The South African 25 - 31 March

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25 - 31 March 2014

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DEWANI HEADING TO SA NEXT WEEK TO STAND TRIAL | Pistorius in the dock, Nkandlagate and now the trial of British murder suspect Shrien Dewani, who will finally be extradited to

South Africa in April after a long battle. But will the inevitable international attention make or break the world’s faith in South Africa?

BY BELINDA LIVERSEDGE IN the past week, South Africa has been in the international media spotlight for a number of reasons – the Oscar Pistorius’s murder trial, global coverage of the Nkandla report scandal and now, Shrien Dewani is to be extradited from the UK to stand trial for murder of his bride in Cape Town in November 2010.

The question of whether this Bristol businessman hired a taxi driver to kill Anni Dewani in a township near Cape Town makes this undoubtedly yet another international story.

So far, media attention has not done South Africa many favours in terms of portrayal of its violence against women and its crime and police system. We’ve had “bungling” detectives in the case of Pistorius and a dodgy tender procedure that saw the President get a home upgrade at the taxpayer’s expense. Will another high profile murder trial put South Africa’s morals and safety in the headlines again?

Wasting no time A plus point for South Africa could be the speed at which the Dewani case will be heard.

After four years attempting to defer his trial and protesting against extradition in the UK, the 33-year-old will be flown to South Africa and will make his initial court appearance the same day. “He [Dewani] is expected to leave London on 7 April and land in South Africa on 8 April 2014. Upon arrival the National Prosecuting Authority and South African Police Service will cause him to appear in the Western Cape

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High Court depending on the time of his arrival,” Mthunzi Mhaga, justice spokesman for the South African government confirmed.

The Pistorius case is likely to have a verdict by May. When you compare that with the seven-yearlong trial of Meredith Kercher in Italy, South Africa’s justice system will be seen as nothing if not speedy in meting out justice in the world’s eyes.

p3 | Oscar selling R5m Pretoria house of tragedy to pay legal costs p8 | Striking photo exhibition explores eGoli’s forgotten mine dumps p11 | Business leaders

Corruption has already surfaced While we’ve heard of stolen watches and a so called ballistics expert who handled Pistorius’s gun without gloves, it’s arguable any kinks in the police handling of Dewani’s case have been ironed out already. The South African police watchdog has dismissed claims by one of the accused in the murder of Swedish honeymooner Anni Dewani, that he was tortured or assaulted by police in custody.

Mziwamadoda Qwabe, 25, had said initially that he was “hit all over his body” with a torch by police officers in an attempt to extract a confession.

South Africa – a misogynistic culture?

A recent Guardian editorial on the Pistorius trial said, “The wider culture of South Africa is on trial as a nidus of violence against women, a nation with the highest recorded incidence of rape in the world, in which three women a day are killed by their partners.” Yes, the South African taxi driver Zola Tongo committed the brutal deed – he has already pleaded guilty and been convicted – but the fact that a UK citizen is on trial, charged with bribing Tongo to pull the trigger,

urge South Africans to take their skills home

THIS IS CAPTAIN LOTTERING SPEAKING: Acclaimed South African comedian Marc Lottering returns to Soho Theatre with his brand new one -man show, ‘This is Captain Lottering Speaking’. Armed with his popular characters and in Soho for one week only (Friday 4th to Saturday 12th April), Lottering promises to keep you in stitches. Book on http://sohotheatre.com

may help to correct the skewed idea that brutality against women is a global problem, rather than just South Africa’s.

Mental issues Dewani has so far stayed in

Britain on the grounds he’s too depressed and suicidal to stand trial in a country famed for its harsh prison conditions. But if he’s convicted in South Africa, the British press at least are

unlikely to have much sympathy, regularly vaunting against Britain’s notoriously soft prison conditions for inmates.

Still, there is speculation as to what will happen to Pistorius.

“Sleeping on a tiny bunk with little ventilation and fears of violence and rape: The notorious South African jail Pistorius faces if he loses bail,” read a recentDaily Mail report on Pretoria Central Prison.

Pistorius’ potential fate in prison in South Africa could be followed with interest simply because of what it could say abut what might happen to Dewani. The results will inevitably reflect on South Africa’s perceived violent culture, which might not do its reputation as a safe destination any good.

Dewani’s case will add to the world’s current fascination with South Africa and the media hype that has taken it by surprise. The success of South Africa in dealing swiftly with such a serious crime might also help win it some plaudits and it will be interesting to see if it adds anything to the picture already mounting of South Africa’s judge-led court system.

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What influence do the assessors have in deciding Oscar Pistorius’s fate?

| Assessors Themba Mazibuko and Janet Henzen-du Toit are there to help Judge Masipa decide whether Oscar Pistorius is guilty or not. But they can only overrule her on the facts.

BY SHAMIN CHIBBA TWO solemn figures sit beside Judge Thokozile Masipa as she presides over the Oscar Pistorius trial in the North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria. They are entirely silent; only their hands are animated, scribbling notes as the witnesses testify. They might maintain a placid demeanour, but they have enough power to decide the Paralympian’s fate.

For these are the trial assessors.

Themba Mazibuko and Janet Henzen-du Toit were appointed by Judge Masipa before the trial began.

They are there to help the judge decide whether Pistorius is guilty or not. Despite the media hype surrounding the case, not much has been said about the two assessors.

Mannie Witz, an advocate with the Bridge Group at the Johannesburg Bar, says Mazibuko is “fresh out of university” and comes from an academic background. Other than that, little is known about him.

