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The ANC has written to the Black Lawyers Association (BLA) to make available their expertise to prosecute individuals who never came forward to testify or who were refused amnesty during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The ANC has been heavily criticised over the years by family members of apartheid victims for failing to push …
The ANC has written to the Black Lawyers Association (BLA) to make available their expertise to prosecute individuals who never came forward to testify or who were refused amnesty during the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
The ANC has been heavily criticised over the years by family members of apartheid victims for failing to push for the prosecution of apartheid criminals.
The ANC’s Jessie Duarte has been put in charge of the project.
With only 100 hours to take on 2 000km, including 22 300m of climbing, extreme endurance cyclist and Laureus Sport for Good Ambassador, Grant Lottering, will have to overcome his #xtremeSA2020 Im’possible Tour, in a ride of staggering proportions. Grant Lottering’s Im’possible Tour Yes, Lottering will depart from Nottingham Road, KwaZulu-Natal on 1 December 2020 …
With only 100 hours to take on 2 000km, including 22 300m of climbing, extreme endurance cyclist and Laureus Sport for Good Ambassador, Grant Lottering, will have to overcome his #xtremeSA2020 Im’possible Tour, in a ride of staggering proportions.
Yes, Lottering will depart from Nottingham Road, KwaZulu-Natal on 1 December 2020 for a non-stop solo ride through the Eastern and Western Cape to finish on Sunday, 6 December in the Ceres Valley, Wellington.
Every year, Grant Lottering’s Im’possible Tours involve mountains and climbing. It resembles the mountains people, and especially children, face daily.
“Given what we have all gone through in 2020 with this pandemic, particularly financially and emotionally, I think it will be fitting that my #xtremeSA2020 Im’possible Tour is representative of the huge challenges we have all faced this year,” says Lottering.
In 2019, Lottering completed his first local Im’possible Tour, riding 1 314km from Patensie in the Eastern Cape to Paarl in the Franschhoek Valley in the Western Cape on a mountain bike and road bike. Lottering climbed 12 200m in a total elapsed time of 74 hours, and a ride time of 66hrs 21min. With over 60 000 people following his attempt, Lottering’s 2019 tour was widely regarded as the most brutal solo fundraising ride ever attempted in South Africa.
Lottering will start his all-gravel, and 6th annual Im’possible Tour, in Nottingham Road, KwaZulu-Natal. Heading west towards Rhodes, he will climb over the Pitseng Pass in the foothills of the mighty Drakensberg Mountains, Naude’s Nek (the second-highest dirt road in South Africa) and Carlislehoekspruit passes, past Tiffendel Ski Resort, all above 2 500m in elevation, before winding his way down towards Cradock and Patensie in the Eastern Cape. By the time Lottering enters the infamous Baviaans Kloof toward the Karoo Town of Willowmore, he would have already covered just over 1 000km, including 11 000m of climbing.
From Willowmore, he will head down to Knysna in the Western Cape via the Prince Alfred Pass. He will then cycle to George via the seven passes road – a 75km long trip that takes you past seven gorges cut deep by rivers flowing to the sea – and then on to Prince Albert over the famous Montagu Pass. Lottering will head on to Meiringspoort before facing the brutal Swartberg Pass – this after a leg-breaking 1 500km with 19 000m of climbing already in his legs. After descending the Swartberg Pass, Lottering will head towards Calitzdorp, van Wyksdorp, Ladismith and through the Karoo towards Touws River, and the Ceres Valley, to finish at Imbuko Wines in Wellington.
Lottering, who founded his first Im’possible Tour following a near-fatal cycling accident during a race in Italy in 2013, and was told riding a bike again would be near impossible, hopes that what he will be attempting on the bike will give people a renewed inspiration to be resilient, to persevere, believe and never to give up.
People out drinking in Port Elizabeth’s Walmer Township. (Picture: Donna van der Watt) As health officials revealed their latest statistics that one in four patients being treated at hospitals in Nelson Mandela Bay for Covid-19 does not make it out alive, tavern owners in the metro have been warned not to ‘push government into a …
People out drinking in Port Elizabeth’s Walmer Township. (Picture: Donna van der Watt)
With 941 new cases of coronavirus infections recorded on Sunday, Nelson Mandela Bay accounted for 42% of the country’s new cases and according to the latest epidemiological report from the Department of Health, the virus is claiming the lives of more than one in four patients being treated for Covid-19 in hospital.
The report adds that 75% of these deaths occur in the public hospital sector.
The latest incidence risk for the metro is at 499.3/100,000. This is slightly lower than 565/100,000 recorded last week.
The number of active cases in the Eastern Cape was 9,125 with 6,045 identified within the Nelson Mandela Bay metro.
At the main Covid-19 hospital in the metro, Livingstone Hospital, a 73-bed ward created five months ago in its basement, is still not in use. Each bed has an oxygen access point.
The ward was shown to the Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize last week, when two senior officials said it will “soon” be in use.
Eastern Cape Department of Health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the ward was “being commissioned”. He said the hospital still had bed capacity.
“The provincial Covid-19 strategy has [as] one of its pillars… access to oxygen medical beds. A lot has been done across the province to increase the availability of this facility. In Nelson Mandela Bay hospitals more beds have been established and are now being commissioned to action,” said Kupelo.
“Livingstone Hospital has added 73 more beds to its existing capacity. These beds were planned from five months ago in anticipation of a sustained pandemic or harsher second wave. Nurses and doctors have been appointed as part of this commission exercise.
“The basement beds are ready to be occupied as part of our Covid-19 plan,” said Kupelo.
The report also cautioned that the incidence of coronavirus infections in other parts of the province, and specifically in the Buffalo City Metro (East London), Chris Hani District Municipality (a large health district that includes Queenstown, Cradock and Middelburg), and Amathole (stretching along the Sunshine Coast to Hole in the Wall) were increasing and districts with low transmission were also at risk.
After a lack of safety measure compliance, including the wearing of masks, sanitising of hands and maintaining social distancing, was raised by investigators looking into the origins of the current outbreak, several taverns were visited by law enforcement officials this past weekend.
The social accountability manager for the Eastern Cape Liquor Board, Mgwebi Msiya, said they carried out an operation at taverns and drinking spots in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro over the weekend.
“Some taverns were found not to be compliant. I must add that some taverns are following the rules to the letter. They have sanitisers, they adhere to the curfew for closing times, they only allow a certain number of people… but others… They are really, really, really breaking the rules,” Msiya said.
He said they had found large crowds, some drinking outside of demarcated areas, no mask-wearing and no hand sanitiser at the non-compliant taverns.
“There is also no social distancing,” he said. “We have issued them with compliance notices and we will return within 30 days to see if they have changed their ways,” Msiya said. “We can suspend their licenses,” Msiya said.
Police were conducting their own raids, Msiya said.
“We warn the tavern owners that they are pushing the government too far. We tell them that we can revoke their licenses. We are also doing education.
“The problem goes a bit further than just the tavern owners. There is a huge problem with the young people who are heavy drinkers. It is a growing problem, not only in Nelson Mandela Bay, but elsewhere in the province as well,” Msiya said.
The ban on liquor sales had a heavy impact on the liquor industry in the province, he said. “Some taverns had to close because they did not qualify for the small business relief that was offered by the government.
“This is part of our message to the ones who are still open. They must start behaving now to avoid another ban. We tell them that the government can close them all down again. We say: We don’t want to push the government into a corner. It will be a very heavy blow if this happens again,” Msiya said. MC/DM
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Pan African Resources PLC (Incorporated and registered in England and Wales under Companies Act 1985 with registered number 3937466 on 25 February 2000) Share code on AIM: PAF Share code on JSE: PAN ADR ticker code: PAFRY ISIN: GB0004300496 ADR ticker code: PAFRY (“Pan African” or the “Company” or the “Group”) RESULTS OF ANNUAL GENERAL …
Pan African Resources PLC
(Incorporated and registered in England and Wales under Companies Act 1985 with registered number 3937466 on 25 February 2000)
Share code on AIM: PAF
Share code on JSE: PAN
ADR ticker code: PAFRY
ISIN: GB0004300496
ADR ticker code: PAFRY
(“Pan African” or the “Company” or the “Group”)
RESULTS OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND SALIENT DIVIDEND DATES
1. RESULTS OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Pan African shareholders (“Shareholders”) are advised that at the annual general meeting (“AGM”) of Shareholders held on Thursday, 26 November 2020, all the ordinary and special resolutions, save for ordinary resolution number 11, as set out in the notice of AGM dated 28 October 2020, were approved by the requisite majority of Shareholders present or represented by proxy.
The total number of Pan African ordinary shares (“Shares”) eligible to vote at the AGM is 2,234,687,537.
All resolutions proposed at the AGM, together with the percentage of shares abstained, as well as the percentage of votes carried for and against each resolution, are as follows:
Ordinary resolution number 1: To receive and adopt the directors’ report, the audited statement of accounts and the auditor’s report for the year ended 30 June 2020
Ordinary resolution number 2: To approve the final dividend of 14.00000 ZA cents per share
Ordinary resolution number 3: To re-elect Mr KC Spencer as a director of the Company
Ordinary resolution number 4: To re-elect Mr JAJ Loots as a director of the Company
Ordinary resolution number 5: To re-elect Mrs HH Hickey as a member of the audit and risk committee
Ordinary resolution number 6: To re-elect Mr CDS Needham as a member of the audit and risk committee
Ordinary resolution number 7: To re-elect Mr TF Mosololi as a member of the audit and risk committee
Ordinary resolution number 8: To endorse the Company’s Remuneration Policy
Ordinary resolution number 9: To endorse the Company’s Remuneration Implementation Report (Notes 1 and 2)
Ordinary resolution number 10: To reappoint PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as auditor of the Company and to authorise the directors to determine their remuneration
Ordinary resolution number 11: To authorise the directors to allot equity securities (Note1)
Special resolution number 12: To authorise the amendment to the Articles of Association of Article 97
Special resolution number 13: To approve market purchases of ordinary shares
Notes
Dissenting Shareholders may forward their concerns / questions pertaining to the Resolutions to the Company Secretary via email at general@corpserv.co.uk by close of business on 11 December 2020. The Company will then respond in writing to these Dissenting Shareholders, and if required, engage further with the Dissenting Shareholders in this regard.
