south africa

Click HERE for a 10-day forecast for your city…

***

The South African Weather Service has issued an alert to the public at large regarding the risk posed by a variety of extreme weather conditions expected to affect a significant portion of the country from Wednesday, 5 September onwards

This extreme, wintry weather is likely to include snowfalls, accompanied by widespread, bitterly cold conditions over many parts of South Africa, with the cold persisting for a four- to five-day period in some places.

Moreover, there will also be the risk of localised heavy rain and/or incidents of flash flooding for parts of Western and Eastern Cape, particularly along the southern and south-eastern coast and adjacent interior regions.

Thunderstorms can be expected over parts of the interior, including the Highveld region. The weather system responsible for this episode of extreme weather is an upper air cut-off low-pressure system which will be moving across the southern half of the country in the days ahead.

A secondary development, in the lee of this system, is expected to result in more widespread and persistent extreme weather than would otherwise have been the case.

(article continues below)

Other All4Women readers liked…

The provinces most likely to be adversely affected are Western and Eastern Cape and to a lesser extent Northern Cape. The highveld region of the Free State, North-west, Gauteng and Mpumalanga as well as parts of KwaZulu-Natal may experience isolated storms.

Provinces most likely to be adversely affected are Western and Eastern Cape and to a lesser extent Northern Cape.

Where’s the SNOW?!

According to SnowReport, some light snowfalls are expected over the Swartberg north of Oudtshoorn, and maybe even a dusting on the Outeniqua mountains, which is expected to continue through most of Thursday.

By Thursday afternoon, snowfalls will return to the Cedarberg and Hex River mountains, with light snow possible over all the high peaks and ranges between Wellington and Oudtshoorn.

“We also expect light snowfalls to start in the Northern Cape during Thursday,” said the organisation. “The area between Beaufort West in the Western Cape and Cradock in the Eastern Cape could also see snowfalls at this time, with some heavier falls on the extreme high ground.”

“Through Thursday night and into Friday morning, as the front moves east, we should see snow impacting further into the Eastern Cape from Graaff-Reinet through to Somerset East and then to Hogsback, and possibly extending even further east into the Eastern Cape Drakensberg regions and Lesotho.”

“During Friday, we are seeing quite a few isolated snowfalls across a few regions, namely, the south-western parts of the Eastern Cape, the northern reaches of the Cedarberg in the Western Cape, the Sutherland area in the Northern Cape and most high peaks between Worcester and Uniondale in the Western Cape.”

Weekend weather

According to SnowReport, heavier falls are expected in the southern high ground of the Northern Cape over the weekend, with some heavier falls also possible in the Eastern Cape areas like Steynsberg, Molteno and Nieu-Bethesda during the morning.

“As Saturday progresses, snowfalls seem possible still in the Eastern Cape areas. By Saturday evening, snowfalls will start tailing off in the central areas of the Eastern Cape and move further east into the Eastern Cape Drakensberg again.”

“During Saturday night and into Sunday morning as the front moves further east, we are seeing possibilities of the snowfalls intensifying over the Eastern Cape Drakensberg into Lesotho and light snowfalls moving into KZN on the KZN Drakensberg, with some possible lower light snowfalls for Kokstad, Matatielle and Underberg areas.”

“By sunrise on Sunday, we are seeing some good snowfalls over the entire KZN Drakensberg, the eastern parts of the Maluti mountainsin the north of Lesotho and over eastern Lesotho. At the moment, we are not expecting the snow to continue past sunrise on Sunday as the front heads east and moves out to sea.”

***

Click HERE for a 10-day forecast for your city…

***

Light snow has already started falling across parts of SA. Take a look at the pics below:

 

In SA Rugby magazine’s second instalment of a series on black rugby legends, GARY BOSHOFF looks back on the career of former SAARB, Saru and Kwaru lock Temba Ludwaba.

EARLY LIFE

As I drove up to Temba Ludwaba’s house in New Brighton, Port Elizabeth, I was greeted by one of the most admired rugby players in South Africa. The conversation I would have with him gave me new insight into the history of black rugby and the colossal impact he had on the game. 

Ludwaba was born into a rugby culture, as his father, Joe, and uncle Abe were serious rugby players for the local Spring Rose RFC in Cradock. It was his uncle who inspired him the most.

‘He would always find time to pass and kick the ball to me and I would be responsible for polishing his boots and the ball. You see, in those days we used to polish the ball too,’ Ludwaba says with a laugh. 

When he was 12, his family moved to Port Elizabeth and settled in New Brighton, where he attended Pendle Primary School. It was here where one of his teachers, the late Eric Majola (father of Khaya and Mongezi), encouraged him to join Spring Rose. 

RUGBY CAREER

While at Cowan High School, Ludwaba played flank, but at the club he would play scrumhalf, with Eric at flyhalf.

However, flank became his specialised position at Spring Rose (New Brighton), where he excelled in the local Eastern Province African Rugby Board (Eparb) league. This was during the height of apartheid, when rugby was rigidly demarcated along racial lines between the South African Rugby Board (Sarb) of Danie Craven, the South African African Rugby Board (Saarb) of Grant Khomo, the South African Rugby Union (Saru) of Abdullah Abass and the South African Rugby Federation (Sarf) of Cuthbert Loriston. 

In 1965, Ludwaba was selected for the Eparb team and the following year for the national Saarb team. As a ‘national African team’ they would play ‘Tests’ against the Saru and Sarf national teams on an annual basis. Between 1966 and 1968 he played in two such matches.

A major shift came in 1969, when a squabble at the annual Saarb tournament in Umtata resulted in a split. The Eparb pulled out of Saarb and joined Saru in 1971. 

The new union was known as the Kwazakhele Rugby Union (Kwaru). 

With formidable players like Ludwaba (flank and lock), Bomsa Nkohla (No 8), Wallace Xotyeni (scrumhalf), Norman Mbiko (scrumhalf), Peter Mkatha (flyhalf) and Wilfred Kovu (tighthead prop), the Kwaru side made an immediate impact. 

In 1972, they played in one of the most famous SA Cup finals, at the Green Point Track Stadium in Cape Town. While Kwaru lost to an impressive Western Province side, the game is also remembered for Ludwaba’s massive 75m penalty kick. 

The hard, tough man that he was, he moved permanently to lock at the age of 34 and went on to play representative rugby for Kwaru until he was 40. Ludwaba was still playing when the Watson brothers joined Kwaru during the highly volatile mid-70s. 

‘I used to drive into Port Elizabeth to pick up Colin Snodgrass, Michael Ryan and a few other white players who wished to train with us,’ he recalls. ‘However, the immense pressure put on them by the security police resulted in them pulling out after a few weeks. It was only Cheeky and Valence who stayed.’ 

I probe Ludwaba about a controversy that has clouded his career since the infamous 1974 SA Cup final against WP at the Adcock Stadium in Port Elizabeth. The match was abandoned because he allegedly sat on the ball after a penalty was controversially awarded to Province. The home crowd responded violently. 

Ludwaba says he was vindicated during the subsequent Saru disciplinary process, when Cassiem Jabaar testified that he and Ludwaba were sitting next to the ball, awaiting the outcome of a discussion the referee was having with the captains, Salie Fredericks and Wilfred Kovu. 

During this volatile era, Ludwaba was a staunch All Blacks supporter and regarded Colin Meads as the benchmark for locks. He was also acutely aware of the achievements of Frik du Preez, who played under Craven’s Sarb. 

‘There was lots of talk about these great players,’ says Ludwaba. ‘I dreamed of playing against them, but because of apartheid it never happened.’ 

Ludwaba also had high regard for players like Jabaar, Fredericks, Clive Thomas, Yusuf Davids and Randy Marinus (featured in last month’s issue of SA Rugby magazine). He says the SA Cup matches against Western Province, Tygerberg and Eastern Province were his most memorable. 

