Inhoudsopgave van 2022-07-22 - Star

Clear your schedule, the streets are abuzz – and waiting for you. Here’s a guide to some of the hottest events happening in Joburg, Durban and Cape Town. JOBURG Joker’s July We all love a little laughter during these trying times, and what better way to ease into the weekend than a visit to the Joker’s July with comic Alan Committie. The show also features Joey Rasdien, Dillan Oliphant and Mo Motheba. Celebrating all things funny, it includes Committee’s Love Factually show. The hilarious exploration of the battle of the sexes and the exes continues, with Committie offering his brand of relationship advice. He even tries to provide answers to loaded questions such as “Do I look fat?” or “Would you prefer to go to the cricket or spend the…

THE CITY of Joburg has commended the Johannesburg SPCA’s proactive approach to fund-raise for its high water bill, but said it was not in the position to offer debt relief, or a debt write-off. In June, the Johannesburg SPCA (JSPCA) launched a fund-raising campaign asking for assistance to pay for its large water bill, which stood at R545 203.36. “At first we thought it was a huge mistake, but after numerous phone calls and visits to the municipality, it transpired that the JSPCA would, indeed, be responsible for the full amount,” the non-profit organisation said. JSPCA said a leak detection company conducted investigations and confirmed the presence of a huge burst pipe under its property, spewing out thousands of litres of water. The City added that investigations by Joburg Water…

THE SOWETO Theatre marked Nelson Mandela International Day by hosting a day-long symposium for aspiring arts and culture practitioners to share information on how to access funding. Although it was a cold, wintry day, the weather soon broke as the festivities began, with a very classy set-up of a big screen and chairs placed in the theatre square so that all attendees could enjoy the days speeches and activities. The keynote speaker was Princess Nqakwana of Teen Talk, a youth health education programme that assists adolescents with sexuality, reproductive health, body image, substance use awareness, mental health, diversity issues and anti-violence issues. Nqakwana encouraged the scores of young people in attendance not to be afraid to seek help when they were confronted with social ills. “We adhere to the belief…

Many results, rather a lack of them, in this sunny 21st century country, boggles the mind continuously. Ministers and others already found guilty of wrongdoing in one form or another are still at large. Criminals, already condemned, passing us in the street, smiling. The Zondo boys still laughing away in total arrogance. No jail even after the Next Coming, for sure. The latest failure to find solutions to the East London tavern tragedy is another everlasting comma that will probably vanish as soon as public ears and eyes lose interest and move onto the next mind-boggling event. Nothing happens in this country. No action. No reaction. Methanol this, and carbon monoxide that. Alcohol content this and nicotine that. Is this a joke? Are those that conduct proper post-mortems also gone…

I AGREE with former first lady of the US Eleanor Roosevelt’s sentiments that “it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” We should not allow ourselves to grope in perpetual darkness when there is a candle at our disposal. We have no option but to fan the flame of hope in order to cast aside the gloomy cloud of mass killings in this country. The random shooting of revellers at our taverns does not warrant reactivity but proactive shooter-response training from every cranny and nook of our society. We need to beef up our cognitive capabilities during the crisis. Dr Robert Chandler, who is an expert on the effects of stress and hyperstress on the brain, opines that cognitive capabilities become narrowed in a crisis, making…

Erika L Sánchez’s new book, Crying in the Bathroom, has arrived right on time. The memoir-in-essays probes the National Book Award finalist’s experiences with mental health, first-generation trauma, womanhood and, notably, motherhood. “Choosing how and when to have a family is critical to our liberation as women,” she writes. Sánchez is a raw, unapologetic and acerbic writer who does not avoid difficult topics. In one essay, she talks about how having an abortion gave her the opportunity to create a great life for herself now – which includes having a daughter. As she explains it, she needed to build a life for herself before thinking about having children, and deferring her career and happiness was not a sacrifice she was willing to make. Having that choice wasn’t about quality of…

Capetonian Kyle Jantjies has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise the funds to help realise his dream. The 26-year-old author, who is completing his MSc in Biodiversity and Conservation Biology at UWC, also teaches mathematics and geography. He began writing in 2013 and his first novel was rejected more than 30 times by publishers and literary agents, but in 2020 his book, The Tuloc Triangle was accepted by Malherbe Uitgewers, a publishing company in KwaZulu-Natal. He has 13 published novels since and last year his book The G.L.O.A.T. was one of the top five finalists in the Author Elite Awards for best general fiction novel. His inspirational story has seen him featured on TV and radio. He has spoken at a variety of events, most notably as a guest speaker…

