Yanga in Tough Contest Against Congolese Giant

The Young Africans will have a tough task when they face visiting TP Mazembe in Dar Dar es Salaam.

T.P. MAZEMBE

Kenya: Wedding Bells are Ringing for Mombasa's Biggest Crocodile

Wedding bells are ringing in Mombasa. In a few short months, all roads will be leading to Mamba Village to witness as Big Daddy and his two brides tie the knot.

But before that, he will take a shot at a world record when, in September, a team from the Guinness Book of Records arrives in Mombasa to measure his vital statistics.

Big Daddy is not just another crocodile — and he has not always been a darling.

He was first put in captivity in 1986 after mauling five people in River Tana. And he was so mean that when he arrived at his new home, he quickly gobbled not one, not two but 10 of his friends. His appetite led Mamba Village managers to put him in solitary confinement.

Big Daddy, believed to be over 100 years old, got a reprieve a few years ago when two female crocodiles — Sasha and Salma — were introduce in his corner of the pool.

He welcomed them with open claws, and they have been living happily since. He even changed his behaviour, allowing one or the other of the two to enjoy a bite from his share of meat at feeding times every Friday.

DECEMBER WEDDING

And this, dear reader, is why come December, he will be wedded to Sasha and Salma.

"We expect that the event will attract thousands of tourists who will come to witness the rare occasion," said Mr Paul Mutua, the product manager at Mamba Village.

Already, he and his team are in talks with the Kenya Tourism Board and other players in the sector to see how the event can be used to promote tourism.

"We are still discussing on how we will put a "king's crown" on his head and veils for the brides. When it comes to "kiss the bride", there is also an elaborate plan for that," said Mr Mutua.

Before that, they have invited the Guinness Book of World Records team in September to establish the weight and length of the crocodile, with a view of listing it in the book of records as one of the largest in the world.

Crocodiles can grow to over five  metres long, live for up to hundreds of years and weigh upwards of a tonne.

The longest crocodile in the world as recorded in the Guinness Book of World  Records lives in a zoo in Australia. It measures 5.5 metres, weighs 1,300 kilos and is said to be 110 year.

BIG DADDY EATS 60KG PER MEAL

When he was captured from River Tana in 1986, Big Daddy is said to have been around 80 years old.

Big Daddy is said to have weighed over one tonne and measures over five metres long  10 years ago.

Crocodiles can grow to over five metres in length, chalk up hundreds of years and pile up to one tonne in weight. Their canine teeth can be up to four inches long.

The largest crocodile in the world as recorded in the Guinness Book of World  Records is in a zoo in Australia. It measures 5.5 metres, weighs 1,300 kilos and is over 110 years old.

At Mamba Village, Mombasa, Big Daddy feeds only once in a week, consuming more than 60 kilos of meat – or two goats — per meal.

Michelle Obama and Daughters to Stop Over in Liberia On June 27

Michelle Obama and her daughters Sasha and Malia Obama are leaving dad behind, this summer, and heading overseas.

The First Lady and her teenagers - along with Grandmother Marian Robinson - will travel to Liberia, Morocco and Spain at the end of June and into early July as part of the Let Girls Learn initiative, the White House said in a press release, Wednesday.

Throughout the trip - which includes stops in Monrovia, Marrakech and Madrid - Obama will speak to young girls about the importance of education and staying in school.

First stopping in Liberia on June 27, Obama will visit a Peace Corps Training facility where young women are participating in a Girls Leading Our World camp.

U.S. First Lady to Visit Liberia, Morocco

Michelle Obama - joined by daughters Malia and Sasha - will make stops at the Peace Corps' training facility outside Monrovia and then Marrakech, Morocco.

Mozambique Debt More Than Reported

The country's actual total debt will be significantly more than present estimates of U.S $12 Billion according to a recent study.

Uganda: My Life As a Sex Worker and Why I Quit

"Last year, I lost my best friend to HIV/ Aids. She had acquired the virus while working as a sex worker in Juba. She was one of the girls that I had started working with and she always looked out for me, telling me of profitable places that I too, could go and earn more money.

Upon her death, I realised that prostitution is no easy feat and everything we do has consequences. It was so hurtful that I was not able to attend her burial. I do not want my face to be seen lest people will harshly judge me on the streets because of my past.

Bridget (not real name) was born on December 10, 1983 in Masindi. She is a second born in her family. She did not progress in education and dropped out of school while in Senior Four in Gulu District where she was studying.

