North eastern witness 12 18 december 2013

Limpopo: Polokwane; Mokopane; Lebowakgomo; Steelpoort; Burgersfort; Haenertsburg; Modjadjiskloof; Tzaneen; Phalaborwa; HoedspruitMpumalanga: Nelspruit; Lydenburg; White River; Hazyview; Marite; Bushbuckridge; Acomhoek

R3.00 12 - 18 December 2013 facebook.com/newitness Twitter: @northeasternwit

What Mandela meant to North Easterners

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Child labour to be legalised?

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MEC Sekoati attends to air pollution

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2 NORTH EASTERN WITNESS 12 - 18 DECEMBER 2013

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THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

12 December 1984Three leading members of the United Democratic Front (UDF), Archibald Gu-mede, Paul David, and Billy Nair were charged with high treason on this day.

12 December 1963Kenya gains independence from Britain with Jomo Kenyatta as the country’s first Prime Minister. The country was declared a republic a year later.

13 December 1990Oliver Tambo, former president of the ANC, returns to South Africa after spending al-most 30 years in exile.

14 December 1912General Louis Botha, premier of the Un-ion of South Africa resigned from his post following an anti-British speech by Gen-eral J.B.M Hertzog who was the minister of Justice.

15 December 1998Storms in the Eastern Cape unleashed an F2 tornado, hailstorms, rainsqualls, and lightning, claiming the lives of 14 people and leaving hundreds injured. President Nelson Mandela, narrowly escaped injury when he was visiting a local pharmacy to buy his special Oteleum soap. The roof collapsed and the force of wind shattered windows. The president was whisked to the central police station where he was kept until the storm calmed down 30 min-utes later.

15 December 1956Tony Leon, former leader of the Democrat-ic Alliance, was born in Durban on this day.

16 December 1995Orlando Pirates won the 1995 African Champions Cup in a final against ASEC Mimosa with a score of 1 – 0. The ‘Bucca-neers’ became the first football club south of the equator to win this championship at first attempt.

Day of Reconciliation was celebrated as a public holiday in South Africa for the first time.

17 December 1996United Nations appoints Kofi Annan, a Ghanaian citizen, as Secretary-General of the United Nations to replace the outgoing Boutros Boutros Ghali.

18 December 1991IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi boycotts the first session of CODESA

Source: SAHistor.org

BUSHBUCKRIDGE - Three men from Namakgale will on Monday appear in the Mapulaneng Magistrate Court on charges of

murder and car hijacking. The three were arrested following

the murder in July this year of Elvis Hlatswayo from Madjembeni in which his Nissan Navara double cab was also hijacked. The car was later recovered at the Lebombo Border Post in Komatipoort.

Bushbuckridge SAPS spokesperson lieutenant Ndlovukazi Mashele says they are still investigating the case. It was postponed to January 15 for formal bail application. They were not asked to plead.

POLOKWANE - The recent Annual National Assessment results released by the Basic Education Department have

revealed the shocking quality of education some public schools may be offering.

The results, though indicating an overall improvement of the country, uncovered that the province’s grade five, six and nine learners do not have much of an idea about numeracy and arithmetics; thus performing very bad.

Opposition lamented the sad state of affairs.

Round Up NEWS

“IN CONTEXT”

“Not if a saint is entirely fl awless. I believe he was saintly because he inspired others powerfully and revealed in his character, transparently, many of God’s attributes of goodness: compassion, concern for others, and a desire for peace, forgiveness and reconciliation.”“Nelson Mandela embodied and refl ected our collective greatness. He embodied our hopes and our dreams. He symbolised our enormous potential, potential that has not always been fulfi lled.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu during his tribute to Nelson Mandela on Friday morning.

“Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me”

Luke 10:16

SCRIPTURE QUOTE

POLOKWANE TZANEEN HOEDSPRUIT PHALABORWA HAZYVIEW NELSPRUIT LYDENBURGTODAY 13°C - 24°C 20°C - 27°C 22°C - 28°C 18°C - 30°C 21°C - 28°C 19°C - 27°C 15°C - 22°CFRIDAY 14°C - 28°C 23°C - 31°C 24°C - 32°C 19°C - 33°C 24°C - 32°C 21°C - 30°C 17°C - 25°CSATURDAY 15°C - 27°C 25°C - 32°C 24°C - 34°C 21°C - 32°C 24°C - 34°C 22°C - 32°C 18°C - 26°CSUNDAY 16°C - 28°C 23°C - 31°C 23°C - 31°C 20°C - 30°C 23°C - 31°C 22°C - 28°C 18°C - 25°CMONDAY 17°C - 26°C 13°C - 31°C 24°C - 33°C 23°C - 32°C 23°C - 32°C 22°C - 30°C 18°C - 26°CTUESDAY 19°C - 27°C 22°C - 29°C 24°C - 31°C 23°C - 31°C 23°C - 29°C 22°C - 29°C 19°C - 26°CWEDNESDAY 19°C - 26°C 20°C - 23°C 22°C - 25°C 22°C - 26°C 20°C - 22°C 20°C - 24°C 18°C - 23°C

Weekly Weather

www.weather24.com

How irresponsible is this?

BUSHBUCKRIDGE - Bushbuckridge Local Municipality will pay cash for its fuel pending a new

arrangement with their Mkhuhlu based service provider. According to information gleaned from the municipality the situation has been so bad that waste was not collected for weeks after the petrol station pulled the plug on the non-paying municipality.

This has affected service delivery as municipal vehicles from its eleven regions were grounded and employees checked in just to loaf around waiting for their knock-off time. The problem which started on November 26 has

been ongoing for weeks.According to a municipal employee

who chose to remain anonymous, the situation was caused by the municipality’s failure to pay for fuel.

Mkhuhlu resident Sylvia Ndlovu of Mkhuhlu, “The community must be informed in advance to arrange alternative solution, we stayed with this smell for weeks hoping that waste will be collected. We paid for the municipal services and we deserve the best services in return”.

Bushbuckridge Local Municipality Spokesperson Zondi Mkhabela confirmed the incident, “Basically, that was caused by the new transaction of newly appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Cythia Nkuna when she

started her duty; Nkuna realized that some of the financial activities were not satisfactory, including payment of fuel. We have introduced a temporary arrangement of cash payment while we are still finding the best system that will match the required standard of the municipality” said spokesperson Mkhabela.

While not explaining where the cash money will come from, whether this is in line with the Public Finance Management Act and how cash usage will be monitored, Mkhabela added the system will only last for the next coming weeks as it’s not intended to be permanent. He revealed that all 11 municipal regions were affected.

ELVIS MASHELE

DA man gets the bootDWARSLOOP - Long serving

member of the Democratic Alliance (DA) Velly Manzini is fuming after he was forced

to resign following the outcome of a Disciplinary Hearing. He became politically homeless on December 29.

Manzini blames the party for unfair treatment and injustice; accusing it of neglecting him in Cape Town. He claims he struggled to move from Cape Town to Mpumalanga.

This former MP was found guilty of being a member of another party while holding on to his DA membership.

James Masango of the DA confirmed that Manzini was disciplined for participating in the activities of another political party. He was found guilty and requested to resign his

parliamentary seat in Cape Town.“Manzini resigned from the

Democratic Alliance on November 29, 2013”, Masango confirmed.

Manzini who lives in Dwarsloop was a member of the DA since 1999. He rose through the ranks, starting off by being a proportional representative (PR) councillor from 2006 until 2009 in the Bushbuckridge Local Municipality before he became Member of the Mpumalanga Provincial legislature from 2009 to November 8, 2011.

In 2011, he was deployed to the National Council of Province (NCOP) in Cape Town.

Manzini dismissed allegation that he plans to launch his own party.

Sonja Boshoff, who until recently was the DA Chief Whip in the Thaba-Chweu council will replace Manzini at the NCOP.

ELVIS MASHELE

Former DA member Velly Manzini.Photo: Lesetja Malope

City gets into festive mood

POLOKWANE – The municipality here ushered in this year’s festive season on a colourful but sombre note last

Friday.What was supposed to be a jolly

festive light-switching ceremony for the city’s residents at Flora Park Dam on Friday was toned down as the municipality joined the rest of the country in mourning the death of former state president Nelson Mandela.

