Braille Trumpet
May 2013
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Contents
Elections 2014: will it be more of the same?
Outcry over `violation` of blind man
As elections loom, Zimbabwe crumbles
Increase in lifestyle diseases has health experts concerned
Hawkers get R3m pot of gold
Why Tutu deserves the `Nobel of Religions`
Illegal rehabs a threat
Higher Education SA on a mission, says new chief
Nyanga in gang war
Internet banking fraud up
Facing challenges as a Christian
The Living Word
Zulu Annexure
Elections 2014: will it be
more of the same?
Moshoeshoe Monare
The Sunday Independent, April 14 2013
We are hardly a year away from the fifth democratic general election and the political terrain has
not changed much. It's more like cellphone contracts or banking – nothing new or different to
offer but a lot of fallacious marketing gimmicks. The parties are likely to dust off old posters and
manifestos, change the dates and update them.
The substance of the policy content and promises remain boringly the same – especially for the
voters who are desperately hoping the state's effectiveness could change their lives. Overall,
there's no drastic change in policy attitude and brand. Leaders will surely change their suits and
hairdo – with a dash of botox for JZ and HZ. But they will have nothing new to offer.
They will certainly resort to scare tactics – including how the country will collapse under Jacob
Zuma's second term or how we will revert to apartheid under Helen Zille. All the while, those
who matter – the poor and mainly black – will continue experiencing the same humiliating socioeconomic hardships, from unemployment to inferior education and health services.
Despite all the talk of realignment, the topography remains unchanged. The ANC is still this
complacent behemoth, even though some believe it will be punished slightly, due largely to
Zuma's comeback.
I am not so sure, considering that his leadership disasters are compensated by his popularity
(despite low survey ratings) among the so-called ordinary people who have a sway on the voters
roll.
The DA is still fierce but arrogant, with a high racial wall to climb. Its previous manifestos were
not wow. Cope deserves to be severely punished following its suicidal factional circus. ACDP
will remain a refuge for moral conservatives run by the Meshoe family. Actually, the ACDP
must be taken to the Equality or Constitutional Court for its homophobic, bigoted views.
The UDM's and IFP's health depends on the health of General Bantu Holomisa and Mangosuthu
Buthelezi, respectively. To survive, these two parties must transcend the personality cult of their
leaders.
Mamphela Ramphele is still building Agang, and so far the foundation is shaky and she seems to
have run out of bricks.
She needs to cement her relationship with the grassroots, or at least with the black middle class,
before wasting energy on her signature campaign. She has just evaporated from the political
radar except for some tweets and town hall talks attended by a handful of friends.
I'd like to remind her of Holomisa's UDM theme song when he launched the party with Roelf
Meyer in Kempton Park. They chose Luther Vandross's Impossible Dream. And what a
prophetic title. UDM's dream for becoming a viable alternative is still impossible after 16 years.
Ramphele must also remember that Cope's theme song at its Mangaung launch in 2008 was Bob
Marley's Exodus. The chorus, Exodus, movement of the people was a reference to the massive
floor crossing of ex-ANC members to the new entity. It was also a sadly prophetic song as the
exodus was later reversed, with the ANC mainly benefiting from the return of its prodigal
members. As a voter, what options do I have?
Outcry over `violation`
of blind man
PORTIA SEEMISE
The New Age, Monday 15 April 2013
There has been a public outcry after the alleged discrimination of a disabled man, Johan Venter,
by a bus company.
Lydia Pretorius, chief director for monitoring and valuation of rights for people with disabilities
at the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, has come out in support of
Venter and condemned the incident.
"What is happening is wrong. Johan should be encouraged to lay a formal complaint. The
Constitution says that people are not allowed to be discriminated against because of disability,"
Pretorius said.
She said guide dogs were allowed on buses and they were supposed to sit next to their owner.
She said that institutions carried the responsibility to educate as well as to make their service
providers and users aware of their rights.
CEO for the South African National Council for the Blind Jace Nair said: "This issue directly
affects the life of a visually impaired person."
According to the Promotion Of Equality And Prevention Of Unfair Discrimination Act 2000 "no
person may unfairly discriminate against any person on the ground of disability, including
denying or removing from any person who has a disability, any supporting or enabling facility
necessary for their functioning in society; contravening the code of practice or regulations of the
South African Bureau of Standards that govern environmental accessibility."