Taking a different path

I lost my mother and was later taken to live with my father. Since I had not grown up with him, it was difficult for me to adjust. I later returned to my aunt's place (my mother's sister). The conditions were not favourable. I was staying with my stepmother and she hardly cared for me. However, she cared for her children and I always felt neglected but could not confide in my father about what I was going through.

While in Gulu, my path started changing. I was misled by friends, who pushed me into leaving home. They also taught me how to sell myself. I later decided to leave home and fend for myself.

My father wanted me to study but I did not inform him of my decision to leave school. I escaped from school and my family never heard from me ever again.

It was my desire for nicer things that drove me into prostitution and I started the trade in 2007. I stopped studying because I was constantly admiring what other children had that I did not. The death of my mother also left me frustrated. There was a certain bar in Gulu where I made friends with the girls who were working there while engaging in prostitution. They advised me to work with them and when I requested for the job, I was hired. At the end of the month, my monthly salary was low and my friends recommended I try prostitution alongside my allowance.

On my first night as a prostitute, I earned Shs20, 000 and I was amazed. It was quick money and this would vary daily. When I noticed how fast I was earning, I kept engaging in the act.

However, during the first year as a prostitute, I got pregnant. I was lucky because the man who impregnated me did not deny or evade responsibility. He took charge and promised to take care of me. I did not show him that I continued selling my body. I thought to myself that since I would be delivering soon, I needed the money and the urge for more money kept me working on the street despite the fact that I was pregnant.

Reforming

When I lost my friend to HIV last year, I decided to quit. By then, we were both prostitutes in Gulu but later progressed. She was the first to explore new places.

She came back and informed me of how Juba was a great place to work since they were paying in dollars and at the time, the dollar rate was high. This meant earning more and I decided to try working in Juba. In 2013, I went and started working in Juba and returned last year. I worked in Busia, Gulu, Juba and Ntinda.

In Juba, the people there are hard-hearted. It was not easy. However, the pay was good. A client would give me about 200 pounds (South Sudan currency) and at the time, a pound was equivalent to Shs700 thus in a night, I would earn Shs140,000 from just one client.

My friend fell sick and decided to leave Juba. I stayed. I was later informed that she had passed on in August. When I returned, I decided to go for a blood test and discovered that I was positive. I was heartbroken and devastated. I never imagined that I would ever get infected with HIV through prostitution. My late friend passed on with no children but my situation was different. I later reformed and decided to quit prostitution so that I could dedicate myself and create a better environment for my children.

Secondly, since men pay us, one can mistreat and manhandle you because they feel the more they have sex with you, they are fully utilising the money you received from them.

My entire time as a prostitute, I cannot boldly say that I acquired something sensible from the trade. I only reaped diseases.

When I left prostitution, I immediately looked for a job. I became very busy and hardly had any time for anything else. I was working till late and only returning home too exhausted to think of sleeping with men. Each time I look at my children, I am convinced that I need to do an honest job and look after them. I now have a job and earn Shs150,000 monthly with a transport allowance of Shs5000.

During my process of recovering, I was introduced to a lady called Gloria Akech, the public relations officer who helps women like I reform fully. She took me to Alma family Centre located in Bugolobi. The centre has offered me counselling and I am currently being trained and helped to lead a new life while helping other women embrace change.

Words of wisdom

To all the young girls and women out there, please be content with what you have. I was driven by my desire to be like others and made the wrong choices. Appreciate and love what you have, always work hard for what you have. Sacrificing your life for earthly goods is not worth the risk. To the prostitutes, I appeal to you to reform and stop selling yourselves such that together, we can help the younger ones not to make the same mistakes.

Uganda: Students Strike Over Mini-Skirt Ban

More than 1,300 students of Aduku Secondary School, Apac District, have been sent home following a violent strike which resulted into the destruction of school property worth about Shs100 million.

School authorities said the last Saturday night strike was sparked off by a ban on wearing of mini-skirts and tight trousers.

Last week, the school administration confiscated all mini-skirts and tight trousers, a move which reportedly annoyed the students. Aduku SS is an Anglican-founded mixed O and A-level boarding school.

Before the strike, the students had also claimed that they were not comfortable with having porridge for breakfast early in the morning at 6am, the time when they should still be enjoying their sleep.

