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‘I WAS HIT BY MORE CRIME IN UK THAN SA’

In light of the media hype following the Oscar Pistorius case, other SA sports stars reveal that the perception of crime in South Africa can differ vastly from the lived reality

by HEATHER WALKER

THE international media has been quick to paint South Africa as a violent gun-riddled country, in the context of the Oscar Pistorius shooting. But is crime paranoia at an all-time high? In last week’s special programme ‘The Fear Factor’ BBC Radio 5 Live Sport interviewed several sporting legends to find out whether this fear was justified.

The programme began by highlighting some statistics that paint a picture of both optimism and concern. There were 16,000 murders in 2012, 43 people are murdered daily and there are 12 guns for every 100 citizens.

While murder, serious crime and carjackings are down, residential robberies and drug related crime are up.

Former Springbok captain John Smit has been living in the UK for a couple of years and is very much looking forward to going back home in three months’ time. Smit does not see crime as a main concern, and says that there is no difference between the way he lives in London and the way he lives in Durban.

Except of course in Durban he says that there is the added bonus of leaving the back door open at night so that he can hear the sea and the waves crashing against the beach.

“When I did the same here my neighbours warned me to make sure I keep the door closed. Maybe I’m lucky in Durban. I’ve never felt targeted as a sportsman. For me, it’s surprising to sleep with a gun by

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your bed,” he said.

Not everyone is as optimistic as Smit. County cricketer Andrew Hall moved to England to escape the crime he experienced in South Africa. He was shot, hijacked and robbed twice in four years; he says he will never return to South Africa.

The programme reminded us that what happened with Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp was not an isolated case. In 2004 former Springbok Rudi Visagie accidentally shot his 19-year-old daughter Marle, mistaking her for a car thief. In a rare interview, Visagie told 5 live how two murders in his neighbourhood had put him on edge and he had completely forgotten Marle was leaving early to surprise her boyfriend. He shot her car as it pulled out of the driveway and only then realised his mistake. “I saw her in the car, with her head over the steering wheel. Lifeless. The only daughter I will ever have. One I love with all my heart. I remember it like yesterday. Something like that doesn’t just get out of your mind, it’s part of your life. You can’t change the bullet, you can’t change anything.” Despite his pain, Visagie believed one went through things to help others and expressed a desire to talk to Pistorius about the shooting.

Some international sportsmen have seen more crime in UK than SA. Former Charlton striker Sean Bartlett, now assistant coach of the Golden Arrows said, “I have never felt unsafe or the need to acquire Continued on page 2

26/10/2012 15:49:32

INSIDE:

p2 | South Africa mourns death of ‘Mandela of Literature’

p7 | Freshlyground launches new album with London shows p9 | The rise and rise of the African middle class

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Conrad is a part-time freelance writer and self-published humour writer currently working on his second book. For more info, see www.conradbrand.com or follow him on Twitter @snoeksop

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South Africa mourns death of ‘Mandela of Literature’

South African politicians and cultural figures pay their final respects to prominent Nigerian poet and pioneer of the African novel in English, Chinua Achebe

by LAURA ATTWELL

CHINUA Achebe, the man whom Nelson Mandela hailed as being ‘the writer who brought Africa to the world’ died in Boston on Thursday at the age of 82.

On Friday the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory tweeted its condolences on the passing of Professor Achebe.

Achebe died after what his London literary agent called a brief illness. His death has been met with great sadness from his many admirers around the world.

The chairperson for the Zimbabwe Writers Association, Musaemura Zimunya, said that Achebe “was not called the father of African literature for nothing…

He pioneered fiction writing in Africa.”

South African president Jacob Zuma called him a “colossus of African writing who had helped many define themselves.”

Achebe’s most famous book Things Fall Apart was published in 1958 and is a set book in many South African schools.

It is has sold over 10 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 45 languages.

South African writer and Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer called Achebe’s work ‘a joy and an illumination to read’. The New York Times described him as ‘one of Africa’s most widely read novelists and one of the continent’s

towering men of letters’.

Achebe wrote Things Fall Apart when he was just 28 years old; he was inspired after reading AngloIrish author Joyce Cary’s Mister Johnson which he found utterly insulting. He wanted to write something about Africa from an African’s perspective – “His works were a protest against the portrayal of the African man by European writers” said Zimbabwean author Shimmer Chinodya.

As a result of civil war, military dictatorships and a car accident that left him wheelchair-bound for life, Achebe left his home country of Nigeria and moved abroad permanently in the 1990s.

He took up various teaching posts at universities in Africa, Europe and America before finally becoming the Professor of African Studies at America’s prestigious Brown University in 2009.

Over time Achebe’s political thought shifted from blaming colonisation for Africa’s troubles to being a harsh critic of postcolonial African leaders.

In 1967 when the region of Biafra sought to break away and become independent from Nigeria, Achebe became an advocate for the cause. The war led to widespread violence and famine and was eventually taken back by Nigeria.

Over 30 universities all around the world have awarded Achebe honorary degrees, including

institutions in South Africa and the UK. He is also the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious Man Booker International Prize in 2007.

Achebe is survived by his four children, six grandchildren and

wife, Christie.

He also leaves behind a great legacy: in the words of the Zimbabwean writer Virginia Phiri: “Achebe inspired us all…it is a great loss to African literature and to the world as a whole.”

‘Money to be made from crime paranoia’ Continued from front page weapon to make me feel safe and I never will. I believe if it’s your time to go it’s your time, whether it’s a crime or car accident. It’s unfortunate how people see SA, but the fact is our tourism still booming, it shows what we have and why people want to come. Since I moved back home in 2006, I have had no problem with crime, I don’t live in a gated community. The only additional thing I have now is higher walls. The only time I had an attempted break in was in my house in Kent. Mark Fish, my fellow South African player from Charlton would say the same thing. He was held at gunpoint at his house in Chislehurst, but before he left and since he came back, he hasn’t been subject to any crime”.

Saracens CEO Ed Griffiths is one of the most vehement defenders of SA. He was keen to highlight that the country has huge potential and is progressing at a realistic rate for a

developing country.

“There is perception and reality.

The reality is that crime is dropping.

Domestic violence has gone down 45% since 1995. The perception of high crime can cause paranoia, particularly in more affluent suburbs. The bigger picture is of a country that most people expected to descend into bloody civil war, which came through a negotiated revolution and now has democracy and one of the most advanced constitutions in the world. From a distance SA can be perceived as exceptionally dangerous place. We could sit here today in London and think about it as this place where murderers and rapists run wild through the streets and everyone lives in fear. That’s not the reality, the reality is that millions carry on with their lives in what is generally a peaceful and prosperous country.”

“We have a fair number of South Africans playing for Saracens and I can safely say that during all those

negotiations no one ever said ‘And the crime rate in UK is lower than SA’. I’m not minimising it as a problem, I’m just saying it’s not a factor in daily life,” said Griffiths.

Forensic expert Rudolph Zinn believes this paranoia is fuelled by security companies and property developers. “It’s in their commercial interest to let people know crime rates in their suburb so they can sell more security products or homes in gated communities” he said.

Cape Town resident and sports broadcaster Neil Manthorp concurred. “The private security industry in South Africa is worth billions, it’s highly competitive, there’s definitely money to be made from paranoia.” Former SA cricketer John Commins was murdered during a burglary at his Cape Town home in January 2013.

His daughter Donne Commins, the agent for several sports stars such as Mark Boucher, said, “Sometimes it feels we are living a bit in the

Wild West. This country makes me proud and doesn’t make me want to leave, but we have to right this rot. I always wondered how I would feel when I lost one of my parents, but to have so many unanswered questions, to think of the pain he went through… I am not the only person who has been through this, so many people in our country experience it daily. My heart is still in SA, and every country has its own problems, but we do live with this perpetual anxiety. When South Africans spend a significant amount of time overseas and come back they feel this underlying fear. I hope that we can get to a place where we feel peace.”