Henzen-du Toit, on the other hand, is well known as an advocate who has defended murders and rapes, says Witz. She joined the Pretoria Bar in 1998, before leaving for the Rebel Bar in North West in 2003. She became a member of the National Forum of Advocates in 2005 and also presided over trials

as an assessor during this period.

In 2006, she returned to Pretoria and joined the Legal Aid Board. In 2010, she became a unit manager in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg.

A profile of Henzen-du Toit published by Beeld newspaper earlier this month pointed out that she was an expert in criminal justice. She has an Honours degree in psychology and Master’s degree in criminal justice and criminal prosecution. She is working on a doctorate in criminal law, criminal prosecution, evidence and constitutional interpretation.

Witz explains that assessors are usually former magistrates and advocates, and in many cases, academics much like Mazibuko.

To be chosen as an assessor, one must first put one’s name forward and join a pool of assessors. When a judge decides he or she needs an assessor for a particular court case, the person is chosen from this pool.

Assessors are necessary Assessors are a great help for judges when it comes to presiding over high profile cases, Witz adds. “Although Judge Masipa is more than capable of handling the [Pistorius] case on her own, having two assessors will help. For a judge presiding over a case like [this], it’s

a lot to take in. The judge may be disturbed during the trial, she may not hear something correctly, or she may have a lapse in concentration.

But the assessors can pick up what the judge has missed. They can also be consulted when she is reviewing the facts of the case.”

South Africa’s system of using assessors to help presiding officers decide on a verdict is more effective than the US’s jury system, whose decisions can be subjective, he says. Additionally, assessors are legally trained whereas juries are made up of laypeople without any experience in law. “You wouldn’t want a layperson making a decision in [Pistorius’s] case.”

Henry Lerm, an attorney at the Uitenhage Justice Centre, says assessors are needed as magistrates and judges often lack the expertise and technical and scientific knowledge to match the experts who testify in cases before them.

In an article about the importance of assessors in high courts, published by the Southern African Legal Information Institute, he explains that the expert assessor’s role developed out of the judges’ inability to competently preside over complex cases. Assessors are skilled in the matters they are presiding over and can therefore help avoid a miscarriage of justice.

“A second head with the requisite knowledge, experience and skill of reasoning in the relevant field will serve as a potential benefit, saving litigation costs and raising public confidence in the judicial system,” Lerm adds.

The assessor’s role Witz says assessors are only there to help the judge decide the verdict.

“They are only meant [to] try on the facts and can overrule the judge. But they can only overrule her on the facts. When it comes to sentencing they play no role whatsoever.”

Both Mazibuko and Henzen-du Toit sit with Judge Masipa during the proceedings and listen to all the evidence presented to her. At the end of the case, the assessors will give their opinions to the judge. She is allowed to disregard their views and decide the verdict on her own.

However, the assessors can overrule the judge when it comes to a verdict on the facts in a majority finding. According to Professor Annette van der Merwe, a criminal procedure law expert at the University of Pretoria, if the two assessors were to rule in favour of murder, or the judge and one assessor were to rule so, that verdict would be the accepted one. The same would apply if two of them were to rule in favour of an acquittal. www. mediaclubsouthafrica.com

From Dublin to SA: the unlikely beginnings of the Bill of Rights

| South Africans around the world celebrate Human Rights Day on 21 March. Marking the inauguration of

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the Bill of Rights, we reflect on its unlikely origins on the kitchen table of a human rights activist in Dublin.

BY BELINDA LIVERSEDGE THE foundation for South Africa’s freedom and constitution was laid down in a little cottage in an Irish suburb, more famous today for its world class racecourse than being the genesis for a historic human rights movement. As South Africa celebrates Human Rights Day, which asks us to reflect on the Bill of Rights and its contribution to the end of apartheid, as well as the massacre of 69 innocents at Sharpeville, we look back on a grey, rainy day in Foxrock, a little suburb of Dublin, where the Bill’s first words were written.

The year is 1987 and Kader

Asmal, a Dublin-based lecturer from South Africa and founder of the British and Irish Anti-Apartheid Movements, has been called upon by the Constitutional Committee of South Africa to write the first Bill of Rights. Enlisting the help of South African lawyer and human rights activist, Albie Sachs, then based in London, the two sat down at the kitchen table of his Beech Park road house with a blank sheet of paper.

“I wish I could say it was because of the great tradition of Irish freedom that we felt there was no other place in the world it could be done,” Sachs told the Irish Independent in 2013.

“The reality was that the

Constitutional Committee had nominated Kader and me to do it and we had to come together either in London or in Dublin and because Kader couldn’t get away, I came to Dublin. We were aware at the time of the momentous nature of what we were doing.”

The work would become the foundation of the current Bill of Rights and its words remain unchanged today, though there have been additions to the document. The Bill of Rights as we know it, which lays out rights for Equality, Human Dignity, Freedom of religion, belief and opinion, is a continuation of the first Bill. It is contained in Chapter 3 of the transitional Constitution of 1993, which was drawn up as part of the negotiations to end apartheid.

On Friday the Human Rights Commission expressed concern that too few South Africans are familiar with its contents. Speaking to Eyewitness News, the HRC’s Kayum Ahmed said that “less than 10 percent” of South Africans have read the Bill of Rights or had it read to them according to a recent study.

He called it a “shocking statistic.”

“It is a call on people to actually get to grips with the Bill of Rights and what it contains and also, of course, the obligations that people have towards each other.”