The headmaster, Mr Patrick Okwir Angulo, said last term, they issued a circular to all parents warning that mini-skirts and tight trousers would not be allowed in school. This was after it was realised that girls cut their long skirts and saw them into mini-skirts. Boys were also reducing the sise of their normal trousers making them tight.

"During the opening of this term, teachers were deployed at the school gate to check the kind of uniforms students had come with," Mr Okwir told Daily Monitor in a telephone interview on Sunday evening.

Mini-skirts and tight trousers were confiscated and cut into pieces. But those that could be resized were kept in the school store and will be given back to the owners at the end of the term.

The headmaster said that was a way of instilling discipline in the students and added that the wearing of non uniforms at school has been banned.

The culprits

But a group of about 10 students from Senior Three allegedly mobilised and spearheaded the strike last Saturday. They reportedly pulled down a wall fence measuring 307 metres, which they say limited their movement outside the school.

"They also tried to push down the wall fence from the girls' wing, but the girls never came out to join them in the strike," Mr Okwir said.

He said the students broke into the computer laboratory and destroyed all the computers by pouring sewerage on them. The protesters also broke all the window panes.

The district police commander, Mr Alfonse Ojangole, and the district education officer, Mr Billy Okunyu, visited the school on Sunday and talked to the students before they were all sent home for 10 days.

This newspaper understands that there will be a joint Parents Teachers' Association (PTA) and Board of Governor meeting on Wednesday to agree on a way forward.

The strike

A group of about 10 students from Senior Three allegedly mobilised and spearheaded the strike on Saturday. They reportedly pulled down a wall fence measuring 307 metres, which they say limited their movement outside the school.

Unicef Ambassador Beckham Visits Swazi Children

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador David Beckham meets 14-year old Sebenelle, who receives  life-saving treatment and care from the fund he created in collaboration with UNICEF.

The South African government welcomes the good work of the fire fighters that were deployed to Canada to assist that country fight wildlands fires.

The South African government welcomes the good work of the fire fighters that were deployed to Canada to assist that country fight wildlands fires.

"We remain immensely proud of our well-trained firefighters who have done excellent work over a number of years, which has been recognised by the international fire fighting community," says Minister Molewa.

The successful team was instrumental in fighting the fires in our country and saved lives, especially during the worst-recorded veldfires that ravaged the Western Cape last year.

South Africa: The Class of 1976 - Reflections From the Cape

In the winter of 1976, the storms that battered the Cape brought more than rain and hail - they also stirred up the seditious idea of freedom in young minds all across the Cape Flats. I was sixteen years old at the time and attended Alexander Sinton High in Athlone, Cape Town - a school that was known for its political activism. In fact, a year or two earlier we had chased away some officials from the puppet 'Coloured Representative Council' who had planned to use our school as a voting station for their forthcoming elections. Little did we realise that our school would soon become one of the key focal points of an unprecedented student uprising across the Cape Flats.

It started during our first break, one morning in early July, when we decided to hold a placard demonstration in solidarity with the youth of Soweto who were shot by the police some weeks earlier. This simple, non-violent act of protest, unthreatening as it was, elicited a complete over-reaction from the riot police.

In no time, the riot police invaded our school with their rifles and their dogs, their truncheons and their tear gas. If only those camouflage-clad Neanderthals realised at the time how their acts of brutality would speed up the cause of liberation! Thanks to them, ordinary school children were turned into hard-eyed, angry, impatient young militants, practically overnight.

We decided to abandon our classrooms and took to the school hall every day where we sang our freedom songs and dreamt of a new country yet to be born. Banned material, considered innocuous by today's standards, became our prescribed reading material. I remember the liberating power of the Black Consciousness Movement that empowered us to shake off the ambivalence that had beset many in the coloured community, and to identify ourselves as black.

We accused our parents of not having done enough to challenge the apartheid regime. Our parents in turn, bewildered by the new-found militancy of their children, simply didn't know what to do with us. We had flatly rejected the logic of gradualism and the 'old school' style of patient persuasion. We demanded freedom in our lifetime and were no longer prepared to wait for a softening of attitude on the part of the white establishment.

I remember our wise school principal, Mr Desai, who had the incredibly difficult task of keeping his young charges safe from the clutches of the police (as ironic as that sounds!). In retrospect, I believe that our principal, through his calm and patient demeanor, probably diverted many a tragic show down between angry pupils and trigger-happy cops.