Manthorp admitted, “There is an edginess about South Africa but I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

Everywhere you look there is the opportunity to uplift someone’s life, to change something for good. You can feel good about the future every day in SA.”

thesouthafrican.com | 26 March - 1 April 2013 |

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Tretchikoff ’s ‘Chinese Girl’ breaks £1m world record and heads home

‘Chinese Girl’ heads home for display at Delaire Graff Estate near Stellenbosch after fetching highest ever price for Tretchikoff painting in last week’s Bonhams South African Sale in London

by STAFF REPORTER

‘CHINESE Girl’, the most iconic work of Vladimir Tretchikoff – the Russian émigré who settled in South Africa – was sold last week for £1 million at Bonhams South African art sale.

Following worldwide interest in the sale, the painting, which had been estimated to sell for £300,000 to £500,000, made £982,050 (R13.8m).

This is the highest amount ever paid for a Tretchikoff painting.

The entire sale of some 150 pictures made £4.5m.

The buyer of ‘Chinese Girl’ is Laurence Graff, British businessman and jeweller and Chairman of Graff Diamonds International, who owns the Delaire Graff Estate near Stellenbosch, where this picture will go on public display with the rest of his art collection.

Said to be the most widely reproduced and recognisable picture in the world, from the 1950s onwards prints of this famous work sold widely in South Africa, Britain, Europe and America. Significantly

Tretchikoff out-performed the two longtime market leaders in South African art at auction – Irma Stern and Jacob Hendrik Pierneef. ‘Landscape Stellenbosch’ by Pierneef made £713,250 and ‘Congolese Beauty’

by Irma Stern was sold for £541,250. Stern holds the record for South African art at Bonhams with her piece ‘Arab Priest’, which sold for £3 million in 2011.

Tretchikoff’s value has risen exponentially in the art market, due to both the re- evaluation of his legacy in exhibitions such as

Tretchikoff: The People’s Painter, at IZIKO South African National Gallery (2011), as well as his appearance on the world stage at auction at Bonhams.

Tretchikoff’s previous world record was recently achieved at Bonhams with the semi-nude portrait painting, ‘Portrait of Lenka (Red Jacket)’, featuring Tretchikoff’s lover and muse, which sold for £337,250 (R4.7million).

Just over 100 Tretchikoff works have appeared at auction.

The 20-year trajectory of these auctions charts a remarkable and sustained resurgence in the artist’s popularity.

Giles Peppiatt, Director of South African Art at Bonhams, said, “This was an exceptional price for a work which really does merit the word ‘iconic’. And it’s very happy news to hear that it is going home.”

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Giles Peppiatt of Bonhams acknowledges Laurence Graff’s winning bid for ‘Chinese Girl’.

SA doctor Cyril Karabus cleared of UAE manslaughter charges

WE WILL TAKE YOU HOME/ONS DOEN DIE GROOT TREK HUIS TOE...

UAE medical review committee has found that 77-year-old South African doctor detained in Dubai on manslaughter charges for eight months is not responsible for the death of a child he treated

by SULIET OLADOKUN

SOUTH African doctor Cyril Karabus is set to return home to Cape Town after medical experts cleared him of a manslaughter charge over an incident which happened a decade ago.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) detained the 77-year-old for eight months in Abu Dhabi.

The police arrested paediatric oncologist Karabus at the Dubai International airport while in transit to South Africa after attending his son’s wedding in Canada.

UAE officials convicted Karabus of the manslaughter of a threeyear-old girl with leukaemia he

operated on in 2003.

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation said on Thursday that A United Arab Emirates court had found Professor Karabus not guilty.

“He was in court today and the court has found him not guilty,” said departmental spokesperson Clayson Monyela.

The South African government had been vocal with the UAE to release Karabus in particular due to the numerous delays to the trial.

The age and health of Karabus has also been cited as reasons why the SA government wanted a quick resolution to the affair.

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Joost honoured at London fundraiser

by MYAK HOMBERGER

A LONDON dinner to raise funds and awareness for Joost van der Westhuizen’s J9 foundation was attended by Springboks past and present, as well as rugby stars from around the globe, Aussie cricketer Shane Warne and his fiancee Liz Hurley. The evening was opened

by SA Rugby Legends founder Gavin Varejes, who spoke frankly about Van der Westhuizen’s fight against motor neuron disease.

He also read out a message from Francois Pienaar and played a video message from Springbok hooker John Smit.

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Rupturing the silence with a tour-de-force tragicomedy: Coetzee on White Men with Weapons

We interview Greig Coetzee ahead of his return to the London stage with his at turns mordantly funny and harrowing memories from the days of the South African Defence Force the other guests away... I was there saw combat or not. for two hours because of all the walking wounded.

It seems astonishing that, two decades on, your play is still one of so few that speak to this huge silence in SA’s very recent history.

When I performed in the US, Americans - who have been extensively debriefed about Vietnam - still respond to this play.

Even for veterans of Iraq, society has so many ways of thanking them and of discussing and remembering what they did.

But for people who fought in the Border War, there’s no way to honour that memory.

Those guys had grandfathers who had fought in the World War II and they came back heroes.

They could associate themselves with that heroism, whether they

by BRETT PETZER

WHITE Men with Weapons focuses on the SADF and the collapse of apartheid. To what extent does the play draw from your personal experiences as a conscript and how does it depart from them?

All the characters in the play are based on people I met in the army – except for one who was inspired by a murder trial involving three conscripts. But anyone who was in the army will tell you that it’s full of extreme, loud, colourful, sometimes horrible, sometimes funny men from all walks of life.

For a writer and an actor it’s a dream situation. I play thirteen characters ranging from a bangbroek recruit to a d**s korporaal to a stoned Durban medic and many others in between.

When I play them, I can see in my head the people they were based on. As for the truth of the piece – everything in the play was something I saw or heard or did in the army. There was no need to make anything up – the biggest problem was what to leave out.

The humour of the play is juxtaposed with the heavy political and social topics it explores. Did you consciously make use of humour to lighten the story or did that aspect of the play develop unintentionally?

The first time I performed the piece I was an angry young man.

I still hated my korporaal and I used to pour all that hate into the way I played him. But the more I tried to show the audience what a horrible little man he was, the more they laughed. At first I was taken aback because this was my ‘angst’ and everyone was laughing. But then I realised that when you look back at a difficult time, it can be

funny. And laughter is also a great way of dealing with our weird, screwed-up, bosbefokte history.

I don’t think the humour lightens the story – I think it gives us a way of connecting with the past and understanding the craziness of it all. And hell, theatre isn’t medicine! You don’t go because it’s good for you – you go because, one way or another, you want to be entertained.

What kind of warm-up does the performance require? How do you make the army experience fresh for every audience?

The play started when I was an angry young man. I was pissed off with having to go through conscription. A lot of the characters are based on people I actually knew or met in the army. Many of them were people I was angry with - my corporal had made my life a misery. Initially, then, it didn’t feel like theatre - it felt like revenge.

Then it started becoming another thing. In a strange way, from being based on people I really disliked, they become old mates of mine... like tattoos.

You had a life before the Army.

How did that make you different from other troepies?

I studied before the army. I was about 21, and that changed everything. I knew my rights, I had been an anti-apartheid activist in NUSAS. We had to grow up very quickly because we were political activitists in quite a serious political movement. In my basic training I refused to accept my rifle, and ended up having to go through a court hearing. I watched the troepies around me - these little teenage right-wingers - and they still kind of looked up to us older guys...we’d give advice on

everything from their girlfriends to sneaking out on leave.