2. SALIENT DIVIDEND DATES
Shareholders are referred to the Group’s provisional summarised audited results that were released on 16 September 2020, wherein an exchange rate of South African Rand (“ZAR”) to the British Pound (“GBP”) of GBP/ZAR:21.39 and an exchange rate of ZAR to the US Dollar (“USD”) of US$/ZAR:16.75 were used for illustrative purposes to convert the proposed ZAR dividend of 14.00000 ZA cents per share into GBP and USD.
Shareholders are advised that, following the approval of the final dividend at the AGM, the exchange rate for conversion of the final ZAR dividend into GBP has been fixed at an exchange rate of GBP/ZAR:20.3320 which translates to a final GBP dividend of 0.68857 pence per share and the exchange rate for conversion of the final ZAR dividend into USD has been fixed at an exchange rate of US$/ZAR:15.20 which translates to a final USD dividend of US 0.92105 cents per share.
The following salient dates apply:
Notes
Johannesburg
26 November 2020
Contact information
3 Stocks Top Analysts Say Will Soar in 2021 Sentiment is on the rise as the annus horribilis 2020 winds to an end. There’s a feeling, after all we have been through over the past ten months, that things just can not get worse. And so, investors are looking forward to 2021.Two big factors in …
Sentiment is on the rise as the annus horribilis 2020 winds to an end. There’s a feeling, after all we have been through over the past ten months, that things just can not get worse. And so, investors are looking forward to 2021.Two big factors in market uncertainty are on their way to resolving themselves. First, COVID-19 vaccines are in the works, and two major drug companies have announced that vaccines will be available in a matter of months. And second, Democrat Joe Biden will take office in the White House, with a strengthened GOP opposition in Congress. The prospect of relief from the coronavirus and a divided government unable to enact extreme or controversial measures promises us a degree of stability that will be welcome.A feeling of optimism and a perception that there are opportunities available, have Wall Street’s analysts tagging stocks for success. We’ve pulled up the TipRanks data on three stocks that high-rated analysts have tagged as potentially strong investments. These are buy-rated equities, with double-digit upside potential for the coming year.LendingTree, Inc. (TREE)First up is LendingTree, the online marketplace that connects borrowers and lenders. The company offers borrowers options to shop for competitive rates, loan terms, and various financing products. Among the offerings, from multiple financing sources, are credit cards, deposit accounts, and insurance products. LendingTree is based in North Carolina, with offices in New York, Chicago, and Seattle.In the third quarter, the company showed mixed fiscal results. Revenues were up sequentially, gaining 19% to reach $220 million – but earnings were down, both sequentially and year-over-year. At minus $1.33, the EPS was net-negative, and far below the year-ago quarter’s $1.70.Covering this stock for Needham, 5-star analyst Mayank Tandon – rated 66 overall out of more than 7,100 stock pros – is upbeat despite the recent turndown after the Q3 results. Tandon noted, “[We] remain positive on the shares of TREE LT as we believe that the company is well-positioned to generate strong and consistent revenue… Consumer revenue dropped 68% Y/Y as the pandemic constrained consumer credit originations, but trends improved on a sequential basis due to better personal loan volumes and a seasonal boost from the student loan business…””TREE’s diversified portfolio of personal finance products and the strong secular trends driving the shift of personal finance advertising and shopping to digital channels will help the company achieve its LT growth targets,” the analyst concluded. To this end, Tandon rates TREE a Buy, and sets a $375 price target. At current levels, his target suggests a 44% upside for the stock in 2021. (To watch Tandon’s track record, click here)LendingTree has a unanimous Strong Buy analyst consensus rating, based on 6 Buy reviews set in recent week. The stock’s average price target, $362, implies it has room for 39% growth from the current share price of $260.09. (See TREE stock analysis on TipRanks)Allegro MicroSystems (ALGM)Allegro MicroSystems is a semiconductor company and fabless manufacturer of integrated circuits for sensor systems and analyst power technologies. The company’s products are used in the automotive and industrial sectors, and include solutions for developing electric vehicle control systems. Allegro’s circuit chips can also be found in data centers and green energy applications.Allegro is new to the stock markets, having held its IPO just this past October. The stock debuted at $14 per share, and the company put 25 million shares up for offer. In its first day of trading, it closed at more than $17 per share, grossing over $440 million for the IPO. Since then, ALGM has gained 35% in less than four weeks of trading.Vijay Rakesh, 5-star analyst with Mizuho, is clearly bullish on this newly public company.“We believe Allegro is leading the early stages of a multi-decade transformation in sensing, automotive electrification, and power distribution, with substantial upside from its industry leadership in magnetic sensors, a differentiated Power IC roadmap, and fabless operating model. Allegro’s xMR sensors and power ICs drive technology platform leadership and enable better performance, accuracy, and control for the growing EV market and Industry 4.0 – key for next-generation electrified automotive powertrains, data centers, and factory automation,” Rakesh wrote.Along with his upbeat comments, Rakesh gives this stock a Buy rating and a $28 price target. His target implies an upside potential of ~17% for the next 12 months. (To watch Rakesh’s track record, click here)Overall, this chip maker is a Wall Street favorite. Out of 6 analysts polled in the last 3 months, all 6 are bullish on ALGM. With a return potential of ~18%, the stock’s consensus target price stands at $28.29. (See ALGM stock analysis on TipRanks)American Well (AMWL)American Well, also called AmWell, connects patients, health care providers, and insurers to promote quality care outcomes in a digital world. The company boasts over 55 major insurers and more than 62,000 providers incorporating its service into their networks, giving access to more than 80 million potential patients.AmWell is another newcomer to the markets. This past September, the company held its IPO and raised more than $742 million. Over 41.2 million shares were sold, with the initial price of $18. This compared well to the 35 million shares and $14 to $16 price expected prior to the event. In its first quarter trading as a public company, AmWell reported several gains in key metrics. Revenue was up year-over-year, rising 80% to reach $62.6 million. The active provider total – more than 62,000 – represents a 930% increase in the past year, and shows strong growth for the company. And the company registered over 1.4 million patient visits during the quarter, a 450% increase from the year-ago quarter.Piper Sandler’s 5-star analyst Sean Wieland notes the importance of network growth for AMWL, writing in his note on the stock: “62K providers are using the AMWL Network, up almost 10x from a year ago. The increase was driven primarily by providers employed by, or affiliated with, AMWL’s health systems and payor clients… As the number of providers on the network grows, so does the value of the network; network expansion makes it easier for patients to find the right provider and for providers to find the right patient.”Wieland rates AMWL an Overweight (i.e. Buy), and his $44 price target indicates his confidence in an upside of 78% for the next 12 months. (To watch Wieland’s track record, click here)All in all, AMWL’s Moderate Buy consensus rating is based on 8 reviews, including 5 Buys and 3 Holds. The shares are selling for $24.71 and their average price target, at $35.86, represents a 45% upside potential. (See AMWL stock analysis at TipRanks)To find good ideas for stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
Protesters gather at the Makhanda High Court as a Full Bench of judges hears the appeal of the Ndlovu Gang, which has been sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment for rhino poaching. (Photo: Sue Maclennan / Grocott’s Mail) More than four years after their arrest, a Full Bench of the Makhanda High Court this week confirmed …
Protesters gather at the Makhanda High Court as a Full Bench of judges hears the appeal of the Ndlovu Gang, which has been sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment for rhino poaching. (Photo: Sue Maclennan / Grocott’s Mail)
“Relief is probably the best word to describe it,” Dr William Fowlds said this week after an appeal brought against their conviction by a highly successful rhino poaching syndicate, known as the Ndlovu gang, was dismissed by a Full Bench of the Makhanda High Court.
The ruling, handed down on Tuesday, was met by wild applause from rhino owners and conservationists who had attended court.
It has been four-and-a-half years since the arrest of Jabulani Ndlovu, Forget Ndlovu and Sibusiso Ndlovu, who after a lengthy trial were convicted on charges relating to 10 incidents of rhino poaching in the Eastern Cape — specifically in Albany, Jansenville, Graaff-Reinet and Cradock.
“They were so successful,” Fowlds said, “that we thought there must be a number of syndicates using the same modus operandi.”
Their last rhino, Campbell, was killed on Bucklands Farm in Albany in 2016. Four rhinos were killed on Koffielaagte in Jansenville in 2013, six were killed in three incidents between 2014 and 2015 on Mount Camdeboo, two were killed on the farm Klein Doornberg near Cradock and another three on Spekboomberg in the same district.
The men were each sentenced to an effective 25 years’ imprisonment.
Most of the rhinos died from the high dosage of tranquillisers used to dart them.
The men were arrested as part of a police operation dubbed Operation Full Moon on 17 June 2016 inside a chalet at the Makana Resort in Makhanda. During their arrest, the police found a horn that had been freshly removed, a dart gun, darts, tranquilliser, a saw, .22 blank ammunition, knives, a set of pliers, a drill, six cellphones and a SIM card.
The horn belonged to Campbell, whose DNA was found on the saw.
Despite having the same surname, the three men are not related.
Jabulani, 41, is married with five children. He lived in Edenvale, Johannesburg. He ran a business exporting goods to Zimbabwe. Born in Zimbabwe, he has been living in South Africa since 1997.
Forget, 39, lived in Pacaltsdorp in George and was raising and selling chickens when he was arrested.
