NEWS UPDATE: Let’s Take A Trip Around The World

Let’s get straight to what recently caught my attention in the world of News from around the world. So much happened that I didn’t get a chance to talk about. The controversial Mandela book. There was R Kelly and his cult, Kevin Hart and his cheating, Usher and his Herpes, and of course Donald Trump Jr and his father. Lol, America has been lit. I’m late on all of the American ones so I am moving on! Let’s talk about Mandela’s Last Years first.

A topical issue in the News currently is that of Nelson Mandela’s book titled, ‘Mandela’s Last Years’ written by his former Doctor, Vejay Ramlakan. The book is said to be in bad taste, very controversial and is seen by Tata’s family as a violation of doctor-patient confidentiality. The book was published by Penguin Random House and it was withdrawn after Mandela’s Window Graca Machel threatened legal action over the book.

The doctor said he had permission from the Mandela family to write the book, but no family member has admitted to giving the doctor permission. Now Mandela’s grandson, Mandla has taken it upon himself to ask the publisher to reveal the person who gave consent for the book. There were reports that Mandela’s ex wife, Winnie Madikizela, approved the book but she has since denied those claims. Everyone including the South African National Defence Force seems to be distancing themselves from the book. So it’s the Author, Vejay Ramlakan and the Publisher, Penguin who will face the heat if the Mandela family goes through with legal action.

The IAAF World Championships are set to kick off in London tomorrow. We will be glued to our screens until the 14^th August. The world’s fastest man, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt will be running his final race on the global stage. He has decided to retire. Usain will run only the 100 metres and the 4×100 metres relay, at the IAAF World Champs. I am just disappointed that my boo, Asafa Powell will not be part of the 4x100m relay because he hasn’t recovered in time to prove his fitness.

At the Press Conference Usain said he never expected to achieve all this much in his career. He also said; “The proudest moment in my career was winning a gold medal as a junior in front of a home crowd. Nothing beats that feeling.”

With Usain Bolt hanging up his running shoes, we are all wondering who will be the next Usain. He has made it clear that his eyes are on South African runner, Wayde van Niekerk, who broke records in Rio. Usain said; “Wayde is doing a pretty good job. He is now going to run the 200m, that’s going to be exciting. He’s a really cool person.” WOW!! It seems Usain and Wayde have a very good relationship. He said; “Usain has been a massive inspiration…..But I’ve still got quite a long way to go before I even get close to the heights that Usain has reached.” Our eyes will be on you Wayde.

Looking at the female side, Jamaica’s golden girl Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce is heavily pregnant so it looks like the eyes will be Elaine Thompson who is also not a walkover. Elaine is a beast! We know that Jamaica and USA will fight for sprints whilst Kenya will own the long distance.

As usual, more eyes will be South Africa’s Caster Semenya who will be taking part in the women’s 800m and 1500m. She will be running the 1500m for the first time. We know Caster is gonna represent well. What we also know is that the gender controversy will a topical issue.

I watched her interview on SuperSport TV channel, where she spoke about how frustrating this gender issue is for her. “I don’t understand when you say I have an advantage because I am a woman….When I pee, I pee like a woman. I don’t understand when you say I’m a man or I have a deep voice. I know I am a female so there’s no question for me.”

With that said, Caster will be featured on BET Africa, Channel 129 on Monday the 7^th August 2017 at 9pm CAT. According to BET, Being Caster Semenya, is an exclusive sit down with one of South Africa’s biggest sport personalities. It will reveal a side of Caster we haven’t seen before. Topics include how she prepares for every race to her sometimes challenging relationship with the media. Caster also discusses how she met her wife and how their relationship encourages her to be the best at what she does. I can’t wait.

Moving on to politics. Kenya is supposed to be heading to its voting stations on the 8^th August but it seems things are getting worse and worse. Chris Msando, the man that was in charge of Kenya’s computerised voting system was found dead. He was murdered together with the young lady he was with. According to reports, Chris was tortured and murdered. His left arm appeared broken and he had wounds. Their bodies were found in the Kikuyu area on the outskirts of Nairobi. They had been missing for 3days.