Oscar Pistorius’s father has claimed that the ANC does not do enough to protect whites. This is a family that had, I believe, 55 guns between them. Oscar himself was a collector. Guns are increasingly important as an identity to a kind of South African man - there’s a sort of suburban arms race. Is there a link between this great generational damage done to white men by white men through the Border War and conscription, and the lack of debriefing, and the fact that all these former conscripts are walking around decades later in a society that prefers to forget what it asked them to do?

For me the big surprise is that there haven’t been more men like spree killer Barend Strydom, who just took out a gun and started shooting.

I have done 800 performances, at least half in SA. I used to spot them - there would be these lone wolf characters hanging around the foyer after the show. Their wives would laugh and I would usually a response like - “Ja, thanks china, it took me twenty years to forget that”. The women would laugh but the guys would take it very seriously. Guys wouldn’t necessarily pay me a compliment, but sometimes a huge guy for example would get halfway through one sentence and then burst into tears.

Then I’ve had people who came to see the show and then came back the next night in uniform. A guy in Johannesburg came to see the show every day for twelve days in a row.

I was supposed to do a 20 minute slot some years ago on Soli Philander’s On Cape Talk radio show and they ended up turning

Then these Border War conscripts came back and you were one of the bad guys. Just as everyone in WWII got a heroic quality, everyone who was in the SADF [was tarnished] - there was always this kind of suspicion.

When you’ve already been marked as a bad guy, you’re not allowed to say that you’re a victim.

[That is the reason] these guys never seek help.

White Men With Weapons runs for four nights at the Tara Arts Theatre in Earlsfield from 3 to 6 April. The show features strong language and themes which may not be suitable for children. Book on www.tara-arts.com TheSouthAfrican. com/entertainment

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FANIE os oppie jas

FANIE VAN DER MERWE

Oor dié ding met Oscar Pistorius

NET soos die res van die wêreld het ek daai oggend met skok verneem dat Oscar Pistorius sy meisie Reeva Steenkamp doodgeskiet het. Ek kon dit nie glo nie. Ek wóú dit nie glo nie. Maar soos die feite langsamerhand begin deursypel het, kon ek nie anders as om ’n verdoemende houding jeens hom in te neem nie. Het die bure dan nie kort voor die skietery ’n rusie uit sy woonplek hoor opklink nie?

En is haar skedel nie verbrysel met ’n bebloede krieketkolf wat op die toneel gevind is nie? En die arsenaal wapens, insluitende ’n masjiengeweer, wat in sy kamer gevind is? Wat dáárvan? En die testosterooninspuitings wat in sy bedkassie gevind is? Dit kon tog net een ding beteken het: roid rage.

Maar ten spyte van al dié vingers van beskuldiging wat in sy rigting gewys het, was dit die polisie se onmiddellike reaksie op die grugebeure wat my finaal oortuig het dat hy bloed aan sy hande het.

Die Mag sou immers nie om dowe neute op die daad ontken het dat hy haar vir ’n inbreker aangesien het nie. En hulle sou mos nie sommer op die eerste dag al bekend gemaak het dat hy van moord met voorbedagte aangekla gaan word as hulle nie oor onteenseglike bewyse beskik het dat hy niks minder as ’n koelbloedige moordenaar was nie.

Of sou hulle?

Ek moes dit seker geweet het.

Seker my gesonde verstand gebruik het. Want waarom sou die ouens wat mense agter hulle vangwaens sleep, wat stakers koelbloedig doodskiet, wat slaap aan diens, wat só dikwels van rassisme en brutaliteit beskuldig word, wat sukkel om ’n eenvoudige vorm in ’n aanklagkantoor na behore in te vul, dié keer ’n professionele en deeglike taak verrig het? En

The OPTIMIST só was dit toe ook. As dit nie so neerdrukkend was nie, sou die polisie se onbeholpenheid wat tydens sy borgtogaansoek blootgelê is, lagwekkend gewees het. Maar te wyte daaraan sit ek nou met die wete dat my aanvanklike aanname van sy skuld op flagrante valshede gebaseer was.

Ek weet nie of hy haar met opset vermoor het nie. Dalk het hy.

Maar wat ek wel weet is dat elke argument in ’n ander rigting getrek kan word wanneer jy hom eers die voordeel van die twyfel begin gee.

Dis maklik om in ’n leunstoel, met ’n glasie wyn in die hand, te spekuleer oor waarom hy nie eers seker gemaak het of sy steeds in die bed was voordat hy die noodlottige skote afgevuur het nie. Of waarom hy nie eers bepaal het of dit wél ’n booswig agter die geslote toiletdeur was nie.

Of waarom hy nie een of twee nie, maar juis víér skote moes afvuur.

Maar niemand weet regtig hoe hulle in ’n soortgelyke situasie sal optree nie. Hoe dikwels hoor mens nie hoe iemand wat ’n traumatiese situasie beleef het, na afloop van die gebeure vertel dat hy nie geweet het dat hy tot dit of dat in staat was nie.

Of dat hy nooit sou kon dink dat hy sus of só in daardie situasie sou optree nie?

Ja, hy het ooglopend ’n fiksasie met vuurwapens. Maar honderde duisende ander Suid-Afrikaners hou, net soos hy, gelisensieerde vuurwapens in hulle huise aan. En duisende mans gaan jaarliks op jagtogte waar die gebruik van grootkaliber-gewere aan die orde van die dag is.

Maar niemand vermoed dat daar ’n sluimerende geweldenaar binne dié vuurwapengebruikers skuil nie.

Ja, hy het gedreig om Marc Batchelor se bene te breek, nadat sy meisie hom met Batchelor se vriend, Quinton van der Burgh, verneuk het en Batchelor by dié relletjie betrokke geraak het.

Maar hoeveel mans het nie al tydens ’n liefdestwis gedreig om die ander party op een of ander manier skade te berokken nie?

Ja, hy het vir Reeva twee keer gebel terwyl sy kort voor haar dood saam met Warren Lahoud, haar ekskêrel, koffie gedrink het.

Maar watter ou sal nie sy nuwe(rige) meisie wil verseker dat hy aan haar dink wanneer hy weet dat sy tyd saam met haar vorige liefde spandeer nie?

Ja, dalk hét hy na sy onlangse suksesse te selfingenome geword.

Dalk hét die nederige rolmodel van vroeër plek gemaak vir ’n windbol wat homself as bo die reg verhewe beskou.

Dalk ís dit so dat daar ’n siniese, aggressiewe grootheidswaan agter daardie sjarmante glimlag skuil.

Ek weet nie, want ek ken hom nie persoonlik nie, maar selfs al ís dit die geval, maak dit steeds nie by verstek van hom ’n moordenaar nie.

KAREN DE VILLIERS

Apple-pied

MY dependent that was Sayo (a nickname for the Sony V squiggle IO) wanted to die. Personally I think it was cancer from second degree smoke (from the candles), the odd imbibing of alcohol and a general weariness that comes from knowing you are past your sell by date. As I feel every day. But it is wheezing, or as my dear Thole would say about every broken piece of equipment, ‘Madam, it is f**ked’.

It was time to put the dog down.

Now I was going to assimilate.

Integrate iPad, iTouch, iPhone with … iMac and be at last not wanting for anything more on the world’s stage of geniusdom. I am i-everything!

Off she frolics gaily to Apple in Covent Garden. The swarm of smurfs are eager to assist. You have computer, large fake smile, box in hand and zero bank balance. Will transfer data overnight.

What follows should have a warning message flashing before you. My beautiful silver siren is ready for my giving of all, my life in letters. Only I still sit with an email address that remains offline.

No problem, enter the data: offline. Again.