Sibusiso, who lived in Motherwell in Port Elizabeth, was a taxi driver and installed aluminium windows.
Summarising the cellphone tracking evidence against them, Judge Jeremy Pickering wrote in his judgment as follows:
“It is relevant in this regard that [Jabulani] lives in Port Elizabeth; [Forget] lives in Pacaltsdorp, George; and [Sibusiso] lives in a shack in Motherwell, Port Elizabeth. They have no overt connection to Grahamstown/Makhanda, Cradock, Graaff Reinet or Jansenville. They were portrayed… as not being possessed of any appreciable assets although it was common cause that each owned or had access to a motor vehicle, a GTI Golf, a Toyota and an Audi.
“Despite this, the accused felt compelled every few months, when the moon was waxing full, to hire motor vehicles, including expensive models such as a Mercedes or an Audi, and to travel many kilometres from their homes in Port Elizabeth and George into the Eastern Cape hinterland, seemingly for no ostensible reason other than to drive around the Karoo and to SMS and phone each other at extremely odd hours of the day, night and early hours of the morning such as 1am or 3am in the vicinity of scenes and at times where rhino happened to be poached. The accused gave no explanation for their highly suspicious conduct in this regard and it is difficult to conceive what innocent explanation for such conduct might be.”
Fowlds said the case was ground-breaking in many respects. “We had a lot of firsts.”
He said it was the first time that cellphone tracking evidence was used in a poaching case to place the three men close to the crime scenes. He said it was also a first as they got to present very detailed evidence on dart gun ballistics.
Fowlds said that many in conservation circles were convinced that the men were involved in a number of other rhino poaching incidents, but as these were too long ago they did not have the evidence to charge them for it.
The men’s legal team asked a Full Bench of the Makhanda High Court to overturn their conviction on a technicality, claiming that the search and seizure by the police had been conducted without a warrant.
But Judges David Viljoen, Judith Roberson and Rob Griffiths dismissed their appeal.
“I am not aware of a single darting incident that happened after they were arrested,” Fowlds said.
Fowlds said that the same investigation team and state advocate Buks Viljoen will on Monday start a new trial for a group of men who shot the rhinos they poached.
“We really hope that this will go equally well,” Fowlds said. DM
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Mike Woolnough achieved his objective of completing the Freedom Challenge Race to Cradock in under 48 hours. Photo; Reblex photography There was double satisfaction for endurance rider Mike Woolnough when he won the 580km Freedom Challenge Race to Cradock in 47 hours and four minutes. Not only did the 60-year-old for Joburg beat two days, …
Mike Woolnough achieved his objective of completing the Freedom Challenge Race to Cradock in under 48 hours. Photo; Reblex photography
There was double satisfaction for endurance rider Mike Woolnough when he won the 580km Freedom Challenge Race to Cradock in 47 hours and four minutes.
Not only did the 60-year-old for Joburg beat two days, he also managed to raise enough funds to support two pupils from disadvantaged communities through the Freedom Challenge Scholarship Fund.
Woolnough was uncertain about entering the event, which started in the mountain town of Rhodes in the Eastern Cape, after completing the Freedom Challenge Race Across South Africa (2 150km) last month.
“I wondered if it would be possible to do two big races with only a two-week break between them. I only entered at the last minute but when I saw the starting field, I figured that I’d be able to win the race if I’d recovered sufficiently.”
For him, though, the Freedom Challenge is a concept that means more than simply getting line honours.
“Winning in Freedom terms is far richer than being first over the line,” he said.
“Riders need to decide what defines success for them. It might be to self-navigate through part of the route or better their previous time.
“There’s no right or wrong reason – it’s personal.
“I decided that I would like to ride with a purpose so I bullied and cajoled people into supporting the Freedom Challenge Scholarship Fund.
“In return I’d attempt to ride a sub-48-hour race, which has only ever been achieved by four riders (Alex Harris, Bruce Hughes, Jacques Tattersall and, two years ago, Woolnough).”
At the end, there was satisfaction all round, even though the conditions at this time of the year added to the challenge.
“The race was delayed due to the Covid shutdown,” explained Woolnough, “and the heat of this time of year was going to be the real test.
“As it worked out it was just one of several hurdles that had to be dealt with, but I managed to get in with almost an hour to spare.
“Through the generosity of race supporters, we raised sufficient funds to support two more scholars.”
He explained that the fund was established to provide educational opportunities for families along the Maluti section of the trail.
“Recipients receive a full scholarship for high school, including boarding, clothing and books.
“The Mariazell Mission High School in the area provides above average education and, so far, we have managed to support well over 50 students, with a number having gone on to university.”
Woolnough explained that he made it through last year’s race with minimal sleep. This time, however, he took that concept further and didn’t sleep at all.
“My race mantra is ‘keep moving’ and I managed to ride the entire distance without sleeping at all.
“Amazingly enough I was able to do it without the usual accompanying hallucinations. The lack of sleep has the downside that towards the end performance falls off and I get slower, but I’d factored that into my riding plan.
“To set aggressive time goals you need to be able to either ride fast or spend as much of each day riding with minimal time off the bike.
“I’m not sluggish but I don’t have the speed necessary to find time for a shower or to have a proper sleep, so I’m very conscious of how long I spend off the bike.”
With many endurance events under his belt, Woolnough said he had settled on a specific modus operandi where mental fortitude was as important as conditioning.
“You also need to have feel, which is the ability to self-assess things like tiredness versus speed, making sure you’re eating adequately and keeping your hydration under control.
“Feel takes experience and this experience is measured in years, not days and weeks.
“You also need the ability to adapt to the changing conditions as you face them. Panic serves no useful purpose.
“After a few hesitant starts I realised that I could do well in events of this nature.”
That doesn’t mean Woolnough wasn’t thrown any curveballs.
“On the last morning, midnight to be exact, I found myself on top of a mountain,” he recalled.
“I wear prescription glasses and the worst thing that can happen is to find yourself in a thick fog. Without my glasses I can’t see a thing, so navigating down a rock-strewn series of switchbacks wasn’t fun.
“To make matters worse, the entire valley was blanketed in fog and I spent the next two hours crawling along, all the while recalculating what the delay meant in terms of completing the race in under 48 hours.”
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Race to Cradock results: Mike Woolnough takes the honours again
Mike Woolnough finds adventure aplenty during Atlas Mountain Race
Weather data provided by the South African Weather Service. For a detailed forecast of your province, click here. Severe Weather Alerts IMPACT-BASED WARNINGS: A Yellow level 2 warning for disruptive rain resulting in localized flooding to susceptible informal settlements and roads, low lying areas and bridges, as well as traffic disruptions due to slippery roads …
Weather data provided by the South African Weather Service. For a detailed forecast of your province, click here.
IMPACT-BASED WARNINGS:
FIRE DANGER WARNINGS:
Nil
ADVISORIES:
Nil
Temperature: Partly cloudy and warm with isolated showers and thundershowers but scattered in the south from the afternoon.
The expected UVB Sunburn Index: Extreme.
Temperature: Cloudy and warm, but cool over the Highveld. Isolated showers and thundershowers are possible except the Lowveld.
Temperature: Partly cloudy and warm.
Temperature: Partly cloudy and warm with scattered showers and thundershowers, but isolated in the north-east.
Temperature: Warm in the north, otherwise partly cloudy and cool with scattered showers and thundershowers.
Temperature: Cool in the south-east, otherwise partly cloudy and warm with isolated showers and thundershowers in the east but scattered in the extreme.
Wind: The wind along the coast will be strong southerly to south-easterly reaching near gale in the afternoon.
Temperature: Fine and cool to warm.
Wind: The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh south-easterly but strong along the west coast.
The expected UVB Sunburn Index: Extreme.
The Western half – Temperature: Cloudy and cool south of the escarpment with light showers east of Cradock and Woody Cape.
The Western Half – Wind: The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh easterly to south-easterly.
The Eastern half – Temperature: Cloudy with rain and scattered showers.
The Eastern half – Wind: The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh easterly to south-easterly.
Temperature: Cloudy and cool but cold in the south-west with scattered showers and thundershowers but widespread in the south. It will be isolated in the extreme north-east.
Wind: The wind along the coast will be moderate southerly to south-easterly.
The expected UVB Sunburn Index: Moderate.
Janine Stewart set bettered her own record in the recent Freedom Challenge Race to Cradock. Photo: Reblex photography Johannesburg’s Janine Stewart further underlined her credentials as a leading ultra-endurance mountain biker when she broke her own record in the Freedom Challenge Race to Cradock recently. The 43-year-old covered the 580km from Rhodes in the Eastern …
Janine Stewart set bettered her own record in the recent Freedom Challenge Race to Cradock. Photo: Reblex photography
Johannesburg’s Janine Stewart further underlined her credentials as a leading ultra-endurance mountain biker when she broke her own record in the Freedom Challenge Race to Cradock recently.
The 43-year-old covered the 580km from Rhodes in the Eastern Cape highlands to Cradock in two days, 12 hours and 10 minutes, bettering her previous mark by 70 minutes.
After injuring herself in last month’s Race Across South Africa, pulling out after seven days, Stewart said she had been unsure whether to enter.
“I only decided at the last minute to enter the Cradock race, joining my brother Mark and a group of friends,” she explained.
“So, having already held the record, to break that was not my specific intention. It was more a case of enjoying the ride and seeing how things turned out in the end.”
Having done the Race to Cradock on a handful of occasions, she said her familiarity with the course had made a difference.
“The more you know the race route, the better it is because strategically you know there are certain sections you don’t want to navigate in the dark, so you try to plan around some of those and pick where you are going to sleep.
“Normally if I was going for a record I would ride solo, but this time we worked with the group to make sure everyone was comfortable.
“For instance, on the first night we cycled until midnight and could possibly have pushed on to the next stop about four hours away, but we decided to call a halt.
