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WORLD NEWS Thursday 9 May 2019

South Africa votes with corruption, jobs as big issues

By ANDREW MELDRUM first voters at the Dobson-
Associated Press ville polling station in Sowe-
JOHANNESBURG (AP) to, Johannesburg's largest
— South Africans voted black township.
Wednesday in presidential "Soweto represents to me
and parliamentary elec- the home of the struggle
tions amid issues of corrup- against apartheid and it is
tion and unemployment. where we are now strug-
It is 25 years since the end of gling against corruption
apartheid, but despite the and for a new govern-
demise of the harsh system ment," Maimane said after
of racial discrimination, the casting his ballots.
country remains divided by Black support for Maimane's
economic inequality . party, the Democratic Al-
The African National Con- liance, is limited because
gress, the party of Nelson it is generally perceived to
Mandela that has been in be run by whites.
power since 1994, is likely In the working class suburb
to win a majority but it will of Kempton Park, in east-
face a difficult challenge ern Johannesburg, Albert
to do as well as five years Helped by an electoral commission official and under the watch of election observers, an elderly Lethole, 65, said it felt good
South African woman casts her vote in general elections Wednesday May 8, 2019 in Soweto,
ago. South Africa. to vote. He said he voted
The party has been tar- Associated Press in the first all-race elections
nished by widespread cor- in 1994. "Things have been
ruption scandals and a The ANC's leader, Presi- acknowledgment of the Opposition leader Mmusi changing slowly but more
national unemployment dent Cyril Ramaphosa, has problems that forced his Maimane, who has cam- needs to be done," said
rate of 27% that has left campaigned on promises predecessor to resign last paigned vigorously against Lethole of changes since
many voters disillusioned. to clean up his party, an year. corruption, was one of the the end of apartheid.q

Japan's emperor reports to Shinto gods week after succession

By MARI YAMAGUCHI regalia of a sacred sword state and religion.
Associated Press and jewel he inherited from The 59-year-old new em-
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Em- his father. He later prayed peror is a historian who
peror Naruhito performed at two other main palace studied at Oxford. He is Ja-
a Shinto ritual at the pal- shrines. pan's first emperor born af-
ace Wednesday to report Enshrined at Kashikodokoro ter World War II and the first
to imperial family gods the is the goddess Amaterasu, who has studied overseas.
plans for the main ceremo- who is the mythological Naruhito in a statement on
nies of his succession later ancestress of Japan's em- his succession pledged to
this year. perors. emulate his father in seek-
Naruhito ascended to the A main ascension ceremo- ing peace and staying
Chrysanthemum Throne on ny is planned in October, close to the people.
May 1, the day after his fa- when thousands of guests Empress Masako also
ther Akihito abdicated. from in and outside Japan prayed at the three
Naruhito, wearing a head- will be invited, followed shrines after Naruhito on In this photo released by Imperial Household Agency of Japan,
dress and an ancient outfit by a religious harvest rite Wednesday for the first Japan's Emperor Naruhito, left, walks for a ritual to report the
dyed in the color of burnt in November. The harvest time since 2002 before dates of the Enthronement Ceremony and Great Thanksgiving
orange, prayed at the rite is funded by the gov- she largely receded from Ceremony, to the imperial ancestors at the Imperial Sanctuar-
Kashikodokoro shrine, fol- ernment, which some ex- public appearances due ies, at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan Wednesday, May 8,
lowed by palace officials perts say could violate the to stress-induced mental 2019. Associated Press
who carried the imperial constitutional separation of conditions.q