Check out these events, debates and screenings which explore the rich area of political and human rights: • Filmmaker Khalo Matabane’s documentary, Mandela: The Myth and Me. premiers in the UK as part of Human Rights Watch film festival (23 March to 1 April), a series of documentaries brought to London to explore human rights issues across the world.

• Join leading brains at a panel discussion titled Human Rights, Globalization and How to Save the World on 1 May 2014, 6.30pm – 8pm at the London School of Economics. More information on www.lse.ac.uk •Slaveries Old and New: the meaning of freedom is a conference exploring the contested meanings slavery in a variety of contexts. At the British Academy from 27-28 March. More information on www.sas.ac.uk •Still Fighting Ignorance and Intellectual Perfidy Project (SFIP) is a multi-national exhibition process and a platform for critical thinking, researching and presenting African video art. Held at the Ben Uri gallery in London until 30 March. More information on www.benuri.org.uk

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Howard Buffett gives $23 million to fight rhino poaching in Kruger Park

| The funds will go towards creating an “intensive protection zone” in the Kruger National Park, which will use sophisticated detection and tracking equipment on the ground and in the air, elite dog units, highly trained ranger teams, and improved intelligence gathering and surveillance systems to keep poachers at bay.

BY MARY ALEXANDER THE US-based Howard G Buffett Foundation, a philanthropic trust headed by the elder son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, has pledged a massive R255 million (US$23.7-million) for a high-tech three-year initiative to fight rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park and test tactics that could be used against armed militia elsewhere in Africa.

The project, announced in Johannesburg last week, will be run by the Nature Conservation Trust in partnership with South African National Parks (SANParks), the state body in charge of natural reserves.

The funds will go towards creating an “intensive protection zone” in the Kruger National Park, which will use sophisticated detection and tracking equipment on the ground and in the air, elite dog units, highly trained ranger teams, and improved intelligence gathering and surveillance systems to keep poachers at bay.

At 1.9-million hectares, the Kruger is South Africa’s flagship national park, and home to over 40% of the world’s remaining

rhinos – the largest single population in the world. But a massive increase in the global demand for rhino horn has seen 1 383 of the animals poached from Kruger since January 2010, part of a larger assault in which 2 368 rhinos have been slaughtered in South Africa over the past few years. In some areas of Africa, entire populations of rhino have been eliminated.

trade, can be partly attributed to modern development and growing economies.

“In this world of illicit trade in wildlife the biggest resource, as with many other natural resources, happens to be found in Africa.” The illegal trade in wildlife, Molewa said, is today the fourth-largest syndicated criminal activity in the world after drug trafficking, human trafficking and arms smuggling.

Criminal networks and armed militias Rhino poaching in Kruger is driven mainly by criminal networks in Mozambique, South Africa and East Asia, but there is evidence that militant armed groups elsewhere in Africa get significant funding from the illegal trade in rhino horn.

The new protection zone in Kruger will be a testing ground for tactics to fight poaching in these other African regions.

“As the world opens its borders and travel between countries becomes easier, cross-border crimes increase,” Edna Molewa, South Africa’s environment minister, said at the announcement. “It is a sad reality that increases in certain crimes, such as the illicit wildlife

‘Africa’s best national parks system’ A farmer, businessman, philanthropist, conservationist and photographer, Howard G Buffett heads both his foundation and the South African Nature Conservation Trust. “This effort joins our foundation’s historic support for conservation,” he said on Friday, “with our current focus on conflict mitigation in Africa, particularly in the Great Lakes region.”

The Kruger Park project will be directed by retired Major General Johan Jooste, a decorated army veteran hired by SANParks CEO David Mabunda in 2012 to run the national parks’ anti-poaching efforts. SANParks, Buffett said, was “the best operating national

Oscar selling R5m Pretoria house of tragedy to pay legal costs

parks system on the continent”, providing a “unique opportunity to test new technology and new ideas” to curb poaching.

Mabunda said the Buffett Foundation intervention would transform SANParks’ continued work to curb the assault on rhino populations. “The scale, complexity, and strategic value of this initiative is truly unprecedented for SANParks,” he said. “We believe it will be transformative in our ongoing efforts to address poaching and the decimation of the rhino population in Kruger National Park.

“More importantly, the lessons we hope to learn and share across SANParks and the continent will, we believe, develop new and more effective ways to combat illicit wildlife trade, particularly where it is financing armed groups.”

Poachers’ eyes on Africa The demand for rhino horn, a folk remedy attributed with powerful curative properties in many Asian countries, has decimated rhino populations across the world. With the three South Asian rhino species close to extinction, poachers’ attention has recently turned to

Africa as the last source of the horn.

“Having completely destroyed rhino populations throughout the world the criminals have in the last seven years set their sights on Africa, specifically South Africa,” Molewa said.

With few natural enemies, rhino were once abundant throughout Africa and Asia. Today there are fewer than 30 000 left in the world, only 4 000 of them outside Africa, which has an estimated population of 25 000 rhino.

And as rhino numbers continue to dwindle, their horn has become arguably the most expensive commodity on earth today, according to research by a number of non-governmental organisations.

“South Africa is home to more than 80% of the world’s rhino population, a testament to our country’s successful conservation practices,” Molewa said. “It is this successful restoration of the rhino population since the 1960s that makes South Africa the single-most important country in the fight for the survival of the rhino.” http://www.mediaclubsouthafrica. com/tech/3760-buffett-s-multimilliondollar-boost-to-the-fight-for-rhinos

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

| Oscar Pistorius’s property in the gated Silverwoods estate in Pretoria is

worth R5 million. But who would be willing to live in the home where Reeva Steenkamp died?