The matter on the rights of disabled people is also the subject of an international convention.
Article 9 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) states that:
"To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of
life, states and parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure access for persons with
disabilities on an equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to
information and communications."
The bus company's attitude towards Venter has also dismayed the South African Human Rights
Commission (SAHRC).
Its spokesperson Isaac Mangena said not allowing a visually impaired person to get onto a bus
with a guide dog that helped him or her to be independent, was "really a human rights violation
and it is a punishable offence".
Venter felt that he has been discriminated against and said there are a number of students in
wheelchairs who make use of the buses and complain about the service they were being offered.
Venter has approached the civil rights lobby group AfriForum to take up the fight for his rights.
As elections loom,
Zimbabwe crumbles
PETA THORNYCROFT
The Sunday Independent, April 14 2013
"It's another year. Just another year." That was the reaction of academic, publisher and raconteur
Ibbo Mandaza answering a question about how he felt about Zimbabwe's 33rd anniversary of
independence on Thursday.
"People are despondent, and that there is no engagement with upcoming elections except in the
newspapers.
"People don't even know when elections are going to take place."
He should know, as at the side of his attractive NGO in Harare is a restaurant where many of the
main political talkers, across the political divide, gather at lunch. Mandaza and everyone else,
including Zanu PF seniors know that the pattern of Zimbabwe's independence celebrations
hardly changes. President Robert Mugabe will make a long speech in English and Shona. He will
be frail but his voice will resonate when he recalls the liberation struggle.
Since the inclusive government was established early in 2009 he has eased up blasting usual
enemies, the West, and of course, Morgan Tsvangirai, his rival from the Movement of
Democratic Change who these days is usually sitting in the stadium quite close to him.
Then, the main event begins, a soccer match which is why many ordinary folk turn up to
independence day celebrations. The second day of the holiday is armed forces day where there
are parades and where the man of few words and even fewer smiles, defence minister Emmerson
Mnangagwa will make a speech.
He is so desperate to inherit the Zanu PF presidency from Mugabe, who for some reason does
not trust him, and seems to prefer vice president Joice Mujuru.
Mnangagwa, blamed for organising or being involved in the worst political violence since
independence, is a rich man and has been into alternative gold markets for years. However
unapproachable he may be, however feared, some MDC seniors say that despite this he gets
things done and keeps his word.
There will be little security sector reform before the elections, but the entire Zanu PF hierarchy is
old, like Mnangagwa whose influence and that of the generals has waned. The powerful, rightwing generals who many believed ran the country behind the scenes, and who many fear will
control elections, are no longer nearly as powerful as they were five years ago, not least because
they are now very much richer than they were.
But for the first time since independence Zimbabwe cannot afford to fund elections which must
take place before the end of September.
The maize harvest is only a third of what Zimbabwe needs so, huge imports of grain from
Zambia are on their way. But many thousand new tobacco farmers on formerly white-owned
land are making cash as Chinese buyers boost the price of Virginia leaf, sometimes hitting R40
per kilogram. This year's production will be about two thirds of productions prior to land
invasions.
Despite the despondency on the streets Zimbabwe has begun to change even though Zanu PF's
opponents, human rights organisations, MDC activists and protesters are still regularly arrested
and usually released before being charged.
There is more media now than ever before, and there is less political violence now than at any
time since the Movement for Democratic Change burst on to the scene in 1999, while some of
those who fled in the last decade have begun to return.
That, human rights defenders say, does not mean that there won't be violence in elections this
year. Zanu PF is used to winning. It cannot conceive of not being in power, but the inclusive
government gave them a taste of reduced power.
Main roads linking all main border posts are being rehabilitated and Zimbabweans are paying for
this via income from tolls which feeds the loan from the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
Mining has surged ahead particularly new, controversial investments into alluvial diamonds in
the eastern Zimbabwe and some recovery in the gold sector. There is Indian interest in large
deposits of low grade iron ore and expansion and capital investment in platinum production is
actually increasing despite talk of indigenisation.
Zimbabweans have not found money to buy the 51 percent shares offered by all large foreign
companies to the government.