LIFE AFTER RUGBY 

Ludwaba is thankful for what rugby gave him and the doors it opened. He worked for 18 years as a game development officer for the Eastern Province Rugby Union and before that as supervisor for the Ford Motor Company in Port Elizabeth. 

Rugby remains a central part of his life. The 73-year-old grandfather volunteers for the Nelson Mandela Bay Youth Rugby Zone programme in New Brighton, where he coordinates the coaching and recruitment of U12, U13, U15 and U16 boys.

Like many former players from the non-racial era, Ludwaba questions the direction rugby has taken over the years and finds it hard to hide the tinge of bitterness in his voice: ‘Who really owns rugby? Why have we been pushed aside? Rugby development worked much better when development officers worked in the communities to promote rugby. Why did Saru stop this?’ 

Julian Smith, a former Tygerberg and Saru captain, regards Ludwaba as one of the most talented and revered players he played against. 

‘He had an imposing and intimidating physique – very tall, muscular and athletic – combined with excellent skills,’ Smith says. 

‘He was a menace on attack, tireless on defence, and very effective in executing the basics in the lineouts and scrums. He also had the ability to play intelligently off the ball and with ball in hand, creating and exploiting space.’ 

Smith praises Ludwaba for his ‘promotion of non-racial sport and his commitment to the struggle for democracy in spite of a very hostile political environment’. 

His accolades aptly capture the character and talent of Ludwaba, the boy from Cradock who became a leader and a South African rugby legend. 

– This article first appeared in the May 2017 issue of SA Rugby magazine.

Black legend: Randy ‘Yster’ Marinus

Twitter is buzzing with information that a security guard was shot on Baker Street in Rosebank this afternoon, 31 August.

UPDATE: 3.49pm

The journalist on the scene, Pieter Dempsey, can confirm that the body of the security guard is still on the ground.

Rosebank police spokesperson Sergeant Bongi Mdletshe confirmed that four suspects approached a victim and attempted to steal his cellphone.

“A security guard tried to intervene and was shot by one of the suspects,” added Mdletshe.

The suspects fled the scene.

The investigation is still being conducted.

Baker Street is closed between Oxford Road and Cradock Avenue.

[WATCH] Shots ring out during attempted robbery in Rosebank, Joburg. Video: Supplied. pic.twitter.com/bMO00BJ1Xv

— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) August 31, 2018

Original story: 3.15pm

According to the tweets, the guard was allegedly trying to stop a hijacking when he was shot.

The tweets also say that Baker Street has been temporarily closed off in the area.

A Rosebank Killarney Gazette journalist is on the way to the scene and as soon as more information is received, this story will be updated.

Read the thread of tweets here: 

If you around Rosebank be very vigilant. Suspected hi jackers who shot a guard just outside standard bank might still be in the area. #RosebankShooting

— Ron (@RonPipes) August 31, 2018

Baker Street, opposite SBSA. #RosebankShooting

— Ron (@RonPipes) August 31, 2018

If you have any information regarding this incident, tweet us @RK_Gazette

2018-08-31 07:25

David Masondo

Multimedia   ·   User Galleries   ·   News in Pictures
Send us your pictures  Â·  Send us your stories

David Masondo

In the 1950s, South Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world compared to her counterparts such as Ghana, Congo and South Africa. But in the 1980s and 1990s, its agriculture and manufacturing industries were more advanced and contributed towards higher GDP growth figures. This had to do with their ability to use land reform, among other measures, to generate economic growth. 

Unlike Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa in the early phases of their political independence, countries such as South Korea and Taiwan embarked on non-market mechanisms, including expropriation of land either without compensation or below the market value to increase agricultural production and economic development through industrialisation.

Both Korea (1910-1945) and Taiwan (1895-1945) were under Japanese colonial rule. Korea was under colonial rule for 35 years and Taiwan for 50 years. In the early years of colonialism, Japan treated Korea and Taiwan as classic colonies in which both countries provided industrial raw materials and agricultural products such as rice and cotton in exchange for manufactured goods, as part of the Japanese colonial economic growth strategy. During the first decade of colonial rule, Japan sought to protect the Korean market as an outlet for their manufactured goods. Korea was prohibited from manufacturing through rules and regulations.

Most Koreans who owned land before the arrival of the Japanese were allowed to retain it during colonialism. In other words, Japanese colonialism did not destroy the pre-colonial Korean landed class. In colonial Taiwan and Korea, almost 80% of the population comprised of tenants (sharecroppers) under absentee Japanese landlords who appropriated on average more than 50% of the surplus harvest, which was largely sold in the export market. Land tenants had the right to occupy and cultivate the land in return for payment of rent, while landlords had ownership rights and surplus. 

Furthermore, the Japanese colonial state also offered the landed classes legal protection of their land based on a Western-styled legal private property agreement and political protection against peasant unrest through a colonial-style oppressive police state.

In response to the 1918 food riots, the colonial state undertook measures to increase food production in Korea and Taiwan, which included investment in irrigation, drainage, seeds and fertilisers. Between 1910 and 1924, there was a 1.5% a year average increase in rice production in Korea. Between 1920 and 1935 rice production increased by 3% a year.

After the defeat of Japan in the Second World War, the American Military Government that occupied Korea between 1945 and 1948 instituted rent controls and formalised leases in writing on previously Japanese controlled land. Between 1950 and 1953, there was a civil war which led to the break between North and South Korea. North Korea took over control of the land from the landlords through mass struggles of the peasantry and without compensation, and has collectivised their agricultural production since 1954.

Land previously owned by Japanese expropriated without compensation

South Korea became fully sovereign in 1948 and undertook land reform, which changed land ownership. The land previously owned by the Japanese was expropriated without compensation and distributed to small farmers and Korean landlords were forced to sell below market price any land above three hectares.

The 1949 South Korea Land Reform Act drafted by left-leaning Minister of Agriculture Cho Bong-am outlawed absentee land ownership, and land ownership was transferred to small farmers. The practice of compulsory agricultural products such as rice, based on a government determined price was also halted; and replaced with small-holder farmer and voluntary market sales. The land reform was accompanied by state support ranging from finance to marketing support.

Just like in South Korea, Taiwan did not expropriate land without compensation, but the state forced landlords to sell all the land above three hectares at a price determined by the state. In 1956, land redistribution had increased farmers’ land ownership by 60% as a result of the land-to-the-tiller programme, which essentially transferred expropriated landlords’ land and
land titles to the tenants.

The growth in agricultural output was not just a mere function of expropriation of land. There was increased investment in rural and agricultural infrastructure such as irrigation and drainage, credit extension services for financing advanced inputs and innovation increased agricultural output in that production of crops such as rice and sugar increased by as much as 50%. In so doing, demand for industries that manufactured agricultural inputs was created, thereby increasing the levels
of industrialisation.

While South Korean and Taiwanese land reforms took place within the context of attempts to ward off socialism influenced by US interests, local forces did play a key role. The USA’s aid was not the cause of South Korean and Taiwanese land reform and subsequent agricultural performance, but a function of class interests and strategy of local actors, particularly peasants.

Strength of landless peasants pivotal

After all, during the same period, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia under Suharto were given aid by the US, albeit with poor results. The strength of the landless peasants was pivotal. Public ownership of land and the state as custodian As mentioned earlier, all land should be transferred to the people as a whole and the state should act as a custodian. In this policy model, the land becomes public property under the custodianship of the state, and it is leased to South African citizens and non-citizens based on socio-economic needs.

Furthermore, the state should also grant administrative powers for land allocation to different bodies such as community associations, trusts and village committees. 

This would be similar to Mozambique where private ownership of land is prohibited. The land and its associated resources become the property of the public in the hands of the state. Here land is decommodified in that it cannot be sold or mortgaged. The landholders would operate under a democratic lease-holding principle. But residential landholding should be inheritable.

