Kameelahwrites - KameelahWritew (http://kameelahwrites.blogspot.com/2006/11/mandela-say-it-aint-so-are-yo...) comments on the tributes made by South African President, Thabo Mbeki and former president Nelson Mandela on the death of PW Botha, who she describes as the “defiant face of apartheid”. She writes:

“Mandela has been at the center of attention for quite some time as a greater leader and example of progressive nation building tactics, but when he goes on to lead the tribute to Botha, I began to get worried. There is forgiveness of folks who do wrong and apologize and then there is leading a tribute to a man who clung onto white-control, never apologized and never acknowledged his wrong. Then there is the forgiveness of a man, which is conflated with the forgiveness of apartheid - a problematic and hasty conclusion. There is forgiveness, then there is praising your colonizers, slave owner and the man who put his foot in your neck. Botha died without ever apologizing or ever acknowledging his wrong. Apparently, his wife Barbara believes that her husband had been ‘terribly misunderstood’ and that South Africans would come to realize what they had lost.”

My response is this sounds more like appeasement and an insult to all those who suffered and died under the rule of Botha but then when did our leaders ever care about the opinions of the people they are elected to serve?

For more comments on PW Botha see South Africa (http://www.southafrica.to/history/Apartheid/PW_Botha/PW_Botha.htm)

Zimbabwean blogger, Dumisani's Blog - Dumisani's Blog (http://dumisani.tigblog.org/post/60139) is frustrated over the reports in the mainstream US media on the death of PW Botha. It seems revisionism is at work on all fronts from the South African leadership to the US media. Expect the same when Ariel Sharon finally gives up the ghost, but as Dumisani comments lets see how they cover the death of Robert Mugabe?

"So PW Botha, one of the worst leaders of an African country EVER died last night. It's interesting how the NY Times gives this extra long obituary, but doesn't even paint him in the negative light that he deserves. The whole thing tastes like a cucumber. Plain and bland. This guy, who was responsible for one of Africa's most brutal regimes EVER gets this, as an obituary? He is not even referred to as a racist in this article. Not once. In fact, the WORD ‘racist’ comes up once to refer to ‘racist policies’. When people like Idi Amin died, I bet their obituaries didn't read this rosy. When other African 'dictators' died, there are articles of good riddance to bad rubbish. This guy was a dictator. Let's call a spade a spade. He was a horrible, cold, mean, racist, unrepentant brutal dictator who led one of Africa's worst governments ever.”

Chippla’s Weblog - Chippla's Weblog (http://chippla.blogspot.com/2006/11/china-africa-summit.html) reports on the China-Africa summit held in Beijing and attended by most African leaders in what Chippla’s describes as “probably the largest gathering of African leaders outside the UN”. (I would hope more would attend AU summits?)

“China's interest in Africa is, without a doubt, greatly linked to the latter's huge pool of natural resources, much of which remain untapped. And with rapid development and modernization occurring across China, there is an increasing need for raw materials to continue fuelling such development. African leaders in a position of strength (those who govern nations rich in resources of interest to China) must negotiate sensibly. The need to gradually curtail the export of raw materials and focus on the processing or conversion of such materials before export has become all too obvious. Non knowledge-based societies would simply be unable to compete favourably in today's fast-changing world.”

The summit is evidence that China’s move into Africa is to be an all pervasive one that will include all aspects of commerce and industry and one also has to wonder how much influence the Chinese will have on respecting national governments and issues of human rights.

Timbuktu Chronicles - Timbuktu Chronicles (http://timbuktuchronicles.blogspot.com/2006/11/urban-agriculture.html) reports on the advantages of “urban agriculture” as a way of alleviating household expenses, of obtaining small extra income from sale or bartering of foodstuffs and recycling waste in the form of fertilizers.

“The practice is thus component of any strategy for poverty alleviation. Urban agriculture can also benefit the urban environment in profound ways. Large cities produce vast amounts of wastewater and organic waste, whose disposal is often a problem. By using waste as a productive resource, however, urban agriculture can help reduce the pressure on municipal waste disposal systems. Further, these natural fertilizers reduce the need for chemical additives, which in turn prevents groundwater contamination. Moreover, while agribusiness uses ten to 15 calories of petroleum energy to deliver one calorie of food energy, urban agriculture uses between one and three calories to do the same…”

The practice of urban agriculture has been part of Zimbabwean urban life for many years and has recently been introduced and encouraged in South Africa. I am sure other African countries are also involved in this practice. However with government support such as through publicising the advantages and providing seedlings, the practice could become far more widespread, particularly amongst the very poor who would benefit in terms of cost and diet.

The Voice of Somaliland Diaspora - The Voice of Somaliland Diaspora-Ottawa (http://waridaad.blogspot.com/2006/11/obstacles-on-way-to-international.html) publishes an interview with “New School New York” and Dustin Dehez on the “Obstacles On the Way to International Recognition for Somaliland”. Dehez asks what is the most important point from the perspective of the international community?

“I see two major concerns: firstly international recognition could be quoted as a precedent for state secession by other independence-movements throughout the continent. Secondly, but with less impact: Recognition could spark violence between the South and Somaliland and thus creating regional instability.

Talking to Western foreign policy makers there is one clear question nearly every diplomat puts forward: Who would have an interest in recognition? Clearly most of them do not think that recognition is a necessity for the country’s development in the first place. Secondly, the benefit/impact that recognition would have: a strong signal to Muslim states in the Middle East that democratic transition would be appreciated by the West – is not yet in all minds.

Furthermore the reluctance to recognise Somaliland in order to avoid a precedent might change within the next five years, when the Sudanese in Southern Sudan will vote on their independence. If they vote in support of independence international politicians might recognise Somaliland in what they see as a shortly open window for change in the Horn of Africa.”

Miss Mabrouk of Egypt - Ms Mabrouk of Egypt (http://missmabrouk.blogspot.com/2006/11/low-iq-and-curse-of-africa.html) comments on a report by the London School of Economics which said that “African states were poor and suffered chronic ill-health because their populations were less intelligent than people in richer countries.” Once again there is a return to the whole issue of IQ and race. Ms Mabrouk asks two questions which relate to poverty and diet. It is these that need to be addressed rather than questioning intelligence based on race and as she says can you really measure intelligence and what does it matter anyway – to who does it matter?

1)What effect does poverty have on intelligence over generations? In richer countries, researchers are now pointing to how low nutrition diets and in particular bad fats are directly affecting how brain cells are connecting to each other. Good food = many connections = fast working brain. Bad food = few connections = slow thinking.

2) Does IQ really matter? In other words, is it an adequate method for measuring intelligence?

Black Looks - Black Looks (http://www.blacklooks.org/2006/10/access_to_arvs.html) comments that having access to Anti Retrovirals (ARVs) in South Africa by all sections of the community does not in itself mean that Black women will receive equal health care even if they have private medical care. She reports on a specific case which provides an excellent example of racism that exists in the provision and treatment of HIV/AIDS patients.

“However Neidhardt points to one aspect of the discussion around HIV/AIDS that is absent. How race is played out in South African society and how this influences the fight against HIV/AIDS…how white supremacy still impacts the struggle against HIV/AIDS, how it orders relationships between people, countries and institutions. It is as if we are violating some unwritten code of conduct, especially in this country if we want to speak aloud that racist thinking is still entrenched in the psyche of all South Africans. Perhaps we think we are disrespecting the new democracy if we speak the reality that racism still does dictate for us who is and who is not worthy of the basic human and economic rights, care and dignity that are outlined so eloquently in the 1996 Constitution.”

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks,

* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org