That was a time of political innocence. To my young mind, the narrative of 'us' and 'them' could not have been clearer. We were the victims and 'they' were the villains. We were the wronged and they were the perpetrators of that wrong. We were on the side of justice and righteousness and all they had was the ignominy of being on the wrong side of history. We would never give up the fight, but one day they would have to relinquish power. In my wildly exaggerated vision of the future, our liberators would one day cross the Limpopo River, vanquish our oppressors and usher in a society in which the people would govern. Life was wonderfully uncomplicated then!

Forty years later and twenty two years into democracy the dominant narrative of white privilege and black exclusion stubbornly persists. However, the 'pure' narrative of white guilt and black victimhood is difficult to sustain. Other narratives are vying to take center-stage. There is the narrative of the unprincipled pursuit of wealth and its corrosive effects on the souls and values of the oppressed. There is the narrative of the billions that could have been spent on uplifting our people but have instead been flushed down the sewer of corruption and political connections. There is the narrative of poor governance and mismanagement of public institutions. There is the narrative of missed opportunities, 'own goals' and the squandering of our political fortunes post-1994. There is the narrative of new patterns of advantage and disadvantage. There is the narrative of renewed and vitriolic forms of racism. In short, the South African narrative is no longer one-dimensional. Perhaps it never has been. It is a complex narrative that defies finger-pointing in one direction. It is a narrative that forces us to take collective accountability for the state of our land and collective responsibility for fixing it.

Our country is again on the cusp of major social change. There is a new generation of angry and defiant youth, who have become impatient with explanations that justify social exclusion. For them, the dream of substantive equality can no longer be deferred. We can only hope that they will draw lessons from the past. We hope that they have seen what happens to freedom fighters when they are catapulted into positions of power and privilege. We hope that they have seen how easily noble pursuits are set aside by the allure of sudden wealth.

We hope for a new generation of leaders, less obsessed with the Party and more devoted to developing this land and all its people. We hope for a new parliament, one that understands that it is not an assembly of praise singers, but a critical and courageous watchdog of democratic values. In short, we hope for smart, ethical, inclusive and responsible leadership. Unfortunately, judging by the calibre of some of our 'future leaders', there isn't much reason for optimism. But we still hope.

South Africa Remembers June 16 Protest Killings

June 16 marks the day when students were gunned down by Apartheid police during protests against Bantu education in 1976.

The Day Nyerere Refused to Meet Ali

Muhammad Ali's only trip to Tanzania was 36 years ago. But he wasn't here for boxing. The outspoken personality was on a diplomatic mission. He had suddenly been thrust into the cold war politics played out in Africa at the time.

On February 2, 1980, Ali landed in Dar es Salaam for his three-day mission: To convince Tanzania to boycott the 1980 Summer Moscow Olympics.

US President Jimmy Carter had sent the boxer, who was at that time on a tour of India, to five African countries to convince them to boycott the Moscow Olympics in retaliation against Russia's invasion of Afghanistan.

Hundreds of enthusiastic Tanzanians, who had turned up at the airport to greet the great sportsman, ignored barricades and mobbed Ali when he emerged from the plane, according to reports.

But the excitement ended at the airport. The visit was a failure. Not only did Tanzania refuse to boycott the Olympics, President Julius Nyerere also refused to meet with the boxing legend despite multiple efforts and intense lobbying by US embassy officials.

Africa Mourns Muhammad Ali

From heads of state and the United Nations to editorial writers and sports columnists, Africa was as one in remembering "The Greatest".

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali, the Greatest, Dies At 74

Legendary boxer Muhammad Ali has died at the age of 74 in Phoenix, Arizona. He had been in hospital since Thursday to be treated for a respiratory illness, a condition that was complicated by Parkinson's disease.

"I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalized a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick."

Those words, uttered before the one of the most famous bouts in boxing history, the 'Rumble in the Jungle' in Kinshasa in 1974, perfectly characterize Muhammed Ali. And indeed, full of self-confidence, he went on to knock out George Foreman, of who he said before the fight: "I've seen George Foreman shadow boxing and the shadow won."

Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Ali shot to fame by winning light-heavyweight gold at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

Nicknaming himself "The Greatest", he won his first world title in 1964 by beating Sonny Liston. He later became the first boxer to capture a world heavyweight title on three separate occasions.

He eventually retired in 1981, having won 56 of his 61 fights.

Ali was noted for his pre- and post-fight talk and bold fight predictions, just as much as his boxing skills inside the ring.