The policy of lease-holding is new in the South African experience of land ownership and tenure policy. Pre-colonial Southern Africa had significant communal ownership of land held in trust by a traditional leader or chief, land was not treated as capital and no individual could exchange land in the market for income.

Colonial powers introduced and enforced private ownership based on free-holding of the land. However, it was not immediate. The officials of the Dutch East Indian Company who landed in the Cape in 1652 under the leadership of Jan van Riebeeck became the first white farmers, but farmed state land operating on a lease-basis.

Similarly, in many colonial countries such as Tanganyika, land was publicly owned under the control of the colonial governor, who had the power to allocate occupancy rights. It was only until 1834 that white settler farmers could hold land in leasehold farms in South Africa. 

The Cape Governor, Sir John Cradock, changed the land tenure system from leasehold farms to freehold farms because he believed that they could develop the land if they owned it privately.

Public land ownership allows socio-economic development

In what ways could public land ownership potentially grow the economy? Public ownership of land enables the people through the state to democratically direct and influence land allocation and use for their own socio-economic development.

Public land ownership guarantees farmers access to a plot of land free of charge, thus reducing set-up costs. Interested domestic or foreign investors can also have access to land at a cheaper rate than what private landowners charge. Furthermore, urban citizens can secure the same through ground lease arrangements, thus making housing cheaper.

The market dependent mechanism to redistribute land does not only enable those who have money to acquire expensive land leaving a majority of the people without land for socioeconomic activities such as production, housing and agriculture; but also gives the owners of land the right to speculate on land to the detriment of economic growth and development.

Land redistribution has played a significant role in reducing inequality, unemployment and poverty. It has income distributional effects in favour of land reform beneficiaries, provided they engage in productive economic activities such as food production. Any increase in food output potentially decreases food inflation, thus making access to food much easier. This in turn, decreases food imports and increases exports, and enables the use of foreign exchange for importing essential industrial inputs. 

Land reform also has the potential to decrease rural migration to urban areas, which creates the unplanned expansion of urban areas. Public ownership of the land has enabled China to drive its economic development faster.

Land redistribution can potentially reduce unemployment and retrenchment during periods of economic crisis. Laid off workers can use land to engage themselves in economic activities. For instance, during the 1973 global economic crisis, many workers in Taiwan returned to farming and avoided living in cramped squatter camps.

Politics of land expropriation and the balance of power

The success or failure of any reform is a function of the balance of power between contending forces. Accordingly, the success of uncompensated land expropriation will be a function of the balance of power. If the opposition to the expropriation of land is stronger, it will not happen. Since expropriation of land without compensation will face opposition, it is therefore important to build a popular movement for land and agrarian reform.

Even if the law will permit expropriation without compensation, without the demand from below, it will not happen. In fact, the land demand so far has not been backed by an organised landless people’s movement, except in urban areas where the land demand is largely driven by housing needs associated with the desire to be closer to economic opportunities.

Under the willing buyer, willing seller, policy, which depends on the power of landlords, market mechanisms (particularly the selling price) are used as an instrument to resist land redistribution. Uncompensated expropriation, which does not depend on the market, would be resisted through non-market means such as the threat of counter-revolutionary violence.

Actually, there is already an opposition or fight-back strategy against uncompensated land expropriation. One such tactic is the distortion of the history of dispossession in which there is denial that there was ever forced dispossession.

It is being suggested that most of the land was voluntarily transferred through treaties between the colonisers and colonised. There is also counter research to oppose the 2017 state land audit, presenting state land as being owned by blacks, implying that the state is a black state and not for all South Africans.

There is also an attempt to use failed post-land transfer projects such as the Makgoba Tea Estate (previously known as Sapekoe Tea Estate and the Zebediela Citrus Estate in Limpopo), in which farming has collapsed, to discredit land reform, including uncompensated expropriation. The opponents of land reform deliberately do not cite relatively successful land transfer projects such as the Nodunga Communal Property Association in Kwazulu-Natal, which struck a deal with the sugar producing company Tongaat Hulett, and the Mkhuzane community and Mondi, both of which continue to undertake productive farming.

Linked to political-economic strategies to discredit land reform efforts is the caricatured presentation of Zimbabwe. It is beyond the scope of this article to provide a more detailed assessment of Zimbabwean land reform. Indeed, violence and destruction of property and farming, including displacement of farm workers, and hyperinflation were part of Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform (FTLR) programme in the early 2000s.

However, it would be worthwhile to examine Zimbabwean land reform objectively and not from the perspective of the opponents of land reform, including uncompensated land expropriation.

Under the FTLR programme, almost 8 million hectares of land was allocated to 4 500 new farmers. This was a major achievement given the fact that at independence over 15 million hectares were large commercial farms, under a colonial settler commercial farmer community composed of 6 000 farmers. The beneficiaries of the Zimbabwean land reform programme were not only the politically connected, but also ordinary Zimbabwean citizens. 

Furthermore, there was no complete collapse of food production in certain areas such as maize, in which production continued not only under the new land beneficiaries, but also old commercial farmers.

– Dr David Masondo is a member of the ANC NEC. This is an extract from an article he wrote in Umrabulo, the ANC’s quarterly magazine.

Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.

Gender-based violence: a continuum through womxn’s lives

Gender-based violence: a continuum through womxn’s lives

Cape Town – It isn’t every day when a player says he feels “boxed in” that it doesn’t sound like a cliché in modern sports. But a closer look at Golden Lions No 8 Hacjivah Dayimani and you will quickly realise that he certainly doesn’t fit in any box at all.

After all, in the cosmopolitan world of South African sport there are few with a backstory like Dayimani, the tall, lanky speedster who could easily be at home in the backline as he is in the forwards.

Dayimani has never really fitted into any box that has been created for him. Born of a Xhosa mother, who is a domestic worker and sangoma, and a Nigerian Jewish father, Dayimani considers himself Jewish, has immense athletic ability and has overcome so many obstacles that few of his teammates realise the path he has trodden to the Currie Cup.

With dreams of becoming the next Bryan Habana, Dayimani’s journey has taken him from the football fields of Cape Town where he played goalkeeper for a junior side at Vasco da Gama, to the dusty streets of a shack outside Cradock, to joining his father in Jozi because his grandmother could no longer afford his school fees.

From there he discovered his love of rugby, under the watchful eye of his father – a Sabbath-observing Igbo Jew – and ended up, of all places, at Hoërskool President. With speed to burn and a natural affinity for the game, he was spotted at school by Jeppe Boys High and offered a scholarship, setting him on the road to becoming a rugby star.

It’s a hunger that he hasn’t lost since, and while he didn’t make the SA under-20 side, his prowess was on display for the SA Sevens side that won the Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa.

Dayimani last recorded his time over the 100 metres at school, but then ran a blistering 10.6 seconds over the distance, putting him in the same league as many of the wingers he comes up against. But for a No 8 the time is incredible.

He has slowly carved a way out for himself into the Super Rugby squad, enhanced his reputation throughout and is keen to finally get a chance in the Currie Cup to show just what he is worth.

“I see this Currie Cup season as an improvement season, a chance for me to improve. Like the coach said to me, this is the time to show myself, what I have and I’m using this opportunity to showcase my talent because I know I can do better, work harder and showcase my skills,” Dayimani said.

“In Super Rugby I was a bit in a box and this is more the time to express myself.”

And Dayimani is the last one who likes to be put in a box.

“I had guys with bigger names ahead of me – guys like Warren Whiteley and Cyle Brink, so I was trying to show what I can do. I was trying to do what they can do, try to be physical and try to steal ball like Malcolm Marx. I feel like I wasn’t playing my game, and now I feel more confident because I have coaches backing me,” he explains.

