From Uganda Corespondent Arinaitwe Rugyendo…

I spent the last three days of the passing week in Rwanda at the invitation of the Office of the President of Rwanda, H.E Paul Kagame.

The purpose of the invitation was that the president wanted me to see for myself how Rwandans run their affairs and report objectively.

The Red Pepper has had very serious technical and moral issues with Rwanda for the last ten years. It is the only newspaper in the region that faces a ten year old ban on the streets of Kigali and other towns. The ban still stands to this date. Only about five copies are allowed in Rwanda and sent directly to the President’s office and other functionary bodies for ‘monitoring.’  Our paper was banned on account of what the Rwandan establishment felt is around 2001 was our negative editorial policy towards them. The thinking has since then been that we never take time to take stock of what Rwanda has achieved alongside our ‘negativity.’ In fact, everywhere I visited, I met people who were both uncomfortable but elated by my presence. But this is for another day.

Back to Umushyikirano. During a press conference that President Kagame addressed at the Commonwealth Resort- Munyonyo on Monday last week, he asked me to attend what has since become Rwanda’s most popular and annual participatory conversation about its targets and progress. This conversation is called ‘Umushyikirano’ a kind of national dialogue involving representatives from every nook and corner of Rwanda. It takes place every year at the country’s parliamentary buildings. The one I was invited to was dubbed ‘The 9^th National Dialogue’ which drew together leaders from the presidency to the lower levels-the equivalent of Uganda’s LC3. The other participants were drawn from the diplomatic corps, the private sector, civil society, the media and Rwandans in the Diaspora. The two-day dialogue was a cocktail of frank discussion about Rwanda’s progress but most importantly, leaders at all levels were put to task to explain what they have done throughout the year and account to the population on the extent they delivered on their target. If for instance a Roads and Works Minister promised at the previous dialogue that he would build road x, this is the time he must come before the population and explain his progress. The two day event that is held every end of year is streamed live on the internet, on social media platforms such as twitter and facebook, SMS and a toll free line. It is also featured live on National TV.

So, what do I find this dialogue uniquely special? I discovered that this dialogue is a very unique ‘parliament’ in which Rwandan leaders debate their targets and performances with their subjects. It is that time of the year when the concept of parliamentary democracy is shifted beyond mere representation to direct accountability to the population. Thus, peasants and the elite debate freely in an open atmosphere anchored by their president.

The dialogue struck me further from a Pan Africanist point of view. It seems to be modeled on the African traditions of open democratic participation in which the community and its elders met to discuss how to progress their village and also hold their leaders to account. In Buganda, this is what was referred to as ‘Ekimeeza.’ In Nkore, it was known as ‘Eishaazi.’ In Swahili, I think it was known as ‘Baraza.’ This is the truest African Parliament. The western mode of parliamentary democracy is not representative at all. Once a Member of Parliament is elected, the people bequeath their interests and rights to him or her and that’s where it stops. It is very difficult to hold them to account till the next election. But the philosophy behind ‘Umushyikirano,’ ‘Ekimeeza,’ ‘Eishaazi,’ and ‘Baraza’ is a truly popular and participatory democracy.

That is why at this time of the year, Rwandan ministers, mayors and local leaders go into panic mode, trying every bit of their energy to prove they have delivered and they have something to show to the public when the dialogue kicks off. If you have nothing to show, the population exposes you there and then, leaving you at the mercy of the appointing authority.

This is what used to happen in Traditional Africa and probably, African countries need to blend this tradition with modernity to forge the best form of democracy that fits our situation as a unique continent that has unique problems which require unique solutions. Rwanda seems to have mustered this already. Their leaders have embraced technology and deliver their reports by IT means to the population who in turn question them in an open and frank manner. Representatives to parliament once elected, become national representatives. Thus, when Minister X is negotiating a budget allocation, they don’t think about their constituencies first. It is embedded within their political and service delivery psyche that ‘nation’ comes first before ‘constituency.’ As such, it was established at this dialogue that 98% of the resolutions made at the previous dialogue had been achieved. This is because in traditional Africa, work was communal. Service delivery was communal. It was never for family, tribe or religion. Because the community in Rwanda participates in service delivery and holding leaders to account, they had to register this figure on last year’s targets.

During the cocktail in the evening, I asked President Kagame about this. He said: “I think the Western brand of democracy is not only bad for Africa. It is bad for the West. It gives a sense of representation where it doesn’t exist. In it, you find that the elite have captured all platforms of democracy which they use to control the minds if the people. The African brand of democracy is an improvement of the western one. It brings the two (leaders and subjects) in one open forum such as ours,” he says.

And I agree. Because unlike the West, the African conversation is inherently an open forum. Democracy is about openness. It is for this reason that African states such as Rwanda are busy modeling their political platforms based on African values. Africa needs to start from where it belongs- remodeling its beautiful systems of democratic participation.

In Rwanda, they have stuff like ‘Gacaca’ a traditional restorative justice that has achieved what the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha has failed to do in 17 years- RECONCILIATION. The people of Acholi in Uganda have popularized ‘Mato Put’ which looks like ‘Gacaca.’ In Rwanda, a communal entrepreneurial scheme known as ‘Obudehe,’ is about how people in the village come together to craft communal ways of generating income. They also have modernized a communal cleaning system known as ‘Omuganda,’ which has placed Kigali in the top clean cities in the world. We will return to this in the coming weeks!!

