In the News
There were some great stories to come out of South Africa in the past week or so...
The entire country has rallied to the cause of Kabelo Thibedi, a hapless, unemployed guy who snapped in the Home Affairs office on Wednesday. Home Affairs is responsible for issuing everyone's ID booklets, which are as essential as having a Social Security number in the states. And Thibedi had been waiting for two years for his.
When he waited in another long line on Tuesday only to be told that his ID book still wasn't ready, it was the last straw. He came back on Wednesday with a toy gun and used it to take a Home Affairs supervisor hostage. When the police came, he had only one demand: just bring me my freakin' ID book.
So they did. It took them six hours to process it and fly it up from Pretoria by helicopter, but they got him his ID book.
While he was waiting, Thibedi did a lengthy phone interview with a radio station in which he explained the many jobs he had been offered and was unable to take because he didn't have his ID book.
Of course, when they delivered the ID book, it was part of a ploy to capture him and end the standoff. He was arrested, but he's now out on bail and it seems like half the country wants to pitch in to pay for his legal defense. He's quickly becoming a folk hero. Read a few stories about him here and here.
In other news, this is the third year of the South African version of American Idols (or should I say, of the South African version of Pop Idol, since we ripped off the British too?). This year was the first time that a non-white person won. She's a former apple picker from the Cape Town area. Now she's got a big recording contract and she's rushing to apply for a passport because her new label wants to take her act overseas. Click here to read her story.
Lastly, there was an incident in our neighborhood on the night of Halloween where several kids got shot, drive-by style, by someone armed with a paintball gun. One kid got hit in the chin at point-blank range. Now they've found and arrested the culprit, and it turns out he's a man of the cloth...of sorts.
That is, he's a minister who is also a furious opponent of gun control and who has gotten in trouble for smuggling guns into countries where there are coups in progress. The paintball thing was his way of protesting against the pagan origins of Halloween.
And his kids were the shooters, apparently. He says they were the ones armed with the paintball guns.
The entire country has rallied to the cause of Kabelo Thibedi, a hapless, unemployed guy who snapped in the Home Affairs office on Wednesday. Home Affairs is responsible for issuing everyone's ID booklets, which are as essential as having a Social Security number in the states. And Thibedi had been waiting for two years for his.
When he waited in another long line on Tuesday only to be told that his ID book still wasn't ready, it was the last straw. He came back on Wednesday with a toy gun and used it to take a Home Affairs supervisor hostage. When the police came, he had only one demand: just bring me my freakin' ID book.
So they did. It took them six hours to process it and fly it up from Pretoria by helicopter, but they got him his ID book.
While he was waiting, Thibedi did a lengthy phone interview with a radio station in which he explained the many jobs he had been offered and was unable to take because he didn't have his ID book.
Of course, when they delivered the ID book, it was part of a ploy to capture him and end the standoff. He was arrested, but he's now out on bail and it seems like half the country wants to pitch in to pay for his legal defense. He's quickly becoming a folk hero. Read a few stories about him here and here.
In other news, this is the third year of the South African version of American Idols (or should I say, of the South African version of Pop Idol, since we ripped off the British too?). This year was the first time that a non-white person won. She's a former apple picker from the Cape Town area. Now she's got a big recording contract and she's rushing to apply for a passport because her new label wants to take her act overseas. Click here to read her story.
Lastly, there was an incident in our neighborhood on the night of Halloween where several kids got shot, drive-by style, by someone armed with a paintball gun. One kid got hit in the chin at point-blank range. Now they've found and arrested the culprit, and it turns out he's a man of the cloth...of sorts.
That is, he's a minister who is also a furious opponent of gun control and who has gotten in trouble for smuggling guns into countries where there are coups in progress. The paintball thing was his way of protesting against the pagan origins of Halloween.
And his kids were the shooters, apparently. He says they were the ones armed with the paintball guns.
posted by Erik at 10:13 pm
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