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The story so far: Chris Hani lies dead in his driveway. His killer, Janusz Walus, is arrested minutes after the assassination of the SACP leader. Terrible grief resounds the world over as black-white tensions rise to a crescendo. What chance is there for the peace Hani has given his life for?
Janet Smith and Beauregard Tromp look at the questions in part three of their series.
It had been a long day. The chartered jet carrying Major-General Bantu Holomisa finally taxied to a halt as night slipped over Umtata.
Accepting Nelson Mandela’s request to represent him at a wedding in Swaziland at the invitation of King Mswati 3, a symbolic abstraction, the Transkei leader had started out early, leaving Mandela at Qunu where the ANC president was to spend Easter Saturday peacefully, with family.
The day should have ended quietly too for Holomisa. But he was surprised to see another jet glinting on the tarmac. As he stepped down from the plane, he was advised that Mandela was in the VIP lounge, waiting for him.
Coming down the stairs at Jan Smuts International Airport in Johannesburg two hours later, and seeing the sombre faces of Joe Slovo, Pallo Jordan and Cyril Ramaphosa, Holomisa knew it was real.
Mandela had sat him down to relay the news that crumpled both men: “They have assassinated Chris Hani.”
That night, Mandela would have his first experience of addressing the nation on television, in an attempt to contain the violent backlash that was sure to follow. It was a stirring, unforgettable speech, without hyperbole, told from the tight-rope.
“We are a nation in mourning. Our pain and anger are real. Yet we must not permit ourselves to be provoked by those who seek to deny us the very freedom Chris Hani gave his life for. A white woman, of Afrikaner origin, risked her life so that we may know and bring to justice this assassin.”

iol.co.za

This article appeared in the Guardian on Saturday March 01 2008 on p29 of the International section. It was last updated at 00:13 on March 01 2008.
When seven white swans made a home on the Chaobai river in north-east Beijing last year, it was hailed as an Olympic success story. Until a few years ago, the waterway was so exploited that the bed was cracked dry.
Now the river has been refilled and the wildlife brought back, ready for rowing events in August. For Beijing, it was a showcase of how the “green” games can improve the environment. But four months on green activists are asking whether this and other cosmetic clean-ups are depriving arid regions of water during a particularly severe drought.
Thanks to a huge diversion, the Shunyi Olympic rowing park project has turned a dry river and its banks into a lush resort with a water surface of 63 hectares (155 acres) and a green area of 53 hectares. It is not the only hydro-engineering facelift. Beijing is diverting millions of gallons of water to ensure this dry and dusty city looks its best during the Olympics. Workers are rushing to complete a huge canal that will channel water from the Yangtze and other rivers in southern China to the parched but densely populated north.

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