Jessica Lapenn was speaking at her last US Independence Day reception as Charge d’Affairs.

She is moving on to become the US Ambassador to the African Union in Addis Ababa.

Jessica Lapenn tells guests at the Fourth of July celebration  of the 243rd birthday of the United States that American firms generate more than ten percent of South Africa’s GDP.

The US has given more than R84 billion to fighting HIV AIDS in South Africa where 10 million more people will be receiving treatment by 2020.

US assistance to arts and culture in South Africa grow annually, she says, because the conditions for democracy and for art are one and the same.  

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The woman, who is 52 years younger than Zuma, gave birth to his 23rd child on his birthday 12 days ago.

As the national treasurer and media spokesman for the Nomkhubulwane Culture and Youth Development Organisation, Nonkanyiso Conco is on record supporting virginity tests for unmarried  Zulu  women.

It’s program called She Conquers is designed to counter the culture of young women taking sugar daddies, known in South African parlance as blessers, to supply their material needs.

Conco was given until yesterday (Monday) to resign after reports of her romance with Zuma.

She was accused of failing to disclose her relationship with Zuma and not being transparent about their affiliation.

Conco admits she has been spending time with  Zuma at his Nkandla home home since she was 19. He has promised that on leaving office he will make her his seventh wife.

Deputy chairperson of the organisation Leonora Mathe confirms that Conco has handed in her resignation letter, adding that it has been accepted.

She Conquers was established by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2016 to tackle issues facing women in South Africa, including the rising rate of HIV infection among adolescent girls and young women; teenage pregnancy; and gender-based violence.

Mathe says Conco’s affiliation with Zuma is against what the organisation aims to achieve.

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He’s looking to mend fences with Africa which has been treated with indifference and insult by the Trump administrstion.

Rex Tillerson notes before leaving for Africa that in his previous life as chief executive of Exxon Mobil he visited the continent frequently.

On his first visit as US secretary of State, he carrying promises of $533 million dollar in new aid to improve access to electricity and provide critical  drugs for fighting  HIV AIDS.

Briefing reporters he omitted mentioning that the Trump administration has proposed dramatically slashing assistance to nations the President earlier this year dismissed as shithole countries.

He’s visiting Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Chad and Nigeria.

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Angola’s halved its annual growth forecast to 1,3% and cuts spending as lower oil prices hammer Africa’s second largest producer.

West African AID activists say treatment is lagging for HIV AIDS sufferers.

In Ivory Coast, fewer than a third of HIV AIDS infected patients are receiving antiretroviral treatment.

Sierra Leone football star Sheriff Suma urges his compatriots attending the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro not to abscond.

Thirteen of Suma’s teammates at the world youth championship in Finland 13 years ago requested political asylum.

Sierra Leone has a record of sportsmen attending international competitions refusing to go home afterwards.

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Heavy gunfire’s erupted near the presidential palace in the capital, Banjul, reports say.

With President Yahya Jammeh abroad, soldiers of the presidential guard in The Gambia have tried to stage a coup.

Details are thin from military and diplomatic sources in the west African country entirely enveloped by Senegal.

They say the attackers have been beaten back.

Jammeh himself seized power in a coup in 1994.

He leads one of the most repressive regimes in Africa.

Two years ago the man who claims he can cure HIV/AIDS by the laying on of hands boasted he would rule for a billion years.

It’s not sure where Jammeh is at present.

Some media say he’s in France. Others report he’s in Dubai.

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