A few community trusts have been set up at some of the larger foreign-owned mining companies
and there are credible reports emerging that some of these trusts are being looted by the network
of people feasting on the beaurocracies set up to process indigenisation.
Mugabe is likely to tell people on independence day that no Zimbabwean will have to pay for the
51 percent of shares in mining companies because the underground assets of those mines belongs
to the country and therefore sets off the share value.
But what Mugabe says is not law, and despite a largely pliant and underqualified judiciary, the
rulings emerging from the courts in the last few years are more often rooted in the law. Diaspora,
diamonds and divinity dominate recovery in the property market in Harare, according to one of
the busier and most established estate agencies.
In the rest of the country few properties are being sold and there are spectacular bargains around
for brave investors.
Everything including the birth rate is shrinking and statistics point to urban drift for the first time
since independence, according to preliminary figures of last year's census which recorded a 1.1
percent population increase to 12.9 million.
Will Mugabe be in power at independence celebrations in 2014? Maybe. He will be 90 then.
He has long-lived genes from his late mother, and although he will struggle to beat Tsvangirai in
the presidential poll next year, he wants to die in office.
Increase in lifestyle
diseases has health
experts concerned
MARIANNE MERTEN
The Sunday Independent, April 14 2013
TB top natural cause of death in most provinces
As health experts agree that South Africa's large-scale antiretroviral treatment regimen has
helped reduce mortality rates, alarm bells are ringing over the increase in lifestyle-related
diseases like diabetes.
Statistics SA this week released its report on mortality and causes of death in 2010 – an annual
survey of death certificates issued by Home Affairs. The document gives detailed information
overall – and the Free State's Thabo Mofutsanyana district council emerged with the country's
highest mortality rate.
Among the 543 856 deaths recorded in 2010 – 6.2 percent less than the previous year –
tuberculosis (TB) emerged as the leading killer. It accounted for 62 827, or almost 12 percent, of
recorded deaths.
HIV/Aids was the leading cause in 18 325 deaths during 2010, up by 540 from 2009. However
statistician-general Pali Lehohla, speaking on SAfm on Friday, and health experts have cautioned
that there may still be a measure of under-reporting HIV/Aids as a cause of death due to stigma
and amid extremely high co-infection between TB and HIV/Aids.
The second leading causes of death were influenza and pneumonia (39 027 deaths), followed by
intestinal infectious diseases (27 383 deaths), forms of heart disease (25 827 deaths) and 24 664
deaths due to cerebrovasular diseases, or blood vessel-related brain dysfunctions like strokes.
Diabetes accounted for 21 475 deaths in 2010, up from 20 680 the previous year, and
hypertensive diseases led to 14 890 deaths.
Chairman of social security at Wits Graduate School of Public and Development Management,
Professor Alex van den Heever, said while many TB deaths were likely to be HIV/Aids-related,
the report suggested "a turnaround" due to ARV treatment which meant more people lived
longer.
However the public health sector was not doing well regarding diabetes and diseases like
hypertension, or high blood pressure.
"What we don't have in South Africa (is) a coherent chronic disease management programme at
all, including diabetes and TB."
Recent regulation on salt content in food products, including bread, and measures against
smoking took care of the regulatory side but, Van den Heever said there was no appropriate
policy focus on lifestyle diseases to ensure standardised protocols and services at health
facilities. General calls for healthier lifestyles were not enough.
Monitoring and ensuring compliance with ARV treatment had been taken out of the day-to-day
running of most health facilities, but patients with diabetes or hypertension remained in the
general patients pool.
He said it was a problem making sure they received the appropriate medication dosage.
The Stats SA report titled "Mortality and causes of death in South Africa, 2010: Findings from
death notification" shows the majority of the 543 856 recorded deaths in 2010 were among black
South Africans (341 395). Just over 36 820 white South Africans died, 25 610 coloureds and
7 437 Indians, while 132 586 deaths were recorded in "other, unknown or unspecified"
population groups.
Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi's spokesman Joe Maila said the report would "assist us to
develop policies to deal with non-communicable diseases even more vigorously … to ensure that
South Africa becomes a health-conscious nation with the emphasis on the prevention of diseases
and promotion of health".
Non-communicable diseases were preventable and could be detected early through regular health
checks, which must be encouraged.