AN IMPRESSIVE figure of the 20th century, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Nelson Mandela moved a nation towards justice and touched the lives of billions all over the world. July 18 is Nelson Mandela International Day, a day that has now become a reminder to all humanity that we must co-exist and promote social cohesion, care for humanity, and of course ensure that living conditions are improved for the betterment and development of all people. Mandela was a leader of the international community, an example of true leadership. He led with passion and always put the interests of his people first. Mandela sacrificed his life and that of his family and lost comrades who died during the fight for the liberation of our country. There are lessons to draw from Madiba…

IN the 2018 western The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, an unnamed cowboy, noose around his neck, turns to his fellow doomed and whimpering companion before their execution and asks: “First time?” It is the same energy I suspect many Springbok supporters are asking of New Zealand rugby as they see panic setting in within the All Blacks. It is strange – a mixture of lekker and trepidation – as a South African to see such a crisis in confidence spread among our great rivals after many years and instances of that incertitude hampering the Springboks. Indeed, as recently as 2018, SA rugby questioned its purpose. That upheaval was markedly worse than the current state of affairs in New Zealand, but for once it’s quite pleasing to see the All Blacks…

LONDON, July 22, 2012. I was seated in the second row of the dreadful press box at The Oval on a sunny Sunday, watching Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis dominate England, the then No 1 Test team in the world. The rest of England (and the world in fact) was distracted by the Olympics, which were scheduled to start five days later in the English capital. In fact, even on that Sunday there was another significant distraction (for South African sports fans) happening about 400km north of the Oval, where Ernie Els took advantage of an Adam Scott meltdown to win his second Open Championship. It was a heady day for SA sport. Somewhere around the afternoon drinks break, a former colleague, Antoinette Muller, seated next to me, leaned over…

TV actress Busisiwe Lurayi was buried this week. Her funeral service was held at Redemption Church, in Greenstone, Joburg. Lurayi’s cause of death was not revealed. The How To Ruin Christmas star was 37 years old. Addressing the congregants, her father Freddie Mokoena shared his grief following Lurayi’s passing. “I’m sure a number of you will know that if you talk to Busi, you’ve got to make time. We’ve got time, Busi, later on, me and you. I will talk and I know you will be listening. You’ll give me the strength… I’m weak but I’m not going to fall. I’ll stand for you,” said Mokoena. He also thanked the Lurayi family for helping him raise the actress. “I would like to thank uGogo Lurayi, who gave me the opportunity…

In2Assets will be auctioning two Johannesburg properties that have investment potential, on August 23 at 11am. The first, at 26 Jubilee Street, Cosmo City, is a 5.71 hectare property with approved rights for development as a fuel station, retail or residential site. The opportunity presents a sought-after rural retail centre in a high trade area with good access and exposure. It is on the corner of South Africa Drive and Marina Street, with easy access onto Beyers Naudé Drive. The immediate surrounding properties comprise single residential erven and retail further towards the centre of Cosmo City. The vacant land, which lies at a major intersection and comprises a proposed mixed-use development, is triangular and slopes from east to west and from south to north. A proposed development plan is available…

MONKEYPOX experts yesterday discussed whether the World Health Organization (WHO) should classify the outbreak as a global health emergency – the highest alarm it can sound. A second meeting of the WHO’s emergency committee on the virus was being held to examine the worsening situation, with nearly 15 400 cases reported from 71 countries, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. A surge in monkeypox infections has been reported since early May outside the West and Central African countries where the disease has long been endemic. On June 23, the WHO convened an emergency committee of experts to decide if monkeypox constitutes a so-called Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) – the UN health agency’s highest alert level. But a majority advised the WHO’s chief Tedros…

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi hosted his Russian and Turkish counterparts on Tuesday in Tehran for the seventh trilateral Astana summit meeting to discuss the latest developments in Syria. This week’s summit received more attention than previous gatherings as this was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s second foreign trip beyond the former Soviet Union since having launched the Ukraine invasion in February. Putin’s visit came just days after US President Joe Biden’s four-day trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, which are Iran’s regional foes. Putin took the opportunity to discuss Tehran’s drone sales to Russia with Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He also discussed Ukraine’s grain exports through the Black Sea with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who made his long-awaited official visit to Tehran, meeting Putin there. The three states…

A non-profit organisation has stepped in to help an e-hailing taxi driver and young father of two who was paralysed in a brazen drive-by shooting. On April 30, Jenny Tshuma, a 29-year-old from Soweto who drives for e-hailing company Bolt, became a victim of a drive-by shooting in Rosettenville. Tshuma was caught in the crossfire and shot in the back. Tragically, the stray bullet that entered Tshuma’s back and exited through his stomach left the young father paralysed. Tshuma is now in ICU at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital where he is recovering from his serious injuries. While he is finally off the feeding tubes and is recovering well, he is struggling to stand on his own and his doctors are unsure if he will be able to walk again.…