BY FRANK BURBAGE OSCAR Pistorius is planning to sell the house in which he killed Reeva Steenkamp “to raise the necessary funds to cover his increasing legal costs,” a statement on his website said on Thursday.

The six-time Paralympic gold

medallist is rumoured to be paying his attorney Barry Roux R50,000 (£3,500) a day.

The property is located in the gated Silverwoods estate on the outskirts of the capital and is worth R5 million. During the trial, the court has seen dozens

of photographs of bloodstains throughout the house following the shooting.

“It is important to note that Mr Pistorius has been funding his own defence from the outset. Due to the delay in finalising the trial, the decision to urgently dispose of his single biggest asset has had to be made,” said the statement, which also revealed that Pistorius “cannot contemplate ever returning to live there again.”

The delays in the trial – which was only expected to last for three weeks but already looks like it will take significantly longer – mean that Pistorius has found himself with no option but to put the property on the market despite having already sold a prize racehorse to cover the fees for his defence. The house was handed back to Pistorius over a year ago but has remained sealed ever since while has been living with his uncle.

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South Africans flock to Homecoming Africa expo

BY STAFF REPORTER

Last weekend’s Homecoming Africa expo in London attracted a large number of UK-based expats from South Africa and other African countries, who were keen to learn how they could take their skills and knowledge back home .

Potential homecomers could meet recruiters and find out about entrepreneurial opportunities. A series of talks by high-profile speakers dispelled myths about Africa and shared some of the good news stories coming out of the continent, creating a compelling case to return and become part of its success.

Win a ÂŁ20 Spur meal voucher

Visit www.ukspur.co.uk to locate your nearest Spur

If you have been spotted in the circle on this page please email your address to editor@thesouthafrican.com and your voucher will be posted to you.

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‘Turning Psychoanalysis into Wine’ – UCT Birthday Lecture in London

| UK based alumni are invited to gather at Kings College London on 2 April for a talk by Professor Mark Solms entitled “Turning Psychoanalysis into Wine”.

BY STAFF REPORTER UNIVERSITY of Cape Town alumni around the world are gathering to celebrate UCT’s 96th birthday with alumni events taking place in Cape Town, New York, Canada, Melbourne, Sydney and London.

UK based alumni are invited to gather at Kings College London on 2 April for a talk by Professor Mark Solms entiteled “Turning Psychoanalysis into Wine”.

In academic circles, Mark Solms is best known for his landmark discovery of the brain mechanisms of dreaming, and for his interest in the integration of modern neuroscience with psychoanalytic theories and methods. However, Professor Solms’ personal dream is one that he pursues outside of academia. On behalf of the Solms-Delta family estate, he is overseeing the rebirth of a Franschhoek farm where wine has been produced over the past four centuries.

When he took over the Delta farm in 2002, Professor Solms

knew that he wanted the farm to contribute to the redevelopment of South Africa by means of a land reform project that would give employees a one-third equity stake in the estate. His idea was initially met with resistance and apathy, and in order to understand this, he sat down with the farmworkers and listened, and through this process, realized that their resistance stemmed from the legacy of slavery itself: the farm had been established using slave labour, and many of the present-day workers are themselves descendants of slaves.

Drawing on his experience in psychoanalysis, Solms decided to face the history of the area headon, employing a team of historians and archaeologists to uncover the past as a means of “finding out what’s the matter” today.

In 2005, the Solms family established the Wijn de Caab Trust to benefit the 200 historically disadvantaged residents and employees of the Solms-Delta wine estate. The Wijn de Caab

Trust now has a 33% equity stake in Solms-Delta, and the profit from wine sales has been used to build and refurbish decent and comfortable homes for the workers and their families, create recreational facilities, and fund social services like private education and healthcare that benefit all.

Tickets: £20 – Solms-Delta wine will be served Venue: Kings College London, The Strand, WC2 Time: 6.30pm RSVP: uct.alumni.uk@tecres. net to purchase tickets and request payment instructions Numbers are limited so please get in touch asap to secure your place.

If you are unable to come to this event, why not get together with fellow alumni to toast your alma mater and reminisce about your time at UCT. You are invited to email photos of your gathering to uct.alumni.uk@ tecres.net or tweet them using the hashtag #uctbirthday

feel surrounded by delinquents in uniform (well some sort of uniform) where the girls are so heavily made up, hair hanging down their backs, as we would say ‘slap gat’ – my hand itches for an imaginary cane.

My daughters’ school was once labelled ‘Draconian’ by a visiting student. She balked at the rules, the traditions and the strict guidelines in place. What she meant to say is that the students had respect for their

teachers, each other and prospered in a place of safety and structure.

They understood etiquette and they thrived.

So thank you, dear well-mannered couple for reminding me that manners are a compliment to oneself and another. Not ‘brill’, but ‘brilliant.’

Call me old fashioned, for times will change, but manners should endure.

Pass the manners please… | Dare I say that there should be a subject called ‘Etiquette’ in every school?

The OPTIMIST KAREN DE VILLIERS

WHEN the young ones came crying to Mommy because some shop assistant had been mean to them, I always said: ‘Darling, one day when you are in the top 10 of the Forbes list, they shall still be standing behind that counter. Their lack of manners will cost them.’

Today I met an elderly couple at Liverpool Street Station. Beautifully dressed, upright postures, they exuded an air of elegance. Politely, the gentleman asked me directions, his manner of speaking articulate and polished. I was smitten.

Etiquette still lives.