Addressing the crowded park, Polokwane Executive Mayor Freddy Greaver said Mandela’s death left a huge void in the hearts of South Africans as his was an unmatched inspiration to all. “We honour him and the challenge we are faced with is how we are going to emulate him,” Greaver said.

The annual festive light switching event is one of the city’s traditions aimed at ushering in the festive season and has proven to be one of the biggest family outings for local residents with massive fireworks displays.

LESETJA MALOPE

Polokwane Executive Mayor Cllr Freddy Greaver (above) and Municipal Manager Conny Mametja (below) sign the Nelson Mandela memorial message at Flora Park.Photo: Lesetja Malope

“As I have said, the fi rst thing

is to be honest with yourself. You can never

have an impact on society if you

have not changed yourself... Great

peacemakers are all people of integrity, of honesty, but

humility.”

3NORTH EASTERN WITNESS 12 - 18 DECEMBER 2013

NEWS

Limpopo honouring the memory of Madiba in Polokwane

“Never, never, and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another”

Polokwane Executive Mayor Cllr Freddy Greaver leading the procession in honour of Madiba, with the city’s officers, SAPS, and MK veterans.Photo: Lesetja Malope


NEWS“I am not a saint, unless you think a saint is a sinner who keeps trying”

What Mandela meant to meNelson Rolihlahla Mandela was

many things. A terrorist to some, a lawyer to others, a principled leader of the African

National Congress to members and the first Black president of South Africa to the world.

Mandela was for the better part of his life the epitome of liberation; a symbol of what can be achieved if people kept their eyes focused on one vision. Even at the height of apartheid, when the white supremacy myth was so profound that many of his generation believed it; Mandela chose to find greatness in his being – a Black man not wiser than other races by virtue of a divine gift but a simple man who felt it justifiable to sacrifice his freedom, family and trappings of a life as a middle class Black male to spend life in prison.

He was to South Africans what Marwan Barghouti is to the Palestinian people. A peace-loving freedom fighter imprisoned by an apartheid regime to perpetuate a myth that there’s a tribe that is God’s chosen. A myth that requires nuclear weapons to realise. An apartheid myth that Mandela believed needs to be defeated with engaging the person you don’t like. That is why it is saddening that there are regimes still bent on crossing borders to kill people who resist their occupation because they still believe there is a way apartheid in Palestine

can be sustained.Mandela showed the world that any

policy void of humanity equates moral bankruptcy.

What Mandela meant to me was a powerful drug the nation got high on in the Winter of 1990 after it was banned for 27 years. A drug they took, enjoyed its effects and refused to let go of after it was discontinued after five years on the shelves. Many South Africans have been suffering from Mandela withdrawal symptoms since he told the nation, ‘don’t’ call me, I will call you’.

The nation refused to let go of the narcotic to sample generics such as Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. They found Mbeki to distant; smart son of Govan who thought everyone understood Marx and Engels. They initially found Jacob Zuma to be a people’s person until they realised the pressures of his office meant he can’t always be here smiling to people. Zuma became the travelling man Mbeki once was.

However in remembering Mandela one just needs to look at the trouble spots in the world; North and South Korea, Cyprus, Ireland, Palestine, Rwanda, Kosovo etc. And wonder why with so few tribal hegemonies they can’t find common ground. South Africa could have burnt to ashes had the nation never had a visionary named Nelson Mandela.

That is what Mandela means to me.

GOODENOUGH MASHEGO - EDITOR

Tata Nelson Mandela has already been described by many across the globe as saint-like for his extraordinary manner of

forgiving his former oppressors and uniting a nation close to a civil war after the assassination of the slain the South African Communist Party’s Chris Hani.

Hope, education, social justice, media freedom and love are some of Madiba’s values, but what resonates with me the most is the fight against racism.

23-years after his release from prison and almost 20 years into South Africa’s

democratic government, racism is still rife is our country and throughout the globe despite Madiba having joined forces with people of the World to eradicate this barbaric scourge once and for all.

We have heard of incidents in the Frees State, a province which was the second capital city of apartheid wherein a male white grade six and seven teacher at the Wilgehof Primary School, Leonard McKay, allegedly referred to blacks as kaffirs and depicted them as monkeys in a classroom. Former ANCYL President Julius Malema now the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighter’s picture,

allegedly put up by McKay, appears under a picture of monkeys with wording saying their primitive brains only allowed them to make strange expressions when they wanted to speak. McKay also allegedly displayed the old apartheid flag in the classroom as part of his “lessons”.

Such incidents have been unfolding elsewhere in Europe where great African players like Cameroon forward Samuel Et’o, Ivory Coast maestro Yaya Toure, Italian born, but with Ghanaian origins Mario Balotelli and other great African talents have been confronted with this barbaric act with FIFA & UEFA coming up with

strict measures to deal with clubs and supporters perpetuating this act.

But little seems to be heading to the consciences of those committing these acts and one wonders if this practice which has been in existence even before the oldest African liberation movement came into being in 1912 will ever be eradicated.

Limpopo born and bred Makgadi Caster Semenya endured an experience any young and upcoming talented athlete wishes never to go through; having won gold in the women’s 800 meters at the 2009 World Championships at a time of 1:55.45 it was later announced that she had

been subjected to gender testing and was withdrawn from international competition until 6 July 2011 when the IAAF cleared her to return to competition.

I do not think I would have gone to the former University of Port Elizabeth and now Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and became a House Committee leader for three years and witnessed the University named after Tata Madiba had it not been of him and other great leaders like Walter Sisulu and Peter Mokaba.

MATOME SEBELEMETSA

Honestly speaking Nelson Mandela was never among my favourite people; mostly because I feel him and his

party could have negotiated a better deal for black people after he was released. However, I am a fan of his work in his younger days, before he was jailed because he went in a fighter and got out a different man.

I’ve also always felt his image represents the biggest marketing campaign known to man and its association with a party that has become a shadow of its former glory

has been only beneficial to the party and not to him because he had become bigger than the party and some sort of a god to blind loyalists.

The Mandela that got out of jail allegedly forgave his jailers, could not restore black people’s dignity and land but got his family chieftaincy they didn’t have when he went to jail, got himself a white Personal Assistant, a white bodyguard and amassed millions for his foundation for noble causes.

The one that was jailed did not compromise on freedom, not just political, rightfully so, he disrupted meetings if the need arose, did not sit on the fence on key issues, amassed a

lot of respect even from his political opponents, restored hope to a lot of black people, he was militant and confrontational when he needed to be.

His thinking was not confined to party policies; he understood all parties had the same vision but different missions.

To me, that Mandela, Steve Biko and Robert Sobukwe shaped half the history of the country more than any three political icons and alongside Thomas Sankara, Julius Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda, Gabriel Mugabe, Patrice Lamumba, Samora Machel, Olivier Tambo, Maummar Gaddafi and Joyce Banda belong to political heaven.

I reconciled myself with the spilled milk this democracy has become because he is only a mere mortal too and he could have sat back and watched his people suffer but he chose to do something, in his younger days, that inspired people even in his absence.

On his return from prison uTata Madiba saved more white people than black people and stood between economic freedom at all costs and peace at the expense of economic freedom for some.

Besides, I don’t know anyone who was jailed for almost three decades and got out the same person. Some got in

fighters and got out looters, I’m glad Madiba was not one of those because his actions and words inspired unlike the talk shop his party has become.

Now that he has passed away his party might want to go back to the drawing board and try to find another way of earning votes, now the party will become like a small boy who faces his peers in the battlefield without his father holding his hand through it for the first time, now the perceived bully has lost its moral compass, now the party will know its maker very well, the electorate

LESETJA MALOPE

CHARLI BEDET- LIFE STYLE EDITOR

When I heard about the sad news of Nelson Mandela passing, I felt an overwhelming sense

of sadness and a momentarily sense of despair. It was like losing a head of a family, the pillar on which we all stood on. However, the feeling of despondency was soon replaced by the realism that a critically ill man who had

dedicated the vast majority of his life to our struggle, could finally be laid to rest and find his own peace. It was time to let go.