From Tanzania Corespondent Lute Wa Lutengano…

I was sipping my lager at this joint in downtown Nairobi. It is a famous joint, formerly Kengeles, but has since been taken over by new management. The joint is such that you can easily watch those strolling along Koinange street from the bar counter. This is in view of the fact that the shutters separating the two are pulled up when the joint is opened.

I was attracted to the many people from literally all walks of life that were passing by when out of the blue in walked my two young brothers, Nicodemus Ikonko and Sukdev Chatbar – the two Arusha-based ‘paparazzi’. It was a very pleasant surprise.

I was later to learn that each had come separately from Arusha and found themselves together in Nairobi. We set together ordered some more drinks and bites as we sampled the Nairobi life.

Talk soon veered to the vibrant politics of Kenya. The widening rift between Raila Odinga and his former colleague William Ruto in the ODM party, and the Kenyan MPs outcry over recently announced taxation of their hefty pay.

It was as if there would soon be fresh war in that country. But then Kenyans are smart, in the midst of all these bickering they make sure their country’s economy is not derailed.

We noted the elaborate road flyovers which are fast being laid down in downtown Nairobi, the vibrant press, the many new investments coming up in the travel trade industry and the new real estate developments taking place alongside all major highways off Nairobi.

There is no doubt for example that in just a few years from now we will see new urban structures all the way from Nairobi to Namanga, on the border with Tanzania.

This is in deep contrast with the land after Namanga into Tanzania. On this part there is stagnation. Nothing major is happening.

But by contrast, on the Tanzania side, bars and other drinking joints open soon after people wake up at 7:00 am or 8:00 am. These joints are teeming with drinkers as early as 10:00 am.

On the Kenyan side however, no public drinking is permitted until 5:00 pm. And this can last until 11:00 pm. only. On the Tanzanian side normally the boozing spree will last until the last customer crawls out.

From Tanzania Corespondent Lute Wa Lutengano…

The other day I received a long distance call. It was from New York. Now who would be calling me from that land of Obama at this odd hour of the night? It was 3:00 a.m. Then it occurred to me that at that hour it was early evening the previous day in that city of cities.

The culprit who called me was a good schoolmate and friend of mine who now calls himself a Foreign Service Officer. This is a profession of people who, as part of their duties, basically put on their best suits every day and engage in small talk every evening on what are called diplomatic cocktail circuits. If you want to know what they talk about go to Wikileaks.

My colleague informed me that he was going to be in that apple city for the coming three months. Reason: Unga. That is the short form for the most powerful gathering of all mankind every year, the United Nations General Assembly, where heads of states and governments from all over the world troop there to vent off their obtuse views of our global world in the name of their peoples.

My friend, who for reasons of potential Wikileaks leaks I will not reveal, asked me what I wanted from his well paid sojourn to this city of lights. Drowsily, in my sleep, I muttered; “Just come back with a bloody red silk tie for me.” I had no reason for this specific request. For among other apparel, I do have more than 100 ties, and perhaps more than ten of them are very red.

But then, I think I do look forward to this very red tie from my friend. It will be my ultimate Christmas present.

I do recall many years ago, in my previous undertakings, I used to belong to this exclusive and famous Unga delegation. Then in Tanzania, there was literally nothing worth buying. Actually the shops were all very empty.

No wonder the delegations which saw me off at the Dar es Salaam airport were to say the least mammoth in size. All relatives; uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers and sisters as well as in-laws, would cut short their early morning sleep to escort me to the airport. Paramount in their minds was the basically clothing and footwear gifts I would come back with. No wonder each one of the 50 plus members of the escort group would surreptitiously hand me a chit of paper on which was scribbled one’s name and sizes of clothing and footwear.

It goes without saying that once in New York, in order to accommodate this massive purchase order, I had to necessarily find the cheapest accommodation available which was also near the UN headquarters. Now that was almost an impossible mission. I remember on one occasion, it was winter time, I had to do with a still-under-repair room on the 20th floor of a hotel located between the 1st and 2nd Avenue on 49th Street. I almost froze to death. Among other problems, the room heater was still under repair. But it was costing me a mere US$ 20. This was in contrast to the other room in the hotel whose rates ranged between US$ 150 to US$ 2000.

The room was so uninviting that I had to spend many hours inside the across the street pub. It was in here that I first experienced the American approach to alcohol. On my maiden visit I ordered the fist beer: Drank it. The second; Drank it. The third; Drank it. The fourth….and the Barman approached me wondering whether I had some problem which I wanted to share with him. No! I protested vehemently. I was just having a good time, I told him.

On my sixth beer, the Barman remonstrated that he would no longer serve me as I seemed to be on a mission of suicide. He did not want to go down with me. He was by law the guardian angel of all patrons in that pub. If they drank and committed any offence including dying he would be legally responsible. It was only after he learnt that I was from Africa, and Tanzania in particular, that he relented that I could go on drinking. “You should have told me earlier about your origins,” he complained as I drained my eighth beer bottle perplexed as to whether I should be proud or ashamed of this reputation.

Flying home some weeks later, I was forced to pay a total of US$ 879 for my excess luggage. I should have told them of my origins.

