US seeks to extradite Nelson Mandela's son-in-law

US law enforcement agencies have issued an extradition request to South Africa for Nelson Mandela s son-in-law.

The United States has sent South Africa an extradition request for the husband of Nelson Mandela's oldest daughter, an official said Sunday.

The US embassy in Pretoria is working with South African authorities to extradite Isaac Kwame Amuah, husband of Makaziwe Mandela, the eldest daughter of South Africa's first black president, said embassy spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau.

"This is an ongoing criminal investigation so we cannot talk in detail about this issue," Trudeau told AFP.

"However, generally in the case of any extradition request we work in close cooperation with the host government and no actions are taken without the knowledge and support of the host government."

According to South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper, Amuah is wanted on a 1993 rape charge in Hartford, Connecticut.

He is accused of raping a student while he was an assistant professor at a community college there, the paper said.

Amuah, a native of Ghana, allegedly skipped bail in the United States and came to South Africa to take up a job as director of the state-run Foundation for Research Development, according to the Sunday Times.

Makaziwe is the daughter of Mandela and his first wife, Evelyn Mase.

Born in 1954, she grew up largely without her liberation hero father, who lived as a fugitive from the apartheid regime before being jailed in 1964, spending nearly 27 years in prison before his release in 1990 cemented the end of white-minority rule

Mzansi stars fly flag at MAMAs

2008 WINNERS: Jozi members Ishmael and Da Les are up for Best Artist at the MAMAs  SOUTH African artists are making Africa proud on the international scene: Several Mzansi artists have been nominated for the MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMAs), which is as big as the EMAs (European Music Awards) or the VMAs (Video Music Awards) for Africa.

The awards ceremony will be held on Saturday December 11, at the Eko Expo Hall, Lagos, Nigeria.

Last year slain reggae musician, the late Lucky Dube, was honoured with a MAMA Legend while the sensational HHP (Hip-Hop Pantsula) won the Best Video award.

After winning the Sama awards twice in a row for Best Rap, the Teargas Trio have been nominated in the Best Group Category.Jozi, Best Live Performers at the MAMA 2008 awards, notched up another nod from the MAMA Academy with a nomination for Artist of the Year.

Five other local artists were recognised by the MAMA Academy: JR (Song of the Year), Black Coffee (Best Male), Big NUZ (Best Anglophone), Liquideep (Song of the Year) and The Parlotones (Best Video).

Black Coffee says this year has definitely been his year.

“It’s been crazy. I’m so excited. I won an award in London recently, then I was nominated in the Metro FM awards and now the MAMAs.”

“It’s such an honour to be recognised for your craft. I’ve been yearning for African exposure. Having other African countries exposed to my music, to house music is a real achievement,” he says

Newcomers Liquideep once told us that they had no love for their “cheesy” song Fairytale.

And now the song by the duo of Ryzor and Zyon is up for Song of the Year against the favourite Lagos Party by Banky W from Nigeria.

“We come from a deep house background. We are known as the group who are deep.”

Zyon explains that Fairytale was initially written by him as an audio letter to an ex-lover.

“I cared a whole lot about her and wanted us to get back together. It was an audio letter because I express myself better in lyrics.

“I thought as a group maybe we could use it,” he says. I let Ryzor listen to it and he just cracked up when he heard it. He really wasn’t feeling it.”

The song became a national hit and received a Sama award nomination earlier this year.

Thabo “JR” Bogopa’s hit song Show Dem was a national phenomenon this year - with a cellular company adopting it during the World Cup campaign.

He told us that the song came about while he was attending a “party” in Melville.

“There I was, buying a beer and chilling. There were more coloureds than darkies. Clearly I was at the wrong party.

“But suddenly, a drunk guy came into the dance circle and told everyone to make the circle bigger (so that someone could show off their skills inside the circle).

“That sounded good to the ear. The others were going: ‘show dem, show dem, show dem, mang mang show dem’!

“I decided to work on something and remembered what happened at the bar - and Bang!”

As for Big NUZ, their fairy tale has just begun.