There is no doubt, Madiba has had an immense impact on most South Africans, and he had a great impact on me personally and upon the development of my own life.

Today I can walk the streets of South Africa with my white husband and with the knowledge that our children are regarded as anything else but

South Africans. That there is no law put in place that oversees other human beings less human than others.

His dignity and calm disposition when faced with adversity taught me to remain tolerant to apartheid victims who still see the world in black and white and question my choice of a life partner.

Madiba was passionate in his denouncement of violence against women. He involved himself, even after retirement in numerous efforts

aimed at ending violence against women.

In his own words he said “Freedom cannot be achieved unless the women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression”.

His love for children was observable, as he believed that they are the rock on which our future will be built, our greatest asset as a nation. He also believed that few things make the life of a parent more rewarding and sweet as successful children.

For me, Nelson Mandela meant freedom of choice, love of nation and family, nurturing and protecting those vulnerable.

He gave us as a nation an invaluable sense of pride. He remains a shining example of the power of forgiveness, for the triumph of justice over injustice, equality over inequality.

The challenge now is for us to honour his legacy by living our lives by his example.

Late President Nelson Rolihlahla MandelaPhoto: Archive


NEWS

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“No country can really develop unless its citizens are educated”

Mandela tributes

POLOKWANE - The province has joined the world in mourning the death of former state president Nelson Mandela with messages of condolence flooding from all sections of society.

The African National Congress (ANC) held a media briefing on Saturday at its Frans Mohlala Provincial Office to outline its programme up until the day of the burial.

Provincial Task Team Chairperson, Dr Falaza Mdaka said senior leaders of the Mass Democratic Movement structures had been deployed to various places of worship on Sunday ahead of the provincial memorial service to be held today (Thursday) at Peter Mokaba Stadium.

Accompanied by Provincial Coordinator, Ms Joy Matshokge and South African Communist Party Provincial Secretary Gilbert Kganyago, Mdaka said public viewing areas would be organised in all regions for people to watch the live screen of the funeral next Sunday while some members of the party will also be travelling to the Eastern Cape for the funeral.

Provincial Legislature also held a special seating on Monday to commemorate the former struggle hero where plans for laying of wreaths and sending of messages to various venues across the province were also finalised.

Opposition parties have also praised the former statesman for his sacrifice to ensure freedom.

LESETJA MALOPE

ANC Provincial Task Team Chairperson, Dr Falaza Mdaka writes a message of condo-lence for former president Nelson Mandela in a special book that has been placed at the provincial office for mourners to inscribe messages throughout the week.

SACP Provincial Secretary Gilbert Kganyago.

ANC veteran Lydia Komape lays flowers in front of ANC Frans Mohlala House on Saturday. Photos: Lesetja Malope

North Eastern People Say Farewell

“To me when somebody mentions the word “Mandela”, I hear peace, I hear unity, and I hear prosperity. For me I feel like we should be celebrating his life because his legacy will always be there to be remembered every day and I believe that would be something that he wanted the whole world to do”.

- Sipho Nimrod Chauke, Malamulele

“Mandela was a like a parent to all of us and his passing away was a real shock”

- Mr Johannes Phasha

“The world has glorified this global nation-builder for winning the Rugby World Cup in 1995 and the AFCON in 1996. But his highly positive and unifying role is what got the FIFA World Cup to ever take place on the shores of Mama Africa. What stood out for me was on May 15 2004, when Tata Madiba was brought to tears in Zurich, Switzerland when South Africa was awarded the hosting right. Hamba kahle tata wethu!!!”

- Ernest Hogah, East London and Ghana

“Mandela was like a hero to us. He was a living proof of successs.”

- Ms Mpho Mphahlele

“For me Tata Madiba is a symbol of unity and respect. I think the teachers who depicted Minister Angie Motshekga’s panty pictures are a shame to the teaching profession and what Madiba advocated”

- Charlotte Mabasa, Lulekani

“Mandela is my icon and a real father figure.”

- Kamogelo Matlala

“My wish is for the current youth to take education seriously as some of us were deprived of it by the apartheid regime and the only gift they could give to Tata Madiba is to live their dreams and be caring and responsible human beings”

- Johannes Rachoshi, Sekororo

“Mandela is like my father, he was my role model.”

- Masogo Pheeha

“I was one of those guys that threw stones to try to change the situation, it was God’s gift to us for Mandela to lead us at such a critical time and its up to our new leaders now to carry on where he left off”

- Boebie Solomons

“He means a lot to all of us especial the elderly and the youth. We will miss him.”

- Ms Annaika Tsantsabela

“It’s a loss that we have lost a great man. As I born free I have learn a lot about the Global icon in the name of Nelson Mandela. Our Africans should learn from Mandela’s philosophy. I am proud to be born a born-free South African because of Madiba”

- Ignatia Namane

“I feel like the world has collapsed. I am not sure whether the country will have someone of his character.”

- Lindokuhle Shabangu

“I feel bad and good at the same time, because I wished Tata Madiba a long life.”

- Agreeneth Mogane

“This is nothing but truth that Nelson Mandela is a legend. I realized the importance of doing good to other people. Mandela is the only person who managed to share one table or food with his enemies.”

- Mike Mashego

“We feel bad because you know that Madiba is a world icon and in every country they’re mourning”

- Essau Kanyenda (Malawi)

“We are not complaining because he has lived a good life and I accompany him with Genesis 15:15 as he is going to his final resting place.”

- Ms Mamokete Mogaladi

“He was like a father to all of us and I owe everything to him, if it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t be living like this.”

- Mr Avhashoni Phaswana

“We thank God to have President Mandela in our South Africa because now we are staying in town and there are a lot of churches for African people.”

- Pastor Mike Sabela

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Since our democratic dispensation was born in April 27, 1994, December 16 has been renamed Reconciliation Day. Afrikaners

called it Day of Covenant while Africans were told it’s Dingaan’s Day.

In civilised societies history is written by the victors and rubs salt into the wound of the vanquished foe. Day of Covenant was the myth at the heart of Afrikaner nationalism. In a gesture to shy away from encouraging another dangerous myth the new conquerors avoided righting a historical wrong but opted for a consensus through Reconciliation Day.

People mention incidents such as the Tshepo Matloga saga whereby an African boy was ‘mistakened for a rugby ball’ by white boys who killed him and concealed his corpse in a dam. They also raise the issue of overworked and underpaid farmworkers in Kiepersol who are insulted daily.

They say reconciliation will only start when some Afrikaner families stop teaching their sons hatred of African people and an ideology of racial superiority. “No tribe or group of people has monopoly to wisdom”.

However every tribe or group is entitled to its culture and a space to practise it since it’s that one ritual that distinguishes Greyhounds from Alsatians. Some of these Afrikaners say they harbour no intention to oppress anyone but only a space where they can be Boers and inculcate values in their children. Most Africans say that the problem with some of these Afrikaners is that they want to keep those spaces exclusive of other tribes or groups and such was the basis of apartheid’s separate development policy.

They complain that Afrikaans is emblazoned across all national signage even in communities where there are none; with any attempt to balance the equation drawing ire from Afrikaner lobby groups.

The say half the Afrikaner ancestors whose names adorn physical infrastructure have got nothing to do with the culture of the people they are imposed on. And if a single gesture is made to equally celebrate African culture by renaming Pietersburg (Polokwane) and Nelspruit (Mbombela) they are confronted with threats of boycotts and interdicts.

When there is service delivery failure, residents made up of largely Afrikaners are the fi rst to refuse to pay for services and build Trust accounts. Orania is exclusively an Afrikaner ‘homeland’ where other cultures are not tolerated. Kleinfontein is a seeping toxic cancer in the heart of Gauteng.

The question is; why didn’t the group of Afrikaners who now defy government for its failure to provide water do the same when the apartheid regime was failing to deliver to the largest number of people in this country? Is reconciliation only about looking out for your own and leaving out those who don’t have?

So, this Reconciliation Day raises all these questions. It is perhaps time the conquerors became bold and corrected history.

ARTICLE 16

Looking Forward to Objective coverage

Dear Editor

Your piece on matric results (December 5-11) was excellent. But this education system of “ours” is nothing but a farce and demeaning to our children; especially blacks who cannot afford private schooling or even Model C tuition. Be totally honest with your readers about matric results since 2007 onwards. Will you fl y with a “pilot”, be treated by a “doctor”/ “dentist”, or even have a “lawyer” defend you with ONLY 30% knowledge of their chosen profession? I don’t think so! Yes 60% of the teachers know less than the learners, and look at the calibre of some of the exam “markers”. What a disgraceful shame!

Theodore RoelofszMarble Hall

Good points Theodore. However one is often left wondering if the solution to our bad state of public education should be to encourage everyone to

opt for private tuition or to use civil society platforms such as Section 27 to lobby and advocate for universal access to quality education. - Editor

LETTERS

“In countries where innocent people are dying, the leaders are following their blood rather than their brains”

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of

his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they

can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart

than its opposite.”

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Post-apartheid South Africa has witnessed thousands of white people moving into formerly predominantly black areas. It

is no longer shocking to see more and more whites moving into rural areas and sharing meals with fellow blacks, a phenomenon hardly encouraged in the apartheid past.

The question on many black folks’ lips is ‘what is the catalyst for this exodus?’

I visited a couple of white families who used to reside in Phalaborwa town and Gravelotte and who are now residing at Boelang Village in Makhushane. Entering the village from the Mashishimale-Maseke D3786 tar road from Makhushane four ways, one is immediately welcomed by a rather aged double story building belonging to one of the white families.

Hundred meters from it stands about 40 houses located within four streets. Some of the families have been residing in the area for the past three years while others moved in last year and quite recently. More are expected to move in.

Dion Van Zyl (48) and his wife, Dorothy (40) moved to Boelang fi ve months ago. They stayed in a tent and van until they built a two-roomed house, which they divided into a bath and bedroom.

“I worked in Johannesburg for twelve years as a government employee and came to Phalaborwa for greener pastures in September 2011. I bought this stand for R10 000 as I was struggling to keep up with the R7500 monthly rent in town. I bought bou-sand for R650 and baked my own bricks as it is cheaper than buying from a brickyard,” said a friendly Dion, fl anked by his seven puppies and gardener.

The Van Zyl’s family is quite fortunate as the area has running water hence they only spent R1600 to buy equipment to install a sewer. “We however do not have electricity in our street and currently using a generator which we spend R500 monthly for the lights, TV, cooking with a two plate stove, fridge and fan,” confessed Dion.

Dion stays with his wife alone, as they do not have children. “My wife is working in the retail sector but women in Phalaborwa are earning peanuts irrespective of their race,” remarked Dion.

Asked if he registered to vote during next year’s General Elections, Dion said he is going to vote and believes in the concept of a rainbow nation.

Another family residing some 200 meters from the Van Zyl’s is that of *Steven Malatji* as he is popularly known in the village by black resident. Steven (46) and his wife Kate (40) used to stay in Gravelotte, a small town

lying 50km away from Phalaborwa until they moved to Boelang in May 2011.

“I worked for 15 years in the building industry in Tzaneen and my husband is still working for a mine in Gravelotte wherein he uses a light vehicle and spends R3000 for petrol monthly. We left Gravelotte because we wanted to have a house of our own wherein we won’t be paying municipal bills and property rates,” said Kate.

She added the reception from locals has been wonderful and knows almost everyone by their fi rst names as they regard her like one of their own. “We eat everything the locals eat and there is nothing unique at all. We like it here and the people also enjoy our company. One of our neighbours allowed us to use their electricity as Eskom told us they cannot connect us a line as we

are 156 meters away from the closest transformer despite having applied a year and four months ago,” explained a relaxed Kate.

Hendrick Hammar (80) is still working as a crusher operator next to Boelang Garage to keep himself busy despite retiring as a foreman at Foskor Mine in 1994. He will be moving to Boelang very soon after buying a 1020 square metre stand for R7000. He sold his house in Phalaborwa some few years ago after failing to keep up with paying R3000 municipal bills.

“I am currently staying with my wife’s sister in town though her grandchildren will be selling the house soon hence I decided to buy a stand at Boelang. More whites will be leaving town next year as they are fi nding it hard to keep up with rent,” said an energetic Hammar.

He added that him and his wife want to spend their last days in the area.

I sought comments from a number of black residents of Boelang. Masilo Malesa (36) said, “I haven’t picked up anything negative about them except they chose to stay next to the tar road. I think that has to do with availability of stands in that area. Besides that, they are very friendly and interesting people. I think they left town due to the escalating high municipal tariffs because despite their children staying here they still attend school in town.”

COMMENTS & ANALYSIS

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“I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people”

GAKWI MASHEGO

A Boer leader is wanted

Phalaborwa crosses the Rubicon?

“De La Rey De La Rey/ sal jy die boere kom lei”. Four years ago these lyrics sounded like a nostalgic call by a young

artist for a vanquished boer general to resurrect from his grave and lead a nation void of leadership. They were catchy lyrics, which while they offended then Minister of Arts and Culture Dr Pallo Jordan some enlightened people often found themselves lip-syncing them as they read Steve Biko’s I write what I like.

Bok van Blek’s call for an Afrikaner leader couldn’t have sounded more urgent like two years ago when author of Thula-Thula, Annelie Botes fi red her racist salvo, much to the detriment of her South African Literary Award prize under the K.Sello Duiker Memorial Award category. It was withdrawn after it emerged Botes remarked, “I do not like black people. I avoid them because I am afraid of them. If black people are hungry why don’t they just break in like in the olden days, empty out the fridge and then leave?” Her anti-Black bile was bitter.

The English, who she didn’t dislike locked Afrikaners in concentration camps. She disliked Blacks, who have suffered years of abuse under a regime

that afforded her kind privileges.Suddenly there were many ‘liberals’

decrying the withdrawal of the award. They claimed that SALA is not a personality contest. The best patronising for Botes came from racist blog, South Africa Sucks, “The fat old feel-good Afrikaner writer Annelie Botes has just been disqualifi ed from the South African Literary Awards for having said she ‘doesn’t like black

people’. Being one of the foremost experts on lala land victimology, she should have known better than to criticize the ultimate victim, the black man”.

People who never raised a fi nger against the banning of artworks by apartheid governments in the past were suddenly educated enough to teach Blacks about human rights.

What people overlooked about Botes’ rant was that it was the refl ection of a leadership vacuum in the Afrikaner people. It was the cry of an orphaned child. The spoilt-brat cry often heard from musician Steve Hofmeyr who wrote, “Blacks (God knows, probably not all of them, but most of those I observe) feel justifi ed and entitled in everything, from quotas/low matric marks to land rights.” It was easy to notice that Hofmeyr was still dwelling on the separatist doctrine of General Constandt Viljoen who advocated for a Volkstaat but decided to leave his Vryheid’s Front with nationalist Dr Pieter Mulder.

Today, after the fallacy of white supremacy has been exposed by countless artistic achievements, the racists who have always been appraised for being white and Afrikaner are exposing their frustration with equality. It’s something felt by those

poor whites who want to be begged to apply for low-cost housing. It’s a hand-out and entitlement mentality inculcated on Afrikaners by their former charity government.

FW de Klerk dropped ultra-whites when he conceded defeat and pushed sunset clauses into South Africa’s settlement. He left Afrikaners with no credible leader to whom Botes and Hofmeyr could pummel frustrations. It’s ‘every boer for himself’. That was the undoing of Eugene Terre’blanche. Today Afrikaners hide behind reactionary organisations such as AfriForum and AWB.

Van Blerk was rightfully calling for someone to lead Afrikaners and save them from themselves. Nobody listened then, however with recent racial fracas (the trial of Terre’blanche’s alleged killers) someone of clout such as Viljoen might be listening from the comfort of his farm in Lydenburg. “Generaal Viljoen/ sal jy die Boere kom lei”

“It was easy to notice that Hofmeyr was

still dwelling on the separatist

doctrine of General Constandt Viljoen who advocated for

a Volkstaat but decided to leave

his Vryheid’s Front with nationalist Dr

Pieter Mulder.””

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Send your comments on this article.



General de la Rey. Photo: Archive

General Constandt Viljoen. Photo: Archive

Steven Malatji* left Gravelotte for Boelang. Photo: Matome Sebelemetsa

Hendrick Hammar recently bought a stand at Boelang and will be moving in soon.Photo:Matome Sebelemetsa

MATOME SEBELEMETSA


BUSINESS

Big wormy business

Legalising child labour?

“Only free men can negotiate, prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated”

PHALABORWA - Mopani District Municipality’s most delicious and nutritional staple food has arrived and residents

in the Ba-Phalaborwa area have already begun collecting Mopani worms despite less rain.

North Eastern Witness was fortunate to meet a number of Maseke and Boelang residents busy collecting Mopani worms a day after the devastating heavy rains which hit our North and Eastern areas.

One of those lucky residents is Joshua Sekgotodi (36) a father of two children attending primary and high school in Mashishimale Village at Thepe Section.

Sekgodoti is the only breadwinner at his house and started working for a crusher three years ago and during mopane worms season he always

ensures he collects them with fellow residents.

“I squeeze out the entrails once my 4kg packet is full and I will cook them immediately. I get home and will not wait for them to get dry. I will mix them with tomatoes, soup, onions and they are very nutritious with high proteins. In fact, they are healthier than beef and chicken as we do not use money to get them once the rainy season begins,” explained Sekgotodi.

Sekgotodi reckons this year there will be few mopane worms due to lack of rain. When they are in abundance they can be found moving on roads and easy to pick.

Usually, after six weeks of rain mopane worms can be seen clinging to, and feeding on the leaves of mopane trees. The process of picking involves withstanding the brown liquid they excrete once they make contact with a human hand, leaving the pickers’

hands wet and slippery.

Those fortunate to have vehicles are making good business by transporting villagers to collect them.

“I charge them 5kg full of mopane worms and sell them the whole year at places like Gauteng where business is good. One cup of tea full of mopane worms can go from R10 to R20 depending on the areas we sell at,” said Mahlatse Nakana from Block 5 in Bolobedu.

MATOME SEBELEMETSA

Joshua Sekgotodi with the cuisine that means big business to many in the area.Photo: Matome Sebelemetsa

“One cup of tea full of mopane worms can go

from R10 to R20 depending on the areas we sell at.”

Government has given Coca-Cola the right to use children under the age of 15 for work on its FIFA 2014 World Cup-

related campaigns.The Department of Labour in the

province approved the application for a sectoral determination for the children from Coca-Cola, one of the main sponsors of next year’s FIFA

World Cup in Brazil.According to the assistant Director of

the department, Mr Morgan Mokwana, the application was the fi rst in the province in a long time.

“Although this is good news, it is simultaneously worrisome because this is the fi rst application received in many years. Looking at the rifeness of child labour in the province, we would have liked to receive more applications of this kind. This goes to show that

employers are not heeding a call for the eradication of child labour in their various workplaces,” Mokwana said.

Mokwana said in terms of Sectoral Determination 10 for Children in Performing Arts (CIPA), an employer who wants to use children must seek approval from the Department of Labour prior to using them. “Clause 8 of sectoral determination 10 states that only four hours a day must be granted in respect of a child over the age of 10

and three hours a day if the child is 10 year or younger. “

He further pointed out that employers found to be using children without the relevant permission would be punished severely. “It is equivalent to practising child labour which is outlawed by section 43 of the Basic conditions of Employment Act,” the assistant director said.

MATOME SEBELEMETSA

“It is equivalent to practising child

labour which is outlawed by

section 43”

Municipalities need to be honest

Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs MEC Ishmael Kgetjepe with Departmental Spokesperson Mr Motupa Selomo during a media briefing last Wednesday.Photo: Lesetja Malope

POLOKWANE - The Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs (Coghsta) in

the province has accused municipalities of not implementing resolutions of the Provincial Debt Forum by not paying their debts to Lepelle Northern Water and Eskom.

Coghsta MEC Ishmael Kgetjepe held

a press conference last Wednesday in which he reiterated that his department would ensure that the debts which amount to millions of rands are paid.

“Most municipalities owe Water boards and Eskom. Most municipalities are not implementing the Provincial Debt Forum resolution,” said Kgetjepe.

The department failed to provide information regarding the type of debts and amounts owed as per the resolution despite numerous promises by its spokesperson, Mr Motupa Selomo.

Kgetjepe said Provincial Audit Outcomes Oversight Forum, which is supposed to ensure all departments and municipality achieve clean audit outcomes by next year, is hard at work to make sure audits outcomes improve after the province’s overall audits regressed in the recent results.

LESETJA MALOPE

“Most municipalities

owe Water boards and Eskom.”




ENVIRONMENT

POSITIVE STEPS FOR AIR QUALITY: Mopani District Municipality Executive Mayor Cllr Joshua Matlou and LEDET MEC Seaparo Sekoati open the air quality monitoring station.Photo: Matome Sebelemetsa

Phalaborwa’s dirty air gets attentionMATOME SEBELEMETSA

PHALABORWA - The deteriorating air quality due to industrial operations in Phalaborwa is fi nally getting

attention. Limpopo MEC for economic development, environment and tourism Seaparo Sekoati offi cially opened the fi rst ever provincial continuous ambient air quality monitoring station at Frans Du Toit High School in Phalaborwa on Friday.

Sekoati, fl anked by Mopani Executive Mayor Joshua Matlou said under their continuing effort to ensure the quality of air that protects human health and the environment, the Department commissioned the station in May 2013.

“This is a step towards establishing a provincial ambient air quality monitoring network, encourage and promote stakeholder involvement in air quality management programs; raise public awareness and information communication on air quality management in the region,” Sekoati explained.

Phalaborwa was identifi ed as one of the four pollution “hot spots”. Mining and process industry is the main role player in the economy of Phalaborwa and as such the main contributor to atmospheric pollution.

The monitoring station hosts a range of state-of –the-art equipment for measuring air pollution and budgeted around R1.5 million in capital investment with maintenance costs of approximately R400 000 per annum.

It is capable of measuring criteria pollutants such as particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) sulphur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, ozone, benzene, toluene and xylene.

The monitoring station is funded by LEDET and operated in partnership with Frans du Toit High School.

There are already four stations in the Lephalale area though funded by the national government and other provincial stations are expected to be opened in Tzaneen early next year with Makhado and Sekhukhune to follow at a later stage.

“I applaud the MEC for the wonderful project as we have been complaining for many years with regard to the polluted air coming from the mines with none coming to party. We are hoping that the government will enforce the withholding of mineral rights to those found to have violated prescribed legislations,” said Owen Mohale from Palesa.

“I applaud the MEC for the wonderful

project as we have been complaining

for many years with regard to the

polluted air coming from the mines”

“Give a child love, laughter and peace, not AIDS”

Tel. 015 793 0358E-mail: [email protected]

www.rivlodge.co.za

Are you a social activist?Are you a business analyst?Are you a political observer or analyst?

Do you have an opinion on social justice?Do you have an opinion on economic justice?Do you have an opinion on socio political discourse?

Have you got something to say in matters of education?Have you got something to say in matters of environment?Have you got something to say in matters of land restitution?

Have you got anything to say at all?

Engage with North Eastern Witness on your comments and opinions. North Eastern Witness provides a platform for you to engage with our readers. It is time for an alternative and transformational discourse.

Read. Be Informed. Engage.Write to the Editor: [email protected]

ARE YOU AN OPIONION MAKER OR OPINION TAKER?


NORTH EASTERN LIFESTYLE

The North Eastern Lifestyle section is devoted to help you to enjoy your life more.

Every week we bring you the latest and greatest information on fashion and beauty, health, travel, relationships, food, arts and culture.

This is to enlighten our readers about all the fantastic things going on in the region, whether it is a hidden holiday destination, a fi ne restaurant or commemorating our local talent.

We celebrate YOU while seeking national and international inspiration to extend your relationship with the world and to gain a global perspective.

We appreciate your comments on any subject you feel we should feature or an amazing discovery you would like to share with us, feel free to drop us a line at: [email protected]

C’est la vie!

Charli Bedet

Wedding & Event Stationery- 084 800 1591 -

“Intervention only works when the people concerned seem to be keen for peace”

Sorghum porridge (gluten-free)Serves 3 to 4

1 cup (250 ml), sorghum; finely stone-ground4 cups (1 ℓ) water½ tsp (2 ml) unrefined salt (optional)

1. Place the cold water, salt and sorghum in a deep-sided saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring. 2. Reduce the heat and stir frequently until the porridge thickens. You may need to add more water if the porridge becomes too thick. Simmer covered for 40 to 45 minutes or longer.

VariationsServe raw honey or stewed fruit and prunes with the sorghum.Note: The sorghum may be dissolved in 1 cup of water and then add 3 cups of boiling water, stirring, at intervals, until cooked.

This recipe appears in Naturally Nutritious Wholefood Cookbook by Heidi du Preez and Karen Werge Tilney, published by Natural Nutrition.

If a grain is eaten whole, nature has packaged it with the nutrients necessary for its metabolism, but if it is eaten in a refined

form, then vitamins, minerals and enzymes have to be robbed from the body to do the job. When a person persists in eating white flour, white rice and other refined products like pasta, it weakens the immune system, resulting in ill health.

Sorghum is an edible wild grass. There are seven varieties of sorghum grown all over the world for human and animal consumption. Four varieties are indigenous to Africa and other varieties are found in the Middle East, Asia and the Mediterranean. For many villages in rural Africa it is sorghum which provides energy, nutrients, health and survival within the villages. This grain is the future of Africa.

Sorghum is my favourite grain with its dark colour and nutty, sweet flavour. It is great for gluten-free

baking, making porridges and home brews which, in moderation, are beneficial to your digestive system. It stabilizes blood sugar levels, especially in diabetics.

Our ancestors soaked or fermented their grains before eating them. This soaking process breaks down the outer layer of most grains called phytic acid. This allows the body to absorb the minerals during digestion.

The protein content of sorghum is higher than maize and the calcium and iron nearly double. The fat content is lower than maize. Sadly, Mexico’s maize is replacing Africa’s sorghum.

Because sorghum’s protein and starch are more slowly digested than that of other cereals, it is very beneficial to manage blood sugar levels, especially in diabetics. Sorghum is high in bioflavonoids.

Buy unrefined sorghum to make porridge. Use finely stone-ground sorghum for your baking.

KAREN WERGE TILNEY

Sorghum – channel of healthy eating

Siwela’s friendship with wood

HAZYVIEW is a tourism outpost situated as a gateway to the Kruger National Park and the famed Panorama Route in the

Mpumalanga Lowveld. Thousands of tourists go past this small town every day. Some of the purchases they make to keep as souvenirs are artefacts and locally produced wood craft.

This was the inspiration for Shally Siwela (28) to decide while still a learner at Nkunzi High School in the remote village of Numbi to become a sculptor. “My father was a sculptor but never got the opportunity to really make lots of money out of it. He was selling his craft at the Numbi Gate of the Kruger National Park. I can say I followed in his footsteps”, says the young artist. He works from a makeshift worshop he shares with six older men.

Siwela’s tented worshop is situated a few metres from a craft stall stocked with largely Kenyan wood craft. The Kenyan merchant next to him says he comes to South Africa once every three months to sell wholesale to different traders all over the country. He says he uses jacaranda wood to sculpt his craft. However there is a feeling that he actually buys low-quality works from sculptors in his home country and sells to unsuspecting hawkers. To tourists these passes off as locally-produced craft while it is not.

“We were doing quite well before the Kenyans came through. There was a time when we used to sell to tourists directly; straight from the factory line to their hands”, Siwela says while chiselling a bird sculptor with a red-hot iron rod. Smoke billows to his face and he coughs gently.

Having started sculpting at the age of eleven Siwela says now that he does it

professionally he realises that he was selling his work short back then. “My area of focus is animals and human sculptures. The biggest selling stock is that of the big five and birds. I do anything of any size using jacaranda wood”, he adds. His colleagues, who are far older than him with advanced techniques grumble that the media has written about them as being drug-users who have no business working on the road side.

Siwela voices his dissatisfaction with how Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Authority is apparently letting them down as young people trying to contribute to the province’s tourism strategy.

“Right now when tourists arrive, hotels around here refer guests seeking crafts and artefacts to white-owned curio shops. Those shops are owned by traders who don’t support local but procure cheaply from Swaziland and Zimbabwean merchants. As a result the local sculptor does not get the value of the tourism rand”, he protests.

Asked what needs to be done to get artists like him to an organised spot Siwela says Mbombela Municipality should erect workshops for artists and curio shops where they can sell to tourists as well. “In that way the R150.00 that we sell a bird sculpture for will go the distance instead of waiting for one tourist to pitch, of which it has been difficult lately”, he says while stoking his fire.

Sculpting technique is to carve out of wood using a miniature axe and chisel the core structure. After sandpapering for smoothness he uses red-hot iron rods to design contours and an ashy finish. He then applies oil paint depending on what sculpture he is finishing. Birds will be red, green and any colour he has seen in the forest.

“I wish the youth could be encouraged to take sculpting seriously instead of being comfortable with drinking beer. The whole thing of them saying they are unemployed and stealing to drink is not sustainable”, Siwela says as he takes to his feet to make a sale.

ARTS REPORTER

CREATOR: Shally Siwela with some of his sculptured work.Photo: Archive

“My area of focus is animals and

human sculptures. The biggest selling

stock is that of the big fi ve and

birds. I do anything of any size using jacaranda wood”

11NORTH EASTERN WITNESS 12 - 18 DECEMBER 2013 11


Kgorong, a reconciliation of sound and poetry

The art of forgiveness

“There is no such thing as part freedom”

Interview with Retang Segodi Malahlela, co-founder of Kgorong poetry and sound , an annual event in Polokwane presenting alternative

arts and culture featuring live music of acoustic, jazz, metal, spoken word and hip hop and African cuisine.How did Kgorong come about?

Like most things, the concept of Kgorong came out of a necessity. There was no platform in Limpopo province that accommodated alternative entertainment and a place to integrate our diverse cultures. We wanted a place where all artists, no matter their background or race, can come together and express themselves. Our introductory event in 2009 was received with enormous response and extensively spread across the province as one of the rare events. We derived the name from the traditional gathering “Kgorong” whereby villagers would gather by the chief’s kraal to discuss critical matters. Our concept gathers all artists to come together to “discuss”

critical issues through music and poetry and we saw the name fi tting.What types of artists are featured in Kgorong?

We are proud to say that we are the only one in the province featuring different music genres from rock bands to traditional performers. Kgorong is a platform of reconciliation- reconciling musicians of all races for the sake of the art. It is a place of expression.What are the challenges?

The main challenges we face include the reluctance of our local government to share our vision. This type of impression cannot be executed professionally without help. We have been knocking on doors and we remain perplexed of what their reservations could be to not support such a concept.

In addition, a lot of people still don’t take artists careers seriously. This stems from the fact that traditionally performing artists were not paid, they were mere entertainers and it was not regarded as a career. Now we are faced with people not understanding that being an entertainer is a career with

equal standing like being a doctor or a Lawyer. Local musicians are looked down upon.

When is your next event?Our next event is on the 19th of

December in Polokwane. We will be featuring live bands, poetry, hip-hop, rock and more in a spirit of reconciliation and as a poignant tribute to Madiba.

“Now we are faced with people not understanding that being an

entertainer is a career with equal

standing like being a doctor or a

Lawyer.”

CHARLI BEDET

When he was released from prison, some of Nelson Mandela’s old friends were distressed by his

readiness to forgive. He insisted that we should all forgive but never allow the terrible personal tragedies of apartheid be forgotten.

This week South Africa and the world is paying tribute to this great hero of our nation, and many are still astonished by his unapologetic level of forgiveness.

To continue his legacy, here are the four tips that will help you to forgive others, not for their sake but for you to live your life and not be shackled by bitterness.

1. Take time to make forgiveness real and meaningful.

Did you ever hear people say, “You have to forgive her!” or “Forgive him right now!” Well, anyone can just say they forgive someone, but it takes time to actually move forward and truly forgive. Don’t let a person force you into forgiving someone before you’ve worked through your feelings, because it would lead to an empty forgiveness and not something that is true.2. Meditate.

This is extremely important because it is so easy to get caught up in emotions when there is so much extra chatter or other infl uences. When you meditate, you are at one with your emotions in a quiet atmosphere. During meditation, you learn more about you and your

needs, and it constantly helps you to grow as a person.3. Write down your emotions and then release them.

Sometimes it’s hard to realize what upsets you. Is it because he said this? Or is it because her actions made you feel bad? Writing down your thoughts help you better understand your feelings. After you do this, go outside and burn the paper. It is therapeutic to watch something that hurt you disintegrate into little ashes.4. Strive to live in the present.

This is the hardest thing to do. But by always thinking of tomorrow, we are losing today. The same goes for living in the past. If you let your past defi ne you, you will never grow.

Source: Little Buddah

STAFF REPORTER

Retang Segodi Malahlela, co-founder of Kgorong Poetry and Sound, during one of his performances.Photo: Archive

Photo: wallpaperswala.com

ADVERTISING & SALES CONSULTANT WANTED

Exciting opportunity offered. North Eastern Witness is looking for a dynamic individual with drive to join its Marketing and Sales Team. Only qualifi ed and experienced individuals will be considered.

Responsibilities will include: • Managing and growing customer base

and revenues to meet sales targets.• Handling enquiries (inbound and

outboud) from prospective clients • Conducting presentations• As a member of the sales force it is

imperative to achieve and maintain high levels of professionalism to satisfy clients.

Send your application and CV to [email protected]



Motorcycle riders across our rainbow nation recently united in aid of bringing joy to the less privileged children

of our country during the National Toy Run initiative. Following the passing of the ‘ father’ of the rainbow nation on last week Thursday – riders will unite once again to celebrate the life and goals of the global iconic leader: Nelson Mandela.

Members of the Harley Owners Group (HOG) will meet in Pretoria this coming Thursday and pay respect to the former President and the legacy he left South Africa and the globe in the true spirit of Ubuntu and togetherness.

In the Lowveld, Mpumalanga, the riders will meet up at the Big Five Harley-Davidson dealership in Nelspruit at 5am today Thursday 12 December and make a stop at Middleburg Ultra City for Highveld riders to join them for the journey of celebration.

The pack will proceed to meet fellow Gauteng riders at the Pretoria dealership located at Menlyn Shopping Centre at around 9h00. The pack will be escorted from there by Metro police and make way to the Union Buildings in central Pretoria. From there the procession will ride proudly bearing South Africa’s national flag and make their way to pay respect at Madiba’s former home in Vilakazi Street, Orlando West – Soweto.

Upon reaching their destination in Soweto, the riders will pay homage by bringing their personal tokens of respect and appreciation for the life of this iconic and respected leader.

A commemorative pin will be available on the day and funds raised off the sales of the specially designed badge will be donated to the Orlando Children’s Home. This home, inspired by the love Madiba nurtured for the future leaders of South Africa, takes care of orphaned and abandoned children.

Hamba Kahle Tata Madiba.

Riders’ send-off for MadibaSTAFF REPORTER

Riders to leave Nelspruit in the morning heading off to Gauteng.Photo: Archive

Value it or void it!

God, in His justice, gives to all twenty-four hours in a day. Why then are some more successful than others?

In Genesis, we see two brothers; Jacob and Esau who had a father, who possessed something they both needed, a blessing. Culturally, the one who was likely to get it was Esau because of the law of the first-born. He stood to inherit, not only his father’s possessions but also his blessing. The thing is Esau didn’t value his position in the family, thus despising his inheritance. Physically, things didn’t instantly change so Esau did not immediately see the effects of him despising his birthright. For a while, it was business as usual. Little did Esau know that by not valuing his birthright, he was voiding it. He treated his position in the family as insignificant and worthless.

On the other hand, his brother Jacob did not have the birthright that could make him inherit the blessing, but he valued it. He understood the meaning of being the first-born and he wanted the blessing attached to that. He attached so much value to it that he negotiated it and even risked his relationship with his father and his brother. It took about 37 years for Esau to face the consequences of his actions. All through the years, there is no record of Esau trying to reclaim his birthright by negotiation or any other means. Jacob valued the birthright enough to wait that long for it to pay off.

Another sad example of someone who didn’t value their position and thus voided it is queen Vashti in the Book of Esther. By publicly despising her husband the king, she was in essence treating her position as queen as insignificant and worthless. The king wanted to show off her beauty and she disobeyed him. She set a bad example. Even when she was banished from the king’s court, she did not show any sign of remorse; at least none such signs are recorded. She remained in her prideful state until it was too late for her.

Esther on the other hand, wanted to be queen such that she was prepared to obey her uncle Mordecai and Hegai the custodian. She followed a strict beauty program for the whole year. She wanted what Vashti despised and she got that - and more.

The two above examples still apply today, When God gives you something, value it or void it. Whether it’s a friend, a husband or a wife, a child, a job, a car or any possession, treasure it or void it. If you treat someone whom God has given you shabbily, you are actually throwing them away. The same goes with any material possession, if you treat it with contempt, you are slowly voiding it. One day you will wake up and that person or material possession won’t be there. It may take years, you may even think it will not happen but take heed, ‘Value people around you, and value the things you have.’ Someone, somewhere wants what you have, no matter how insignificant it may seem to you - so please remember, if you don’t value it, you are voiding it.

I am blessed and highly favoured.

JOSIE SITHOLE

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”

Limpopo Premier Stan MathabathaPhoto: Archive

BA-PHALABORWA – Limpopo is sitting on an HIV/AIDS infection time bomb. This emerged during World AIDS

Day commemorations earlier this month at various part of the province.

“From April to September this year, we have tested 577 thousand people of which approximately 50 thousand tested positive. We have over 176 thousand patients remaining in care, both children and adults, on Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART). Over 60 thousand HIV positive clients were screened for TB,” explained Premier Stan Mathabatha during the provincial World AIDS Day event at Seshego Stadium.

Mathabatha said the provincial HIV Testing target for the 2013/2014 financial period is set at over 1.3 million people.

He further said over 33 million condoms have been distributed in the

Province in the past six months alone, and a further 830 thousand female

condoms were distributed around the province.

Despite government, civil society and private sector partnering to combat and manage HIV/AIDS, many teenagers in the Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality are still having multiple partners and engaging in unprotected sex without knowing their partners status.

North Eastern Witness spoke to a number of girls attending Sebalamakgolo, Relebogile and Vuxeni High Schools in Namakgale.

“We know about HIV/AIDS and how one can get infected and how to get treated once infected. I need pocket money every day to school because my classmates have boyfriends working in the mines and driving the latest vehicles. So, I have to look the part and also wear ‘Carvelas’ to school. I do not mind having sex with my partners without a condom, as long as they give me money is (sic) fine,” said *Malebo Malatji* a sixteen year old grade eleven pupil at Sebalamakgolo.

“I have high financial demands and my peers cannot match them. I prefer sugar daddies as they buy me anything I need. What’s the point of dating an FET student who is still reading the syllabus? I need someone who will take me to places I have never been to,” explained Fortunate Mnisi a 21 year old grade 9 pupil at Vuxeni.

North Eastern Witness also spoke to a professional nurse on condition of anonymity.

“We have many girls visiting our

clinics daily during school hours and majority of them come for family planning and condoms are the least on their minds. The surprising part is that we hardly see boys or young men visiting our clinics,” said our source.

Message gets lostMATOME SEBELEMETSA

“The surprising part is that we

hardly see boys or young men visiting

our clinics.”

“A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at

the end he and the other side must be

closer, and thus emerge stronger.

You don’t have that idea when

you are arrogant, superfi cial, and

uninformed.”

Artist Lawrance Ikageng Inama produced this portrait of the last summer ontop of Table Mountain to symbolise his adoration for Mandela.


NOTICES

Trans Year Service

B W CBethsaida Word Centre

Restoring Character, Kingdom Wealth &Health

31 December 2013@

BWC POLOKWANE(Jericho Hall)

12 Mangaan StreetNirvana

(Opposite Limpopo Cash and Carry)

For More Information Contact 0152922208

TIME: 18:00PM

“It always seems impossible until it is done”


NOTICES

Enter and win!“Like” the North Eastern Witness Facebook page

and post a comment to stand a chance of

winning an InfoRad road safety GPS

device.

Visit www.facebook.com/newitness

Tel. 015 793 0358E-mail: [email protected]

www.rivlodge.co.za

“After climbing a great hill, one only fi nds that there are many more hills to climb”

TIME PROGRAM PRESENTER MUSIC TYPE CONTENT

05:00-09:00 Morning Drive DJ Eddi Cook Mixed (Kwaito, house, R&B)

Wake-up calls, birthday wishes and show biz

09:00-12:00 PFM Lifestyle (Magazine) Shirley Mthembi R&B and pop

Magazine, Celebrity interviews and interesting topic of the day

12:00-14:00 Mphahlolle ke Maatlafale

Ntsheisheng Makhinya Afro pop Latest development, skills,

health issues.

14:00-15:00 Wat’s new Zondi Local Music Everything new (New policies, latest gadgets, music etc)

15:00-18:00 PFM Afternoon Drive Michael Mixed (Kwaito, house, R&B)

Music, sport news, birthday wishes, celebrity gossip ,dj interviews

18:00-19:00 Current Affairs News team Signature tune Local news & interviews with local government leaders

19:00-19:30 Community announcements Stephen Malungane Signature Community awareness &

public interest

19:30-20:45 Ri perile Sipho Chauke Listerners Choice Mixed music

20:45-21:00 Drama Monthly awareness

21:00-23:00Are boleleng Ba-phalaborwa (talk show)

Busi Mgiba All Types Community issues that are of the public interest

COMMUNITY RADIO PHALABORWA FMPROGRAMME LINE-UP - ALL WEEK


NOTICES“We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right”

Debunking the big team myth

Farewell to Baby Jake

MBOMBELA - Last weekend’s humiliation of Orlando Pirates here at Mbombela Stadium by the

less-fancied Platinum Stars might have come as a surprise to many. However looking at the trend developing it might be a surprise that is here to stay.

Much commentary was largely about how bad a team Pirates is; how disorganised it looked on the day and how coach Roger de Sa should start packing his bags for another team. Few soccer pundits look at the fact that it’s actually the second trophy that Dikwena has won this season. They fi rst lifted the MTN 8 against fancied Buccaneers.

They were in that fi nal because last season they fi nished in the top eight.

Which brings the question; are people saying the moon has dimmed simply because the sun is shining? How about giving Platinum Stars some credit instead of blaming the Ghost for being a fatigued team?

Notably on their way to the fi nal Dikwena had to dispose of very good sides such as Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns. These are two

teams sitting at position one and two respectively. These are sides which have won the league so many times between them. And these are sides who, together with Pirates were once fancied to be in every cup fi nal.

In recent times things have changed. A few years ago Wits won the PSL league. So has now relegated Santos and Manning Rangers. Maybe the common factor was that most of those were coached by current Bafana mentor Gordon Igesund. But even he is not a magician since he can’t achieve the same feat with Bafana.

The fact is those teams won the league with the same shaky line-ups that nobody gave a chance.

Back in the day Amazulu surprised many when they walloped Kaizer Chiefs in the fi nal of the Coca-Cola Cup. Their outfi t was made up of little-known players such as Joe Mlaba and Simon Magagula while Amakhosi had household names like Doctor Khumalo, Neil Tovey, Howard Freeze and Lucas Radebe.

Why didn’t soccer watchers say at the time that Chiefs was a bad team but admitted that Amazulu was the team to beat? Who still remembers Bloemfontein Celtic’s recent past of

beating every odd?We are back to that equation again.

Polokwane City’s current run suggests that if they keep their eyes on the prize they can successfully contest the top eight. It will be encouraging for them if they went into the Christmas break being somewhere there. City’s meteoric rise since coach Boebie Solomons took over is not credited to bad game plans by their opponents but workmanship at the Limpopo side.

While the same cannot be said about Mpumalanga Black Aces maybe the issue to review is; doesn’t Dikwena’s victory signal the end of the big team myth? The assertion that Pirates, Chiefs, Sundowns and Swallows deserve to be at every fi nal as if there are no other twelve teams in the league?

With Dikwena’s success, and only two trophies left on the PSL roster it looks more likely that the Team of the Season for the next PSL awards will be none of the fancied four. The days of big teams seem to be over.

SPORT REPORTER



?Going down

?Are they on the up

NORTH EASTERN WITNESS is an attractive medium to get to your audience. Advertise.

One of the sporting greats South Africa has ever produced has fallen. In the week that saw the world refl ecting on

what it meant to loose a global icon, Nelson Mandela, South Africa and the continent of Africa, was again visited by the sad news of the passing of Jacob ‘Baby Jake’ Matlala.

Matlala, the shortest world champion there ever was, died at the age of 51 as a result of pneumonia complications. The fi rst South African to win belts in different weight division, Bay Jake had an extraordinary career in boxing

with four titles to his name.Always in a jovial mood, Matlala

will be remembered as a tough short man always striking a confusing pose for his opponents.

When he retired he said that it was so because he had run out of small people to fi ght. That was so much of a refl ection of his humor that enabled him to disarm most of his opponents in the ring.

Matlala’s has been suffering from poor health recently until he ultimately gave up the fi ght last weekend.

STAFF REPORTER

Jacob ‘Baby Jake’ Matlala during his prime.Photo: Archives

PORTS



Polokwane City on a roll

Stars wallops mighty Bucs

PETER MOKABA STADIUM - Polokwane City improved their log standing when they bagged three points at the expense of

fellow Premier Soccer League rookies Mpumalanga Black Aces during Sunday’s fi xture.

The Rise and Shine boys got an early lead through a goal by veteran striker Essau Kanyenda in the fi rst half before another veteran, Nigerian Onyekachi Okonkwo equalised ten minutes into the second half.

The visitors were clearly more determined to return home with maximum points after going down in the fi rst half but were disappointed by poor fi nishing and a strong City defence.

Both sides had a number of good chances they could have put away but both defences were not willing to be generous, at least until City substitute Thobani Mncwango broke the deadlock ten minutes from time with a mess tap in after Puleng Tlolane mesmerised the defence marshalled by former Bafana skipper Mbulelo Mabizela.

This win moved City to position 14 on the log with a clear shot at the top eight if they win their next two games against Supersport United and Maritzburg.

LESETJA MALOPE

“Sport has the power to change the world…it has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair. It is more powerful than government in breaking

down racial barriers.”

Polokwane City’s Kabelo Lichaba clears the ball too close to Mpumalanga Black Aces’ Themba Zwane.Photo: Real Deal Studios

Pirates’ Lucky Lekgwathi and Stars’ Hendrico Botes fighting for the ball during their encounter at Mbombela Stadium..Photo: Sports24

NELSPRUIT - Mbombela Stadium was a thrilling battleground for big a big gun Orlando Pirates and the rising

stars Platinum Stars. Caretaker Coach Allan Frees and his boys proved their mettle in this encouter which produced a setback for the Buccanneers and confi rmed the Stars’ coach’s suitability for this position.

Allan Freese has been a caretaker coach since the depature of Cavin Johnson.

Platinum Stars walloped the mighty Bucks 2-1 even though Pirates seemed to be in control of the game when they

went into a lead. The Pirates lead came when Lekgwathi headed a beauty in the 29th minute.

Stars fought back in the second half with Ngele schocking Pirates’ defence with his beautiful strike in the 78th minute. Pirates’ fate was sealed when Ngele followed up with another strike 10 minutes later.

Platinum looked like a team playing under pressure, and their game plan worked well as they showed more tenacity and intelligence on the fi eld.

SPORT REPORTER



Debunking the big team myth

Page 15

North eastern witness 12 18 december 2013

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Transcript of North eastern witness 12 18 december 2013