“The more tired you get, the more inefficient you become on the bike, so I had two hours sleep that first night – when I don’t usually sleep at all.”
Stewart said she found motivation in seeing how far she could push herself.
“I think the endurance aspect appeals to me and it’s a case of driving myself harder each time, and also learning how to do things a bit better and more efficiently.
“Also, the Freedom Races are a lot about learning to navigate, so the more you do that, the better you become.”
She added that mental strength was a key element for success.
“You obviously need a certain level of fitness, but, particularly riding at night, it becomes a mental game,” said Stewart.
“Especially when you go through farming areas, where there are opportunities for a bed, great hospitality and a good meal, you need to be disciplined to go back out into the night.
“But I have found that even if you are battling on occasions, you can improve by sticking to your plan. Knowing you can work through those bad patches, even if you are slow, as long as you are going forward it’s a boost in the long run.
“To set the record was a great experience and I’m really chuffed with it. I have done a lot of endurance races and this one is always so good from a scenery point of view.”
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The weather phenomenon that hit Mthatha and surrounding areas was a multicell cluster storm. There are also strong suggestions of an EF2 or EF3 tornado in the evening. Three people, including a child, were reportedly killed and dozens were taken to hospital. The weather phenomenon that ripped through Mthatha on Tuesday night and left at …
The weather phenomenon that ripped through Mthatha on Tuesday night and left at least three people dead, dozens hospitalised and properties damaged, was a multicell cluster storm.
There are also strong suggestions that an EF2 or EF3 tornado touched down between 17:00 and 18:00.
This was revealed by a team from the SA Weather Service, which spent Wednesday studying what hit Mthatha and large parts of the OR Tambo District Municipality and surrounding areas.
According to DispatchLIVE, the storm killed three people, including an 8-year-old. The minor girl from Mhlontlo municipality was crushed to death when her home collapsed on her.
READ | KwaZulu-Natal hail storm: Woman missing, child struck by lightning
The same fate befell two women from Mthatha, the publication reported.
News24 reported on Wednesday that the storm left a trail of destruction as dozens of schools and homes were destroyed by winds of up to 140km/h.
Mthatha Airport’s glass doors were also damaged by the storm.
At the time, Garth Sampson from the Port Elizabeth office of the SAWS, said their national office was trying to establish whether it was a tornado or a storm that battered the area.
Residents on social media reported that hundreds of livestock died in torrential rain or drowned in floods.
The disaster that befell Mthatha came after the SA Weather Service (SAWS) issued severe thunderstorm alert, warning of bad weather over eastern half of the Eastern Cape and most of KwaZulu-Natal.
The SAWS reported that it maintained this alert after reassessment on Tuesday morning, following early morning showers over central areas of the Eastern Cape.
Explaining what had happened, the SAWS team, Puseletso Mofokeng, Lehlohonolo Thobela, Lulama Pheme, Garth Sampson and Kevin Rae, reported: “After a period of daytime heating, a cluster of thunderclouds developed at around 14:00 South African Standard Time (SAST), ranging between Graaff-Reinet and Cradock in the Eastern Cape. An hour later, these storms coalesced into the relatively strong thunderstorms (multicell storms) just to the southeast of Cradock, while another notable storm was 100km to the north (to the southwest of Burgersdorp).”
They continued:
The multicell thunderstorms travelled to the east and during the following three hours, travelled almost 280km from Graaff-Reinet to Bofolo (nearly halfway from Queenstown to Mthatha), while an intensifying storm (located south of Burgersdorp) moved for about 78km to the southeast.
At this stage, a secondary merger began to take place, further intensifying the storm.
The storm then changed its direction of movement, migrating towards the northeast, moving a further 68km to Mbolompo (northwest of Mthatha) but at a significantly lower speed of about 33km/h (compared to an earlier average of 94km/h).
Shortly after yet another change of storm movement, very high winds from the enhanced multicell storm resulted in damage to homes, vehicles and the nearby airport, while also uprooting trees and resulting in heavy downpours which led to localised flooding.
The impact, as evidenced by the photographs, and the short distance travelled between 17:00 and 18:00 SAST, strongly suggests that there was an EF3 tornado.
“The storm is rated as an EF2 to EF3 tornado because of the supporting damage: torn-off roofing sheets, peeling of roofs at the corners over a relatively large area as well as photographic evidence of a vehicle which appears to have been tossed into the air by the strong winds.”
Urgent call for support
In some images, roof sheeting had been torn back partially on two houses, but in opposite directions.
“It is evident that the clockwise spin associated with the tornadic vortex tube resulted in the damage of the property.”
Meanwhile, Gift of the Givers said it was on its way to Mthatha to help about 20 villages where homes, clinics, schools and places of worships were damaged, leaving thousands homeless.
The NGO called it the “biggest tornado in recorded history” for the region.
CEO Imtiaz Sooliman said:
“Gift of the Givers teams from Adelaide, the Free State, Graaff-Reinet and Pietermaritzburg are en route, carrying a range of supplies, including water purification sachets, given the drought and absence of clean water. PPEs (personal protective equipment) will be distributed at the two hospitals.”
“Given the scale of destruction, public support is welcome.”
For those wanting to donate to Gift of the Givers, they can reach Mandy at 0800 786 911 toll free. Donations are tax deductible.
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Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality acting municipal manager Mkhululi Mbebe is juggling his court case and running a municipality. The case is one of the reasons why angry residents from Cradock and Middleburg are calling for Mbebe’s head. In October, the Hawks raided the offices of the municipality and seized documentation relating to alleged fraud and …
The acting municipal manager of the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality in Cradock and Middleburg, Mkhululi Mbebe, is facing stock theft charges.
Eastern Cape police and Mbebe confirmed this to News24 on Tuesday.
READ | Hawks seize documents connected to R26m fraud probe at municipality in Cradock
Eastern Cape police spokesperson Colonel Sibongile Soci said: “The case is currently on trial and the next court date is 24 November 2020 at the Cradock Magistrate’s Court. SAPS cannot provide any further information on the matter.”
Mbebe confirmed that he had been charged with stock theft but would not discuss the merits of the case, saying: “the case is sub judice, so I won’t be able to talk about it.”
The case is one of the reasons angry Cradock and Middleburg residents are calling for Mbebe’s head.
For more than a month, service delivery has been significantly hampered at the municipality due to a long-running protest which began in the first week of October.
The angry community wants Mayor Noncedo Zonke and Mbebe to be fired amid allegations of fraud and corruption and maladministration at the municipality.
Hawks raid
In October, the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation Unit in East London swooped down on the municipality’s offices and seized documents relating to alleged fraud and corruption tender irregularities worth R26 million.
During telephone interviews with News24, Zonke and Mbebe, confirmed the Hawks’ raid but maintained their innocence.
DA constituency leader for East Cape Midlands and MPL Retief Odendaal said while the unhappiness from the community stemmed from various allegations of corruption, maladministration and service delivery failures, the appointment of Mbebe as the acting municipal manager on 9 October further angered them.
“On 9 October 2020, Mr Mbebe, the Director for Corporate Services in the municipality, was appointed as acting municipal manager of the Inxuba Yethemba Municipality (IYM). This has further angered an irate community as Mbebe, who has allegedly been criminally charged for stock theft, now heads up this beleaguered administration,” said Odendaal.
Odendaal added that while the Eastern Cape Cogta MEC, Xolile Nqatha, sent a team to lead an investigation into the allegations made by the community, the residents were concerned that the investigation would be derailed by senior officials who were implicated in alleged maladministration and/or corruption.
“The people of IYM deserve better, and therefore the DA will continue to fight for a just, caring and competent administration,” Odendaal added.
Mbebe said he was not worried about the case and added that, in terms of the law, a person should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Mbebe and Zonke told News24 that the offences allegedly took place before their time at the municipality and that there was therefore no way they could have been involved.
Hawks Eastern Cape spokesperson Lwando Zenzile could not be reached for comment since Monday.
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The ANC said it would hold those guilty of crimes against humanity to account – but is mum on those involved in political interference in Truth and Reconciliation Commission prosecutions. The ANC has broken its 17-year official silence on Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) prosecutions and committed to getting justice for victims’ families. There also …
The ANC said it would hold those guilty of crimes against humanity to account – but is mum on those involved in political interference in Truth and Reconciliation Commission prosecutions.
The ANC has broken its 17-year official silence on Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) prosecutions and committed to getting justice for victims’ families. There also have been calls for the government to address the often-ignored issue of reparations for victims of apartheid.
On 6 November 2020, the Supreme Court of Appeal heard the application of former apartheid security police clerk João Rodrigues to have the case of murder against him dismissed. Rodrigues is implicated in the death of activist and teacher Ahmed Timol in 1971.
In 2017, Judge Billy Mothle, who presided over the reopened inquest into Timol’s death, recommended the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) prosecute Rodrigues. The decision was appealed and dismissed in 2019. This month, his lawyers argued that the 47 years between the death of Timol and the prosecution of their client in 2018 have prejudiced Rodrigues’ constitutional right to a fair trial. They also argued that the political interference into the prosecution of TRC cases has prejudiced the octogenarian.
His counsel suggested Rodrigues may have been granted amnesty without his knowledge through a “backdoor amnesty” process by the Thabo Mbeki administration in 2005. The courts struck down this process in 2008 because it favoured perpetrators over victims. Rodrigues had the opportunity to raise this suspicion at the reopened inquest in 2017 but did not.
The NPA and the high court in Johannesburg that dismissed Rodrigues’ appeal in 2019 acknowledged political interference in the amnesty process.
The Supreme Court of Appeal indicated that although it would have to consider the issue of political interference in light of Rodrigues’ arguments, it is unlikely the court will make a general ruling on the matter.
