra.

Still, it is 2021 and the world is fighting to get back on its feet as it fights the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Why would anyone think a Blackface or an entire transformation into another race for ratings on a TV is right?

It is worrying that the producers of this TV show still thought it was okay to keep on filming such insensitive content for public consumption.

The list of impersonations goes on and on and the show’s producers have apologized on TikTok but Black Twitter is angered by it and the comments tell it all.

One Twitter user said, “like this is genuine entertainment for them? It is disgusting.”

Another said, “This is so disgusting, we already know you want to be us but to have to go to that extent shiish that’s some deep mental or insecurity issues right there. And for everyone else in the crowd dancing must be some serious idiots. In fact, this is hilarious.”

“This happens a lot throughout Europe sadly. I lived in Portugal and watched a lot of singing or entertainment shows where they would do this. Unfortunately, racism and things like the black face do not sit the same way it does in North America,” a Twitter user said.

Some were of the view that organizers should let people who already have that skin tone take on such performances. “Like why not just hire black performers instead of blowing money and putting the person/ production at risk for blackfacing in 2021,” a Twitter user wrote.

Blackface grew out of Minstrel shows starting in the 1830s, according to a brief on the subject on BET. The act involved White actors darkening their faces with shoe polish or greasepaint, painting exaggerated red lips with makeup, and acting out stereotypically dumb, foolish, or dangerous Black characters – that is the “happy darky on the plantation” or the “dandified coon”. The larger purpose of these shows was to entertain white slave owners, who were humored by acts mocking slaves and free Blacks during the 19th century.

From the small stage, blackface made its way to the big screen where some performers like Bert Williams, Al Jolson, and Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, who created “Amos N’ Andy” made it widely popular. These White men also performed in “dialect” or ‘African American English’.

Minstrelsy was at its height between 1830 and 1890. Even in the late 19th century when black artists were finally allowed to perform publicly, they had to wear blackface no matter their hue and had to reenact stereotypes of their time (some did find ways to subvert this).

Blackface only went out of vogue during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. But by then, it had already caught wind around the world, especially in many Asian and European countries where actors still put on the face to perform.

In the U.S., wearing blackface is almost sacrilege. It is met with great criticism because it hearkens to a painful past of slavery, segregation – Jim Crow, and discrimination for Black people. It reinforces stereotypes about Black people that are not true.

White college students in the U.S. are especially warned to not wear blackface on occasions like Halloween.

South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe is well known in the business world for his numerous businesses. What is not known to many is that he is a sports investor, particularly in football and rugby.

The billionaire is the bankroller and founder of South African football club Mamelodi Sundowns. Sundowns play in South Africa’s elite league and are onetime champions of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League. On the domestic front, they have won the South African Premiership a record 10 times.

Also, the billionaire is the joint major shareholder with a 37 percent stake in the Pretoria-based Bulls, currently the most successful rugby team in South Africa, according to reports.

Motsepe is now set to become the first South African to lead Africa’s football governing body, CAF. The billionaire started the race with three other candidates, including current CAF president Ahmad Ahmad.

Incumbent Ahmad is ineligible to seek a second term because he is serving a two-year FIFA ban over “governance issues” while all of Motsepe’s rivals have stepped down for him to be presented as the sole candidate at the next CAF Congress this Friday.

According to the AFP, the plan to have Motsepe run as the sole candidate was brokered by FIFA. He will have as his deputies Senegalese Augustin Senghor and Mauritanian Ahmed Yahya.

Motsepe, 59, was the first Black African to be listed on the Forbes list of billionaires. He is worth $3 billion on the 2021 Africa billionaire net worth, making him the ninth richest man on the continent. 

He is keen to build partnerships and sponsorship within the private sector to boost Caf. He outlined his ten-point manifesto in Johannesburg, South Africa, in late February, according to the BBC.

Below is his profile

Motsepe is South Africa‘s first Black industrialist and billionaire. He said he was inspired by his grandfather and father, who were both entrepreneurs as well as his mother, a businesswoman who ran the family business at the time.

In 2013, he also became the first African to sign Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s Giving Pledge, promising to give at least half his fortune to charity.

Motsepe is the founder of African Rainbow Minerals Ltd (ARM). The company mines iron ore, manganese ore and alloys, platinum group metals, copper, nickel and coal. ARM also has an investment in gold.

He has been acknowledged by Forbes as one of the “100 Greatest Living Business Minds” in the world. Motsepe, who is also a member of the Board of Directors at insurance company Sanlam, believes that a lot of hard work, sacrifices and persistence has gotten him where he is today.

Apart from being an international businessman, Motsepe is an expert in governance, law and compliance. He is also the founder and chair of Ubunto-Botho Investments. In a recent interview with CNN, the African billionaire stated that his first passion was entrepreneurship. “Growing up in a business environment in a family, standing behind conflicts at a young age, and I wanted to pursue my first passion which was entrepreneurship,” he said.

He said it took many years of looking at which opportunity to explore and he realized that his country did not have a history of small-scale mining. Then he decided to venture into small-scale mining.

Motsepe has a BA law degree (University of Swaziland), LLB (Wits University), Doctor of Commerce (honoris causa) (Wits University), Doctor of Commerce (honoris causa) (Stellenbosch University), Doctor of Management and Commerce (honoris causa) (Fort Hare) and Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) (University of Eswatini, formerly University of Swaziland).

He was a partner in one of the largest law firms in South Africa, Bowmans, and was also a visiting attorney in the USA with McGuireWoods.

Motsepe is a member of the International Business Council (IBC) of the World Economic Forum, which is made up of 100 of the most highly respected and influential chief executives from all industries. He is also a member of the Harvard Global Advisory Council and the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM). Motsepe is a recipient of numerous business and leadership awards and recognitions, including the Sunday Times Lifetime Achiever Award, 2017.

His love for sports led him to own the national soccer champions and in 2009, Motsepe acquired a 37% stake in the Blue Bulls Co., South Africa’s Top Rugby Team.

Through the Motsepe Foundation, founded in 1999, he is giving back to society. The foundation’s aim is to improve the quality of life for all, including the unemployed, women, youth workers and marginalized communities in South Africa; support projects that have the potential to assist beneficiaries to become self-reliant and building non-racialism in South Africa; promote respect for diversity and encourage all races and all people of different faiths and cultures to move forward.