Inept 10111 operators and officers with no airtime mean you`re on

Transcription

★★
Police:
Please
call me
Inept 10111 operators and
officers with no airtime
mean you’re on your own
GRAEME HOSKEN
THE police don’t have airtime — so
don’t expect a fast response when
you’re in deadly danger.
Since February, the cellphone
allowances of officers in specialised
units such as crime intelligence,
and those driving patrol vehicles,
have been slashed.
With the police’s 10111 operators
— most of whom are poorly trained
civilians — notoriously incapable of
handling calls properly, and often
taking addresses incorrectly, a cellphone could be the difference
between your life and your death.
Research shows that in house
robberies, which police statistics
indicate have increased, people
have only three minutes in which to
call the police before being overpowered.
But the average police response
time, according to officers in the
thick of it, can be 20 minutes or
more.
If in your panic you drop a call to
10111, or the operator fails to get all
the essential information from you,
or call you back, there’s little if
anything patrol officers can do to
find you.
Often, say Pretoria policemen, if
they cannot find a crime scene
— especially if it is “minor” crime,
such as a housebreaking — they
declare it “negative”.
City of Johannesburg’s IDP
Delivering the promised future by putting people
at the centre of development
LET’S
SHAKE
ON IT
‘
US President
Barack Obama and
Cuban President
Raul Castro are all
smiles as they
shake hands on the
second day of
Obama’s historic
visit to the
country. He is the
first US president
in almost 80 years
to visit the island
Picture: CARLOS
BARRIA/REUTERS
ull quote here and
here and here and
here and here and
herdfsdfdsfdsf
The problem is that, says Unisa
criminologist Rudolph Zinn, burglaries often turn into house robberies if the homeowners arrive
when the burglars are still inside.
A Pretoria policeman said two
weeks ago it took his colleagues an
hour to find the victim of a house
robbery, who had left his home to
look for them, because a 10111
operator had failed to take his
address correctly.
In another house robbery case,
officers could not find the crime
scene.
Although they had the correct
ý Continued on Page 2
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2 The Times Tuesday March 22 | 2016
NEWS
Suzman raid a ‘danger’
Speculation rife on link between theft and court cases against state
LEONIE WAGNER
THE well-orchestrated robbery at
the Helen Suzman Foundation
“spells danger” if it is linked to the
organisation’s recent court cases.
On Sunday afternoon the foundation’s offices in Parktown,
Johannesburg, were raided in what
has been described as a “sophisticated” operation.
The foundation’s Francis Antonie said two well-dressed men
and a woman entered the premises,
handcuffed the security guard at
gunpoint before gaining access to
offices using a master key. The
woman ordered the men to remove
computers and a printer.
The computers contained infor-
Cops lost
in maze as
bosses cut
airtime
mation related to recent court cas- dation’s right to privacy. Hopefully,
es against the government. The it’s not connected [to the work it
most recent was the interdict does]. If that’s the case, then this
sought in the Pretoria High Court spells serious danger. It’s a serious
to remove Hawks head Major-Gen- threat to privacy and a direct attack
on the constitution [because under
eral Berning Ntlemeza.
the Bill of Rights
This interdict‚
has the
filed in conjuncIntention must have everyone
right to privation with Freedom Under Law‚
been to intimidate cy].”
Antonie said
challenged Ntlethe organisation
the perpetrators
meza’s appointknew what they
ment. It said President Jacob Zuma appointed him were looking for.
“The printer contained informa“notwithstanding previous damning judicial findings impugning his tion related to correspondence between the organisation and various
integrity‚ honesty and fitness”.
Constitutional law expert Mar- government officials, civil servants
inus Wiechers said: “This was a and others. There may or may not
severe infringement on the foun- be a connection [to the court cases].
‘
Until the investigation is complete
we can only speculate,” he said.
Freedom Under Law chairman
Johann Kriegler said: “[From] the
[level of] sophistication, co-ordination and military precision it seems
the gang of robbers were not after
goods for monetary value.
“The intention must have been to
intimidate
the
organisation.
There’s no reason why a wellestablished NGO should be targeted in such a callous manner. We are
all the more determined to continue this case that we started.”
Police spokesman Captain Kay
Makhubela said the investigation
was continuing and no arrests had
been made. — Additional reporting
by Graeme Hosken
I GOT THE MUSIC IN ME
ý From Page 1
street name, the robbery was in
Rosebank, Johannesburg, not
Pretoria.
“People are dying because of this
[communication] bugger-up,” said
a Centurion policeman.
Police spokesman Brigadier
Hangwani Mulaudzi failed to
respond to e-mailed questions
about why cellphone allowances
had been slashed and what is being
done to improve the 10111 emergency service.
The Times understands that
uncapped cellphone budgets of
members of specialised units,
whose informants tip them off
about planned crimes, were cut to
R350 a month.
The cellphone allowances of sector policing patrol officers are
about R80 a month.
Research by Unisa and the Council for Industrial and Scientific
Research paints a picture of millions of frustrated South Africans
being driven to buying cellphones
for their local police, plus airtime
and two-way radios, to increase the
chance that they can be reached in
emergencies.
The research looked at communities in Gauteng, Limpopo and
Mpumalanga.
“If you drop the call to your local
police van, officers must have
enough airtime to phone or SMS
you back,” said Unisa criminologist
Rudolph Zinn.
“If you phone, 10111 operators
A reveller at the Cape Town Festival in the Company’s Gardens yesterday. The festival, in association with Iziko
Museum, is in its 18th year. Jimmy Nevis, Vicky Sampson and Youngsta performed Picture: DAVID HARRISON
must be trained to ask you the right
questions to get you the right
help.”
He said problems with 10111 call
centres included not being able to
get through, and operators being
unable to understand the nature of
the emergency and get the police to
respond quickly.
Zinn said research, which is now
looking at Pretoria and West Rand
communities, focused on crime patterns and communities’ frustrations about police communication
systems.
“It shows that, in many cases,
police in patrol vehicles either don’t
answer their cellphones or don’t
return calls.
“Many communities have been
forced to buy their local police
additional hand-held radios, cellphones and airtime.”
A crime intelligence officer said
that as a result of the allowance
reduction, many of his colleagues
had resorted to using their own
cellphones.
“It’s not like our informants can
contact us on our police radios.”
A Pretoria police officer said that
for eight years as a policing sector
manager he had battled to get a
cellphone.
“Each police station patrol
vehicle has a cellphone, but only
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YOU can run, but you can’t
hide — the SA National Roads
Agency Limited is coming for
you.
The agency announced
yesterday that it had started
issuing summonses to
individuals who had not settled
their e-toll debt.
The agency said the
summonses would be delivered
by sheriffs in different
jurisdictions in Gauteng. These
will include the highest
defaulters and companies.
But, Wayne Duvenage of the
Organisation Undoing Tax
Abuse, said the agency could
only go after people on a
commercial level as a last
resort.
“It is very odd that it is
issuing summonses ... its
scheme has failed and this is
the last attempt to get a little
bit of money before it
completely fails.”
The agency said the
“decision to issue summonses
came at the end of an extensive
period of communications”
between itself and “vehicle
owners who neglected to pay
outstanding debts”.
Alex van Niekerk, project
manager for the Gauteng
Freeway Improvement Project,
said the agency had a
responsibility to those who had
religiously paid e-tolls to
recover debt.
Duvenage said his
organisation would defend its
members if they were
summonsed.
R80 of airtime on it.
“The airtime, if you’re lucky,
lasts a week. If we receive a call and
it’s dropped, we radio our station
and get them to phone the complainant, which wastes time.”
‘
People are dying
because of this
[communication]
bugger-up
Are you going to pay
your e-toll bill?
Or tellus@thetimes.co.za,
or SMS 33662 (SMS costs R1.50)
A former 10111 operator said that
in the past provinces were divided
into policing sectors with each having its own call centre manned by
police from that sector.
“For years now, 10111 centres
have been centralised, with operators who have knowledge only of
certain areas dispatching police to
areas about which they have no
knowledge.
“Combine this with incomplete
information from crime victims
and you have a disaster like last
week, when we arrived at a
Wierdabrug robbery only to find
the real crime scene was in Rosebank,” a policeman said.
Sourced from: South African Astronomical Observatory
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LEONIE WAGNER
#TO THE POINT
HOW TO CONTACT US
HELP US GET IT RIGHT
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NEWS
Tuesday March 22 | 2016
Minajestric nostalgia
Cape Town fans
to get dose of
‘Pills ’n Potions’
from US rapper
SHOW
STOPPER
3
Mngoma
proves
the power
of song
AZIZZAR MOSUPI
LEONIE WAGNER
TO BE South Africa’s Nicki Minaj
you’ll need the “double Ds”
— drama and diva-like tendencies.
The US rapper, in Cape Town for
the final leg of her Pinkprint Tour,
has scaled down the production for
local fans but nevertheless
captivated them during her
performances.
Flanked by more security than a
head of state, she was also
protected by a “no-cellphones”
policy backstage. This is
understandable, considering that
the New York Times labelled her
“the most influential female rapper
of all time”.
She said every rejection of a
composition inspired her to work
harder.
“My advice to female rappers is
definitely never give up. I’ve had a
lot of doors shut in my face and a
lot of record deals that I thought I
would get that I didn’t. It just made
me work harder.”
That might explain her
somewhat diva-like tendencies.
After her Johannesburg shows
last week a group of about 20
“Barbz and Kenz”, as her fans call
themselves — who waited hours to
meet their hero — were rewarded
with group pictures.
Minaj said she believed that
being in the music industry was
her destiny and that her passion to
fulfil her dream is what sets her
apart. Although she is not all that
familiar with the local hip-hop
scene, she offered advice to South
Africa’s female rappers.
“If something inside you says this
is what you were born to do, and if
you honestly feel like that, then just
keep on going. That’s the only
advice I can give because that’s
what I lived by … I lived by ‘Where
there’s a will, there’s a way’, I‘m not
going to take ‘no’ for an answer.
That’s how I broke through that
male-dominated space.”
Minaj’s final show is at Cape
Town’s Grand Arena tonight.
But her fans shouldn’t expect
costume changes or a set longer
than an hour. Instead, they will get
a dose of “Minajestry nostalgia” as
she sings Anaconda, Pills ’n
Potions and Right Thru Me.
The Times
‘Pandemonia’,
the creation of
a secretive
conceptual
artist, at the
Shenzhen
Fashion Week
Fall/Winter
2016 in
Shenzhen,
China.
‘Pandemonia’
caused a stir in
the front row
of all the best
shows at
Fashion Week
Picture: VCG
LOCAL singer Nandi Mngoma,
gives the moniker “Girl Power”
a sound with the release of her
latest single titled Sisters.
Featuring Wits University
student representative council
president Nompendulo
Mkatshwa, the women
empowerment-themed house
tune, tackles societal ills,
among other things, access to
education and gender equality.
Mngoma said it was
important the song, which
serves as the prologue to her
coming album, was released on
Human Rights Day because of
its strong social message.
“It [was] paramount that this
song drop on Human Rights
Day because it highlights a
fundamental right in our
country, the right to equality.
This is a serious struggle for
many women in all sectors.
“We live in a patriarchal
society in which men run the
show — I want to empower
other females to do more and,
more importantly, unite them
to break gender boundaries.”
A pioneer and leader of last
year’s #FeesMustFall protest
by students for free tertiary
education, Mkatshwa decided,
with Mngoma’s agreement,
that a portion of the proceeds of
the song will go towards the
tuition fees of less-privileged
students.
“This album is about a legacy
and, for me. I will be showing
how far an African woman —
with the support of a country
that believes in female
empowerment — can go,” said
Mngoma.
Black Coffee, Diddy bromance flourishes in Miami
LEONIE WAGNER
IT’S official, the world enjoys its
Black Coffee — making the South
African DJ and producer arguably
one of our best exports.
DJ Black Coffee was seen
partying up a storm with US
rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs in
Miami at the Ultra Music Festival
at the weekend. Solidifying their
bromance via social media, the US
rapper posted a video of the two
on Instagram.
The two were hanging out after
Black Coffee, whose real name is
Nkosinathi Maphumulo, had
performed at the music festival.
The pair first met in 2014. Black
Coffee tweeted it had been a
‘
American rapper
shares Africa
vibrations with
SA’s top DJ
dream of his to meet the rapper
and entrepreneur.
He also referred to Diddy as his
“mentor”.
In the most recent display of
affection, Diddy posted a video
with a caption: “The best music at
Ultra is here! The world famous
@realblackcoffee bringing the
Africa vibrations live!”
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NEWS
Gupta family’s ‘divide
and conquer strategy’
Mapaila says Guptas funding factions to advance efforts to capture state
APHIWE DEKLERK
and MATTHEW SAVIDES
THE SA Communist Party has
attacked the Gupta family and
accused it of funding factions in the
ANC.
The party’s deputy general secretary, Solly Mapaila, hit out at the
Gupta brothers yesterday, accusing them of using the so-called
“premier league” — three provincial premiers and others said to be
supportive of the family — as their
political spearhead in their bid to
capture the ruling party.
Mapaila was speaking on the
sidelines of the SA Clothing and
Textile Workers’ Union bargaining
council hearing in Cape Town.
Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has warned against the country being “stolen”.
“It is time to wake up,” he said,
“to wake up and be aware of what is
unfolding around us, and make
sure that we protect this movement
(the ANC), and that we protect this
government, and we protect our
country — or suddenly we are
going to realise that it was stolen
while we were sleeping.
“No single family, or group of
families, or group of individuals,
must determine the fate of 55 million people in South Africa,” Gordhan said on Sunday in Durban.
In a veiled reference to the Guptas’ alleged attempts at “state capture”, and to allegations that the
family had influenced the appointment of one or more cabinet ministers, Gordhan said: “What we are
talking about is not one family; we
are talking a phenomenon called
‘cronyism’.”
Mapaila, in Cape Town, condemned “deepening factionalism”
within the ANC.
“The ANC’s national executive
committee must distance itself
from factions, including the socalled ‘premier league’. It is now
clear that this faction is a political
front of the Guptas, using the ANC
stage and platforms to do and
defend wrong things.”
The premier league is allegedly
led by North West premier Supra
Mahumapelo, Free State premier
Ace Magashule and Mpumalanga
premier David Mabuza. The men are
alleged to have influenced the election of the presidents of the ANC
youth and women’s leagues, Collen
Maine and Bathabile Dlamini, both
of whom are seen as backers of
President Jacob Zuma.
Mapaila’s remarks were made
amid a heightened debate on “state
‘
The ANC must
distance itself
from factions, the
premier league
#TO THE POINT
How can we clear up this mess?
Or tellus@thetimes.co.za, or
SMS 33662 (SMS costs R1.50)
capture” by the Gupta family, who
are close friends of Zuma and are in
business with his son, Duduzane.
Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi
Jonas last week confirmed that the
family had offered to make him
finance minister while Nhlanhla
Nene was still in the post.
Former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor
alleged that the Guptas offered her
the post of public enterprises minister on condition she assisted
them in getting SAA to discontinue
flights to India.
The revelations led the ANC’s
national executive committee to
ask its officials, and the national
working committee, at the weekend
to gather information about the
“allegations [of state capture] to
enable the ANC to take appropriate
action”.
The NEC, the party’s highest
decision-making body between national conferences, was expected to
take harsh action against Zuma —
party veterans had called for his
removal — but it re-affirmed its
confidence in him.
Zuma
fiddles
while SA
flames
SUTHENTIRA GOVENDER
and MATTHEW SAVIDES
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma
appeared impervious to the
political storm brewing around
him as he offered South
Africans top tips on how to
tackle racism.
Following a turbulent week
for the ANC and its national
executive committee — which
at the weekend reiterated its
support for Zuma despite
controversy over the alleged
“state capture” by the Gupta
family — the president
addressed a 30 000-strong
crowd during his Human Rights
Day address at Durban’s Moses
Mabhida Stadium yesterday.
He told ardent supporters
that the damage caused by
apartheid was deep.
“There is still a long way to
go before we can say we have
successfully reversed the
impact of institutionalised
racism in our country or to
remove prejudice among those
who subscribe to the notion of
white supremacy,” he told
those in the packed stadium.
He outlined how South
Africans “can unite to build a
country that is free of racism
and prejudice” .
Zuma said six steps were
required:
ý Openly discuss white
supremacy and how it
manifests itself, because “when
such views are held by people
in positions of power, they
undermine the nation’s efforts
to achieve an equal and
nonracial society”;
ý Be vigilant and point out
instances of racial discrimination in the provision of
services, in both the private and
public sectors;
ý Private companies, religious
institutions, NGOs and state
institutions must run
campaigns and awareness
programmes on the manifestations of racism.
‘
WHAT UNITY?: Members of the PAC and ANC argue at the gates of the Human Rights Precinct in Sharpeville yesterday, ahead of the Gauteng United Against
Racism march
Picture: JOHN WESSELS/AFP PHOTO
We are squandering our democracy, says rights lawyer
WHEN evaluating South Africa’s
human rights progress, it’s not a
case of glass half full or half empty — it’s that there is a glass.
But many in the country believe
the proverbial glass is still filled
with inequality, racism, unemployment — and now with claims
of corporate state capture and the
Gupta family.
Racist rants on social media,
news reports of political inter-
ference by the Guptas and violent
protests have shone a spotlight on
the country’s human rights status. But, despite this, human
rights experts say it’s not all bad.
Jacob van Garderen of Lawyers
for Human Rights said progress
had been made to improve human
rights in some areas.
“Racism and other intolerance
remain a serious challenge. We
have to look seriously at how we
relate to one another and be more
proactive in challenging racism.”
Human Rights commissioner
Danny Titus said the recent race
debates were positive and that for
the discussion to remain healthy,
citizens needed to “see the dignity
in ourselves and in others”.
But he said an even bigger problem was the developments around
the Gupta family.
“The current state of govern-
ment regarding corruption is a
major concern. This is really
where we are squandering our
democracy.”
Van Garderen also expressed
concern about recent political
scandals involving President Jacob Zuma and the Gupta family.
“It is important to raise corporate capture as a concern. It
needs to be addressed as a matter
of urgency.” — Leonie Wagner
Unite to build a
country that is
free of racism
and prejudice
This, he said, would help to
“eliminate denial and claims of
ignorance about how this
scourge manifests itself”;
ý End the denial and the
tendency to downplay
accusations of racism and
undertake defensive stances.
This was “of critical
importance”;
ý Be aware of the fact that
some racists use art as a form
of expression. Zuma said: “We
should be alert to subtle and
disguised racism perpetuated
through the stereotyping of
individuals or groups of people
in the media, through cartoons
and satire”; and
ý Avoid the tendency to
“ridicule those who seek to
expose racism or racial
discrimination”.
Zuma said that, even with the
proposed law, the prevention
and combating of hate crime
and hate speech bill, which is
designed to make hate crimes
and speech a statutory offence,
“government cannot legislate
against racist beliefs and
prejudice”.
NEWS
The Times
5
The truths
behind
the masks
Forgotten relics used to fight crime
SHAUN SMILLIE
A THOUSAND “faces”, each with
an expression frozen in time and
long forgotten, could soon help
police fight crime.
In the Wits University’s School of
Anatomical Sciences sits a collection of face masks — 1 112 of them
line the wall of a passageway.
This is part of the Raymond Dart
collection, made from the faces of
the living and the dead.
The collection includes a cross
section of African faces.
Most are casts moulded from living subjects during the Cape to
Cairo expedition of 1927-1930. The
rest are of Wits students or death
masks that Dart and his team
moulded from faces on bodies in
mortuaries.
For a long time the masks were a
curiosity, a relic from a bygone era
when scientists collected anthro-
pometrics to classify races, but now
they will have a new scientific
purpose.
Facial anthropologist Dr Tobias
Houlton believes the masks, some
of which are close to 90 years old,
can help to improve and validate
forensic practices used specifically
in facial identification today.
One such study will investigate
patterns in nasal shape and form,
specifically within the African context, to build on studies that have
been previously performed within
Europe and the US.
“The nose is an essential part of
the face for facial recognition and is
a well-=maintained feature present
in the casts,” said Houlton.
Police, he said, would find this
information important when compiling an accurate facial reconstruction from a corpse.
The best masks, said Houlton,
are those that have corresponding
BACK IN TIME: Toby Houlton, of the Craniofacial Identification Laboratory, poses with a collection of masks at The Wits
Medical School in Johannesburg
Picture: ALON SKUY
skulls in the collection.
Through the use of high-definition scanning, Houlton can assess
how much the death mask varies
from the skull.
And the collection could soon
have another purpose.
There is interest in using the
masks to better understand human
evolution by tracking facial mor-
‘
The nose could
be very important
in refining
facial recognition
phology across Africa.
But, for the moment, Houlton is
cataloguing the collection and trying to gather historical information
about the masks.
“We need to separate those
masks with little information from
those that have a lot, probably within a year we will know a lot more,”
he said.
IDP PUBLIC MEETINGS: APRIL 2016
REGION
WARD SESSIONS
DATE
TIME
VENUE
A
Cluster 1 – Wards 77,78,79,80,110,111
Sunday , 17 April 2016
14:00 -17:00
Ivory Park North Hall, 8712 Makhaya Drive,Ivory Park North
Cluster 2 – Wards 95,96,113
Tuesday,19 April 2016
17:00 - 20:00
Diepsloot Youth Hall, Main road Diepsloot Ext. 1
Cluster 3 – Wards 92,93,94, 112
Thursday, 21 April 2016
17:00 - 20:00
Midrand High School , Corner of First and Third Road, Halfway Gardens, Midrand
B
Cluster 1 – Wards 87, 88, 90, 98, 99, 102, 104, 117
Wednesday, 13 April 2016
18:00 - 20:00
Marks Park, Judith Road, Emmarentia
Cluster 2 – Wards 68, 69, 82, 86
Sunday, 17 April 2016
09:00 - 12:00
Westbury Recreation Centre, Roberts Avenue, Westbury
C
Cluster 1 – Wards 100, 101, 114
Tuesday, 12 April 2016
17:00 - 20:00
Cosmo City Multi-Purpose Centre, Angola Drive, Cosmo City
D
E
F
G
Cluster 2 – Wards 44, 49, 50,128, 129
17:00-20:00
¿
Loerieblaar Avenue, Bramfsherville
Cluster 3 – Wards 89, 97, 126
17:00 – 20:00
Ruimsig Athletic Stadium, Roodeport
Cluster 4 – Wards 70,71, 83, 84, 85, 127
Friday, 15 April 2016
17:00 – 20:00
Roodeport City Hall , Berlandina Str, Roodepoort
Pimville Hall, 11624 Modjadji Street, Pimville
Cluster 1 – Wards 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35
16:00 - 20:00
Cluster 2 – Wards 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19
09:00 - 14:00
Protea South Hall, 3677 Cnr Alekheni & Stanton Street, Protea South
Cluster 3 – Wards 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45
16:00 - 20:00
Meadowlands Hall, Zone 10, 27576 Meadowlands
Cluster 4 – Wards 20, 21, 46, 47, 48, 51, 52, 53, 130
16:00 - 20:00
Naledi Hall, 676 Legwale Street, Naledi
Cluster 1 Wards 72,73,74,81
Monday, 11 April 2016
17:00 - 20:00
Jabula Recreation Centre, Cnr. Ann Street and Athlone Avenue, Sandringham.
Cluster 4 Wards 32, 91,103,106,115
17:00 - 20:00
¿ !"#$, Sandown, Sandton.
Cluster 2&3 Wards 32, 75, 76, 81,91,105,107,108,109,116
Sunday,17 April 2016
10:00 - 14:00
East Bank Hall, Cnr. Springbok & Impala Street, East Bank, Alexandra
Cluster 1 – Wards 58, 59, 60, 62, 63, 123, 124
Monday, 18 April 2016
16:00 – 19:00
Braamfontein Recreation Centre, Harrison Street, Braamfontein
Cluster 2 – Wards 64, 66, 67, 123
16:00 – 19:00
Yeoville Recreation Centre, cnr Raleigh & Fortesque Roads, Yeoville
Cluster 3 – Wards 57, 61, 65, 118, 123
16:00 – 19:00
Bertha Solomon Recreation Centre, cnr Ford & Marshall Streets, Jeppestown
Cluster 4 – Wards 23, 54, 55, 56, 57, 124, 125
16:00 – 19:00
Southern Suburbs Sports and Recreation Club, 1A Berg Street, Rosettenville
Cluster 1 – Wards 6,7,121, 122
Saturday, 2 April 2016
10:00 – 13:00
Ennerdale Civic Centre, Corner Katz and Smith Street Ennerdale Ext 9
Cluster 2 – Wards 8,9,10, 120
16:00 – 19:00
Lenasia Civic Centre, No 1 Rose Avenue Lenasia Ext 1
Cluster 3 – Wards 17,18, 119
16:00 – 19:00
Don Mateman Hall, Eldorado Park, 4064 Link Road Ext 5 Eldorado Park
Cluster 4 – Wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
10:00 – 13:00
Orange Farm Multipurpose Centre 15825 Ext 4 Link Road Orange Farm
Saturday, 23 April 2016
10:00 - 17:00
To be confrmed and communicated publicly
STAKEHOLDER SUMMIT
www.joburg.org.za
@CityofJoburgZA
CityofJohannesburg
NEWS
‘Varsities down on women’
Tertiary education said to be resisting gender transformation imperatives
SIPHO MASOMBUKA
HIGHER education institutions
remain stubbornly resistant to gender transformation, with their top
management male dominated and
women perceived as “unproductive” or “not worthy” of senior
positions.
This is according to research by
the Higher Education Transformation Network, which intended to
question staff at North West University, Pretoria University and
Tshwane University of Technology,
but only TUT participated.
The Commission for Gender
Equality surveyed staff at all
tertiary education institutions.
The research found that gender
transformation policies in higher
education institutions were sparsely
implemented and that although
men were a minority within the
sector, they “overwhelmingly”
dominate top management and the
professional-grade ranks.
Javu Baloyi, the commission
spokesman, said some institutions
did not have gender transformation
policies.
He said gender transformation
was moving at a snail’s pace in the
sector.
“There remains an entrenched
culture of male dominance, with a
clear resistance to change”
Female staff at the Tshwane University of Technology said they felt
they were perceived as being
DANCING
WITH
THE
STARS
Young girls take
to the floor
before the
competitors of
the Dance to be
Wild
Championships,
an initiative to
help fund the
fight against
rhino poaching.
The event took
place at the
German
International
School in
Johannesburg at
the weekend
Picture: ALON
SKUY
unproductive and undeserving of
higher positions.
The survey found that men were
the first choice for promotions,
with most senior managers being
black men “who let cultural and
traditional values interfere with
their
appointment
decisions”
‘
They let cultural
beliefs interfere
with appointments
WIN 2 ECONOMY
AIR TICKETS TO THE
regarding black women.
The report said that the culture at
most universities was antagonistic
to black lecturers and women.
A Higher Education Department’s
2014 workforce report states that, of
17 451 instruction and research staff,
only 7 853 were women.
TUT to beef
up security
at campuses
NEO GOBA
TSHWANE University of
Technology has promised that
extra security measures will be
implemented to ensure the
safety of staff and students
when the institution reopens
next month.
But it did not elaborate on the
measures.
A meeting was held between
TUT vice-chancellor Lourens
van Staden and parents or
guardians of “registered”
students at Soshanguve north
and south campuses to discuss
the violence that led to their
shutdown.
Dr Ezekiel Moraka, the
university’s acting senior
deputy vice-chancellor, said:
“We have measures in place to
deal with the small number of
people causing havoc.
“As to the details on what we
will do, I cannot disclose that.”
TUT’s chief financial officer,
S’celo Mahlalela, said parents
with problems accessing
funding would be assisted.
At the weekend meeting,
Moraka said the university
would allow students who had
not registered to do so when the
institution reopened next
month.
Delta is a major U.S. airline with its headquarters in
Atlanta, Georgia. The airline operates nearly 5000
flights daily to 328 destinations in 57 countries and
on six continents. Delta operates a daily nonstop
service from Johannesburg to the USA.
To stand a chance of winning two economy tickets to any
major city in the USA, simply complete this crossword
puzzle and identify the CITY featured each week.
1
S
2
F
3
O
4
D
5
E
Across Clues:
3. Theme park capital of the world
4. Founder of Disney World – Walt D _ _ _ _ _
5. Name the lake which runs alongside the suburbs
Down Clues:
1. Name the major attraction which houses sea animals?
2. Which state would you find this city in?
To enter SMS the keyword DELTA3, plus the name of the city
indicated in 3 across, followed by your name and email address to
45476. SMSs cost R1.50. Free SMSs do not apply. Errors will be billed.
&
Terms & Conditions: SMSs cost R1.50. Free SMSs do not apply. Errors will be billed. The competition starts at 6am on Sunday,
6 March 2016, and ends at 10pm on Tuesday, 29 March 2016. Winners’ names will be published in the Sunday Times on Sunday,
10 April 2016. Eight (8) economy class air tickets will be awarded and winners will be drawn on a random basis from all entries
received. Prizes must be taken up (or rejected) as awarded and cannot transferred to any other person, sold or converted to cash, and
are subject to availability. Air tickets are valid for a period of one (1) year from date of issue. Winners must be over 18 years of age and
in possession of a valid passport. Tickets include fuel levies but airport/government taxes will be collected (about $80 per person
converted to ZAR at time of ticketing), but DO NOT INCLUDE VISAS. Flights will be Delta-operated aircraft and commence from
Johannesburg to a city in the continental USA (stopovers not permitted). Certificates confirming the air tickets will be issued in the
name of the winners and travel must commence within one year of issue of the certificate. Flights/dates are subject to availability.