Judgment has been reserved, but whichever way the decision goes, the matter will almost certainly be taken to the Constitutional Court, meaning a further delay in Rodrigues’ prosecution. It could, however, set the stage for an important final pronouncement on political interference, which will serve as a precedent for the many TRC cases still to be pursued.
Two-decade delay
Delays still dog the TRC’s prosecuting process, worsened by hearings having to go online in recent months. The reopened inquests into the deaths of activists Neil Aggett and Hoosen Haffejee have both been interrupted by the pandemic.
After almost five years of bureaucratic delays, the prosecution of former security branch members responsible for the death of activist Nokuthula Simelane was set to begin in October. It has yet again been postponed.
Similarly, the families of the Cradock Four are still waiting for the NPA to make a decision on whether it will prosecute members of the security police involved in the 1985 murders of Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkonto and Sicelo Mhlauli.
Lukhanyo Calata, Fort’s son, asked that the issue of political interference into TRC cases form part of Judge Raymond Zondo’s inquiries at the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture. The appeal is yet to be answered.
Likewise, President Cyril Ramaphosa has not responded to two letters written by victims’ families, non-profit organisations and former TRC commissioners asking for action on the prosecution of TRC cases and an investigation into those implicated in political interference.
The ANC responds
But there has been some movement from the ANC, which may have a significant effect on the speed and efficiency of TRC prosecutions.
On 27 October, the 49th anniversary of Timol’s death from his fall from the 10th floor of the John Vorster Square police station and on what would have been the 103rd birthday of ANC leader Oliver Tambo, the ANC released a statement.
It is its first public pronouncement in almost two decades on the fate of TRC cases: “The ANC rejects with contempt the machinations by Rodrigues and others to try and escape accountability for their heinous deeds, trying to gain blanket amnesty for their crimes against humanity.
“We remain resolute that justice for Timol and others must be done. It is for this reason that the ANC joined hands with the Foundation for Human Rights and families of apartheid-era victims like the Timol, Stanza Bopape, Nokuthula Simelane and the Cradock Four families – who are still yearning for justice and closure.”
The party has now formed a joint committee chaired by ANC deputy secretary Jessie Duarte “to investigate and develop a plan of action – working with the Minister of Justice – to ensure justice for the families of the victims of apartheid-era crimes, including crimes against humanity, which are still unresolved”.
Right now the government is legally obliged to pay the legal costs of former members of the apartheid regime, while victims’ families have to rely on the assistance of organisations such as the Foundation for Human Rights (FHR) and the pro bono departments of legal firms to fund their prosecutions.
To make this fairer, the ANC has also committed to petitioning the National Democratic Lawyers Association, Advocates for Transformation, the Pan African Bar Association and the Black Lawyers Association “to make their members available to help with investigations and prosecutions of these 350 cases expeditiously in order to give families justice and closure”.
As Timol’s nephew Imtiaz Cajee points out, in the Rodrigues matter “the state has spent more than R3.5 million … Somebody like me [who is] going to the [Supreme Court of Appeal] totally depends on the FHR and Webber Wentzel who do pro bono work to represent me.”
Calata believes Rodrigues “is trying to delay his day in court for as long as he possibly can … because he’s not paying for it. He’s using every legal avenue that’s available to him.”
Why justice now?
For observers of the Sisyphean struggle for justice by apartheid-era victims’ families, the statement from the ANC is unexpected. After so many appeals by families and so many unheeded calls for something to be done, why has the ruling party decided now is the time for it to break its silence? Have the constant demands for action finally worked? Or is this part of Ramaphosa’s plan to root out the corruption that became endemic under Jacob Zuma?
FHR director Yasmin Sooka says the ANC statement is the result of a series of meetings that began after an event in Cape Town last year to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death in detention of activist Imam Abdullah Haron.
The speakers included Sooka, Calata, Cajee and Nkosinathi Biko. Sooka was approached by Duarte, who asked why the FHR and victims’ families had not come to the ANC directly for assistance. A series of meetings then began with Duarte and other ANC members, including Krish Naidoo and Febe Potgieter-Gqubule, to develop a plan of action.
At one of these meetings, Sooka recalls saying: “In your capacity as the ANC with members who have died for your cause, you’ve said nothing … You’re going to be dreadfully exposed if the Zondo Commission deals with this issue and also when the [Supreme Court of Appeal] begins to unpack Rodrigues’ argument, so you guys need to get your act together.”
Sooka points out that the committee mentioned in the ANC statement will include representatives of the FHR and others as yet unnamed stakeholders and that the party should not be seen to be directing or influencing the prosecution of TRC cases.
“The ANC is quite clear that they want to be quite careful that they’re not seen to interfere with the independence of the NPA or the Hawks, but they’re also clear that they have the advocacy and the lobbying power to raise these issues with different ministries. From that perspective, even the committee’s review of these cases cannot substitute for a proper investigation by the NPA.”
Calata believes the announcement is a result of families having “made enough of a noise as a collective to eventually make it on to their radar”. He realises that “the ANC is a political party and they are … going to use this opportunity to try and paint themselves in glory”. But he thinks the statement “is an admission from their side that they could no longer … turn a blind eye to our suffering, to our pain. We’re … pleased … the ANC is now [going to] help us to make strides towards getting justice for people [who] actually died advancing the interests of the ANC in the first place.” He is also careful to add that this “doesn’t make up for anything. They have to make up for the last 20 years of their governance.”
Politicians should be held to account
There is no mention in the statement of the allegations of political interference and its role in delaying justice. This is perhaps unsurprising, given that many of those implicated are former high-level members of the ANC.
But the attempt to stall these cases for so long has created a separate problem in the TRC prosecution saga. Families are not going to ignore or gloss over the issue, regardless of the ruling party’s commitment to overcome prosecutorial problems.
As Cajee sees it, “the issue of political interference must be gotten to the bottom of and those responsible must be called to answer. It’s significant because in the 14 years between 2003 and 2017 [the year the Timol inquest was reopened], how many perpetrators have passed on? How many witnesses? How many family members?”
Calata echoes this, arguing that even if “the ANC sticks to its word and fulfils the intent set out in that statement, that’s a completely separate matter from the fact that we know that there was political interference in these issues and that the people who were behind that political interference still need to be held accountable.
“We need to get to the bottom of this, and if someone as high up as the former president of the ANC needs to be held to account … then he must answer.”
Sooka says that the ANC’s announcement is a step in the right direction but that it should “be positive in the sense that it leads to justice for the victims”.
She hopes the committee will finalise a draft agreement by January and make appointments for investigative capacity in the NPA by March so that actual progress on TRC cases can begin.
Cajee hopes the planned committee will lead to “some kind of national call to say in the next five years we want to bring an end to the decades of having no answers. Whatever those cases are, my view is that we have to have a sort of national coalition on the table where more people come forward to help address the lack of capacity in the NPA. It’s about political will. We need legal experts, investigative journalists and even psychologists specialising in [post-traumatic stress disorder] to all work together to help this process.”
The ANC did not respond to requests for comment, and the Zondo Commission has yet to publicly announce whether it will allow testimony into allegations of political interference in TRC cases.
For the moment, the ruling party’s announcement must at best be seen as an acknowledgment that it has heard families’ increasingly frustrated calls for something to be done. Whether or not this translates into significant action remains to be seen.
Victims demand reparations
Meanwhile, on 28 October, the day after the ANC released its statement, another burning TRC-related issue came into the spotlight.
One hundred and twelve members of the Khulumani Support Group staged a sleep-in on the lawns of the Union Buildings in Pretoria to demand “reparations now!” for survivors of human rights violations during apartheid. As Khulumani board member Judy Seidman wrote in a recent op-ed for The Daily Maverick, more than two decades since Nelson Mandela pledged to compensate victims, “government has paid out little or nothing in reparation. Those who were promised redress remain in desperate need; many are dying in poverty and despair. Many still live with physical damage from torture and bullets; without promised houses, medical care, education for their children or financial assistance. Their distress indeed has worsened, driven by continued inequality, corruption and now Covid-19.”
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The issue of reparations has been a hotly contested and complicated affair. The final TRC report officially recognised 22 000 victims of apartheid-era human rights violations, and recommended that they be given reparations of R126 000 over a six-year period. Mbeki reduced this to a one-off payment of R30 000 each. Fewer than 16 000 people on the TRC’s list received the reduced amount.
Reparations have been further complicated by the fine print governing the mandate of the TRC process, which only recognised victims whose statements were recorded by the commission before the end of 1997. Those who did not get to the TRC in time or whose statements were not recorded or whose records were lost were not included in the commission’s final “closed list” of victims.
Importantly, as Seidman observes, “[that list] excluded thousands of women who were raped by apartheid forces – as the TRC did not include rape as a political crime that could qualify for amnesty”. In the 17 years since the TRC’s final report, Khulumani’s efforts to get the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to add to the commission’s list have been met with indifference. The department continues to assert that the regulations governing the drawing up of the closed list cannot be changed. But, as Seidman notes, “the TRC Act itself prescribes mechanisms to add to the list, and also provides for adjusting and changing regulations developed under the act by the Presidency and the Minister of Justice”.
Khulumani has a database of close to 100 000 people the organisation believes meet the requirements to be deemed victims of apartheid human rights violations and who therefore qualify for reparations.
For those victims, the fact that the government is paying millions of rands in legal fees for former apartheid perpetrators is a bitter pill to swallow. Other reparations proposed by the TRC and accepted by Parliament, such as health benefits, education and housing, have also not been forthcoming. The R1.68 billion set aside in the President’s Fund for victim reparations is part of government’s investment in the Public Investment Corporation.
The justice department has maintained that government has already paid out all monies owed for individual reparations and that the remaining funds are to be allocated to “community rehabilitation projects”. The draft regulations for the allocation of these funds have raised red flags with Khulumani and other organisations. Seidman is concerned they will allow “[justice department] officials to handpick communities to receive these funds [and] to work with municipal officials to design projects, with minimal consultation with beneficiaries.”
