The Nation Newspaper

Tag: South Africa

  • AFCON begins in South Africa

    AFCON begins in South Africa

    The much-awaited African Cup of Nations gets underway in South Africa on Saturday.

    16 teams including the Super Eagles of Nigeria will vie for the continent’s biggest soccer prize in the former apartheid enclave.

    Hosts South Africa will play the first match of the three- week soccer fiesta, meeting the tournament debutants – the Blue Sharks from Cape Verde.

    Morocco and Angola will square up in group A’s second match also on Saturday.

    The matches will be played at the 80, 000 capacity National Stadium in Soweto.

    Nigeria will play in group C alongside the defending champions Zambia, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia.

    The Super Eagles will meet the Stallions of Burkina Faso on Monday, while Zambia plays Ethiopia in the second match of the day.

    Matches slated for the Sunday are – Ghana vs DR Congo and Mali vs Niger in group B.

    In group D termed “the group of death” tournament favourites Cote D’ Voire will confront fellow West Africans Togo on Tuesday, while the North African derby between Algeria and Tunisia takes place shortly thereafter.

     

  • Super Eagles arrives South Africa, heads to Nelspruit

    The Super Eagles of Nigeria arrived South Africa on Thursday and will now head straight to Nelspruit where the team will play its first two games at this year’s Africa Cup of Nations.

    Futaa.com reports that the Stephen Keshi tutored side left Lisbon, Portugal, on Wednesday night and touched down at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg mid-day on Thursday, and will leave for Nelspruit where Group C is hosted.

    The team spent two weeks in Portugal to intensify preparation for the continent’s biggest soccer fiesta.

    Nigeria, the two-time African champions last won the tournament in 1994.

    The team played four friendly games in Portugal, with two victories and two draws.

    Super Eagles will play in Group C alongside the defending champions Zambia, Burkina Faso and Ethiopia.

     

  • Nigerian don appointed chair in South Africa

    Nigerian don appointed chair in South Africa

    Professor Abiodun Salawu has been appointed to the Mazisi Kunene Chair at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa.

    The Chair, which is domiciled in the School of Arts, College of Humanities of the university, was established by the university in conjunction with the Mazisi Kunene Foundation to preserve and promote the works of Mazisi Kunene and those of other African writers. The chair will focus on African oramedia and the modern media using African languages.

    Prof, Raymond Mazisi Kunene, in whose name the chair was established, was designated by UNESCO as the Poet Laureate of Africa. He authored classical works such as Emperor Shaka the Great, Anthem of the Decades, Zulu epic poems, and Ancestors and the Sacred Mountains. His published literary works in isiZulu have also been translated into French, German and Japanese. He was involved in the liberation movement for the apartheid South Africa. He was an academic at the University of California-Los Angeles while in self-exile and later at the University of Natal, Durban (one of the two universities that merged to make the UKZN). He died in 2006.

    The Chair holder, Salawu, has published extensively on African language media. He edited the seminal book, Indigenous Language Media in Africa. His other areas of research interest include African folk media, development communication, critical media studies and new media. He has to his credit numerous journal articles and book chapters.

    Salawu is moving from the historic University of Fort Hare, also in South Africa. Prior to his relocation to South Africa, he had taught journalism, communication and media studies in various institutions in Nigeria including The Polytechnic, Ibadan; University of Lagos and Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo.

    He holds a PhD in Communication and Language Arts of the University of Ibadan, PGD and MSc in Mass Communication of the University of Lagos, and a B.A (Hons) English Studies of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile- Ife.

    The UKZN which prides itself as the premier university of African scholarship is a foremost university in Africa and has also been listed in the top 500 universities in the world. The university entered into an agreement with the Mazisi Kunene Foundation in 2006 to establish the chair for the purpose of commemorating the life and works of the poet laureate. The chair is expected to build his scholarship around the man of letters.