The group was founded by the late Patrick “Kid” Mokoena and they stayed in Jozi at his house.

After he died, DJ Tira of Afrotainment signed them and they have been in demand with hit songs and live performances.The trio from Umlazi in KwaZulu-Natal won the Best Kwaito Album and Album of the Year with their album Undisputed.They then put a cherry on top with the song Umlilo.

D’Banj,GLO part ways.

This is how Vanguard Newspaper is reporting it…


Finally the fairy tale romance between the man the music industry has come to know as the Koko master and telecoms giants, GLO is over.Although no official statement has been issued by the Dr. Mike Adenuga led company, D’Banj’s contract as GLO ambassador has been terminated.


And not only has the contract been terminated, he has been allegedly paid off.As at the time of filing in our report, there were conflicting reports about the real reason, the Koko master who emerged as highest paid branded musician in the country was dropped.


Our investigation however revealed that D’Banj may have been dropped after he refused to put pen to a new contract extension that was less attractive financially.According to our source, the musician who signed an initial  two year contract worth N70million but  was allegedly paid for a year, felt insulted at the new sign on fee the telecom giants were offering.“He was pissed that apart from being a far contrast from his initial sign on fee, it was far less than what was offered P_Square.Instead he opted out rather than accept what he called a ridiculous and humiliating fee” our source disclosed.


This development puts to an end, the long running battle between the musician’s management team and GLO officials over sign on fee.


Two years ago, the embattled musician had incurred the wrath of GLO chairman, Dr Mike Adenuga, when he demanded an upward review of his N70million annual sign fee.


In addition, D’Banj wanted an upward review of the N2million per GLO campus show deal, that would have taken him to 36 locations. The request back fired, with GLO replacing him with P_Square.
It took the intervention of some prominent persons for GLO management to give him a second chance.
What happens to all the branded recharge cards and promotion materials that have D’Banj’s photographs, Showtime sought to know?
“They are our property and will remain so until his initial contract finally elapses” GLO sources told us.

Uti Nwachukwu to host SMVA 2010

Reality TV star, actor, and model, Uti Nwachukwu, hosts this year’s awards. Uti, a recording artist himself, continues in the tradition of performers hosting the SMVA’s (The 2008 and 2009 awards were hosted by D’banj and Darey Art-Alade, respectively).


Uti will draw on his recent fame and success, having just won the 2010 season of the Big Brother reality show, Big Brother All-Stars. Through that platform, Uti connected to audiences on an unprecedented scale. He has proven himself capable entertainer, and performer – combining his trademark affability and charm with an unforced coolness.


Uti began his career as a housemate on the third edition of the Big Brother Africa reality show in 2008, and was evicted on the 42nd day. He returned to the Big Brother house this past July, and was eventually crowned the winner in October, walking away with the
$200,000 prize money. He switched lanes after returning from the first stint on BBA, to launch his singing career, when he released his debut single, ‘Go Down’, which offered Nigerians his rare blend of Soul and R&B.

Mixed bag of winners for 2010 Channel O Music Video Awards

Music fans from all over Africa have spoken, voting in their hundreds of thousands for the winners in this year’s 2010 Channel O Music Video Awards. Broadcast live for the first time at a glittering event held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa last night; winners as voted for by the public in 14 categories were announced – and no category proved to be easy to predict!

Indeed, no single act won more than once – proving just how hotly contested this year’s awards were, with every artist doing their utmost to help mobilise fans to vote. Snatching the prestigious Most Gifted Video of the Year category was South African hip-hop trio, Teargas with “Party 101”. Teargas has worked long and hard to reap the incredible rewards it is seeing in 2010, including winning a South African Music Award for their album Dark Or Blue earlier in the year.

Most Gifted Female was another hotly fought contest but in the end the winner was Nigerian artist Mo’Cheddah for her song featuring a guest spot by Othello, “If You Want Me”. The Theatre Arts undergraduate at the University of Lagos proved she is an artist to watch by taking the Channel O Music Video Award in this high-profile category.