“I learn from everyone basically. I am close to Warren and Cyle. I try and bring something from everyone because rugby has evolved. It is not just forwards carrying the ball up. You are also expected to pass and take the guys on out wide. I learnt from guys like that, I look up to a lot of guys like Ardie Savea, Warren Whiteley, Cyle Brink and I try to take a bit from everyone.”

Now an integral part of the Lions campaign, he feels the pressure to perform. But while that may burden others, it drives a hunger inside of him to succeed and get out on top.

“So basically this competition, I find it very tough because every guy is trying to show the Super Rugby coaches what they can do. What I have to do, is play chess, show where the space is, find loopholes in the system and exploit that,” he adds.

“Previously what I did was try to play a game that wasn’t mine. Try to be physical, try to be everywhere but I thought let me just stick to my strengths, stay out wide and take on the backs and exploit the space specifically. I think that is where I am good at and that is where I will stay.

“I find this very tough, tougher than last week because right now everyone is expecting me to perform and score more tries, and take on more guys out wide. So there is more pressure on myself and what I need to do now is block out all the noise outside and just play my game.”

As Bryan Habana’s 2007 Rugby World Cup dives inspired his heroics to join the sport where he previously thought rugby was NFL with all the padding and helmets, Dayimani has always loved it in space where he can put his explosiveness to the test.

But now that he has had the taste of the big time, he wants to go further, and knows he can improve significantly if he wants to reach the top. And while many still consider physicality the cornerstone of any self-respecting South African forward, Dayimani believes differently. Making the hit, stopping your man is what counts, and when you have the ball, make some magic.

“I feel like I can improve by at least 60 percent. It may not look like that from outside, because guys see me score the tries but the coaches know the weaknesses and every day at training I try to get closer to my goal,” he smiles.

“Basically we don’t have a system where you have to be big or small. We have a principle that you have to make your hit, and make it a positive hit. If you are going to cut legs, if you are going to take the guy, just make your hit.

“To me physicality was never a problem when I came to the Lions – I thought it was – but when I spoke to the coaches and they made me realise they don’t care about size. I’m more focused on playing exciting rugby through the system.”

Dayimani may look like the typical rugby player, but there is a deeper side. A side looking for more meaning, for purpose. And a hunger to succeed.

“It’s easy to get to the top, it’s another thing to stay on top. Always remember the wolf on the hill is not as hungry as the wolf climbing the hill. The underdog will always be working hard to catch up,” he told the SA Jewish Report in a long-forgotten article.

“Hardship has made me strong and has given me a hunger,” and at 1.89m and 110kg, who is to argue.

Dayimani is the new breed of modern-rugby forward. With a history and a back-story that would inspire many others, he now has his sights focused on changing attitudes to his play, enjoying his explosiveness on the field without being held back and continuing an upward path that could very easily see him in the Green and Gold in the next few years.

And considering all this, is it any wonder that Dayimani feels constrained when he is “boxed in”. It’s clear that boxes don’t fit his mould at all. In fact, as a free-ranging, fast No 8 with the speed of a wing and the size of a forward, he fits few boxes at all.

But that’s exactly the point. It’s time to let him create his own legacy, and show that a one-size fits all approach never works in modern sport.

It’s time now for this unique talent to shine.

Read this story on SuperSport.com

THERE will be free entry to most of the 21 South African National Parks from Monday, September 10 until Friday, September 14.

As in previous years, the campaign will again be run under the established theme, “Know Your National Parks�.

Fayroush Ludick, regional communications manager for South African National Parks (SANParks), said, “The free access is meant to cultivate a sense of pride in local residents in South Africa’s natural, cultural and historical heritage.

“They can do this by experiencing and enjoying all that the parks have to offer.

“It should be noted that the free access does not include accommodation or paid-for activities.�

Ludick further said, “There are lots to keep day visitors to Addo Elephant National Park busy – with its closest entrance gate at Colchester only 30 minutes outside Port Elizabeth. A self-drive game drive allows guests to explore the main game viewing area of the park at their leisure.

“A pit stop at Jack’s picnic site is a must.

“This fenced-in area is the perfect spot for a picnic or braai, about halfway towards main camp.

“While elephant sightings are practically guaranteed, be sure to also keep a look out for the rest of the Big 5 as well as the more elusive animals like hyena and jackal.�

Other parks in the region which are also participating in the campaign include Garden Route National Park, Mountain Zebra (near Cradock) and Camdeboo National Parks (outside Graaff-Reinet).

Addo Elephant will not be extending their free entry outside of September 10 to 14, while Mountain Zebra will allow the first 100 day visitors through their gate free access on both Saturday, September 15 and Sunday September 16, and free entry is extended in Camdeboo throughout the weekend after SANParks Week.

Icy temperatures and intermittent rain could not put a damper on graduates who filled the Great Hall at the University of the Western Cape yesterday.

Hundreds entered the hall as students, and left as alumni, as their loved ones beamed with pride with cameras and cellphones in hand to capture their achievement.

Yesterday was the first of two ceremonies which will confer 44 doctorates, 131 Master’s degrees, 60 Honour’s degrees, 285 Bachelor’s degrees, 89 diplomas and 13 certificates.

University vice-chancellor and rector Professor Tyrone Pretorius congratulated the graduates.

“Statistics do not tell of your sacrifices, your hard work, your determination and resilience. Statistics do not speak to the sacrifices your friends, family, loved ones and guardians made. I salute all you graduates, I salute your parents, your guardians and your loved ones,” he said.

Proving that determination was the key to overcoming any challenge was Andrew Madella, who received a postgraduate diploma in Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies.

Madella was just nine months old when he contracted polio, leaving him with limited used of his legs. At the age of three his mother died.

But these obstacles did not deter the young man from Cradock in the Eastern Cape. He became an anti-apartheid activist, secretary-general of Disabled People South Africa and a unionist, and held key positions at the National Development Agency and Employment Equity Commission.

Today he is a Member of Parliament and deals with land reform.

In a first for the university, a husband and wife received their PhDs on the same day. Gérard Filies and Sylnita Swartz-Filies, who have been married for 20 years and have two children, are both occupational therapists.

The completion of their PhDs was an enlightening journey for the couple from Kuils River.

Pretorius also saluted the institution’s female leadership.

“I am proud that UWC is an inclusive space. Here, we can and must celebrate the fact that our institution is filled with powerful examples of strong, accomplished and successful women. Our executive team is dominated by women leaders and three of our seven deans of faculties are women. Eight of our 17 SA Research Chairs Initiatives or SARChI Chairs are held by women.

“Our council leadership now reflects a female chairperson and deputy,” he said.

Download logo

Brand South Africa in collaboration the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Department of Small Business Development, Standard Bank and Ericsson will host a roundtable discussion on Policy Support for SMMEs and Women in Information Communication and Technology (ICT).

The roundtable engagement comes ahead of South Africa hosting the 2018 International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom World, under the theme “Innovation for a Smarter Digital Development” from 10-13 September in Durban.

This will be the first time the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom World Conference is hosted on African soil, which presents a unique opportunity to position South Africa as the leading country in Africa in ICT and to showcase the strengthened partnerships between public and private sector for national and regional development through ICT.

Join Deputy Minister for the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS) Ms Stella Tembisa Ndabeni-Abrahams and captains of industry from government, civil society and corporate South Africa for this interactive session which seeks to cross-examine the policy support for SMMEs in ICT and the role women in ICT with particular focus on transformation and support to encourage participation of women in ICTs.

Refer to the attached programme for more information.

Date: 24 August 2018

Time: 08:30am for 09:00am – 12:00pm

Venue: The Standard Bank Incubator 5 Cradock Avenue, Rosebank.

