11 minute read
AMAZING FEATS
TESTING … ONE, TWO, THREE
ShopriteX – Checkers Rush
South Africa is not only a country with many great local companies and products, but it is also a leader when it comes to testing new technologies and trialling new crops, discovers BETH AMATO
Autumn crocus flower with saffron.
A saffron field.
A SWEET FIRST SAFFRON SEASON
Saffron, known as red gold, is the most expensive and coveted spice in the world. It tastes sweet and slightly earthy. It adds depth to dishes like Spanish paella and tachin (a crispy, baked Persian rice). In spice shops, saffron is stored in a safe place, usually behind the cashier’s counter, and distributed sparingly to customers. Saffron comes in thin red threads and is a popular ingredient in Middle Eastern cooking.
Harvesting saffron is labour-intensive and produces low yields. The spice is the stigma of the autumn crocus flower, with only three “threads” produced in a growth cycle. It takes 80 000 whole flowers to produce about 500 grams of saffron. Just a pinch of saffron is the yield of seven crocus flowers.
Bennie Engelbrecht, a traditional farmer from the Free State, spotted an opportunity to grow the autumn crocus flower in South Africa. He established a growing operation and business, Saffricon, between Calvinia and Williston in the Northern Cape, which has the ideal arid conditions for cultivating the autumn crocus.
Engelbrecht says that 2021 was the first growing season in South Africa and yield was much better than expected.
“The season exceeded our expectations, with most farmers producing successful crops. This bodes well for next season’s harvests and the growth of the industry,” he says.
RATE.” – BENNIE ENGELBRECHT, SAFFRICON
Currently Saffricon has sold 173 “starter packs” to farmers. A starter pack is R15 000 and includes seven kilograms of saffron corms. A 20-metre square growing space is recommended, specifically in the trial stage.
“We are now growing saffron in all nine provinces, and surprisingly, there has been a 95 per cent success rate. There have been some challenges, but year one’s harvest yielded more flowers than initially expected,” says Engelbrecht.
Saffricon hopes to partner with various buyers in the Middle East to purchase the saffron grown on South African soil. The product will do well as an export item because the global demand for saffron is much greater than its annual supply. Iran currently leads the world’s production output with India and Greece coming in second and third.
“South Africa has the potential to become one of the world’s top saffron suppliers, and we are working towards ISO classification so that we can regulate the product to ensure superior quality,” concludes Engelbrecht.
CASHIERLESS SHOPPING
Imagine grocery shopping and every item you put in your trolley is scanned and paid for by you in real-time, using your mobile device? No standing in queues or taking things in and out of the trolley to pay. It is a possibility if the store has artificial intelligence camera technology to scan your products and then automatically charge them to your bank card.
Checkers is piloting the first cashierless grocery shop in South Africa as part of its digital innovation strategy. The aptly named pilot store, Checkers Rush, is located next to the Shoprite head offices in Cape Town; and the company’s employees are the guinea pigs. Hundreds of hours of test footage are still required to perfect and “train” the algorithms, but once the concept moves out of its experimentation phase, a store will be opened to the public.
Checkers’ overall digital innovation unit, known as ShopriteX, employs 250 people including data science, e-commerce and personalisation experts. “Shoprite to the power of X represents the exponential growth opportunity when you combine the best of data, technology and talent with the scale of the Shoprite Group,” says Neil Schreuder, chief of strategy and innovation.
Schreuder adds that the launch of Checkers Rush is part of the group’s strategy to grow its ecosystem of value for consumers and to monetise new and diverse revenue streams.
Pieter Engelbrecht, CEO of the Shoprite Group, notes that “we are serious about being Africa’s most customer-centric retailer, and our investment is in fit-for-the-future precision retail, which is increasingly digital and data-led.”
– PIETER ENGELBRECHT, SHOPRITE GROUP
EXTRAORDINARY SUCCESS
South Africa has produced some extraordinary success stories over the years. BETH AMATO takes a look at some unique examples
SPRINGHARE HOPS BETTER THAN AUSTRALIA’S KANGAROOS
Who would have thought that a tiny, 40cm tall bipedal rodent would have faster hopping and acceleration abilities than the famous and much larger kangaroo? The springhare, which is about the size of a rabbit, is indigenous to Africa and has long been considered merely a mini version of Australia’s main hopper.
A study led by Dr Ned Snelling at the University of Pretoria’s Department of Anatomy and Physiology (which included colleagues from Harvard, Idaho and Wits universities), assessed the muscle-tendon design of the hind limbs of springhares and compared it against 16 species of Australian hoppers.
“In the battle of the hoppers,” says Snelling, “it’s South Africa 1 and Australia 0. We have long known that springhares are a type of rodent, but we didn’t know, until now, that springhares can claim hopping prowess over Australia’s rat-kangaroos, wallabies, and kangaroos.”
The signifi cance of this fi nding is multiple. It means springhares can outpace and outmanoeuvre much larger predators. The springhare’s hind limbs have much thicker tendons, relatively, when compared to similarly-sized Australian hoppers. These large tendons are better at rapidly transferring forces and thus facilitate fast and accelerative hopping. Snelling says that “intense predation pressure” probably led to the evolution of these specialised “overbuilt” springhare hind limbs. Now they have a fi ghting chance against jackals, cheetahs and leopards.
“In fact, even cheetahs, the fastest of the land animals, struggle to catch springhares. Research has shown that cheetahs have the lowest hunting success rates when pursuing springhares in the southern Kalahari,” he says.
Scientists may now understand the factors that led to the evolution of hopping in different groups of mammals.
“When you think about it, hopping is a very weird way to get around. It appears clumsy. However, this research on springhares shows that hopping, especially when undertaken using large force-transferring tendons, can provide a big advantage in terms of fast and accelerative locomotion. People have also always thought that hopping is quite unpredictable. Now we know that the springhare can rapidly change direction,” says Snelling.
Springhare Inside of a tendon of a springhare.
– DR NED SNELLING, UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA
INDEPENDENT HORROR FILM WINS THREE INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
South Africa’s latest folk-horror story, 8, will have you hiding under your duvet, especially when the insatiable demon girl character shrugs out of the duffel bag that main character Lazarus carries around. This bold fi lm is stylistically beautiful, drawing on the rich folk symbolism of indigenous South African culture. The fi lm is shot in an old manor house outside Knysna with the nearby forests adding a moody, ghostly element. The characters are unpredictable and complex too.
The fi lm has gone on to win multiple local and international awards, scoring 73 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes (under its international name, The Soul Collector).
Producer Jac Williams says that after Man Makes a Picture (the production studio where he works and which produced 8) made The Recce – a war drama on Showmax – the company wanted something to give them “more legs internationally”. The horror genre, notes Williams, is popular overseas and such movies are not expensive to make.
The world premiere of the fi lm was at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal in 2019. “The international reception was overwhelmingly positive. Indeed, our two screenings were sold out,” says Williams. So far, 8 has won 24 international awards, including the best feature fi lm at the British Horror Film Festival in London and at the Seattle International Film Festival. Lead actor Tshamano Sebe has also scooped up numerous Best Actor accolades. The fi lm did particularly well at the Fright Night Horror Film Festival in Los Angeles, winning 12 awards.
The reception in South Africa was also encouraging, notes Williams. The production company made a deal with Netfl ix and 8 became the fi rst South African fi lm to be released on Netfl ix. It then became a Netfl ix original, even though the fi lm was initially produced independently.
“We were a bit worried about the audience reaction initially because of the themes in the fi lm, but we were blown away by the audience response and support. The fi lm did exceptionally well on Netfl ix and will be running till June 2022. It also trended on Twitter and was number one on the Netfl ix Top 10 for opening weekend,” says Williams.
Lazarus Lazarus Jac Williams
ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY UNVEILED AS NATIONAL HERITAGE SITE
There has been rapid development of the study of the sky, with its interesting and mystical stars, planets and space matter, in South Africa.
Indeed, South Africa is a leader on the African continent with the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) being one of the largest optical telescopes in the world, and the MeerKAT, which is the most powerful radio telescope in the world. Furthermore, South Africa will host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), one of the biggest global astronomy projects ever undertaken.
“The country’s astronomical advantages include its geographic location in the southern hemisphere with access to the dark southern skies and radio-quiet zones, incredible governmental support and previous infrastructure investment,” says Dr Daniel Cunnama, science engagement astronomer at the SA Astronomical Observatory (SAAO).
At the centre of all this activity is the SAAO, the oldest scientifi c institution (it recently celebrated 200 years) in South Africa, declared a National Heritage Site by the South African Heritage Resources Agency.
“This is a recognition of the incredible achievements of the observatory and their signifi cance over the past two centuries and will ensure the preservation and celebration of this heritage for future generations,” adds Cunnama. To celebrate the observatory’s bicentennial, various events were arranged, including the unveiling of the SAAO as a National Heritage Site, the SAAO 200 Astronomy Symposium, and the SAAO 200 Virtual Astronomy Festival.
“Recognising and celebrating this heritage is an excellent opportunity to further engage with the South African public and share our combined heritage under the umbrella of the stars,” he adds.
Southern African Large Telescope
INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT.” – DR DANIEL CUNNAMA, SA ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY
THE MAPUTO TO SA CORRIDOR
The N4 Toll Route is the catalyst for trade and investment between three South African landlocked provinces, Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, as well as neighbouring provinces. It is the corridor that links South Africa to international markets through the Maputo Port.
Key upgrades on the N4 include the Belfast-Machado road rehabilitation and upgrade, which is 26 per cent complete; the New Karino Interchange in Mbombela, valued at R390-million and 50 per cent complete; the Emalahleni-Middelburg road rehabilitation and upgrade, due to be completed in March 2022; and the Kaapmuiden to Kaalrug rehabilitation and upgrade, which borders Mozambique.
Solange Soares, communications manager at Trans African Concessions (TRAC), which manages the Maputo to SA corridor, says the road upgrades have boosted development by improving mobility and allowing for higher traffi c volumes.
“The N4 Toll Route has not only expanded South Africa’s participation in the global trading arena, but has also fostered regional trade and broadened economic activity between South Africa and Mozambique through the easing of access and reduction in transport costs. The dominant trade fl ow is from South Africa to Mozambique, with consumers in Maputo now able to access goods that only used to
N4 Toll Route – Pretoria to Maputo
be available in South Africa. The project has also fostered trade among other neighbouring countries, such as Namibia and Botswana since the N4 under TRAC’s management forms part of the Trans Kalahari Road from Walvis Bay to Maputo,” says Soares.
TRAC also manages the N4 toll road on the Mozambican side. The section between Matola and Maputo in Mozambique is the busiest section of the N4, with the Maputo Plaza the busiest plaza in southern Africa.
Meanwhile, there has been an uptick in employment opportunities, especially through the ongoing construction and maintenance of the road. TRAC itself employs over 600 people in South Africa and Mozambique, reaching the job creation target included in the concession contract, says Soares. “Apart from direct employment, hundreds of people are further employed indirectly, notably for the construction and maintenance projects.”
