Nelson Mandela, once a prisoner of South Africa's apartheid-era government and eventual South African president, has lived a tumultuous life of world-historical import. Now, thanks to a recent effort from Google and the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, the South African legend's personal dealings have become much more accessible to anyone with an Internet connection.

By Susan Miller

Tell people you’re a South African in most countries across the world and they are still likely to reply ‘Nelson Mandela’.

Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (pictured) lobbied regional leaders at a security summit this week to stop what he says is a crackdown by President Robert Mugabe ahead of expected polls.

The security organ of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) opened its summit with a warning from the host, Zambian President Rupiah Banda, that the region should heed the lessons of popular uprisings in north Africa.

ACTSA, the successor to the anti-apartheid movement, will be marking the 31^st anniversary of Zimbabwean independence on April 18 with a lunchtime vigil outside Zimbabwe House at 429 on the Strand in London.

Nicolas Sarkozy will this week welcome South Africa's Jacob Zuma to France as a leader of an emerging great power and a key player in Paris's plan to use its G20 presidency to reform world finance.

Sarkozy holds the rotating presidency of both the G8 and G20 power groups, and South Africa is the newest member of the influential ‘BRICS’, the fast-growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The Democratic Alliance Abroad (DA Abroad), the global network of Democratic Alliance supporters overseas, this week launched its campaign to encourage South African citizens living abroad to prepare to vote in the South African general elections in 2014.
 

Committed to lifting all South Africans out of poverty, Dr Zola Skweyiya, our High Commissioner in the UK, is serious about the SA/UK friendship and says nationalisation is not  the way forward…

Susan Miller spoke to Dr Zola Skweyiya, 68, our High Commissioner to London, in his office overlooking Trafalgar Square. In his post since September, 2009, he told us about work, rugby and diplomacy.

Is there a typical day for you?
I don’t think so. I meet all kinds of different people daily.

We spoke to Ludre Stevens, the UK chairman of DA Abroad. The investment banker, 30, told us about joining the Democratic Alliance in London and how it all works.