From Ugandan Corespondent Arinaitwe Rugyendo…

Why is the African Union silent on the pro-democracy demonstrators in London who are being referred to as hoodlums? The AU should call on the United Kingdom to respect the rights of the British people to exercise their right to demonstrate and freely express themselves. Those arrested should be subject to a just and due process of the law. The Met Police should stop using teargas and rubber bullets and or violently stopping the peaceful demonstrators. The UK is quick to preach democracy to African nations. It is now their turn to preach to the west some tenets of democracy and respect for human rights.

And On this one, I want to quote  the news agencies-verbatim on the reactions from across the globe.

The riots in London have sparked shock around the world, with some countries issuing travel advisories for Britain and China blaming the UK’s “human rights violations”. Here is a round up of international reaction:

Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe: “Britain I understand is on fire, London especially and we hope they can extinguish their fire, pay attention to their internal problems and to that fire which is now blazing all over, and leave us alone

China

Riot-swept Britain is tasting the “bitter fruit” of its failure to introduce Chinese-style controls on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, Chinese state media crowed on Tuesday, while raising questions over whether London could be trusted to stage a safe 2012 Olympic Games.

“The West have been talking about supporting internet freedom, and oppose other countries’ government to control this kind of websites, now we can say they are tasting the bitter fruit [of their complacency] and they can’t complain about it,” wrote one commentator in official Communist Party mouthpiece, People’s Daily.

Iran

The conservative Resalat newspaper, in a commentary headlined “unrest spreads from Tottenham to Brixton”, called the protests the “worst possible news for David Cameron’s coalition government” and blamed “human rights abuses”.

“The violence and continued chaos in the UK are the result of factors like human rights violations in the country, prejudice against immigrants and coloured people, incidents like the Murdoch scandals and the country’s critical economic conditions,” the newspaper concluded.

The hardline Iranian newspaper claimed that the violence was carried out by students who were forced to drop out of university because of the rise in university tuition fees.

Germany

Germany issued a travel advisory for Britain, posting on the foreign ministry’s website: “Travelers are advised to be especially careful and to pull out at the first signs of riots, and follow instructions of security forces.”

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s president Robert Mugabe: “Britain I understand is on fire, London especially and we hope they can extinguish their fire, pay attention to their internal problems and to that fire which is now blazing all over, and leave us alone.

“We do not have any fire here and we do not want them to continue to create unnecessary problems in our country. We want peace, and the people of Zimbabwe want peace.”

United States

The (obviously measured)US reacted with shock to Monday’s late-night scenes in London, which due to the time difference took place just in time for prime time television and early evening news bulletins. On Tuesday, the country’s biggest newspapers carried prominent coverage of the riots for a third consecutive day.

In a front-page story headlined “London unrest escalates, spreads”, the Washington Post wrote: “In the worst bout of urban violence to hit Britain in more than two decades, parts of London morphed into lawless no man’s lands. Most of a block in the Croydon neighbourhood erupted Monday night into an inferno that incinerated the 140-year-old Reeves furniture store, a south London landmark. After midnight Tuesday, an even larger fire tore through a Sony distribution centre on the other side of the city, in Enfield.

On its own front page, under the headline “Rioting widens in London on 3rd night of unrest”, The New York Times told its readers: “For Mr Cameron’s government – indeed for Britain – the rapidly worsening situation presented a profound challenge on several fronts. For a society already under severe economic strain, the rioting raised new questions about the political sustainability of the Cameron government’s spending cuts, particularly the deep cutbacks in social programs. These have hit the country’s poor especially hard, including large numbers of the minority youths who have been at the forefront of the unrest.”

Australia

Julia Gillard, the Australian prime minister: “I, like many other Australians, have been very, very disturbed to see the images coming out of London,” she said.

“There’s no excuse for the kind of violence we’re seeing on our TV screens.”

Spain

The troubles in London make the frontages of many of Spain’s national newspapers again on Tuesday. El Pais shows a photo taken in Hackney of riot police facing rioters as cars burn with the headline “The battle for London”. It states that “no part of London is safe from the violence” sparked by killing of Mark Duggen by police and recalls other cases such as Jean Charles de Menezes and Ian Tomlinson. In an editorial the newspaper said the coalition government had been “slow to react to the social and racial violence” spreading across London and that David Cameron’s credibility has faced a setback because of it.

Portugal

In Portugal the London riots are also front page news. Jornal de Noticias carries a scene of riot police and burning vehicles in Hackney with the headline: “Violence spreads in London”.

Afghanistan

A report on Afghan state TV said: “Massive demonstrations in London, the capital of Britain, and spread to three other cities. The biggest demonstrations were last night and the police have arrested more than 200 people. Thirty five police have been injured. It began when a young man was killed by the police. People have started burning cars and buildings and stealing from supermarkets. David Cameron has returned to London halfway through his summer holiday to solve this problem.”

Pakistan

The riots in London yesterday knocked violence in Karachi, where seven people were killed overnight, from the top slot on television bulletins in Pakistan, where suicide bombings, gang violence and political turfwars are a mainstay of the 24-hour news channels.

An editorial in the Express Tribune newspaper wondered how a killing could erupt into riots, when previous examples of police brutality have not. “The answer may be found in the austerity measures taken by the Cameron government,” it said.

