Africa News

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De Klerk was brave but legacy contested - Ramaphosa

In his eulogy to South Africa’s last president of apartheid South Africa, FW de Klerk, President Cyril Ramaphosa tried to strike a balance between acknowledging the ill feeling there is still towards him and his contribution to creating a democratic country.

De Klerk, who died last month at 85, was instrumental in leading the country’s white minority towards accepting the dismantling of the racist apartheid system in the 1990s.

At the same time, he was a beneficiary of that system and responsible for some of its crimes.

Speaking at a state memorial service in Cape Town, President Ramaphosa said that De Klerk’s 1990 address calling for the release from prison of the leader of the anti-apartheid struggle, Nelson Mandela, was a “brave act”.

He also praised his “courage and conviction”.

But Mr Ramaphosa added that it was important to recognise that “his contribution and his legacy remain contested”.

“We can neither ignore nor must we seek to dismiss the anger and the pain and the disappointment of those who recall the place FW de Klerk occupied in the hierarchy of an oppressive state.”

Nevertheless he “played an important role in the evolution of our new democracy whether we like it or not”.

Before the memorial service, police broke up a small protest outside Cape Town’s Groote Kerk with demonstrators demanding “justice for apartheid victims”.

“We can neither ignore nor must we seek to dismiss the anger and the pain and the disappointment of those who recall the place FW de Klerk occupied in the hierarchy of an oppressive state.”

Nevertheless he “played an important role in the evolution of our new democracy whether we like it or not”.

Reckya Madougou: Opposition leader jailing

damages Benin democracy - lawyer

The 20-year sentence handed to Beninese opposition leader Reckya Madougou is part of efforts to stifle democracy, her lawyer has told the BBC.

Madougou was convicted of financing terrorism by a special court in the early hours of Saturday morning.

She was the second opposition figure to be jailed within a week.

Benin, once praised as a multiparty democracy, has taken a more autocratic turn under the presidency of Patrice Talon, rights groups say.

He was first elected in 2016, defeating the favoured candidate of the outgoing president. But earlier this year, all his main challengers, including Madougou, were excluded from the presidential election, which he won with 86% of the vote.

Madougou was arrested in the weeks leading up to April’s vote.

The former justice minister was accused of trying to destabilise the country by providing funds for people plotting to assassinate leading politicians. Her supporters said the charges were a fabrication.

She was found guilty in a trial that lasted less than a day in which no evidence was presented, according to her legal team.

“It’s a dark day for democracy in the country,” Madougou’s lawyer Renaud Agbodjo told the BBC after Saturday’s verdict.

“[Her] conviction symbolises the asphyxiation of democracy in Benin.”

Shortly before the verdict was read out Madougou told the court: “I have never been and I will never be a terrorist.”

She added that if the guilty verdict helped people reflect on

Supporters of Reckya Madougou gathered outside the court in Porto-Novo when the trial began on Friday

The charity saves the prosthetic legs from landfill

what was happening in the country then “I would not have suffered in vain”.

Last Tuesday, the same court in the capital, Porto-Novo, sentenced another opposition figure, Joel Aivo, to 10 years for plotting against the state.

Other political rivals have fled the country and even a judge, who had been part of the court that convicted Madougou, went into exile citing intolerable pressure from the government.

In its report on Benin last year, rights group Amnesty International said that “rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly [had been] unduly restricted”, adding that people had been unjustly prosecuted and police were accused of using excessive force.

Bristol boy helps charity recycle 10,000th prosthetic leg

Acharity that donates prosthetic limbs to people in Africa is celebrating recycling its 10,000th leg.

Bristol-based group Legs4Africa has been saving the legs from landfill and sending the parts for free since 2014.

The prosthetic leg that helped it reach its latest milestone was donated by nine-year-old Isaac, from Bristol.

His father Robert said they are “grateful” his old leg will be “loved and put to good use” in The Gambia, rather than gathering dust in an attic.

According to the charity, almost 5,000 prosthetic legs go into landfill every year in the UK.

Since its inception, it has been collecting more than 50 per cent of those legs.

Its team breaks them down for the parts and safety checks each element before deeming them reusable.

“I think it’s become relatively easy, here in the UK, to take having a prosthetic leg for granted, but we are very grateful as a family that Isaac has been given the opportunity to walk with a prosthetic,” Robert said.

“We are extremely fortunate that we have the NHS in this country.”

He said it was an easy decision for the family to donate Isaac’s used prosthetic.

“It gives us great pleasure to know that his leg is being loved and put to good use in The Gambia, rather than gathering dust in an attic.

“It would be great to think that in a few months there will be a child kicking a football or riding their bike in the Gambia, wearing Isaac’s donated leg,” he added.

Legs4Africa communications manager Evie Dickinson said when the charity started it estimated 4,500 people in The Gambia were in need of a prosthetic leg.

Isabel dos Santos: Angolan billionaire hit with US visa restrictions

The US will deny entry to Isabel dos Santos, once said to be Africa’s richest woman, for “involvement in significant corruption”.

Her name appears on a list released by the State Department of people accused of corruption and who are facing sanctions.

Ms Dos Santos, 48, is the daughter of Angola’s former president, José Eduardo dos Santos, who left office in 2017.

While he was president, she was chair of the state oil company.

According to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Ms Dos Santos used her position to engage in corruption by “misappropriating public funds for her personal benefit”.

His statement did not go into details about what Ms Dos Santos is accused of having done.

Visa restrictions issued by the State department will bar Ms Dos Santos and her immediate family members from entering the US.

She has not been subject to any financial sanctions.

In 2013, Forbes declared Ms Dos Santos the richest woman in Africa, with an estimated net worth of $3.5bn (£2.6bn). She was dropped from the list in 2020, with Forbes estimating that $1.6bn in assets are frozen in Angola and Portugal.

Ms Dos Santos was still believed to be worth over $2bn in January 2020. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has linked her to luxury apartments owned in both London and Lisbon, as well as a $35m yacht purchased through a shell company.

Last year, the BBC reported on leaked documents that revealed how she had made her fortune through allegedly exploiting her own country and corruption.

She got access to lucrative deals involving land, oil, diamonds and telecoms when her father was president.

The documents showed how she and her husband were allowed to buy valuable state assets in a series of suspicious deals.

At the time, Ms Dos Santos said the allegations against her were entirely false and that there was a politically motivated witch hunt by the Angolan government.

She has not responded to a request for comment on the US move from the BBC

Source: BBC.