     

  • NFF advance party off to South Africa

    NFF advance party off to South Africa

    A STRONG Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) advance party led by NFF board member Emeka Inyama left the shores of Nigeria to Nelspruit, South Africa yesterday evening to conclude arrangements for the Super Eagles’ entry into the country for the 2013 African Nations Cup.

    SportingLife reports that the NFF delegation left the Zone 7, Abuja Secretariat of the football house around 5.15pm for the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport yesterday.

    Among the members that left for South Africa yesterday were Director of Competition of the NFF, Dr. Sanusi Mohammed and the officer in charge of Super Eagles’ kits, Taju Tiamiyu. They left the country via Arik Air yesterday.

  • AFCON: We will shame critics in South Africa – Echejile

    AFCON: We will shame critics in South Africa – Echejile

     

    Super Eagles defender, Elderson Echiejile, said the team has resolved to do more in South Africa so as to shame critics.

    National expectations have lowered after the Eagles two less-than-convincing displays against Catalonia and Cape Verde.

    Sporting Braga left back Elderson told MTNFootball.com the team is aware of some of the criticisms they have been subjected back home after they forced Catalonia to a 1-1 and then were held to a goalless by Nations Cup debutants Cape Verde on Wednesday.

    “We have been told about the disappointment in our performances back home and what we need to do is simply to do more so as to live up to expectations,” Elderson told MTNFootball.com

    “We have a big task ahead of us because the country deserves the best from us.”

    The Portugal-based defender has already put words to action as he was one of several players who stayed behind after Friday’s training in Faro to work on set pieces, shooting and crossings.

    The others in this extra training were Nosa Igiebor, Obiorah Nwankwo and Kenneth Omeruo, who has really come into his own after two assured performances against Catalonia and Cape Verde.

    An appreciative assistant coach Sylvanus Okpala later joined the players in this additional session.

    “We just want to get better for the Nations Cup, nothing special,” Igiebor said after the session that lasted over 20 minutes.

     

  • Military plane crashes in South Africa

    A military plane carrying 11 passengers has crashed in South Africa’s mountainous east.

    The plane, which had been travelling from Pretoria to Mthatha, went missing on Wednesday but the initial search was abandoned due to poor weather.

    The BBC reports that the wreckage was found in the Drakensberg Mountains, near Ladysmith, in KwaZulu-Natal province.

    Unconfirmed reports said that those on board included members of Nelson Mandela’s medical team.

    A spokesman for the defence department, Siphiwe Dlamini, has refused to confirm or deny the reports, saying it was an operational matter.

    Brig. Gen. Xolani Mabanga said that the aircraft had taken off from Pretoria’s Waterkloof Air Force Base on Wednesday night, according to the Associated Press.

    He said soldiers had been sent to the scene to look for survivors.

    The remains of the aircraft were found some 210 miles (340km) south-east of the Waterkloof air base.

    The wreckage of the Douglas DC-3 Dakota, a twin-propeller aircraft, is reported to be spread over a wide area near the Giant’s Castle, a famous peak on a steep escarpment.

    Mthatha’s small airport in Eastern Cape Province is situated some 17 miles (30km) from Mr. Mandela’s rural homestead of Qunu, where the former president has lived since retiring from public life.

    The BBC says the military are responsible for the health of the 94-year-old anti-apartheid hero and a medical team travels regularly to his home.

     

  • Nigeria, South Africa lead region’s growth

    Nigeria and South Africa account for major portion of Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) report has shown.

    It said intra-regional trade and financing links within sub-Saharan Africa have been expanding significantly in recent years. However, it recognised that there is a long road to travel in terms of achieving close economic integration at the regional and subregional level.

    “As this integration proceeds and economic linkages deepen, the importance of spillover effects from large countries to the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, and within their own subregion, will grow: closer economic linkages inevitably imply increased exposure to shocks, both favorable and unfavorable, in partner countries,” it said.