The disturbing outbreak of criminal activities has stirred deep concerns about the safety of people in South Africa, forcing them to take a closer look at this challenge. Videos going viral on social platforms have been providing a detailed picture of what it means to be a South African citizen and all the perils you are most likely to encounter daily, irrespective of who you are. This has also brought home a chilling reality that no one can be certain that they are safe, anywhere. In February, IOL reported on a police officer in an SAPS vehicle with blue lights who allegedly stormed the Tembisa Hospital premises before shooting a nurse alleged to be his girlfriend. Nurses from Tembisa were left fearful and many started asking, “Who’s next?” Although Gauteng…

Writer and broadcaster Melvyn Bragg was born in Wigton, Cumbria, in 1939. He read modern history at Wadham College, Oxford, and then joined the BBC as a general trainee in 1961. Three years later, he was appointed editor of BBC2’s first arts programme, New Release, and since then has become a leading figure in broadcasting – editing, producing and presenting a large number of innovative, award-winning arts television programmes and equally acclaimed radio programmes across the cultural spectrum. In 1998 Bragg was appointed to the House of Lords as a Labour life peer: Lord Bragg of Wigton. Wigton is a market town in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, just outside the Lake District of north-west England. It currently has a population of a touch over 6 000 inhabitants. It is…

In just two days in early July, 25 people were shot dead in four separate incidents at taverns across South Africa. In one of these shootings, in Soweto, 16 people lost their lives. The killings made international headlines and were shocking, even in South Africa, a society with one of the highest murder rates in the world. There has been intense speculation about the motives behind the killings, in the absence of reliable evidence that explains why the multiple murders took place. To provide some insights into the possible reasons, I reflect on some of the research about mass shootings in South Africa, with a view to recommending violence prevention interventions. South African police classify a mass shooting as an incident in which three or more people are shot with…

From record-breaking, deadly heatwaves in western Europe to a severe drought in the Horn of Africa, the impacts of climate change are becoming increasingly clear and concerning. But experts say insufficient attention is being paid to the knock-on effects of extreme weather events, and warn that they could jeopardise already fragile political stability around the globe by fuelling mass migration, food insecurity, and conflict. Climate hazards even threaten to destabilise powerful players such as China and Brazil, which could have severe consequences for the rest of the world, according to a new report by risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft. As the impacts of climate change become more severe, they are expected to trigger chains of events which can eventually lead to political and economic turmoil. For example, climate change can damage…

THE Nedbank Golf Challenge (NGC) is back and the 40th anniversary of ‘Africa’s Major’ will be celebrated with a world-class hospitality offering at Sun City and an early ticketing incentive for golf fans as part of this milestone year in the history of this iconic DP World Tour event. With no government Covid-19 restrictions on spectator attendance, the NGC will make its full return for the first time since 2019 when the tournament delivered record attendance figures and sold-out hospitality. “We’re extremely excited to be able to celebrate this milestone edition of the Nedbank Golf Challenge in a manner truly befitting this iconic golf tournament,” said tournament director Ken Payet. “The hospitality offering this year will be unrivalled and we have a number of other exciting new initiatives which we…

LOCAL markets ended the day on a positive note yesterday in spite of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) delivering the biggest interest rate hike in 20 years, with the rand ending the day higher. The SARB yesterday delivered a hawkish 75 basis points hike in interest rates due to persistently elevated headline inflation and the rand’s weak exchange rate. This was the fifth hike in a row since and the SARB has now hiked rates by a cumulative 200 basis points since November 2021 in a bid to tame price pressures. In spite of this, the rand moderated to R17.06 to the US dollar at 5pm as speculators had already priced in the SARB’s hawkish monetary policy stance. Ashburton Investments fixed income strategist Michael Grobler said the SARB’s…

THE fraud case against former senior Gauteng government official Margaret-Ann Diedricks has been postponed to September 23. Yesterday, Diedricks, 58, appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court and was released on R100 000 bail. Diedricks was arrested in Alberton on Wednesday by the Hawks serious corruption team based in Bloemfontein. The matter relates to the R255 million asbestos tender that the Free State government issued in 2014. Hawks spokesperson Captain Christopher Singo said it is alleged that between 2014 and 2017, an irregular contract was awarded to a service provider for the eradication of asbestos roofs by the Human Settlements Department in Free State. Singo said Diedricks, who was the acting head of department in Gauteng, also authorised the same service provider irregularly in Gauteng. “She then fraudulently received…

