MICHAEL O. ALLEN

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Afrikaner Memorial gets new owners

By Homepage, New York Daily News, South Africa: The Freedom VoteNo Comments

By GENE MUSTAIN and MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writers | Wednesday, April 13, 1994

PRETORIA—The prospect of black majority rule has resulted in the privatization of this country’s most famous monument.

In a move akin to turning the Statute of Liberty over to the Manhattan Institute, the departing white minority government has transferred ownership of the Voortrekker Monument to a conservative citizens group.

The monument, a huge stone monolith atop a hill overlooking this capital city, celebrates the Afrikaners—whites of Dutch, German and French descent who “trekked” into the interior and defeated black Zulus 150 years ago.

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May 2, 2009
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Blacks live in N.Y.—that’s no put on

By Homepage, New York Daily News, South Africa: The Freedom VoteNo Comments

By GENE MUSTAIN and MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writers | Monday, April 11, 1994

  • JOHANNESBURG—This is a time and a city for keeping a journal:

Yes, Princess, New York is in the U.S.A. and black people live there.

Most black South Africans have had little contact with American blacks, so little that Princess Mgwebi, a security officer at a hospital in the black township of Soweto, was astonished last week when a black reporter from New York introduced himself.

“I didn’t know there are black people in New York,” she said.

Told that indeed black people live in New York and all over the U.S., her jaw dropped. “New York is part of the United States?” she said, wrinkling the vertical facial scars that indicated she was of the Ndebele tribe.

“Yes, and many blacks live there.

“Well,” Mgwebi said, not entirely sure she was not being put on. “I know there are blacks in the United States because that is where Michael Jackson is from, and I know he is black.” Read More

May 2, 2009
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Mandela, ANC Readying for Power

By Homepage, New York Daily News, South Africa: The Freedom VoteNo Comments

By MICHAEL O. ALLEN, Daily News Staff Writer | Sunday, May 8, 1994

JOHANNESBURG—South Africa’s new national assembly sits for the first time tomorrow, and the African National Congress, which holds 252 of the chamber’s 400 seats, will select Nelson Mandela, as president.

On Tuesday, he will be sworn in as the nation’s first president chosen democratically. The theme of the inauguration concert, with some 3,000 performers, is “Many Cultures, One Nation.”

The weight of history, of course, demands this.

Much of the world is coming to share in the celebration—and, perhaps, taste some of the smoked crocodile and ostrich dishes on the menu.
Delegations representing more than 125 nations, including 40 heads of state, plan to attend. The American contingent is headed by Vice President Al Gore.
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April 5, 2009
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