    IMF African Department senior economist Cheikh Gueye said that to a large extent, South Africa is shaping the structure of trade within sub-Saharan Africa. He said that at least 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa export to South Africa and this represents one per cent of their GDP.

    “On the investment side, we have noticed that South African companies are investing in the rest of Africa, and this has an impact in shaping trade flows. Third, there are linkages in the financial system,” he said.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Aganga tasks Nigeria, South Africa on economic growth

    Aganga tasks Nigeria, South Africa on economic growth

     

    The Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, has urged Nigeria and South Africa to take advantage of the window of opportunities available in their economies to strengthen economic growth in the continent.

    Aganga stated this at a dinner organised by the Nigeria Consulate in South Africa and co-hosted by Financial Times and Brand South Africa in Johannesburg on Thursday.

    He emphasised that the two countries must not allow the opportunities to pass without being exploited by them for the benefit of their citizens and for the people in the continent.

    “Nigeria and South Africa have the fastest economic growth in the continent. If Africa must take advantage of the current global economic meltdown to boost growth in the continent, then the two countries need to work together.

    “The two countries have to complement each other in area of comparative advantage. There is no country that can develop its economy without industrialisation, South Africa is the leader in Africa in that area.

    “But Nigeria has the advantage in area of market and raw material over many countries, Nigeria has the largest population in Africa, an investment in Nigeria is a gateway into the ECOWAs with about 300 million population, Nigeria is a market nobody can ignore, “the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Aganga as saying at the gathering.

    He said that Nigeria is no longer interested in investors coming into the country to export raw material out of the country.

    “What we want are investors setting up industry and manufacturing plants in the country, to help provide employment for our youths and ever growing population.

    “Nigeria is discussing with South Africa on ways to collaborate in setting up automobile plants in Nigeria. There are opportunities in mining, not for exportation alone, but for mining of the mineral for processing and production,’’ Aganga said.

    He said that there were untapped potentials in the agricultural sector, saying, “ Nigeria is blessed with 84 million of acre of land, where everything and anything can grow.

    But the agriculture sector of our economy is not fully tapped.

    “We want investors in the agriculture sector not only in the area of planting and harvesting of agriculture product, but also in area of food processing and storage, this is an area where South Africa can come in, because they are well ahead of other Africa countries in food processing and storage.

    “There are also business opportunities in oil and gas, Nigeria is the largest producer of oil and gas in the continent and investment opportunities in that sector is open,” the minister stated.

    He said Nigeria can also learn from South Africa in service and infrastructure development.

     

     

  • Okah ordered Oct. 1, 2010 bombing – witness

    Okah ordered Oct. 1, 2010 bombing – witness

    Another prosecution witness on Thursday said that Henry Okah gave instructions for the Oct. 1, 2010, twin car bombings in Abuja.

    The witness said he a member of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND) having joined the group in 2006.

    The third prosecution witness, who simply introduced himself as Stanley at the ongoing trial of Okah at the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, South Africa, said Okah gave instruction for the attacks in Abuja during the independence anniversary celebrations.

    Stanley told the court that he was introduced to Okah in 2006 and was instructed to always refer to Okah as “Master’’.

    “I overhead Okah on numerous occasions discussing the purchase of weapons, and in 2007 he contacted me asking me to pass a message to the other leaders to do whatever it takes to get him out of jail

    “His wife, Azuka also devised a plan to kidnap the Angolan Ambassador in Nigeria to bargain for his release,’’ Stanley said.

    He said in January 2010, Okah instructed him to get an empty apartment he wanted to use to assemble car bombs.

    Answering Prosecutor’s question about whether he has knowledge of the October bombing, he said he knew about it two days before it happened.

    “A friend, Raphael Danfebo, told me Okah wanted to carry out the terror attack and gave instructions for two cars to be sent to Abuja on Oct. 1,’’ Stanley said.

    Okah is facing 13 counts charge of terrorism, planning and financing car explosions.The trail continues