For more information and to RSVP, contact Ms Tsabeng Nthite on tsabengn@brandsouthafrica.com  OR  076 371 6810.

Kindly RSVP by Thursday 23 August 2018, at 17h00 and include car registration details for parking arrangements.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: Department of Government Communication and Information.

Download logo

Brand South Africa in collaboration the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services, Department of Small Business Development, Standard Bank and Ericsson will host a roundtable discussion on Policy Support for SMMEs and Women in Information Communication and Technology (ICT).

The roundtable engagement comes ahead of South Africa hosting the 2018 International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom World, under the theme “Innovation for a Smarter Digital Development” from 10-13 September in Durban.

This will be the first time the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom World Conference is hosted on African soil, which presents a unique opportunity to position South Africa as the leading country in Africa in ICT and to showcase the strengthened partnerships between public and private sector for national and regional development through ICT.

Join Deputy Minister for the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS) Ms Stella Tembisa Ndabeni-Abrahams and captains of industry from government, civil society and corporate South Africa for this interactive session which seeks to cross-examine the policy support for SMMEs in ICT and the role women in ICT with particular focus on transformation and support to encourage participation of women in ICTs.

Refer to the attached programme for more information.

Date: 24 August 2018

Time: 08:30am for 09:00am – 12:00pm

Venue: The Standard Bank Incubator 5 Cradock Avenue, Rosebank.

For more information and to RSVP, contact Ms Tsabeng Nthite on [email protected]  OR  076 371 6810.

Kindly RSVP by Thursday 23 August 2018, at 17h00 and include car registration details for parking arrangements.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: Department of Government Communication and Information.

Apartheid activist Ahmed Timol’s family is relieved that somebody is finally being held accountable for his death after he “fell” from the 10th floor of a police building more than four decades ago.

Former apartheid-era police administrator Joao Rodrigues is appearing in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday in connection with the death – nearly 47 years later.

Rodrigues‚ 80‚ gave evidence in 2017 at the reopened inquest into Timol’s death. The inquest‚ at the Pretoria High Court‚ replaced a 1972 court finding attributing the death to suicide and replaced it with murder.

Rodrigues was a member of the security branch and the last known person to have seen Timol alive before the 29-year-old activist “fell to his death”‚ according to the official report‚ from a 10th floor window at John Vorster Square (now known as Johannesburg central police station) in 1971.

Rodrigues handed himself over to police on Sunday.

Imtiaz Cajee‚ Timol’s nephew‚ said about Rodrigues’s arrest: “One is filled with mixed emotions that more than four decades later I witnessed him handing himself over and having his first court appearance”.

Conservationists can differ on ideas and methodology but we can all come together to carry out our stewardship of the earth and its creatures in a more effective, sustainable manner.

It is a truism that in the absence of facts, opinion prevails. Typically opinion that, over time, becomes increasingly emotional, strident and irrational. And it never ceases to amaze me how, while we think we know so much, we actually understand very little.

Whether it be to do with economics, the stock market, health, diet, exercise – you name it. The old knowledge versus wisdom conundrum. And typically the factless vacuum is quickly filled with unproven fads and shallow opinions. Here today, gone tomorrow.

And so it is in the case of conservation, by which I mean everything to do with the “sustainability of habitat and the wildlife that lives therein”. A space which has become increasingly noisy and acrimonious of late. Yet what makes it more than a little baffling to me is that in the case of conservation (as defined earlier) there are proven models for success. In other words, plenty of facts. Proven, tangible facts there for people to witness and experience first-hand.

Consider for example the fact of the Agtersneeuberg Private Nature Conservancy in the Eastern Cape.

In 1986 it comprised a single farmer who took the brave step of converting his farm from livestock to game. Today it has expanded to some 40,000 ha in size straddling the iconic Great Fish River. Riverine, plains, koppies and imposing mountains.

Previously land that was overgrazed and underutilised, now home to some 8,000 head of game. Some 27 species where before there might have been six or seven. Where a herd of some 500 eland roam free, where more than 2,000 springbok proudly pronk and some 350 previously endangered Cape Mountain Zebra grace the veld.

Where Sable bulls scythe the air and Black wildebeest run in their ever diminishing circles. Where the Kudu gene pool has been refreshed and Bontebok gleam their distinctive gleam. Where Vaal rhebuck effortlessly abound with their distinctive rocking-horse gait and where Martial eagles reign supreme in the vast blueness of the infinite Karoo sky. Where people have worked and where the habitat has been restored, erosion countered and dams built.

This all the result of one farmer and two stadsjapies in whose youth the Karoo played a defining role. Today sustained and maintained by five like-minded conservationists.

Conservationists who are also hunters. Yes. Hunters. Ethical hunters. As are many of their families and friends who come often to visit.

People who have no difficulty in reconciling a deep appreciation of nature and the challenge of a proper fair chase hunt. People who take pride in the health of the veld and the game. Who actively manage both, recognising that no matter how big the land in question, there will always be a need to manage it to ensure the sustainability and well-being of both.

Part of that process is hunting, as is game capture and culling. Game capture to help propagate the species elsewhere and culling to provide valuable, healthy, high protein meat in the food chain of the area. And, yes, all help deliver valuable revenue, all of which is ploughed back into the ecosystem.

So in the light of this and many other examples, where hunting goes hand in glove with conservation, it surprised me to read in a recent article by Ian Michler, the renowned conservation journalist/ photographer, that when it comes to a solution as regards conservation that he freely admits that “we have just not put our minds to it”… and that “it is time to search for more effective and sustainable alternatives”.

With all due respect, Ian, what exactly have you been doing? Just open your mind and you will see the solution. Come visit Agtersneeuberg and I will show you, if you don’t believe me. We are between Cradock and Graaff-Reinet on the R61. All 40,000 ha and 8,000 animals. It would be a pleasure to host you.

However, having said that, let me hasten to add that the sole objective of citing this case is not to put Ian on the spot. Far from it. It is simply to say that it is time for us to come together. For conservationists across the spectrum to find a way to come together in good faith and in a spirit of reasonableness, bound by our common cause – sustainability of the wildlife habitat and the game.

We must not let extremists at either end of the current divide bedevil our common cause and kick up dust to blur our vision. Militant, vegan animal rightists on the one hand physically attacking meat-related businesses. Ego-driven bait shooters of iconic animals such as Trump’s two sons, or shooters of canned lions, on the other.

These people are in the minority, yet I fear we are allowing them to damn the constituency to which they supposedly belong, as we bicker with one another.

So let us not get side-tracked into defending the indefensible. Let us rather come together and defend that which we purport to hold dear and learn from one another. In this regard I am sure that hunter/ conservationists have much to learn from non-hunting conservationists.

But surely it must also be the case that those who claim the so-called moral high ground, when it comes to conservation, have equally as much to learn from us.

In so doing we will strengthen the centre and marginalise the extremists. Failing that their actions will increasingly pollute and contaminate.

So when Don Pinnock, another well-known conservation author/ journalist, says in a recent article:

“Personally I could not pull the trigger on a beautiful wild animal. But if ethical hunting is to continue this is not the way to go about it. Secretive hit and run hunting by foreigners searching for iconic trophies, is the best way to give the business a very bad name,” I agree with him.

I also respect his personal decision not to pull the trigger and don’t judge him any the less as a person concerned with conservation.

Having said that, however, what I then ask/expect of him is not to judge me either personally, or as a conservationist, because I consciously choose to pull the trigger – actually to squeeze it. And do so in the fact- based belief that if ethically practised hunting is integral to a comprehensive approach to conservation.

So in conclusion, let us come together and exchange views and share experiences and facts. Let’s have fewer opinions and more proven plans.

The models are there. As are enlightened entities such as the recently formed Custodians of Professional Hunting and Conservation South Africa and long established operators such as Robin Hurt Safaris. Not only does he successfully offer both hunting and photographic safaris, he also has proven anti-poaching and community upliftment programmes.