We cannot always go back to the penned epistles and cultured Grand Tours, but sometimes I just find myself nauseated at the lack of decent language and instant everything that abounds. Loathe those cryptic texts with letters and numbers and words like

‘deliholidays’ and ‘prosturbation’.

Just say ‘great’; it looks so much better than ‘gr8’. Is correct spelling relegated to the past? I dread CVs with abhorrent spelling mistakes sent in the hope of finding a job. I would never employ someone who could not spell, conduct a decent interview or have the grace to dress appropriately. Not a chance.

How refreshing then when I came across a School of Etiquette in Johannesburg The need it seems is still there – reminded me of those ‘finishing schools’ back in the day. And so important. One can take courses on how to conduct a decent interview, lay a beautiful dinner table, speak at a conference and so on. It is a vital component for business and social success. Dare I say that there should be a subject called ‘Etiquette’ in every school? How else will some of these young scholars learn what is expected of them once they leave?

Slinking into an interview with dirty hair, studs and tattoos showing will not endear any prospective employer. Mumbling ‘suffink’.

Some children have never been exposed to the rules of etiquette, growing up in difficult situations where fine dining and social conduct

is absent. Is this a modern curse?

I recall my days at school, not a fancy, private establishment, but still one where manners and respect for yourself and others were paramount.

Chewing my nails before an inspection. Even our underwear was checked to see if we were wearing the standard issue – no thongs allowed. Neat hair, no jewellery; you knew you were at school.

Some afternoons in Southfields I

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The face of contemporary SA art – Smit’s bold portraits now in London | Cape Town born artist Lionel Smit, whose

portrait of a South African township café waitress was chosen as poster for the National Portrait Gallery BP Award 2013, opens his London show this week in Fitzrovia.

BY BELIND LIVERSEDGE

| ‘The new exhibition “CUMULUS” opened in London 20 March at Rook & Raven Gallery. Event details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1428205787420478/

LIONEL Smit paints on a grand scale. His canvases can be over six feet tall and his sculpted heads can rise nearly 10 feet off their bases.

Running from 21 March until 30 April at Rook and Raven gallery, Fitzrovia, Cumulus is a chance to get up close and personal with these larger than life bronzes, paintings, etchings and prints. Smit often chooses anonymous models from the Cape Malay community as his subjects; their melting pot of ethnicities and histories reflect the diverse peoples that comprise present-day South Africa.

His paintings are devoted to the deconstruction of the portrait – thus exposing the construction of the portrayed persona through his techniques. For Smit, identity formation is similar to exposing the anatomy of the canvas – much like tracing the genealogy of the subject over time and space.

Smit paints abstract canvases and lets them sit around the studio, ideas gestating, until he is ready to project photographs of the model on them, in a mode that recalls Andy Warhol’s approach to portraiture.

Looking at a Smit piece is to experience an artist unafraid of crossing boundaries. Matisse, Picasso, Degas and Boccioni were all early 20th century painters who produced sculpture intimately related to their twodimensional work, writes art history Professor, Jason Rosenfeld.

“What his work shares with these modernist predecessors lies in the dialogue between the two art forms, in particular an interest in colouration, in inventively treating sculptural surfaces as templates

for painting, and painted surfaces as opportunities for sculptural fragmentation.”

Cumulus as a name for this third ever London show, however, is a bit of a misnomer, because his work is anything but lightweight and fluffy as the eponymous fair weather cloud might suggest.

Dig a little deeper beneath the layers of meaning (much like the deconstructive approach to the personas he paints) and there’s a clue to the physical nature of his techniques. He literally grafts at his work by gouging metal plates for his prints and meticulously applies automotive paint to create fragmentary bronzes.

‘Cumulus’ is also Latin for ‘heap’ or ‘accumulation’, writes Rosenfeld. “Heap, gives a more apt description of the idea of aggregation in Smit’s heavy and coloristic forms, than the more modern associations of ‘cumulus’ with particularly cottony, evanescent clouds. No lightweight confections, in their additive processes, scale, and brazen colour, Smit’s recent work makes a remarkably forcible impact.”

Lionel Smit is considered one of South Africa’s youngest investment artists. He has established a substantial global following in recent years, with a succession of sold-out exhibitions and strong auction results.

His work now adorns many high profile public and private collections and has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, where it was chosen as the ‘face’ of the BP Portrait Award 2013.

Visit Rookandraven.co.uk for more information.

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Irma Stern’s ‘Zanzibar Woman’ sells for £1m in Bonhams SA Art Sale | Irma Stern (1894-1966) continues her legacy of international success. The oil on canvas portrait with original Zanzibar frame fetched £1 million at a London auction on Wednesday — one of her highest price tags to date.

BY STAFF REPORTER THE Bonhams sale of South African art in London on Wednesday 19 March saw an Irma Stern painting titled ‘Zanzibar Woman’ break through the million pound mark to make a total of £1,082,500, placing it among the highest prices for Irma Stern’s work The top ten paintings in this sale included another Stern painting titled ‘Istanbul’ for £326,500, three Alexis Prellers, two Pierneefs, an Alfred Neville Lewis, a George Pemba and a Stella Shawzin. In total the sale made over £2.75million.

Hannah O’Leary, Head of South African Art at Bonhams, said, “Despite the rand currently trading at its lowest rate against the pound for many years, we saw bidding on the best works as hotly contested as ever. Bonhams now holds the world record prices for all of South Africa’s most significant artists, including Irma Stern (£3,044,000), JH Pierneef (£826,400), Alexis Preller (£748,000), Gerard Sekoto (£602,400) and Stanley Pinker (£337,250) among others, thus cementing Bonhams position as the undisputed global leader in the market for South African art.”