“At best, government officials will use reparations money to bail out bankrupt municipalities; at worst, they will open the door to corruption,” Seidman says.
After their sleep-in, Khulumani protesters were told by the Presidency that they need to meet with Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Ronald Lamola to discuss reparations. They were assured that the Presidency would direct Lamola to meet with them within seven days. That time is now up. Like so many problems arising from the failure to address the unfinished business of the TRC, the ball is now in government’s court.
The traditional, beloved cherry-studded fruitcake. (Photo: Mynhardt Joubert) Long before tassels, poinsettias and Boney M, the smell of the holidays is being cooked up by the culinary Christmas elves in the form of fruitcake. Love it or hate it, fruitcake is the undeniable taste of Christmas in South Africa, and the world over. And if …
The traditional, beloved cherry-studded fruitcake. (Photo: Mynhardt Joubert)
Love it or hate it, fruitcake is the undeniable taste of Christmas in South Africa, and the world over. And if you’re one of SA’s valued bakers of this firm (literally) tradition, you know that your fruitcake needs to be standing in an old-fashioned cookie tin by now, steeping in a booze-soaked cloth.
According to my mother, any self-respecting fruitcake needs to be baked and soaking by the end of October, at least. “It’s no coincidence that the last date for picking and preserving green figs falls on 17 October. You can’t pick the figs after that, or they’ll become hollow and will rot from the inside once bottled.” The timing works a charm. As soon as the figs are preserved, you can move on to baking your Christmas cake, which requires said figs.
It’s usually a two-day process, starting with the preparation of the fruits. For the cake to be able to last for months without spoiling, fruit pieces need to be either candied or dried or preserved, and then alcohol-drenched.
This brings me back to the preserved green figs. These are further prepped for fruitcake use by pressing and squeezing out most of the syrup. “You’re left with a green fig preserve mush,” says my aunt Celest Lombard, who is the latest Lombard family fruitcake baker. “Then, your dried raisins and currants need to be rinsed in clean water, then dried completely. The glazed cherries must be chopped in small pieces to prevent cavities where mould can grow.
“Remember,” she warns, “it’s going to be standing on a shelf for quite some time. All the moisture needs to be removed from the fruits before you soak them in booze in a 5 litre ice-cream container overnight.”
Next up is your baking equipment – a pot. A real fruitcake is not baked but rather steamed in a pot lined, on the inside, with three layers of well-buttered wax paper and, on the outside, three more layers of brown paper which essentially forms a steaming capsule for the batter. The cake also contains very little rising agent but loads of eggs that are whipped like crazy to form a foamy mass that will act as leavening for the heavy ingredients. It’s not meant to rise a lot.
Then, it bakes. For a total of 8 hours in the pot-slash-paper steamer, of which two hours are uncovered. Some are covered with fondant after, others not. That’s a matter of taste. However, says Aunt Celest, a genuine fruitcake must be able to last for months without any refrigeration or freezing. “That’s the politics of fruitcake baking,” she quips.
Indeed. The whole point of baking this spiced block of decadence is that it needs to last – unbridled – against all the elements. Ancient Romans are believed to have baked a similar cake more than 2,000 years ago, containing honeyed wine, dried pomegranate seeds, pine nuts and raisins mixed into a cake made out of barley mash. The brick-like pud was easy to transport and provided needed calories to Roman soldiers.
Later, in the Middle Ages, fruitcakes made of honey, preserved fruit and spices became all the rage. So much so that by the early 18th century, the European church banned the treat except for special occasions such as weddings and christenings because it was “sinfully rich”. The ban was later lifted, but traditions were cemented and many Western festivities – particularly weddings and christenings – still have fruitcake as a celebratory snack.
That, and because it makes logical sense. The cake can be made months in advance and, due to its richness, a relatively small cake can feed a lot of wedding party guests. Score.
My great grandmother, the legendary Ouma Tok, was our family’s wedding cake baker extraordinaire. This year, aunt Celest took up the fruitcake mantle when her own daughter tied the knot. With Ouma Tok no longer there for guidance, Aunt Celest turned to Cradock’s other renowned fruitcake baker, Sisiwe Tom, who visited for two days a couple of months before the wedding.
Sisiwe says she was taught the ways of the fruitcake by her lifetime employer, Hester Van Zyl. Every year at the end of October, the two would begin their two-day baking ritual, utilising all the ingredients preserved, candied and dried in the months from January to October.
“One year, we forgot to add the baking soda to the cake,” Sisiwe laughs, “and ended up with a white Christmas cake! We couldn’t understand it… until we traced our steps and found the baking soda on the counter, untouched. We never forgot that lesson.
“Fruitcakes really are a lot of work and labour. If you give someone a fruitcake, you’ve given them a big gift,” Sisiwe says.
Indeed. Chef and fruitcake master Mynhardt Joubert currently bakes dozens of nostalgic Christmas cakes in his restaurant kitchen in Paarl. He says he was inspired to start baking these after his sister sent him a Christmas cake in the post one year, all the way from Bethlehem. “It moved me. It was so delicately wrapped in brown paper and tucked into an old cookie tin. I was going through a rough patch, and this warm gesture from someone so dear was very special to me.”
Although he wasn’t the biggest fruitcake fan at first, Mynhardt loved the gift. The next year, he wanted to bake-it-forward. Fast forward a few years and Mynhardt is the Santa Claus of Christmas cakes in SA, baking special order cakes to post all over SA – and all in support of Butterfly House, a community resource centre in which more than 300 children between the ages of two and 18 are enrolled.
“Baking these cakes every year is a highlight for me,” he says. “For weeks my kitchen smells of spice and is a hive of activity as we line cake tins, chop nuts and dried fruit, mix and bake. Only my best wishes for the year accompanies each cake that leaves the kitchen.” (You can order one here.)
That’s the magic of fruitcake. It’s in the sharing of generational recipes and methods regardless of cultural boundaries or religions. It’s the thoughtfulness of preparing ingredients months and months in advance and using these in a two-day bake marathon – even if you hate the final product – simply to create a treasured gift for someone you love.
Start your own Christmas cake tradition this year with this special family recipe:
500 g raisins
500 g currants
500 g dates
500 g glazed cherries
1 kg preserved green figs
500 g (a mix of the following: dried orange peel, candied winter melon, dried pineapple)
500g cake flour
500g molasses sugar
350g butter
pinch of salt
10 eggs
2 Tbsp apricot jam
¼ cup rum
¾ cup good quality brandy
1 tsp almond essence
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves
1 big tsp baking soda
2 tsp milk
Day One: Preparing the fruit
Rinse the raisins and currants in lukewarm water and place on a cloth to dry completely.
Drain cherries from the glaze. Using a wet cheesecloth, pat dry to remove all syrup. Chop.
Repeat the process with the preserved green figs. Drain of all syrup and use a wet cheesecloth to pat dry. Remove the fine pips from the figs and chop.
Chop dates, dried peel, ginger preserve, pineapple and melon preserve.
Add all chopped fruits to a 5 litre container and pour over the rum, brandy and almond essence. Leave to soak overnight.
Day Two: Baking the cake
Heat the oven to 120°C.
Cream the butter and sugar with a pinch of salt.
Beat together the eggs until they are completely pale and foamy. Add the apricot jam and beat again, until completely incorporated.
Sieve together the cake flour and spices. Using a spatula, incorporate the flour, bit by bit, into the egg mixture.
Mix the baking soda with the milk and add to the mixture.
Fold in the liquor and fruit mixture.
Pour the batter into your prepared pot (lined, on the inside, with three layers of well-buttered wax paper and, on the outside, three layers of brown paper to create a “lid” for the pot.)
Place the pot on a piece of tin foil (bright side up) in the middle of your oven. Bake at 120°C for 45 minutes.
Reduce the temperature to 100°C and bake until done, for between 8 and 9 hours.
Remove the brown paper after 7 hours and allow to bake, uncovered, for the last 2 hours.
Remove from the oven and cool completely before removing from the pot.
Using a pastry brush, slather with brandy and store in wax paper in a tin. Brush with brandy on a weekly basis. DM/TGIFood
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Wow, this is treasure. I’ve already made our 2020 Christmas cake but the recipe here takes Christmas cakes to a whole new level ~ I’ll certainly be baking this one next year. Thank you!
A Port Elizabeth family which had been desperately looking for their missing son since July finally received some good news on Sunday. READ | Western Cape police ask for help in finding two missing 7-year-old boys Romeo MacDonald has been found safely at the Port Elizabeth Railway Station in Govan Mbeki Avenue, said police spokesperson Captain …
A Port Elizabeth family which had been desperately looking for their missing son since July finally received some good news on Sunday.
READ | Western Cape police ask for help in finding two missing 7-year-old boys
Romeo MacDonald has been found safely at the Port Elizabeth Railway Station in Govan Mbeki Avenue, said police spokesperson Captain Lariane Jonker.
“A concerned community member added his information and a photo on social media, in the hope that somebody would recognise him and return him home safely,” she said.
On 20 July, 21-year-old MacDonald was reported missing after he left his home and never returned. An off-duty police officer, Constable Florence Matoto, deployed at the Cradock police station, saw the message on social media and shared it with the relevant role players.
“MacDonald was then collected at the Erica Safehouse in Port Elizabeth by the investigating officer Detective Sergeant Carmen Steenkamp and safely reunited with his family.”
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Netflix this week released a new trailer for Riding With Sugar, a story of triumph and hope in the face of adversity. The movie might pleasantly surprise you this holiday season. Riding With Sugar encompasses all of the emotion attached to competing in a competitive sport as well as finding belonging, discovering love and the …
Netflix this week released a new trailer for Riding With Sugar, a story of triumph and hope in the face of adversity. The movie might pleasantly surprise you this holiday season.
