-2 .
Mali eek
10 t billion
The Mali Government
has sked witzerl nd to
help it recover millions of
. dollar alleged y hidden
away in Swiss bank by
Mousse Traore, the
deposed Malian president,
according to published
reports in Geneva.
If found, the sum - ap­
proaching $1 billlion ac­
cording to Mali - would be
enough to cover almost the
entire foreign debt of the
impoverished West
African country.
. Traore was deposed in a
coup d'etat in March and is
now .awaiting trial in
Bamalo. -
Qu yle in
Malawi
Vice President Dan
Quayle flew into Malawi
last week carrying a mes­
sage of the "new world
order" of freedom and
democracy, but by the time
he left less than 24 hours
later, Quayle had inadver­
tently endorsed an aging
dictator and his cronies.
The country's only
newspaper carried a ban­
ner headline the next
morning which read, "U .S.
\:' ice P residen t Praises
Malawi." The paper said
Quayle's visit was "an in­
dication of the confidence
President Bush has in this
country's leadership."
Malawi is one of
Africa's smallest countries,
with only 9 million people,
and one of its poorest. Only
35 percent of its land is
suitable for growing crops,
and there are no natural
resources to speak of.
Angola' .
economy
ldetracked
The 841-mile Benguela
railroad was the backbone
of the colonial economy of
Angola, but thanks to the
16-year civil war, now lies
wasted.
Government officials es­
timate the cost of repairs at
$500 million.
U.S and South African­
backed UNIT A blew up 75
of the railroad's 97 bridges
during the war.
Angola lost $90 in
revenues last year because
the line is down.
STATE AND NATION
I
future position of ... South
till too uncertain," P i­
Mangope of Bophuthat­
wana told Parliament in April. .... 0
po ible 1 r or government can
be expected to walk blindly into
dispens tion of unknown nature."
SOUTH AFRICA CARVED out
10 B ck homelands in the 1960s,
with th aim of makin them inde­
pendent and leaving the best p of
the country for the hites.
Four C\'altUallv became iDdcpmd-
ent, but Venda, Ciskei and Trans ei
now want to return. Venda is in the
far northeast, near the borde with
Zimbabwe. Ciskei and Transkei are
on the outheastern coast.
Mangope Fears the next govern­
ment will be dominated by the Afri­
can National Congress, South Af­
rica's main Black opposition group,
which opposes the homeland con­
cept and considers Mangope a cor­
rupt puppet of the South Africans.
Among the senior ANC leaders
is Peter Malebane-Metsing, who fled
Bophuthatswana in 1988 after lead­
ing an unsuccessful coup against
Mangope. The ANC's clo e alliance
with the South African Communist
Party s trikes fear into Bophuthat­
swana's capitalist soul.
During an interview in the home­
land's modern capital, Education
Minister K.C. Sehume said that, while
communism was in trouble every­
where, .... Look at Mmabatho: People
drive beautiful cars, live in beautiful
homes."
GOVERNMENT and business
leaders ee Bophuthatswana as an
oasis on a troubled continent, an
image that applies in Mmabotho and
Sun City, the gambling resort.
Construction craoes swing through
the skies, building luxury hotels and
office buildings. The racial tension
prevalent in South Africa's big cities
seems to melt away.
.... What's your sign?' a young Black
policeman asked a white woman,
flirting across the color line in a
manner almost unheard of in South
Africa.
James Fields, a native of Dallas,
Texas, arrived in 1981 to help man-
Tb Y were able to avoid much of
the prejudice facing intenacial coepl
in South Africa, where uchrelation-
ship ere illegal until 1985.
IN ADDITION, Pamela Fields
said, he could attend a university
free from the political turmoil of
South Africa.
Mangope cites wise money
management and racial integration
examples of why Bophuthatswana
thrives in relation to other home­
lands, but it had advantages from the
start.
The South African government
pumped millions of dollars into the
homeland, hoping to make it a model
for others. The seven pieces include
rich platinum reserves and are suit­
able for producing enough cattle and
maize to feed its 2 million people in
a good year. Bophuthatswana, com­
monly called Bop, remains far from
self-sufficent despite this.
Aid from South Africa accounts
for 27 percent of the 1991-92 budget
and 80 percent of trade is with South
Africa. The government says nearly
40 percent of the people work there
and the number is expected to in­
crease with the lifting of economic
sanctions that drove many businesses
out of South Africa.