The lady that was killed with Chris is Carol Ngumbu. A 21year old, who had just completed her studies at the Karen campus of Kenya Medical Training College. She would have graduated in December. This is really sad and disturbing.

It’s been confirmed that Chris Msando informed Central Police station over threats to his life last year. He said some unknown persons using different cell phone numbers sent him abusive and threatening messages. The FBI (USA) and Britain’s Scotland Yard have offered to do the investigation to find the killers but they can only do it if the Kenyan government accepts the offer, I have a feeling it won’t happen. SMH

South Africa’s Former president Thabo Mbeki, reportedly flew to Harare on Monday to meet up with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. His visit to Zimbabwe made News for obvious reasons. According to NewsDay, South Africa’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mphakama Mbete, said Mbeki’s visit was at Mugabe’s invitation. I personally would love to be a fly on the wall whenever heads or former heads of states meet privately. The convos? What do they talk about outside work and politics? I hope to one day sit with a President of any country just for a chat. Anyway, Zimbabwe has general elections coming up next year and South Africa has the vote of no confidence next week. Mmmmmh!

I think sometimes politicians run out of ideas so they just start unnecessary trouble to make it seem like they are doing some work, meanwhile issa mess. Sometime last month Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed tweeted something that made a lot of Nigerian artists lose their minds. He said Naija artists are no longer allowed to shoot their music videos or films outside Nigeria otherwise they will get locked up. Imagine that? Look, we all want our countries to flourish but if it’s not working, it’s not.

Peter Okoye from the group P-Square, did not hold back his feelings where this issue is concerned. He went all in and made it clear that Nigerian government has never supported the arts now they want to control them. He even went as far as saying sometimes, he’s ashamed to be called a Nigerian. That’s politics for you. Aaai shem!

We are limiting our artists’ creativity by banning them from exploring other countries meanwhile Barbados’ Rihanna is coming to our countries to help us. Remember when Rihanna took a trip to Malawi in June where she also helped teach students math there?  Now her Clara Lionel Foundation has partnered with a Beijing-based bike-share initiative, to help young girls in Malawi get to school in bikes.

The first set of bikes has already been sent to Malawi and this is what RiRi had to say; “I am so happy about the Clara Lionel Foundation’s new partnership with ofo because it will help so many young people around the world receive a quality education, and also help the young girls of Malawi get to school safely, cutting down those very long walks they make to and from school all alone.” Thank you Rihanna!

There is always funny stories we hear about in the News hey? I laughed so hard when I came across reports about donkeys that are being used to smuggle stolen cars from South Africa into Zimbabwe. This is funny as hell. A Merc was recently recovered on the river bed in Musina. They had used donkeys to pull it across the Limpopo River. The police pounced on them before the job was done, apparently the delay was caused by the fact that the donkeys were no longer able to pull the car through the sand. It’s said the reason they use donkeys instead of driving the cars themselves, is that most of the new cars have a tracker and the tracker is only active when the car is running. Yhuuuu!

In December last year a vehicle that was stolen in Durban was recovered on the same river, attached to a group of donkeys. I know crime is a serious matter but this donkey situation is hilarious.

Another story that got me rolling on the floor was that of 3 men that were arrested in South Africa after they allegedly tried to smuggle R600 into the Barberton Maximum Correctional Centre using bananas. Yes, bananas! The 3 men who happen to be brothers were visiting a relative inside the prison this past Saturday when a fruit basket filled with bananas and apples was spotted by the officials who decided to search it. The money was found stashed in the bananas which were slightly cut open. The bananas which had the money were placed underneath other bananas to appear normal. The officials say “From a distance, it looked like normal bananas but, there was money hidden inside each banana.” Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Who thinks of such ideas? I love being an African hey. We are alive with possibilities.

That’s it from our News desk!

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