Published in the Saturday Star weekly newspaper in Johannesburg, South Africa. Short news piece covering the unveiling of a 38-meter-long mural depicting the life and struggles of Nelson Mandela.

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ANTHONY SETTIPANI
FOR 18 MONTHS, Chinese
artist Li Bin and his team ap-
plied their paintbrushes to the
spectrum of Nelson Mandela’s
life.
The result is a 38m long and
nearly 4m-high tribute, set to be
unveiled at the University of
Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Bin’s painting, which
stretches across a wide swathe
of the university’s Faculty of
Art, Design and Architecture
building, features Mandela’s
life in three major parts: pris-
oner, president and peace-
maker.
In the first part, a middle-
aged Mandela, painted in black
and white, sits with a journal in
his hands, his eyes gazing
meaningfully at the viewer.
“The way I describe Man-
dela’s face is very important to
me,” Bin said, explaining that
he drew this image from a
photo taken of Mandela while
he was in prison. He was look-
ing down in the original and
his face needed to be painstak-
ingly lifted for the painting.
In the middle section of the
work, a white-haired Mandela
strides thoughtfully in suit and
tie, flanked by the heroes of his
past.
“His heroes I found from his
book. When he voted, he re-
membered a lot of comrades, a
lot of heroes,” Bin said.
In the third part, Mandela
the peacemaker, the world-fa-
mous smile surfaces at last, on
the face of a seated Tata
Madiba, surrounded by chil-
dren and adults of all national-
ities.
Earth, one of the painting’s
“three green jewels on the rain-
bow”, rises like the sun above
their heads, with Africa at the
centre.
The painting stands out in
near-lifelike detail, its back-
ground stretching through all
the colours of the
rainbow, from angry shades of
red during the struggle years,
to a deep and tranquil purple
for Mandela’s funeral in 2013.
“You call your country the
rainbow nation, so I painted
the whole thing in a rainbow,”
Bin said.
The exhibit was undertaken
in collaboration with UJ’s Con-
fucius Institute, which aims to
promote Chinese language and
culture in South Africa.
“2015 is the year of South
African-Chinese friendship,”
said Alban Burke, co-director of
the Confucius Institute. He said
the unveiling of this painting
happily coincided with the
teaching of Mandarin as a sub-
ject, and added to the growing
cultural exchange between
China and South Africa that
started with Chinese President
Xi Jinping’s visit in 2013.
Burke, however, also sees
the painting as a call to action.
“Politicians and leaders can
speak as much as they want
to,” he said. “But South
Africans themselves need to do
some self-reflection and ask
themselves: ‘What can I do?
How can I make a difference?’”
Chinese artist tells Madiba’s story in paint
Fugitive couple charged with babies’ deaths
SHEREE BEGA
J
UNAID Mohamed
Shaik and his partner
Stacey-Lee van der Ross
appear happy as they
pose in a picturesque scene in
an undated photo.
But now the Roodepoort
couple, who are accused of
murdering both their baby
daughters, are the subject of a
national police manhunt.
This week it emerged the
pair failed to appear for their
trial at the South Gauteng High
Court for the murder and abuse
of their five-month-old baby
Alaia Adam-Shaikand and
their second-born daughter,
Amanee.
She died three months after
her birth in December 2013, al-
legedly also at the hands of
her parents. They buried her
without informing the police
of her death.
Gauteng police told the Sat-
urday Star this week the couple
were facing two murder charges
for killing their children. The
State had added the second
charge after a post-mortem was
performed on Amanee.
“A warrant for their arrest
has been issued,” said Gauteng
police spokesman Lieutenant-
Colonel Lungelo Dlamini.
“When their second child
died, they failed to follow legal
processes and later buried the
child,” he said.
The police were following
several leads to arrest the pair.
It is believed the couple
abused baby Alaia from her
birth in May 2012 until her
death in October that year.
She was injured on numer-
ous occasions and it emerged
in court that one of her arms
was so badly broken, it was
equivalent to the injury from a
fall from a two-storey building.
Her legs had also been broken.
The couple reportedly told
relatives that their children
died after “choking”.
Their trial was trial set down
for February but they never ar-
rived. They failed to pitch for an-
other court appearance last
month. They reportedly fled af-
ter hearing they were being in-
vestigated for Amanee’s murder.
Yesterday, relatives of Van
der Ross did not want to speak to
Saturday Star, claiming they
knew nothing about the case.
But her mother, Avril, in a
recent Beeld article, said the
couple had struggled to have
children. Van der Ross suffered
a miscarriage shortly before
Alaia’s birth, she revealed.
“She is a beautiful person.
She always gives… she was a
loving mother. Alaia was a
beautiful baby. They both
looked after her,” she said.
She had reported her daugh-
ter missing on February 18, days
before the couple’s trial was due
to begin on February 23.
“Stacey, please give yourself
in. We will stand by you,” she
implored her daughter.
The couple’s R5 000 bail had
been revoked, the National
Prosecuting Authority said.
The police confiscated
Shaik’s passport, which ex-
pired in 2013 .
● If you have information
on the couple’s whereabouts,
please contact investigating of-
ficer Colonel Noxolo Kweza at
kwezan@saps.gov.za.
WANTED: Junaid Mohamed Shaik and Stacey-Lee van der
Ross face two murder charges for killing their babies.
A THOUSAND WORDS: Shanghai-born artist Li Bin talks to a man viewing his painting of Nelson Mandela, which depicts the statesman’s life from prison up to his death. The artwork will be showcased at the University of Johannesburg’s Faculty of Art,
Design and Architecture for two weeks. PICTURE: PABALLO THEKISO
Police believe parents were guilty of abusing both children