BRAILLORAMA
Januarie 2012
Jaargang 43 No. 1
Gedruk in nuwe braille
deur Brailledienste van Blind SA
Privaatsak X9005
Crown Mines
2025
Tel: (+27) 11 839-1793
Faks: (+27) 11 839-1217
E-Pos: philip@blindsa.org.za
Besoek ons tuisblad by:
http://www.blindsa.org.za
Redaksie: Christo de Klerk
Martie de Klerk
Philip Jordaan
Uitgewers: Blind SA
Rig alle korrespondensie aan: Die Redakteur, Privaatsak X9005, Crown Mines, 2025,
Johannesburg, R.S.A.
“Hierdie publikasie is moontlik gemaak deur finansiële ondersteuning van die
Departement van Kuns & Kultuur”
Inhoud
Vertrou God, maar ook mense
Zuma sal sy kant moet bring - Lindiwe
`Die hoofrede vir die neus ...`
Hoe later, hoe kwater
Motlanthe is die geskenk-koning
Sport-kwotas het misluk - minister
`Nuwe` Bulls se Super-doepa
Bootjie na Kammaland
Vertrou God,
maar ook mense
Cecile Cilliers
Beeld 2011-11-15
Praat met mekaar!
Praat oor die kleurgrens heen met mekaar, oor die grens wat ryk van arm skei, wat taal
en stand aandui.
Praat in hemelsnaam met mekaar voordat die land ontplof - of inplof - in ‘n chaos van
onbegrip, vyandskap en haat.
Dít was min of meer die boodskap wat oor bykans 20 jaar deur die organisasie Vroue
vir Vrede verkondig is: leer ken ander swart mense as net hulle wat in jou huis werk;
leer die leefwyse en omstandighede ken van mense wat ‘n ander kultuur het, wat ander
tale praat, ander kos eet; praat met ander mense as net dié wat jou knus en gemaklik
laat voel.
Probeer om uit jou gemaksone uit te beweeg; loop, soos die ou Amerikaanse Indiaan dit
gestel het, 2 myl ver in ‘n ander man se velskoene ... Al gee dit jou eelte, wil ek byvoeg.
Twintig jaar lank het ons aangespreek en toegespreek, gepleit, geïnspireer, en moeg en
moedeloos geraak.
Om uiteindelik onder trane voor die TV te luister hoedat FW de Klerk Nelson Mandela,
die ANC, die PAC en ander politieke partye ontban. Dit was tóé.
In Johannesburg ‘n dag of twee, drie gelede ontmoet ek een van die vroue wat destyds
saam deel was van die organisasie.
Ons is bly om mekaar te sien, maar sy is ongelukkig.
Al die jare se opoffering, kla sy by my.
Ons is amper 20 jaar in ons demokrasie in en ons sukkel steeds om by mekaar uit te
kom.
Vir wat bly ons so behep met ras en kleur, met geld en taal, asof dit al is waarop die
mense se saligheid berus - dat hy tog net homself moet kan laat geld?
Dit het weer tyd geword vir ‘n Vroue vir Vrede, want skynbaar het niemand destyds die
boodskap gehoor nie. Of gehoor, maar nie geluister nie.
Almiskie, dink ek.
Sondagoggend woon ek ‘n Nagmaalspreek by en die predikant, besig met ‘n reeks oor
die leiding en die werkinge van die Heilige Gees, vertel ‘n persoonlike staaltjie: Sy
dogter is ‘n argitekstudent, reeds besig met haar praktiese jaar.
Goeie Christen-kind wat sy is, wil sy nie net geboue oprig wat die ego van die argitek of
die ontwikkelaar of die koper streel nie.
Sy wil graag haar bydrae lewer waar dit kan saak maak.
Onder die leiding van haar professor werk sy toe ‘n lang vraelys uit (‘n bietjie soos die
sensus, klink dit) om te hoor wat dit is wat die mense op voetsoolvlak van behuising
verwag.
Hiermee moet sy toe na die Joe Slovo-informele nedersetting.
Effe skrikkerig nooi sy haar pa saam, asseblief.
Hy glimlag verskonend, verleë, vertel hy: Ons het eers kajuitraad gehou - moet selfone
en horlosies saam, ringe afgehaal word?
Dalk liewer die ou bakkie vat as die gesinsmotor?
En toe die verrassing.
Die vriendelikheid van die mense; die gasvryheid; die netheid en, ja, die sjarme van die
plakkershutte; die bereidwilligheid om tyd af te staan aan ‘n jong vrou en haar pa ter
wille van haar universiteitsgraad ...
Daar word uitgevra, die vraelyste beantwoord en toe vra die vader des huises die
student se pa: Maar wat doen jý vir ‘n lewe?
En toe die predikant sy nering bieg, bars die gesels los en breek die vreugde van die
innige samesyn van die heiliges oop.
Die predikant op die kansel is op baie vlakke gelukkig. Sy kind is besig met goeie werk;
hy het ‘n onverwagte, verrykende ervaring gehad en hy kan dit in sy preek voorhou as
die werk en leiding van die Heilige Gees.
Ja, dink ek, toe ek die Nagmaal gebruik, ons kan God maar vertrou.
Maar ons mense ook. Ons kan hulle maar vertrou.
Zuma sal sy kant
moet bring - Lindiwe
Philda Essop
Volksblad 2011-11-13
KAAPSTAD. - As pres. Jacob Zuma nie sy politieke gewig agter die nasionale
beplanningskommissie se oplossing vir sy grootste uitdagings gooi nie, is dié plan
gedoem om te misluk, het me. Lindiwe Mazibuko, DA-parlementêre leier, gister
gewaarsku.
Die drie grootste interne uitdagings sluit volgens haar ideologiese konflik, koördinasie
en onduidelike doelwitte in. Die grootste probleem is nie armoede of korrupsie nie, maar
die regering self.
“Die belowende aanbevelings in vorige dokumente is op die lange baan geskuif weens
ideologiese dooie punte tussen gemagtigde kabinetslede en ministers wat met die ANC
se alliansie verbind word.”
Volgens haar vereis baie van die kommissie se voorstelle aktiewe toepassing deur
verskeie staatsdepartemente. Die sukses van die plan hang dus af van die vermoë van
dié departemente om hul rolle te vertolk en die president om oorkoepelende bestuur te
verskaf.
Mazibuko het ook die kommissie gekritiseer omdat sy voorstelle ‘n “verwarrende
mengsel” van langtermyn-doelwitte en gedetaileerde beleidsvoorstelle bevat. “Die
kommissie moet die rol wat hy in die regering wil vertolk, duideliker uitstippel: Wil dit ‘n
oorkoepelende visie vir Suid-Afrika saamstel, of spesifieke beleid skep?”
Mnr. Trevor Manuel, beplanningsminister in die presidensie, het Vrydag die plan in
Pretoria bekend gestel.
Sapa berig die twee groot doelwitte van die plan is om armoede uit te wis en
ongelykheid teen 2030 te verminder. Nege groot uitdagings word in die plan uiteengesit,
waaronder werkloosheid en die swak gehalte van onderwys vir die meeste swart
leerlinge.
Die ander probleme wat geïdentifiseer is, is die gebrek aan infrastruktuur - dit is óf swak
geleë óf word nie goed in stand gehou nie, ‘n wydverspreide siektelas wat vererger
word deur ‘n swak openbare gesondheidstelsel, en ruimtelike beplanning waaruit arm
mense nie baat vind nie.
