Ubuntu in Germany Column

And the Oscar goes to….

(Editor: Alex Smit-Stachowski is speaking in her column about life as a South African now living in Germany. The South African journalist lives in Krefeld, in North Rhine-Westphalia/ Germany).

Valentine’s Day in 2013 dawned with the shocking news that the lithe, disabled sportsman, Oscar Pistorius had shot his blonde model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp dead while claiming he thought she was a robber out to hurt him. I wrote about the German media coverage at the time – now a year later, Europeans and ex-pats are glued to their TV sets or radios to keep up with the live trial.

© Posed picture – In real-life I only listen to the live trial, while working frantically. Watching telly like this would be very dangerous for anybody during work hours! Totally impossible to watch and work – although it seems a few friends on Facebook are managing to do this.

Ubuntu in Germany Column

Stewardess to raise funds for South African and German needy with art from Berlin

(Editor: Alex Smit-Stachowski is speaking in her column about life as a South African now living in Germany. The South African journalist lives in Krefeld, in North Rhine-Westphalia/ Germany).

Lufthansa stewardess Claudia Retief (43) is a German-Italian married to an Afrikaans South African. She started the enthusiastic art community volunteer initiative, “Night of a 1000 Drawings Berlin” and their exhibition in May will raise funds for less fortunate South Africans and Germans.

© After seeing an art exhibition in Johannesburg, Lufthansa stewardess Claudia Retief took the concept to Berlin. Ubuntu-Columnist Alex Smit-Stachowski talked with the “Night of a 1000 Drawings Berlin” founder.

Anti-apartheid activist dies in Germany

Veteran anti-apartheid activist Eric Singh dies in Berlin, days before his planned return to South Africa

(Editor: Anli Serfontein, South African journalist in Berlin)

Veteran anti-apartheid activist Eric Singh (81) dies in Berlin on Tuesday 11 February 2014, only days before he was due to fly to South Africa to spend his last days with his closest relatives.

© Veteran anti-apartheid activist Eric Singh (81) dies in Berlin. The South African citizen was responsible for the magazine production of Sechaba the ANC mouthpiece in exile. He was also for many years the face of the ANC in East Germany

Viva Mandela, viva!

Thank you Tata Madiba – for what you did for our country – we will never forget. Aluta continua

(Editor: Alex Smit-Stachowski)

- MANDELA-Spezial -

It is with a very sore heart that I say goodbye to Tata Madiba or let’s use his official title, President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. For us South Africans – he was truly a Tata, a wise elder who showed us the way forward to a new democracy, a life with freedom – for all.

© Nelson Mandela showed the South Africans the way forward to democracy. The people of South Africa said thank you, Tata Madiba, for this important effort for a new country with liberty for all citizens. (Source: flickr/ crystalndavis)

Ubuntu in Germany Column

Whites only as South Africa exhibits at Anuga in Cologne

(Editor: Alex Smit-Stachowski is speaking in her column about life as a South African now living in Germany. The South African journalist lives in Krefeld, in North Rhine-Westphalia/ Germany).

It was like a throwback to Apartheid days. Visitors to the South African pavilion of the Anuga trade show, held in Cologne recently saw a sea of white faces. What has happened in South Africa since ’94 and with black empowerment? One single black person among the 40 exhibitors – that is shameful.

© Alex Smit-Stachowski with Doris Lily Mallaun of Great Heart of Africa behind her, at the Anuga Trade Show in Cologne.

Ubuntu in Germany Column

Anuga Trade Show in Cologne:  Photo essay on South African exhibitors

(Editor: Alex Smit-Stachowski is speaking in her column about life as a South African now living in Germany. The South African journalist lives in Krefeld, in North Rhine-Westphalia/ Germany).

The Anuga Trade Show in Cologne is the largest trade show for the food service and catering market in the world. Alexandra Smit-Stachowski visited the South African pavilion and spoke to a few exhibitors.

© The Anuga Trade Show was held in Cologne recently. The South Africa Pavilion saw 40 exhibitors offering a wide range of products from sorbet sushi to ready-made African fast food.

Ubuntu in Germany Column

South African government to rebuild trust and promote entrepreneurs

(Editor: Alex Smit-Stachowski is speaking in her column about life as a South African now living in Germany. The South African journalist lives in Krefeld, in North Rhine-Westphalia/ Germany).

The South African government recognises it should improve service delivery, “rebuild trust with the NGOs” and address that the “inequality gap is widening,” said Nonceba Mashalaba, Chief Director: Programme Monitoring and Evaluation – The Incentive Development and Administration Division at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in Frankfurt recently.

© Strong female business leaders from Germany and South Africa met at the “Frauen in der Wirtschaft in Deutschland und Südafrika” roundtable hosted by Brand South Africa in Frankfurt, recently to exchange ideas. Ubuntu-Columnist Alex Smit-Stachowski attended this event.