Russia

In Russia, which has close business, financial and educational ties to London, the riots are rapidly moving up the news agenda. Most Russian commentators chose to see the trouble through the prism of what they said was Britain’s failed immigration policy. The state-owned Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper published a picture on its front page of a policeman walking past two burned out cars with the headline “Gangs have surrounded London”. It said that the worst affected areas were home to immigrants from the poorest countries in Africa and the Caribbean. The trouble was a repeat of rioting in Paris in 2006 and 2007, it added.

Tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda ran a comment piece from Sergei Markov, a prominent Russian MP from Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia Party. Mr Markov suggested that the riots were emblematic of Britain’s failed immigration policy. He wrote: “As well as maximum police strength, Britain needs consolidated political will. The authorities need to say clearly: if you want to live in England – get a job and become English. Otherwise go away.

South Africa

The South African owner of a looted London restaurant yesterday described Britain’s capital as a war zone.

In an interview with the country’s City Press newspaper Odile Ham told how hooded thugs raided her Wimpy franchise during riots in Clapham on Monday night.

“It’s like a war,” she told the newspaper, adding: “When we drove to the restaurant to see what is going on we were faced people on the rampage in the street.”

Headlines in other newspapers and websites were also heavily dominated by Britain’s crisis. A report on Johannesburg’s 702 radio station described the Metropolitan police as ‘powerless’ to halt the civil disobedience. “Shock and disbelief are the order of the day in the capital, with rising anger about what has happened in the city since Saturday,” the station reported.

Zambia

Zambia’s Post newspaper featured a report about the latest disorder illustrated by an image of a blazing London shop and headlined ‘PM to hold crisis talks on riots, clean up starts’.

Mauritius

Even newspapers on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius reported extensively on the riots. The country’s French-language Le Mauritian newspaper ran a striking image of a Metropolitan riot squad officer standing helpless by a burning car.

Reporting on how the unrest had spread outside the capital, its headline read: ‘Great Britain: After London, violence spreads to Liverpool and Birmingham’.

Abu Dhabi

The National in Abu Dhabi reports that British politicians have condemned the riots in London, but notes that they are not as violent as recent protests in Athens.

Dubai

Dubai’s Gulf News carries a brief comment piece which condemns the violence in London but concludes that it is the fault of the British authorities for marginalizing immigrant communities and calls for improved economic development and social integration policies in poorer areas.

Israel

Most Israeli newspapers do not cover the protests -of course they wouldn’t-(emphasis mine), but the Hebrew-language Maariv carries a story on its front page headlined “London in Flames” and notes that 450 people have been arrested.

Libya

Libyan state-run Al-Jamahiriyah TV showed a programme called “Homeland’s Desire”. The presenter, Yusuf Shakir, midway into the programme, began to address the British people in English, urging them to “defeat this British regime” which “killed their brothers”.

He said the Libyan people and their leader supported “black power in America and Britain” and always defended blacks who “suffered racial discrimination” in the UK.

He said blacks and the poor took to the streets in London to demonstrate against the British “fascist” government. He added that Libyans would hold demonstrations holding up pictures of Mark Duggan, the man shot by police in Tottenham. Source: BBC Monitoring

Social networking in Middle East

The London riots were followed in great detail by many Arab users of Twitter, the social network that played a very important role in the Arab Spring.

Many note the difference between the dignified and largely peaceful protesters who protected banks and shops from looters during the uprisings in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and elsewhere, contrasting them with the behaviour of those on the rampage in London.

“Protesters in these countries actually protected property of others & prevented looting despite huge numbers,” wrote one Twitter user going by the name of LibyaNewMedia.

Hisham Almiraat, a Moroccan doctor, had a different take, writing: “London rioters despicable, if only because they are stealing media attention away from where it really matters

My Postscript:

The silent African Union should denounce the violence in Britain and call on authorities to respect the rights of PEACEFUL demonstrators!

From African Corespondent Hassan Isilow…

INVESTIGATIVE FEATURE: In South Africa, the word sangoma refers to a person who practices herbal medicine or has supernatural healing powers. This week Africa witness went undercover to investigate the activities of a growing number of foreign sangoma’s (traditional healers) that operate within Cape Town and its environs.

Under Cover

It is 9:30am on Wednesday morning and I’m sitting in a queue with four other clients waiting for the services of a sangoma in a well furnished office in Loop Street, Cape Town. Just like any other organised business, the traditional healer has a receptionist sitting at the front desk with a computer. She asks for R70 which she says is consultation fees for seeing the “doctor”. Being on a special assignment, I oblige and pay the money. A fellow “patient” waiting with me in the queue is an elderly Muslim woman who tells me her youngest son has “bad luck” and cannot stay on a job for long. So she wants the sangoma to give him herbs for good luck .I silently wonder if this is possible.
At exactly 10am, I’m led into the traditional healer’s office by the young female receptionist. It is a very dark and smelly room. I cannot see anything, but hear voices of so-called “ancestors”. The sangoma who calls himself “Dr” Mutalemwa Yusuf, asks me to tell him my problems.
I lie to him, saying that I cannot find a bride and I urgently need one. The healer then tells me to make sacrifice by buying two goats, a white African hen and food stuffs to appease my ancestors, who he claims are unhappy with me. In a twist of events, he also tells me that a close family friend has bewitched me and I will need to pay R12, 000 ($2,000) to be cleansed by the sangoma.

