Yesterday Michelle Obama and the girls (literally wrapped in the South African flag) arrived in South Africa to get a first hand look and to pay tribute to the legacy of Nelson Mandela, here.
Saying that throwing off the white oppressors was President Obama’s first political cause, they paid homage to Mandela.
“After leaving here, she proceeded to make a brief courtesy call on former president Mandela,” said Achmat Dangor, the head of the foundation, calling the first lady “a lovely woman without any airs”.
Their visit added to the symbolism surrounding Obama’s journey, with America’s first black family in the White House meeting South Africa’s first black president.
President Barack Obama has called the anti-apartheid struggle his first political cause, and US officials say he has had periodic telephone contact with Mandela, who led the struggle against white-minority rule.
I bet they never told Michelle about the black on black and black on Asian crimes against immigrants to South Africa, here, just days before her arrival. But, of course that wouldn’t fit into the media (and socialist) narrative about the “rainbow” nation.
Several Somali-owned shops in the South African town of Rothenberg have been attacked by local gangs, looting the properties and stealing cash, witnesses said Saturday.
Dahir Mohamed, a Somali trader and merchant, said that at least 10 shops were looted while three of them were set on fire after all the valuables and cash were taken.
“Fortunately, no Somali refugee was killed or hurt during Friday’s looting related incidents” Mohamed told Radio Mogadishu on Saturday morning, saying that all Somali shop owners and workers fled, fearing being killed or burned alive in their businesses.
He estimated that at least $2 million was taken. The shop owners called local police, Mohamed said, but did not receive any response.
He said that a Chinese businessman whose shop came under attack received an urgent response from the police. China has a diplomatic mission in South Africa while Somalia does not, Mohamed noted.
It is the second such attack in less than month. On May 11, more than 50 Somali-owned shops in the South African city of Port Elizabeth were destroyed and looted by local residents.
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