Offline. Mild

irritation, but then I paid for the 25 years of help from Smurf Kingdom.

Back to Apple. The smiles wane as the brows peak in puzzle form.

No problem, will get in touch with my host – an hour’s call to Cape Town and phone to the ear, wait, enter the data, phone to the ear ... no luck.

Daughter smirks. ‘I told you you were technologically challenged.’

I ignore such drivel. Every man I appeal to lingers for a few minutes before I sense that condescending unsaid sentence but I know what they think. Hate them all and will do this myself. With the seriousness of a marriage vow, I carefully type in the username, e-mail address, the incoming server. I painfully type and re-type the password. Delete and re-create the account. And the bitch is still offline!

Whilst pouring my next glass of wine I am again fighting with STMPs and pops and other jargon that willfully deny me access to my emails. ‘Why oh why are you being so mean’, I wail at the screen.

The sense of humour has left the building a long time ago.

I am a demented demon with flames bursting from my ears, expletives from my mouth and a lot less hair than I had on my head when I bought Monsieur Mac-mybehind computer.

I know the problem will be solved.

Sad though that all euphoria has dissipated into mistrust between me and the silver siren for now.

She does not want me, those that control her mock me and I swear I am doing everything right so why me? The worst is I know it will be a simple gesture, a quick press on the tab by some git and I will not dance, but skulk out of Apple, properly Apple-pied. Unfair.

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thesouthafrican.com | 26 March - 1 April 2013 |

Entertainment

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Freshlyground launches new album with two London shows

Freshlyground will be showcasing songs off their new Sama-nominated album ‘Take Me To the Dance’ at Jazz Cafe on 4 and 5 May

by STAFF REPORTER

SOUTH African band Freshlyground returns to London for two nights only at Jazz Café in Camden on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 May. They’ll be showcasing songs off their new Samanominated album Take Me To the Dance, and fans will no doubt also be treated to some of their previous hits such as ‘Doo Bee Doo’ and ‘Fire is Low’.

Freshlyground is made up of seven talented musicians from South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Their musical style blends elements of traditional South African music such as kwela, with blues, jazz, and indie rock.

Fronted by the diminutive but dynamic Zolani Mahola, the band exudes a live performance energy that has been the bedrock of their success. Freshlyground launched their debut album Jika Jika in early 2003, followed by Nomvula in 2004. The album sold 300,000 units in South Africa, earning it multiplatinum status and their catchy single ‘Doo Be Doo’ went on to become a crossover favourite. The band was selected to co-perform the Official Song for the 2010 World Cup, ‘Waka Waka – This Time For Africa’ with Colombian superstar Shakira. ‘Waka Waka’ sold well over three million singles and reached number one on several charts worldwide.

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Freshlyground has done sold-out tours in SA, Europe, China, the USA and Canada. They have won seven Samas and are nominated for two 2013 Samas for Best Adult Contemporary Album and Group of the Year.

Take me to the Dance is Freshlyground’s fifth studio album.

Produced by Steve Berlin who has worked with artists such as Crash Test Dummies and Sheryl Crow, it marks a new creative beginning in the 10 year history of the band,

while retaining their signature afropop sound. If you thought you knew Freshlyground’s sound, think again. From the hot banter of a late-night radio DJ (‘Mina noBhiza’) to the blistering bass of kwaito house (‘Nomthandazo’), to country-inspired harmonies, Take Me To The Dance welcomes it all.

Wry and sensual, deeply personal, this diverse sonic material has finally embraced every sound the band loves. Tickets on www.ticketmaster.co.uk

Theatre review: Mies Julie at Riverside Studios

It was refreshing to see South Africans going all the way without inhibition

by JEREMY KUPER

Mies Julie, written and directed

by Yael Farber and based on August Strindberg’s Miss Julie, stars Bongile Mantsai as John, Hilda Cronjé as Julie, Thoko Ntshinga as Christine.

The performances were five-star, and the monochrome South African themes of the story played very well to an English audience.

However, from a South African point of view there was a slight sense of déjà vu. The familiar racial tensions on view between the white farmer’s daughter Julie, and the farm labourer John, would have left Saffers in the audience knowing what to expect.

This play from the past, set firmly within the present, acts as a comment on contemporary South Africa. One theme examines how in some places, like the rural Karoo farm where all the action takes place, little has changed in the two

Bongile Mantsai as John and Hilda Cronjé as Julie (Image: William Burdett-Coutts)

decades since the fall of apartheid.

The risqué subject matter of the play belies the innate conservatism of the story line. And unlike French cinema, in South African films and tehatre, sexual content, unless it is of the Doris Lessing variety, is very rare and always a socioplitical comment.

From that point of view it was refreshing to witness South

Africans going all the way without inhibition, even if it is fated to end badly.

Mies Julie Review: 4/5 Proudly supported by The South African At London’s Riverside Studios 7 March to 18 May 2013 Ticket: £25-£26 Box office: 020 8237 1111 www.miesjulie.com

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8

| 26 March - 1 April 2013 | thesouthafrican.com

Entertainment

Follow us on Twitter: @TheSAnews

Controversial photos of black lesbians win award in London

by LAURA ATTWELL

Zanele Muholi, Miss Divine III, 2007 © Zanele Muholi

DURBAN-born photographer Zanele Muholi was awarded a 2013 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award in London on Friday. Muholi received the award in recognition of her work as an activist and photographer working to represent black South African lesbians, a group that faces extreme opposition and is still a taboo status in many parts of South Africa.

The ceremony was hosted by the prominent British journalist Jonathan Dimbleby who called the event ‘a

celebration of freedom of expression – the fundamental human right to write, blog, tweet, speak out, protest and create art and literature and music’.Kirstin Hughes, the CEO of Index, said that ‘Zanele has shown tremendous bravery in the face of criticism and harassment for groundbreaking images which include intimate portraits of gay women in South Africa’.

Despite the fact that the South African constitution prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, Muholi and her

subjects have been the victims of violence and intimidation. Graeme Reid of Human Rights Watch put this down to a ‘gap between the constitution and public attitude’.

In April last year Muholi’s Cape Town flat was broken into and precious external hard drives, photographs and videos containing records of her work were stolen.

The thieves did not take anything else, and Muholi asked ‘if people were here to steal, why didn’t they take the flat-screen TV? We have a DVD player, we have a printer, a

projector. Those things were never touched.’

In 2009, the former Minister of Arts and Culture (presently the Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities) Lulu Xingwana left an exhibition displaying Muholi’s work in disgust. Muholi responded by saying that Xingwana’s actions had left her feeling ‘paralysed’.

Other recipients of the Index award included the Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, Greek journalist Kostas Vaxevanis and the Syrian software engineer Bassel Khartabil.

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Cheesecake – fridge version 2000g Whipped Cream 1250g Soft cheese 125g White wine 6 Lemons, zested and juiced 375g Sugar, 75g Gelatine 375g Milk

Cheesecake – baked 1kg Cream cheese 400g Castor sugar 6 Whole eggs 2 Egg yolks 200ml Double cream 200ml Lemon juice 75g Flour 5ml Vanilla pod (scraped) 450g Digestive biscuits – crushed 100g Castor sugar 30ml Brandy 125g Butter Method: Mix all wet ingredients. Blitz the digestives with brandy sugar and butter. Leave to set in the fridge for 1 hour. Line the baking dish with the crumble. Pour the cream cheese mixture in and bake in a pre-heated oven (170c) for 45-50min.

