JOHANNESBURG: In his workshop stocked with piles of fabric and sewing machines, Sonwabile Ndamase is proud that the Madiba shirts he designed for Nelson Mandela 30 years ago endure as a legacy of South Africa’s first democratically elected leader.
Worn untucked and without a jacket, the loose Madiba shirts remain a favorite among South African politicians, making a statement 10 years after Mandela’s death.
Madiba is the clan name by which Mandela is known in South Africa.
Ndamase’s clients include South Africa’s current president, Cyril Ramaphosa, as well as his predecessors, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. The country’s political and business elite — including ministers, government spokesmen and local politicians — regularly place orders.
Even former US president Bill Clinton and boxing great Mike Tyson have a Madiba shirt.
“Anybody who wants to live a Mandela legacy or who wants to live Mandela ethos in life, guess what they are doing? They will go and pick up Madiba shirts,” Ndamase told AFP.
The jovial 64-year-old designer recalls when he was contacted by Winnie Mandela soon after the apartheid government released her husband from prison in 1990.
Having spent 27 years in jail, the hero of the fight against white-minority rule and South Africa’s soon-to-be president needed new clothes.
Ndamase met Mandela in his home Johannesburg’s Soweto. “He started to tell me that he wanted something that could look conservative enough for him to go and address the captains of industry and... then also to address the masses without having to change,” he said.
Mandela wanted a style that would make him stand out among other statesmen and did not require a tie.
The self-taught designer came up with the loose-fitting, casual-but-smart silk shirts with bold patterns that are associated with Mandela even after his death in 2013 at the age of 95.
The shirts often feature oriental-style patterns. Some boast deep colors such as burgundy, dark grey and royal blue, with playful designs; others are of cooler, tan hues, depicting elements from nature like leaves or twigs.
All are recognizable as the signature Mandela look. It is a style that Ndamase, who suffered a mild stroke in March 2024, is passing on to a new generation of garment-makers.
The jocular designer — whose perfect impersonation of Mandela is a testament to their time spent together — is taking his know-how to New York in September when he will host a masterclass for young designers.
On the same trip, he will showcase his Vukani brand’s new collection at an event for celebrity and elite buyers that will pay tribute to the 30 years of democracy since South Africa’s first all-race election in 1994.
The collection takes on a more casual, loungewear aesthetic, a breakaway from his usual style, Ndamase said. The occasion will feature in a documentary by a US-based filmmaker about his career.
Sporting a grey goatee, Ndamase laughs off the many other designers who claim to have pioneered the Madiba shirt or sell versions resembling his own, which today cost around 1,800 rand ($90) apiece.
Once described by the late Winnie Mandela as “part of the furniture,” he says never wanted to use the Mandela name commercial purposes. “I dressed one generation to another,” he said. “The relationship I had was a family relationship.”
Born in the Mdantsane township on the southeastern coast, Ndamase still spends time behind the sewing machine in his Johannesburg workshop.
“It’s a dream come true,” he said, squinting at shirt he is working on. “It’s a legacy collection,” he said, pointing to a T-shirt from the new range that is emblazoned “BE THE LEGACY” and features a famous silhouette of Nelson and Winnie Mandela walking free in 1990.
In South Africa, Madiba shirts keep Mandela’s legacy alive
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In South Africa, Madiba shirts keep Mandela’s legacy alive
- Sonwabile Ndamas proud that the Madiba shirts he designed for Nelson Mandela 30 years ago endure as a legacy of South Africa’s first democratically elected leader
US scrap plea deal with three Sept. 11 suspects
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has revoked a plea deal agreed to earlier this week with the man accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and two of his accomplices, according to a memorandum signed by Austin on Friday.
(Developing tory)
Judge rejects replacing counsel for man charged with shooting 3 Palestinian college students
- The three men, all age 20, were spending their Thanksgiving break in Burlington, and were out for a walk while visiting one of the victims’ relatives when they were confronted by a white man with a handgun, police said
WASHINGTON: A Vermont judge on Friday denied a request to replace the public defenders for the man charged with shooting and wounding three college students of Palestinian descent in Burlington in November, saying it’s premature.
Judge Kevin Griffin also denied Jason Eaton’s request to hold a private hearing on the matter with just his attorneys and the judge, excluding the prosecution and media.
“Mr. Eaton is certainly entitled to counsel at state expense but he’s not entitled to counsel of his choosing,” Griffin said.
Eaton then told the judge that he would like to represent himself but Griffin said he was not prepared to grant that request. He told Eaton that he can file motions and the court can consider whether he’s competent to represent himself.
“Right now you have two great lawyers and a great office to represent you. This is about as serious as it gets so I’m not going to make such a decision on the fly,” he said.
Eaton has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder and has been held since his arrest.
The three men, all age 20, were spending their Thanksgiving break in Burlington, and were out for a walk while visiting one of the victims’ relatives when they were confronted by a white man with a handgun, police said. The victims were speaking in a mix of English and Arabic and two of them were also wearing the black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh scarves when they were shot, police said. The most seriously injured is now paralyzed from the chest down..
One of his lawyers, Sarah Varty, told the judge that Eaton has expressed a lack of confidence and trust in his counsel but in explaining why he would impact his right to a fair trial and attorney-client privilege.
After Griffin denied his request for a private hearing, Eaton read an argument that he said he was comfortable presenting in the public, saying his lawyers should be replaced because the case has drawn significant media attention; the charges carry potential punishment of up to 60 years to life in prison; and the workload of his counsel, among other things.