Openbare dienste is ongelyk en dikwels van swak gehalte, korrupsie is wydverspreid en
Suid-Afrika bly ‘n verdeelde samelewing.
As die probleme nie aandag kry nie, kan dit bydra tot ‘n afbrekende siklus wat tot
ekonomiese ondergang, swak lewenstandaarde, verhoogde kompetisie vir hulpbronne
en maatskaplike spanning kan lei. Die plan van 455 bladsye is ‘n adviserende dokument
wat deur die land se voorste kundiges en akademici opgestel is. Die dokument gaan
met kommentaar daarop vir goedkeuring aan die kabinet voorgelê word.
`Die hoofrede
vir die neus ...`
Beeld 2011-11-11
“Dis vir Catharina de Medici se hoofpyn voorgeskryf. Churchill moes parlementariërs
help toe hul voorraad in die oorlog verdwyn het. Snuif het ‘n lang, kleurryke geskiedenis
- en dit is sowaar weer toenemend gewild. Rudie van Rensburg kyk wie dit deur die
eeue heen gebruik het.” Snuif was so gewild onder die adelstand dat George III se vrou,
Charlotte, selfs “Snuffy Charlotte” genoem is.
‘n Gebruik wat laas in die agtiende eeu onder koninklikes en die adelstand gewild was,
toon weer ‘n oplewing: In Amerika en Brittanje het nikotienslawe sowaar weer na
snuifdose begin gryp nadat rook in openbare plekke verbied is. Nadat Brittanje se
rookverbod in 2006 ingestel is, kan jy deesdae in Britse kroeë snuif koop. ‘n Knypie
snuif is immers nie nadelig vir die ander aanwesiges in die kroeg nie, en die gebruik
daarvan in openbare plekke word nie deur die rookwet verbied nie. Tabak-winkels
bevestig dat snuif-verkope op dié eiland toeneem.
In Amerika is die gebruik van klam snuif, sogenaamde moist of dipping tobacco, weer
aan die toeneem en die vervaardigers van rooklose tabakprodukte ondervind dat hul
klam snuif-produkte beter verkoop nadat die rookwet hier ingestel is.
Klam snuif verskil van gewone snuif, fyngemaalde tabak wat deur die neus opgesnuif
word, deurdat dit ‘n baie growwer tekstuur het. Die gebruiker sit ‘n rolletjie van dié
gekerfde tabak tussen sy lip en tandvleis vir tussen 10 minute en ‘n halfuur om ‘n
“nikotienskop” te kry. Dit verskil ook van pruimtwak, wat eerder gekou word.
Pruimtwak het in die laaste deel van die twintigste eeu grootliks in onbruik verval weens
die sosiaal onaanvaarbare spoegaksie wat daarmee gepaard gaan. Dié gewoonte het
egter al veel vroeër teenkanting begin kry toe kerke in Engeland die gebruik daarvan in
die laat-agtiende eeu verbied het omdat kerkgangers dit nie meer kon waag om op die
natgespoegde vloere te kniel nie. Tog was die pruim van tabak wêreldwyd gewild.
Ondanks anti-spoegwette so vroeg as die 1890’s in New York en Philadelphia, het die
gebruik van pruimtabak tot in die 1970’s algemeen in Amerika voorgekom.
Maar dit is veral snuif wat ‘n kleurryke geskiedenis het. Amerikaanse inboorlinge was
waarskynlik die eerste mense wat tabak gesnuif het. In die 1400’s het hulle
fyngemaalde tabak met behulp van ‘n hol, y-vormige pyp (met die gevurkte gedeeltes in
elke neusgat) opgesnuif. Dié rookinstrument is ‘n tobago of tabaca genoem. Die woord
is later deur die Spanjaarde na tobacco verander - vandaar die naam vir twak.
‘n Spaanse monnik, Ramon Pane, het van 1493 tot 1496 met Columbus se tweede
besoek aan die Amerikas aangeteken dat die destydse boorlinge van Haïti ook tabak
met ‘n pyp in hul neuse opgesnuif het. Selfs in sekere dele van Afrika het inboorlinge
tabak gesnuif voordat Westerlinge daar voet aan wal gesit het.
Kort voor lank het die snuif-gewoonte na Europa oorgewaai en daar soos ‘n veldbrand
versprei. Die Hollanders, wat die naam “snuif” aan die fyngemaalde tabak gegee het,
het dit sedert 1560 gebruik. In 1561 het die Franse ambassadeur in Portugal snuif na
Catharina de Medici, koningin van Frankryk, gestuur as medikasie vir haar
voortdurende skeelhoofpyne.
Dokters in Frankryk het later tabak vir alle moontlike kwale begin voorskryf. Bekende
snuiwers van Frankryk was Marie Antoinette, die blyspelskrywer Molière, en Napoleon.
In die sewentiende eeu is die eerste snuif fabriek in Seville, Spanje, opgerig om
hoofsaaklik in die Europese adel se snuif-behoeftes te voorsien. Teen 1650 was die
Engelse, Iere en Skotte ook aan’t snuif. Die Skotte het snuif heel gepas na sneeshin
herdoop na aanleiding van die niesaanvalle wat met die snuiwery gepaard gaan.
Nadat die rook van sigarette en pype in die Britse laerhuis in 1693 verbied is, kon die
parlementariërs hulself darem help aan ‘n knypie snuif uit ‘n gemeenskaplike silwer
snuifdoos wat in die raadsaal vir die agbares aangebring is.
Tydens die Tweede Wêreldoorlog is dié snuifdoos in ‘n Duitse lugaanval verwoes, maar
Winston Churchill het kort daarna ‘n nuwe doos aan die parlement geskenk.
Snuifverbruik het sy hoogtepunt in Engeland tussen 1702-1714 tydens koningin Anne
se heerskappy bereik. In daardie tyd is snuif só deur gebruikers geniet dat dit die “final
reason for the human nose” genoem is. Snuif was so gewild onder die adelstand dat
George III se vrou, Charlotte (1760-1820), selfs “Snuffy Charlotte” genoem is. ‘n Hele
kamer in die Windsor kasteel is vir haar snuifvoorraad ingerig.
Bekendes soos lord Nelson, die hertog van Wellington, die digter Alexander Pope en
die Britse premier Benjamin Disraeli was almal geharde snuiwers.
Ene Margaret Thompson het vir ‘n beroering in Engeland gesorg toe sy in 1776
begrawe moes word. Haar testament het bepaal dat haar doodskis met ongewaste
sakdoeke uitgevoer moes word voordat sy daarin neergelê word.
Daarna moes die kis gevul word met die beste Skotse snuif tot haar hele liggaam
daarmee bedek is. die ses grootste snuiwers van die gemeente moes as draers optree
en moes snuifkleurige hoede pleks van swart hoede dra.
Maar die snuifgewoonte het ook in dié tyd in sekere dele van Europa groot teenstand
gekry. Die ergste het gekom van tsaar Mikael van Rusland wat só gekant daarteen was
dat hy onderdane wat met snuif betrap is, se neuse laat afsit het. Pous Urbanus VIII het
snuiwers in die sewentiende eeu met verbanning uit die kerk gedreig. Dit nadat twee
pouse vroeër snuif in die kerk verbied het nadat “lidmate met hul gesnuif gedurende die
Heilige Nagmaal die altaarlinne vuilgesmeer het”. John Wesley (1703-1791), vader van
die Metodistekerk, het ook teen die gebruik van snuif in Ierland te velde getrek.