Black Coffee’s firm hold on the African music scene was confirmed when the DJ, producer and solo artist was named Most Gifted Male at the awards for his track “Juju” featuring Zakes Bantwini. The win caps another highly successful year for the South African artist who continues to prove that intelligently crafted house music can hit the mark at the clubs, on radio, and, of course, on television.

Most Gifted Newcomer saw L-Tido (of South African hip-hop outfit Glitz Gang) shine: his video featuring Tee-Pee – “Calling” – was named the winner in this important category. Nigeria’s P-Square proved their staying power by taking home the award for Most Gifted Duo, Group or Featuring for “E No Easy” featuring J-Martins.

In the genre categories, there were a few surprises with some power players making their presence felt.

One of the latter was Nigeria’s D’Banj whose “Fall In Love” proved a popular winner in the Most Gifted Afro Pop category while his fellow countryman, Naeto C flexed his emcee muscles by taking home the Channel O Music Video Award for Most Gifted Hip Hop Video for the track “Ako Mi Ti Poju”.

“Made in Nigeria for global consumption” is General Pype’s tagline and he proved this when the video for “Champion (Remix)” featuring Naeto C., Vector, Sasha, the late Da Grin and GT took the category Most Gifted Ragga Dancehall Video. Another popular win proved to be South Africa’s Liquideep whose breakout 2010 hit, “Fairytale” gook home the Channel O Music Video Award for Most Gifted Dance Video. And Durban’s position at the top of the kwaito popularity charts was confirmed again when Big Nuz featuring DJ Tira romped home to win the Most Gifted Kwaito Video category for the monster hit, “Umlilo”. Finally, it was left to Urban Reign to rule supreme in the last genre category; the Joburg-based group’s video for “Addicted” won the award for Most Gifted R&B.

The competition didn’t stop there – continuing all the way through the regional awards with Most Gifted Southern Video going to South African Pro for “Sekele”, Most Gifted West Video being snatched by Nigeria’s 2Face with his video for “Implications” and Most Gifted East Video being won by Ugandan-born Obita for his video featuring Loyiso, “Everybody Dance”.

In a night in which Africa’s most scorching entertainers – including co-hosts Lungile Radu and Thomas Gumede; performers like Liquideep, Teargas, Dama Do Bling. Wyre. Buffalo Souljah. Sasha. D-Black & Kwaku-T and guest presenters from the Channel O family – took centrestage, the 2010 Channel O Music Video Awards scored a coup by being broadcast LIVE throughout Africa. Musical director, Zwai Bala, pulled out all the stops to deliver a non-stop display of brilliant African talent, that was only added to when Somalian-born global star, K’Naan was given the Special Recognition award.

Also on Sunday 7 November at 18:00 CAT do not miss the 2010 Channel O Music Video Awards Red Carpet special being aired to showcase who wore what, who was with whom and much, much more! Followed by a re-broadcast of the 2010 Channel O Music Video Awards ceremony at 18:30 CAT.

Most Gifted Video of the Year

Teargas – “Party 101”.

Most Gifted Female

Mo’Cheddah featuring Othello – “If You Want Me”.

Most Gifted Male

Black Coffee featuring Zakes Bantwini – “Juju”

Most Gifted Newcomer

L-Tido featuring Tee-Pee – “Calling”

Most Gifted Duo, Group or Featuring

P-Square featuring J-Martins - “E No Easy”.

Most Gifted Afro Pop

D’Banj – “Fall In Love”

Music Video Award for Most Gifted Hip Hop Video

Naeto C – “Ako Mi Ti Poju”.

Most Gifted Ragga Dancehall Video

General Pype featuring Naeto C., Vector, Sasha, the late Da Grin and GT – “Champion (Remix)”

Most Gifted Dance Video

Liquideep – “Fairytale”

Most Gifted Kwaito Video

Big Nuz featuring DJ Tira – “Umlilo”.