This competition is open to all except employees and their families of Times Media Pty Limited and Delta Air Lines, and their
advertising agents. By entering this competition you are allowing the use of your contact details for future marketing purposes.
NEWS
The Times
7
Expats aid
desperate
father
JUMBO
RAMPAGE
TASCHICA PILLAY
An elephant
attacks an
Indian resident
in a field in
Baghasole
village. Five
people have
been killed by
wild elephants
that rampaged
through villages
in eastern India,
an official said
yesterday
Picture: AFP
PHOTO
Reality can be so boring
Online gamers venture out of virtual world
ARON HYMAN
“THE stereotype that we
don’t go out much has some
validity to it,” said computer
gamer Brandon Fester,
better known in the online
world as BraFester.
“Why leave home when
we can meet so many more
people online?” said the
e-sports athlete who, with
partner Joey Chien (gaming
name LillyMieu) stepped out
of the virtual world into real
life for a few hours at the
weekend to attend Cape
Town’s first rAge gaming
expo.
Fester and Chien are
members of the top men’s
and women’s teams respectively, playing League of
Legends — a popular game
with millions of players
internationally — and what
you would call a “power couple” in the e-sports world.
They were among 480
gamers at rAge to play together in a mega-LAN (local
area network). The players
met each other in the flesh, if
only for a few seconds,
between games at Grand
West Casino.
“When you come to LAN
parties you meet all these
different people,” said Fester.
“If I go drinking at
Cubana, I’m only going to
meet people who also drink
at Cubana, but if I go online I
‘
Why leave
home when
we can meet
a world online?
can meet people from across
the country, from across the
world.
“While we might not leave
the house, a lot of us do leave
the comfort zones of who we
are and whom we interact
with.”
Between
the
tangled
chaos of cables, neon-lit gadgets and gamers wrapped in
sleeping
bags
emitting
grunts and screams in
response to the online action,
there were quiet couples sitting side-by-side giving each
other support in games
against other teams.
Then there were the “cosplayers”, who turned Grand
West Casino into a fantasy
wonderland as they strolled
around dressed as gaming
characters.
Clint and Janine Harthog,
who have cosplayed since
2006, drove from Johannesburg with a cosplay tour bus
to attend rAge.
It took the couple, with
Janine dressed as League of
Legends character Lulu, and
Clint as Sub-Zero from the
Mortal Combat series, a
week to make their outfits.
South Africa’ top e-sportsmen and women attracted
large crowds as they played
games with prize money of
R100 000.
Wendy’s alumni gather in thanks
AARTI J NARSEE
TOP musicians came together to pay tribute to Wendy
Ackerman, the woman who
made the dreams of many of
them a reality.
Ackerman, wife of Pick n
Pay founder Raymond, was
the subject of a surprise musical tribute orchestrated by
her four children, who wanted to acknowledge and celebrate their mother’s commitment to education in the
arts for over 50 years.
“My mother is a very humble person and she never
wants recognition,” said
daughter Suzanne Ackerman-Berman.
Through arts, culture and
education
scholarships,
Ackerman has given a helping hand to hundreds of talented individuals.
More than 200 people
whose lives have been
changed by scholarships from
Ackerman took to the stage
on Saturday at Herschel Girls’
School, in Claremont.
The tribute was put together by Michael Williams, head
of Cape Town Opera.
Performers included John
Ntsepe, from Sebokeng, south
of Johannesburg, who has
been playing the piano since
he was 14. After receiving a
scholarship from Ackerman
he now plays all over the
world and has won international awards.
The tribute included a specially composed piece by Alan
Stevenson, dance performances and a Shakespeare
recitation by a 13-year-old.
It took eight months to
put together, the hardest
part being keeping it secret
from her parents, said Ackerman-Berman.
“It has been a nightmare
keeping it a secret from her.
But keeping it secret from
my father was hardest.”
When asked what she
had learned from her mother, she said: “She has
taught us to reach out and
recognise the joy, beauty
and talent in those around
us.
“We are in the fortunate
position of being able to
make a difference in other
people’s lives.”
A GROUP of expat moms living
in London may not have seen
newly born Jocelyn Tania
Harms, but they cannot wait to
shower her with love.
The ladies, a Facebook group
for former South African
mothers living in the UK, have
banded together to offer
support, food and baby-sitting
services to Chris Harms,
formerly of Hillcrest in
KwaZulu-Natal, who lost his
wife Tania last week.
Two weeks ago, Tania, 40,
who was 28 weeks pregnant,
was placed in an induced coma
at a London hospital after
doctors discovered swelling on
her brain.
She suffered a stroke and was
placed on life support after
undergoing brain surgery.
“The doctors had hoped to
keep her on life support for a
couple more weeks to help the
baby grow but unfortunately
this was not possible,” said
Tania’s relative, Angela de
Oliveira, a member of the group.
On Thursday last week, baby
Jocelyn was born. Later that
evening, the family turned off
the life support.
CONSUMER/BUSINESS
Use law to your benefit
Customer refunded deposit after playing the protection Act trump card
FIVE years on, I’ve come to the
sad conclusion that for most
consumers, the Consumer
Protection Act may as well not
exist because people don’t know
anything about the legislation and
how to benefit from it.
Even I almost missed
something when investigating the
case of Sharon Chetty of
Pietermaritzburg and the cruise
she cancelled.
On February 16 she booked an
Italian cruise with UK-based
Imagine Cruising for her and her
Johannesburg-based sister at a
cost of R20 210 each, including
flights.
They were scheduled to depart
in mid-July.
Chetty paid her R20 210, which
was accepted as a deposit for both
of them.
But two days later she cancelled
the booking as her sister was no
longer able to join her.
She was told she wouldn’t get a
cent of the deposit back as
Imagine Cruising’s most generous
cancellation penalty is a 50%
refund, not of the deposit, but of
the entire fare.
In response to my argument
that it wasn’t reasonable, given
that Chetty cancelled the booking
just three days after making it,
Imagine Cruising director Peter
Shanks offered a R10 460 refund.
That would have been the end
of it had a perfectly timed
marketing e-mail from Imagine
Cruising not landed in my inbox.
I probably would have deleted
the “spam” — unsolicited
marketing — had I not mistaken
the e-mail for a response to my
media query.
But having clicked it open and
realising it was an advert for a
cruise, I had an ah-ha moment.
I hadn’t, until then, thought to
ask Chetty how she came to make
that booking — did she find the
company after a self-initiated
internet search, was she
responding to an advert in a
newspaper or did she receive an
unsolicited e-mail?
Turns out she got an e-mail —
one of many — from Imagine
Cruising.
In fact, she got one just a few
days before she made the
booking.
That made the booking a direct-
marketing deal and the Consumer
Protection Act allows consumers
to cancel direct-marketing deals
within five business days, in
writing, for a full refund.
So I went back to Shanks to say
that Chetty was actually owed the
full R20 210.
I’m delighted to report that
she’s getting it.
#SHELFIE
BROUGHT TO LIGHT: Selvan
Naidu was stumped by this
sign in Pick n Pay Hypermarket,
Durban North. Luckily the
display let on that there were
free lanterns on offer
“We do comply with the act’s
provision of a five-day ‘cooling off’
period for direct marketing,”
Shanks said.
“We have sent direct marketing
communications to Chetty in the
past, so while we did not have this
booking tracked as a response to
direct marketing — but rather a
Google inquiry — we are
prepared to waiver the loss of
deposit on this occasion as the
cancellation was only two days
subsequent to the booking and it
could be that previous direct
marketing had influenced the
decision to book.”
So, if you buy anything as a
result of direct marketing: SMS, email, phone call — including a call
to “upgrade” your cellphone
contract — you get five business
days in which you can cancel, in
writing, for a full refund.
You don’t need a reason — you
simply get to change your mind.
Interestingly, Imagine Cruising
has had only one other request for
a Consumer Protection Act direct
marketing cancellation in the past
18 months, which speaks volumes
about consumer awareness of this
provision.
CONTACT WENDY:
E-mail: consumer@knowler.co.za
Twitter: @wendyknowler
CANCELLATION FEES
WHEN planning a happy event, such
as a holiday or a wedding, few people consider the financial implications of a cancellation.
Which probably explains why I
get so many e-mails from people
who’ve paid deposits for cruises,
hotel rooms, wedding photographers
and decor specialists, cancelled the
event, and then been outraged to
discover that the service provider
was willing to refund little to nothing
of their hefty deposit payments.
Thanks to the Consumer Protection Act companies can no longer
have a blanket “no refunds” policy
pertaining to cancelled bookings.
Companies must refund your
deposit, minus a “reasonable” cancellation penalty.
Companies must have a “sliding
scale” of deposit forfeiture in proportion to the notice given — the
sooner you cancel after booking, the
greater the refund.
Make sure the contract you sign
includes this “sliding scale” of what
you’ll be refunded if you cancel at
various times between booking and
the event.
If they do get another booking,
they can charge you only an admin
fee.
They are obliged to show you the
direct losses and costs they incurred
due to your cancellation, which can
include a portion of their marketing
and admin costs.
And a supplier may not impose
any cancellation fee if a booking is
cancelled because of the death or
hospitalisation of the person “for
whom or for whose benefit” the
booking was made.
SILVER DREAM MACHINE
The Airlander, originally developed for the US military, is 91m long and consists of three airshipbodies merged into one with wings and rotary engines
Picture: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP PHOTO
Shipping traffic slows down
BOBBY JORDAN
SHIPPING container traffic
into South Africa’s ports
contracted by 5% in the final
quarter of last year, with the
trend likely to continue
partly due to the drought.
So says the world’s largest
container shipping company Maersk.
Its latest South Africa
Trade Report recorded an
overall 1% contraction in
container trade in the second half of last year, compared with a 7% increase in
the first half. The slowdown
in Asian import markets
and low local consumer confidence had caused the
decline, the report said.
Maersk Line southern
Africa
trade
manager
Matthew Conroy said the
slump was a sign of decreased global trade.
“It was quite a chaotic
year in the shipping industry. There was a lot of adjustment,” he said.
Reduced fourth-quarter
trade was not unexpected
given the confluence of sev-
‘
Less produced
because of
less water
eral negative factors, among
them low commodity prices.
But figures for 2016 would
have the additional impact
of reduced local agricultural
production due to drought.
“Items like animal feed
are impacted, as well as the
production of certain products. Factories can produce
less because of less water,”
Conroy said.
Jonathan Horn, Maersk
line southern Africa MD,
said the decline was not isolated to one sector.
Both import and export
markets declined, in particular the Asian import market [down by 9%].
“The majority of imports
from Asia, which represents
about 55% of South Africa’s
total import market, include
retail, electronics and overall consumer goods and are
thus highly susceptible to
available consumer spend,
which has been on the decline,” Horn said.
Africa had been particularly hard hit by China’s
slowing economy.
NEWS
AN INDIAN entrepreneur has set
up what is claimed to be the country’s first marriage bureau for
homosexuals.
Benhur Samson, who previously
helped foreign gay couples use
surrogacy services, said he founded the agency in response to
interest by old clients.
“I was surprised to see the
response from the gay people I
Marriage bureau for ‘despised’ Indian gays
came in touch with while counselling them on the surrogacy
issue,” he said.
“That is how I got the idea of a
marriage bureau for gay men and
women who want to settle down
with a partner.”
Samson, who lives in the US, has
enlisted the help of Manvendrasingh Gohil, an Indian prince and
gay rights activist, to help untangle
all the immigration issues.
“Several gay people of Indian
origin want an arranged marriage
and are looking for partners from
India,” he said.
“We [have] already got over 200
enquiries and nearly two dozen
people looking for a partner have
enrolled with us.
“We are now in the process of
looking for, and identifying, the
right matches for them.”
Enrolment costs R75 000 ($5 000)
The Times
9
for most Indians an unthinkably
high sum, although the fee is
refundable if no match is found.
The agency does background
checks, visits prospective partners
at home and at work, and provides
counselling, Samson said.
Gay marriage and gay sex are
both illegal in highly conservative
India and homosexuality has long
been a taboo subject. — AFP
US, Cuba cement relations
Obama and Castro in historic meetings aimed at pushing for political and economic reforms
US PRESIDENT Barack Obama
turned from sightseeing to state
business on his historic Cuba trip
yesterday, pressing President Raul
Castro for economic and democratic reforms while listening to complaints about continued US economic sanctions.
Obama and Castro were scheduled to have their fourth meeting,
likely their most substantial, at the
Palace of the Revolution, where
Castro and his predecessor, older
brother Fidel Castro, have led Cuba’s resistance to US pressure
going back decades.
A US presidential visit to the
inner sanctum of Cuban power
would have been unthinkable before Obama and Raul Castro’s rapprochement 15 months ago, when
they agreed to end a Cold War-era
dispute that lasted five decades.
The two leaders have deep differences to discuss as they attempt
to rebuild bilateral relations.
Obama is under pressure from
critics at home to push Castro’s
communist government to allow
dissent from political opponents
and further open its Soviet-style
command economy. His aides have
said Obama will encourage more
economic reforms and greater
access to the internet for Cubans.
“One of the things that we’ll be
announcing here is that Google has
a deal to start setting up more Wi-Fi
and broadband access on the
island,” Obama told ABC News in
an interview aired yesterday.
His
administration
hopes
changes might also come at a Communist Party congress next month
but doubts any political opening
will be forthcoming. Still, Obama
has promised to talk about freedom
of speech and assembly in Cuba.
“I will raise these issues directly
with President Castro,” he told the
Cuban dissident group the Ladies
in White in a March 10 letter.
Castro has said Cuba will not
waver from its 57-year-old revolution and government officials say
the US needs to end its economic
embargo and return the Guantanamo Bay naval base to Cuba
before the relations normalise.
Cuban police, backed by hundreds of shouting pro-government
demonstrators, broke up a Ladies
TOUCH DOWN: Air Force One carrying President Barack Obama and his family touched down in Havana, Cuba, on Sunday. Obama is the first sitting US president
to visit the communist island in almost 80 years
Picture: REUTERS
in White march on Sunday, detaining dozens just hours before
Obama landed.
Obama has urged Congress to
rescind the 54-year embargo but
has been rejected by the Republican leadership.
He has both Democratic and Republican elected officials with him
on his Cuba trip and hopes
Congress may act after the November 8 presidential election.
One Cuban yelled “Down with
the embargo!” during Obama’s tour
of Old Havana. He responded by
raising his right hand.