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thesouthafrican.com | 26 March - 1 April 2013 |

Business: Gateway to Africa

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The rise and rise of the African middle class Africa’s middle class has tripled over the last 30 years, with one in three people now considered to be living above the poverty line. The current trajectory suggests that the African middle class will grow to 1.1 billion (42%) in 2060

by DR JACQUELINE CHIMHANZI

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THE RISE of the middle class, as a percentage of the population, has been steady – in 1980, 111 million or 26 per cent of the continent’s population fell in this category rising to 151.4 million or 27 per cent of the population in 1990 with a further surge to 196 million in 2000 and a dramatic increase to 313 million in 2010 equating to 34.3 per cent of the population (African Development Bank, 2011). In contrast, the rise in absolute numbers, compared to the percentage rise, has been more dramatic and this is best explained by the increase in population with Africa having hit the 1 billion population mark in 2010.

This population boom captures, at once, the African opportunity and her dilemma. The opportunity is that large population numbers create the very necessary volume for any consumer goods and services. Numbers move product.

The dilemma is that Africa’s population growth has undercut any dramatic reduction in poverty. For now though, we will focus only on the opportunity on the premise that profit is underpinned by volume.

It is vital, at this early juncture, to define the term middle class. The African Development Bank (AfDB) defines the African middle class as those spending between US$2 and US$20 a day. While, in the developed world, this may appear too low to be classified as middle class spending, the Bank deems this range appropriate given the cost Nedbank Golf Challenge of living on the world’s poorest print continent. Middle class is defined in relation to the average income and that average is lower in Africa than in the west. They take a PPP perspective – not Private Public Partnership – rather, Purchasing Power Parity perspective. Simply put, US$20 has more stretch in Benin, for instance, than in the USA. Within this broad African middle class category, there are further sub-classes: upper middle class equates to those spending between US$10 and US$20 a day. Lower

middle refers to those spending US$4 and US$10 a day and the floating class are those that are the most vulnerable in society spending between US$2 and US$4 – this only slight above the developing world poverty line of US$2 person per day. At 313 million, the African middle class is roughly the same size as its Indian and Chinese counterparts and this is the very basis of media reports such as “Africa is the new Asia” – (A Newsweek cover in 2010) and the “The Hopeful Continent: Africa Rising” with the subtext: “After decades of slow growth, Africa has a real chance to follow in the footsteps of Asia (The Economist, 2011) The African middle class: Who are they?

The urban/rural divide in Africa is pervasive of all socio-economic aspects and, evidently, that divide also features heavily in the definition of who is middle class in Africa.

What they are generally not: • They do not derive income from farming and rural economic activities.

What they generally are: • They live in urban centres. In terms of residence, middle class households tend to reside in bigger and more permanent dwellings equipped with modern amenities.

• Higher levels of tertiary education.

• Hold salaried jobs.

• Are small business owners.

• Young and in the acquisitive phase life. 12:38:51 ad(Page 1 of9/7/12 • Have fewer children than previous generations and certainly than those in the rural areas.

• Have strong vested interest in their children’s welfare. They tend to opt for private education and health services. • Send their children to overseas universities.

• May receive remittances from relatives living in the Diaspora.

Total Diaspora remittances are estimated at US$ 38 billion.

• Aspirational. In terms of asset ownership, the middle class is typically associated with the

Image: African Development Bank

widespread ownership of major household durable goods such as refrigerators, telephones, flat screen TVs and automobiles.

• They have more recreational time.

• They are harnessing technology.

• Political assertive.

• Culturally self-confident.

What are the needs of the African middle class?

In Deloitte’s experience of dealing with companies expanding on the continent, we have gleaned the following in terms of needs and how best to respond to them: For financial institutions: • Package and formalise informal savings schemes.

• Offer more credit facilities and ideally, unsecured lending. − Develop mortgate products.

• View African women as a distinct banking segment with specific needs. Women represent a significant untapped market which can be serviced profitably – both as individuals but also the segment of women entrepreneurs.

An attempt to quantify the funding gap experienced by women-led businesses that lack adequate access to finance was undertaken recently by the G20.

The conclusion was that a shortage of funding of the order of US$20 billion was needed to bridge the SME funding gap.

The resilience of African women combined with statistics that women pay back loans on time represents an opportunity that the Banks have not capitalized on (New Faces, New Voices 2012).

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For consumer products: • Repackage goods into smaller units to suit local affordability.

For food manufacturers • Adapt to local palates.

For vehicle manufacturers: • Partner with a bank and offer vehicle financing.

For healthcare providers: • More affordable healthcare models For property developers: • Shopping malls! Shopping malls!

Shopping malls! To illustrate the size of this opportunity, for example, Nigeria has a population of 160 million people and has 36 states each with a sizeable population and requiring formal retail infrastructure.

• More modern but affordable housing.

For energy companies: • Africa is endowed with natural resources that can go some way in closing the current supply gap while also allowing for a relatively easier migration to a cleaner energy mix. The real challenge is funding and developing models

that allow for the average African consumer and industry to access this energy affordably. The funding gap, viewed conversely, however, presents an opportunity for greater private sector involvement and gives rise to new energy ownership models on the continent.

In conclusion, the biggest implication of this emerging African middle class is for consumer goods and services, such as consumer business/retail (both food and clothing), Technology, Mobile services and Telecommunications (TMT), entertainment, financial services and healthcare but also with a spill-over effect into other areas such as construction, infrastructure development and agriculture. When focusing on the numbers - 1.1 billion middle class consumers or 42 per cent of the population in 2060 – the African investment case is even more compelling. However, two caveats exist: first mover advantage is everything and secondly, seizing these opportunities calls for leadership with a clear and longterm vision.

10

Business: News

| 26 March - 1 April 2013 | thesouthafrican.com Follow us on Twitter: @TheSAnews

Tuberculosis testing for South Africans applying for a UK visa from South Africa

by JP BREYTENBACH

DO South Africans have to get tested for TB? Yes, all South Africans applying for a visa for the UK for a period longer than six months must be tested for tuberculosis (TB) at a clinic approved by the UK Border Agency.

Do I have to get tested for TB if applying for a UK visitor visa?

No, you do not need to be tested. As the maximum stay for all the visitor visas, including the long-term visit visas of 2-, 5- and 10 years are a maximum of 6 months at a time, there would be no TB testing requirement.

Do children have to be tested?

If a child is 11 years and older, and applying for a UK visa for a period of longer than six months, then the child must be tested for TB. However, children younger than 11 years must also attend the appointment at the clinic with their parents. The clinician will then decide whether the child needs to take the test or not. If the child is not tested, the clinician will issue a certificate to this effect, which must be submitted together with the UK visa application.

Can I get tested by my local GP? Unfortunately you can only be tested at a clinic approved by the UK Border Agency. There are

clinics in Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town.

What happens if I test positive for tuberculosis?

If you test positive, you will not be issued with a certificate. You will not be able to apply for a UK visa until you can show that you are TBfree. For more information, please contact Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants Ltd at info@bicimmigration.com or visit www.bic-immigration.com

Cyprus bailout causes a stir in Rand trade

by TREVOR BREWER

THE start of the week saw the South African Rand continue its weakening trend from the previous week. The weakening was due

to a number of factors including concerns about the domestic economy as well as important financial monetary meetings being held around the world including

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the United States as well as the continuation of the Eurozone debt crisis. The South African Reserve bank met on Wednesday and kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 5.0%, while data showed that the domestic consumer price inflation rose more-than-expected in February.

This helped the Rand strengthen against the majors. There was major concern coming out of the Eurozone due to Cyprus wanting to implement a planned onceoff tax on depositors’ savings accounts to raise Euro 5.8bn from the country’s bank depositors’ to unlock emergency loans.

The rand traded softer in late trade on Friday with the focus on bail-out or default developments in Cyprus causing risk off sentiment towards more riskier assets such as the rand.

The rand levels were relying on the outcome of the Cyprus banking crisis.

