You South Africa

letters

FOR most of my adult life I battled to keep plants alive. I tried so hard! Yet herb after herb, succulent after succulent – even a cactus or two – fell to my black thumb. Once I received a gift from a botanist friend who assured me that even the worst plant parent couldn’t kill the plant he’d given me. It lasted less than six months. I’d buy “hardy” this and “sturdy” that but more often than not it ended badly. I either gave them too much or too little water. Or I put them in direct sun or in a place that didn’t have enough light. I just couldn’t get it right. But something happened in the past year. I don’t know if it’s me or if it’s the plants but somehow…

the scourge of bullying

I became transported back to my high school days when I read of the tragic suicide of 15-year-old Lufuno (YOU, 6 May). I was bullied badly because I too stayed quiet and didn’t join in the gossip of others. It all came to a head in the science lab. The lights had been dimmed for an experiment. Two girls thought it would be great to throw permanent ink onto my legs. This, I was told by our teacher, was me trying to get attention. I’m 71 now, and have never forgotten this bullying. I so wish I’d acted on this later in life. Perhaps children like Lufuno would still be alive. I went on to nursing and am now a lay minister helping youngsters where I can. These bullies should be shown up…

in brief

My pet hate is when someone, in mid-conversation, suddenly starts to sing what they’re trying to say in a falsetto. I find this really extremely embaaarrassing and irrrrritaaaating. BEV, EMAIL Instead of letting prisoners sit around idle in prison let them clean our highways, cities and streets. WENDY, MIDRAND The evil in people’s hearts is mirrored by the pollution in the world. The message from the documentary My Octopus Teacher (YOU, 6 May) is that people need saving in order to save the world. VANESSA, SIMON’S TOWN I’d like to suggest that YOU readers urgently get their flu shots. There are a lot of sick people out there. RICHARD BENSON, SMS The Consumer Protection Act is just such a joke (YOU, 29 April). I lodged a complaint a year ago and nothing has been resolved. ANNOYED, SMS Post-op observation: using…

all a puzzle fan needs!

Whoever said you can’t have it all was obviously not referring to YOU Blockbusters – it’s got all the best brain games to make any puzzle fan happy! The latest issue, YOU Blockbusters No 26, is packed with crosswords, codebreakers, anagrams, sudoku-x-words, crypto quotes and so much more. It’s tough to put the magazine down – these puzzles are addictive! Go on, treat yourself and the puzzle fans in your life to copies of YOU Blockbusters No 26. Get your copy in stores now or order online at youstore.co.za. You can also contact Johan Terblanche on 021-406-4962 or johan.terblanche@media24.com to order a copy. See your writing or news tips in print! Here are the email addresses you need for submitting material for publication. News ideas news@you.co.za Fiction stories@you.co.za Personal stories web@you.co.za Original jokes chuckles@you.co.za Recipes recipes@you.co.za…

billion-dollar divorce

‘WE NO LONGER BELIEVE WE CAN GROW TOGETHER AS A COUPLE IN THIS NEXT PHASE OF OUR LIVES’ WHEN they got married, a simple wedding gift from her parents would become one of her most treasured possessions. It was a sculpture of two little birds sitting side by side staring at the horizon, and she put it in the front garden of their home so she could see it whenever she came and went. “Those birds are still in front of our house,” she wrote in 2018 in her and her husband’s annual newsletter. “I think of it all the time because fundamentally Bill and I are looking in the same direction.” How poignant those words are now – and how bittersweet that sculpture must be. After 27 years of marriage, three kids, billions…

‘i’m free now’

‘OUR HOUSE IS BIG ENOUGH SO WE CAN STAY TOGETHER WITHOUT STEPPING ON ANYONE’S TOES’ SOUTH Africans have grown used to gobsmacking details coming out of the Zondo Commission into state capture – but one woman’s testimony really had jaws hanging on the floor. Norma Mngoma, dressed to the nines, hair perfect, long nails gleaming, earrings in place, dropped bombshell after bombshell. Over the course of six gruelling hours, she told in shocking detail how her husband Malusi Gigaba, who’s been a finance minister and home affairs minister, was wooed by the Gupta brothers with expensive cars, gold jewellery and bags of money. Once her testimony was done last month, Norma – who now goes by her maiden name – went away for a few days to get over the stress of it…