Eaton moved to Burlington last summer from Syracuse, New York, and legally purchased the gun used in the shooting, Police Chief Jon Murad told reporters at the time. According to a police affidavit, federal agents found the gun in Eaton’s apartment. Eaton came to the door holding his hands, palms up, and told the officers he’d been waiting for them, authorities said.
Protests turn violent in Sunderland as UK unrest spreads after Southport killings
- Anti-immigrant demonstrators threw stones at police in riot gear near a mosque in the city before overturning vehicles, BBC reported
- The riots were sparked by the murder of three girls in a knife attack by a 17-year-old man wrongly described as an immigrant
LONDON: Protesters attacked police and started fires in Sunderland on Friday as violence following Monday’s killing of three children in northwest England spread to another northern city.
Anti-immigrant demonstrators threw stones at police in riot gear near a mosque in the city before overturning vehicles, setting a car alight and starting a fire next to a police office, the BBC said.
Northumbria Police said its officers had been “subjected to serious violence” and they were continuing to deal with ongoing disorder.
“The scenes that we are seeing are completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” the force in a statement on X.
The demonstration in Sunderland was one of more than a dozen planned by anti-immigration protesters across the UK this weekend, including in the vicinity of at least two mosques in Liverpool, the closest city to where the children were killed.
Several anti-racism counter-protests were also planned.
British police were out in force on Friday across the country and mosques were tightening security, officials said.
A 17-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of the girls in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in the seaside town of Southport, a crime that has shocked the nation.
Violent incidents erupted in the following days in Southport, the northeastern town of Hartlepool, and London in reaction to false information on social media claiming the suspect in the stabbings was a radical Islamist migrant.
In an attempt to quash the misinformation, police have emphasized that the suspect, Axel Rudakubana, was born in Britain.
Swift justice
Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer made a second visit to Southport since the murders.
“As a nation, we stand with those who tragically have lost loved ones in the heinous attack in Southport, which ripped through the very fabric of this community and left us all in shock,” he said in a statement.
British police chiefs have agreed to deploy officers in large numbers over the weekend to deter violence.
“We will have surge capacity in our intelligence, in our briefing, and in the resources that are out in local communities,” Gavin Stephens, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, told BBC Radio.
“There will be additional prosecutors available to make swift decisions, so we see swift justice.”
Mosques across the country are also on a heightened state of alert, the Muslim Council of Britain said.
Zara Mohammed, the council’s security general, said representatives from hundreds of mosques agreed to strengthen security measures at a briefing on Thursday. Many at the meeting also reported concerns for the safety of their worshippers after receiving threatening and abusive phone calls.
“I think there’s a sense within the community that we’re also not going to be afraid, but we will be careful and cautious,” Mohammed said in an interview.
Police in Southport, where protesters attacked police, set vehicles alight and hurled bricks at a mosque on Tuesday evening, said they were aware of planned protests and had “extensive plans and considerable police resources” on hand to deal with any disorder.
Police in Northern Ireland also said they were planning a “proportionate policing response” after learning of plans by various groups to block roads, stage protests and march to an Islamic Center in Belfast over the weekend.
6.8-magnitude earthquake hits off Philippines’ Mindanao: USGS
- Quake hit just before 6:30 a.m. about 20 km from the village of Barcelona on the east of Mindanao island
- Phivolcs, the local seismological agency, said no damage was expected from the earthquake, but it warned of aftershocks
MANILA: A 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of the southern Philippines on Saturday, the United States Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of damage.
The shallow quake hit just before 6:30 a.m. (2230 GMT) about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the village of Barcelona on the east of Mindanao island, the USGS said.
It did not trigger a tsunami alert, according to the US Tsunami Warning System and the Philippine seismological agency.
The local seismological agency also said no damage was expected from the earthquake, but it warned of aftershocks.
In Lingig municipality, where Barcelona is located, local disaster officer Ian Onsing said he was woken by the shaking.
“The shaking was quite strong. The things around here were moving. I guess, the shaking took around 10-15 seconds,” Onsing told AFP by telephone.
“I’m not expecting any more damages, but we will go around the area again around 8:00 am just to be sure,” he said.
“So far, there are no reported casualties or damages. We are now monitoring the shores for any rough movement.”
Earthquakes regularly strike the Philippines, which sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, an arc of intense seismic and volcanic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
Most are too weak to be felt by humans but strong and destructive quakes come at random with no technology available to predict when and where they will happen.
In December, a 7.6-magnitude quake struck off Mindanao, briefly triggering a tsunami warning.
That sent residents along the east coast of the island fleeing buildings, evacuating a hospital and seeking higher ground.
At least three people died.
Explosion and gunfire rock hotel at popular beach in Somalia’s capital, witnesses say
- The Lido Beach area has in the past been targeted by militants allied to Al-Shabab
MOGADISHU, Somalia: An explosion and gunfire rocked a hotel by the beach in Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu, and security forces rushed to the scene, authorities and witnesses said Friday night.
The state-owned Somali National News Agency said security forces had “neutralized the attackers.” There was no immediate word on deaths and injuries.
Al-Qaeda’s East Africa affiliate, Al-Shabab, said through its radio that its fighters carried out the attack.
Lido Beach, a popular area in Mogadishu, is bustling on Friday nights as Somalis enjoy their weekend.
A witness, Mohamud Moalim, told The Associated Press in a phone call that he saw an attacker wearing an explosive vest moments before the man “blew himself up next to the beach-view hotel.”
Moalim said some of his friends who were with him at the hotel were killed and others were wounded.
Another witness, Abdisalam Adam, told AP that he “saw many people lying on the ground” and had helped take some injured people to the hospital.
The Lido Beach area has in the past been targeted by militants allied to Al-Shabab. The most recent attack last year resulted in nine people being killed.