Asked about the potential for US
companies to lose out in the Cuban
market, Obama told ABC: “There’s
no doubt that we still have some
work to do and part of that is
bringing an end to the embargo
that is in place.”
While it may not happen during
his final year in office, given the US
presidential election, “it is inevitable”, he said.
Thwarted by Congress on the
embargo, Obama has instead used
his executive authority to loosen
‘
We think the US
government can
take more steps
to send clear
and direct signals
restrictions on trade with and travel to the Caribbean island. Cuba has
praised those measures but Castro
will likely press for more.
“We think the US government
can take more steps to send clear
and direct signals in this direction,”
Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo
Malmierca Diaz said.
Today Obama will deliver a
speech on live Cuban television and
attend an exhibition game between
Major League Baseball’s Tampa
Bay Rays and Cuba’s national team.
— Reuters
Apple’s privacy stance starting to eat into its bottom line
AS APPLE feuds with the US
government over iPhone privacy
protections, the tech giant is also
grappling with internal conflicts
over privacy that could pose
challenges to its long-term
product strategy.
Unlike Google, Amazon and
Facebook, Apple is loath to use
customer data to deliver targeted
advertising or personalised
recommendations. Any collection
of Apple customer data requires
sign-off from a committee of three
“privacy tsars” and a top
executive, said four former
employees who worked on a
variety of products that went
through privacy vetting.
Many employees take pride in
Apple’s stance and CEO Tim
Cook has called it a matter of
principle.
“Customers expect Apple and
other technology companies to do
everything in our power to
protect their personal
information,” Cook said.
Such policies also have a
business rationale. Apple’s
apparent willingness to sacrifice
some profit for the sake of privacy
bolsters its image as a company
that protects customers.
It’s an easier stand for Apple to
take than, say, Facebook or
Amazon — Apple’s chief business
has been selling devices rather
than advertising or e-commerce.
But now, amid stagnant iPhone
sales, Apple executives have
flagged services such as iCloud
and Apple Music as prime
sources for growth — which could
test the company’s commitment
to limiting the use of personal
data.
Apple declined to comment.
The biggest casualty of Apple’s
privacy stance may be iAd, a
service launched in 2010 that
aimed to deliver ads inside
iPhone apps, with revenue to be
split between Apple and the app
developers.
Although Apple was a late
entrant, it had a tantalising asset:
iTunes, one of the industry’s
richest troves of consumer data.
But that database was off
limits. Whenever employees
wanted to use iTunes data to
sharpen targeting they had to
appeal to the privacy team, said
two former Apple employees who
worked on iAd.
The iAd team fought hard to
give advertisers greater visibility
into who saw their ads, those
employees said.
The team hoped to create
anonymous identifiers so
advertisers could discern which
users had seen their ads.
But, despite about a dozen
similar pitches, the most
executives would allow was a
count of how many users had
seen an advertisement, said the
former employees.
As a result, iAd struggled to
entice advertisers. In January
Apple announced it would
discontinue the iAd app network.
— Reuters
The Times
11
MELON-CHOLIC: Stunted, rotting melons dumped in the veld outside Kroonstad, Free State (2007),
from ‘Climate Change’
TEEN SPIRIT: ‘Comrade-Sister’, White City, Jabavu (1985), from the series ‘Townships’
An international jury selected South African
Santu Mofokeng as the winner of the 2016
photography prize of the Fondazione Fotografia
Modena and Sky Arte HD, in partnership with
UniCredit. ‘He does not belong to any system and
this freedom has enabled him to create stunning
images,’ the jury said. ‘His creativity is totally
open-ended.’
Mofokeng has a solo exhibition, 'Santu
Mofokeng: A Silent Solitude’, running in Italy.
The six competition finalists included Zanele
Muholi, also from South Africa
MAN OF VISIONS: ‘Eyes Wide Shut’, Motouleng Cave, Clarens (2004), from ‘Ishmael’
Pictures: THE SANTU MOFOKENG FOUNDATION/IMAGES COURTESY LUNETTA BARTZ, JOHANNESBURG
WOODLAND TAIL: Buddhist retreat near Pietermaritzburg (2003), from ‘Chasing Shadows’
HOLY SMOKE: ‘Easter Sunday Church Service’ (1996), from ‘Chasing Shadows’
FACING THE LENS: Santu Mofokeng Picture: BARBARA ZANON/GETTY IMAGES
CEMETERY-BOUND: ‘Chief More’s Funeral’, GaMogopa (1989), from ‘Landscapes’
ISRAEL
SOMALIA
KENYA
RUSSIA
TURKEY
NIGERIA
HAITI
NEPAL
Covert operation marks
end of an era for Jews
Al-Shebab claims to
have overrun army base
Plane spotters pay heavy Water wars force new
price for pursuing hobby restrictions at wells
US accused of dithering
over ceasefire violations
Hunt on for terrorists
who killed tourists
King’s stolen cockerel
to be flown home
New premier ousted by
rejectionist deputies
Earthquake-relief chief Old ‘witch’ hacked to
faces graft investigation death for casting spell
ISRAEL has brought in 19 Jews from
war-ravaged Yemen in what officials
described as the last covert
operation to move members of the
once 400 000-strong Jewish
community.
The first 17 arrived late on Sunday,
among them a rabbi who doubled as
a kosher butcher in the town of
Raydah. He carried a 500-year-old
Torah scroll, said officials. Two
others came in a few days earlier.
The Torah’s departure marked the
end of a community that has lived
alongside its Muslim neighbours for
centuries. Jews have complained of
increasing harassment since the
rebels — whose slogan is “Death to
America, death to Israel, curse the
Jews, victory to Islam” — seized
control of Sanaa in 2014. — Reuters
ISLAMIC insurgents stormed a
military base outside the capital
Mogadishu early yesterday, claiming
to have inflicted heavy casualties.
The fighting broke out at LaantaBuro base about 40km southwest of
Mogadishu soon after midnight.
Witnesses said fighters from the
al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shebab
overran the camp.
Military spokesman Abdulahi
Ibrahim confirmed the attack.
In a message broadcast on
al-Shebab radio and published online
the Islamists claimed to have killed
73 government soldiers and to have
captured vehicles, weapons and
ammunition.
The government disputed the
claims, saying the military had
fought off the assault. — AFP
FOUR British plane spotters were
yesterday told to pay a fine or face a
year in a jail for photographing
aircraft in Nairobi.
Aircraft enthusiasts Paul Abbott,
47, Steve Gibson, 60, Ian Glover, 46,
and Eddie Swift, 47, from
Manchester, were arrested earlier
this month at Wilson Airport, a small
but busy regional hub used by bush
pilots, tourists and humanitarian
agencies, after snapping pictures
while sitting in an airport bar.
Yesterday chief magistrate Heston
Nyaga found the four friends guilty
of trespassing and taking photos
without permission. He fined each
$2 000 (R30 660) or a year in jail.
The four were on a two-week
plane-spotting holiday that took
them to Ethiopia and Kenya.— AFP
MOSCOW yesterday accused
Washington of stalling on the
implementation of agreements for
dealing with ceasefire violations in
war-torn Syria, which were to have
come into effect last month.
Lieutenant-General Sergei
Rudskoy accused Washington of
showing “no readiness” to discuss
the agreements with Russia.
He said Russia was ready to resort
to force against ceasefire violators
unilaterally as of today.
US Secretary of State John Kerry
will be in Moscow this week to
discuss the crisis with his
counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and
President Vladimir Putin.
The Syrian ceasefire has largely
held since February 27 but does not
apply to jihadist terrorists. — AFP
TURKISH police were yesterday
searching for three Islamic State
killers suspected of planning further
attacks after a terrorist suicide
bombing in Istanbul killed four
foreigners, Dogan news agency
reported.
Turkish media published
photographs of three suspects,
named as Haci Ali Dumaz, Savas
Yildiz and Yunus Durmaz. The three,
all Turkish, are believed to be
planning attacks in busy public
spaces, including in Istanbul.
Yildiz is thought to be the bomber
who blew himself up on Saturday on
Istanbul’s famous Istiklal Caddesi, a
pedestrian shopping street.
Three Israelis and one Iranian
were killed, and 39 people injured.
— AFP
THE decision by the UK’s Cambridge
University to return a bronze
cockerel stolen from the palace of the
king of Benin in the 19th century has
been welcomed by Nigerian royals.
Jesus College earlier this month
said it would no longer display the
bronze and was considering its
repatriation.
Benin was one of the greatest and
richest kingdoms in West Africa.
The tale of the artefacts began
when nine British officers were
killed while on a trade mission to the
kingdom in 1897.
The British reaction was fierce.
Several thousand local people were
killed in a reprisal military action,
the capital city was set ablaze and
the king was forced into exile and his
palace was looted. — AFP
HAITI’S lower house of parliament
has rejected the new prime minister’s
proposed government, yet another
setback for the troubled nation.
The rejection, announced by the
Chamber of Deputies on Sunday,
means that interim President
Jocelerme Privert will have to come
up with a new nominee for prime
minister.
Fritz-Alphonse Jean was named
prime minister in February. He
needed the support of 60 of the 75
deputies but only 38 voted in favour
of his plan for forming a government.
The opposition came from former
president Michel Martelly’s PHTK
party. He left office earlier this year
but a vote to choose his successor
was postponed because of fears of
violence. — AFP
THE head of Nepal’s earthquake
reconstruction authority is being
investigated following complaints of
corruption and other irregularities
against him, an anti-graft official
said yesterday.
Sushil Gyewali was appointed
chief of the National Reconstruction
Authority in December, charged
with spending $4.1-billion raised
after the quake, which killed nearly
9 000 people in April.
Krishna Hari Pushkar, spokesman
for the Commission for the
Investigation of the Abuse of
Authority, said the commission had
received complaints about Gyewali’s
handling of decisions in his previous
job as director of the Town
Development Fund, as well as in his
current role. — AFP
INDIA
AUTHORITIES in western India
have banned gatherings near water
sources in a drought-stricken city
because of violent skirmishes
between desperate residents,
officials said yesterday.
Dnyaneshwar Chavan, the police
chief of Latur, in Maharashtra state,
said no more than five people were
allowed at wells and public waterstorage tanks at any one time because
of growing fears of water riots.
Latur, about 400km from Mumbai,
is deep in the heart of India’s arid
central belt and its 500 000 residents
are reeling from years of belowaverage monsoon rains. Several
media reports say thousands of
people, mostly poor farmers, have
left the area recently because of the
drought. — AFP
BURDEN TO BEAR: ‘Dove Lady #4’, Orlando East, Soweto (2002), from ‘Billboards’
FAITHFUL ON THE MOVE: ‘Hands in Worship’, Johannesburg-Soweto line (1986)
INDONESIA
A 70-YEAR-OLD Indonesian woman
has been hacked to death in the
remote east of the country by
machete-wielding men who
suspected her of witchcraft, police
said yesterday.
Three men attacked Nuryan
Umanahu early on Sunday in the
village of Buya, in the Sula Islands,
after one of them became suspicious
that she had cast a spell on his wife.
The husband was accompanied by
a large mob of villagers to the old
woman’s house, but only three went
inside and carried out the murder,
said the police
Three men have been arrested on
suspicion of murder.
Many people still believe in black
magic in Muslim-majority Indonesia.
— AFP
OPINIONANDLETTERS
Graft and greed
take shine off
Human Rights Day
W
E CELEBRATED Human Rights
Day yesterday and most of the
speeches delivered spoke of the
road we have travelled.
Although we fully support efforts aimed at
fostering a human-rights culture at all levels of
society, we are sceptical about the sincerity of
some of our leaders — who continue to violate
the people’s rights.
Corruption is the greatest threat to human
rights because it robs people of their right to a
better life.
We cannot celebrate human rights
wholeheartedly while corruption continues to
rob our people of resources.
The fight against racism and other forms of
oppression must continue, but we should not
for a minute be silent
about corruption in the
Democracy
state and in business.
The democracy we
must benefit
continue to enjoy and
speak of should come
everyone,
alive. It should benefit
especially the
everyone, especially the
marginalised.
marginalised
We cannot speak of
human rights when
women and children, lesbians and gays,
continue to face violence.
We cannot fully celebrate human rights
when poverty and joblessness are the curse of
the majority. Why should people be positive
about tomorrow when all they see is the rich
getting richer?
Failure to deal with inequality, poverty
unemployment and all forms of racism will
lead to polarisation.
The ruling ANC has a duty to look beyond
cosseting its leaders and begin to craft a
society centred on equality.
Leaders like President Jacob Zuma know
that their actions have a pernicious effect on
achieving the kind of society we want — but
they don’t care.
Their failure to appreciate the depth of the
public anger caused by ever-rising corruption
puts this nation on a dangerous path. Let us
redefine what constitutes human rights in this
country and agree on the route to take.
Corruption at all levels robs millions of their
right to be full citizens of this nation.
WHAT’S TRENDING AT
http://timeslive.co.za
NEWS: Guptas release
‘confidential info’ to
dispute Maseko claims
The Guptas were “bemused
by six-year-old allegations”
and are “keen” to see proof
they were reported to the
“appropriate responsible
officials” at the time.
LABEL: Human Rights:
Zuma lashes out at racists
Zuma told a large crowd at
a Human Rights Day rally
in Durban: “This year our
theme is 'South Africa
United Against Racism'.”
SOUTH AFRICA: Sheriffs
to issue e-toll summonses
Sheriffs in Gauteng will
“over the next few days”
deliver civil summonses to
“road-users who have
persistently refused to
settle their e-toll debt”.
Sleeping
on the job
CONGRATULATIONS to Esa
Alexander for the “action
photo” (Friday) of two ANC
sluggards in deep sleep on the
parliamentary benches.
Or were they “simply” in
deep thought, with their eyes
closed, pondering methods to
create a “vibrant and
prosperous South Africa?”
Are there any penalties for
such sluggards apart from
disdain and disgust among
those who voted for them?
— Cliff Saunders, Northcliff
Zuma, Guptas ruining SA
THE Guptas wanted former
public enterprise minister
Barbara Hogan to arrange
deals for their airline, Jet
Airways. This was confirmed
by Vytjie Mentor last week.
Then there is former mining
minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi,
who declined their invitation
and quickly got reshuffled.
The extent of the Guptas’
involvement in mining is well
known. This was reconfirmed
by Mcebisi Jonas, who said
part of their pitch when they
offered him the finance
minister’s job was that he
should let the expensive
nuclear deal go through so as
to benefit their uranium
mines. The pattern is clear, if
you add the shenanigans at
SAA, which are directly linked
to President Jacob Zuma. How
treasonable is it for a clique of
politicians to sell out a nation
to a business family — and a
foreign one at that? — Theo
Martinez, Craighall Park
THE ANC I know and belong
to has never defended any
individuals at the expense of
the organisation.