GBP/ZAR: 14.05 EURO/ZAR: 12.00 USD/ZAR: 9.24 AUD/ZAR: 10.25 Monday saw the South African Rand strengthen against the US Dollar. This came in response to a deal to tap bailout assistance between Cyprus and the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund.

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thesouthafrican.com | 26 March - 1 April 2013 |

Business: SA Power 100

Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/thesouthafrican

Elspeth Graham

Read interviews with other SA POWER 100 achievers on our website: TheSouthAfrican.com/Business/SAPower100 Gillian Slovo

Chartered Instutute of Public Relations UK, Commercial Director Born: Durban Education: Assumption Convent School Career Trajectory: 1984 to August 1991: Account Director at Richmond Public Relations (South Africa) October 1991: Set up her own PR/consultancy company in South Africa, Khulumani Communications, which she ran until September 1998.

May 1999: Joined UK company British Executive Service Overseas as communications manager and in October 2000 was promoted to director.

August 2004: Joined Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) as Head of Events & Training where she currently works as Commercial Director.

by JEREMY KUPER

WHERE did you go attend university?

I dropped out after my first year of pure science at Pietermaritzburg.

Once upon a time I thought I might be a physiotherapist! All I wanted to do when I left school was to travel, so I went to what was then called the Durban Technikon. I took a secretarial course and learnt all kinds of other interesting things like millinery, modelling and French. It was like a mini finishing school. I got a job as a PA which enabled me to save some money to travel around Europe for about six months. When I arrived in London I fell in love with it, and the love affair hasn’t ended yet. Instead of staying a year I stayed three.

Years later when I sold my business, my brother was living in England so I came to visit him for Christmas. That was end of 1998 and I am still here, I am a Londoner now.

Did you go home after your first stint in London?

I found it hard to settle down in South Africa so I went to Namibia and worked at a mission station for two years running the administration for a hospital right on the Namibia/Angola border.

That is when I woke up politically and met the man I ended up marrying, an Englishman who was working with an organisation called VSO. I went back to England with him for year, where my daughter was born, but then his love for South Africa brought us back to Johannesburg where we stayed until 1998.

You say you became politically aware but you were not tempted to leave SA earlier?

No. A lot of my friends left, but I thought - you can leave and go and demonstrate in Trafalgar Square or Australia or whenever, or you can stay and see if you can make a difference in the country you’re in. My brother is an attorney and I was never someone who would be arrested, I don’t think I would have survived jail! At the time I was working for Shell and BP and it was when a lot of international

companies were trying to change things from within, not just through sanctions.

In 1991 I started Khulumani which was the first black/white public relations company. I had a black woman as a partner and we did some work in Cameroon, getting together businesspeople from all over the continent including South Africa. When I got back I got involved in the women’s national coalition with Dr Frene Ginwala, and through that got involved with the national Peace Campaign with Jay Naidoo.

We put together various initiatives: including letting off white doves when the national coalition was initially announced, organising a Peace Day and bringing the country to a standstill for three minutes the year before the elections. I think that, in some way, this enabled a more peaceful climate, which contributed to the election of Nelson Mandela as President of South Africa the following year.

so I have grown up with a dual mentality and nationality.

I love London because it is such a melting pot of all sorts of people.

There are a huge number of people here from South Africa, but I have never been the kind of person who just mixes with South Africans.

I think South Africans have a different work attitude to other nationalities; they are more likely to do things like start a business.

It is interesting to see how many South Africans are top businesspeople - like Simon

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Walker, the head of IOD, who I am going to listen to today.

Unlike me a lot of them have lost their accents but I think many of them also have a can do/lets give it a go attitude.

Also, South Africans don’t understand the dole.

The British government is trying to make sure that only people who need benefits get benefits but when you come from a culture where there is no such thing as benefits, you just get on with it because you can only help yourself.

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CRUGA Home of CRUGA biltong. Cruga’s factory shop offers a full range of South African and Zimbabwean groceries plus boerewors, droewors and of course biltong. Tel: 01908 565 432 Email: biltong@cruga.com Web: www.cruga.com Address: Tilers Rd Kiln Farm, Milton Keynes, MK11 3LH

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CAMBRIDGE & VILLAGES Toft Shop – Village Shop & Post Office With a South African section selling all your favourite tastes from home! Pop in and pick up your treats – Biltong; Boerewors; Koeksisters; Rusks; Sweets; Chips; Groceries etc. Web: www.ToftShop.co.uk Tel: 01223 262 204. CB23 2RL

KALAHARI MOON WESTON The Southern African Shop in Weston (Opp Tesco car park entrance). Wide range of SA and Zim products. Relax in our licensed cafe while shopping. And try our South African homecooked food.

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Email: Info@kalaharimoon.co.uk SUSMAN’S BEST BEEF BILTONG CO LTD If you’re missing home give us a call, supplying you with all your favourite South African products and more.

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ST MARCUS FINE FOODS Largest importers & producers of SA foodstuffs in UK. Retail & wholesale. 1 Rockingham Close, Roehampton, Putney SW15. Tel 020 8878 1898.

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ABANTU BUTCHERS Abantu Butchery boerewors specialist, supplying wholesale and catering and retail shops as we are fully EEC licensed, we can also supply vacuum packed steaks in any quantity you may require.

Probably the best boerewors you have tasted at a remarkable price. 19 City Arcade, City Centre, Coventry, CV1 3HX Tel: 02476555767 THE CHICHESTER BILTONG COMPANY www.biltongcompany.co.uk The best of British from a friendly bunch of South Africans who made Sussex our home. But there was one thing we couldnt live without from our native land..Biltong!

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CRUGA Home of CRUGA biltong. Cruga’s factory shop offers a full range of South African and Zimbabwean groceries plus boerewors, droewors and of course biltong. Tel: 01908 565 432 Email: biltong@cruga.com Web: www.cruga.com Address: Tilers Rd Kiln Farm, Milton Keynes, MK11 3LH

NO1 SOUTH AFRICAN SHOP Lots of lekker stuff for a taste of home.

Including fantastic biltong, droewors and boerewors. 5 Marlow Drive, St Catherines Hill, Christchurch, Dorset, BH23 2RR. The shop is about 2 miles north-west of Christchurch town centre and 6 miles north-east of Bournemouth town centre.

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CAMBRIDGE & VILLAGES Toft Shop – Village Shop & Post Office With a South African section selling all your favourite tastes from home! Pop in and pick up your treats – Biltong; Boerewors; Koeksisters; Rusks; Sweets; Chips; Groceries etc. Web: www.ToftShop.co.uk Tel: 01223 262 204. CB23 2RL

KALAHARI MOON WESTON The Southern African Shop in Weston (Opp Tesco car park entrance). Wide range of SA and Zim products. Relax in our licensed cafe while shopping. And try our South African homecooked food.

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Phone: 01273 516160 Fax: 01273 51665 Web:www.biltong.co.uk

QUALITY SOUTH AFRICA Biltong £22 per KG Droewors £20 per KG Game Biltong £40 per KG Chilli Sticks £22 per KG Cheese Grillers £14 per KG Koeksisters £3 for 5 And many more For more great prices find us on www.qualitysouthafrica.co.uk or contact Christopher on 07543106591

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Mon – Friday: 9:30am – 5:30pm Saturday: 9:30am – 6pm Sunday: 11am – 4pm www.southafricanshop.co.uk.

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Tel: 0208 878 1898 www.biltongstmarcus.co.uk Email sales@stmarcus.co.uk

Gold Medal Winners for Beef Biltong and Boerewors 1998.