New world record prices were set for Stella Shawzin (‘Balancing Figures II’ £76,900) and Neville Lewis (‘The peach pickers, Franschhoek’ £56,250), in both cases smashing their previous records, also set at Bonhams in London, three times over.

Irma Stern’s ‘Zanzibar Woman’, 1939, is an oil on canvas within its original Zanzibar frame, which makes it of additional interest to keen collectors of this artist’s work. This vibrant portrait in was acquired directly from the artist in the 1950s and by direct family descent to the current owner.

In the lustrous colours and vibrant brushwork of this 1939 portrait of a ‘Zanzibar Woman’,

Stern’s fascination with the culture and traditions of the Spice Island comes to the fore.

As Marion Arnold has suggested about this work, in keeping with the artist’s most accomplished depictions of women, it “[depicts] the sensuous interplay of warm flesh tones, dark glossy hair, rhythmic bodies and brightly coloured and patterned cloth”.

However, while most “are almost invariably posed against neutral grounds that serve as the foil for the hues of their clothing…

Zanzibar Woman (1939) is unusual in providing a context for the model”. Indeed the sitter is set against an urban, architectural background, with a small figure appearing above her shoulder, poised to disappear down a narrow alley.

Beyond an evocative portrait of an individual, the painting thus also offers a fleeting glimpse of the bustle of the Zanzibar streets: scenes so powerfully evoked in Stern’s prose yet largely relegated beyond the frame of her painterly preoccupations. As such, the work not only conjures up the dance of optical contrasts – reds, pinks and greens – and rhythmic brushwork for which Stern’s compositions are renowned.

It also strikes up a dialogue between the traditional, interior space of the harem (to which Arab women in Zanzibar were largely confined) and the exterior space of street and bazaar, which Stern, as an outsider, was able to explore with great delight.

Along with several paintings and sketches that the artist brought back to Cape Town from her 1939 Zanzibar trip, Stern also carried several examples of the island’s elaborate lintels and carved wooden door strips (composed of repeated symbolic motifs), which she reassembled as frames for her best works. Set within this original frame, the alluring ‘Zanzibar Woman’ is a marriage of the most sought-after features of Stern’s work.

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| 25 - 31 March 2014 | thesouthafrican.com

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Striking photo exhibition explores eGoli’s forgotten mine dumps | An exhibition of photographs at a London gallery explores Johannesburg’s mine dumps and the

people who live among them. These hillocks of crushed toxic rock are striking and surreal, and reflect the incongruousness of a territory where history, economy and contemporary South Africa collide.

BY MARIANNE GRAY HASTEN to Flowers Gallery in Hackney, east London, for an exhibition of photographs by ason Larkin.

His pictures explore this highly charged landscape and the people who live among the mine dumps.

These hillocks of crushed toxic

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rock are striking and surreal, and reflect the incongruousness of a territory where history, economy and contemporary South Africa collide.

Larkin’s subjects include a pack of rangy hunting dogs rushing across a cream-coloured dump to kids playing in pretty clothes outside their corrugated iron shack, a man in gumboots and an orange vest having a cigarette break and the communal religious services that happen among the dumps on Sundays.

The photograph that struck me most was of a couple of men scavenging garbage off a commercial rubbish dump with a flock of imperious hadedas vying with them for snacks.

Larkin, 34, a Londoner, first went to Johannesburg during the 2010 World Cup and was struck by the mind dumps.

“I was in awe of what they stood for,” he said. “They represent so much history. In Johannesburg one tends not to think about the

The ten most popular London boroughs for South Africans to live in

| Which parts of London do South Africans prefer to live in? Find out here…

BY HEATHER WALKER GOVERNMENT statistics from the 2011 Census also show that a total 3% (191,000) of the UK’s foreign born population were born in South Africa, making South Africans the seventh most reported country of origin for non UK born usual residents.

Roughly a third of this number lives in London, with a South African population of roughly 57,765.

It’s well-known that Saffas are concentrated in the city’s southwest corner, as the data confirms – but some of the other most popular boroughs may surprise you.

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mining much any more. I became almost obsessed with the bleached white and yellow dumps and their complicated legacy that Johannesburg was built on.

“I spent two years observing the ordinary and the extraordinary nature of life alongside the dumps, focussing on the co-existence between past and present, the actions of previous generations and their impact on the current society and environment. I hope my pictures tell the bigger story. I like to leave the viewer wanting to know more.”

This is a small exhibition in a wonderfully spacious gallery, once a disused warehouse in industrial Hackney. Definitely a case of less is more, these are pictures of scenes you’re unlikely to have seen before.

Larkin’s book Tales from the City, is also on sale at Flowers Gallery.

The exhibition ends on 29 March.

Flowers Gallery, 82 Kingsland Rd, London E2 8DP Tel. 020 7920 7777 www.flowersgallery.com

Here are the ten London boroughs with the highest South African-born populations (number in brackets): Wandsworth – 6 468 South Africans Merton – 5 660 Barnet – 3 518 Richmond upon Thames – 2 671 Camden – 2 304 Lambeth – 2 167 Ealing – 2 064 Southwark – 2 058 Kingston upon Thames – 1 988 Westminster – 1 877

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| ‘Assimilation 1’ by South Africa’s Dillon Marsh. C-print. 184 x 232 cm. © Dillon Marsh, 2010. Image courtesy of the Saatchi Gallery, London.

Saatchi Gallery hosts major survey of art from Africa and Latin America | ‘Pangaea: New Art From Africa and Latin America’ brings together the work of 16

contemporary artists, including two South Africans – David Koloane and Dillon Marsh.

