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Oscar Pistorius, an Olympic and Paralympic champion convicted of killing his girlfriend during a sleepover, is scheduled for release 10 months into his five year prison sentence, local media is reporting.
News of the early release was first shared with the family of Reeva Steenkamp, Pistorius’ model girlfriend who he claimed to have mistaken for an intruder in his gated community apartment.
The trial of Pistorius, who lower legs were amputated at an early age, was closely watched over the seven months in court as an indication of how post-apartheid South Africa would treat criminals that were white.
The track star has been held in South Africa’s capital at the Pretoria Central Prison, once the execution site for opponents of South Africa’s racist, white-minority government.
Under South African law, Pistorius is eligible for release under “correctional supervision” having served a sixth of his sentence.
South African Commissioner of Correctional Services Zach Modise told the BBC that the case management committee at the Kgosi Mampuru II prison in Pretoria, where Pistorius is being held, made the recommendation last week.
The decision is likely to mean a period of house arrest for Pistorius.
Steenkamp, a 29-year-old law graduate and model, died almost instantly on Valentine’s Day in 2013 when Pistorius shot her through a locked toilet door at his luxury Pretoria home.
Tania Koen, a lawyer for Ms Steenkamp’s parents Barry and June, said that while the two had forgiven Pistorius, “ten months is not enough”.
“It also doesn’t send out the proper message and serve as the proper deterrent as the way it should.”
Prosecutors had pushed for a murder conviction, but the athlete maintained he fired in the mistaken belief an intruder was hiding behind the door.
A bid to appeal the culpable homicide conviction was upheld and prosecutors will seek a murder conviction when their case is heard again in November.
The decision could leave Pistorius open to a prison sentence of at least 15 years if he is convicted of murder.
Zimbabwe Health Activist Joins 500 in U.S. for Obama’s Flagship Africa Program
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Where some business school graduates nurse dreams of wealth and glory, Vimbiso Mashumba has been building health care systems to help women and children in Zimbabwe.
The young entrepreneur runs a rural clinic that combats high levels of mother to child transmission of HIV and other HIV related issues.
She also co-founded a school-building program – Love Zimbabwe For Good – which raises support for education by building classrooms, providing textbooks, and ensuring equal educational opportunities for children with disabilities.
“Zimbabwe’s future is in our children’s hands,” she wrote on the Facebook page. “Let’s guarantee it by ensuring that they have access to basic education.”
A video of one of the schools can be seen on the group’s page.
Vimbiso now joins a select group of 500 young African leaders selected for the Mandela Washington Fellowship, the flagship program of President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative. The President launched YALI to support young African as they spur growth and prosperity, strengthen democratic governance and enhance peace and security across the continent.
Vimbiso will take her fellowship studies at the University of Texas Austin. The program runs from mid-June to mid-July. Twenty universities across the nation have signed on to the program.
At the conclusion of the academic and leadership institute, all Fellows will participate in a Presidential Summit with President Obama in early August.
Also among this year’s Fellows are:
• Ejiro Sharon Okotie, a disability and women’s rights advocate from Nigeria who founded an NGO that gives vulnerable women and girls a voice through capacity-building and sexual and reproductive health rights training.
• Andrew Longwe, co-founder and CEO of Capital Financial Services, a youth microfinance program in Malawi, who is also an accomplished entrepreneur, business coach, and mentor.
• Israel Taye, a human rights lawyer from Ethiopia who is passionate about youth empowerment, sustainability, and environmental rights, and strives to promote youth voice through development forums across the continent.
• Thato Violet Mochone, an award-winning radio host from Lesotho who advocates for youth, women’s empowerment, and LGBT rights in her community while using journalism and radio as tools to promote social justice. w/pix of Fellowship students at the University of Nevada, Reno
Nigerian Journalist Shows her Mettle in Unexpected Face to Face with Mugabe
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A popular TV journalist caught visiting President Robert Mugabe of guard with a line of tough questioning at the recent inauguration of Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
President Mugabe, looking frail and under the weather, had been surrounded by bodyguards in a convoy caught in traffic while approaching the inauguration ceremonies.
In one unguarded moment, the Nigerian journalist, Adeola Fayehun, and a small team, greeted the dignitary and then, wasting no time, posed the question: “Don’t you think it’s time to step down sir?” A follow up question: “When will there be change in Zimbabwe sir?” was followed by “Will there ever be a change in Zimbabwe”?
She reminded him that Nigeria was taking part in a peaceful transition of power from Goodluck Jonathan to President Buhari.
“I wasn’t trying to make news, I was just trying to ask at least one question on how long this would be, when will you [Mugabe] step down as President” she explained.
While many Africans across the continent have been aware of the appealing TV star , whose weekly satirical news show Keeping It Real was launched singlehandedly in November 2011, it took the daring ambush of Robert Mugabe for her to be noticed in internationally.
After the incident, The Telegraph’s chief political correspondent Colin Freeman wrote: “Compared to the BBC’s John Simpson or CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Adeola Fayehun from Nigeria is not exactly a global name in the world of television reporting. This week, though, she made broadcasting history as she did something that few African reporters have ever dared do: ask one of their ageing dictators when the hell he is going to quit.”
Fayehun’s style has proved popular: pithy, well-researched social commentary and news combined with satire and comedy, noted an editorial in the Daily Maverick of South Africa. She holds a Masters degree in Broadcast Journalism from the City University of NY and has held numerous broadcasting positions.
Meanwhile, Pres. Mugabe, now in his 6th term in office, has been traveling frequently to Singapore where it is believed he is received treatments for an undisclosed condition. U.S. and European sanctions continue to dog his regime. w/pix of Adeola Fayehun and Pres. Mugabe.