Kommersiële snuif is in 1611 deur John Rolfe aan Noord-Amerika bekend gestel.
Hoewel die koloniste aanvanklik nie opgewonde oor dié gewoonte was nie, het Dolley
Madison, onthalersvrou van president James Madison, dit gereeld gedurende die jare
1809-1817 aan Withuis-gaste uitgedeel. Selfs die Amerikaanse kongres het van die
1800’s tot 1930 ‘n gemeenskaplike snuifdoos vir lede in die raadsaal aangehou. Tussen
1880 en 1930 het die produksie van snuif in Amerika van 1,8 miljoen kilogram tot 40
miljoen kilogram gegroei. Teen 1945 was die American Snuff Company in Memphis die
grootste snuif-vervaardiger in die wêreld.
Suid-Afrika het ook sy generasie snuiwers opgelewer. Die bekendste snuifprodukte in
Suid-Afrika was Singletons en Landsberg. ‘n Advertensie vir laasgenoemde in De
Volkstem van 13 Junie 1894 lees só: “Nog altoos de Eerste en de Beste. Otto
Landsberg & Co’s. Verkreeg ene GOUDEN MEDAILLE Kimberley Tentoonstelling. Dit is
de Hoogste bekroning ooit in Zuid Afrika voor snuif gedaan.”
In die Lantern van Februarie 1987 word stories oor die snuifgewoonte vertel. ‘n Tannie
Lena van Wyk van Bloemfontein het vertel hoe die snuifdoos in haar jong jare by die
ouderlinge en diakens omgehou is in die konsistorie voor die diens begin het. Tant
Kosie van Rensburg van Vrede het vertel van ‘n tant Miena wat so “skaam-skaam haar
blikkie so groot soos ‘n tweesjielingstuk en blink van gebruik uitgehaal het - ta’Miena
met die sinlike rooi sakdoekie en haar Landsberg-kosbaarheid.” Tant Baby Anderson
van die ouetehuis Maranata op Bothaville het erken dat sy nog snuif, maar sy snuif
nooit in die openbaar nie.
Onlangse navrae by plaaslike kettingwinkels en kafees toon dat daar soms nog ‘n
aanvraag na snuif is. Veral ouer swart vroue is nog lief vir hul snuif. Baie
kruidenierswinkelgroepe wat ook tabak verkoop, hou egter nie meer snuif aan nie.
My huishulp, Anna, is nog ‘n snuiwer van formaat en staan en val by ‘n sekere soort
“blou taxi-snuif”, ‘n produk wat my al kilometers ver laat ry het aangesien nie alle kafees
dit aanhou nie. Sy vat haar knypie snuif tussen die duim en voorvinger vas voordat dit
neusgat toe gaan. Maar jy kan ook ‘n titseltjie snuif op ‘n vingernael plaas en dit
vandaar opsnuif. ‘n Ander metode van snuif het veroorsaak dat ‘n mediese term sy
naam gekry het. As ‘n mens jou duim vorentoe strek en effens oplig, word daar op die
agterkant van jou hand ‘n holtetjie gevorm waarin ‘n skeppie snuif kan rus. Dié holtetjie
is in mediese boeke as die “anatomiese snuifdoos” bekend.
Vir rokers wat snuif as ‘n gesonder alternatief sien, is daar nie goeie nuus nie: Snuif is
net so verslawend soos sigarette, en dit is nie uitgesluit dat dit tot nasale kanker of
mondkanker kan lei nie.
Al voordeel van snuif bo sigarette is dat jy jou longe spaar en omstanders nie aan
tweedehandse rookdampe blootstel nie. Koes net vir die niesbuie van ‘n mede-snuiwer
langs jou in die kroeg!
Hoe later, hoe kwater
Beeld 2011-11-16
Die 18-jarige Thomas Ferreira is al 11 dae lank in ‘n koma nadat die blouligmotor van ‘n
LUR hom getref het op pad na ‘n “dringende afspraak”. Ander regeringslede meen ook
blou ligte kan gebruik word wanneer ‘n BBP laat is. Louise Ferreira het uitgevind wat
die wet sê.
Openbare woede teen “bloulig-boelies” het oorgekook nadat Thomas verlede Saterdag
op sy motorfiets omgery is.
Die motorbestuurder van mnr. Humphrey Mmemezi, Gautengse LUR vir plaaslike
regering en behuising, het volgens ooggetuies sy blou ligte gebruik om padreëls te
verontagsaam.
Dit is nie die eerste omstrede voorval waarby ‘n bloulig-voertuig betrokke is nie.
Selfs mnr. Julius Malema, geskorste leier van die ANC-jeugliga, het al met blou ligte
gery, al is hy nie ‘n regeringsamptenaar nie.
Wetgewing
Ingevolge die Wet op Nasionale Padverkeer van 1996 mag die volgende mense in ‘n
noodgeval padreëls (soos ‘n rooi verkeerslig of die snelheidsperk) oortree:
Die bestuurder van ‘n brandweerwa, reddingsvoertuig of ambulans;
‘n Verkeersbeampte wat sy of haar pligte uitvoer; en
Iemand wat besig is met burgerlike beskerming.
Dié mense móét steeds die voertuig bestuur “met die nodige agting vir die veiligheid
van ander padgebruikers” en hulle moet rooi of blou ligte én ‘n sirene gebruik.
Luidens ‘n polisiebeleidsdokument wat deur Beeld bekom is, word die “gebruik (deur
polisiebeamptes) van aangeskakelde blou wentelligte, sirenes of die noodflikkerligte om
verkeersreëls te verontagsaam” streng verbied, behalwe in ‘n noodgeval.
Luidens die dokument moet verkeerswette en -regulasies “ten alle tye streng nagekom
word” en moet ‘n lid wat ‘n polisievoertuig bestuur hoflik en bedagsaam teenoor ander
padgebruikers wees.
Blou ligte misbruik
Adv. Paul Hoffman van die Instituut vir Verantwoordbaarheid in Suider-Afrika (Ifaisa) sê
die bloulig-stelsel word misbruik.
“’n Bloulig-konvooi is nie ‘n lisensie om roekeloos te bestuur of mense van die pad te
dwing nie.
“Politici moet beter beplan en ‘n bietjie vroeër vertrek na daardie ongeskeduleerde
afsprake. Blou ligte word gebruik omdat iemand nie dagboek kon hou nie.
“Die Handves van Menseregte sê almal is gelyk voor die wet. Dit beteken dat almal
dieselfde moet bestuur.”
Hoffman voeg by dat ambulanse en ander noodvoertuie ‘n perd van ‘n ander kleur is.
Dr. Johan Burger, senior navorser aan die Instituut vir Sekerheidstudie (ISS), sê hy dink
nie daar is in beginsel ‘n probleem met die gebruik van blou ligte om ‘n sekere doel
(soos noodgevalle) nie, maar nou word dit uitgebrei na baie belangrike persone
(BBP’s).
“Ek dink die onderliggende rede daarvoor is nie om BBP’s by vergaderings te kry nie,
maar omdat daar ‘n hoër vlak van risiko is.
“Hoewel ‘n mens begrip het dat mense op daardie vlak baie besig is, beteken dit nie
hulle kan net verkeersreëls oortree nie.