So let’s engage – come visit the reserve any time – Ian, Don, Morne from WWF. And come soon. Because the longer we dither and bicker the more our mutual ground will become eroded at the expense of the wildlife and the habitat that sustains it.

Goodness knows, there are enough challenges to be faced out there. Why hamstring ourselves when we could be striving for gold together. Why not try give truth to Isaiah’s famous prophecy that the “wolf and lion can in fact lie down together” – here on earth, in our lifetime. Now wouldn’t that be something?

After all, how can we live in harmony with nature if we, as supposed nature lovers, can’t live in harmony with one another? The animals are waiting, the poachers are watching. DM

---

Cape Town – More apartheid-era police officers could be charged and prosecuted for murders of several political activists.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said it was also eyeing other unsolved cases committed under apartheid after 80-year-old retired sergeant Joao Rodrigues made his first court appearance for the 1971 murder of Ahmed Timol.

The Timol case has been hailed as historical because it dispelled claims by the apartheid regime that some activists committed suicide at its police stations.

Judge Billy Mothle ruled in the Pretoria High Court last year that Timol was killed by members of the security branch and did not commit suicide by jumping from the 10th floor of John Vorster Square 46 years ago.

Mothle overturned a 1972 inquest that claimed Timol jumped to his death.

He recommended the prosecution of Rodrigues, who was present when Timol died and also testified before Mothle.

“Rodrigues, on his own version, participated in the cover-up to conceal the crime of murder as an accessory after the fact, and went on to commit perjury by presenting contradictory evidence before the 1972 and 2017 inquests,” said Mothle.

“He should accordingly be investigated with a view to his prosecution.”

Mothle’s ruling was also lauded by the families of Imam Abdullah Haron and Ashley Kriel. Haron was a prominent community leader, revolutionary and interfaith pioneer in the 1950s and 1960s.

Haron was reported dead after spending four months in police detention in 1969. At the time, police lied that the injuries he sustained were from falling down a flight of stairs at the Maitland police station.

A handcuffed Kriel, from Bonteheuwel, a guerrilla trained in Angola with Umkhonto we Sizwe, was fatally shot in the back aged 20 in Athlone by apartheid security branch policeman Jeffrey Benzien in 1987.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission granted Benzien amnesty in 1999 despite his not admitting to murder, but claiming self-defence.

The NPA has slapped Rodrigues with charges of murder and defeating the ends of justice.

Rodrigues handed himself over on Monday morning to the same cop shop, now named the Johannesburg Central police station, where Timol and others met their deaths.

Some hours after being charged at the station, he applied for bail at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court.

He cited his old age among grounds for bail.

Magistrate Carlo Labuschagne set his bail at R2000 and transferred the matter to the Johannesburg High Court.

Phindi Mjonondwane, the NPA’s Gauteng spokesperson, told journalists more apartheid-era crimes were being probed.

“We confirm as the NPA that this has brought so many other cases to life. Investigations are ongoing,” she said.

“(There is a) possibility of more arrests in other matters where anti-apartheid activists were taken through atrocities and brutalised.

“We also wish to congratulate the family of Timol for persistently knocking at every door to ensure that this day is realised and for giving hope to other families as well who lost their loved ones without any trace,” Mjonondwane said.

Timol’s nephew Imtiaz Cajee, who fought to have the case looked into, said more crimes by the apartheid security branch should be uncovered.

“We should definitely not forget that Timol is not the only one,” Cajee said.

“We can’t forget the likes of the Cradock Four, the Gugulethu Seven, Matthew Mabelane, Dr Neil Aggett, Nokuthula Simelane, Imam Haron, Suliman “Babla” Saloojee (and) many, many more.”

All these activists and others were believed to have been killed by police. The trial of four officers arrested and charged for Simelane’s murder in 1983 was due to start.

Cajee asked: “Where are the killers responsible for Joe Gqabi, for Dulcie September and those that meticulously planned out the Matola raid in Mozambique in 1981? Where are all those generals and commissioners?”

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi, who attended Rodrigues’ bail application, described the case as a “bitter-sweet moment”.

“It’s bitter that we’re looking at a small fish. There are bigger fish that didn’t apply for amnesty and they misled the truth commission.

“But sweet that there’s an action,” Lesufi said.

“We’re hopeful that one day a big fish will come here (to court).

“We want those that issued the instructions. We want those that said we don’t deserve to be human beings.”

[email protected]

Political Bureau

Joao Rodrigues‚ the apartheid policeman implicated in the murder of slain activist Ahmed Timol‚ was granted bail of R2‚000 on Monday.

He appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court after it emerged on Sunday that Rodrigues had been issued with a warrant of arrest.

Last year‚ the High Court in Pretoria ruled that Timol did not commit suicide‚ as concluded by apartheid-era investigations.

Eighty-year-old Rodrigues last year gave evidence in an inquest into Timol’s death in the Pretoria High Court‚ which replaced the 1972 suicide finding with one of murder.

Rodrigues was a member of the security branch and is the last known person to have seen Timol alive before the 29-year-old activist allegedly fell to his death from a 10th floor window at John Vorster Square (now known as Johannesburg central police station) in 1971.

On Monday, Timol’s family told TimesLIVE they were relieved that somebody is finally being held accountable for his death.

Imtiaz Cajee‚ Timol’s nephew‚ said, “One is filled with mixed emotions that more than four decades later I witnessed him handing himself over and having his first court appearance.”

Cajee expressed gratitude to the director of public prosecutions for charging Rodrigues. “It’s been a long journey and we accepted fate that nothing would happen. [But in] nine months we’ve managed to overturn the outcome of [the death report via] the inquiry.

“We are happy that we will be able to get to the heart of the matter. It’s important for people like Rodrigues to disclose what happened as opposed to the inquests.”

“The Timol matter is one of many. My heart goes out to Thembelihle Simelane’s family for the Cradock four assassination‚” said Cajee.

Cape Town – Women have nothing to celebrate this Women’s Month when we are dying at the rate that we are, says Onica Makwakwa, national liaison for #TheTotalShutdown: Intersectional Women’s March Against GBV.

This is why the organisers of #TheTotalShutdown are calling on women from all sectors to join together to shut down the country on August 1 – the start of Women’s Month – in protest against gender-based violence.

The campaign was started by a group of “ordinary women who just felt that they just seen one too many posts of missing women and know exactly how that story will end, with them either being dead and usually their partner being responsible for their death,” says Makwakwa. “And so (we) decided to organise to basically say that we need to be serious about bringing an end to gender-based-violence in this country.” 

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that
supports HTML5 video

The group have been mobilising women on social media for months in preparation for the marches. 

Marches are set to take place simultaneously in every major city across South Africa:

Pretoria: from the State Theatre to the Union Buildings

Cape Town: from CPUT to Parliament

Bloemfontein: from the University of the Free State’s main gate to the Supreme Court of Appeal

George: from Corner Marke Cradock to The Botanical Gardens

Port Elizabeth: from Nangoza Jebe Hall to City Hall

East London: from East London Museum to City Hall

Bhisho: from Independence Avenue to EC Provincial Legislature

Mafikeng: from Monthsiwa Stadium to The Civic Centre

Kimberley: from McGregor Park to JW Sauer Building

Polokwane: from the SABC to The Premier’s Office

Newcastle: from iPhelandaba Sports Ground to Emadadeni Police Station

Nelspruit: from Grove Mall to Government Boulevard

Women in Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland and Namibia will march in solidarity.

Marchers are encouraged to wear black with a touch of red.

“Women who are not able to march, we are asking that they stay away from work on that day, a total stay away. For those who absolutely must be at work, we are calling for a moment of solidarity from 1-1.30pm.”