All Lies

As I leave the sangoma’s shrine, I meet an old varsity friend from East Africa who asks me what I was doing there. He tells me he was also a sangoma when he first arrived in South Africa, before getting a formal job. My friend said since most “blacks” and a few of the other races believe in superstition and the powers of the ancestors, it created the perfect opportunity for unemployed foreigners and a few local con artists to take advantage.
He said since sangomas are considered to be holy men and women who can bring good luck to their communities and chase away evil spirits (tokoloshes), they hold a certain power in the community. These powers are never questioned, which has made most unemployed or unskilled foreign nationals join the lucrative alternative healing market, promising the highly superstitious “black” and a few others South African races “heaven on earth”.
Interestingly enough, he added, a high number of these “fake” foreign sangomas are from East Africa and they claim to cure all sorts of illnesses that even the most powerful local sangomas dare not treat.

Spill the beans

The former sangoma told me that he had never had any training to become a traditional healer, but when he arrived in South Africa, he couldn’t readily find employment. So he went to visit a friend from his home country who told him about the secret of being a “fake” sangoma. “Just like other sangomas, I claimed to make the poor rich in two days, bring back lost lovers and make men’s private parts bigger and more virile. But after lying to my clients for a long time, I decided to quit the practice, pursue my masters degree and here I’m now,” he related, chatting to me in a restaurant in Loop Street, Cape Town.
The former sangama said he left the “fake” trade because his conscience began to bother him after repeatedly cheating poor people who came to him daily with their problems. “At times I used to cry at night, after telling several lies to people who came to my shrine with various depressing problems. I kept running from city to city in this country, as I was being hunted by some people whom I had promised would see change in their lives. But it never happened,” he said with regret.
I’ve also learnt that most foreign Sangomas promise to protect businesses from thieves, win court cases and the Lotto among others. Because of these claims, the foreign sangomas are considered to be the hottest healers in the witch craft business. “It would have been better if these people could deliver their promises,” a 35 year old South African school teacher who went to a foreign sangoma seeking the return of his lost lover, told me.
Identifying himself only as Rasheed, he confided that he had paid R14, 000($2200) to a sangoma from East Africa who then quietly disappeared. “I lost both my lover and my money to that devil. I promise, I will believe only in God from today onwards,” the wounded man pledged.

Quacks

However, a 65-year-old Ugandan national who operates as a sangoma in Wynberg near Cape Town, disputed the allegations that all foreign sangomas are “fake” and cheats. “Those fake doctors are the young boys who came here recently. Since they did not find jobs, they began to imitate what we do.” The elderly Ugandan sangoma who operates his business in a well-furnished office in Wynberg said he was a genuine traditional healer, bragging that he is even well known among Ugandan communities.
“I have treated all sorts of people – politicians seeking to win elections, scholars, love seekers and the like. They have all become what they are today because of my powers,” he boasted, spreading his arms in a sign of confidence used mostly by healers in East and West Africa. He recalled that when he arrived in Cape Town in 1997, there were only a few foreign traditional healers. That created the space for them to corner the market in their “profession”.
Whenever they returned to Uganda, their neighbors and family members insisted on coming with them to South Africa, which led to an influx of Ugandan healers in South Africa. “On average, I get 10 clients a day and each pays R70 for consultation, besides the fees I charge them for the medicine,” he said.

Why Muslim Names?

Shockingly most of these foreign traditional healers are using Muslim names, even when they are non-Muslims. Out of 10 muti shops I visited today, eight had Muslim names. I picked up nearly 20 different pamphlets advertising the sangomas expertise and in three quarter of them, the healer had a Muslim name.
The foreign sangomas believe when you use a Muslim name in your “practice” you will attract many clients, especially in Cape Town where there is a high Muslim population. These sangomas target Muslim suburbs such as Wynberg, Athlone and Gatesville among others.
According to the chairperson of the South African Traditional Healers Organisation, Phepsile Maseko, bogus practitioners are bringing the healing sector into disrepute. “The practice of traditional healing is genuine, but when bogus people join the uncontrolled business it becomes difficult to distinguish between the real healer and the fake ones,” she said.
Police in Pretoria recently, arrested seven Ugandan herbalists who had been operating in the city for reportedly defrauding their clients. The latest arrest came after a Ugandan herbalist allegedly took R15, 000($2300) from a customer, claiming that his ancestors would turn it into R100 million. When the victim returned to collect his promised millions, the Ugandan herbalist become aggressive and promised to bewitch his victim if he insisted on demanding the money.

According to Gauteng Provisional police spokesperson, Eugene Opperman, they have arrested around five bogus herbalists believed to be Ugandans across the city in just four months. Authorities said these conmen claimed to have the power to make people rich or even cure illnesses, such as HIV/Aids. They often advertise in pamphlets and newspapers so as to woo the gullible.
It is understood that after meeting their victims and promising to make them rich, these conmen would take the money and disappear. In January 2008, 20 Ugandan healers were arrested in Johannesburg for carrying out illegal abortions.

Orania President Carel Boshoff, (left) Meets African National Congress youth league President; Julius Malema (center), and Deputy chair Francois Slabbert

From African Corespondent Hassan Isilow…

CAPETOWN, When South Africa held its first democratic elections in 1994 ending the cruel era of Apartheid, the world thought racism had come to an end.  But shockingly 16 years after the end of apartheid, racism has remained alive in the rainbow nation.