Triple Crown Winners 2010 Ostrich * Kudu * Springbok * The South African 1-3 Rockingham Close Priory Lane, Roehampton London SW15 5RW

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thesouthafrican.com | 26 March - 1 April 2013 |

Zimbabwe Community

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Above left: Nyasha Gwatidzo visits St David’s School in Zimbabwe; above right: A volunteer digs in in the garden; bottom left: Nyasha Gwatidzo feeds chickens at Vana Trust

Nyasha’s therapeutic farm works wonders

An organic therapeutic farm in Buckinghamshire is an extension of the Vana Trust set up by Zimbabwean expat Nyasha Gwatidzo with the aim of advancing health and education for children and young adults in Zimbabwe and the UK

by MARY ISOKARIARI

IT is so quiet on the eight acre Vana Trust organic farm in Ludgershall, in Buckinghamshire. Yellow courgettes and black tomatoes grow from the vegetable patch, while goats, pigs, chickens, and the recent addition of alpacas scatter the vast green pastures. On the surface the organic farm seems like any other, yet it uniquely offers children and adults with with special needs, behavioural and emotional problems a chance to further their potential by gaining self-confidence and skills through farming.

It is an extension of the Vana Trust Charity set up by Zimbabwean expat Nyasha Gwatidzo in June 2004, with the aim of advancing good health and education for children and young adults in Africa and the UK. A trained therapist who also runs Banya, an independent fostering agency, the idea for the farm initially was born when Nyasha read how children with behavioural difficulties benefited from the interaction with farm animals in a peaceful environment.

“It rang bells to me, so I took two autistic children from my agency to my family allotment and immediately saw the difference. So

when I got this land with the house I thought it would be a great place to start,” she said. The farm has been a success and with the support of GPs, many have gained enough confidence to re-enter employment.

Farm manager Sharon Callow arrived at the farm in 2009 and helped build it from scratch. She said, “I have seen people come here with different scales of autism and mental health problems, while others either remain or even come off their medication during their time on the farm.” Some of the young people and adults have returned over the years to volunteer at the farm to help others. “I think it’s because we are small with not a lot of people around, so you can build up your confidence. I knew they would develop learning about the animals and crop growing, but helping them with their social skills surprised me,” said Sharon.

Tricia Meechan, 33, has been coming to the farm twice a week for the past two years to get help with her anxiety. “Rosemary, the pig, has a calming feeling about herself.

It’s been a serene experience, the fresh outdoors. Looking after the animals helps me with anxiety and I enjoy learning more about them,”

said Tricia. When Nyasha saw her relatives suffering from the effects of the HIV/Aids epidemic, she began sending food and clothes to those in need. However, the problem became widespread leaving many children orphaned.

“My mother is my mentor, she is a teacher so education is important to her and that’s why she was very upset about children who didn’t have the chance to go to school. She would talk to us about it, and then take some money and clothes for them,” said Nyasha.

With the idea of running a sustainable business and charity, the Vana Trust began working with St David’s School in Chihota, Zimbabwe, to support both primary and secondary school affected because “there was a real need for it.” The project at present funds school costs of nearly 100 children affected by HIV/AIDS at primary and secondary school.

The ‘Breakfast Club’ now feeds nearly 500 children and a child sponsored by Vana Trust continues after leaving St David’s school with further education or training if needed. With a local councillor donating two hectares of land nearby the school, the children were able to harvest enough maize to last for nearly year. Both farms are interlinked, with the Zimbabwe branch of the Vana Trust Farm encouraging its local community to get involved in sustaining the economy. Cathryn McNaughton, CEO of Vana said, “We have local women who grow their own peanuts, which we buy from them to put more back into the economy.”

With The Breakfast Club being the only meal many children have, The Vana Trust hopes to expand into the other nine school in Chihota that currently face the same problems, through more fundraising. www.vanatrust.org.uk

14

Travel

| 26 March - 1 April 2013 | thesouthafrican.com Follow us on Twitter: @TheSAnews

Left: David Beaumont and a silverback gorilla; right: a gorilla family at play

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After a two-day trek, David Beaumont gets close up and personal with the mountain gorillas of Uganda, where the population of this endangered species is making a strong recovery

by DAVID BEAUMONT

WHILE Diane Fossey and David Attenborough worked hard to put them on the map, vicious levels of poaching have nearly caused their eradication, but now the mountain gorillas of Uganda are making a remarkable recovery in the impenetrable forest of Bwindi.

Recent surveys show their numbers have gone from 750 to nearly 900 in the last 18 months.

Reassuring. Having trekked from Buhoma for seven exhausting hours,

rest was vital before repeating the exercise and the Nkuringo Gorilla Camp provided the perfect environment. A comfortable bed, plenty of nourishment for dinner and breakfast were fully embraced before our meeting at the gorilla trekking headquarters at 8am.

Lucky strike. The six Italians due to trek with us didn’t show which meant that we had a private trek, which, according to locals, is unheard of. The licence to trek gorillas is not cheap at US$500 each, but the income, huge by local standards, goes a long way to preserving these endangered primates. Benson briefs us for twenty minutes before setting off, following trackers who have left camp an hour before to find the Nkuringo family and its 14 members. They all have names and having been introduced to them on paper, we can’t wait to meet them face to face…hopefully. Nothing is guaranteed; failure is not an option.

The two of us are a small element in a team of ten, guides, porters, trackers, two gentlemen with rifles.

We spend three hours trekking downhill and while straining with hiking boots and sticks, locals pass us by at twice the speed with sacks of potatoes on their heads and no shoes. Humiliating!

Two hours in, and word comes through that the family has been found. Relief spreads across the team. An hour later, and the reason the forest is called impenetrable becomes clear. Our helpers turn off the narrow but worn path and slash away at the undergrowth with their pangas while we struggle, now unable to see the ground and therefore our footing any more.

After 20 minutes scrambling, the bush opens up and the trackers

smile a warm welcome. The heart beats fiercely with exertion, but also with great expectation. We dump bags, water, sticks (gorillas don’t like sticks we’re told) and everyone except Benson and one tracker.

Clutching the camera rather too tightly, we are ushered to a nearby bush. Inside is the alpha male called Rafiki, (meaning friend). No closer that 7 to 8 metres we were told, as we can transmit our diseases easily and they don’t have the same immune system as we do, and we can therefore compromise their health. This benign but vast 180kg creature is just two or three metres away, separated from us by a few branches and leaves.

The heartbeat and camera click away at about the same speed. It’s a close encounter but it’s placid and silent. The silverback’s serenity is infectious.

The $500 only buys you an hour with the family, so after 10 minutes with the head honcho, we move on to find mother and daughter, Kasotoro (the hill’s name) and Tabu (problem) who are visibly affectionate. They groom each other, cuddle and even kiss.

It’s enchanting and it’s familiar.

The final encounter is with a blackback. He’s a teenager called Christmas (that’s when he was born) whose back will shortly turn silver.

As we sit with him, rejoicing in the present, he moves towards me.

Sitting just a few feet away, I can feel his body heat and his breath is clearly audible. I am frozen in the equatorial sun.

As we climb a thousand feet back to our very welcome hotel, cold beer and warm bed, we reflect in silence.

Uganda is a simply stunning destination but, above all, the gorillas must not be missed.

15

thesouthafrican.com | 26 March - 1 April 2013 |

Sport

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MIND THE RUCK ROB FLUDE

Le wooden spoon

by ROB FLUDE

THE rugby world has been turned on its head since early February.

The Southern Kings – who everyone and their dogs had tipped to be the royal bike stand in Super Rugby – won a game at their first attempt. They then only lost by 9 and 11 points respectively to the Sharks and Chiefs, who were last year’s finalists.

Then the Cheetahs smashed the Highlanders in Invercargill, followed by a win against the Waratahs in Sydney, while the perennial whipping boys, the Force, overcame the 2011 champions the Reds in Brisbane.

In the Six Nations, Ireland lost to Scotland and Italy, Italy beat France and then Wales trounced England to win the title, utilising three captains during their fivematch campaign.

Hell, even Scotland finished third and Italy fourth.

Oddly enough, a major talking point since the turn of the year hasn’t been raving about the successes of specific teams or players.

Instead it has been the outright failure and dire form of the French, who picked up their first wooden spoon in the Six Nations -usually Italy’s “achievement” (9

times in 14 years) – after losing three and drawing one match.

But what is this dreaded “wooden spoon” to which we so jocularly refer, and what are its origins?

I was moved to research this concept after debating its semantics with a friend following Les Bleus picking up the figurative award, who insisted that it was decreed upon someone or a team that lost all their games. I disagreed, insisting that it was anyone finishing last in a competition or race. So who is correct?

Ironically, the wooden spoon commenced as anything but figurative.

At Cambridge University, there are three classes of honours bestowed on Mathematics students in their third and final year, namely Wranglers (first-class, who were said to be born with golden spoons in their mouths), Senior Optimes (second-class graduates, who had silver spoons in their mouths), and Junior Optimes (third-class, who had lead spoons in their mouths).

The Junior scoring the lowest marks was awarded the wooden spoon. Those students who scored even lower than the wooden spoonists but still passed were merely called ordinary graduates.

The presenting of the spoon – sometimes up to 1.5 metres in size – was also steeped in tradition according to legend, with the recipient having it teasingly dangled above them as they were getting capped.

The awarding of the spoon was discontinued in 1909, when graduates were called up in alphabetical order and not according to their results.

The cross-over with rugby appears to stem from the England team containing many Cambridge graduates around about the time

that the pastime of the wooden spoon was discontinued at the university, with team members wishing to maintain the hearty tradition of giving a booby prize to the bottom-placed team in the old Five Nations. This thus infers that losing all matches is not a requirement; merely finishing last is. The wooden spoon has also found a place in other similar sports such as Australian Rules Football (AFL) and rugby league.

Perhaps the most interesting wooden spoon is in tennis, which is given to the player who is defeated in the first round of a tournament by a player who is then defeated in the second round, who in turn is defeated in the third round, and so forth, until the final.

Knowing the French, however, they will have held a party to celebrate their only accolade this season. How very French.

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Seven South Africans to take part in US Masters tournament next week

MANY of golf’s worldwide elite will descend on the Augusta National Golf Club on 11 April to take part in the 77th edition of the Masters Tournament.

The infamous build up to the first tee-off starts on Friday, for the field containing the likes of Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy. Joining them will be seven South Africans, including two past champions of the American competition.

Charl Schwartzel, currenly ranked 16th in the world, has had a great start to the year with some top 10 finishes, and ended up joint fourth in the Malaysian Open which took place over the weekend. The 2011 winner will likely find himself wellplaced on the leaderboard come the final two rounds. The other South

African in the field to have won the Green Jacket before is Trevor Immelman. The 33-year-old has been off the boil for the last few years, shown with his ranking of 146 in the world. He has always enjoyed Augusta, but really doesn’t look like the same golfer that won in 2008 – I doubt he will make the cut.

Golfing giant Ernie Els also takes a spot in the competition. The Open victory aside, 2012 was not the greatest year for him. His lead up to the Masters has not been good and he has enjoyed no top 10 finishes this year so far. If current form is anything to go by, he probably isn’t going to be one of the serious contenders to the trophy. Tim Clark hasn’t really been challenging the winners circle for the last few years, but is still relatively consistent. He had elbow surgery in 2011 which

obviously has played a role in his recent results and his temperament may be an issue.

Two of the lesser known South African competitors are George Coetzee and Branden Grace. Both are ranked in the top 50 of the world, so while they aren’t major players in the world of golf, they will both be looking to make a play for the title. 2010 Open winner Louis Oosthuizen was runner up in the 2012 Masters, and has shown he has the game to compete in any of the Majors. A consistent performer over the last few years, as indicated by his number six world ranking.

This man is definitely the South African to watch; hopefully he can show some of the form he showed in the 2012 tournament, with the obvious difference of taking the green jacket.

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29/03/2012 14:14

SPORT

26 March - 1 April 2013

SEVEN SA GOLFERS HEAD TO AUGUSTA P15

MIND THE RUCK: LE WOODEN SPOON P15

NEWS FOR GLOBAL SOUTH AFRICANS

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PROTEAS FINISH SEASON WITH SIX-WICKET ODI WIN AB de Villiers named both man of the match and man of the series at the end of all-conquering Test season

by JEREMY BORTZ

THE Proteas ended off a memorable season with a convincing six wicket win in the fifth and final oneday international played at Willowmoore Park in Benoni on Sunday to take the hard fought series 3-2.

While the Proteas have been all conquering in Tests over the past 18 months, they have struggled for consistency in the shorter

versions of the game and they will be delighted to have ended their season well.

Pakistan won the toss and after electing to bat, were in early trouble losing both openers in the first 10 overs with just 31 on the board.

Kamran Akmal and Younis Khan formed the only substantial partnership of the innings, adding 66 runs for the third wicket before Ryan McLaren took a

spectacular catch at backward square-leg, to end Akmal’s innings on 48.

Ryan McLaren not only fielded brilliantly but bowled superbly too.

He struck twice in one over to see off the two big hitters Shoab Malik (28) and Shahid Afridi, who only faced three balls for his duck and would end with figures of 3-32 (his third scalp being that of captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who

AB de Villiers and Farhaan Behardien of South Africa celebrate the wicket of Younis Khan of Pakistan during the 5th Momentum ODI match between South Africa and Pakistan from Willowmoore Park on 24 March in Benoni, South Africa. (Photo

by Lee Warren / Gallo Images/Getty Images)

had laboured to 24 runs off 46 deliveries.)

On his return to the side after a hamstring injury, Morne Morkel picked up 2-33 while all the other bowlers chipped in with a wicket apiece.

Pakistan, who would be disappointed with some of their shot selections, were eventually all out for 205.

On a pitch that offered inconsistent bounce, the Proteas started tentatively with Mohammad Irfan and Junaid Khan bowling beautifully first up.

Both Quinton de Kock, playing in place of the injured Graeme Smith, and Colin Ingram were back in the hut within 11 overs.

The match could have well turned had Younis held onto a regulation chance with captain AB de Villers on 1.

De Villiers needed no second invitation as he anchored the chase, ending just five short of what would have been his second century of the series.

While Hashim Amla looked uncharacteristically scratchy, ending on 22 off 65 deliveries, de Villiers found able support in Farhaan Behardien, 35 off 59 deliveries, and David Miller who ended on 20 not out.

Unsurprisingly, for his three half-centuries and single century, De Villiers was named both man of the match and man of the series.

In the post-match press conference, De Villiers noted the team’s progress over the last few weeks, and said he hoped they were moving in the right

direction.

“We started off quite slowly, and even though we won the first match in Bloemfontein, we were a bit rusty around the edges.We got better in each game as the bowling unit starting to think about game plans while the batters looked good throughout the series. I’m very happy with our progress and we’ll reflect on the things we did well and try and keep doing them in the future” he said.

“We started off quite slowly...got better in each game as the bowling unit starting to think about game plans while the batters looked good throughout the series.

I’m very happy with our progress” - AB de Villiers Perhaps the most valuable thing the Proteas will take from this series is the way in which de Villiers seemed to settle in his treble role of captain, senior batsman and permanent wicketkeeper.

They will also be delighted that they closed out a must-win game and come the Champions Trophy in June, will be looking to add to a sparse one-day international trophy cabinet.

Until then, they will enjoy a well deserved break and look back on South Africa’s most successful season of international cricket.

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29/03/2012 14:00