Allowing deployed
comrades to ruin the party
and the country will be
playing into the opposition’s
hands.
If the ANC isolates such
individuals it will go a long
way to salvaging its
reputation; if it defends them,
it will alienate voters.
The honourable thing for
President Jacob Zuma to do is
to step down willingly. —
Moses Zola Manake, Roodekrans
All must play by the rules ANCYL is floundering
JONATHAN Jansen in
“Teachers must be a class act”
on Thursday, missed a trick
when he argued for top
principals to lead schools by
failing to condemn the
victimisation of South
Peninsula High principal,
Brian Isaacs, by the Western
Cape education department.
Isaacs managed this school
with distinction, as its matric
results and the production of
internationally acclaimed
scholars confirm.
The department used
spurious evidence to suspend
an excellent manager and
visionary leader, and thereby
imperilled the dreams of
hundreds of children.
I spoke to a girl called Anita,
a refugee from Rwanda and a
pupil at the school, who
dreams of becoming a
journalist. She expressed
anxiety about the suspension.
Speak truth to power,
Jansen, and defend the rights
of communities to a “top”
principal at their schools.
— George Hector, Heathfield
THE ANC Youth League has
lost its way. It attempts to
remain relevant by aiding
and abetting wrongdoing. It
sings individuals’ praises
like a teacher’s pet, who
expects a sweet treat in
return, instead of being
critical when it ought to be.
The ANC Women’s
League, on the other hand,
has often broken ranks and
challenged the ANC top
brass.
The ANCYL lacks
gravitas. Instead of
applauding Mcebisi Jonas
and others, who have
bravely come forward to
reveal dirty dealings, they
have scolded the deputy
minister in the way a
teacher would scold an
unruly child. The only child
here is the ANCYL.
Threatening whistle-blowers
confirms this.
Only when the ANCYL
has found its way will it
again be relevant to the
youth. — Sandile Ntuli,
Johannesburg
SMS COMMENTS
On ‘Zuptagate: The
cold, hard facts’:
On ‘Rap queen slays
The Dome’:
ý THE Guptas do not only
influence the appointment of ministers, they do not need permission to use a military air base. We
also know they are influencing
policy formulation and the making
of laws. In fact, they are a law
unto themselves and operate with
impunity. Jacob Zuma must hand
in his resignation and the Guptas
must be stripped of their ill-gotten
gains and repatriated to India.
— Judicium Actum
ý EVENTS with international acts
are too expensive because the
ANC messed up our rand. Stay at
home and invite friends to listen to
your Nicki Minaj songs and have a
braai. — Marele Mapuma
On ‘The knives
are out’:
ý ZUMA stridently proclaims
that only he appoints ministers
but who promotes the choice of
names from shadows, dark and
sinister? This Zuma tells us, loud
and bold, but the choices come
from Saxonwold. — RD Stephen,
Centurion
ý IT IS an open secret that Vytjie
Mentor loves publicity. In fact, as
an MP, she was a regular caller to
radio stations. She was eager to
provide sound bites at all times. I
suspect her latest revelations are
a strategy to get media attention.
— Seabo Gaeganelwe
Do you think Jacob
Zuma will survive the
weekend as
president?
ý YES, of course he will survive.
He has survived so many scandals
already. But shareholders will
eventually pull the plug. If the
government is wise it will see this,
otherwise it is on a dead-end road.
— Derrick du Preez, Cape Town
Each SMS costs R1.50
HOW TO CONTACT US: WRITE TO: PO BOX 1742, SAXONWOLD 2132 SMS: 33971 EMAIL: tellus@thetimes.co.za FAX: 011-280-5150/1
The editor reserves the right to edit and reject letters. Pseudonyms may be used, but must be clearly marked as such.
BIG READS
The Times
13
I’ve woken up
to the fact that
I am the guest
of a gangster
I
CRUNCH TIME: Things can get nasty when wealthy people get divorced and it’s not unusual for a husband or wife’s
beloved possessions to be destroyed by a bitter spouse
Picture: 20THCENTURYFOX
Loathing all the
way to the bank
When the super-rich divorce, the gloves come off
T
HE divorce industry in the
UK is worth more than £1billion (about R22-billion)
a year and mega-bucks
settlements abound. This week we
learnt that a stay-at-home mum
called Jane Morris was awarded
almost £500 000 while her company
boss husband Peter was left with
nothing.
But this is small fry compared
with recent high-profile cases such
as that of Laura Ashley boss Dr
Khoo Kay Peng, who is locked in a
£400-million divorce battle with his
former wife of 43 years, Pauline
Siew Phin Chai.
For the divorce lawyers working
at this end of the spectrum, such
cases are big business. The highest
flyers can command seven-figure
salaries (typically they charge £600
an hour or more), allowing them to
live almost as luxuriously as their
clients. They are also privy to
fascinating insights into the lives
of the super-rich.
“When it comes to divorce, I’ve
seen everything,” says Marilyn
Stowe, a top divorce lawyer.
“There was a wife who sold the
Steinway piano without the
knowledge of her pianist husband;
a wife who sawed the legs off a
Chippendale cabinet and delivered
it, with its removed legs, to her
husband; and a wife who ran a
bath of scalding water and bleach,
into which she dumped all her
husband’s suits and ties.
“Some clients claim to have sold
assets — which otherwise would
have been shared with their ex —
for remarkably low prices.
Miraculously, once the case is
over, these same assets reappear
in their ownership.”
The last couple of years have
seen the record £337-million payout by financier Sir Chris Hohn,
while former Oasis singer Liam
Gallagher was forced to hand over
half of his £11-million fortune to his
former wife Nicole Appleton after
an £800 000 fight.
Vanessa Lloyd Platt, another
divorce lawyer, believes such cases
have been fuelled by society’s
increasingly aggressive mood. “In
general, people are behaving a lot
worse: no one has time, everyone
is angry, people have unrealistic
expectations and that’s reflected in
the way families are treating one
another and has divorce lawyers
rubbing their hands with glee,”
she says.
The richer halves of couples
concealing their assets — or the
poorer half claiming they are
doing so — is an increasingly
common phenomenon, she says.
Last summer came the latest
instalment in the long-running
‘
People are
behaving a lot
worse and that
has divorce lawyers
rubbing their
hands with glee
case of oil baron Michael Prest,
who claimed he was £48-million in
debt, though his estranged spouse
Yasmin estimated his wealth at
“tens if not hundreds of millions of
pounds”. Appeal judges
threatened Prest with a jail
sentence for failing to pay £360 000
owed in maintenance.
Previously, there was the case of
property tycoon Scot Young, who
was jailed for six months over his
refusal to pay his ex-wife Michelle
and their two teenage daughters
maintenance, claiming his £400million fortune had evaporated,
leaving him bankrupt. The saga
ended tragically last year when
Young died after falling from the
roof of his £3-million central
London penthouse.
According to Ayesha Vardag,
who has acted for Pauline Chai and
Michelle Young, hiding assets is so
common that her firm, Vardags,
established a “financial forensics
team” to track them down.
But why do people who are
already so rich go to such lengths
to hold on to cash they would
never miss, risking costly and
stressful legal battles at best and
imprisonment at worst? Lloyd Platt
says: “The very wealthy are often
very stingy and never happy
because they’re driven constantly
by the pressure to outdo
somebody.”
But Sandra Davis of Mischon de
Reya, who’s acted for, among
others, Jerry Hall, Thierry Henry
and Princess Diana, suggests
there’s often a burning sense of
injustice, too, not least at the fact
that English courts tend to favour
dividing assets 50:50.
“Most people feel such a split’s
unfair if one partner did nothing to
participate in building up their
wealth [but] enjoyed the fruits of
the other person’s labour,” says
Davis, who charges £610 an hour.
“And that can encourage some
people to be less than honest about
their financial affairs.”
Witnessing such vitriol must
occasionally be soul-destroying for
the lawyers. “What’s depressing is
seeing very sweet people who are
not greedy being badly treated and
then seeing spoilt nasty women
who get what they want,” says
Lloyd Platt. “And it upsets all
divorce lawyers when you see
people treating children badly.”
Still, she adores her work. “I find
people’s behaviour fascinating:
like the wife who’d not spoken to
her husband for 15 years,
communicating with him by PostIts. You see this bizarreness every
day and it never gets boring.”
— © The Daily Telegraph
’M embarrassed. Not
because I didn’t know. Of
course I knew. I just
didn’t know how much I
didn’t know.
If you’d asked me if
everything that happens in
this house was legitimate, I’d
have hedged. I’d have told you
that I’m just one of a few
upstairs house guests, and we
don’t get to see what goes on
in the downstairs rooms, but
from up here we do have a
view of the ornate, wroughtiron front gates, and we see
who comes and goes.
Most days it’s our host,
sliding out in his convoy of
black limousines. I admit I had
stopped wondering about that:
about why a man who claims
to be so loved by so many
needs a bulletproof car and a
platoon of armed guards.
Perhaps I’d stopped
wondering because there was
so much more to wonder
about.
Like arms dealers, for
starters. They arrived just
after my host bought this
place. We quite liked him back
then. He’d booted out the last
owner, a real little shit, and he
was dignified and generous.
So when the arms dealers
came up the driveway, we
wanted to give him the benefit
of the doubt. For our own
protection, he said, and led
them away down to the secret
rooms we aren’t allowed to
peep into.
After that, I just kind of
went with it. The police were
always coming around and
we’d crowd at the windows
and catch snatches of
conversation — fraud, drunk
driving, missing funds — but
they always went away and
our host waved up to us and
told us all was well.
And I believed him. I must
have, because I stayed. Now
that I’ve woken up, I can see
the ludicrous lengths I took to
stay asleep. Like a few months
ago, the gates opened up and
in drove a guy called Omar.
Wanted for genocide in Sudan.
Genocide. And what did I do? I
went out into the corridor and
tut-tutted with the other
guests and used words like
“outrageous” and
“disgraceful” — and then went
right back to my room and
made myself a toasted cheese
sandwich.
I know why I was like this, of
course. Nobody likes
acknowledging that they are
the guest of a gangster. It’s
upsetting. It makes exhausting
demands on your sense of
yourself as a moral person.
Because if you’re a moral
person, how can you make a
life for yourself in a home that
is fundamentally rotten?
But that’s only half of it. I
think I’m OK with being less
moral than I hope to be. I’m
flexible that way. But the real
problem with admitting to
yourself that you live on the
top floor of a Mafia godfather’s
mansion is that you know how
it all ends.
It ends with shocking
violence, or in late-night
pandemonium, throwing
things into a suitcase and then
a frantic rush over a high wall.
It can never end well, because
only the most intelligent
criminals grow old peacefully
and launder their money into
respectable legacies, and I fear
that my host is not looking like
the most intelligent of
criminals.
So I’d gone on, kept safe by
the easy cynicism favoured by
people who live in slowly
unfolding disasters they can’t or
don’t want to walk away from.
Cynicism feels good because it
makes you look informed. On
point. Ahead of the curve. It
convinces you that eye-rolling is
an action and not just a
reaction. It persuades you that
seeing a train wreck is the same
as avoiding it.
I’d like to claim that it was
last week’s revelations about
the Guptas that woke me up,
but we’d all seen the brothers
shuttling up and down the
driveway for years. No,
something else broke through
the bubble of cynicism and left
me mortified. It showed me how
naïve I had been in my small
condemnations of small crimes;
how I had so completely
underestimated the scope and
ambition of my host’s
corruption.
What woke me was what
‘
Our host smiled
up at us, saying
everything was
fine. The firm
had met. The
naughty Guptas
were going to be
given a time-out
happened after the Gupta story
broke.
Nothing.
Our host simply smiled up at
us, saying that everything was
fine. The firm had met. The
naughty Guptas were going to
be given a time-out. Business as
usual.
Well, almost. My host will
have to find a new source of
money, perhaps one that
doesn’t have newspapers and
television stations and can
therefore remain hidden for far
longer.
But otherwise he’s going to
keep doing what he’s done for
decades —waving and lying,
lying and waving — until he’s
so rich that he can’t remember
why he’s trying to get richer.
Until corruption is the only way
anyone can remember. Until
every beam and floorboard in
this mansion has rotted, and
one day it all subsides into a
stinking pile of rot and mould.
Yes, I’m embarrassed.
ART
CROSS CONTEXT
Police brutality in the spotlight
Exhibition shows similarities in how artists respond to ugliness, writes Tymon Smith
ON APRIL 17 1964 six Harlem
residents were beaten up by the
police during the riots there.
In their trial one of the “Harlem
Six” — teenager Daniel Hamm —
testified that after his beating, he
was forced to open up his bruises
to make them bleed so that he
could receive medical attention.
What Hamm wanted to say was:
“I had to, like, open the bruise up
and let some of the bruise blood
come out to show them.”
In a slip of the tongue, Hamm
actually said “blues blood” rather
than “bruise blood”.
In 1966 minimalist composer
Steve Reich used a loop of Hamm’s
testimony in his piece ‘‘Come Out”,
composed for a benefit to raise
money for a retrial of the Harlem
Six.
Fifty years later and Hamm’s
testimony, with Reich’s music,
became the inspiration for a neon
work by American artist Glenn
Ligon, Untitled (Bruise/Blues),
which is now showing at the
Stevenson Gallery in
Johannesburg.
‘
Hamm’s slip is a
potent reminder
of how things
have not changed
Described by the Guardian as
Barack Obama’s favourite artist,
Ligon’s work deals with issues of
identity, language and sexuality
and this piece, while deceptively
simple in form, resonates strongly
with the rise of the Black Lives
Matter movement and the
increasing outcry against police
brutality in America.
The installation, taking up the
first space of the gallery, consists
of two suspended, flashing blue
neon signs, one saying “bruise”,
one saying “blues”, slightly out of
sync with each other and
gradually hypnotising viewers into
a private contemplation of issues
of brutality and violence.
Hamm’s Freudian slip from half
POTENT: Glenn Logan’s Untitled (Bruise/Blues) on show at the Stevenson Gallery is proof of the power of the word
a century ago becomes a potent
symbol of how the more some
things change, the more others
remain the same. With its simple
word-based signage, Ligon’s work
shows that the adage about sticks
and stones is simply no longer
true.
In a shrewd curatorial move the
Stevenson has paired Ligon’s piece
with an exhibition of black-andwhite photomontages by South
African artist Jane Alexander.
These span the years between
1981 and 1995 and reference
images from the state of
emergency in 1985 in South Africa
and photographs taken by
Alexander during a trip to East
Berlin in 1982.
BRUTAL: Jane Alexander’s Photomontages 1981- 1995 captures
the ugliness of violent regimes
BOWLED OVER
Alexander’s iconic Butcher Boys
makes an appearance in several of
the montages — their half-human,
half-animal forms still as powerful
a representation of brutality and
violence as ever.
The juxtaposition of Alexander’s
commentaries on the links
between the repression of different
totalitarian regimes and Ligon’s
response to police brutality
creates a conversation that flows
across borders and between
different representational
strategies.
It’s not an optimistic exhibition
but it is a poignant exploration of
pertinent themes that highlight
the similarities between the
responses of artists to the ugliness
ALSO UP
RIGHTS:
On at the Phansi
Museum in Durban is
a selection of images
from the Human
Rights Portfolio. The
portfolio, an initiative
of Artists for Human
Rights, represents 29 South African
artists invited to create a black-andwhite print representing one of the
27 clauses of the Bill of Rights. It
runs until May 3. For more visit
Phansi.com.
GREAT FIGURE:
Liezl Zwarts is an
international photographer born in
Johannesburg,
working in New York. Her images
are figures set in a dramatic space.
Her show opens at the Res Gallery in
Johannesburg on March 29. For
more visit resgallery.com.
Andrew Early’s award-winning contemporary woodwork, made from salvaged exotics, is on show at his new design
studio in Durban’s buzzing Station Drive precinct. He counts Donna Karan, Terence Conran and the Nelson Mandela
Foundation among his clients
Picture: ROGAN WARD
of political oppression and how, in
the light of Marikana for instance,
such ugliness continues to infect
democratic societies.
It’s discomforting to think that
31 years after Alexander made her
photomontage of the Butcher Boys
under a sign that reads “By the
end of today you’re going to need
us”, the sentiment still rings true
and that 52 years after his
testimony, Hamm’s
“blues/bruises” still resonates so
strongly with the black community
today.
ý Glenn Ligon: Untitled
(Bruise/Blues) and Jane
Alexander: Photomontages 19811985 are at Stevenson
Johannesburg until April 15
WRESTLING:
In her latest solo
exhibition Carla
Busuttil reflects
on the parallel
themes of growing wealth inequality and informa-
tion abundance. ‘Choice. Click. Bait.’
refers to modern methods of delivering and receiving information. It
opens at the Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, on April 7 to April 28.
MAMA MIA:
Olaf Hajek’s work
is an exploration
of the liminal
space between
imagination and
reality in Western
cultures. His intricate painterly
compositions are
rendered in acrylic on board and
embrace influences as diverse as
folklore, mythology, religion, history
and cartographic imagery. On at
WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town,
until April 30.
HELD TO
RANSOM:
In ‘Recapture’,
Jabulani Dhlamini
uses photography
to explore and
question the country’s traumatic and violent past. On
at the Goodman Gallery, Cape Town,
until April 6. — Andrea Nagel
BOOKS
The Times
15
CHANGING NARRATIVES
SA writers
embark on a
new chapter
A recent literary festival aimed to
decolonise books, writes Niren Tolsi
IN THE spirit of the moment — of
#FeesMustFall and the urgent
need to find new narratives in the
post-apartheid age — the 19th
edition of the Time of the Writer
Festival, held in Durban last week,
laid itself open — and vulnerable
— with its intention to “Decolonise
the Book”.
The student protests, with their
accompanying scholarship that’s
feeding off post-colonial theorists
like Frantz Fanon and Amilcar
Cabral, are attempting to render
speakable that which has been
silenced by post-apartheid South
Africa’s reconciliation project; the
black experience of (post)apartheid South Africa.
The festival has drawn the
political inspiration to re-imagine
itself from these “Fall-ists”, said
festival co-curator Thando
Mgqolozana in his opening night
keynote address
‘
Decolonisation is
an act of healing
— otherwise we
remain wounded
The student movement is saying
that “[a]ll the things we have tried
are not concerned with undoing
colonisation and, if they are not,
then they are merely tools with
which colonisation is maintained
in our times. It took us long
enough but we have finally come to
the logical conclusion:
decolonisation.”
“Decolonisation,” he noted, “is
an act of self-love” for people
whose very worth has been
denigrated during apartheid and
into a racist present and it’s ‘‘an
act of healing — otherwise we
remain wounded.
“Decolonisation is an absolute
necessity … We will have to teach
ourselves new ways of being that
are not framed by notions of
coloniality.”
Mgqolozana, the author of A
Man Who Is Not a Man (2009),
Hear Me Alone (2011) and
Unimportance (2014) had been
invited to co-curate this edition of
the festival by fellow curator Tiny
Mungwe of the Centre for Creative
Arts. The centre, which is attached
to the University of KwaZuluNatal, also organises the Poetry
Africa festival, the Jomba dance
festival and the Durban
International Film Festival.
The invitation had been
extended after Mgqolozana’s
criticism regarding the
“whiteness” of South African
literary festivals was first voiced at
last year’s Time of the Writer.
Later that year Mgqolozana
extrapolated that initial
provocation at the Franschhoek
Literary Festival by stating that he
would never attend another
literary festival in South Africa,
unless it was a black one.
In the act of decolonisation, the
festival was decentralised, taken
out of the university and into
Durban’s surrounding townships.
To libraries in KwaMashu, Inanda
and Umlazi, among others, where
daytime sessions — attended by
matric schoolchildren,
unemployed youth and aspirant
SPELLING IT OUT: Panashe Chigumadzi at the festival
writers — were held.
Acts of inclusion led to
impassioned debates about the
sense of exclusion from the
country’s intellectual
conversation. The exclusion is felt
because indigenous languages are
low down the language hierarchy;
books by local and African writers
are difficult to access in public
libraries which do not stock them;
and the ability to read for pleasure
is affected by socioeconomic
factors. At around midday during
weekdays, almost all these
libraries — with their internet
access and resource books — are
used by schoolchildren, job-
seekers and people with agency
and hope for their futures.
The festival sought to explore
writing to this moment: An
intention to challenge colonialism
in a manner that Edward Said,
writing in Orientalism, noted was
essential if writers were to counter
a project that sought to “divide,
deploy, schematise, tabulate,
index, and record everything in
sight (and out of sight), to make
out of every discernible detail a
generalisation and out of every
generalisation, an immutable law
about the Oriental nature,
temperament, mentality, custom,
or type; and above all, to
A word of advice from an old-time hustler
when you begin to lie to yourself in
a poem, in order simply to make a
poem, that you fail.”
“I’M A dangerous man when
And being an author means
turned loose with a typewriter,”
hustling
said Charles Bukowski, the author
‘‘When I say that writing is a
of more than 40 books of poetry,
hard hustle, I don’t mean that it is
prose and novels. Bukowski, who
a bad life, if one can get away with
died this month in 1994, aged 73,
it. It’s the miracle of miracles to
used his poetry and prose to depict
make a living by the typer.”
the depravity of urban life in the
And some writers are just no
US. The book Charles Bukowski:
TYPER: Charles
good
On Writing features previously
Bukowski
‘‘When I worked on a magazine I
unpublished letters. Here are 10
Picture: ULF
learned that there are many, many
things to learn from them.
ANDERSEN/
He was graphic about his own GETTY IMAGES writers writing that can’t write at
all, and they keep on writing all
drinking
the cliches and bromides and 1890 plots,
‘‘For seven or eight years I wrote very,
and poems about Spring and poems about
very little. I was quite a drunk. I ended up
Love, and poems they think are modern
in the charity ward of the hospital with
because they are done in slang or staccato
holes in my belly, heaving up blood like a
style, or written with all the ‘i’s small.”
waterfall. I was spitting my stomach out
And don’t even mention the critics
through my mouth and ass.”
‘‘Critics: they smell life and they cannot
Poetry writing is for the young
stand it.”
‘‘Most poets are young simply because
... or his own characters
they have not been caught up. Show me an
‘‘Barbet Schroeder [who directed a loose
old poet and I’ll show you, more often than
biopic of Bukowski, called Barfly] wants a
not, either a madman or a master ... it’s
transmute living reality into the
stuff of texts”.
It is a grand vision still in its
infancy — but that has made
promising steps. At the very least
it’s also allowed for a level of chaos
and contradiction to challenge the
idea of a literary festival and
notions of the book itself, in an age
of multiple digital platforms.
This was apparent from
performance artist Tracey Rose’s
challenging, but rewarding,
conversation with Mishka Hoosen,
author of Call it a Difficult Night,
that questioned the boundaries of
human solidarity contrasted with
individual narcissism in the
political moment.
Eusebius McKaiser (Run Racist,
Run) and Panashe Chigumadzi
(Sweet Medicine) made the
conscious decision to not discuss
their panel topic: “Why Must a
Black Writer Write About
Blackness?” as this was too
“reductive” to them as writers.
Instead, they chatted about form,
style and getting personal in their
work.
Riffing off the call by Ngugi wa
Thiong’o to decolonise the mind,
the Time of the Writer is at a
delicately poised and dangerous
moment in its lifetime, which
engenders a delicious expectation
of its 20th edition.
ý Niren Tolsi is the author of an
upcoming book on Marikana. He
appeared at the Time of the Writer
Festival
KOBO CORNER
BUKOWSKI WISDOM
MARTIN CHILTON
Pictures: RAFS MAYET
WITHER THE BOOK? Dr Ashwin Desai speaks at the Time of the Writer festival
plot and an ‘evolvement’ of character. Shit,
my characters seldom evolve, they are too
f***ed up. They can’t even type.”
But je ne regrette rien
‘‘I’m not one to look back on wanton
waste as complete loss — there’s music in
everything, even defeat.”
And don’t look ahead
‘‘The future’s only a bad hunch;
Shakespeare told us that.”
… or become famous
‘‘Fame + immortality are games for
other people. If we’re not recognised when
we walk down the street, that’s our
luck ... getting famous when you’re in your
twenties is a very difficult thing to
overcome. When you get half-famous
when you’re over 60, it’s easier to make
adjustments. Old Ez Pound used to say ‘Do
your work’.”
Forget worrying
‘‘Good and evil, and right and wrong,
keep changing; it’s a climate rather than a
[moral] law. I’d rather stay with the
climates.” — © The Daily Telegraph
ý Charles Bukowski: On Writing is
available from exclus1ves.co.za for R391
SEXY Beasts: The Inside Story of
the Hatton Garden Heist, by
Wensley Clarkson, R230.47
The Hatton Garden heist was supposed to
make a fortune for a team of old-time
professional criminals. Their last hurrah.
But where did it all go wrong? And why did
the gang’s bid to pull off the world’s biggest
burglary turn into a deadly game of cat and
mouse featuring the police and London’s most
dangerous crime lords?
ý Preview the book at www.kobobooks.com
and get 15% off the list price
BOOK BITES
£30 000 — the prize money for the
Wellcome prize which recognises
books that deal with aspects of
medicine. The shortlist includes novels and
non-fiction works and the winner will be
announced on April 25.
Ta-Nehisi Coates — last year’s National
Book Award-winner is promising ‘‘dramatic
upheaval” when he releases his Marvelcommissioned line of Black Panther comics
next month.
Roald Dahl — the children’s author never
managed to grab top spot in the UK during his
lifetime, but The Great Mouse Plot, an extract
from his memoir, Boy, claimed the No 1 spot
after its publication last week. — Tymon Smith
HOROSCOPES & FOOD
SCORPIO (October 24 - November 22)
YOUR
STARS
And the Bard
lives on...
HARD-BOILED HILARITY
PIMP by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr
(Titan Books) R225
A NEW street drug called pimp — an
acronym for peyote, insulin, mescaline
and psychosis — gives low-rent dealer
Max Fisher another crack at the big time
in ultra-sleazy Hollywood. Part pastiche,
part paean to the golden age of the
pulps, it’s littered with bloodstains and
killer one-liners.
THE ISSUE
APRIL 23 is the 400th anniversary of
William Shakespeare’s death and to
mark the occasion there’s a bunch of
new Bard-related books. So, what to
read or not to read. The Hogarth
Shakespeare series, contemporary
novelisations of the plays, has begun
promisingly with Jeanette Winterson’s
The Gap of Time, a reworking of A
Winter’s Tale, and Howard Jacobson’s
Shylock is my Name, an inspired
subversion of The Merchant of Venice.
Anne Tyler’s Vinegar Girl, a “retelling”
of The Taming of the Shrew, and
Margaret Attwood’s take on The
Tempest, Hag-Seed, will be published in
June and October respectively. (All
Hogarth.)
Two works of nonfiction worth noting
for their local flavour are Andrew
Dickson’s Worlds Elsewhere: Journeys
Around Shakespeare’s Globe (Bodley
Head) and Edward Wilson-Lee’s
Shakespeare in Swahililand: Adventures
with the Ever-Living Poet (Edward
Collins). In the former Dickson attempts
to discover why Shakespeare flourished
behind the Iron Curtain and in apartheid
South Africa. It includes the story of how
a Complete Works was smuggled onto
Robben Island in the 1970s and how
Nelson Mandela marked his favourite
lines, from Julius Caesar: “Cowards die
many times before their deaths …”
Wilson-Lee’s book is a glorious
melange of travel, biography, history
and satire in which misfits, explorers,
intellectuals, colonialists, settlers,
eccentrics and politicians live out their
dreams in East Africa through
Shakespeare: Karen Blixen impressed
The Merchant of Venice upon her
servants, future Ugandan president
Milton Obote played Julius Caesar as a
university student, Tanzania’s Julius
Nyerere translated his works into
Swahili and Daniel arap Moi attempted
to overturn a ban on teaching
Shakespeare in Kenyan schools by
declaring he was “an international”
figure rather than “a colonial hangover”.
CRASH COURSE
EXISTENTIALISTS are nonconformists,
care about freedom, have interesting sex
lives, tackle painful issues, try to be
genuine and will stay up all night
arguing why this is important. So says
Sarah Bakewell, whose acclaimed At the
Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being and
Apricot Cocktails (Chatto and Windus)
takes us back to an age when Jean-Paul
Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and their
gang were sexy, glamorous and
outrageous. These days we have to make
do with Kim and Kanye.
THE BOTTOM LINE
“MORE than anyone else, Malcolm
moulded Cassius Clay into Muhammad
Ali. Under Malcolm’s tutelage, he
embraced the world stage, emerging as
an international symbol of black pride
and black independence.” — Blood
Brothers: The Fatal Friendship
Between Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X
by Randy Roberts and Johnny Smith
(Basic Books).
Jonathan Cainer
If you’re wondering why Easter falls so early this year, see the sky tonight. The rules that
govern the dates of this festival are complicated but somewhere in the mix of factors that
determine the date is a rule that says it can’t happen until after the first full moon following
the equinox. You might think that, as Easter remembers the Last Supper, the Jewish feast of
Passover would also be due this coming weekend, too. But somewhere along the road of
theological astrological history, the road forked. That festival won’t occur till the full moon
after this one.
ARIES (March 21 - April 20)
The official equinox may be over but the
residual influence of this event remains
potent. So, too, does the impact of the
sun’s annual return to your sign. You are in
a strong position to sort out a mess, clear up
confusion and ensure that order triumphs over
chaos. You need not do anything big or dramatic
today. Seemingly minor moves will have
significant consequences. Apply yourself gently
but determinedly to whatever seems in most
immediate need of clarification and correction. The
powerful equinox and full moon bring inspiration. Call MTN 083-900-8535 or Vodacom
079-008-4033.
TAURUS (April 21 - May 21)
“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
…” Most of us, when we hear this, think of
a pop song. The history books, though,
suggest the first person to coin this
phrase was the poet Alexander Pope. Both he and
the composer of the song, Rueben Bloom, who
came much later, were Taureans. In making this
statement they raise a question to which you could
do with an answer today. Why should an angel ever
fear anything — unless, that is, the angel’s job is to
prevent someone from making a fool of themselves? How will this equinox full moon change
your life? Call MTN 083-900-8535 or Vodacom
079-008-4033.
GEMINI (May 22 - June 22)
Many believe you will always get somewhere in life if you apply effort and energy.
Whenever I hear such a suggestion, it
makes me think of all those exercise bikes
in all gymnasiums around the world. People there
are pedalling away but where is it taking them? I’m
not suggesting that such exercise is futile. It is just
serving a purpose that isn’t quite as obvious to
those who don’t understand the importance of
keeping fit. Much, today, depends on you being sure
why you are doing what you are doing. The
079-008-4033.
CANCER (June 23 - July 23)
Are we silly to look on the bright side? Are
rosy visions only fit for fools? Many use
the word “realism” when they mean “pessimism”. It is as if we feel afraid of
thinking hopeful thoughts, lest this implies we
have sub-standard minds. Yet imagination is a true
BRAISED LAMB
SHANKS WITH
CHOCOLATE
CHILLI SAUCE
form of intelligence. There are, indeed, some who
say it distinguishes humans from all other creatures. Now let us end your forecast today with a
question. Should imagination be used to generate
inspiring scenarios or depressing expectations?
How will this equinox full moon change your
life? Call MTN 083-900-8535 or Vodacom
079-008-4033.
LEO (July 24 - August 23)
We do what we think will succeed, based
what has worked well for us in the past.
Or on what we have seen work for others.
We must, though, be careful not to assume that someone else’s experience is exactly
what it looks like. Just as we may sometimes
rearrange our own memories to suit a wistful kind
of hindsight, we may see another person put a
positive spin on a process that was actually tough.
Don’t be so sure now that the tried and tested truly
has been properly tried and thoroughly tested. The
079-008-4033.
VIRGO (August 24 - September 23)
What if aliens abducted you tonight and
didn’t beam you back down for 24 hours?
What if, when you returned to this world,
everyone acted as if some other “version
of you” had taken your place, yet you had none of
their memories? I don’t mean to set you on edge
with these fanciful ideas. I’m just pointing out how
our precise position within the space-time continuum, as we perceive it, is so essential to
equilibrium. Today it may seem as if “another you”
has done you a great favour. Don’t be surprised; be
glad. How will this equinox full moon change
your life? Call MTN 083-900-8535 or Vodacom
079-008-4033.
LIBRA (September 24 - October 23)
“Lightning,” they say, “never strikes
twice.” But don’t the record books teem
with tales of “once in a lifetime” events
happening twice? The very fact that such
tales make the record books says something about
how rare such occurrences are. As with lightning
strikes, so with lottery wins. If it is unlikely in the
first instance, it will be even more unlikely to
repeat. But none of that means you’ve somehow
“used up” a supply of heavenly help. If things have
gone well for you in the past, they can do so again
for you soon. The powerful equinox and full moon
bring inspiration. Call MTN 083-900-8535 or
Vodacom 079-008-4033.
INGREDIENTS
4 lamb shanks
Salt and freshly ground black
pepper
Olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 red chilli, seeded and finely
chopped
Small handful of fresh thyme
1 large sprig of rosemary, chopped
750ml bottle of red wine
1 x 400g can chopped, peeled
tomatoes
45ml (3 tbsp) balsamic vinegar
50g dark chocolate, chopped or
grated
Pinch dried chilli flakes, optional
We think a lot about some things; little
about others. Rarely, though, do we think
about what we are thinking about. Why
do some subjects attract so much of our
attention? Why do we ignore others? It isn’t even
as if we only focus on what makes us happy, and
blot from our minds what it pains us to see. Don’t
we often torture ourselves with thoughts we’d far
prefer not to have? The secret of success today
involves cleverly considering what you normally
wouldn’t take into consideration. How will this
equinox full moon change your life? Call MTN
083-900-8535 or Vodacom 079-008-4033.
SAGITTARIUS (November 23 - December 21)
How big was the big bang? Before it
happened, so physicists think, there was
nothing. That means there was nothing to
compare it to. So anything at all would
have seemed big by comparison. Surely, even
bigger than that bang itself was the process that
led up to it. Something surely must have triggered
it. You could hardly call that a little something. It’s
best to be careful, today with comparisons of size
and strength. What seems minor may turn out to
be amazingly major. The powerful equinox and
full moon bring inspiration. Call MTN 083-9008535 or Vodacom 079-008-4033.
CAPRICORN (December 22 - January 20)
Should we really be sending messages out
into space, letting the rest of the galaxy
know that humans exist? Will the rest of
the universe benefit from our efforts to
reach out to it? If there is intelligent life “up there”, it
may be amazed by the lack of intelligence we seem
to apply to our lives down here. Human development
is a work in progress. Can we really say that people
live up to the peak of their potential? Perhaps not.
But you can do much under the Jupiter-Saturn
square to fulfil more of your own. How will this
equinox full moon change your life? Call MTN
083-900-8535 or Vodacom 079-008-4033.
AQUARIUS (January 21 - February 19)
People often tell each other what they
think they want to hear. Opinion pollsters
are aware of this. They know that if they
don’t phrase a question carefully, the
interviewee will respond in a way that they expect
will make the interviewer approve of them. What is
this hunger for acceptance and affirmation? Why
does it matter to some of us more than a need to
know what’s truly going on? Or what may have
actually happened? Any truth may be inconvenient
but it ought to be acknowledged today. The
079-008-4033.
PISCES (February 20 - March 20)
It is, they tell us, a free country. We can
say what we want. Unless, that is, this is
likely to offend someone else. These days,
“free speech” has become a subversive
subject. It feels risky even to touch on it in a zodiac
forecast. Yet, in your life now, there’s conflict
between what someone thinks should be said and
what someone else feels they really don’t want to
hear. When does discretion become suppression?
When does honesty become intrusive? If you don’t
want today to be difficult, be delicate. How will
this equinox full moon change your life? Call MTN
083-900-8535 or Vodacom 079-008-4033.
Calls cost R10 per minute at all
times. Only on-network calls are accepted.
METHOD
Trim and clean the shanks of any
gristle and season liberally with
salt and pepper. Heat a splash of
olive oil in a large saucepan and
sear the shanks on all sides until
they are golden brown. Remove
them with a slotted spoon and set
aside. Add the onion, garlic, chilli
and herbs and sauté, adding more
olive oil if necessary, until the onion
is golden brown. Return the shanks
to the saucepan. Deglaze the pan
with a little wine, scraping the
bottom with a wooden spoon, then
add the rest with the tomatoes and
balsamic vinegar. If necessary, top
up with water so that the shanks
are completely submerged. Bring
to the boil, reduce the heat to a
simmer, cover and allow to cook
for three hours, or until the meat is
tender and falls from the bone.
Remove the shanks and keep them
warm.
For the chocolate chilli sauce,
strain the cooking liquid and add
the chopped or grated chocolate,
stirring until melted. Add the chilli
flakes for a spicier flavour and
season with salt and pepper to
taste. Serve the shanks with buttery mashed potato and spoon the
sauce over the top.
TIP: To speed up the process prepare the shanks in a pressure cooker. The shanks can be replaced
with a leg of lamb. It’s a good dish
to make in a slow cooker and leave
overnight, but brown the shanks in
oil on the stove first. Serves 4. —
Hilary Biller
Recipe from
For TV schedules, go to www.timeslive.co.za/entertainment/tvguide
PUZZLES
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE | Find five differences in these pictures of Hugh Jackman
The Times
THE TIMES CROSSWORD
17
© The Times, London
Pictures: GETTY IMAGES
walking his dogs in West Village, New York,
SOLUTIONS
2
1
8
9
5
4
3
6
7
9 4 3
3 5 9
6 7 2
8 3 5
2 6 1
7 1 8
1 2 6
4 9 7
5 8 4
5 8 6
7 6 2
1 4 9
6 7 4
4 3 8
9 2 5
8 5 7
2 1 3
3 9 1
ACROSS
DOWN
1 Military researcher’s book, not on,
and not out! (6)
4 Nonsense involving singer in West
Yorkshire at first (8)
10 Bore engaging large workforce, a
supporter of raised standards (9)
11 Cavalry unit’s unfortunate time in
retreat (5)
12 Volatile divorcee disappears, potentially facing summons? (7)
13 Subjugate East European held captive in quarters (7)
14 Lawful to petition for? Not so (5)
15 Part of Brazil in which, briefly, you
have it? (8)
18 Sweetheart offering boy nothing
after a year (4-4)
20 Some prefer a Dixieland number as
basis (5)
23 What a trader may run — a sporting
venue? (7)
25 Held sway, acquiescent son having
withdrawn (7)
26 Indian address one book has got
wrong (5)
27 An old American keeping a register
is comparable (9)
28 How Hook appeared, having one to
begin with (8)
29 Tricky question for one using a
backcomb (6)
1 Lie over pubs having abandoned first
litre glasses (8)
3 Ritzy rhymes of little substance (4-5)
5 Father let Edgar fancy becoming king
(6,3,5)
6 They oppose one who appears to pray
after mass (5)
7 Wise guy providing king with zero
security (4-3)
8 Year that’s employed digesting degree
course? That’s great! (6)
9 Assimilate appealing role, and accept
amiably (4,2,4,4)
16 Note received by lady’s man beginning to eat rabbit, say (9)
17 Neat one is red, perhaps: it produces
rust (8)
19 Zeppelin’s entitlement as next in line,
so to speak (7)
21 Canine predators identified by duke
during travels (7)
22 Queasiness of Greek character
traversing a mass of water (6)
24 Pigment from river talked of in Bow?
(5)
SUDOKU |
1
4
5
2
7
3
9
8
6
Fill in all the squares in the grid so that each
row, column and each of the 3x3 squares contains all the digits
from 1 to 9. © Puzzles by Pappocom
7
8
3
1
9
6
4
5
2
EASY
THE PAJAMA DIARIES
ALESSANDRA AMBROSIO
2 Overwrought priest with an uncontrollable twitch (7)
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Djokovic claims men
have pulling power
WORLD number one Novak
Djokovic has indicated men’s
tennis should get more prize
money than women because it
has more spectators as a new
controversy over equality in the
sport erupted.
After winning the Indian
Wells title for the fifth time, the
Serbian star said tournament
director Raymond Moore was
wrong to say that women’s tennis is riding on the coat-tails of
the men’s game.
Djokovic said women “fought
for what they deserve and got it”.
But he said the men’s Association of Tennis Professionals
“should fight for more”.
“I think that our men’s tennis
world, ATP world, should fight
for more because the stats show
we have more spectators on the
men’s tennis matches.
“I think that’s one of the reasons we should get more.”
Djokovic was one of a number
of players to question Moore,
who apologised for his comments about the women’s game
after he was slammed as being
“offensive” by women’s number
one Serena Williams.
“If I was a lady player, I’d go
down every night on my knees
and thank God that Roger
Federer and Rafa Nadal were
born, because they have carried
this sport,” Moore, a 69-year-old
former player from South Africa,
told reporters at his annual
press conference on Sunday.
Williams was scathing in her
response. “Obviously, I don’t
think any woman should be
down on their knees thanking
anybody like that,” she said.
“If I could tell you every day
how many people say they
don’t watch tennis unless
they’re watching myself or my
sister, I couldn’t even bring up
that number,” Williams said.
‘
We shouldn’t
have to drop to
our knees at
any point
There was a swift backlash to
Moore’s comments, which also
included remarks on the physical attractiveness of some rising
WTA stars.
“At my breakfast with the
media, I made comments about
the WTA that were in extremely
poor taste and erroneous,”
Moore said later.
“I am truly sorry for those
remarks and apologise to all the
players and WTA as a whole.”
But Williams, who lost in
straight sets to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the women’s
final, lambasted Moore.
“We’ve come a long way. We
shouldn’t have to drop to our
knees at any point,” said
Williams, who expressed surprise at the gender controversy.
— AFP
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GENDER SHOT: World No 1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia waded into the tennis prize money controversy after lifting the Indian Wells title by saying the
ATP should fight for more money for men
Picture: ROBYN BECK/AFP PHOTO
Coach Marais pleased with his new recruit
CHUMANI BAMBANI
THE Bulls have bolstered their
squad with the acquisition of
former Sharks loose forward
Renaldo Bothma.
Bulls coach Nollis Marais was
beaming yesterday, not just because his charges deprived the
Sharks victory in their 16-16
draw last Friday, but because he
was chuffed with having brought
the 26-year-old Namibian inter-
national to Loftus Versfeld.
“He is a guy with a fair bit of
experience. I think he’s a really
good ball-carrier,” said Marais.
The 1.90m, 105kg loose forward will not walk into the
team.
He has just recovered from a
foot injury and spent yesterday
undergoing medical tests while
his new teammates sweated it
out preparing for their first overseas trip (Singapore to play the
Sunwolves) of the season.
“He’s undergoing medicals
this week. We will wait for the
medical clearance first and see
from there how it goes. He will
definitely be a valuable addition
to the squad,” said Marais.
“We just want to make sure he
gets used to our system first. We
also have Steggies [Deon
Stegmann]
and
Lappies
[Labuschagne] making their
returns [from injury] next week.
That will make a huge difference. It’s good because I want to
have those interesting and difficult selection posers.”
The Bulls will leave later today
for Singapore, where they expect
a tough encounter with the
Japanese newbies to Super rugby.
The side from Pretoria is also
expecting some tough conditions, like the humidity the Cheetahs experienced last week.
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Victoria gets many jumps ahead of her detractors
VICTORIA Pendleton, the
Olympic champion cyclistturned amateur steeplechase
rider, finished fifth out of 24 in
her much-publicised race at
the famous Cheltenham
Festival race meeting in the UK
on Friday.
Pendleton, a gold and silver
medalist at the 2012 London
Olympic Games, trained
herself up from scratch as a
jockey in just one year before
completing the course on
Pacha Du Polder — saying
afterwards that it was
“probably the greatest
achievement of my life”.
Steeplechase riding is one of
the world’s most dangerous
sports and Pendleton’s plan to
compete at the world’s premier
jumps meeting drew huge public
support in Britain but much
scepticism within racing. But,
after a faultless performance,
there was only praise.
The greatest jumps jockey,
AP McCoy, said: “All credit to
Victoria for getting around the
course without falling.”
— Mike Moon
SPORT
The Times
19
Day could benefit from taking the Tiger line
JAMES CORRIGAN
IF TIGER Woods is looking for a
new career once his days as a
professional golfer are over, he
could do worse than move into
sports psychology.
Jason Day has revealed that it
was advice from the 14-time
Major winner that has turned
him into a fearless front-runner.
With his wire-to-wire win at
the Arnold Palmer Invitational,
the Australian leapfrogged Rory
McIlroy to second on the world
rankings released yesterday.
Day played a spectacular
bunker shot on the last hole at
Bay Hill to beat American Kevin
Chappell by a shot and was quick
to thank Woods, with whom he
had traded texts all week.
“It gives me so much confidence that someone like him
believes in me. He’s been a big
part of my life since I was a kid.”
Day is not the first player
Woods has helped. When he
missed the 2011 Open at Sandwich because of injury, he texted
tips to another close friend,
Darren Clarke, on the Saturday
night. The Ulsterman duly won
his first Major, then credited
Woods’ help as the main factor.
With Woods almost certain to
miss the Masters to recover from
his back problems, Day will no
doubt tap into his vast Augusta
knowledge in his bid to win backto-back Majors. Day goes there
as one of the favourites after his
first win of the season. — © The
Daily Telegraph
Your best soccer bet
SOCCER 6 POOL Wednesday 23 March
Team A
Team B
S6 POOL
Mark S6 V3 P1
Pays 24 Mar
Single
entry R6
M1 Zambia
vs
M2 Croatia
vs
M3 Slovenia
vs
M4 Gibraltar
vs
M5 Romania
vs
M6 Poland
vs
*BET from Tues 22 Mar • Closes 18:00 Wed 23 Mar
Team A
S6 POOL
Congo
Israel
FYR Macedonia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Serbia
M1 Fluminense
vs
M2 Palmeiras
vs
M3 Ponte Preta
vs
M4 Sao Bernardo
vs
M5 Flamengo
vs
M6 Sao Paulo
vs
Internacional
RB Brasil
Mogi Mirim
Corinthians
Atletico PR
Botafogo SP
Mark S6 V3 P2
Pays 24 Mar
Single
entry R6
Team B
SOCCER 6 POOL Thursday 24 March
Team A
Team B
S6 POOL
M1 Ghana
vs Mozambique
M2 Bolivia
vs Colombia
M3 Ecuador
vs Paraguay
M4 Chile
vs Argentina
M5 Peru
vs Venezuela
M6 Swaziland
vs Zimbabwe
*BET from Wed 23 Mar • Closes 17:30 Thurs 24 Mar
Team A
Team B
S6 POOL
Mark S6 V1 P1
Pays 25 Mar
Single
entry R6
M1 Estonia
vs Norway
M2 Turkey
vs Sweden
M3 Czech Republic
vs Scotland
M4 Italy
vs Spain
M5 Ukraine
vs Cyprus
M6 Wales
vs Northern Ireland
Mark S6 V1 P2
Pays 25 Mar
Single
entry R6
Your chance to win
big for small money
SOCCER 10 POOL Tuesday 22 March
Team A
Team B
S10 POOL
vs
M1 Cobh Ramblers
vs
M2 Bohemians
vs
M3 Carrick Rangers
vs
M4 Clyde
vs
M5 St. Mirren
vs
M6 UC Dublin
vs
M7 Kawasaki Frontale
vs
M8 Omiya Ardija
vs
M9 Vegalta Sendai
vs
M10 Chad
*BET from Mon 21 Mar • Closes 21:15 Tues 22 Mar
Mark S10 V2
Pays 24 Mar
Single
entry R2
Limerick
Longford Town
Crusaders
Annan
Raith Rovers
Bray
Yokohama Marinos
Nagoya
Albirex Niigata
Tanzania
SOCCER 10 POOL Wednesday 23 March
Team A
Team B
S10 POOL
NEW LEASE ON LIFE: Platinum Stars captain Vuyo Mere of Stars dribbles past Aubrey Modiba of Mpumalanga Black Aces in Rustenburg last week. Mere
regained his focus after moving to the North West-based team five years ago
Picture: GALLO IMAGES
Vuyo Mere not f luf fing
his second chance
TIYANI WA KA MABASA
“I’M just glad God gave me a
second chance and I can’t make
the same mistake again,” says
Platinum Stars skipper Vuyo
Mere.
The 32-year-old has attributed
his consistency over the past few
years to prayer and surrounding
himself with the right people.
Mere conceded that he was
living an “unprofessional life”
when he played for Mamelodi
Sundowns between 2004 and
2011.
“Credit should go to the man
upstairs. God has been good to
me,” he said yesterday.
“When you are at a big team
like Sundowns, you get so many
friends. We were winning games,
winning the league and the money was coming left and right. I
was always surrounded by soccer players and you know what
happens when soccer players are
together: all hell breaks loose.
“Most of the players who were
playing for Sundowns then are
struggling today. We could have
invested and maybe we could be
somewhere today,” he said.
Mere left Sundowns for
Moroka Swallows on loan in 2011
and later joined Platinum Stars.
His exit from Sundowns meant
leaving behind a busy life in
Johannesburg.
“My life wasn’t that straight,
but I didn’t realise it because I
was young,” he continued.
“Now I have a lovely wife with
two kids ... I’m eating well and
resting a lot.
“We always blame the media
for exposing our lives, but if you
live right you are not going to be
in the papers for the wrong reasons.”
‘
If you live right
you won’t be in
the papers for
wrong reasons
He made his PSL debut for
Hellenic as a 17-year-old on August 18 2001 against Black Leopards. He now boasts 388 starts
and 16 substitute appearances,
which gives him a total of 404 PSL
games over 15 years.
Mere has won every trophy in
domestic football and has 12
Bafana Bafana caps to his name.
He believes Stars, who are
third on the log, are doing well
this season because they have a
manageable squad. They finished 11th last season.
Coach Cavin Johnson trimmed
the 45-man squad to around 27
players.
“Nothing is impossible in football ... Only God knows our destination,” he concluded.
Meldonium shock
World Cup blues
Chinese woo Fifa
Tefu limps off
RUSSIA yesterday announced
four doping failures for
meldonium in athletics as the
country battles to be reinstated
in time for the Rio de Janeiro
Olympics.
The athletics federation did
not name the four athletes who
tested positive. — AFP
QATAR may house football
fans in Bedouin-style tents in
desert areas during the 2022
World Cup as tumbling oil
prices have forced the tiny Gulf
state to delay projects.
Authorities said only 46 000
hotel rooms would be ready by
2022. — Reuters
CHINA’S chances of hosting a
World Cup have risen thanks to
property-to-entertainment
conglomerate Wanda spending
big money to sponsor Fifa.
Chairman Wang Jianlin
predicted that three Chinese
companies would soon be toptier Fifa sponsors. — AFP
FORMER Kaizer Chiefs
defender Tefu Mashamaite
enjoyed a bitter-sweet weekend
as he helped Hacken to the
Swedish cup final but will have
to wait to see the extent of his
injury after he limped out of
their 3-2 victory over
Hammarby. — Nick Said
vs
M1 Guinea-Bissau
vs
M2 Zambia
vs
M3 Croatia
vs
M4 Slovenia
vs
M5 Gibraltar
vs
M6 Romania
vs
M7 Poland
vs
M8 Fluminense
vs
M9 Flamengo
vs
M10 Sao Paulo
Mark S10 V1
Pays 24 Mar
Single
entry R2
Kenya
Congo
Israel
FYR Macedonia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Serbia
Internacional
Atletico PR
Botafogo SP
Team A
Team B
S10 POOL
vs Sweden
M1 Turkey
vs Dundalk
M2 St Patrick’s
vs Northern Ireland
M3 Wales
vs Cyprus
M4 Ukraine
vs Scotland
M5 Czech Republic
vs Spain
M6 Italy
vs Colombia
M7 Bolivia
vs Paraguay
M8 Ecuador
vs Argentina
M9 Chile
vs Venezuela
M10 Peru
Mark S10 V2
Pays 25 Mar
Single
entry R2
Your chance
to score
SOCCER SCORE POOL Tuesday 22 March
Team A
Team B
SS POOL
vs
M1 Bohemians
vs
M2 St. Mirren
vs
M3 UC Dublin
vs
M4 Zambia
vs
M5 Croatia
vs
M6 Slovenia
vs
M7 Gibraltar
vs
M8 Romania
vs
M9 Poland
vs
M10 Fluminense
*BET from Mon 21 Mar • Closes 21:45 Tues 22 Mar
Mark S10 V3
Pays 24 Mar
Single
entry R2
NOTE:
1=One Team
Scores
2=No Score
3=Both Teams
Score
Longford Town
Raith Rovers
Bray
Congo
Israel
FYR Macedonia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Serbia
Internacional
Sharpshooters’ favourite
Team A
Team B
S4 POOL
M1 Turkey
vs Sweden
M2 Italy
vs Spain
M3 Bolivia
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vs Argentina
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05716
Mashaba not shaken
TSHEPANG MAILWANE
BAFANA Bafana players may have
to put their smartphones to good
use and Google information on
opponents Cameroon for Saturday’s crucial 2017 Africa Cup of
Nations Group M qualifier.
Coach Shakes Mashaba again
said yesterday: “I do not worry
much about the opposition.”
This was a repetition of what he
said when asked if he had
researched Mauritania not long
before the minnows beat Bafana 3-1
in the last Afcon qualifier.
Keeper Itumeleng Khune then
revealed he tried to Google some
information on the Mauritanian
team, about which they knew little.
Bafana could suffer the same fate
when they take on Cameroon in
Limbe on Saturday, but Mashaba
seemed pretty confident that he
had a strong enough squad to beat
the West Africans, who top the
group with six points.
“Unfortunately, I do not normally
do that. I do not worry much about
the opposition. I worry about our
weak and strong points and what
we need to do. Whoever comes,
whoever they put in we hit. A lot of
people phoned me saying they have
a new coach [Hugo Broos].
“We are going to play Cameroon
and nothing else. We are going to
make sure we prepare the team to
the best of our ability,” he said.
“We emphasise eliminating our
mistakes and capitalising on the
‘
I do not worry
much about the
opposition. I
worry about us
opposition’s mistakes. And you
expect players, as a team and
individually, to give their best.
That’s the battle halfway won.”
Bafana team doctor Thulani
Ngwenya said Andile Jali and Anele
Ngcongca had injuries and would be
assessed but Dino Ndlovu’s knee
injury had ruled him out.
The inspirational Belgium-based
Jali dislocated his shoulder in
training on Saturday.
Ngwenya, however, was confident the hard-working midfielder
would be ready on match day.
“Andile Jali still has some
restrictions in terms of movement,
but we will be managing him in
Reneilwe’s
future still
a mystery
Hope fades
for Tigers
as Aussies
win thriller
KAIZER Chiefs midfielder
Reneilwe Letsholonyane has
not signed a pre-contract
agreement with Supersport
United, his agent Steve
Kapeluschnik has insisted.
Letsholonyane has
supposedly penned a deal with
the Tshwane side for next
season, but Kapeluschnik said
yesterday that there is no truth
to this claim.
“[It’s] not true. Journalists
have been calling all the time
with different stories about
different clubs,” he said.
Chiefs football manager
Bobby Motaung claimed last
month that the club had agreed
terms over a new deal with
Letsholonyane, but
Kapeluschnik denied that the
two parties had put pen to
paper.
A source close to Supersport
United claims that the 33-yearold midfielder is likely to end up
at Matsatsantsa a Pitori.
— Tiyani wa ka Mabasa
USMAN Khawaja hit a quickfire
half-century to steer Australia to
a thrilling three-wicket victory
against Bangladesh in their
World Twenty20 clash in Bangalore yesterday.
The
left-handed
opener
smashed 58 off 45 balls as Australia successfully chased down
Bangladesh’s total of 156/5.
The win put Australia’s bid for a
first-ever World T20 trophy back
on track after their defeat by New
Zealand in their opening match.
The 29-year-old Khawaja hit
seven fours and a six before he
was bowled by Al-Amin Hossain
in their Super 10, Group 2 match.
Bangladesh’s bowlers mounted
a spirited attack after suffering a
devastating blow when Taskin
Ahmed and Arafat Sunny were
suspended for illegal bowling
actions at the weekend.
‘
Bangladesh
now unlikely to
qualify for the
semi-finals
Skipper Steve Smith was
bowled for 14, David Warner
caught and bowled for 17 and
Glenn Maxwell stumped for 26.
James Faulkner hit the winning
runs with nine balls to spare.
Bangladesh, demolished by
Pakistan in their first group
match, are now unlikely to qualify
for the semi finals from the bottom of their group with two
matches left to play.
After Australia won the toss
and elected to field, Mahmudullah
top-scored for the Tigers, striking
an aggressive unbeaten 49 that
included seven fours and a six.
Shakib chipped in with 33 off 25
balls.
Bangladesh now play India
tomorrow in Bangalore, while
Australia take on Pakistan on Friday in Mohali. — AFP
camp. We will not be releasing him.
He should be fine for the game,”
Ngwenya said. “We got a report
from Anele’s team that he has an
abdominal muscle strain and Dino
Ndlovu has a knee injury from the
game he played on the weekend.”
Team manager Barney Kujane
said he expected 22 players in camp
by the end of yesterday.
The Sundowns trio of Hlompho
Kekana, Themba Zwane and
Asavela Mbekile are expected
today from the Democratic Republic of Congo after their flight was
cancelled yesterday. Bafana, due to
leave on Thursday, are bottom of
the group on one point.
Downs enter
the lion’s den
PULLING HIS WEIGHT: Usman Khawaja, top scorer for Australia with 58 not out, pulls a delivery to leg to give
Australia their three-wicket win against Bangladesh yesterday
Picture: RYAN PIERSE/GETTY IMAGES
MAMELODI Sundowns now
enter hostile territory in
Kinshasa knowing they have
the advantage of a home second
leg against AS Vita Club in the
final knockout round of the
African Champions League.
The Democratic Republic of
Congo club — whose coach
Florent Ibenge is also in charge
of the national team — stands
between Sundowns and a place
in the last eight.
The first leg is at the Stade
des Martyrs — reopened after
renovations — with the return
match set to be played midweek
on either April 19 or 20 in
Atteridgeville.
AS Vita Club have reached
the group phase just once
before. — Mark Gleeson

Inept 10111 operators and officers with no airtime mean you`re on

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