Big Brother loser gets cheque from Mugabe

Munyaradzi Chidzonga just lost out to Nigeria's Uti Nwachukwu, who won the official 200,000-dollar prize from the show that locks contestants from around the continent in a house. uggs on sale

But on Wednesday, the 24-year-old received a 300,000-dollar cheque from President Robert Mugabe, state media said.

The money was collected through a campaign spearheaded by Harare businessman Phillip Chiyangwa, a relative and close ally of the veteran ruler, who reportedly thought the voting on the show was unfair.

It's not clear if 86-year-old Mugabe himself actually watched the show.

"I didn't think you would survive because you looked so young, perhaps the youngest of them all," Mugabe told Munyaradzi as he handed over the cheque.

"It was Nigeria versus Zimbabwe and Nigeria is a very big country, so you deferred to Nigeria. But both of you won and from our point of view, for us, you were the winner."

However, some people said the awarding of the money was a case of misplaced priorities in a country that struggles to pay teachers their meagre salaries of around 150 dollars a month. sale ugg boots

"Once again, we are the masters of misplaced priorities," one Shamba Shambamuto wrote in a letter to the privately owned News Day.

"If we can give this contestant a whopping 300,000 dollars, then surely we can do for our suffering masses who live in perpetual hunger, sickness and economic marginalisation."

US astronaut to share knowledge in SA
Nasa astronaut Jeff Hoffman will hold public lectures around South Africa next month, the science department said on Monday.

Besides increasing science awareness, the visit was also in support of Africa hosting the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope bid, spokesperson Tommy Makhode said.

“If Africa wins the bid to host the SKA this would mean an investment of about US15 billion in Africa over 50 years. cheap ugg boots

“The majority of the investment would go to South Africa. As part of the bid, South Africa is building the Karoo Array Telescope (MeerKAT), which will be a world class telescope in its own right.”

Hoffman became an astronaut with the United States Aeronautics and Space Administration in 1979.

He went on shuttle space flight missions to repair the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) - one of the most successful telescopes ever built.

He is also one of the four space-walking astronauts for the first HST servicing mission in 1993, and last flew on the Shuttle Columbia. australia ugg boots

In his five space flights, Hoffman has logged more than 1211

hours in space and travelled more than 34.6-million kilometres.

He will be accompanied by Dr Robert Williams, President of the International Astronomical Union, and Professor Charles McGruder of Western Kentucky University.

Lectures will be given in Johannesburg, Kimberley, Bloemfontein, Durban and Cape Town, from November 8 to 15. ugg australia sale