He was also not shy of roundly mocking his opponents, such as Joe Frazier, whom he called "so ugly that when he cries, the tears turn around and go down the back of his head," and "so ugly he should donate his face to the US Bureau of Wildlife."

But Ali was also a civil rights campaigner and poet who transcended the bounds of sport, race and nationality.

Asked how he would like to be remembered, he once said: "As a man who never sold out his people. But if that's too much, then just a good boxer. I won't even mind if you don't mention how pretty I was."

Heavyweight champion at 22

Ali turned professional immediately after the Rome Olympics and rose through the heavyweight ranks, delighting crowds with his showboating, shuffling feet and lightning reflexes.

British champion Henry Cooper came close to stopping Clay, as he was still known, when they met in a non-title bout in London in 1963.

Cooper floored the American with a left hook, but Clay picked himself up off the canvas and won the fight in the next round when a severe cut around Cooper's left eye forced the Englishman to retire.

In February the following year, Clay stunned the boxing world by winning his first world heavyweight title at the age of 22.

He predicted he would beat Liston, who had never lost, but few believed he could do it.

Yet, after six stunning rounds, Liston quit on his stool, unable to cope with his brash, young opponent.

Nation of Islam

At the time of his first fight with Liston, Clay was already involved with the Nation of Islam, a religious movement whose stated goals were to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African Americans in the United States.

But in contrast to the inclusive approach favored by civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King, the Nation of Islam called for separate black development and was treated by suspicion by the American public.

Ali eventually converted to Islam, ditching what he perceived was his "slave name" and becoming Cassius X and then Muhammad Ali.

In 1967, Ali took the momentous decision of opposing the US war in Vietnam, a move that was widely criticized by his fellow Americans.

He refused to be drafted into the US military and was subsequently stripped of his world title and boxing license. He would not fight again for nearly four years.

Reactions to Ali's death

"It's a sad day for life, man. I loved Muhammad Ali, he was my friend. Ali will never die. Like Martin Luther King his spirit will live on, he stood for the world." - Don King, who promoted many of Ali's fights, including the Rumble in the Jungle

"Muhammad Ali was one of the greatest human beings I have ever met. No doubt he was one of the best people to have lived in this day and age." - George Foreman, Ali's friend and rival in the Rumble in the Jungle

"There will never be another Muhammad Ali. The black community all around the world, black people all around the world, needed him. He was the voice for us. He's the voice for me to be where I'm at today." - Floyd Mayweather, world champion boxer across five divisions

"Everybody wanted to box because of him. He was just so amazing in every way. More than anything else it was how humble and how brilliantly charismatic he was. He was a beautiful-looking man, a beautiful-looking individual and he had so much compassion. He was the greatest sportsman there has ever been and we were very lucky that he chose boxing." - Barry McGuigan, former world featherweight champion

"We lost a giant today. Boxing benefitted from Muhammad Ali's talents but not as much as mankind benefitted from his humanity." - Filipino six-weight world champion Manny Pacquiao

Rumble in the Jungle

After his conviction for refusing the draft was overturned in 1971, Ali returned to the ring and fought in three of the most iconic contests in boxing history, helping restore his reputation with the public.

He was handed his first professional defeat by Joe Frazier in the "Fight of the Century" in New York on 8 March 1971, only to regain his title with an eighth-round knockout of George Foreman in the "Rumble in the Jungle" in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) on 30 October 1974.

Ali fought Frazier for a third and final time in the Philippines on 1 October 1975, coming out on top in the "Thrilla in Manila" when Frazier failed to emerge for the 15th and final round.

Six defenses of his title followed before Ali lost on points to Leon Spinks in February 1978, although he regained the world title by the end of the year, avenging his defeat at the hands of the 1976 Olympic light-heavyweight champion.

Parkinson's

Ali's career ended with one-sided defeats by Larry Holmes in 1980 and Trevor Berbick in 1981, many thinking he should have retired long before.

He fought a total of 61 times as a professional, losing five times and winning 37 bouts by knockout.

Soon after retiring, rumors began to circulate about the state of Ali's health. His speech had become slurred, he shuffled and he was often drowsy.

Parkinson's Syndrome was eventually diagnosed but Ali continued to make public appearances, receiving warm welcomes wherever he travelled.

He lit the Olympic cauldron at the 1996 Games in Atlanta and carried the Olympic flag at the opening ceremony for the 2012 Games in London.

Compiled from BBC, agencies

   A poster for the legendary title fight between George foreman and Muhammad Ali in Kinshasa in 1974.