Most Gifted R&B

Urban Reign – “Addicted”

Most Gifted Southern Video

Pro -“Sekele”

Most Gifted West Video

2Face – “Implications”

Most Gifted East Video

Obita featuring Loyiso – “Everybody Dance”

Middle-class mother who fell in love with Nigerian she met on web... and didn't hesitate when he asked for £40k to fund oil scam

Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells is not amused - and in this case it is no mere figure of speech. 


Sitting at home in the Regency spa town famous for its Jaeger-clad Hyacinths and Daphnes, Caroline Gates-Fleming can only laugh at the irony. 


‘I am one of them, really,’ she says, dabbing gingerly at the tender scars of a recent facelift.

Single and lonely: Caroline Gates-Fleming at her home in Tunbridge Wells. 'Things like this don't happen to women like me.'

‘Middle-class, middle-aged, respectable. I was brought up nicely and married well. Our boys went to public school.


‘But after what I’ve been through, I know they’d find me unacceptable around here. Things like this don’t happen to women like me.’


She has a point. For in Caroline’s case, ‘things like this’ means dabbling in fraud and embracing folly on such an epic scale that even her close family struggles to comprehend. 


‘Everyone asks how could I have been so stupid,’ she sighs. ‘I got more than I bargained for.’ 


How could she fall in love with a foreigner on the internet and then, despite his many and obvious lies, entrust him with £40,000, money she will never see again?


In fairness, Caroline, now 54, has the honesty and intelligence to talk about her motives and the loneliness which is at the root of her current predicament. 


Similar to many women of her age, with two failed marriages behind her, she badly wanted the comfort of a relationship.




'Madly in love': Caroline with 'Sab' in Nigeria before she realised the whole relationship had been a sham


‘What woman doesn’t worry about growing older?’ she asks. ‘It’s not just about looks. Confidence evaporates. Builders no longer wolf-whistle. When you have always attracted men, invisibility hits hard. 


'It’s in the genes: my late mother Pauline was always glamorous. I won’t even pop to the shops without full make-up.’


As a young woman, Caroline had worked as a jobbing stage actress and dancer, and all that theatrical attention, she admits, had made her rather vain. Later in life, she turned her hand to property development, buying, renovating and selling cottages with some success.


‘Coming to terms with ageing is my problem. I need reassurance from a man,’ she says. ‘I was unhappy alone, and shattered by having brought up three boys.


‘Marcus, my first husband and father of Piers, my eldest [now 24], was long gone. Peter, my second husband, father of Rupert and Theo [19 and 18] had little to do with us.’


Craving a fresh start, in 2002 she moved to Marbella in Spain, where, rather romantically, she thought she might meet a new partner.


‘I still craved that special someone to say, “Want a cup of tea? Let’s have a cuddle,” ’ she says. ‘It is not about sex, but togetherness.’


But she never really settled and returned to Britain after four years, depression having kicked in, and in need of a job.


If glamour has always been a watchword for Caroline, she was still not too proud to take on ‘unattractive’ jobs and found work as a full-time carer for people with learning disabilities.


Her stores of confidence, though, were dwindling. ‘I was still alone, still desperately unhappy,’ she says. 


‘I wanted to be flattered and taken out. But it’s so much harder to meet men when you are older. My girlfriends were all married. I had to do something. I’m not the kind to wait for things to happen. 


‘They say you learn from your mistakes, but I’ve made the same mistakes with the same kind of men my entire life.’


So when, in August last year, Caroline came across Match.com, a high-profile dating website, the temptation to sign up was overwhelming. It felt safe and respectable, she says, and, after all, ‘you had to pay’ to join.


' I don’t feel like a woman in her 50s. I fight it. I’ve had a gastric band and a facelift.’


At first she was conservative, making sure her meetings took place in coffee bars during the daytime, but she soon found that her ‘dates’ were on the cautious side, too.


‘There was never that spark,’ she explains, flicking at the pink tips of her bleached blonde crop. 


‘I began to find men my age too old for me. I don’t feel like a woman in her 50s. I fight it. I’ve had a gastric band and a facelift.’


Then she came across a man she calls Sab, who seemed so very different from the run-of-the-mill men she had been meeting.


