Nelson Mandela's lengthy absence from the spotlight has forced his adoring country to envisage what their hard-won and often fraught multi-racial democracy means without the man who forged it. The beloved and frail 94-year-old, who is back in hospital with a lung infection, still embodies for most South Africans the "Rainbow Nation" he strived for despite endless persecution at the hands of white apartheid rulers.

South Africa's government announced the suspension of a slew of officials and military personnel Friday, as it tried to limit the political and diplomatic fallout from a lavish Indian wedding. A gaggle of top ministers appeared in public to explain how a rich Indian family with ties to President Jacob Zuma landed a Airbus A330 laden with wedding guests at a military base without permits. The passengers were guests of the Gupta family, a major political donor to the ruling ANC and one of the country's richest families.

An outbreak of bird flu has hit an ostrich farm in South Africa, but authorities said it was unlikely to pose a threat to humans, though additional tests were being carried out after another strain killed eight people in China.The outbreak has prompted restrictions on the movement of the big birds and their products in the Western Cape province, the Western Cape ministry of agriculture said in a statement today.Tests samples from an ostrich farm near Oudtshoorn, the centre of South Africa's ostrich export industry, found the presence of the H7N1 virus, the ministry said.<

South Africa beat Pakistan by six wickets in the fifth and final one-day international at Willowmoore Park on Sunday to win the series 3-2. South African captain AB de Villiers hit an unbeaten 95 to help guide his side past Pakistan's 205 all out. De Villiers, who was dropped on one, overcame some hostile bowling on an unpredictable pitch as South Africa chased down the Pakistani total with six overs to spare. Brief scores Pakistan: 205 all out off 49.1 overs (Kamran Akmal 48; McLaren 3-32)