Riding With Sugar encompasses all of the emotion attached to competing in a competitive sport as well as finding belonging, discovering love and the pursuit of happiness and triumph.
Riding With Sugar follows the life of Joshua, an A-student and refugee who dreams of winning a cycling championship as a means of finding a better life, but fate intervenes.
A devasting accident shatters his dream of a brighter future. Joshua is given shelter and a job by Mambo, who houses refugee teenagers from all over Africa.
When Joshua meets Olivia, a talented young dancer from a well-to-do family, it brings him into a world he has never known before, but her insights cast a shadow over Mambo’s agenda.
Riding With Sugar was written and directed by Cannes Lions Gold winner, Sunu Gonera. To add to the stellar cast and characters, the film was also produced by iconic film stalwart Helena Spring.
With a distinctive visual approach to his work, Sunu has made a name for himself as the visionary Afrocentric/Afrofutristic master behind the Absolut One Source Live video starring Kuli Chana and has recently returned from shooting episodes of the hit series Madam Secretary in L.A.
Gonera also told Screen Africa back in 2018 that creating Riding With Sugar “has been a dream since [he] first returned to South Africa from the States” in 2013.
Moreover, Riding With Sugar boasts a celebrated cast that includes Hakeem Kae-Kazim, known for Black Sails, Pirates of the Caribbean, X-Men, and Hotel Rwanda, alongside breakout stars Charles Mnene and Simona Brown.
As reported by One-Eyed Jack, filming for Riding With Sugar wrapped up in Cape Town back in December 2018. The Afrofuturistic feature film is seventeen years in the making and premieres on Netflix on 27 November 2020.
Also read: Programme announced for pop-up Karoo Writers Festival in Cradock
On Sunday, 8 November 2020, a desperate family seeking their missing son since July 2020, received good news. Romeo Macdonald has been found safely at the Port Elizabeth Railway Station in Govan Mbeki Avenue. A concerned community member added his information and a photo on social media, in the hope that somebody would recognise him …
On Sunday, 8 November 2020, a desperate family seeking their missing son since July 2020, received good news.
Romeo Macdonald has been found safely at the Port Elizabeth Railway Station in Govan Mbeki Avenue. A concerned community member added his information and a photo on social media, in the hope that somebody would recognise him and return him home safely.
On 20 July 2020, the 21-year-old Romeo Macdonald was reported missing after he left his home and never returned. An off-duty police official, Constable Florence Matoto deployed at Cradock SAPS saw the message yesterday, 8 November 2020 on social media and diverted it to all the relevant role players.
Missing male Romeo Macdonald was then collected at the Erica Safehouse in Port Elizabeth, by the investigating officer, D/Sergeant Carmen Steenkamp and safely reunited with his family.
The families of those killed during the 1985 Trojan Horse Massacre are proposing the use of transitional justice to prosecute these apartheid police crimes, saying SA’s democratic government has let them down. The families of the victims of the Trojan Horse Massacre have vowed not to rest until those responsible for the deaths of their …
The families of those killed during the 1985 Trojan Horse Massacre are proposing the use of transitional justice to prosecute these apartheid police crimes, saying SA’s democratic government has let them down.
The families of the victims of the Trojan Horse Massacre have vowed not to rest until those responsible for the deaths of their loved ones are prosecuted and in jail. They say the government has let them down and are now proposing transitional justice.
Thirty-five years ago, on 15 October 1985, members of the security forces shot and killed Jonathan Claasen, 21, Shaun Magmoed, 15, and Michael Miranda, 11, and injured several others who were part of anti-government demonstrations in Athlone, Cape Town.
On the day of the incident, security and railway police officers worked together to crush a gathering of youths who were protesting against the apartheid government. The incident became known as the Trojan Horse Massacre as the officers hid behind wooden crates on the back of a railway truck driven into the middle of the protest before opening fire on the crowd.
This tactic was repeated in Crossroads the following day. Mabhuti Fatman, 20, and Mengxwane Mali, 19, were shot and killed while playing soccer in the road when the truck drove by.
An inquest was launched in March 1988 to investigate the actions of the police. The magistrate ruled that the police had acted in an unreasonable way. Thirteen men were charged and the case was referred to the attorney general of the Cape, who refused to prosecute those responsible. The families of the victims then launched a private prosecution, which ended in the acquittal of the accused men in December 1989.
The families said they were not surprised at the acquittal as the country was still run by the apartheid government. But they find it appalling that 26 years into democracy, the government has failed to redress the injustices of the past.
‘It became so dark’
Veteran activist Elizabeth van der Heyden, 85, took part in the demonstrations that led to the massacre. Recalling that day, she said the police came out of an SA Railway truck and opened fire relentlessly.
“Though it was during the day, it became so dark. There were screams everywhere. We feared for our lives. We knew that the police were very cruel towards black people back then,” she said.
Van der Heyden said that today’s government’s failures started at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa sitting, a multiparty forum to negotiate the principles of a new constitution. “The meeting was just about giving political power to the ANC. We still have no economic freedom. We are still paying apartheid debt. The meeting was concentrated on making peace at our expense. Those who committed the Trojan Massacre should be prosecuted,” she said.
Athlone activist Shaheed Mohamed said it is a “tragedy that freedom we’ve been fighting for has not been realised … We will continue the fight until apartheid police are prosecuted. If that is not happening, we will mobilise the country. There will be no justice until they are behind bars.”
He said the government has further let them down as some of those officers still hold positions in the police service. One of them is DA councillor Salmon Pienaar, who admitted to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) that he had played a part in the Trojan Horse Massacre.
“They must be removed. They must have their pensions taken,” said Mohamed.
Passing on the baton
Selima Williams, whose sister Colleen Williams took part in the demonstrations, passed the baton on to today’s youth. “The struggle that we had in the 1980s is not different from today. Yes, we delivered freedom. Your responsibility is to preserve it. You must fight for transitional justice. Your struggle is for the future. Make sure those [Trojan Massacre] injustices are not repeated.”
Williams and Mohamed said there are about 330 cases against the apartheid police that were not prosecuted. As a result, said Williams, they struggle to move forward. “The transitional justice is not just our story but for you as well.”
Imam Haron Foundation director Cassiem Khan said Imam Haron’s wife, Galiema Haron, died on 29 September 2019 still hoping to have her husband’s murder docket reopened.
Haron died in police custody in Claremont more than 50 years ago, on 27 September 1969. The police told his family that he died after falling down a flight of stairs. He spent 123 days in solitary confinement, during which time he was interrogated about his involvement in the struggle against apartheid. His grave at the Mowbray Muslim Cemetery was unveiled as a provincial heritage site last year.
“Nyameko Goniwe also died without seeing justice for her husband Matthew Goniwe,” said Khan. Goniwe was part of the Cradock Four along with Fort Calata, Sicelo Mhlauli and Sparrow Mkonto. They disappeared on 27 June 1985 after attending a United Democratic Front meeting in Port Elizabeth. Their mutilated bodies were later found in the Blue Water Bay area near Port Elizabeth.
Khan explained that the role of transitional justice would be to expand on TRC’s work. “In transitional justice, apartheid police will be prosecuted. There will be reparations for victims.”
Crossroads resident Siyabulela Lengisi said they are in the process of opening the Crossroads Museum, where the history and struggle of the area would be documented. “We have already collected material from the South African History Archive about the fallen heroes and heroines from Crossroads and surrounding areas. We want the youth to know about the struggle,” he said.
‘A planned event’
To commemorate these tragedies, the University of Cape Town (UCT) has released a documentary about the massacres. UCT’s Human Sciences Research Council chief executive Crain Soudien said they depended on the testimonies of witnesses to tell the story of the Trojan Horse Massacre.
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“The recordings now still are absolutely incredible. The material that is available on it is incredibly revealing, seeing those trucks, and the trucks were filmed going up and down the road,” Soudien said. “So we now know, because that wasn’t available to us at the time, that this was a planned event.”
Martha Evans from UCT’s Centre for Film and Media Studies said the police’s plan was to suppress uprising in the area by entering it in an SA Railways vehicle. At the time, she said, it was quite difficult for them to get into communities in police vehicles because the police were so unpopular.
“So, their plan was to get into the community in an SA Railways truck, and to arrest ringleaders of uprisings and protests that were occurring at the time,” she said.
Western Cape member of the executive council for cultural affairs and sport Anroux Marais said the Trojan Horse Massacre characterises the “tumultuous past and the horrific incidents of an unjust system”, which should be acknowledged to inform future generations so as “to prevent its recurrence of any kind, as there exists no space for it in a democratic society”.
“Today more than ever, commemorations of this nature are essential to build an emotional framework to make sense of our divided past,” said Marais.
Pan African enters into Conditional Agreements to Acquire Tailings Retreatment Projects Pan African Resources PLC (Incorporated and registered in England and Wales under Companies Act 1985 with registered number 3937466 on 25 February 2000) Share code on AIM: PAF Share code on JSE: PAN ISIN: GB0004300496 ADR ticker code: PAFRY (Pan African or the Company) …
Pan African enters into Conditional Agreements to Acquire Tailings Retreatment Projects
Pan African Resources PLC
(Incorporated and registered in England and Wales under Companies Act 1985 with registered
number 3937466 on 25 February 2000)
Share code on AIM: PAF
Share code on JSE: PAN
ISIN: GB0004300496
ADR ticker code: PAFRY
(Pan African or the Company)
PAN AFRICAN ENTERS INTO CONDITIONAL AGREEMENTS TO ACQUIRE TAILINGS RETREATMENT
PROJECTS
1. INTRODUCTION AND STRATEGIC RATIONALE
Pan African is pleased to announce that the Company has entered into conditional sale-of-shares
agreements (Sale Agreements) to acquire the total share capital and associated shareholder loans
and other claims of Mogale Gold Proprietary Limited (Mogale Gold) and Mintails SA Soweto Cluster
Proprietary Limited (MSC), (collectively, the Proposed Transactions). Both Mogale Gold and MSC are
100% owned by Mintails Mining SA Proprietary Limited (Mintails SA), which was placed in provisional
liquidation during 2018.
