Spotlight - 10.2019

8 Spotlight 10/2019 IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Fotos: imago/Gallo Images; Uwe Deffner/Alamy Stock Photo; iStockphoto/iStock.com

The state system of apartheid, which discriminated against non-

white people, ended in South Africa in the early 1990s. Racism,

though, continues to exist. This is something Mmusi Maimane,

leader of the opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA),

is working to change. In a speech at the Apartheid Museum in

Johannesburg, Maimane made it clear, “Racists are not wel-

come in the DA. If you are thinking of voting for the DA and

you are a racist, please do not vote for us.”

Maimane grew up in Soweto, Johannesburg, a place where

Nelson Mandela lived for many years, and was in his early teens when

Mandela helped finally to end apartheid. Maimane gained three degrees, in-

cluding one in theology, and began his political career when he was in his late twenties.

He joined the DA in 2009 and became its first black leader just six years later.

The African National Congress (ANC) has been the governing party in South

Africa since 1994, but it has been accused of corruption in recent years. Traditionally,

it was seen as the party for black people, while the DA was the party for white people.

Maimane, 39, however, wants to end the ANC’s rule and make the DA a party for all

South Africans. “Change is uncomfortable,” he told the BBC, “but we need it.”

WHO EXACTLY IS

Mmusi Maimane?

EASY

Should the huge statue in the British

Museum taken from Easter Island by the

Royal Navy 150 years ago now be sent

home? Representatives of Rapa Nui, as

inhabitants call the island, and of Chile,

to which the island belongs, support this.

Recently, though, talks about this statue

and the many others still on the island

have taken on more nuanced dimensions.

This summer, a group from the Brit-

ish Museum visited the remote island

3,500 kilometres from the coast of Chile

to discuss the 1,000 other such works.

The stone “ancestors” (moai) are located

at various sites outdoors, exposed to the

elements. Experts say that the figures,

created by the aboriginal Polynesians

between AD

1000 and 1500,

are rapidly de-

teriorating in

the weather.

Once they are

gone, things may change for Easter Island.

“You have to think about the con-

text. A lot of people see [the moai] at the

British Museum — it is the face of Rapa

Nui abroad,” archaeologist Sonia Haoa

told The Guardian. “We rely entirely on

tourism, which is brought here by our

history and archaeology. ... We can’t think

about the present or political gain — if the

moai turn to dust then there’s nothing else

here.”

ancestor [(ÄnsestE]

, Vorfahr(in)

deteriorate

[di(tIEriEreIt]

, verfallen

entirely [In(taIEli]

, völlig, komplett

exposed [Ik(spEUzd]

, preisgegeben,

ausgesetzt

gain [geIn]

, Gewinn, Vorteil

nuanced [(nju:A:nst]

, nuanciert, differenziert

remote [ri(mEUt]

, entlegen, abgelegen

bark [bA:k]

, Rinde

cinchona tree

[sIN(kEUnE tri:]

, Chininbaum

demand [di(mA:nd]

, Nachfrage

derive [di(raIv]

, erlangen, gewinnen

extract [Ik(strÄkt]

, gewinnen, extra-

hieren

quinine [kwI(ni:n]

, Chinin

seek [si:k]

, hier: sich begeben

EASTER ISLAND

Facing the future

MEDIUM

Texts by Talitha Linehan and Claudine Weber-Hof

accuse [E(kju:z]

, beschuldigen,

be zichtigen

degree [di(gri:]

, Diplom, Abschluss

CONGO

No cure for

the Congo

ADVANCED

Despite attractions such as the active

volcanoes and rare gorillas of Virunga

National Park, the Democratic Re-

public of Congo (DRC) is regarded

by many travellers as being far too

dangerous to visit. For its inhabitants,

the Central African country has long

been a politically turbulent and deadly

place to live. One example of how its

rich natural resources are tragically

mismanaged is quinine, the substance

that gives tonic water its bitter taste.

An anti-malaria medicine derived

from the bark of the cinchona tree,

quinine is produced in two pro vinces

in the east of the DRC, reports The

Economist. The region has the planet’s

largest cinchona forests, and one of

only five factories in the world that

extract the medicine from the plant. It

answers a third of the world’s demand

for the substance, making it surprising

that the DRC has the second-highest

number of malaria deaths globally: in

2017, more than 400,000 Congolese

died of the disease. The 21 pills needed

to treat the illness cost $2, a price often

too high for locals, many of whom fail

to recognize the symptoms in time to

seek treatment.