“’n Ambulans kan met ‘n kritieke geval op pas wees hospitaal toe, maar dit beteken nie
hy kan net ‘n rooi lig koelbloedig oorsteek nie.”
Burger meen om blou ligte summier te verbied is nie die antwoord nie.
“Dit moet net met groter omsigtigheid gebruik word.
“Die verantwoordelikheid lê op twee plekke: Die bestuurder moet opgelei wees en die
betrokke BBP moet ook optree. Onverantwoordelike gedrag moet aangemeld word.
“Ek dink nie die ouens word aangemeld of aangespreek nie, so hulle dink later hulle kan
doen wat hulle wil. Dan wil ek dit nie eens op die pad waag nie.”
Om roekeloos te ry omdat iemand laat is vir ‘n afspraak is ‘n algehele uitbuiting van die
stelsel, sê hy.
Regering
Mnr. Nathi Mthethwa, minister van polisie, het aan Beeld gesê hooggeplaastes word
deur die polisie vervoer en hulle is onderwerp aan dieselfde padreëls waaraan almal
anders gehoor moet gee.
Mnr. Ashref Ismail, woordvoerder van die Padverkeersbestuurskorporasie (RTMC), het
eergister gesê bestuurders van bloulig-voertuie mag hul eie oordeel gebruik oor
wanneer dié ligte nodig is.
Die RTMC is verbonde aan die departement van vervoer.
Ismail het gesê hy wil nie die minister weerspreek nie, maar wou hom ook nie uitlaat oor
of ‘n afspraak waarvoor iemand laat is ‘n noodgeval is nie.
“Die bestuurder moet self daardie besluit neem,” het hy gesê.
Nadat Thomas se ongeluk die nuus gehaal het, het me. Nomvula Mokonyane,
Gautengse premier, op die radiostasie Talk Radio 702 gesê ‘n vergadering wat nie
vooraf geskeduleer is nie, is ‘n voorbeeld van ‘n noodgeval.
Wes-Kaap verbied dit
Die Wes-Kaapse regering het in November verlede jaar ‘n munisipale regulasie ingestel
wat ministers en LUR’e verbied om blou ligte te gebruik.
Alle blou ligte en sirenes is van hul voertuie verwyder. Net noodvoertuie mag in dié
provinsie blou ligte en sirenes gebruik.
“Politici moet dienaars van die mense wees en nie bo hulle gestel word nie,” met mnr.
Geordin Hill-Lewis, stafhoof van me. Helen Zille, DA-leier, gesê.
“Dit is baie onregverdig wanneer hulle padgebruikers opsy kan skuif wanneer hulle
dikwels net laat is vir ‘n vergadering.”
Ambulanse
Volgens me. Vanessa Jackson, ER24-woordvoerder, moet al hul voertuie, insluitend
ambulanse, in ooreenstemming met die wet hierbo genoem, bestuur word.
“Voertuie mag slegs ligte en sirenes tydens ‘n ware noodgeval gebruik, soos wanneer
hulle op ‘n noodgeval reageer of wanneer ‘n pasiënt se toestand dit vereis,” het sy gesê.
Indien dit noodsaaklik is vir die bestuurder van ‘n ambulans om byvoorbeeld ‘n rooi lig te
verontagsaam, moet die voertuig by die kruising eers heeltemal tot stilstand kom.
Nadat ander voertuie die bestuurder ryvoorrang gegee het, mag die ambulans die
kruising oorsteek.
Versoekskrif
Mnr. Howard Dembovsky, voorsitter van die Justice Project South Africa (JPSA), het
gesê die publiek is keelvol vir bloulig-bestuurders wat dink hulle kan straffeloos optree.
Verskeie organisasies het ‘n beroep op die regering gedoen om die gebruik daarvan
deur politici af te skaf.
Die JPSA het ‘n versoekskrif daaroor begin wat hulle op 1 Desember aan mnr. S’bu
Ndebele, minister van vervoer, wil oorhandig.
“Thomas was die laaste druppel aan die emmer,” het Dembovsky gesê.
“Ons probeer genoeg steun werf sodat ons kan sê ons praat namens die mense.
“Hierdie `ek-is-‘n-bekende-persoon-`, Kersliggie-storie moet nou end kry.”
Indien Ndebele nie teen 31 Desember op die versoekskrif reageer nie, wil hulle dit na
die Verenigde Nasies (VN) neem.
Suid-Afrika het die VN se Dekade van Aksie vir Padveiligheid onderteken.
Motlanthe is die
geskenk-koning
Jan-Jan Joubert
Beeld 2011-11-16
Die absurde geskenke wat ministers ontvang en die verrassende omvang van sommige
politici se eiendom en sakebelange het gister aan die lig gekom tydens die jaarlikse
indiening van die parlementêre register van ledebelange.
Die koning van geskenke - of in elk geval die een wat sy geskenke die getrouste
verklaar - is adj. pres. Kgalema Motlanthe, wat vanjaar 58 geskenke ontvang het.
Nie almal daarvan sal in elkeen se smaak val nie. Dit sluit ‘n afbeelding van Soccer City
in Johannesburg (in goud en glas) en ses kraalwerk-vuvuzelas in. Dr. Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma, wat as minister van buitelandse sake altyd die vreemdste geskenke
ontvang het, staan as minister van binnelandse sake steeds nie terug nie.
Sy het vanjaar onder meer ‘n Chinese teestel, ‘n voël gemaak van blou glas en verskeie
syserpe ontvang.
Me. Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, haar opvolger by internasionale betrekkinge en
samewerking, maak óf nie dieselfde ywer om geskenke te gee by mense wakker nie óf
sy is minder ywerig om dit te boekstaaf, want sy het net vier geskenke aangemeld.
Een van die vreemdste geskenke is ontvang deur me. Tina Joemat-Pettersson, minister
van landbou, bosbou en visserye. Waar hang ‘n mens ‘n kaart van Uganda, gemaak
van hout?
Handel en nywerheid is nog ‘n portefeulje met baie geskenke, en as dr. Rob Davies,
minister, ooit honger word, het hy ‘n hele spens geskenke om aan te knibbel. Davies het
wyn, koffie, ‘n Ricottakoek, lekkergoed, neute, dadels en southappies ontvang - asook
‘n boor, indien hy lus is om aan die huis te werk.
Wat eiendom betref, het mnr. Salamuddi Abram (ANC) vier groot plase. Me. Patty
Duncan (DA) het ses huise, ses onontwikkelde erwe en een woonstel en mnr. David
Ross (DA) het 13 eiendomme verklaar.
Mnr. Tozamile Botha, Cope-LP, besit 18 eiendomme, waaronder twee woonhuise, maar
eintlik is hy die koning van direkteurskappe: Hy dien in die direksie van 41
maatskappye.
Ander Cope-lede dien ook in baie direksies. Mnr. Phillip Dexter verklaar lidmaatskap
van 16 direksies en mnr. Graham McIntosh van 11.
Sport-kwotas het
misluk - minister
Anesca Smith
Beeld 2011-11-16
Kaapstad. - Die kwotastelsel in sport het misluk, het mnr. Fikile Mbalula, minister van
sport en ontspanning, gesê.
Hy het gister op ‘n mediakonferensie in die parlement gesê sportkwotas is uitgedien.
“Oor die algemeen was dit teenproduktief,” het hy gesê.
Volgens hom sal volgende week se nasionale sportindaba bepaal of daar steeds ‘n
behoefte aan die kwotastelsel is en hoe ‘n verteenwoordigende span gekies word.