‘Of course, his name is really Steve,’ she says, of the man she now understands is a Nigerian called Stephen Ehiamhen.


‘I call him Sab because, when he first advertised on the site, he called himself Sabastine Roland. He used a fake picture and posed as a Greek, claiming to be an entrepreneur in Nigeria.’


Caroline accepts that even the earliest signs were dubious.


‘He was vague about his age,’ she says. ‘First it was 47, then 37. He told me that when he applied for a visa to travel to South Africa, he had been advised to say 27 so that he could make out he was a student going to
the World Cup.


‘After two emails, he phoned. I knew the moment I heard him that he wasn’t Greek.’
In fact, while ‘Sab’s’ English was limited, he most certainly did not speak the language of Sophocles, preferring a version of pidgin laced with dialect and slang that is widely spoken in Nigeria.


‘I challenged him about it but he laughed,’ says Caroline. For all his obvious lies, she found him attractive. ‘We messaged and emailed every day. 


 'He soon said he was falling in love with me and I began to feel the same. I found it hard to explain to my sons that I was falling for someone I’d never met. 


'Strangely, though, you communicate at a very intense level when it’s not face-to-face.
‘Sab is a direct, articulate person.


'He said he goes to church every Sunday and that his faith is strong. He said we were fated to meet.


‘When he first emailed that he loved me, a month after our initial encounter, I wrote, “Don’t go there.” I was terrified of the intensity of my feelings towards him.’


Caroline was well aware that much of ‘Sab’s’ story was invented, yet it was only after two months of passionate conversation that the two of them spoke seriously about his identity.


‘He confessed he was not who he’d said he was, that he couldn’t do it to me any more, that he “hadn’t planned on the emotion”, as he put it.’


He had to come clean. Hearing that he was really a black Nigerian came as no shock - his pidgin English and African-style dialect had given Caroline a major clue.


She says: ‘He said he was desperate to do something with his life, that he’d been looking for money to get into oil.’ 


At this point, she explains, her story took a darker turn, one very much at odds with the image of respectability so carefully nurtured by Royal Tunbridge Wells, a town that has not so far made its money through black-market oil deals on the coast of West Africa.


By this stage, the alarm bells should have been head-splittingly loud, yet somehow Caroline managed to ignore them.


‘It’s big business in Nigeria,’ she says, now shocked by the sheer madness of the scheme he was proposing. 


 'We fell into each other’s arms. We kissed, we sobbed. I had never been so happy since giving birth to my first child.'


He explained how easy it is for gangs to tap the vast network of oil pipelines coming ashore from the wells on the Niger delta. It is known as ‘bunkering’. 


Armed with basic engineering skills - and guns - they drill into the network, fix their own lines, hidden from view beneath the water, then watch while a waiting barge is filled with stolen crude. 


‘They get an agent, siphon oil, barrel it, store and then freight it by tanker at an appropriate time,’ she says. 


‘I was under no illusion. It was obviously illegal. I’m not proud that I was tempted. Perhaps his assurance that he could make around £1.25million overnight was what convinced me.’


And, then, as she says: ‘Love changes everything. We seemed to have so much in common. We were both risk-takers. More importantly, he seemed so much stronger than me. I’d never had that.


‘Both my ex-husbands were weak, which was perhaps why those marriages didn’t last.’


Foolishly, as she now admits, Caroline had told Sab that her mother had recently died, and that she was due to inherit a share of the house where her sister, Jennifer, lives in nearby Southborough, with her disabled husband Stephen and their two children.


‘He never asked me how much money I was going to get,’ she insists. ‘But suddenly it was all about doing this oil deal. I had a gut feeling something was wrong. 


'He said he’d make his fortune, pay me back, then set up in business importing luxury American cars.


‘I was desperate to travel to Nigeria to see him. I knew all the risks. I’d heard about women being captured, held to ransom, even murdered.’


They arranged to meet in South Africa, a neutral country from where Sab could organise the ‘deal’ and where Caroline could organise the facelift she had wanted for some time.