The country’s three main racial groupings; Black, White and the coloreds are still holding to their racial prejudice.  For instance, in the Northern Cape, there is a small Town called Orania that’s occupied entirely by whites only.

“We are not re-creating apartheid in South Africa by having our own Town, but we are simply seeking to protect the Afrikaner Values” Carel Boshoff IV, leader of the Orania community and grandson to the late Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd (popularly known as the architect of Apartheid) told Africa witness in a telephone interview.

The small whites only Town, was built in the 1990’s towards the end of Apartheid and is located on the banks of the Orange River surrounded by extended areas of the Karoo. Orania is a small speck on the map in the desert like Karoo region, situated on the dusty banks of the Orange River in Northern Cape Province.

“This is intolerable. How can whites only have a Town in a multi-ethnic country like South Africa which is still recovering from Apartheid? This is a silent form of Apartheid” Mike Wadula an angry resident of Cape Town told Africa witness.

He said Government should intervene and stop the segregation in Orania. But Carel Boshoff IV, Orania’s boss said they are not racists.” “We don’t practice any form of racism in Orania, we are just protecting our Afrikaner culture which is under threat” Carel who is the son to the Town’s Founder told Africa witness.

He said non-whites can visit but will have to stay in the Town’s guesthouse, adding anybody wishing to move into Orania has to first be approved by the managing body.   In Orania, poor whites are employed to do menial jobs formerly meant for blacks during the Apartheid era.

Whites only graveyard

Orania is not the only racist Town in South Africa. In the Western Cape, there is another small Town called Swellendam which still maintains some Apartheid policies. In Swellendam whites have their own cemetery and non-whites are not allowed to be buried there. However, in June 2010, history was re-written when a seven year old daughter of a peasant farm worker was forcefully buried in the white’s only cemetery causing uproar among the conservative white community.

“This Town is so racist. A lot still needs to be done for People to change their ideology of hatred” Ali Kaka told Africa witness.

He revealed that the fight between races in the small Swellendam Town is far from over. “ it’s a pity that whites in this Town still consider themselves as superior compared to others” the Asian trader told Africa witness.

Racism at Universities

Racial discrimination remains widespread at most South African universities, despite many policies aimed at redressing the bitter legacy of Apartheid. In 2008 four students at the University of Free State made a racist video that created an international uproar. While during the same year in April, it was reported that black students at the University of Johannesburg had allegedly been assaulted by their white counterparts while at a university bar.

Xolani Mkhwemnte chairperson of the South African Students’ Congress told the Johannesburg based Star newspaper that black students at the university’s Kingsway campus had been beaten by white students in a bar at a hall of residence. He said the harassment of black students walking home at night and the verbal and physical abuse of senior black student members had become common.

While in Cape Town, Mohammed Bulhan, a second year student of information technology at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology cries foul. “Students in my class are divided along racial lines; whites sit alone, blacks alone and coloreds. I’m a foreign student, so I’m left in a dilemma on which group to choose” he told Africa witness

Bulhan also claims some students don’t want him to join their academic discussion groups because of his race. “I’m bright in class but I was shocked when I joined a certain discussion group and racist students told me to delete my name from their discussion group” the demoralized foreign student recalls.

On the other hand, White students are also affected by racism, In January 2007, Ernst Roets spokesperson of the organization Solidarity Youth ,was quoted by the South African Press Association (sapa) saying   “White students were being overlooked in favor of poorly achieving black students in the awarding of bursaries”

Ernst said Universities were also discriminating against white students, denying them entry although they did better than their black counterparts.

“We have proof of instances in which white students with excellent results were refused entry in favor of black students with greatly inferior marks,” he told the South African Press Association (Sapa)

He named the University of Pretoria as one of the universities discriminating against white students.

An official at the South African institute of race relations, which is the leading independent research and policy organization in South Africa, told Africa witness, that racial discrimination will take some time before it completely fades out, since it started in 1652 with the arrival of the Dutch settlers.

“Racism is a reality in this country and it will take a pretty long time to finally end since it started in 1652” he said.

Additional information obtained from SAPA

From Tanzania Corespondent Lute Wa Lutengano…

My friend Dr. Lemwel Makando was busy doing the rounds in his hospital, the St Thomas in down town Arusha when suddenly he heard unusual sounds of shots and explosions in the street below. He peaked through the window and God forbid, what he saw was a typical war zone scene.

There was total chaos as well armed policemen were shooting and tear gassing multitudes of Arushans on that street who in return were shouting and throwing all types of missiles. And then there were live bullets ricocheting around the streets as tear drenching smoke billowed from the alleys. This was no doubt becoming the saddest day for Arusha.

In no time his hospital was in utter chaos. Some patients jumped from their beds with their drips hanging from their bodies and rushed down and out running in all directions. One man whose wife was about to give birth under Dr Makando’s watch shouted ‘I want my wife! I want my wife!’ Dr Makando was perplexed asking him it was not possible for she was sedated and just about
to give birth. The man insisted on carrying his wife as where she was.

Luckily he did not have enough strength to lift the very pregnant spouse.

It was then that Dr. Makando noticed the neighbouring six storey glass-walled shopping mall structure on fire. It seems some of the lobbed teargas bombs had broken through the windows and torched some of the furniture on sale in there.

This mortified Dr. Makando for if the fire would rage in that structure it was likely that his hospital full of admitted patients would catch fire. And that would be a disaster to behold. His efforts to call the fire station and police were futile.