"TB is curable and we urge our people to take their medication as directed," said Maila, adding
that the report confirmed the positive impact of the ARV roll-out and the concomitant increase in
life expectancy.
Statistics showed by mid-2011 just short of 1.8 million South Africans received ARV treatment,
up from about 50 000 in 2004.
Dr Leigh Johnson of the University of Cape Town's school of public health said the report was
encouraging and showed a substantial reduction, particularly in the 30-39 age group. If there was
a reduction in HIV/Aids deaths, it would be expected among those young adults.
However he cautioned that the number of actual HIV/Aids–related deaths could be higher as
causes of death might be misreported.
Johnson also said it would be too simplistic to divide the number of deaths by the number of
citizens as other factors such South Africa's population age profile had an influence.
For the Thabo Mofutsanyana district council, however, the Stats SA report was bad news as the
eastern Free State recorded the highest mortality rates in the country.
Mayoral spokesman Matefu Mokoena said the death rate was "of great concern". The district was
among the poorest in the country.
"We believe poverty is contributing a lot to the increased death rates. Fighting this needs to be a
collaborative effort," he said, adding that the municipality worked with other government
departments to improve residents' living conditions and to conduct health awareness. Thabo
Mofutsanyana, with its just over 769 700 residents, last year became one of the pilot sites for the
national health insurance, which aims to provide universal access to quality health care through
the public sector.
According to a Health-e News profile, 95 percent of the district's residents rely on public health
services as only 5 percent have access to medical aid. With a high unemployment rate, 18
percent of households live on an annual income of R4 800, while 59 percent live on an annual
income of between R4 801 and R38 400. The district council has the highest non-urban
population at 59.8 percent in the Free State.
HAWKERS GET
R3m POT OF GOLD
Zoë Mahopo
Sowetan, Monday April 15 2013
Soweto traders plan market with shares
A group of hawkers known as Dobsonville 28 have accumulated a whopping R3-million from
National Federated Chamber of Commerce and Industry shares, which they want to use to build
a market.
The group was formed a few years ago when Nafcoc gave out shares to long-standing members.
The group is also prepared to share their pot of gold with fellow traders in Dobsonville, Soweto.
"We know the struggle of having your store taken from you by the metro police and the poverty
that comes along with it," said group member and regional chairman Mike More.
Dobsonville 28 have forwarded a proposal to the City of Johannesburg, which involves building
a small shopping centre near the Dobsonville taxi rank where hawkers can sell their goods.
More said they were tired of waiting for the city to build them a marketplace and were now
prepared to develop it for themselves.
"Today we are meeting the city half-way. We are doing this out of love even though sharing your
money is not that easy," More said.
Another member, Philisiwe Madonsela, said she started her business in 2005, selling meat and
pap and joined Dobsonvile 28 in 2008.
"I hope this project materialises so that we can build a better future for our children," Madonsela
said.
More extended an invitation to other hawkers, saying that if they joined the group they could
also end up owning shares. Group members were presented with their share certificates at a
launch held at a shopping centre in Dobsonville last week.
The city's deputy director of economic development for small, medium and micro enterprises,
Xolani Nxumalo, commended the group on their achievement.
But Nxumalo said no deal had been brokered yet between the city and Dobsonville 28.
Though the group is prepared to use its funds for the development, he said they would have to go
through legal processes to establish whether they qualified.
Nxumalo said there was also a need to repair the relationship between the metro police and
traders.
Why Tutu deserves the
`Nobel of Religions`
Thabo Makgoba
The Sunday Independent, April 14 2013
Awarded for his great dedication to improving lives in his quest for the truth
Once again, that most irrepressible of South African pensioners, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond
Tutu, is in the news.
This time, he has won the Templeton Prize, awarded to "a living person who has made an
exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension". It is given for his "life-long
work in advancing spiritual principles such as love and forgiveness which has helped to liberate
people around the world".
Though sometimes known as the "religious Nobel", intriguingly the Templeton Prize is linked to
no particular faith or view of God.
Furthermore, alongside such usual suspects as Mother Theresa and the Dalai Lama, winners also
include philosophers, astrophysicists, biologists and other scientists, some of whom are not
people of faith in the everyday sense of the word.