She says: ‘After a few hiccups with Sab’s visa - I paid for his flight, of course, all the while thinking, “scam, scam scam” but doing it anyway - I got there.


‘I got off the plane in Johannesburg, churning, sweating, feeling like a teenager. I went through Arrivals, trying desperately to look cool. 


'There he was, beaming and waving. We fell into each other’s arms. We kissed, we sobbed. I had never been so happy since giving birth to my first child.


‘We had breakfast in the airport, then went to a hotel. I gave him presents. He cried. I showered. We talked. “God, you’re so beautiful,” he kept saying. “You only look 30.”


‘It was all I needed to hear. One thing led to another. It was so intimate. I’d never experienced anything like it before. I knew this was true love. I almost wish now that it HAD been just sex, but it wasn’t. 


'He wasn’t the skilled, experienced lover, but quite shy. If that was all just part of an act, he should get an Oscar.’


They spent a month together, staying in small upmarket hotels. ‘Sab’ never once put his hand in his pocket, but Caroline was happy to pay and happy to be loved. 


‘We went on to Cape Town, where he planned his deal over the phone in front of me,’ she says, ‘showing me things on the internet, all proof in my eyes that he was honest.’


Then they visited a consultant about her plastic surgery. ‘Sab wasn’t happy about me doing it, but it’s cheaper there. I was desperate to look younger for him. 


‘I returned to the UK and went back for the operation six weeks later, having also paid for Sab’s visa extension.


‘He had found a small apartment for £300 a month. I had the facelift, he looked after me. I could not have looked worse, but he stayed. 


‘Again I returned home, truly believing in him. I sent another £5,000 for his oil permit, then £2,500 for two trucks and an escort to the tankers. At last, three weeks ago,
he set off to get the oil.’


' I was madly in love with him. I still am.'    Romance scamming, as it is known, is   more common than ever, with British women at greater risk than those of any other nationality.


At this point, what seems grimly predictable to a neutral observer takes on an air of the inevitable. 


‘Sab’ had already warned her about ‘militant factions’ who can prevent deals such as his from taking place.


‘He’d made the risks very clear, but I believed he could pull it off,’ she says. 'Then we lost contact. At about 4pm on the day, his mobile went down. I couldn’t reach him for days. 


'We went from speaking and texting every day to zero. Eventually he called. He was sobbing and said, “How can I talk to you, how can I face you? I’ve lost everything.”


‘I was in shock. I’d lost 15 months of my life and everything I owned. I’d handed over close to £40,000.’


As well as the upfront money he claimed to need for the oil scam, Caroline had wired regular gifts of cash to her Nigerian lover. An additional £20,000 she admits, sadly, has been spent on travelling and the facelift.


Caroline had borrowed the money from her sister, Jennifer, against her share of the family home. Fortunately, Jennifer was still able to keep the house. 


That same night, after receiving the phone call, Caroline wrote letters to her sons and sister and swallowed an overdose of painkillers. 


‘I felt that everyone would be better off without me,’ she says. ‘I couldn’t wait to see Mummy and Daddy again. I reverted to my childhood. It was the easiest way of letting go.


‘My sister found me, and called the ambulance. She hadn’t known much of what had been going on, but now they had my mobile phone and trawled through everything.’


Her family are still trying to persuade Caroline to make a complaint to the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), and co-operate with them to have her lover arrested.


According to SOCA, ‘romance scamming’, as it is known, is more common than ever, with British women at greater risk than those of any other nationality.


One scammer in Ghana, Maurice Fadola, has defrauded 16 women, taking £700,000 from five of them.


Caroline was well aware of the risks. Yet still she believed in ‘Sab’ - and still, to some extent, believes in him now. 


‘He had an explanation for everything,’ she says. ‘I believed him because I was madly in love with him. I still am.


‘After all that I’ve lost, half of me trusts him. The other half - if the authorities can give me proof - wants them to bang him up and lose the key.


‘All I know is that I’ve never felt so much emotion as with this man. We all have our Achilles heel. I was so desperate to be loved that I’d believe almost anything.’