The aggregate cash consideration for the Proposed Transactions will be a maximum of ZAR50.0
million (approximately $3.1 million).
The combined Mineral Resources of Mogale Gold and MSC comprise historic tailings storage facilities
(TSFs) that contain an estimated 243Mt of tailings with an in-situ grade of 0.30g/t gold, for an
estimated gold content of 2.36Moz of gold, constituted as follows:
– The Mogale Gold TSFs, which comprise various individual dams, containing an estimated
123Mt of re-mineable material at a head grade of 0.29g/t, for an estimated content of
1.16Moz of gold; and
– The MSC TSFs which comprise nine separate facilities with resources of 119Mt at 0.31g/t,
containing an estimated gold content of 1.20Moz.
Pan African has successfully executed on its strategy of producing gold safely from low-cost
operations and diversifying its operations to include both underground and low-risk surface
operations.
Pan African and its subsidiaries have a proven track record of successfully commissioning and
operating tailings retreatment projects, as demonstrated by the Barberton tailings re-treatment
plant, the Evander tailings re-treatment plant and most recently its flagship Elikhulu operation.
The Proposed Transactions are conditional on due diligence and feasibility studies over a period of
six to nine months (to Pan African’s sole and absolute satisfaction) and other conditions precedent
typical for a transaction of this nature, including, inter-alia, consent for the transfer of the mining
right by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE), approval from the South African
Competition Commission authorities if applicable, and approval for the provisional liquidators to
implement the Proposed Transactions.
Cobus Loots, Pan African’s CEO, commented: “The opportunity to acquire these surface resources
complements our strategy of focusing on safe, low cost gold mining opportunities, with the potential
to further grow our business by developing projects that meet our stringent investment criteria”.
2. BACKGROUND AND HISTORY OF THE ENTITIES TO BE ACQUIRED
The provisional liquidation of Mintails SA has resulted in an opportunity for Pan African to acquire
gold tailings Mineral Resources not previously retreated. As part of the due diligence examination
and planned feasibility work, Pan African will evaluate the merits of constructing a large-scale tailings
retreatment operation, similar to its Elikhulu operation at Evander.
Details of the legal entities to be acquired under the Proposed Transactions are as follows:
– Mogale Gold – the holding company of the TSFs located on the West Rand in South Africa; and
– MSC – the holding company of the TSFs located within the Soweto cluster in South Africa.
The Mineral Resources of Mogale Gold and MSC were declared as at 7 February 2013 and reported
according to the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore
Reserves (the JORC Code) of 2004 by Mr Peter Camden-Smith, a South African Council for Natural
Scientific Professions registered geologist (Registration No. 400078/94 – Management Enterprise
Building, Mark Shuttleworth Street, Innovation Hub, Pretoria, South Africa), who acted as the
Competent Person for this declaration. Mr Peter Camden-Smith is the owner of an independent
geological consultancy firm, Camden Geoserve, based in Boksburg, Gauteng province, South Africa
(www.geoserveafrica.com) and was appointed as an independent consultant by Mintails SA for the
declaration of the Mineral Resources at the time. Mintails SA has publicly reported these Mineral
Resources in its annual Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves declaration. It is assumed that no
significant mining has taken place on these TSF dams since the time of that report due to the effective
date of the provisional liquidation. The due diligence will aim to confirm and update the 7 February
2013 Mineral Resource declaration.
3. DETAILS OF THE PROPOSED TRANSACTIONS
Key commercial terms and conditions of the Sale Agreements include the following:
– The acquisition of Mogale Gold, inclusive of the assets, surface rights permits, deposition
rights, mining right, water use licence, rehabilitation liabilities and shareholder loans for a cash
consideration of ZAR37.5 million (approximately $2.3 million at an exchange rate of
US$/ZAR:16.25);
– The acquisition of MSC, inclusive of its assets, rehabilitation liabilities and shareholder loans
for a cash consideration of ZAR12.5 million (approximately $0.8 million at an exchange rate of
US$/ZAR:16.25);
– Pan African is afforded a six-month period (with a three-month extension option) for purposes
of conducting a due diligence to its sole and absolute satisfaction;
– The Mogale Gold transaction is subject to an approval by the DMRE in terms of Section 11 of
the South African Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act for the transfer of the
issued share capital of Mogale Gold to Pan African; and
– The Proposed Transactions are subject to other regulatory approvals typical for a transaction
of this nature and of South African companies in provisional liquidation, including that the
provisional liquidators of Mintails SA obtain the necessary approval from the Master of the
South African High Court to implement the Proposed Transactions.
The Sale Agreements are not inter-conditional, and Pan African can accordingly acquire either
Mogale Gold and/or MSC, at its sole discretion.
The Proposed Transactions are subject to the fulfilment and/or waiver, where appropriate, of the
relevant conditions precedent which are to be fulfilled by no later than 5 November 2021, failing
which, the Proposed Transactions will be terminated.
The effective date of the Proposed Transactions is expected to be the date by which all conditions
precedent have been fulfilled.
4. CATEGORISATION OF PROPOSED TRANSACTIONS
The Proposed Transactions are, separately and collectively, uncategorised transactions and do not
involve any related parties in terms of the JSE Listings Requirements or the AIM Rules for Companies
and are therefore not subject to shareholder approval.
Rosebank
6 November 2020
Certain information communicated in this announcement was, prior to its publication, inside
information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation 596/2014.
For further information on Pan African, please visit the Company’s website at
www.panafricanresources.com
Contact information
Corporate Office Registered Office
The Firs Office Building Suite 31
2nd Floor, Office 204 Second Floor
Cnr. Cradock and Biermann Avenues 107 Cheapside
Rosebank, Johannesburg London
South Africa EC2V 6DN
Office: + 27 (0)11 243 2900 United Kingdom
info@paf.co.za Office: + 44 (0)20 7796 8644
Cobus Loots Deon Louw
Pan African Resources PLC Pan African Resources PLC
Chief Executive Officer Financial Director
Office: + 27 (0)11 243 2900 Office: + 27 (0)11 243 2900
Phil Dexter/Jane Kirton Ross Allister/David McKeown
St James’s Corporate Services Limited Peel Hunt LLP
Company Secretary Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker
Office: + 44 (0)20 7796 8644 Office: +44 (0)20 7418 8900
Ciska Kloppers Thomas Rider/Neil Elliot
Questco Corporate Advisory Proprietary Limited BMO Capital Markets Limited
JSE Sponsor Joint Broker
Office: + 27 (0)11 011 9200 Office: +44 (0)20 7236 1010
Hethen Hira Huneiza Goolam
Pan African Resources PLC CMS RM Partners
Head: Investor Relations Transaction Legal Advisors
Tel: + 27 (0)11 243 2900 Office: + 27 (0)87 210 0711
E-mail: hhira@paf.co.za
Website: www.panafricanresources.com
Date: 06-11-2020 02:07:00
Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited (‘JSE’).
The JSE does not, whether expressly, tacitly or implicitly, represent, warrant or in any way guarantee the truth, accuracy or completeness of
the information published on SENS. The JSE, their officers, employees and agents accept no liability for (or in respect of) any direct,
indirect, incidental or consequential loss or damage of any kind or nature, howsoever arising, from the use of SENS or the use of, or reliance on,
information disseminated through SENS.
CCTV footage captured a car flying through the air and crashing into the perimeter wall of the St Andrew’s College chapel. Police confirmed the driver, who was admitted to hospital, had come from the local army base – but had no association with the SANDF. A case of reckless and negligent driving is being investigated …
CCTV footage captured the moment a car crashed into a wall in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, on Tuesday night.
The driver lost control and ramped the vehicle over a traffic circle before crashing into the perimeter wall of the St Andrew’s College chapel.
The principal of the college, Alan Thompson, said it could have been “catastrophic” had the car crashed into the chapel building itself.
“The chapel is irreplaceable, it’s a Herbert Baker design dating back over 100 years. Geographically and spiritually, it is at the centre of our school, so we’d be devastated if it were to be damaged,” he said.
Thompson told News24 the car destroyed the “very old” stone work which made up the perimeter wall. It also took out a lamp post that was donated by the head boy of the school in 1916.
“There is considerable repair work to be done. It’s with the insurers at the moment,” he said.
Thompson said he was told there was alcohol involved in the incident, but police spokesperson Mali Govender said no breathalyser test was conducted and the allegations are still being investigated.
Cradock
Govender confirmed the driver was travelling down Cradock road after leaving the army base, before losing control of the vehicle and crashing into the wall.
“According to my information, the driver has no association with the SANDF nor is he employed there. It’s unclear what he was doing there,” she said.
Thompson said they’ve had concerns with drivers coming off Cradock road, adding that they’ll be meeting with relevant stakeholders to address the problem.
The police are investigating a case of reckless and negligent driving and, according to Govender, investigators are busy following up on the driver’s whereabouts.
“He has not been arrested or detained in police custody,” she said.
Govender said the driver refused treatment on the scene and was then transported to the police station, where an officer on duty noticed his injuries and summoned a family member to take the man to hospital.
“I’m just so glad that nobody else was involved and that nobody was killed or injured,” Govender said.
A series of terrifying WhatsApp one-liners have surfaced in the wake of the latest farm attack in Cradock, revealing the trauma experienced by residents in SA’s rural heartland and also the efforts of ordinary people working to counter the threat… This article is reserved for DispatchLIVE subscribers. A subscription gives you full digital access to …
A series of terrifying WhatsApp one-liners have surfaced in the wake of the latest farm attack in Cradock, revealing the trauma experienced by residents in SA’s rural heartland and also the efforts of ordinary people working to counter the threat…
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