Embassy of the United States

A Daily Review of U.S. Media Coverage of South Africa  

May 16-17, 2013

Compiled by the American Libraries in South Africa

This service provides selected news articles about South Africa in the US media.
Articles for which no internet link is available may be requested from irccapetown@state.gov

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Please note that these articles are for informational purposes only, and should not be construed as an endorsement of the views contained therein.

• Amplats says South Africa miners report for morning shift Reuters (U.S. Edition), May 17, 2013
  Miners at South Africa's Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) (AMSJ.J) reported for work on Friday, a company spokeswoman said, despite earlier calls for a strike by some union leaders. Amplats spokeswoman Mpumi Sithole said all workers had reported for the morning shift at the world's biggest platinum miner and there had been no trouble. "Everything is normal at Amplats this morning. Workers are going underground and there have been no incidents," Sithole said. Unions and worker committees had threatened to start a strike on Friday in protest at Amplats' plans to cut as many as 6,000 jobs to try to restore the company to profitability.
• South African army prepares for Congo By Christopher Torchia (AP), Anchorage Daily News, May 16, 2013
  South African soldiers who are training for a United Nations military mission in Congo will be adequately prepared even though the South African army as a whole is overstretched and underfunded, the army chief said Thursday. Lt. Gen. V.R. Masondo also told media at a briefing that the South African units bound for Congo are being helped in their training by troops who participated in a mission in Central African Republic, or CAR. In March, rebels there killed 14 South African soldiers while seizing the capital, Bangui, and overthrowing President Francois Bozize. "We have taken heed of the CAR incident and will incorporate the lessons learned from this in preparing for future operations," Masondo said without elaborating. Analysts said the South Africans lacked air cover and there were questions about why they deployed under a bilateral deal rather than under U.N. or regional auspices.
• US Former Ambassador to South Africa speaks at UGA By Nick Widener, Athens Banner-Herald, May 16, 2013
  James A. Joseph is the only U.S. ambassador to South Africa to have served while Nelson Mandela was president. Joseph was emissary to South Africa at a time of mass transformation, and he witnessed Mandela’s leadership unfold. As a result of his service, Joseph was presented with the Order of Good Hope by former South African President Thabo Mbeki in 1999, the highest honor a non-citizen can receive. After working with Mandela, and seeing the way he led South Africa, Joseph realized there was a dearth of competent leaders, but he vowed to change that.
• Activists worldwide target homophobia in Jamaica, Ukraine and South Africa Amnesty International, May 17, 2013
  In Jamaica, some men are labelled as criminals just for expressing their love. Attempts to hold a Pride in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv have repeatedly run into roadblocks because of very real threats of violence and a police force unwilling to protect participants. And in South Africa, homophobic hatred all too often leads to violent attacks and killings which frequently go uninvestigated by police. These three countries provide just a snapshot of the types of discrimination and violence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people the world over. In many countries, such a climate of prejudice increases the likelihood of physical attacks and other human rights abuses against people because of their real or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity.
• Cape Town's asylum seekers struggle to get documented IRIN News, May 16, 2013
  When Jean Baptiste*, a medical student from Lubumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), arrived in South Africa in September 2012, he headed straight for Cape Town, where he knew he would be able to stay with his brother. No one at the border told him that it was no longer possible to apply for asylum in Cape Town. He has since approached the city’s Refugee Reception Office (RRO) 18 times to try to secure an asylum seeker permit and become documented, but he has never made it past the security guards outside. Without documentation, finding even casual work in Cape Town has proved impossible, and without work, he lacks the funds to travel to the cities of Durban, Pretoria or Musina, the three remaining places in South Africa where RROs are still issuing permits to newly arrived asylum seekers. The distance between Cape Town and Pretoria, the nearest RRO where he could apply for asylum, is nearly 1,500km. (*Not his real name)
• Transnet Cuts Cord With State on Bond Sales: South Africa Credit By Kamlesh Bhuckory and Robert Brand, Bloomberg News, May 16, 2013
  Transnet SOC Ltd., South Africa’s state-owned ports and rail operator, is giving up a state guarantee for its debt as borrowing costs fall amid a seven-year infrastructure spending plan. Yields on Transnet’s $1 billion of 4 percent bonds due July 2022 have dropped 36 basis points this quarter to 4.17 percent yesterday, compared with the 3 basis-point drop to 5.78 percent of average yields in the JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEMBI Transport Index. The premium investors demand to hold Transnet’s dollar debt due July 2022 rather than similar-maturity U.S. Treasuries has narrowed 11 basis points this quarter to 218, less than the 222 premium for state power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.’s dollar notes due January 2021.
• Johann Rupert Overtakes Oppenheimer as South Africa’s Richest By Janice Kew, Bloomberg, May 17, 2013
  Cie. Financiere Richemont SA (CFR) Chairman Johann Rupert, who said yesterday he will take a 12-month sabbatical after leading the company for 25 years, has overtaken Nicky Oppenheimer as the richest South African. Rupert is worth $8.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world’s richest people updated yesterday at 5:30 p.m. in New York. Oppenheimer’s wealth is estimated at $7.4 billion. Rupert, born in Johannesburg, is the oldest son of billionaire industrialist Anton Rupert, who founded the tobacco company Rembrandt Group in 1948. Richemont, based in Geneva, is the world’s second-biggest luxury-goods company with brands including Montblanc pens and Chloe fashion.
• South Africa’s best kept secret By George E. Curry, Frost Illustrated, May 16, 2013
  When Nelson Mandela and his African National Congress comrades were plotting to overthrow the white minority-rule apartheid regime in South Africa, Lilies Farm in Rivonia, just north of Johannesburg, served as their secret hideout. Today, 19 years after South Africa made a bloodless transition to a democracy with the election of Mandela as its first black president, the picturesque land, now called Liliesleaf, is South Africa’s best kept secret. Arthur Goldreich and Harold Wolpe bought the farm in 1961 to serve as headquarters for the underground Communist Party and as a safe house for political refugees, including Mandela and Govan Mbeki, the father of Thabo Mbeki, who succeeded Mandela as president.
• The Cost of No Sweatshops: South Africa Struggles Not to Be Bangladesh VOA, May 16, 2013
  It's not luxurious, but Goldfinch Garments, the Chinese-owned South African factory where Sindisizwe Zwane works nine hours a day, is far from a sweatshop: the ventilation is decent, the lighting is good and basic safety measures are in place. South Africa says its garment industry is better regulated and workers are better paid than in ultra low-cost Asian producers like Bangladesh, where the collapse of a factory killed more than 1,100 people last month. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) government, with close links to labor unions, wants to go further by enforcing a wage agreement that would guarantee Zwane and her co-workers a raise.