Ubuntu in Germany Column

Goodbye Germany: Ubuntu columnist Alex Smit-Stachowski intends to trek back to South Africa

(Editor: Alex Smit-Stachowski is speaking in her column about life as a South African now living in Germany. The South African journalist lives in Krefeld, in North Rhine-Westphalia/ Germany).

© Ubuntu columnist Alex Smit-Stachowski will leave Germany and to go back to South Africa, her birthplace. Her most important reason for this, is love.

I recently flew to South Africa to have a short holiday with the man I had fallen in love with. After spending five days in Johannesburg, I decided that within the next year, I will move back to my mother country.

Leaving Germany – with its modern, efficient business-like manner and thriving economy for the multicultural, often haphazard and conflicted country at the bottom of the world map is not an easy decision but one I am making for several reasons – the primary one being love.

„Versöhnung ist ein nie endender Prozess“

Im Interview mit Antjie Krog, Schriftstellerin und Journalistin

(Autor: Ghassan Abid)

© Antije Krog zählt zu den führenden Schriftstellern in Südafrika. Ihre literarischen Werke zur Aufarbeitung der Apartheid machten die in Kapstadt lebende Autorin international bekannt. Im Vorfeld ihres Auftritts auf dem “Internationalen Literaturfestival Berlin” stand Krog für ein Interview mit “SÜDAFRIKA – Land der Kontraste” zur Verfügung. (Quelle: Krzysztof Zielinski)

Deutsche Interview-Zusammenfassung:

Antjie Krog zählt zu den führenden Schriftstellern Südafrikas. Die in Kapstadt lebende Autorin ist international für ihre Analysen des Lebens in Südafrika bekannt. Sie beleuchtet nicht nur die Lebenswirklichkeit der weißen, sondern auch die der schwarzen Bevölkerung. In ihrem bislang populärsten Buch „Country of My Skull” befasste sie sich mit der Aufarbeitung der Apartheid im Rahmen der Wahrheits- und Versöhnungskommission. Sie hält fest, dass die Versöhnung ein nie endender Prozess ist.

H&M-Eröffnung in Kapstadt?

Exklusiv: Dementi aus Hamburg und Stockholm. Modehaus expandiert (noch) nicht nach Südafrika

(Autor: Ghassan Abid)

Die Bevölkerung in Kapstadt konnte es nicht glauben. Schnell verbreitete sich vor Ort das Gerücht, dass das beliebte schwedische Modehaus Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) in Kürze eine Filiale in Kapstadt eröffnen würde. Nur der genaue Ort des ersten Geschäfts in Südafrika überhaupt sei der Öffentlichkeit noch nicht bekannt. Auch innerhalb der deutschen Gemeinschaft in Kapstadt fiel die Meldung auf ein großes Echo. Zur Enttäuschung aller Modefans am Kap kann nun abschließend festgehalten werden: Das Gerücht hat sich auf Anfrage von „SÜDAFRIKA – Land der Kontraste“ nicht bestätigt.

© In Kapstadt verbreitete sich schnell das Gerücht, wonach das schwedische Modehaus Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) in Kürze seine erste Filiale in Südafrika eröffnen würde. Auf Anfrage von “SÜDAFRIKA – Land der Kontraste” teilt das Unternehmen mit, dass das Gerücht nicht den Tatsachen entspreche. (Quelle: flickr/ Vucko1000)

Ubuntu in Germany Column

Germans face the heat in socks and sandals. An comparative analysis to South African weather behaviour

(Editor: Alex Smit-Stachowski is speaking in her column about life as a South African now living in Germany. The South African journalist lives in Krefeld, in North Rhine-Westphalia/ Germany).

Heat wave! Germans seldom experience such sweltering summers as the one currently underway – hot winds from Africa blowing across the country and ice-cream sales at an all-time high. Yet how Germans deal with the heat and South Africans do, is quite different to each other.

© Heat Wave in Germany! Ubuntu-Columnist Alex Smit-Stachowski is analyzing how Germans and South Africans are dealing with the heat. (Source: flickr/ Bjørn Giesenbauer)

Ubuntu in Germany Column

Some Whites fear Genocide if Madiba Passes, so the thesis by a group of Conservatives

(Editor: Alex Smit-Stachowski is speaking in her column about life as a South African now living in Germany. The South African journalist lives in Krefeld, in North Rhine-Westphalia/ Germany).

It seems like a joke – a throwback to the early 90’s where whites packed tins in anticipation of civil war as negotiations between politicians got testy. It is deadly serious – there is a sector of the white population who fear if former President Nelson Mandela dies, there will be a bloodbath and they will be the victims.

© A group of conservative whites fear that when Madiba passes and the initial mourning period in South Africa has been observed, it will be a free-for-all for angry blacks to massacre them. Ubuntu-Columnist Alex Smit-Stachowski is checking this thesis.