Kumaratunga becomes Mrs Vajpayee

Coomi Kapoor

Who's Mrs Vajpayee?

In a major goof-up, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Chandrika Kumaratunga was described by South African Television as Mrs Atal Behari Vajpayee. The camera clip of Chandrika Kumaratunga walking majestically down the red carpet and greeting Mandela was accompanied by a commentary stating that India's PM Vajpayee and his wife had arrived and giving details on the large number of native South Africans of Indian origin. The commentator seemed to have got confused by Kumaratunga's saree, the TV station later apologised.

Mandela's successor

Within a year, 80-year-old Nelson Mandela will step down to make way for his successor Thabo Mbeki, deputy president and also president of the ruling ANC. In his early fifties, Mbeki, who was in exile for 25 years during the apartheid regime, has an economics degree from Sussex University and represents an articulate and well educated younger generation in politics.

Mbeki, however, lacks Mandela's charisma and ability to reconciledifferences between the three racial groups of South Africa: White, black and coloured. Mbeki's stress on an ``African renaissance'' have many whites and even some South Africans of Indian origin worried.

The dark side

Botha Hill on the affluent outskirts of Durban with green side walks, flowering bushes and gracious bungalows with swimming pools looks like a set of a Hollywood movie on upmarket suburbia. But there is a dark side to this sunny scenario. Every compound has installed electric fencing and elaborate burglar alarms.

Because of the high incidence of crime including, mugging, rape and burglary visitors are advised not to walk alone in Durban after sunset. In fact, the Indian embassy here has hired a hawk-eyed judo champion as a security guard for the India media party.

One up on India

South Africa has beaten India in introducing reservations for women. New laws make a 50 per cent reservation for blacks and women in all companies and institutions compulsory.

It isunclear whether South Africans of Indian origin are entitled to the benefit of the quota. Indians first arrived in South Africa as indentured in 1860.

PM's defence

Prime Minister Vajpayee addressing a gathering of the local Gujarati community said it was wrong to describe his government as a Hindu nationalist government. His government consisted of 14 parties not just the BJP. In any case, the BJP believed in ``Indians first and not Hindus first''.

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