But that hasn't bothered the Templeton Foundation, set up in 1972. Its founder, British-American
investor and philanthropist John Templeton, who died in 2008, launched the prize to identify
"entrepreneurs of the spirit" who help "expand our vision of human purpose and ultimate
reality".
Rightly, they see no inevitable conflict between science and religion. Better understanding about
the origins and functioning of life, and what it means to be human, can only help us do better in
tackling questions of morality, ethics and meaning in today's complex world.
Hand in hand, the best of science and of religion offer invaluable resources for seeing clearly the
issues that are at stake, and tackling them wisely and constructively. Neither can do this as well
alone, and neither should be fearful of the other. Both are in pursuit of truth.
This complementarity blows a hole in the old philosophical adage that "you can't get an `ought`
from an `is`."
It is surely evident that, knowing that poverty is destructive of flourishing life in individuals and
communities, inescapably means we ought to do away with it.
Justice clearly is a foundationstone of stable, healthy society and governance, and therefore
ought to be pursued.
So, too, is honesty and so on.
Whichever way you look at it, justice, good governance, fighting poverty and corruption, are
what science and religion alike demand of government, politicians and civil servants. It is what
makes sense from whatever angle you care to look at it.
Therefore we should have no qualms about demanding the highest standards, the most
wholehearted commitment and true accountability, from our political leaders.
The Arch is not the first South African Templeton Prize winner.
That honour went to UCT Professor of Cosmology, George Ellis, honoured in 2004 for a
lifetime's work that embraces not only the origins of the universe but also the human brain and
behaviour, and the relationship between science and religion.
A Quaker and activist, his social writings were condemned by the apartheid government. Like
Tutu, he has spoken and written about the over-riding need for humanity to live with faith, hope
and love – even loving your enemies.
Questions around loving our enemies and the power of forgiveness have been in my mind for
other reasons this week, which has seen the death of Margaret Thatcher, the anniversary of Chris
Hani's assassination and news that Clive Derby-Lewis has again been denied parole.
No one can deny that Britain's first woman prime minister was a remarkable individual. But that
is about as far as agreement seems to go – 20 years after she left power, she still divides
opinions.
In South Africa, she is mostly remembered for calling the ANC a "typical terrorist organisation"
and opposing sanctions, though others have described her as a positive influence on
constitutional transformation.
Stirring up strong emotions is one thing, but I was shocked to hear of parties organised to
celebrate her death – and was glad these were condemned even by her strongest political
opponents.
It's not that we must uncritically "love" all that Thatcher was and did. But it helps no one if we
dehumanise those with whom we disagree.
The Arch has often told us that we must not reduce others to "monsters", however awful their
actions: first, because it actually makes them less responsible for their actions, and second,
because it denies the possibility of redemptive hope.
Accepting that redemptive hope exists everywhere enables us to deal with life honestly,
maturely, constructively, and rationally – in the best and fullest sense of this word, as the
Templeton Prize supports.
For we can step back and look at Margaret Thatcher and admire her drive and determination,
even if we think it was often wrongly directed.
We can admire her achievements as the first woman to hold such high office. Then we can take
what we admire, and build on it: daring to think big and be bold, and pressing towards greater
gender equality.
We can also analyse rationally what we oppose, and why, so that we can draw both useful
lessons and the energy to do better.
These are lessons for South Africa, too, as we continue to recall the past, whether through
specific anniversaries or the daily legacy of history upon us.
Polarisation – painting people as wholly right or wholly evil – undermines our ability to engage
constructively and go forward creatively. We need a similarly nuanced approach to political
parties and policies, as well as personalities: affirming the positive; learning from and working to
overcome the negative.
None of us is perfect, and others always need to look on us with a level, honest gaze, free of fear.
Then we can see what is good and pursue it further.
We can learn from what went wrong, and work for better. And we can identify what can now be
let go, set to one side and left in the past so that it does not hold us back.
Chris Hani's death remains a tragedy, but it must not hold us back from a better future. The best
of what he offered to us can still live on, if we heed his words. Just a couple of weeks before he
died, in calling for a comprehensive, just peace, he warned against corruption and the greed of
the gravy train.
"What we need in South Africa is for egos to be suppressed in favour of peace. We need to
create a new breed of South Africans who love their country and love everybody, irrespective of
their colour."