Outside the air-conditioned rom­
fort of Mmabatho's offices and Sun
City's glittering casinos, shantytowns
like those in South Africa's impover­
ished Black townships appear in the
dismal desert landscape. Most of the
well-off business leaders in
Bophuthatswana are white South
Africans or foreigners.
Perhaps the most vivid example
of Bophuthatswana's inability to fend
u.s., South Africa· reach
steel agreement
BY MJ.CBAEL BLOOD
ASSOCiATED PRESS WRITER
WASHINGroN-An agreement
between South Africa and the Bush
administration will plug a trade loop­
hole that threatened jobs in the U.S.
steel industry, officials said last week.
The accord does not spell out
specific llinits on South African steel
entering the United States, but its
guidelines are intended to protect
the U.S. market as South Africa resu­
mes trade following the lifting of
economic sanctions by the Bush
administration, officials said.
In a statement, Rep. John Mur­
tha, D-Pa., cbairmanofthe Congres­
sional Steel Caucus, said the agree­
ment was .... a good, positive step on
the part of South Africa and seems to
indicate their willingness to cooper­
ate with the U.S. on steel-trade is-
ues."
.... It's good news for steelworkers
in PennsylvanIa, and it's good new
as American companies will con­
tinue to buy Americansteel," he said.
Until late 1989, South Africa was
covered under agreements control-
ling the amount of steel it ships to the
United States. However, those agree­
ments lapsed after the U.s. govern­
ment imposed economic sanctions
against the country. The sanctions
were lifted July 10, technically giv­
ing South Africa unbridled access to
the U.S. steel market.
Congressmen feared that South
Africa, which has the capacity to
export 500,000 tons of steel to the
U.S. each year, would increase its
shipments and imperil thousands of
U.S. manufacturing job .
A3' a result of negotiations with
the U.S. Trade Representative, South
Africa has agreed to send a letter to
the Bush administration saying it has
no intention of disrupting the U.S.
market, according to Rep. Peter J.
Vtsctcsky, D-Ind. It also will delay
any steel shipments until at least
December or January.
Meanwhile, South Africa will
�imjMte all export subsidi for steel
shipped to the U.�., and will require
exporters to obtain licenses that will
allow the United States to closely
monitor the amount of steel entering
its market, his office said.
for itselfw t 1988 coup, which
would have ucceeded if South Afri­
can oldiers had not intervened.
CRlllCS OF MANGOPE cor-
ruption and nepotism keep him in
power.
.... If you are not known, then it is
. just too bad for you," aid Pupsey
Sebogodi, leader �f an anti-indepen -
ence movement in Braklaagte vil­
lage.
.... But if you are famo ome-
how, by having a relative in the
government or somewhere in impor­
tant places, you are better off. Those
are the people who say it is better for
us to be in Bop than in the town­
ships."
Vocal criticism of this orris rare
in Bophuthatswana, where ecurity
forces are accused of silencing di i­
dents brutally.
Scores of Mangope's opponents
are in jail, most in connection with
the coup. They have become a major
obstacle to the South Africa's at­
tempt to begin talks with the ANC on
a new constitution.
THE ANC WANTS the political
prisoners freed; South Africa says
they are the homeland's responsibil­
ity.
Bophuthatswana's leaders seem
to accept that international recogni-'
tion of their country remains un­
likely. Mangope has scheduled presf=
dential elections for November, mak­
ing clear he is in no rush to change
the situation.
moti
his familial roo in edu tion
religio
Gray, 50, cam. to Congr in
1979 to rep nt Phil delphi ' 2nd
Congres ional D' trict, rebounding
from narrow defeat two years ear­
lier. After rising 10 chairmanship of
th House Budget Committee and
later to tb third-ranking po t in the
House, majority whip, he leav to
become president of the United Negro
College Fund, which rai money
to help historically black schools.
Under state la , Gov. Robert P.
Casey must et a date for a special
election to fill the remainder of Grays
term within 10 day of the resigna­
tion. The election must be at least 60
day after Casey acts, in this e
pushing the election at least into
mid-November.
Because of the co t of a separate
election - perhaps much as $1
million - it's expected that Casey
will et the special election to coin­
cide with the April 28 primary next
year. Presumably, candidates could
run Simultaneously for the remain­
der of Gray's term and for the new
term beginning in 1993.
But some wrinkles make the
picture less than clear. Because the
state Legislature is realigning con­
gressional districts, the 2nd District,
which has lost population, won't look
the same in 1993.