“Kwotas is ingestel om integrasie te bevorder, maar dit is nie behaal nie. Swart gesigte
is ‘n druppel aan die emmer. Ons het nie ware integrasie gesien nie. Ons wil meriete en
verteenwoordiging kombineer.
“As ons aan ‘n Wêreldbeker-toernooi deelneem, gaan ons nie mense bloot op grond
van hul kleur kies nie. Ons wil die beste hê. Trouens, niemand wil ‘n mislukking wees en
gekies word om die regte getal swart mense in die span vol te maak nie.
“Ons het van meet af geweet die kwotastelsel sal nie vir ewig daar wees nie.”
Sportfederasies sal hulle wel moet verbind tot ‘n transformasie-manifes wat ook by die
indaba ontwikkel sal word, het hy gesê. Volgens Mbalula is Suid-Afrika een van die
lande wat nie ‘n nasionale sportplan het nie en is dít die kerndoel van die indaba.
Onder diegene wat die tweedaagse indaba van Maandag af gaan bywoon, tel
sportkenners van Kuba, Botswana, Brittanje en Australië.
Mbalula en mnr. Gert Oosthuizen, sy adjunk, het gister volgehou dat Suid-Afrika baie by
Kuba se sportplan kan leer.
Volgens Mbalula sal skole van volgende jaar af minstens vyf sportkodes moet aanbied
en sportsterre moet reeds van kleins af ontwikkel word.
“Geen skool moet sonder sportgeriewe gebou word nie. Integrasie beteken jy moet die
sport van jou keuse kan speel.”
Volgens hom was daar ‘n afname in wit sokkerspelers. “Ek is seker daar is baie wit
kinders wat sokker wil speel. Dis onwaar dat hulle nie van sokker hou nie.”
`Nuwe` Bulls se
Super-doepa
JJ Harmse
nuus24 2011-11-17
Pretoria - Die feit dat die enigste twee afrigters in Suid-Afrika wat al die Super Rugbyreeks kon wen in die Bulls se kraal is, is een van die groot redes waarom dié
streekspan nie aanstaande jaar afgeskryf kan word nie.
Voeg daarby ‘n paar aanpassings ten opsigte van spelpatroon, personeel en fokus en
dit is duidelik waarom hulle die nuwe seisoen met heelwat selfvertroue binnegaan, sê
die Bulls se oorhoofse rugbybaas, Heyneke Meyer.
Hy en Frans Ludeke is die enigste twee afrigters wat al die Super-trofee omhoog kon
hou. Hoewel ‘n gros van die spelers wat dit saam met hulle kon doen nie meer in die
Bulkraal wei nie, is die nuwe spelers in die groep potensieel ewe gedug, sê Meyer.
“Ons bring nie graag nuwe spelers van buite af in nie, want ons glo sterk daaraan om
ons eie spelers volgens die Bulls-kultuur te ontwikkel. Dié wat ons wel inbring, moet die
potensiaal hê om Springbokke hier by ons te word en dié groepie kan dit wel doen,” sê
Meyer met verwysing na nuwelinge soos Johann Sadie, Jano Vermaak, Lionel Cronjé,
Jacques Potgieter en JJ Engelbrecht.
Meyer het ook aangekondig dat Pierre Spies die span sal lei en Wynand Olivier is die
onderkaptein.
“Ons sal altyd die Bulls bly en die wyse waarop ons speel, sal altyd inherent Bulls bly,
maar jy moet aanpassings maak en by die veranderings in rugby bly,” sê Meyer.
Die span se hoofafrigter, Ludeke, sê daar is reeds aspekte uitgewys waarin hulle wil
beter vertoon.
“Dissipline, aanval en sterk eerste fases is dinge waaraan ons nog altyd geglo het.
Eersgenoemde twee het in die laaste jaar effens teruggesak en ons móét dit regstel as
ons suksesvol wil wees. Ons gaan ook baie aandag aan kondisionering skenk en die
span sal beslis een van die fiksstes in die reeks wees.”
Die Bulls gaan nie meer, soos in die verlede, George toe vir ‘n oefenkamp nie. Hulle sal
al hul voorbereiding in Pretoria doen.
“Hier is minder afleidings (soos die see) en ons kan ons toespits op die werk wat
gedoen moet word,” sê Ludeke.
* Die groep wat gister bekend gemaak is, bestaan uit die volgende spelers (* dui
spelers aan wat die eerste keer deel van groep is):
Agterspelers: Zane Kirchner, Jurgen Visser*, Lionel Cronjé*, Clayton Blommetjies*,
Bjorn Basson, JJ Engelbrecht*, Sampie Mastriet*, Akona Ndungane, Ulrich Beyers*,
Adri Jacobs*, Wynand Olivier, Johann Sadie*, Francois Venter*, Louis Fouché*, Morné
Steyn, Wesley Dunlop*, Francois Hougaard, Ruan Snyman en Jano Vermaak*.
Voorspelers: Pierre Spies (k), CJ Stander, Arno Botha*, Gerrit-Jan van Velze, Daniel
Adonga*, Jean Cook*, Dewald Potgieter, Jacques Potgieter*, Jono Ross*, Warwick
Tecklenburg*, Deon Stegman, Juandré Kruger, Mthunzi Mabeta, Wilhelm Steenkamp,
Flip van der Merwe, LB Lusaseni*, Cornell Hess*, Franco Mostert*, Werner Kruger,
Rossouw de Klerk, Frik Kirsten, Dean Greyling, Morné Mellett, Dawie Steyn*, Chiliboy
Ralepelle, Willie Wepener*, Robbie Coetzee* en Bongi Mbonambi*.
Bootjie na Kammaland
‘n Duitse toeris kom by ‘n Italiaanse hotel in ‘n klein dorpie aan, sit €100 op die
toonbank neer en sê hy wil die kamers gaan inspekteer. Terwyl hy weg is, vat die
hotelbaas die geld en gaan betaal sy skuld by die slagter daarmee. Die slagter gaan
betaal dadelik sy skuld by die kroeg. Die kroegbaas betaal sy skuld aan die dorp se
prostituut. Die prostituut skuld €100 aan die hotelbaas vir die gebruik van sy kamers en
gaan betaal hom dadelik. Die hotelbaas vat die geld en sit dit op die toonbank neer,
oomblikke voordat die toeris terugkom. Die toeris sê jammer, die hotel is nie goed
genoeg nie. Hy vat die geld en loop en almal is tevrede. As jy dié storie verstaan,
verstaan jy ook hoe werk Europese hulpmaatreëls vir lande met skuld.
Contents
Nation of boozers, addicts
King of Pop’s pusher
We’re watching you, MTN!
Give that man a …
A home fit for a king
1 610km/h in a car
Hunting hot rocks in Paris
Nation of boozers,
addicts
ANNA MAJAVU
and SIPHO MASONDO
The Times, November 9 2011
• The average South African drinks a bakkie-load of booze each year
• `If we had a boozing world cup, South Africa wouldn’t even have to practise`
• About 37% of the population drink from early Friday afternoon until Monday morning,
staying drunk all weekend
THE average South African drinks a bakkie-load of booze a year, or 20.1 litres of pure
alcohol, research by the Central Drug Authority has found.
The authority’s acting chairman, Dr Ray Eberlein, told a parliamentary committee
yesterday: “If we had a boozing world cup, South Africa wouldn’t even have to practise.”