These words are as apt today as they ever were.
And what of Derby-Lewis? I do not know what is in his mind and heart. But I do know that Tutu
and the TRC taught us that reconciliation only comes with truth. It requires the scientific truth of
full honesty around the facts, and the spiritual truth of recognising the human cost of actions and
so knowing true remorse. Such truth can indeed set us free.
This is a personal lesson, too. For myself, I know that when I honestly acknowledge what scars I
carry from the past – the harrowing facts around them, the painful emotions they stir up, the
wounds they have left on my soul – then I, too, know that I am taking the first steps towards a
freer future.
Come, walk with me on this journey of hope.
• Makgoba is the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town.
Illegal rehabs a threat
PETER RAMOTHWALA
The New Age, Monday 15 April 2013
The increasing trend of drug abuse has some people seeing rehabs as money-making schemes
About 20 illegally-operated rehabilitation centres in Gauteng have been identified as a threat in
the fight against drug and alcohol abuse.
MEC for social development Nandi Mayathula-Khoza said these rehab centres were more a
threat than saviours of drug addicts, as they were operating without proper medical and treatment
resources. "The department has identified some of these facilities where substance abusers were
found to be living in abysmal conditions.
Some were confined to small rooms and used for hard labour.
Some of these rehabs are without any qualified doctors, psychological consultation, exercise
facilities, proper kitchens, physiotherapy ward and some facilities do not comply with municipal
bylaws," she said.
Mayathula-Khoza attributed the drug abuse on the increase of a lethal nyaope and other cheaper
substances including alcohol abuse.
In October last year, Mayathula-Khoza issued a stern warning to communities about the dangers
of sending people to unregistered in-patient treatment centres, and advised the owners of
unregistered treatment centres to approach the department for assistance on how to register. "To
date nine unregistered in-patient treatment centres came forward and registered with the
department to provide services. And three have closed their doors after being advised of the need
to comply with prescribed norms and standards for in-patient treatment centres."
She said due to the growing trend of drug abuse, some people see running rehab centres as a
money-making scheme.
The province has been infiltrated by the abundance of the lethal nyaope drug and there have been
sporadic deaths apparently caused by the drug addicts.
Last month, the MEC held a two-day summit in Boksburg in an attempt to have nyaope
classified as a drug in order to prosecute those found in possession. At the moment, police and
prosecutors struggle to prosecute those found in possession because nyaope is yet to be
classified.
Higher Education SA on
a mission, says new chief
BONGEKILE MACUPE
The Sunday Independent, April 14 2013
The newly appointed chief executive of Higher Education SA (Hesa), Jeffrey Mabelebele, is on a
mission to position the association of vice-chancellors into the authoritative voice of the higher
education sector.
Mabelebele was appointed in February after acting for 14 months.
He believes the association plays a huge role in the higher education sector and his vision is to
turn it into an organisation that "truly" represents the interests of higher education.
"My goal is that the organisation (must) be credible and enjoy popular legitimacy within society
as a collective voice of higher education in South Africa," he told The Sunday Independent. He
joined the association four years ago and was director of operations and sector support.
He worked for many years in the public sector before joining Hesa.
Mabelebele said that during his tenure as acting chief executive he repositioned Hesa as an
association that enjoyed meaningful discussion with key role-players in the higher education
sector, such as the Department of Higher Education and Training.
The association, he said, took special interest by responding to matters related to policy
introduction by the government and besides giving support to the higher education sector, it was
also in a better position to help the government to develop evidence-based policies.
"From time to time there will be areas of divergence between us and the state on policy matters
and that requires constant and continuous engagement between ourselves and the department,"
said Mabelebele.
He made special mention of the amendments to the Higher Education Act, passed as law in
December.
Many vice-chancellors had expressed disappointment about the act long before it became law
and had accused Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande of wanting to take control of
universities.
They cried foul about the "wide-ranging scope" the law gives the minister to intervene at
universities.
And four months after President Jacob Zuma passed the bill as law, the association is still not
happy and wants to have talks with Nzimande.
Mabelebele said Hesa had submitted its reservations about the law to Parliament and was
disappointed that its input was "not fully incorporated into the final act".