FORMER SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng says he will petition the Supreme Court of Appeal after the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria refused him leave to appeal its ruling that he has to pay back R11 million to the public broadcaster. In terms of the ruling, he had to pay within seven days or lose his R8m pension fund. Motsoeneng filed for leave to appeal the high court’s December 2021 ruling that he must “pay back the money”, after the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the SABC took him to court over what has been described as a “success fee”. The previous SABC board decided that Motsoeneng was deserving of an R11m success fee after he successfully sourced funding to establish the now famous 24-hour SABC news channel 404 on…

AFTER six years of steady decline, the Covid-19 pandemic saw the number of municipal bucket toilet users nationally jump from 42 434 in 2019 to 47 130 in 2020. Activists say one of the main causes of this is land occupations in various provinces. Statistics SA this week announced that increases in the use of bucket toilets were reported in seven of South Africa’s 257 municipalities, with the Free State recording the biggest rise. Municipalities provide bucket toilets to communities as a temporary measure while more permanent forms of sanitation are in development. Stats SA noted that the City of Cape Town managed to eradicate municipal serviced bucket toilets entirely, reducing the number from 84 in 2019 to zero in 2020. This might not be the case on the ground,…

Our beautiful earth is burning. The US and Europe is in the grip of a deadly heat wave. Soaring temperatures have set several countries ablaze. California is burning again. Fanned by dry winds, raging wildfires have devastated large parts of Spain, Portugal, southern France and Greece. The high temperatures have sparked several fires across the city of London. The fire department has been inundated with emergency calls. Homes and woodlands in several parts of London have been razed. But scientists have warned us of the consequences of climate change. We took no heed. We were either too arrogant or too busy with our lives to take notice, even if we did think climate change was happening far away in some remote corner of the globe. And then there are the…

JULY 18 is the day we commemorate and honour Nelson Mandela. For the day, people are encouraged to set aside 67 minutes to commemorate the 67 years that he worked as a public servant. Since Mandela served as president of South Africa and accomplished so much, everyone in South Africa should have a public holiday on July 18. This would empower individuals to carry out a great deal more and raise awareness of the legacy of a man who fought for our freedom. Many people don’t spend 67 minutes of the day honouring and celebrating Mandela. His legacy hasn’t been the same in recent years. It’s time to revive and redis- cover the old ways of honouring his memory.…

MOST of those who have seen him on screens or visited his business premises know him as “Willie” – a multi-hyphenate talent who is effortlessly doing it all. Willie Mogemi spoke candidly about his career endeavours, and how they progressed from being just ideas to bringing them to life and seeing them flourish in every aspect. In conversation with The Star, the Soweto TV presenter said he had always known that he aspired to be a hairstylist, not knowing he would end up one of the most esteemed barbers in Soweto. “My business journey began a lot of time ago in Grade 6 when it was a careers day. I decided to be a hairstylist, not knowing that it would be my future journey,” said Willie. Mogemi, who is also…

OUR nurses have witnessed the pandemic first hand, compassionately caring for patients amid war-like circumstances. The havoc caused by the pandemic highlighted existing fault lines in the South African health system, and nurses faced shortages of staff and vital life-saving equipment. Colleagues tested positive and died. Visitors were not allowed, so nurses had to be intermediaries between patients and desperate family trying to glean information on the phone. Despite these pressures, they remained at the forefront of the fight against the deadly virus. This book brings together deeply personal stories of caring for patients in wards and ICU, of feeling overwhelmed, and experiencing the fear of getting infected and passing Covid on to their families. There are also moving tales of personal growth and finding renewed purpose. In Our Own…

There is a popular saying in South African township slang that is used in a conversation especially when one doesn’t have any plan of action or solution whatsoever to a situation faced. “Sizobona phambili” (we’ll see as we go along), will respond anyone who is asked what the course of action is. This response is so popular in that it’s such a standard response for the majority of young South Africans who see only doom and gloom in the daily struggles that come with being shackled by the “lack of life” in the townships. As I continue to observe the state of our country and leadership, I am reminded of this loosely used saying that deep down in its meaning it masks a sense of despondency. We will see as…

GOODMAN Mosele cut a playful figure during the unveiling of Orlando Pirates’ new home and away kits ahead of the new season, but he spoke with pride and regret. Mosele had a breakthrough season to remember at Pirates last term after playing 31 games, including the CAF Confederation Cup final. He controlled traffic in the engine room, covering up for the defenders, while he was influential going forward as well as he racked up four goals and three assists. His impact, though, couldn’t inspire the Buccaneers to glory on the local or continental fronts as they also lost out in the Confederation Cup final against RS Berkane of Morocco. Speaking at Pirates’ kit launch, which commemorated the club’s 85th anniversary, in Sandton yesterday, Mosele looked back at his first season…