The 20.1 litres are equivalent to 196 six-packs of beer, 62 bottles of spirits, 220 bottles
of wine or 666 cartons of sorghum beer.
Eberlein told MPs that about 37% of South Africans “drink from early Friday afternoon
until Monday morning, staying drunk all weekend”.
“The worst of it all is on Monday, when 10% of the people on the road are likely to be
drunk.”
The research, which surveyed more than 200 000 people nationally between June last
year and March, also found that the rates of substance abuse in South Africa were very
high, with the use of drugs such as dagga and cocaine being twice the global average.
South Africans, said Eberlein, were among the top 10 consumers of alcohol globally.
He warned that binge drinking was becoming a serious problem - about 7 000 people
are killed by drunken drivers each year.
The authority also found that the problem of alcoholism had worsened since March.
The damage caused by alcohol abuse is estimated at R78-billion a year.
Eberlein also raised the alarm bells about a string of new addictive substances flooding
into South Africa.
Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal are awash with nicotine-rich “kuber”, which is labelled
as breath freshener and sold in shops in plastic sachets.
Eberlein said that, though the authority is still waiting for the results of drug analyses,
the substance has reportedly been banned in Malawi because it is highly addictive.
Kuber reportedly sells for between R2.50 and R5 for a small packet.
The Times’ sister publication, the Sowetan, reported earlier this year that Durban street
vendors were selling a chewable tobacco as a “Chinese sweet” that “prolonged sexual
enjoyment”.
In Limpopo, children were plucking the ephedrine based-khat - khat is a flowering plant
endemic to East Africa - and chewing it on their way to school.
The drug is also vacuum-packed and transported to Cape Town in refrigerated trucks,
he said.
Tik was rapidly spreading from Cape Town to the Northern Cape, and pupils are also
mixing cocaine with lip-ice, Vaseline, or Zambuk so that they can apply the drug to their
lips during school hours.
“We have no indication that this is yet being sold,” he said.
Eberlein said the Central Drug Authority had recently detected a 61% increase in the
growth of opium-producing poppies in Afghanistan.
“So we are expecting an increase in opium on our shores and a drastic reduction in the
price,” he said.
With many drug users earning less than R1 000 a month, “economic necessity dictates
that drug users consume whatever they can get their hands on”.
The Times reported last month that, according to the SA Community Epidemiology
Network on Drug Use, the most popular narcotic for people younger than 20 in Western
Cape is dagga, followed by tik.
King of Pop’s pusher
The Times Wednesday November 9 2011
Michael Jackson’s doctor robbed him not only of his life, but also of the privacy the
singer had prized so highly, writes Rhys Blakely
MICHAEL Jackson was killed by his criminally negligent doctor, a court ruled on
Monday night.
Conrad Murray showed no emotion as the verdict was read out after 10 hours of
deliberation by a jury of seven men and five women.
Over the course of six weeks, the jury had been presented with two very different
portraits of Murray.
The first, held up by the defence, was that of a caring, hard-working physician, a man
who earned the respect and love of his patients by opening a surgery for the poor.
The second was of a reckless, womanising, distracted doctor. According to the
prosecution, Murray was more concerned about the $150 000 a month he was to be
paid for treating Jackson than about the singer’s fragile health.
Five character witnesses testified on Murray’s behalf. One was a tiny, grey-haired
woman with a cane named Ruby Mosley. She spoke of having known his father, who
had dedicated his life to serving the poor. She said she had met Murray when he had
opened a clinic in his father’s memory, near Houston.
“If this man was greedy he never would have come to the community of Acres Home,”
Mosley said, explaining that most residents were pensioners of meagre means.
A former patient, Gerry Causey, kissed Murray on the forehead as he left the stand.
“The reason I came here to help Dr Murray is I know his love, his compassion, his
feeling for his patients, every one of them, and I just don’t think he did what he’s
accused of doing,” he said.
Such sentiments clashed with the prosecution’s portrait.
The judge ruled that Murray’s personal life was not relevant to the case so jurors did not
hear that he had seven children by six women. Nor were they told of the unpaid debts,
child-support cases, lawsuits and tax debts that had plagued him for years.
However, his phone records showed he had spoken to four women in the hours leading
up to Jackson’s death, in June 2009. Just before the singer was found not breathing,
Murray was talking to a cocktail waitress from Houston. This jarred with his claim that he
had left Jackson for just a moment to go to the bathroom.
The doctor faces up to four years in prison, for manslaughter, but may serve a much
shorter term due to prison overcrowding in California. He was denied bail, handcuffed
and placed into a sheriff’s custody. He will be sentenced in three weeks’ time and is
likely to lose his medical licence.
The cause of Jackson’s death was an overdose of propofol, a powerful anaesthetic that
should not be used outside of a hospital setting, but which Murray admitted giving the
singer nightly for two months to combat his chronic insomnia.
The doctor had committed an “egregious violation” of medical standards, a medical
expert testified. The singer might have lived if Murray had not delayed calling an
ambulance for about 20 minutes, the court was told. The prosecution branded Murray’s
use of propofol an “obscene experiment” that had deprived the world of a “genius”.
Monday’s verdict ended a six-week trial that stripped Jackson of the privacy he guarded
so fiercely in life. We had already known that he was fascinated by celebrity tragedy;
that he kept a statue of Marilyn Monroe in his home and had married Elvis Presley’s
daughter. Now we know how he joined that pantheon of ill-fated stars.
When he died, the artist behind Thriller, the best-selling album of all time, was nearly
medically blind, largely bald and could not sleep without drugs. The court heard how it
would take the King of Pop “hours” to urinate, how he suffered from arthritis and was
blighted by toenail fungus so severe his doctor feared his flesh was rotting away.
The court also heard that Murray had asked for help in removing evidence from
Jackson’s home, and that he had lied to an ambulance crew and an emergency room
doctor about what medication the singer had been given.
No detail, from Jackson’s obsessive use of aftershave to his extra rib, was kept from the
public gaze.
The singer probably died alone shortly before noon in bed in a rented Beverly Hills
mansion. He was wearing pyjamas, with a surgical cap on his head and an IV drip
plugged into his leg. Beside him lay a child-size doll. A picture of his dead body showed
that he was pitifully thin and an ambulance crew assumed he was a hospice patient.
And then, of course, there were the drugs - everything from two bags of cannabis
leaves found hidden in a closet to an array of prescription medicines. A few drops of
propofol can put a man under; in the weeks before Jackson died, Murray had ordered
15 litres of it.
In Jackson’s body - as well as propofol and the sedative lorazepam, the primary drugs
responsible for his death - a coroner discovered the sedatives midazolam and
diazepam, the painkiller lidocaine and the stimulant ephedrine. The singer used
benoquin, a cream that bleaches skin and he suffered from vitiligo, a skin disorder that
destroys brown skin pigmentation.
Surveying all of this, it could seem Jackson was a walking time bomb, a man on the
brink. Yet just a day before his death his high-energy rehearsal in Los Angeles had left
onlookers stunned.
The prosecution said he had agreed to perform in London because he did not want his
children to remember him as he had become, that he wanted them to know him as he
appeared on stage, holding the world rapt.
It was not to be. Instead, he joined the annuls of celebrity tragedy that had fascinated
him in life.
We’re watching you,
MTN!
BATTING FOR YOU:
MEGAN POWER
Sunday Times November 13 2011
Companies are overcharging and treating customers with contempt
OVERCHARGING. Whether it involves hundreds of rands or a few cents, we all hate it.