"We engaged and we didn't find one another, but right now we are planning to have an
engagement with the minister on some of the provisions that we've got misgivings about." He
added that the association wanted clarity on the interpretation of the conditions and wanted to
establish a "common sense of understanding".
"Right now we are interpreting those provisions in what we understand them to say: We want the
minister to tell us what those provisions mean in practical terms."
The new act has extended the powers of independent assessors, administrators appointed to
universities and also those of the minister in intervening at institutions.
Mabelebele said as the law stood it was "heavy-handed" in favour of public accountability at the
expense of institutional autonomy and the balance had not been fully met.
"The meeting is really to say what does this mean?
"Right now our understanding is that administrators are going to be given more powers beyond
what was previously there; the minister now has more powers to interfere in the affairs of
universities."
Administrators will now take over the management, administration and governance of
universities when appointed to the institution, and Mabelebele said those powers could not be
given to one person.
He said the association was not against the minister intervening in the affairs of universities, but
it was worried that the powers might not be abused by Nzimande, but could be by other ministers
who took over from him.
Mabelebele said there were other challenges facing the sector, including issues of access to
universities.
But access to universities was more of a societal problem that had not been "sufficiently or
adequately communicated".
He said there was a "massive problem" with post-school education and universities had been
"stretched to the limit".
The number of university applications outweighed the number of available spaces, he said.
"We have that kind of challenge and that problem cannot be put at the door of Hesa or
universities. It is a societal issue," said Mabelebele.
He said the association supported Nzimande's expansion of the post-school system to make sure
other study opportunities were available beyond universities.
"Until we do that there will always be these kinds of problems," he added.
Mabelebele said the problem could not be solved by "simply throwing money" at universities,
adding the association was more interested in a holistic solution that would cater for the huge
demand of students who came out of the schooling system.
He said even though a lot of students were getting into universities, there were fewer graduates.
He attributed some of the challenges to funding, but said the major issue was that most students
were under-prepared for the demands of higher education. Hesa had set up a strategic group that
would look at teaching and learning at universities and ways of improving it to have better output
rates.
Nyanga in gang war
UNATHI OBOSE
The New Age, Monday 15 April 2013
MEC Plato urges gangsters to seek opportunities in education
Gang violence in Nyanga township has escalated and Dan Plato, the Western Cape MEC for
community safety, has stepped in to call for calm.
Plato attended a community meeting, organised by the Vulisango Youth Organisation, at Zolani
Centre in the township on Saturday. He met with residents and former gang members.
"There is a bad perception about Nyanga. It is known as the murder capital of the province.
There is a high crime rate and we need to change that," Plato said.
"Community leaders must take government to task. If government works alone people won't
have ownership of any development. Government must not tell you what to do. You must tell
government what you want."
Plato also encouraged youngsters to take advantage of training colleges.
"There is lot of dropouts on the streets from the age of 14. Colleges can accept and assist them to
teach them how to work with their hands. We don't want to see children staying at home doing
nothing," he said.
"If you get arrested and you go to court and get convicted that will make it difficult for you to get
a job. Stay away from crime. There is no excuse for committing crime," he said.
The Nyanga station said it had strategic plans to target individuals and groups involved in
gangsterism through its partnership with the community.
It urged "youth to put down weapons and get involved in community activities and education".
Zukile Ntentema, chairperson of Vulisango, said their aim was to encourage young people in
Nyanga to "think positively".
"We believe some crimes are because of poverty, drugs and alcohol abuse. We want sports
facilities and government to decentralise activities from cities to the townships so that we can get
jobs," Ntentema said.
Mzwandile Mtuze, 21, a former member of the Amavato gang in Nyanga, said he knew at least
five of his gang's members who died in fights.
Nyanga resident Mawaka Mlenzana said the meeting was a "good initiative to restore peace in
the area".
"I wish the gangsters can keep their promises and stop fighting. Many innocent people died for
no reason," Mlenzana said.
INTERNET BANKING
FRAUD UP
TJ Strydom
Sowetan, Monday April 15 2013
Thieves becoming `sophisticated`
It is very difficult to protect yourself against faceless, nameless criminals from around the world,
that could click, double-click and then make off with your life savings.
"They have become very sophisticated," says Colin Hill, who works on financial crimes and risk
management at the SAS Institute.