In addition, refrain from all economic activities – do not buy anything on that day unless absolutely necessary.

They will be delivering 24 demands to the government, including that President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Presidency, not to appoint people to government offices who are known perpetrators.

While the #TheTotalShutdown protest is intersectional and all LGBTQIA+, differently-abled persons and races are invited to participate, the Facebook and Whatsapp groups are for women only.

For weeks now women have been sharing their personal stories and why they are participating in the march in the closed Facebook group and, says Makwakwa, the stories and the women behind them prove that gender-violence knows no race, economic class or religion.

IOL

Durban – There’s a saying that goes along the lines of, there is a reason why there is a big windshield in a car and a small rear-view mirror because what lies ahead is always more important than what lies behind. It’s another way of saying that what happened in your past is not near as important as what is in your future.

Perhaps that’s the encouragement to take from a bunch of young professionals stationed with the Port of Saldanha in the Western Cape, who are beginning to make a significant impact through various engineering innovations to improve port infrastructure.

Saldanha handles predominantly bulk iron ore that is railed from around 900km away in the Northern Cape. The port is South Africa’s deepest and potentially the largest and currently consists of a more than 3km-long quay extending out into Saldanha Bay.

The port manager is Captain Vernal Jones, a former harbour master at the Port of Cape Town until his promotion to Saldanha.

He said Transnet National Port Authority(TNPA) was committed to training a new generation of young engineers equipped with technical excellence.

“I was reminded of our young engineers in the port who have proven that they can shape the future of the Port of Saldanha and the broader industry, through their innovations and diligence,” Jones said.

Two of these are University of Stellenbosch civil engineering graduates, Jade Cloete, and Gareth Gertse, who successfully completed in-house designs that would have ordinarily been outsourced to external service providers.

Cloete executed the design, project engineering and management of the Port’s Scour Protection Project, while Gertse designed the stormwater network for the port’s future Off-Shore Supply Base (OSSB).

Cloete, 27, is originally from Laingville in St Helena Bay and started working as an Engineer in Training (EIT) at TNPA in February 2014, after receiving a bursary from the company in matric.

“Being a young engineer in the marine engineering field is challenging but has provided some amazing opportunities that most engineers don’t get exposed to,” she said.

“It is a field that is not focused on heavily in any of the universities in the country and thus a lot of the knowledge regarding this field comes from the experience of other engineers. I have been fortunate to have been able to work with some of these individuals who have freely shared their knowledge.”

Another rising engineering star in the port is 23-year-old Wandile Radebe. Born in the small township of Kwa Thema in Johannesburg and growing up with a qualified Electrical Engineer as a father, finding solutions to problems using engineering has always been a passion.Radebe joined TNPA as an electrical engineer in training after completing his BSc (Hons) electrical engineering at the University of Cape Town (UCT)last year which was funded by the TNPA Bursary Programme.

He said the best thing about working for TNPA was the ability to work closely with some of the industry’s most experienced individuals across a wide range of disciplines to collectively achieve collective goals that are for the betterment of the port.

“One of my best highlights at TNPA to date is the first time I saw the VLCC (very large crude carrier) and Cape size vessels. Just the sheer size and majesty of the vessels makes me want to extend my stay at TNPA indefinitely.”

Cassidy Gray and Johané Matthee are close to completing their EIT programme at the port. Gray has chosen to specialise in electrical engineering, and Mathee aspires to be a civil engineer. Matthee, 26, hails from Cradock and obtained her Bachelor of Engineering Civil (BEng Civil) degree from Stellenbosch University. She secured a bursary from Transnet and went on to do holiday work at the company.

“As a young person working in the maritime industry, I have been exposed to so many exciting new developments and it’s been an opportunity to gain exposure and experience that may have taken me much longer had I not been at TNPA,” she said. “Being on site during the construction of the quay at the OSSB has been the highlight of my career and time at TNPA to date.”

Two students in training, Zukisa Misani, (Civil P1/P2), and Nondumiso Nolwazi Ntuli (Electrical P1/P2), have also displayed engineering prowess during their tenure with TNPA and David Kuhn, Acting Port Engineer at the Port of Saldanha, said they are future stars to look out for.

Durban born Ntuli, 23, was raised in Richards Bay. She joined the Port of Saldanha in February 2018 as part of her Work Integrated Learning prescribed by the Durban University of Technology. She hopes to work her way up to become a chief engineering technician (electrical).

Misani, who is 31, also joined TNPA in February 2018 on a 12-month experiential learning contract. He is originally from rural Centane in the Eastern Cape and obtained his Civil Engineering qualification from Walter Sisulu University of Technology.

“I am looking forward to using the skills that I have acquired to build a better future for this company. TNPA is putting a lot of effort into training young people to grow into their careers in terms of skills and knowledge,” Misani says.

Cloete believes that TNPA must continue its efforts to encourage young people to consider the maritime industry as a career. “More outreach programmes are needed and TNPA can change the narrative about the importance of the maritime industry,” she reckons.

The Mercury

In South Africa, our failure to hold one another to account for the most heinous crimes in our past – not to exact revenge, but to facilitate justice and healing – can be read today in our crime statistics, in gender violence, and in grand corruption in our private and public sectors.

Twenty-one years ago last week, notorious Cape Town security policeman Jeff Benzien appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to apply for amnesty in respect of a host of human rights violations.

Characterising himself as a torture expert with particular expertise in the rapid extraction of information from political detainees immediately after their arrest, chilling photographs of Benzien showing commissioners how he dealt with freshly captured political detainees by suffocating them with wet bags were published across the world. He also used electricity.

Benzien wasn’t just a torturer; he was a killer, too. He was granted amnesty in respect of the 1987 shooting death of the Bonteheuwel activist, Ashley Kriel, which he described as having occurred by mistake during a struggle as he tried to arrest the young man. The commission noted that he had lied at Kriel’s inquest.

Kriel’s family have never accepted Benzien’s versions of events, and are convinced Ashley was deliberately murdered. A few years ago, an eminent forensic investigator hired by the family said that in his view Kriel was shot in the back from some distance.

The murder of Ashley Kriel raises a dilemma for post-apartheid South Africa.

The TRC was established in 1996 for good reason. It was a mechanism to enable the then-infant democracy to confront and begin to deal with the evil in its past – with the granting of amnesty a central pillar of the exercise. In order to qualify for amnesty, applicants had to satisfy various conditions. Chiefly, they had to demonstrate that they were telling the truth about what they did, that they acted in the context of a politically motivated objective and command structure, and that their actions were commensurate with their objectives.

Which begs the questions: What about those who did not apply for amnesty, hoping they’d manage to avoid detection? What about those whose amnesty applications were declined? And what about those who received amnesty, but are subsequently proven to have lied?

The simple answers to these questions are: Investigate and prosecute. Or, reopen inquests, as was done in 2017 in the case of Ahmed Timol, where the apartheid inquest finding of suicide while under gentlemanly interrogation was replaced by one of murder by the security police. Demonstrate to the families and the nation that the culture of criminal impunity created by the apartheid regime has been replaced by one of justice, dignity and accountability. In doing so, we acknowledge the heroes of our liberation struggle who paid the highest price for our future.

Ashley Kriel’s killer, and those under whose instructions he acted, are not the only ones who “qualify” for scrutiny and action by the National Prosecutions Authority in the post-TRC environment. So do the killers and engineers of Steve Biko’s murder, and those of the Cradock Four, Neil Aggett, Imam Haroun, Coline Williams and Robert Waterwitch … it’s a long list. The TRC recommended 300 cases for further investigation, and there are many others that the commission did not engage.

In the 1990s, New York City’s right-wing mayor Rudy Giuliani popularised the “broken window theory” as a response to crime. The thesis of the theory is that by clamping down on visible signs of crime, antisocial behaviour and disorder, an environment is created that is not conducive to further crime.