It robs us of our hard-earned cash, erodes our trust and offends our sense of fair play.
Most overcharging is unintentional, the result of system or human error. But it can also
be deliberate, the result of greed and exploitation. Our defence against both is the
same: vigilance.
If a business systematically overcharges its thousands or millions of customers - even
by a cent - it scores a handsome sum at our expense.
Take MTN. It may be involved in a massive rip-off of its customers - or it may not.
Unfortunately, it won’t tell me.
So I’m sharing reader Susan Burstein’s story today in the hope that MTN data
customers scrutinise their bills and shout if anything’s amiss.
Burstein recently took advantage of an internet connection special offer from MTN and
was assured she would pay not a cent more than R149 a month. A few weeks later, she
discovered she had been charged R7 extra for “call line identity”. On a data contract, to
boot.
She returned to the Hazelpark, Germiston, MTN store to object. The manager called
MTN for clarity and was told it was “an automatic charge on all MTN statements”.
Burstein protested and was assured the charge would be stopped, but not refunded.
When the amount was charged the following month, Burstein was promised, again, that
the charge would be stopped and, this time, refunded.
“I told the supervisor that it wasn’t enough just to stop it for me, but [it should be stopped
for] all other MTN data clients, as this was blatant theft ... and that since it was literally
impossible for me to be put through to the financial director, she should complain on my
behalf and let me know. Naturally, nothing of the sort was done,” said Burstein.
“I know that a few rands a month is not going to make me richer or poorer - but there
are many people out there for whom it does matter. And MTN is reaping a dishonest
profit from all those who are unaware.”
I asked MTN to comment. That was three weeks ago. I repeated the request. Silence.
Last week, I called and was assured feedback would come. It didn’t.
For a company which has its loyal customers to thank for its success, its contempt for
unhappy customers is inexplicable.
Consider yourself on notice, MTN. Your track record for feedback is dismal and I’m
done chasing you. From now on, I’m asking only once. If you don’t think you’re
accountable to your customers, that’s your call. But as of today, I’ll be passing that
message on.
Give that man a ...
TOBY SHAPSHAK
Sunday Times Nov 13 2011
TWO South Africans are living every whisky-lover’s dream - owning a prize distillery in
Scotland.
For seven years Wayne Kieswetter and Geoff Bell have owned BenRiach in the Scottish
Highlands. The two were in Johannesburg this week to attend a whisky festiva.
Kieswetter and Bell teamed up with Scottish whisky legend Billy Walker to buy the
distillery near the town of Elgin, in the northeast of Scotland.
Until they bought it, BenRiach was used to supply whisky for blends for other labels.
Kieswetter said: “It wasn’t even sold as a single malt. They did a couple of hundred
cases in duty free. We found some real good whisky.”
The distillery, it turned out, had “stock from 1966 to 2002 and every year in-between.
And it produced very good whisky”.
The entrepreneurs set about turning BenRiach into a premium whisky brand with
several ranges.
It has won many awards, including Distillery of the Year in the Malt Advocate Whisky
Awards in 2007 and Distiller of the Year in the 2009 Icons of Whisky Awards. The latter
covers all distilleries in the world.
“We were the first to launch a Speyside peat. Now it’s one of the biggest-selling of our
whiskies in America, Germany and Scandinavia,” Kieswetter said.
In 2008 the trio bought another distillery, GlenDronach, also in Scotland, which had
been mothballed from 1996 to 2002 but is now producing excellent whiskies.
“If there was a Whiskey Bible Scotch Malt Whisky distillery of the year, GlenDronach
would be it,” said whisky connoisseur Jim Murray in the Whisky Bible 2012.
Said Kieswetter: “That, in a nutshell was why we went into it; to protect our source of
blended whisky and along the way discovered something quite wonderful with
BenRiach.”
Another sign of their burgeoning global success is that BenRiach’s sherry finish bottles
won two trophies in the International Wine and Spirits Competition 2011.
A home fit for a king
PHUMLA MATJILA
The Times Tuesday November 15 2011
Like Mobutu before him, Jacob Zuma is building first-class facilities in his home town.
The difference is that his aren’t for public consumption
FOR the Average Jabulani who has just started working it would suffice to replace the
chain-link fence around his parents’ three- or four-roomed house with a brick wall.
Big windows, a Big-Five solid-wood door, plaster and paint on the outside of the house,
and brass house numbers would make the parents proud to have raised such a grateful
child.
Those with a good job might add one or two back rooms and a garage (with a sliding
door instead of the conventional garage door).
The expectations of parents, relatives and neighbours when a child starts working are
informed by the kind of job the child does.
The more modest the job, the more modest the expectations. Sometimes the
expectations far exceed the occupation, as is the case with actors, singers, TV
presenters, journalists, teachers and nurses ... but I digress.
So, a doctor or lawyer is expected to extend the house and add an indoor bathroom and
toilet - or even knock down the maspaal house and build a new one. Maybe even move
the entire family to a bonded house development in the newer part of the township.
In addition to the “home improvements”, the newcomer to the job market must buy
monthly groceries for the family until another child takes over, or shares, some of these
responsibilities.
That is how it is. These are the unwritten rules to abide by to get “blessings” and to
“thank” the people who have been instrumental in our success.
So you can imagine the kinds of expectations the family, distant relatives, neighbours
and communities have when your son is the president of the country.
After all, we are talking about the first citizen, the leader of the cabinet and the
commander-in-chief of the defence force.
The man who declares war or peace, signs all the acts of parliament and is referred to
as “Your Excellency”, “Mr President” “The Honourable” must do more than put a “stop
nonsense” up at his parents’ house. He must improve the whole village, township, town
or wherever it is he comes from.
Mobutu Sese Seko left no room for family, close or distant relatives, neighbours or
communities to trade gossip about what he did not do for his hometown.
Sese Seko, who was president of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) for 32
years, turned his little, unknown and insignificant village, deep in the dense forest of
northern DRC, into a showcase.
He transformed Gbadolite into a first-class city boasting wide boulevards, three palaces,
a hydro-electric dam and an airport with a runway that could take an Airbus A340
(though no such plane landed or took off from there during his rule).
Almost overnight, in development terms, Gbadolite was nicknamed the “Versailles of the
Jungle”.
It had a general hospital, a beautiful chapel, a high school with high-tech science and
computer labs, Olympic games facilities and musical instruments of all kinds shapes
and sizes.
And with each addition to make Gbadolite modern and magnificent, more jobs were
created for the locals.
The palaces needed servants and the hospital workers. The airport was well-staffed,
even though it was hardly ever used.
I’m sure the family, neighbours, friends and the communities of this once rural area had
only good things to say about Sese Seko.
The residents of Nkandla likewise have good things to say about President Jacob
Zuma.
“Our president is making us proud. Look what he has done to Nkandla,” the Mail &
Guardian newspaper quoted a resident, who was admiring the developments at Zuma’s
hometown, as saying.
Zuma’s Nkandla is undergoing a major facelift, reportedly costing the taxpayer between
R69-million and R400-million.
Dwarfing the rondavels and other humble abodes surrounding it, the Zuma “precinct”
includes three houses, with three to four bedrooms each, his and hers bathrooms, and
walk-in wardrobes, reported the newspaper.
Other facilities include a clinic for the president and his family, a gymnasium, 20 houses
for security guards, underground parking, a helicopter pad and a visitors’ centre.
The homestead gardens will include ancestral graves.
And these are just some of the structures above the ground. Underground, there is an
entire world being created for the first family.
Zuma’s new homestead has a series of underground rooms, which the family will be
able to access through a 200m-long tunnel.
And to ensure the privacy of the first family, the entire precinct will be cordoned off by a
brick wall - with only one entrance.
The lush Nkandla landscape, with its undisturbed forest, home to many indigenous
species, is the perfect setting for this luxurious residence.
Almost overnight, in development terms, Zuma has put Nkandla on the map, along with
other showcase home towns such Gbadolite, Qunu and Sirte - except the facilities in
Nkandla are for the use of the first family only.
1 610km/h in a car
CHARL DU PLESSIS
The Times Tuesday November 15 2011
Record attempt in Hakskeen Pan
IMAGINE driving at 13 times the speed limit with no speed cops around.
This is exactly what a British pilot will experience when he tries to set an international
land speed record of 1 610km/h - faster than a bullet fired from .357 magnum gun.
The Bloodhound supersonic car team has picked Hakskeen Pan, a dried-out mud flat in
a sparsely populated region of Northern Cape, as the location for their attempt to take a
7t, 13m car - the engine of which generates enough power to drive an ocean liner 382km/h over the current land-speed record of 1 227km/h.
The car will accelerate at up to 80km/h every second. When braking, its speed will
decrease at up to 100km/h a second.
To reach top speed, the Bloodhound uses a Typhoon fighter jet-engine mounted above
a hybrid rocket engine so powerful that a Formula 1 racing car engine is needed to
pump oxidiser into it.
Together, the engines produce roughly the same power as 180 Formula 1 cars.
Andy Green, a Royal Air Force pilot and current land speed record holder, will have
travelled the length of one-and-a-half rugby fields every time he blinks.
But Green, who broke the sound barrier with the same team in 1997, said yesterday at
a publicity presentation in Johannesburg that the record attempt was about more than
just “going really fast”.
The project’s principal goal, he said, was to “engage pupils in an engineering
adventure”.
“It’s science made real,” he said, adding that young people were “not getting excited”
about careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.
He said there were “critical” shortages in all these fields in South Africa and the UK.
Asked if he were afraid, Green said: “In simple terms, it will be very noisy, very hot and
there will be huge amounts of [acceleration pressures]. Apart from all that, it won’t be
too bad.”
Northern Cape Premier Hazel Jenkins said she was excited by the project and the
choice of her province for the record attempt. About 300 people have been hired to
clear the 16km runway of rocks and pebbles.
The team hopes to make the record attempt in 2013 or 2014.
Hunting hot rocks
in Paris
13 NOVEMBER 2011
A `fresh` meteorite has French scientists in a tizz
IT is perhaps the biggest meteorite hunt in history, if not the most difficult. Whereas
collectors mostly scour inhospitable desert regions, this time they are searching in a
densely populated conurbation for dozens of fragments of a 4.5-billion-year-old rock.
That explains why there are so many people taking part, with scientists, dealers and
enthusiasts trying to enrol the Parisian population in the search.
“We usually have to go to the Sahara,” said Alain Carion, a mineral scientist and
meteorite dealer from Paris. “All we have to do now is take a commuter train.”
The meteorite fell on Draveil, south of the French capital, in July, although no one
realised it until two families, including one called the Comettes, found holes in their roofs
caused by the small lumps of black rock.
At least three other fragments have since been discovered in the vicinity. Scientists
believe the event occurred on July 13, when locals reported hearing an unexplained
bang.
Albert Jambon, professor of geochemistry at the University Pierre et Marie Curie in
Paris, has launched an internet appeal to help to find the many other bits that he
believes landed after the meteor exploded upon entering the Earth’s atmosphere. He
wants homeowners, workers and school pupils to check their gardens, playgrounds,
courtyards, roofs and guttering for the gift that fell from the sky - and he is not the only
person trying to organise a mass meteorite hunt.
Carion, for instance, has put brochures through the doors of residents advising them to
look for fragments, which are worth a few euros a gram.
“We’ve never had a meteorite falling so near Paris,” he said. “That’s what makes this
one so special.”
The meteorite is of the common Chondite H variety. Tens of thousands of meteorites
have been found over the centuries, but most had been lying on the ground for millions
of years.
Fresh-fallen meteorites unpolluted by prolonged contact with Earth, which are of far
greater scientific interest, are less common. A total of 1 200 are known to have been
discovered. Such finds are increasingly rare.
A total of 44 recent arrivals were discovered in France in the 19th century, but only eight
in the 20th century. Researchers say this is because people spend less time outdoors,
and are less likely to spot a meteor plunging to Earth. - © The Times, London
SOEK JY IETS KOEL?
Hier is lekker verfrissende slaaie, koue nagereg vir die soettand en bruisende pons vir die dors.
BROCOLLISLAAI
4 repies spek, bros gebraai
1 kop brocolli, blommetjies los gebreek
1 rooi en 1 geel soetrissie, in repies gesny
'n paar kersietamaties, in helfte gesny
1 tot 2 skyfies fettakaas, gekrummel
handvol rosyne
'n paar stukkies gekapte neute
Pak groente in lae in glasbak en strooi stukkies spek, fettakaas, rosyne en neute oor.
Sous:
4 e. olyfolie
1 e. bruinsuiker
3 e. wit asyn
Meng sousbestanddele goed en giet oor slaai.
Laat oornag in yskas.
ERTJIESLAAI
Verspot maklik maar baie lekker!
1 blik groen ertjies of ontvries 2 k. “young and tender peas”
'n halwe pak spek, gekap en bros gebraai.
Sous:
Meng 'n halwe blik gekondenseerde melk en dieselfde hoeveelheid mayonnaise.
Meng sous met ertjies en verkoel.
VANIELJEROOMYS-LEKKERTE
2 lt vanieljeroomys, effens sag gemaak
1 botteltjie marichino-kersies gehalveer
1 pakkie neute, gekap
1 plak pepperment sjokoladestafie, gekap
1 pak vingerbeskuitjies, in stukkies gebreek en in sjerrie of brandewyn gedoop
Meng alles en skep in mooi, groot genoeg glasbak.
Vries tot hard.
TIRAMISU ROOMYS
30 ml kitskoffiekorrels
80 ml kookwater
1 blik volroom gekondenseerde melk
30 ml Tia Maria of Kahlua likeur
1 blik volroom gekondenseerde melk
500 ml vars room
60 ml melk
16 Boudoir beskuitjies
20 ml kakao
Metode:
Meng koffie met kookwater en likeur.
Hou eenkant om af te koel.
Meng gekondenseerde melk met room in 'n groot bak en klits tot dik.
Klits helfte van koffiemengsel hierby in.
Meng res van koffiemengsel met melk en doop beskuitjies daarin.
Voer 'n 20 cm vierkantige bak uit met foelie.
Skep helfte van mengsel in bak en maak gelyk.
Pak beskuitjies bo-op en skep res van mengsel bo-op. Maak gelyk.
Sif kakao bo-oor.
Plaas in vrieskas.
Sny in lekker groot vierkante met bediening.
PONS
1 liter gemmer lemonade
1 liter sodawater
1 liter lemonade
750 ml Oros
2 blikke (410 gram elk) fyn pynappel
2 blikkies (110 gram elk) grenadellamoes
Meng alles in glashouer en verkoel.