A London-based phishing gang was convicted earlier this month after robbing a woman living in
South Africa of more than R13-million, Computerworld UK reported.
With mobile and Internet banking, fraud crosses national boundaries easily, according to Hill.
The woman opened an e-mail she believed to be from her bank and entered her details on the
gang's phishing site, it was reported.
The gang used others to transfer small amounts into as a way of beating bank limits on money
transfers.
According to Hill "you won't even notice it is happening".
And clients should not only be on the lookout for the barrage of phishing e-mails.
An MTN customer lost R97 000 after an unauthorised SIM swop gave fraudsters access to his
bank account, Moneyweb reported last week.
The company's chief customer experience officer, Eddie Moyce, said that MTN had concluded
its investigation into the matter and was dealing with the victim directly.
"With regard to fraud that is committed on customers' bank accounts, there seems to be a
misplaced belief that mobile network operators are liable. Please note, in this regard, that the
mobile network operators are not liable.
"This is based on the fact that in order to commit a fraud on a customer's bank account, a
fraudster must have a customer's bank card or account number, Internet banking PIN and a
password," said Moyce.
The company said that due to customers confidentiality, it cannot discuss the details of the
R97 000 fraud.
"Occasionally, MTN, just like other mobile network operators in the telecommunications
industry, is faced with SIM swap fraud. MTN is doing its best, alone and in conjunction with the
SAPS, to investigate such fraud," said Moyce.
But Hill believes the victim in question was not an individual target.
He suspects the culprits were using a "spray and pray" approach.
According to Hill, they had to have been hoarding the information of a large number of people
and waiting for a specific cellphone number to pop up on their radar and then used the
corresponding banking details they had to drain the customer's accounts.
"To do this you must have access to a company's systems," Hill said.
Moyce said that MTN was continuously beefing up its security systems to prevent such fraud
from occurring.
Facing challenges
AS A CHRISTIAN
Move! 17 April 2013
Pastor Cathy Ru Mwila encourages you to stay strong
Cathy Ru Mwila is a prophetess at ECOAN ministries in Roodepoort and Braamfischer in
Johannesburg. She is the director of an engineering company. She is also a mentor.
In our spiritual journey with the Lord, we experience good and bad times. When the going is
good, our soul feels free from any attack. However, when the going is tough, we feel a
depression coming on. Many Christians tend to lose focus when depression takes its toll. In
many cases, Christians lose faith and think that God has abandoned them.
We need to stop and think. We also need to do some introspection, as per God's will. We do not
need to find ourselves in a position where our faith in God fades because of the problems we
face.
Challenges can take the form of depression, sickness, a setback, divorce, retrenchment or any
kind of trouble. We do not choose our challenges, but we certainly have the power to choose
how to get through them.
TWO EVENTS
It takes faith to realise that a situation is a mere interval, a short break between two events, which
are the following:
• An event of need.
• An event of mighty breakthrough that will change your path in life and help you forget the pain
of your past. We all fellowship (come together for a spiritual purpose), but we are not equal in
spiritual responsibility. The greater the responsibility, the greater your challenges and possibly,
your depression.
GOD IS MORE POWERFUL
The kingdom of God is not about power as we know it on earth. The word (Bible), along with
the practice of grace, brings real power. You need to adopt the following attitude: it's not the
challenge or the depression that matters. Rather, it's the grace that God has given me that will see
me through my challenge.
HOW YOU SEE IT
Depression is the state of your thinking, and by trying to think about a problem in a different way
– by entrusting it to the Lord – you'll be able to face it calmly. Doing so may also present a
solution which will strike at the root cause of this depression or challenge you're facing.
TAKING MEDICATION
God is the ultimate healer. Jesus asks in his Word: "Do you want to be healed or to be well?" He
always wanted to give us the option of powerful decision-making based on our faith in Him.
The Living Word
FIKILE MLOMO
GOSPEL SINGER
Move! 17 April 2013
Joshua 24:15
"But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."
I have chosen to follow God through the good and the bad times. There's no God like our
heavenly father. I think it's unfair for Christians to forget God when we are enjoying the good
times but we remember Him when we are facing hardship. Remember Him in the good times and
He will be there for you in the hard times. The gospel is for everyone and every Christian family
should follow Christ.