Without thinking much he found himself rushing out and walking with his hands up towards the police squad who were shooting his direction and onwards to the armoured car, named by its victims as ‘ngunguri’ where he told them of the impending disaster. They should call the fire brigade immediately, he urged them.

The response was immediate. Makando was told to move off the huge boulders laid on the road for the ‘ngunguri’ to drive out. They were too heavy and could only be lifted off with the held of the soldiers.

It was then that he rushed back to his hospital and tried, very much in vain to calm his very hysterical patients. A few minutes later a patient with fresh bullet wounds was brought in for his attention. He did the necessary to control the situation but could not rush the patient to the
regional hospital for further treatment. There were no ambulances and after all, all roads were closed as street fighting was raging.

It was only later that the patient was rushed to the regional hospital using a fire tender which had come to subdue the fire. Dr Makando, now sweating and his eyes welling with the nasty tear gas then entered his surgical theatre and performed a caesarean to that very pregnant lady. A few minutes later there cries of a newly born baby boy were heard.

The new father, who all this time, was pacing up and down the corridor, was invited into the theatre and on seeing his newly born baby, he literally collapsed on the settee with tears profusely rolling down his cheeks. These were teargas tears and tears of joy.

From Uganda Corespondent Arinaitwe Rugyendo…

Late last week, I held a brief phone chat with Col. Felix Kulayige, the Spokesman of the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF) over reports that our forces have deployed along the Congo and Sudan borders with Uganda.

This followed the confusion occasioned by the denials from the government of Uganda that nothing of the sort was happening at the border.  But Col. Kulayige said that what is happening is not ‘deployment’ but ‘monitoring’ of the border by our forces just in case something from across affected our own security.

Constitutionally of course, the UPDF is certainly doing its noble duty of protecting our borders. But what is that ‘something’ from across the border that the army is wary of? On Sunday, January 9, 2011, the African continent will witness a historic moment. A new nation, called South Sudan, is likely to be born as Sudanese head for the polls in a plebiscite to decide whether their country should remain united or break up into two nations as per the terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005.  But what is making everyone uncomfortable, including regional countries, is not the near fact that the country will split. It is rather the consequences of this split. Will the north accept the south to secede? If the South secedes, what will be the implications for regional countries such as Uganda?

Regional intelligence reports say, there are 70% chances of a likelihood of war or similar stalemate breaking out in Sudan between the North and South after the referendum which might affect the regional countries as well. This is the very reason why the Ugandan army has sought it wise to ‘monitor’ its border. But what are the facts to back this up?

In November last year, William Hague, the British Foreign Secretary told the United Nations Security Council members that it was necessary for the UN to concern itself with the referendum in Sudan  because it will seal the fate of southern Sudan with huge implications for the rest of Africa, and there are dangerous signs that the peace process is unraveling. Around the same period, several incidents involving planes from the North of the country attacking SPLA positions in the South were extensively reported. The incidents took place in the disputed border region of Abyei, where most of the country’s oil revenues are generated from. The North fears for a huge revenue loss if the region falls to the South. Thus, the chances that the two bombings have since shown that lines were being drawn in the sand by two great armies of the North and the South are high.

In the potentially explosive North-South Sudan referendum, the issue of the common border at Abyei, pitting the National Congress Party of President Bashir against First Vice President Salva Kir’s Sudanese Liberation Movement, is one to be watched closely. It is not lost to the South Sudan that the North has been gerrymandering the borders since 78% of the Sudan’s Oil is in Southern Sudan, yet all oil must be exported through the Northern Pipelines up to Port Sudan. Even though there has been a silent arms race between the two regions, this means that since the referendum is going ahead without resolving the issue of Abyei, then as both armies draw the line on this oil-rich region, regional countries will be sucked in as well.

This brings me to one concluding question! Should Uganda be concerned then? Yes. The North (Khartoum) used Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels to fight SPLA in return for arms to Kony to fight Uganda. Kony’s forces have been sighted in Darfur fighting along the Janjaweed against the Fur people. So, if the North decides to get beefy with the South, the return of Kony to Northern Uganda is not impossible. If Sudan goes to war, surely Kony as a must will return.

According to John Andruga, the spokesman of the Southern Sudan government, the Sunday referendum is a matter of life and death. The African Union and United Nations are supposed to be the guarantors of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement but Southern Sudan feels that the AU peace and security team do not have the teeth to compel the implementation of this CPA and in fact, on the agitation of Northern Sudan, there was talk in AU circles to push forward the referendum, but South Sudan was ready to fight for it with a ferocity of a wounded lion.

The South knows that if the vote went for the unity of Sudan, the Southern Sudanese will remain second class citizens, yet according to the Northern Sudanese pundits, the breakaway of Sothern Sudan to form its independent state will cause a perestroika-like copycat secessionist movements and separatism in all parts of Sudan. Yet again, if the referendum were to be pushed ahead, that would mean the CPA has collapsed and with the collapse of CPA, nothing binds the North and South and the only outcome will be War.

A war between the North and South means that Arab countries like Egypt will support Arab Sudan to safeguard the waters of River Nile, since most of the Nile River tributaries are in the South. Northern Sudan will revive their war hit-men like Kony and Uganda will be behind Southern Sudan to fight off Kony. The situation might be saved only if the leaders of the AU member states put aside their ‘Vuvuzela’ rhetoric and concentrate on the Sudan issue, or else risk an African Armageddon.