The state apparently would hold
a special election for the old district
along with a primary for the new
one, which could include chunks of
Delaware or Montgomery counties
or other parts of the city. Some say
both elections should be for the new
district.
At any rate, the ballot could be­
come a muddle of names.
.... It's going to make a confusing
situation for voters in that district,"
said Casey spokesman Vincent
Carocci. .... There's a real danger a
special election for a congressional
seat gets lost in the process."
Casey bas not received official
notice of Gray' ignatlon,
not cted to et the date for the
ci election, Carocci . d. Th far,
two candidat have urfaced, for­
mer te We fare Secretary JohnF.
White Jr. and former city couocil­
man Lucien Blae ell. Also, Sen.
Cbaka Fattah, D-Philadelphia, re­
portedly co idering a run.
Wbitesaidhe p hingabcad
with his campaign P pile the
uncertainty around the district's com­
position and the date of the election.
White said he UIIling that
if a pecial election held to coin­
cide with the primary in May, that
tn new district boundaries would be
in place by that time and would apply
for both races.
.... We know that the bulk of wbat
is in this district will remain in this
district," White saiel .... lt holding.,
pattern, but we're moving straight
ahead."
Gray, meanwhile, recently bas
been defending his decision to leave.
Since he confirmed his plans, news
reports and colleagues have ques­
tioned his motives, suggesting that .
Gray w being luted by bigger
alary, or in a midlife crisis or
was bored by Congress. Gray
dismissed as rumors any suggestion
that he is resigning because of al­
leged Justice Department scrutiny of
his office's financial affairs.
During a speech earlier this moDlh,
Gray, who like his father became a
Baptist minister, pointed out tbat his
grandfather, father, mother and sis­
ter were all educators.
.... The opportunity to go back ...
and 'perhaps widen the bridge that
brought me over the troubled waters
so that someone else can do the same
thing is of greater value to me than
staying where I am now. And that is
the simple truth of the matter," be
said.
New work explores magic
reall m in Black life
The Future And Other Stories
Ra�h·Cheo·Thurmon
ISBN: 0-88378-125-5
P_ubllcatlon Date: 1991
Ralpb Cbeo Tburmo
.. I
culture, Thurmon i firmly placed in the role of
African griot. As a wri ter who has grounded himself
in the works of some of the world's most prolific
Black writers and storytellers, Thurmon say he
hopes" to make folklore move and grow."
Margaret Alexander Walker, wbo has e sig-
nificant contributions to the canons of Black fiction,
has written the introduction to Th. Future, labeling
it a welcome addition" Al a time when multicultural
education is slowly taking root in America's culture,
thi book i a fit introd ction of authentic Black
culture to lowly hrinking world."
Ralph "Cheo" Thurmon i a native of Chicago who
pent a great deal of hi youth traveling through 'the
South.
Thurmon specialize in short fiction, poetry and
journalism and is the recipient· of the Short Fiction
Award at Jackson State University and the Richard
Wright/John Oliver Killens PUblishing. Award For
Fiction.
Some within the African-American literary com­
munity predict that the decades of the nineties will
usher in a renewed interest in Black fiction that ex­
amines the core of magic realism - African­
American folklore and African spiritualism. If the
success of Toni Morrison and the resurgence of inter­
est in Zora Neal Hurston's works are any evidence,
. then he prognosticators may be correct in their
predictions.
With the publication of The Future And Other
Stories, author Ralph "Cheo" Thurmon joins an elite
group of Black writers who celebrate magic realism
within their work, writing with candor and respect
about the spiritual legacy and cultural practice that
are the foundation of Black life throughout the
African diaspora.
In this collection of fifteen hort tories, Thurmon
write in the tradition of Henry Dumas and Toni
Morrison, highlighting an ethos of humor, love, 10
and the fantastic. Siblings in Death Casts A Shadow
commune with the spirit of a mother who wants to
teach ancient Egyptian practices. The carvings on an
ances tral walking stick unlock a path to fulfillment for
the protagoni t in Son of Obatala:
Humor i the enceofChicagoJawbo�,agho t
tory which pi a city slicker against country kin.
The Birth 01 A Memory casts an unflinching eye at
interracial m rriage. Each story reflects Thurmon's
attention to detail resulting in genuine portrayal of
Black life from Chicago to Mi i ippi to Africa.
Thurmon compiled much of the material for The
Future from folklore nd legend told by relative and
friend in Chicago and Mi issippi. As keeper of the