MUAMMAR GADDAFI'S DEAD BODY PUT IN PUBLIC FOR DISPLAY!!!!

Lebohang Pita

@LeboPita

The tragic end of Muammar Gaddafi. What can we draw from this picture? Was it really imperative to the Libyans that the "Brother Leader"s supreme reign end the way it did?

Kenyan Nobel Peace laureate Maathai dies

Reuters, Times LIVE | 26 September, 2011 11:12

Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, has died in hospital after a long struggle with cancer, says her environmental organisation the Green Belt Movement.

Maathai, 71, who was also a veterinary anatomy professor, won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize for campaigns against government-backed forest clearances in Kenya in the late 1980s and 1990s.  

Maathai had to endure being whipped, tear-gassed and threatened with death for her devotion to Africa’s forests and her desire to end the corruption that spells their destruction.  

“It’s a matter of life and death for this country,” Maathai once said. “The Kenyan forests are facing extinction and it is a man-made problem.”  

She called the clearance of forests a “suicidal mission”.  

“To interfere with them is to interfere with the rain system, the water system and therefore agriculture, not to mention the other industries dependent on hydro-electricity.”  

In 1989, Maathai’s protests forced then-president Daniel arap Moi to abandon a plan to erect an office tower in a Nairobi park. In 1999, she was beaten and whipped by guards during a demonstration against the sale of forest land in Nairobi.  

“It is with great sadness that the Green Belt Movement announces the passing of its founder and chair, Professor Wangari Muta Maathai, after a long illness bravely borne,” the organisation id in a statement on its website.  

“Her departure is untimely and a very great loss to all of us who knew her — as a mother, relative, co-worker, colleague, role model, and heroine — or those who admired her determination to make the world a peaceful, healthy and better place for all of us,” the statement said.  

Tributes poured in on social media, and Kenyan television stations broadcast past interviews with Maathai.  

“We join family and friends in mourning Prof. Wangari Maathai, a phenomenal woman, a friend and role model. You lived, you inspired,” said Kenyan politician Martha Karua on her Twitter account.  

Maathai’s Green Belt Movement has spread across the African continent and gone on to plant millions of trees around Africa in a campaign to slow deforestation and erosion.  

Besides founding the Green Belt Movement, Maathai campaigned for civil and women’s rights and also served as a member of parliament.  

“Rest in peace Dr. Wangari Maathai. A great woman, an inspiration for many women across Africa, a magnificent visionary and embodiment of courage,” Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete said in a Twitter message.

Achmat Dangor, Chief Executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation says the organisations offers their deepest condolences to the family, friends and comrades of Maathai.

“It was with great sadness that we learned today of the passing of this exceptional environmental activist.

• COURTESY OF TIMES LIVE



TUT HONOURS ATHLETES

Elated students poses for a photo with their accolades.

Lebohang Pita
@LeboPita

TUT Soshanguve campus hosted an award ceremony at the Soshanguve South Campus gymnasium on Thursday night, October 20.

This ceremony is held annually to give gratitude to  sportsmen and women who have excelled in their respective sporting fields.

The athletes have represented the institution in regional, provincial and national levels and have collected many accolades, putting TUT among the best sporting Universities in South Africa.

Director of TUT sports and recreation, Mr. Chaka Croukamp, opened the event with an inspiring speech and congratulated the Ga-Rankuwa campus acrobatics team for reaching the semi-finals of the acrobatics world championships taking place in Australia.




Athletes of the year Kgopotso Mhlongo

 and Thoblle Mbonani.

  “Events like this are very important to students who excel in sport. TUT is unique and it’s about your performance and respect when you don the institution’s jersey"he said." I’m in a buoyant mood because the Ga-Rankuwa campus acrobats have reached the semi-finals of the world championships.” concluded Croukamp.

Students were entertained with good music by various DJs and the Master of Ceremonies, TUT FM’s Venda Boy, kept the guests on their toes with his funny antics.

The night saw about 50 winners, with some students and staff members scooping several awards.

The most notable are karate players Gugulethu Ngwenya and M.W Damisa who received three awards apiece for their contribution and participation in provincial and national levels.

These sport stars are not excelling only at sport but are also doing well academically.

The academic sportsman and woman of the year award went to Maletsatsi Modise and footballer S.L Khumalo.

Both these athletes were jubilant.

“I am speechless and I am grateful that the good work I am doing is being recognised.” Said Modise.

Khumalo echoed Modise’s sentiments and thanked his coach for giving him courage.

The biggest winners of the night were dancer Thobile Mbonani and basketball star Kgopotso Mhlongo who went home with the Soshanguve campus sportman and woman of the year.

Mbonani said she was astonished by the award.

“I am surprised by the award but I’m grateful and congratulations to all the winners.”

Mhlongo was coy.

“It is not the first time I am receiving this award. It’s all thanks to god.”

Event organiser Muzi Dlamini was ecstatic that the event was a success.

“As you can see, it has been well organized, everybody is happy and I’m grateful it’s a success,”concluded Dlamini.