When we here at RELATIVITY Online first watched what has come to be known as the “eat da poo poo” video on Youtube, we broke down in tears from laughter. Even before anything is said, the anti-gay posters can be seen as the video clip begins. And then comes Pastor Ssempa. “My name is pastor Martin Ssempa and I am the chairman of the National task force against homosexuality in Uganda. I am here to see that homosexuality does not see life of legality in this part of Africa,” he says to get things rolling. What follows is so off the wall ridiculous, it’s hard to believe.

Pastor Sseempa, you see, is a supporter of the 2009 Uganda  anti-homosexuality bill. Submitted to parliament by MP David Bahati, the bill seeks the death penalty for those who engage in homosexual sex or for those who were HIV positive while in a relationship. At one point he calls out Obama, seemingly upset at the American president for condemning the bill.

Tragic, sad and humorous – watch and see for yourself. As a side note, be sure to check out the “Eat Da Poo-Poo” remix now on Youtube as well.  You may just about die from laughing so hard.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and his wife Janet among supporters as he kickstarts his campaign for re-election back in October.

From Uganda Corespondent Arinaitwe Rugyendo…

Perhaps the biggest surprise so far about the 2011 presidential elections campaigns, is the ‘peacefulness’ in which the candidates and their supporters are conducting themselves.

We have not heard of beatings and related violent scenes to the levels that we have witnessed in the past three elections since Uganda returned to electoral democracy in 1996. The last three presidential elections have probably been the most violent ever in Uganda’s electoral history. In fact, a committee of parliament had to be constituted after the 2001 presidential elections to investigate and document all the electoral violence incidents that marred that election. No action has ever been taken on that report.

In 1996, the oppostion’s main candidate, Dr. Paul Ssemogerere, was stonned in Western Uganda even when it was clear that the main candidate in that election, Yoweri Museveni, was clearly in the lead. He won with a landslide.

In 2000, an army officer, Brig. Henry Tumukunde, took time to warn the Reform Agenda presidential candidate, Dr. Kiiza Besigye, that the guns ‘they’ had were more superior than his (Besigye’s) antics. This was ofcourse followed by very many cases of violence that at one point, an overzealous army officer drove through a crowd of Besigye’s supporters in Mukono, killing and miming some.

In 2006, some suspected overzealous agents of the state eighter were documented shooting at opposition crowds or outrightly and violently disrupting candidates and their supporters. So, what has changed this time? Why is the current campaign comparatively peaceful?

The last 25 years have produced one unique poltical situation in Uganda and this is the umblical sisterhood between President Yoweri Museveni and the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) Party. If Museveni were to leave the stage at this point, and seeing how the chaotic situation that has come about as a result of a horde of NRM independents, the NRM would probably go with him. But to keep it together, the ruling party, having achieved significant progress in such areas as security and the economy, must leave one legacy in place- a completely peaceful country from which it will need the incentive to survive another two decades in power without question.

In fact some sources tell your columnist that this election is being viewed in some quarters as Museveni’s best opportunity to set a stage for his legacy. He needs to win peacefully and clearly. He appears to be terribly working to leave a legacy as the only Ugandan president who united the nation and left it intact in much the same way as his mentor former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere did for his nation. For a man who spent most of his youth fighting to transform a nation, leaving it in shambles is one serious dent he will not wish to leave behind for the history books.

In ensuring that violence is not orchestrated by the ruling party like how it was suspected of in the previous elections, the NRM is in a unique process of righting the wrongs. In fact sources close to the presidency have revealed that the president has secretly ordered the Electoral Commission to be very diligent and ensure that they do not do any stupid thing that will raise any questions. He has also, incredibly, told all the Army Generals to back off and desist from making any controversial statements. Once this is done, and with the very possibility of winning the polls, he will then start to purge all those who have been soiling the name of the government. Some of his lieutenants who have been implicated in high level corruption will be the first causalities. Those who went against his word and stood as independents, even if they win, will be the most losers as those who took heed will mostly be the ones he will deploy. In very many strange ways, the government of 2011 will resemble the broad-based government of 1986 with very many new faces from across the political, religious and ethnic divide taking centre stage. Therefore, running a very peaceful campaign is one way of writing the NRM legacy as a party that not only revived the economy and brought peace but also as one that did not leave a fractured society behind.

With this firmly in sight, the NRM could bring one good surprise package by reviving the presidential term limits before the next election in 2016 with Museveni passing on the baton to a younger generation of leaders to take the country forward. It happened in Botswana, which is, like Uganda, considered one of Africa’s success stories. A year to President Ketumile Masire’s last term in 1997, he surprised everyone including his own party and stepped down for Festus Mogae. The same situation happened when Mogae was one year to go, he left the seat for the Airforce General and Senior Bachelor, Ian Khama, the son of the first president, Sir Seretse Khama.

A violent election is usually a symptom of a desperate government’s efforts to retain power at all costs. The fact that this is not happening in the current election, the confidence of the NRM campaigners notwithstanding, seems to imply to me that the nation might be in for a big surprise from Museveni. If he does not do a ‘Ketumile Masire’ in 2016, then we might have to prepare for a real good surprise in which he might be righting his legacy and slowly following in the footsteps of his mentor, the former Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere.