Inept 10111 operators and officers with no airtime mean you`re on
Transcription
Inept 10111 operators and officers with no airtime mean you`re on
★★ 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 We encourage residents of the City to engage the Integrated Development Plan (IDP), which is our service delivery framework for the next five years.See details for IDP public meetings inside. City Entities that achieved clean audits: READ IT. GET INVOLVED. BE AN ACTIVE RESIDENT. www.joburg.org.za @CityofJoburgZA CityofJohannesburg 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 COPYRIGHT e-mail: [email protected] Subscription and delivery problems: 0860 946946 The copyright on all material in this newspaper and its supplements is expressly reserved. The Times subscribes to the South African Press Code that prescribes news that is truthful, accurate, fair and balanced. Complaints about or unresolved disputes relating to editorial content may be lodged with the South African Press Ombudsman’s office at PO Box 47221, Parklands, 2121, telephone 011-484-3618, fax 011-484-3619. Published by Times Media Group Pty Ltd. e-mail Editorial: [email protected] Telephone 011-280-5245 Advertising: [email protected] Website: www.timeslive.co.za Cape Town office 021-488-1700 Durban office 031-250-8500 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 [email protected], 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 SUBSCRIPTION The Times is committed to bringing you news you can trust. If you spot mistakes in our stories, point them out to us. Please phone 011-280-5245 or fax 011-280-5070/1 or e-mail [email protected]. or write to us at PO Box 1742, Saxonwold, 2132 LEONIE WAGNER #TO THE POINT HOW TO CONTACT US HELP US GET IT RIGHT Sanral to send the sheriff to collect debt 17/23 15/25 06:51 18:54 14/30 19/25 13/24 06:01 18:05 12/20 06:12 18:16 11/30 9/29 Pietermaritzburg 18/24 Wind: 17km SSW 10/27 WARNING Readers are advised to carefully scrutinise advertisements offering investment opportunities. The Times cannot vouch for the claims made by advertisers. 15/25 Wind: 13km S 14/20 12/20 Wind: 38km NE Wind: 30km E GET IN TOUCH WITH US: News desk 011-280-5245 email: [email protected]. Website: www.timeslive.co.za 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!” TT/LE/TPL/401/E TOUGH, PROFESSIONAL LAWYERS FROM ONLY R130 PER MONTH. Know your rights. Your Clientèle Legal Lawyer is available 24 hours a day. 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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 [email protected], 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 Tuesday March 22 | 2016 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 Wednesday, 13 April 2016 17:00-20:00 ¿ Loerieblaar Avenue, Bramfsherville Cluster 3 – Wards 89, 97, 126 Thursday, 14 April 2016 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 Tuesday, 12 April 2016 16:00 - 20:00 Cluster 2 – Wards 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19 Thursday, 14 April 2016 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 Tuesday, 19 April 2016 16:00 - 20:00 Meadowlands Hall, Zone 10, 27576 Meadowlands Cluster 4 – Wards 20, 21, 46, 47, 48, 51, 52, 53, 130 Thursday, 21 April 2016 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 Wednesday, 13 April 2016 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 Tuesday, 19 April 2016 16:00 – 19:00 Yeoville Recreation Centre, cnr Raleigh & Fortesque Roads, Yeoville Cluster 3 – Wards 57, 61, 65, 118, 123 Wednesday, 20 April 2016 16:00 – 19:00 Bertha Solomon Recreation Centre, cnr Ford & Marshall Streets, Jeppestown Cluster 4 – Wards 23, 54, 55, 56, 57, 124, 125 Thursday, 21 April 2016 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 Wednesday, 13 April 2016 16:00 – 19:00 Lenasia Civic Centre, No 1 Rose Avenue Lenasia Ext 1 Cluster 3 – Wards 17,18, 119 Tuesday, 19 April 2016 16:00 – 19:00 Don Mateman Hall, Eldorado Park, 4064 Link Road Ext 5 Eldorado Park Cluster 4 – Wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Wednesday, 20 April 2016 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 6 The Times Tuesday March 22 | 2016 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 Tuesday March 22 | 2016 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. 8 The Times Tuesday March 22 | 2016 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: [email protected] 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 Tuesday March 22 | 2016 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 10 The Times Tuesday March 22 | 2016 Tuesday March 22 | 2016 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 12 The Times Tuesday March 22 | 2016 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: [email protected] 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 Tuesday March 22 | 2016 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. 14 The Times Tuesday March 22 | 2016 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 Tuesday March 22 | 2016 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 16 The Times Tuesday March 22 | 2016 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 powerful equinox and full moon bring inspiration. Call MTN 083-900-8535 or Vodacom 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 powerful equinox and full moon bring inspiration. Call MTN 083-900-8535 or Vodacom 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 powerful equinox and full moon bring inspiration. Call MTN 083-900-8535 or Vodacom 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 Tuesday March 22 | 2016 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) Solution, tips and computer program at www.sudoku.com 18 The Times Tuesday March 22 | 2016 Classified: 011 280 3147 [email protected] Legals: 011 280 5553 [email protected] 2290 Legal Services 2230 Personal www. LAWYER.co.za 2230 Personal BIRTHRIGHT Pregnant? We care Jhb: 079 ± 742 ± 8861 Dbn: 031 ± 201 -5471 ADDICTION RECOVERY HOMES & HALFWAY HOUSE www. healingchoices.co.za peter@ healingchoices.co.za AL-ANON & ALATEEN For families & friends of problem drinkers. 0861 ± 252 ± 666 FREE SERVICE GAMBLERS ANONYMOUS Do you have a gambling problem? WE CAN HELP. 078 528 6583 078 789 0868 7151 Holiday Accommodation SLEEP EASY HOTEL SPORT 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 1.5km to V&A Waterfront. • Double & Family Rooms • Secure Parking • Kitchen & Dining Facility • Air Conditioned • Group Prices From R400 per night www.sleepeasy.co.za Tel 021 439 9011 157 Main Road, Green Point, Cape Town RADIOGRAPHER Dr.J.E Myburgh INC is a private owned company providing radiobiological services in Phuthaditjahaba, Eastern Free State Province. 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Application with cover letter & CV’s should be forwarded to: [email protected] not later than 29 March 2016 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. ATTENTION READERS ARE ADVISED TO CAREFULLY SCRUTINISE ALL ADVERTISEMENTS PLACED IN THE PAPER. IT REMAINS THE CONSUMER’S RESPONSIBILITY TO VERIFY THE ADVERTISERS CREDENTIALS PRIOR TO MAKING PAYMENTS FOR ANY GOODS OR SERVICES RECEIVED. TIMES MEDIA WILL NOT BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANY TRANSACTIONS MADE. 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 Tuesday March 22 | 2016 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 *BET from Tues 22 Mar • Closes 22:00 Wed 23 Mar 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 *BET from Wed 23 Mar • Closes 19:00 Thurs 24 Mar 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 *BET from Tues 22 Mar • Closes 18:00 Wed 23 Mar Mark S10 V1 Pays 24 Mar Single entry R2 Kenya Congo Israel FYR Macedonia Liechtenstein Lithuania Serbia Internacional Atletico PR Botafogo SP SOCCER 10 POOL Thursday 24 March 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 *BET from Wed 23 Mar • Closes 20:45 Thurs 24 Mar 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 SOCCER 4 POOL Thursday 24 March Team A Team B S4 POOL M1 Turkey vs Sweden M2 Italy vs Spain M3 Bolivia vs Colombia M4 Chile vs Argentina *BET from Tues 22 Mar • Closes 20:45 Thurs 24 Mar Mark S4 P1 Pays 25 Mar Single entry R6 9 771996 551005 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