BY STAFF REPORTER ON 2 April, the Saatchi Gallery in London will open Pangaea: New Art From Africa and Latin America.

Taking its title from the prehistoric landmass that conjoined Africa and Latin America, this major survey reunites the two former sister continents by bringing together the work of 16 of their contemporary artists, including two South Africans.

The exhibition celebrates and explores the parallels between their distinctly diverse cultures and creative practices, as they begin to receive recognition in the increasingly globalised art world.

In Europe and the USA, art has typically advanced through a constant renewal of innovative ideas and movements. We are now experiencing an important global shift as artists seek to explore new art in regions outside their immediate geographical and historic context for inspiration.

The desire by artists and their audiences to discover fresh influences from a broader body of work has inspired the recent preoccupation of museums to broaden their Eurocentric collections.

Marsh Assimilation 1 (Medium) ‘Assimilation 1′ by South Africa’s Dillon Marsh. C-print.

184 x 232 cm. © Dillon Marsh, 2010. Image courtesy of the

Saatchi Gallery, London.

Against this backdrop, the artists in Pangaea: New Art From Africa And Latin America, respond to present day complexities in diverse and innovative ways.

Years of colonial rule, rapid urban expansion, migration and political and economic unrest remain subjects for many of the artists whose reflections on the richness of their environment translate into an intense visual experience.

This seems to be a particularly interesting moment to see what artists from both these regions are making at a time when we’re experiencing an important shift.

Artwork by Colombian artist Rafael Gómezbarros Artwork by Colombian artist Rafael Gómezbarros The newly forged commercial and political alliances and the increasing ease of international communication and transportation has enabled artists, collectors and audiences to look at a broader body of work from countries which have previously been considered on the periphery of the art world but have slowly begun to be part of an international narrative.

The range of works in the show is extremely varied, with artists reflecting on their immediate cultural and political surroundings, broaching a wide variety of topics which include years of colonial rule, rapid urban expansion and political and economic unrest.

Highlights from the show include work by South African artists David Koloane and Dillon Marsh. David Koloane was one of the founding members of the first black gallery in South Africa located in Johannesburg, and in 1998 he was honoured by the Government of the Netherlands with the Prince Claus Fund for his contribution to the development of art in South Africa. His work explores the idea of space and the frantic buzz of daily life – commuting, protests, traffic and intimate corners that make up the city. In the past he has described the Apartheid as politics of space in which people were denied the right to move and his work evokes the restless speed and confusion of a complex sociopolitical landscape.

Cape Town’s Dillon Marsh photographs nests built by Social Weaver birds on electricity poles in the Kalahari desert. The nests are reminiscent of giant haystacks, can grow to over 20 feet wide by about 10 feet tall and can be occupied by hundreds of sociable weavers at a time. The artist spent three days in the desert searching for and photographing these incredible nests.

PANGAEA: NEW ART FROM AFRICA AND LATIN AMERICA 2 April – 31 August 2014 Details at: www.saatchigallery.com

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ANC votes in favour of major mining reform | A controversial new amendment to South Africa’s current mining laws is being processed, taking another step towards nationalising the country’s natural resources and scaring investors away.

BY SERTAN SANDERSON A new law is being pushed through government, which will see substantial changes introduced to the operations of mining companies and other energy enterprises across South Africa.

The new regulation, which is an amendment to the existing Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act of 2002, decrees that the state will receive a 20 per cent stake in all new business ventures in the energy sector entirely for free. This would effectively mean that from the start of a new mining venture, companies would operate at a 20 per cent loss by default, handing out a fifth of their own production to the state.

Furthermore, the new law will also enable the government to acquire additional shares of such new business ventures in the mineral mining and oil sector at any price put forward by the mining department, as well as force existing companies to sell part of their production output to local companies instead of favouring international players with more competitive offers.

The law would effectively force production costs to rise up under the premise of providing 20 per cent less yield to investors, while pushing sales prices down on account of having to sell part of the output off to local businesses at lower costs, making the entire future of the mining sector unsustainable, uncompetitive and, ultimately, hostile.

The proposal will have to be considered by the National Council of Provinces before being signed into law by President Jacob Zuma. However, the proposed amendment was finalised in the National Assembly with 226 votes in favour of it and 66 against it.

The government is likely to have started pushing the new law through parliament due to the fact that the ANC is expected to lose several seats to other parties in the upcoming May elections (but is still widely predicted to maintain an overall single-party majority).

The unprecedented change in law is considered to be a major taken step towards the nationalisation of South Africa’s natural resources and follows hot on the heels of the introduction of the “Investment Bill“, which itself empowers the state to expropriate any privately-owned land for mining or agricultural purposes as the government sees fit – if needed even without reimbursement.

Critics say that the move is an alarming move taking the country away from free market economics, and is bound to repel potential investors. However, Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu maintained that by streamlining the legal requirements for mining in South Africa and removing ambiguities and loopholes under the amendment, the new law should serve to rather encourage investment.

“We are on the path of changing the mining and petroleum industry in South Africa, whether you like

it or not. Change is painful, change is bitter, especially when you are stuck in the past. This act is about the people of South Africa,” she said.

The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) have heavily criticised the move in the meantime, with some lawmakers calling it a “Crony Enrichment Bill”. The DA’s Shadow Minister of Mineral Resources, James Lorimer, published a statement saying, “what this Bill seeks to do is put us in a position where the Minister says to potential investors, ‘Here is a mineral prospect, offer me a deal’.”