In South Africa, our failure to hold one another to account for the most heinous crimes in our past – not to exact revenge, but to facilitate justice and healing – can be read today in our crime statistics, in gender violence, and in grand corruption in our private and public sectors.

There has been massive societal focus on the head of our prosecution services, Shaun Abrahams, for his perceived tardiness in prosecuting State Capture. His fitness to hold office has been brought into question, and is awaiting the judgment of our highest court.

Conversely, there has been virtually no pressure on Abrahams to prosecute Steve Biko’s killers. Why not? Surely, if they are guilty of criminality, society should demand to see the Gupta brothers AND the likes of Jeffrey Benzien and members of his command structure getting to know each other – in prison?

These questions have more complicated answers, rooted in the stay-out-of-jail-forever cards brandished by Stratcom’s dogs of war. Prosecute us and we unleash ill-gotten secrets about members of the liberation movement whom we managed to compromise, some of which may be true, they say.

As young South Africans, we understand that compromises were necessary to create a stable platform for common purpose at the dawn of democracy from which societal transformation (spatial, social, psychological, political and economic) could peacefully unfold.

But 24 years down the line people are asking questions about long-term costs. The family and comrades of Ashley Kriel are asking: Surely the lies about Ashley’s murder cannot be the price we are expected to pay?

There are some encouraging signs. Besides the Timol inquest in 2017, the family of the young Soweto activist Nokuthula Simelane, who disappeared after her arrest 34 years ago, are one step closer to justice following a High Court ruling in June that the police should pay for the defence of her kidnappers and alleged murderers. But encouraging signs are insufficient; they do not facilitate sustainable justice or address the broader societal issue of impunity.

A few weeks ago, in commemoration of the 31^st anniversary of his murder, the Western Cape ANC Youth League, Cosatu and MKMVA accompanied members of Ashley Kriel’s family to his grave site. The family continues to bear an intolerable pain in its heart at what they regard as the abandonment of justice for Ashley.

Unpalatable information and disinformation cannot hold the truth and justice at bay forever. Nations built on foundations of injustice inevitably flounder. DM

Khalid Sayed is the chairperson of the Western Cape ANC Youth League.

---

Makana Fire and Emergency Services Manager William Welkom discusses strategy with a member of the fire fighting team from Ndlambe Thursday 12 July – among the many officials and residents who teamed up to ensure Grahamstown (Makhanda) didn’t suffer a disaster the scale of last year’s Knysna fire. Photos: Sue Maclennan

At 9.30 last night, Makana’s Fire and Emergency Services Manager William Welkom and fire fighters were driving around areas of Grahamstown (Makhanda) where the veld was still smouldering after a day of fires that threatened homes, schools and the 6SAI army base.

An all-out response by emergency services, backed up by local institutions and businesses, saved the city from a fire Thursday 12 July that in the tinder-dry conditions and hot, gusting winds could have been as devastating as the fires that destroyed more than 1000 homes on the Garden Route just over a year ago.

The fire started around 11am in bush north-west of Grahamstown’s (Makhanda’s) airport runway and tore across the tinder-dry grass alongside it, spreading quickly to the old golf course and easily jumping the road to the army base into the bush below Cradock Heights.

Among the first to take action was the Grahamstown Riding Club, who evacuated horses from their stables to open paddocks.

South African Police Services local emergency response communications soon advised Somerset Heights and Oatlands North residents to be on the alert as strong winds fanned the fire towards Settlers Hospital and houses in Queens Grove, off Constitution Street.

They and many other residents whose homes border the veld west of the city rushed home to pack belongings, ready to evacuate. Residents at one property stood outside with hoses, ready to defend their home from the flames.

Settlers Hospital was prioritised, with teams on standby there who prevented the fire from reaching the buildings. The nurses home was evacuated as a precaution.

Fire-fighting teams were on hand when the fire approached Settlers Hospital and Somerset Place retirement village.

The nurses home, on the hospital grounds’ western boundary, was evacuated for safety.

Frail care residents at Somerset Place were evacuated. Manager Ben Bezuidenhout said, “The most important thing was to ensure the safety of our frail care residents. Some are in wheelchairs, some have Alzheimer’s – so they’re in a difficult situation. But our frail care residents were never at risk because the carers knew exactly what to do: when the fire came down the hill, they immediately evacuated them on to the porch. The next step would have been to take them further down towards the road.”

It was worrying though.

“When the fire came down the hill it looked terrible,” Bezuidenhout said.

Luckily the complex maintains an extensive fire-break, an expanse of grass that is kept short.

“The fire department was on the scene and they did a magnificent job of dousing the fire,” Bezuidenhout said. “And thank goodness the wind dropped.”

Other residents were mobile, Bezuidenhout said, and would have been able to leave unassisted in their own vehicles.

Sean Haydock, who runs Blue Skies Backpackers, raised the alarm when he saw the fire approaching from the far side of the airfield, between the army base and the shooting range.

Sean Haydock, who runs the Blue Skies Backpackers at the EP Skydiving Club, said the fire had started at the far side of the airport runway around 11am. “It was in that clump of bush there,” he told Grocott’s Mail, pointing towards the area between the runway and the Army shooting range.

Haydock called the fire department and they were there in minutes, he said.

“If they hadn’t acted so quickly, I reckon these buildings would have been gone,” Haydock said.

Fire and Emergency Services Manager William Welkom was first at the scene and later described what he’d seen to Grocott’s Mail.

“I took one look at the size of the fire and the speed it was travelling towards the houses and straight away I knew we needed backup,” Welkom said. He’d immediately called the District’s fire fighting services and neighbouring Ndlambe, who sent reinforcements.

“I reckon that wind could have been as much as 55km an hour,” Welkom said.

Hi-Tec Security was among the public and private emergency services who assisted. Here Kenny Knoetze discusses strategy with a member of the Sarah Baartman fire services team.

DSG staff return from behind the Villa d’Este complex in Somerset Heights, having stopped the flames short of the boundary wall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Along with the other emergency services – Makana Traffic, SAPS and Hi-Tec Security, – all three private schools – St Andrew’s, DSG and Kingswood – sent teams and equipment to help at various hotspots as the wind kept changing direction and new areas were under threat. Rhodes University brought their water tanker, vehicles and staff, Wessons Service Station played a crucial role clearing a path with their TLB through the bush below the Army base for emergency vehicles to approach, Crossfit’s Simon van der Merwe and teams from Amakhala Reserve were among the many who actively fought flare-ups close to people’s homes as the fire moved across the valley.

Army fire fighters concentrated on protecting the base.

Miloli Dingana and Mark Thomas of the SPCA evacuated animals from homes as the fire approached.

Mark Thomas, Miloli Dingana and Lois Marechal of the SPCA evacuated animals whose owners were away. Afterwards they drove around looking for injured or lost animals.

The wildfires that began in Knysna just over a year ago spread across the Garden Route, destroying more than 1000 homes and crippling or destroyed nearly 200 businesses.

Speaking to Grocott’s Mail late last night at a site where fire fighters were dousing a new flare-up, Welkom said he was immensely grateful for the way the community had come together to help prevent what could have been a disaster.

“I am just grateful that together we were able to protect property and lives,” Welkom said. “We will continue to monitor hotspots throughout the night, but I am confident that we have got the better of the fires now.

“There is rain predicted and I hope it comes soon.”

As we now know, it did. Accuweather predicts more rain in Grahamstown Saturday afternoon 14 July, with a cool 12C. Sunday 15 July is predicted to be still cool, with temperatures climbing through the week to a hot 26C next weekend.

Sunnyside resident Nikki Kohly around midday on Friday 13 July reported 8.9mm of rain since it started falling Thursday.

The slideshow below tells the story of a community acting together to avert disaster: