Índex per 2023-04-14 a Star

Tebogo Mekgwe, best known as Pinky Girl, became a regular feature on the Mzansi entertainment scene when she featured on her cousin Bonang Matheba’s reality show “Being Bonang”. Since then Pinky Girl has gone on to make a name for herself as a DJ. Her relationship with her cousin has often seen Pinky Girl grabbing headlines, whether they are jet-setting to some fancy part of the world or silently beefing with each other. On Tuesday, the media personality took to her Instagram stories to reveal that she has a big surprise. “I’m tired of people writing nonsense about me and not knowing what’s really happening with my life, and that is also affecting my family. I guess it’s difficult to get me because I’m not FAKE… “I just do…

Bester escape left judge in ‘absolute incredulity’ Parliamentarians were gearing up for day two of hearings into his escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre when criminal mastermind Thabo Bester, closely guarded and handcuffed by cops, landed at Lanseria at dawn yesterday. Under a heavy police presence, Bester touched down with his partner in crime and “customary wife”, Dr Nandipha Magudumana, at the Lanseria Airport at 5am yesterday. They were repatriated from Tanzania. Charged with murder and fraud, Magudumana appeared with her co-accused camera technician, Tebogo Lipholo, before the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court. Lipholo allegedly tampered with prison cameras on the day that Bester escaped. GroundUp exposed Bester’s fake death and the attempts by Magudumana, who claimed unknown dead bodies from mortuaries as part of their grand plan for Bester’s escape.…

A new Statistics SA survey has found that about 2.1 million or 11.6% of South African households reported experiencing hunger. The survey said two-thirds of these households were in urban areas, and almost half a million of them were found in the country’s largest cities, Cape Town (240 970) and Johannesburg (238 610). “These two metros are among the fastest-growing in South Africa according to projections by the UN and other organisations, partly because they receive large volumes of people seeking employment and better living conditions.” The survey, Assessing Food Inadequacy and Hunger in South Africa, used data obtained from the 2021 General Household Survey and estimated that the country had 17.9 million households in that year. More than half of the households that reported experiencing hunger…

The Bellbird River Country Choir Sophie Green Loot (R240) Sphere Bellbird River, 1998. Teacher and single-mom Alex has arrived in the small town of Bellbird River after escaping the city in search of a change of pace and the chance to reconnect with her young daughter. Across town, well-known matriarch Victoria and her globe-trotting, opera-singing cousin Gabrielle find themselves at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives, while local baker Janine and newcomer to the area Debbie are each secretly dealing with the consequences of painful pasts. With its dusty streets, lone pub and iron-lace verandas, Bellbird River could just be a pit stop on the road to somewhere else. But their town holds some secrets and surprises – and it has a heart: the Bellbird River choir. Amid…

What happens on vacation Jo Watson Loot (R219) Headline Journalist Margaret needs a vacation. After a difficult couple of years, some R&R is on the cards, and she’s taking her mom with her. Luckily, the office quiz night is coming up and the prize is an all-expenses-paid trip to Zanzibar. Good thing Margaret has never met a quiz question she didn’t like. But Margaret has also never played against Jagger Villain. For the last six months, they have shared a desk and not a day has gone by when he hasn’t driven her to distraction. The idea of sharing anything else with Jagger is unthinkable. But if she’s going to get what she needs from this trip, Margaret might have to compromise. Away from the office and in a tropical…

It was always to be expected that Covid-19 would have devastating and long-lasting effects on health care in general. Annual renewal of practice licences for nurses through payment of registration fees, which differ according to the category of each nurse practitioner, has been the norm for as long as I can remember; any nurse who fails to fulfil this requirement is barred from working until such time that their licence is renewed by paying the fees, with some penalty for re-instatement. At the height of Covid-19, all health-care workers had no choice but to risk contracting the extremely deadly virus in the line of duty and many succumbed to the pandemic. It is not surprising that for the first time in the history of nursing in our country, in the…

A 56-YEAR-OLD French solo sailor is feared missing at sea. Emmanuel Dailler, who sailed aboard the Akela II, a mono-hull white sailing yacht, departed Hout Bay Yacht Club on March 2, with his destination being Martinique in the Caribbean. He was supposed to have reached his destination already. The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said it couldn’t track Dailler or the yacht. The NSRI Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) and rescue stations across the West Coast are keeping a lookout for the vessel, in co-operation with the Maritime Rescue Co- ordination Centre (MRCC). “NSRI, in co-operation with the MRCC, is appealing to seafarers on the Atlantic Ocean, islands across the Atlantic Ocean, west Africa coastal ports, Caribbean ports, to keep a lookout and report any sightings or contact with Akela II,”…

THREE years and 10 months, 278 witnesses, 159 109 pages of evidence, and a cost of R1 billion. That’s what went into the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, aka the Zondo commission. What cannot be quantified, however, is the amount of faith, trust and hope that South Africans invested in the project which was handed the mandate of investigating corruption at the 21 major state-owned entities. The commission sought to identify those who enabled and benefited from state capture, including members of the national executive and former president Jacob Zuma himself. South Africans sat and watched exhaustive hearings which alleged serious irregularities at entities including the Vrede Dairy Project, MultiChoice, the EOH Group, McKinsey & Company and Bain & Company. We heard about maladministration at…

PANELLISTS at a breakaway session at the Fifth South African Investment Conference in Sandton said yesterday that good efficient and reliable infrastructure was a mission critical component for economic growth. Part of the attraction of South Africa as a gateway to the rest of Africa was that it had a world class communication and logistics network. Sadly the impact of Covid-19 and the associated lockdowns meant there was an increase in the theft of copper cable and metal from electricity pylons so that State-owned utilities Transnet and Eskom are no longer the reliable providers of rail and power, respectively. The theme of the conference is “Accelerating economic growth by building partnerships”, and the panellists were at pains to emphasise that the current challenges facing South Africa could only be solved…

Taking to Twitter, Sama award-winning music producer, Prince Kaybee shared his feeling about his recently gained musical independence. Kaybee and Universal Music went their separate ways a few days ago after eight years. In the video posted on his timeline the Fetch Your Life hitmaker shared that he learnt everything that he could during his time with Universal Music and they both parted ways amicably, but his new found musical freedom has left him scared and confused after being a “label baby” for so many years. “As you all know I’ve just been released not so long ago from a contract that I’ve had for eight years. I’ve been a label baby for eight years, I’ve got no background of any independence so with that fact my propensity after being…

Mpumalanga police are searching for a “Facebook rapist” who allegedly raped an 18-year-old woman. The Ntunda teen was catfished and raped in bushes in Mgobodi on Easter Sunday, allegedly by a man she had met on Facebook. The victim had received a friend request from the suspect and, after accepting the invitation, their friendship was taken to another level. They started chatting on Facebook in February and eventually arranged a date for Easter Sunday. Provincial SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said that the suspect had asked her to meet him at Mgobodi after 7pm. The victim reportedly took a taxi and while on her way they had communicated. He assured her that he would be at the bus shelter to meet her. She arrived at Mgobodi at about 8pm but…

A Soweto pensioner has taken up the fight against drugs in the community, and was even arrested for it. Zodwa Nhlabathi, 71, said she had been arrested by police for confronting a drug dealer in the community who was selling nyaope. Nhlabathi said she called the parents of the drug dealer to her house to confront them about their son’s illicit business. The conversation did not go well, and the family accused her of harassment. Clashes between Nhlabathi and the family took place over a number of days until she was eventually fetched by a police van in the early hours of the morning and taken to Jabulani police station, where she spent several hours in holding cells. The pensioner from Zola said she was disappointed that she had been…

Sons of Mud Johan Vlok Louw Loot (R199) Umuzi At an army base close to Voortrekkerhoogte in Pretoria, at the height of summer and South Africa’s Border War, 18-year-old recruits endure an appalling drill sergeant bent on turning them into killing machines for the SA Defence Force. They are sleep-deprived, and tension mounts in this group of disparate individuals – boys from all walks of life – expected to function as a unit. Andrew Howard-Smythe, a surfer from Durban, is the first to notice the giant Afrikaans boy Riejkardt Jurgens, whom he describes as a cross between a heavyweight wrestler and an orangutan. After a particularly gruelling training session on a shooting range, it is Riejkardt who snaps, severely injuring three officers before he is restrained. The investigation that follows…

Losing Music: A Memoir John Cotter Milkweed When John Cotter suddenly began to suffer from deafness, tinnitus and roiling vertigo at the age of 30, he found himself thrust into a medical mystery. In Losing Music, he chronicles his experience with what was eventually diagnosed as Ménière’s disease. This is a rare – and incurable – condition that affects an estimated 750 000 people in the US. By age 35, fitted with hearing aids that only partly helped, he was walking with a cane, prone to unpredictable fits of vomiting, unable to reliably work and unsure about how much longer he would be able to hear at all. Losing Music offers a compelling portrait of how deafness isolates people from even those closest to them. Cotter quotes Helen Keller: “Blindness…

IMAGINE being treated by a doctor who also claims to possess ancestral powers to heal. Pretoria’s Dr Nkholo Seanego, popularly known as Dr Sangoma by residents of Pretoria, says despite practising the two professions separately, he has been doing both well for years. The traditional healer says he showed signs of being a sangoma while he was still young, but he also had a passion to become a medical doctor. He officially opened his doors in February and plies his trade for both practices at phase three Slovo, Mabopane. The 38-year-old was privileged to study his craft for seven years in Cuba a decade ago, where he first learnt the Spanish language. The country trains many aspirant South African doctors. Seanego, who hails from Masodi village, Mokopane in Limpopo, said…

Your in-depth analysis of Zunaid Moti and his expanding empire is indeed a deep look into a brilliant business leader’s vision. Zunaid’s leap into the business arena is a profile in courage. To expand into ventures that he has undertaken over the years requires exceptional skills, long-term vision and courage. As a business leader he has exceptional intellectual and emotional capacities to make drastic change. He solves many difficult problems in building new and successful business organisations. With economies and competition moving and changing at a pace never seen before, the ability to respond to opportunities and challenges with courage is a requirement for success. Zunaid possesses huge reservoirs of courage. As an entrepreneur, his vision and scope for expansion in southern Africa remains unmatched as he courageously expands his…

The ANC has been in power for more than 27 years uninterrupted. Yet it has failed to fulfil many of its promises. It has also failed to build institutions, state-owned enterprises, and so on. What the governing party has succeeded in doing is to collapse everything. In the past, Eskom was a company of choice. Many people wanted to work for the utility. Now Eskom is a shadow of its former self, depending on government bailouts,failing to keep the lights on, contributing to high unemployment. In the past, Prasa was an efficient company. Trains ran smoothly and on time. Today, we don’t have train stations or railroads. The infrastructure has been destroyed right under the nose of the ANC government. And it has done nothing to stop this. In addition,…

The newly elected king of the Zulu nation, Misuzulu, is healthy and strong despite reports of him being unwell. The traditional prime minister to the Zulu monarch and nation, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, has cleared the air regarding the health status of Misuzulu, who was reported to be taking strain. This comes after news reports indicated that Buthelezi had asked members of the clergy to pray for the king. In the video, Buthelezi said there were rumours that had been circulating about the king as the cause for his health problems. Earlier on Wednesday, Cardinal Wilfred Napier led a delegation of religious leaders to St Mary’s church in Nkonjeni in Ulundi in northern KwaZulu-Natal to pray for the king’s health. However, on Wednesday, in a statement issued by his secretary Liezel…

The annual Savanna Comics’ Choice Comedy Awards stage is set and the industry is getting ready to announce, honour and celebrate this year’s winners at a glamorous black tie birthday celebration this Saturday. Along with each of the 10 winners, who will perform five minutes of stand-up in lieu of an acceptance speech, incredible talent has been secured for the awards show. The host for the evening, with four Comics’ Choice Awards and two Emmy nominations under his belt, and possibly the tallest man in comedy, is Loyiso Gola. Producer of The Savanna Comics’ Choice Comedy Awards Manuela Dias De Deus said: “We’re excited to see the months of hard work behind the scenes, consultation with the industry, working with comedians, talent and performers, come to life on stage this…

Dr Nandipha Magudumana appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court yesterday facing, among other charges, murder. She will be housed in a prison in Kroonstad until her next appearance. She spent the day under heavy police guard. Magudumana seemed a bit shaken, wearing an olive-green sportswear top. She kept her face down, and wore a face mask. When asked by journalists in the bathroom inside the court if they could ask her questions, she hesitantly nodded her head (yes). When asked if she wanted to say anything, she shook her head (no). The case was postponed to April 17 for bail information and possible bail application. Magudumana appeared alongside 44-year-old camera installer Teboho Lipholo; neither was granted bail. This means four accused, including Magudumana’s dad Zolile Sekeleni and G4S…

A 57-year-old man who allegedly fraudulently transferred money into his three bank accounts at three banks is awaiting trial. The Delareyville Magistrate’s Court adjourned the case against Reginald Scholtz until May 3 for the State to present all relevant documents to his attorney so that the case can be transferred to the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court for trial. NPA regional spokesperson Henry Mamothame said Scholtz was granted R10 000 bail, and the court ordered him to surrender his passport to the investigating officer. He was further instructed to report to his nearest police station every Monday between 6am and 6pm. “He is facing 61 charges of theft amounting to R9.1 million. Scholtz was arrested by SAPS’ provincial Commercial Crimes Unit on March 12 after he was charged with…

President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed his fifth Investment Conference at the Sandton Convention Centre yesterday. Over the past five years, the conference attracted investment pledges totalling more than R700 billion against a target of R1.2 trillion, which the conference is set to exceed. Since the start of the conference, more than R1.4 trillion in investment pledges have been made, according to Ramaphosa. He said: “We expect that the investment announcements made here today will take this total beyond the target that we set five years ago.” However, in spite of all the positive sentiments and pledges, the country continues to face significant economic difficulties, including a debilitating unemployment rate, power outages, and high levels of lawlessness. At the start of his presidency, Ramaphosa promised to build one million houses in Alexandra…

The lost language of the Soul Mandla Langa Loot (R266) Picador Joseph Mabaso is used to his father Sobhuza’s long absences from the family home in Lusaka. Sobhuza is a freedom fighter and doing important work, and Joseph has learnt not to ask questions. But when Chanda, his mother, disappears without a trace, leaving him and his siblings alone, Joseph knows that something is terribly wrong. And so begins a journey, physically arduous and dangerous and emotionally fraught, that no 14-year-old boy should have to undertake alone. Following the most tenuous of threads, Joseph finds some unlikely guides along the way: courageous Leila and her horses, Sis Violet and the guerrilla unit she commands, Mr Chikwedere, stone cutter and illicit trader, Madala at the Lesedi Repatriation Camp, who helps him…

A man who left his wife and child more than 17 years ago, has to forgo his portion of his wife’s state pension, their house and all that formed part of their joint estate as he never maintained their child and failed to contribute towards the household when they were together. The couple got married in community of property in 1999. In 2004, the husband left his wife and their child. In March 2021, the wife, who works as a nurse, turned to the North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, to obtain a divorce decree. As they were married in community of property, she also asked the court not to give her husband a share of the house, furniture, her pension fund and Mercedes-Benz. She said that over the past couple…

It’s often rare for a parable that was told almost two thousand years ago by the Messenger of God to fit hand in glove to our current situation. The parable of the Prodigal Son is quintessentially Aniel Sewpersad. Aniel and the biblical Prodigal Son had been much of a muchness. He did exactly what the Prodigal Son did: he used his father’s money to buy swanky cars, which he smashed on a whim. He gambled, womanised, smoked dagga, dropped out of university and abused alcohol. He told me his father spent money to rehabilitate him, but he was unable to rehabilitate since old habits die hard. He was given eight opportunities in different correctional institutions, but could not be rehabilitated. He also impressed upon me his English teacher taught him…

How you age is a choice – I am 50 (chronologically) but, biologically, I feel 30, including my mental and physical capacity. Your biological age is measured against your blood pressure, fat content, heart rate, cholesterol, immune system, bone density, sugar metabolism, flexibility, hormone levels (sex drive) and so much more. Your chronological age is from the date you were born to the age you are today. Aunty Megan from Oudtshoorn was thus entirely correct when she said the other day that age “ain’t nothing but a number”. A 70-year-old, with few wrinkles, who laughs (at full volume) and jokes addictively during dialogue as if it were second nature. She walks with a straight back, lives life with intent, tilts her head to the left, then looks into my eyes…

South Africa has a food crisis. The food system – made up of all of the activities and actors involved in the production, processing, transportation, selling, consumption and disposal of food – produces starkly unequal access to nutritious foods. As a result, many households in the country cannot afford a healthy diet; 27% of children under five are stunted and the prevalence of diet-related diseases is rising rapidly. The food system contributes to pollution and climate change through the use of agro-chemicals, fossil fuels for transport, processing and refrigeration, as well as unsustainable packaging. On top of this, more than one-third of the food is wasted. This disproportionately harms poor people and women. Black-headed households are seven times more likely than white ones to have inadequate access to food. The…

SHE’S a hurdles specialist, but Zeney van der Walt could soon tackle the 400m flat event more regularly after producing a spectacular performance on Wednesday night. The 22-year-old set a new 400m personal best of 50.81 seconds at the Athletics SA Grand Prix 1 at Tuks Stadium in Pretoria, which was also a world championships qualifying time. Her previous best was 51.41sec, so the significant improvement shows she means business ahead of the world championships in Budapest in August. Van der Walt’s effort was the sixth fastest 400m in South Africa, and while she still has some way to go to chase down Caster Semenya’s 49.62sec national record, she can go even faster if she runs the one-lap races more often. But the 400m hurdles is her main event and…