“I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.”- Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandelawas born on 18 July 1918 is a South African anti-apartheidrevolutionary and politician who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the first black South African to hold the office, and the first elected in a fully representative, multiracial election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheidthrough tackling institutionalized racism, poverty and inequality, and fostering racial reconciliation. Politically an African nationalist and democratic socialist, he served as the President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1991 to 1997. Internationally, Mandela was the Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999.

Madiba

Mandela attended Fort Hare University and the University of Witwatersrand, where he studied law. Living in Johannesburg, he became involved in anti-colonial politics, joining the ANC and becoming a founding member of its Youth League. After the Afrikaner nationalists of the National Party came to power in 1948 and began implementing the policy of apartheid, he rose to prominence in the ANC’s 1952 Defiance Campaign, was elected President of the Transvaal ANC Branch and oversaw the 1955 Congress of the People. Working as a lawyer, he was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and, with the ANC leadership, was prosecuted in the Treason Trial from 1956 to 1961 but was found not guilty. Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the South African Communist Party he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in 1961, leading a bombing campaign against government targets. In 1962 he was arrested, convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government, and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial.

Mandela served 27 years in prison, first on Robben Island, and later in Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison. An international campaign lobbied for his release, which was granted in 1990. Becoming ANC President, Mandela published his autobiography and led negotiations with President F.W. de Klerk to abolish apartheid and establish multi-racial elections in 1994, in which he led the ANC to victory. He was elected President and formed a Government of National Unity. As President, he established a new constitution and initiated the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses, while introducing policies to encourage land reform, combat poverty and expand healthcare services. Internationally, he acted as mediator between Libya and the United Kingdom in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial, and oversaw military intervention in Lesotho. He declined to run for a second term, and was succeeded by his deputy Thabo Mbeki, subsequently becoming an elder statesman, focusing on charitable work in combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

He has received over 250 awards, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Soviet Order of Lenin. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, and has been described as “the father of the nation”. He is often referred to by his Xhosa clan name of Madiba.

CHRISTOPHER AMBE: Great Strides To Vie With

Mr. Christopher Ambe Shu, fondly called Chris Ambe, is a native of Bafut in Mezam Division of the Northwest Region of Cameroon. He is also a University of Buea alumna and a longtime-practicing journalist.

Delivering paper at ASJUB-JMC open day, 2013

In fact, he has been practicing as a print journalist for more than sixteen years.   He is a pioneer graduate of the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, UB .Chris Ambe was admitted in 1993 as a JMC student and graduated in 1996, with a BSc (Hons, 2nd Class lower).

As a JMC student he was Editor of THE CHARIOT (the JMC -run campus newspaper) and he stringed for several newspapers such as Ntemfac Ofege’s TODAY and The Herald   Newspaper.

In 1997, he volunteered as a journalist at the Southwest Provincial Delegation for Communication for six months, during which period his reports were published by CAMNEWS/SOPECAM (Cameroon Tribune).

In 1998, Mr.Ambe became a reporter for Cameroon Post Newspaper and later for The Beacon Newspaper Noted for his incisive and quality reports, he was contracted by Journalism icon and Publisher of The Herald Newspaper, Dr. Boniface Forbin, in July 1999 to report for the paper.Mr.Ambe served as Southwest Bureau Chief of The Herald Newspaper for seven good years.

He resigned from The Herald Newspaper in August 2006 and in 2007 he started The Recorder Newspaper

 Mr.Ambe is currently the Publisher-Editor of The RECORDER, an English language newspaper with head office in Buea.  He is also a blogger.

Mr.Ambe had served in 2006 as acting President of the Southwest Chapter of the Cameroon Association of Commonwealth Journalists (CACOJ) and later Vice-President of Cameroon Union of Journalists, Southwest Branch.

Chris Ambe is currently the Financial Secretary of Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) Buea Chapter.

He has attended many journalism seminars/workshops, some sponsored by the British High Commission in Yaoundé, US Embassy Yaoundé and the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Chris Ambe is a panelist of the famous CRTV-Buea Press Club program, aired every Saturday Morning. This soft-spoken journalist/editor/publisher is a Presbyterian Christian and a father of two children.

Are his achievements not worth emulating as an Ex JMC student?

DibussiTande; Worth imitating

DibussiTande was born in 1968 in the town of legendary hospitality Buea, Cameroon. He attained a “Licence” in Public law (1989) and a “Maitrise” in Political Science (1990) from the University of Yaounde. He also holds Masters Degrees in Political Science and Instructional Technology from Northeastern Illinois University and Northern Illinois University respectively.

Looking bright as the future

Before moving to the United States in 1993, he wrote for a host of leading Cameroonian Newspapers. He was also an associate editor for Cameroon Today and Cameroon Life Magazine. He currently produces the leading Cameroonian blog, Scribbles from the Den, and writes for a variety of print and online journals. In fact, he is quoted in several blogging classes in schools around Cameroon. Young bloggers are always asked to plug inspiration from him so as to become gurus in the domain. His poems have been published in several anthologies.

German Chancellor during German annexation of Cameroon

Otto Von Bismarck

Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck was born on 1 April 1815 into an aristocratic family in northwest of Berlin. He attended a prestigious school in Berlin followed by the University of Göttingen. He then entered the Prussian civil service but was bored by his job and in 1838 resigned. For nearly a decade, he helped his father manage the family estates.

In 1847, Bismarck married Johanna von Puttkamer, who provided him with stability. It was a year of significant change in his life, when he also embraced the Christian tradition of Lutheranism, and began his political career in the Prussian legislature, where he gained a reputation as an ultra-conservative royalist.

In 1862, he was appointed prime minister of Prussia by the new king, Wilhelm I. This was when Bismarck began nursing the idea uniting the entire German state. With the help of other countries, he succeeded in uniting Germany and he became the chancellor. As ‘chancellor’ of the new Germany, Bismarck concentrated on building a powerful state with a unified national identity.

When he discovered Germany was strong enough within, he diverted his attention to external issues. He wanted to capture as many territories as possible so as to prove how powerful his country was. This was when he began nursing ideas of annexing Cameroon. Following several meetings and negotiations, he succeeded in annexing Cameroon in 1884 there by showing to the world how powerful his country was.

Unfortunately he was not present when the British and the French launched an attack during WW1 to seize Cameroon from Germany.  In 1890, Bismarck resigned after disagreeing with the new emperor, Wilhelm II. He retired to his estate near Hamburg and died there on 30 July 1898.