Today In History: DP faction fires Ssemogerere

Today In History: November 24, 2000

A Democratic Party faction, led by vice-president Zachary Olum, staged a ‘coup' and suspended party president Paul Ssemogerere and replaced him with a lawyer, Francis Bwengye. The faction said it had also suspended party treasurer Ssebaana Kizito, the mayor of Kampala; and organising secretary Damiano Lubega, replacing them with Evaristo Nyanzi and Maurice Kagimu Kiwanuka, respectively. Ssemogerere dismissed the changes, saying he was still the President General elected by the delegates' conference in 1984.

Foreign: November 24, 1997

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela bidding to clear her name, faced allegations of murder and assault by blacks from her Soweto home township. Madikizela-Mandela, 63, confronted her accusers face-to-face for the first time at a special Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing. Winnie Mandela, president of the ANC Women's League, was ordered to attend the special enquiry into the activities of her entourage during the final decade of white rule.