“Does anyone really think that companies will get that deal unless they are comrades, cronies or cousins, or unless they are contributing election funds to the ANC? Other lowlights of this Bill include the power given to the Minister to block exports of mineral products.”

The DA also accused the ANC of rushing the proposal through the National Assembly while ignoring standard protocol and ignoring public dialogue.

However, some experts say that the law can still be challenged as infringing on the South African constitution and hurting the parliamentary process.

With South Africa’s rich mineral resources ranging from platinum and gold to coal and chrome, the amendment is going to effect large sections of the economy for decades to come – if it does make its way into lawbooks.

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‘Saudi Arabia presents brand new huge opportunities for South African business’ | Saudi Arabia is South Africa’s second biggest source of imports globally. Saudi business also invests in the South African economy in sectors such as tourism.

BY STAFF REPORTER OFFICIALS from South Africa and Saudi Arabia have met to discuss further avenues of business that have not yet been fully explored between the two countries.

“There are a lot of expectations from both sides… that more should be done,” South African chairman of the SA-Saudi Arabia Business Council, Dr Iqbal Surve, said at the Saudi-South Africa business forum on Tuesday.

The business forum, organised by the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), looked at ways of deepening trade and investment relations between the two countries.

Saudi Arabia, which is the 19th largest economy in the world, is important for South Africa’s energy security, as it supplies about 50% of the country’s imports

– making Saudi Arabia South Africa’s second biggest source of imports globally.

South African companies were investing in the Middle Eastern country, while Saudi business was also investing in the South African economy in sectors such as tourism.

“South Africa represents huge opportunities for investment and similarly, Saudi Arabia represents huge opportunities for South African business,” said Surve, adding that it was important for large corporates within the respective countries to engage one another.

It was also important for common ground to be found to support the fledging small and medium enterprises in the two countries.

South Africa presented a good environment for business. “I don’t think there’s a shortage of capital.

We have good infrastructure,” Surve said.

SA-Saudi Arabia Business Council co-chairperson Dr Amin M. Al Shanqiti agreed that South Africa has a good environment for conducting business.

“It’s a lovely and promising place of doing business,” he said.

There had been complaints from stakeholders that not enough was being done to further enhance trade between the two countries.

“Maybe we had a lack of information about each other.

These kinds of meetings help us to learn about one another. There are huge opportunities between [our] two countries,” Al Shanqiti said.

The forum was arranged so as to match business with other business in various sectors, including mining and energy.

“We’ve been working with the business council to highlight

Business leaders urge South Africans to take their skills home

| A historic success story is happening at home and South Africans can be part of it. This was the message of business leaders to tempt homecomers to make the move at the Homecoming Africa London Expo over the weekend.

BY BELINDA LIVERSEDGE “THE economic structure in Africa is undergoing a revolution.

I expect you all to know this.”

Such was the message from Aly Khan, CEO at Rich Management, and one of the exceptional line-up of speakers at the Homecoming Africa London Expo this weekend.

The two day event at Olympia’s conference centre aimed to give Africans and South Africans the tools and information to return home.

The hard task was not in creating a compelling economic case for returning, with ‘Africa rising’ and ‘explosive growth’ proliferating headline news on Africa, but rather the emotional case. According to Homecoming Revolution founder Angel Jones, money and career rank just third in the order for reasons to return. Family and a sense of purpose were higher.

So, what did the leaders from Barclays Africa, Standard Bank Group to KPMG Africa, scouting homecomer talent in the adjoining hall, have to say about these less tangible, but ‘deal breaker’ reasons for return?

Giving something back Rob Goodenough of management consultancy Bain & Co, at the show headhunting talent to join its Johannesburg office, said moving to Africa was the ideal choice for career climbers with a conscience.

“Not only are you advancing your

own career, but you are making the world a better place. Africa is held back by lack of skills and infrastructure. In the UK it’s harder [to make a difference] because it’s a much more mature market; it’s been squeezed out for growth.”

The figures also speak for themselves, said Jones, who said that for every skilled person who returns home, nine new jobs are created. The value of homecomers’ economic imput has also surged from US$ 8 billion in 2004 to US$ 24 billion in 2012, making a compelling case for finding a sense of purpose at home.

Quality of life As owner of the biggest supermarket in Brixton, Dr Mabouba Diagne, now Chief Operations Officer infrastructure at Barclays Africa, was raking in £14,000 a week, selling 125 tonnes of yam every month. “I had a bank account that was piling, but I asked, does it really make you happy?”

Khan also quit his lucrative career in London working at Credit Suisse and ANZ investment Bank to return to Kenya. The charismatic speaker quoted author Nassim Taleb to describe how he felt trapped in a ‘gilded box’ working in London. “They are born, put in a box; they go home to live in a box; they study by ticking boxes; they go to what is called “work” in a box, where they sit in

their cubicle box.” The fact that the famous African lifestyle converted even these six figure salary earners and did their careers no harm was a powerful argument.

Part of history Khan said Africa was no different to China thirty years ago, or India twenty years ago. “Why would you want to be anywhere else?”

Looking at the incredible increase in social media in Africa, he said there was a corresponding upswing in technical innovation.

“Someone in Accra is going to sell his technology for billions,” he promised. “Africa is moving.”

Visit http://homecomingrevolution. com for more information.

| Angel Jones, founder of Homecoming Revolution Africa

opportunities to increase the trading profile and the investment relationship between South Africa and Saudi Arabia,” said the dti’s chief director for investment promotion, Yunus Hoosen.

Al Shanqiti further added that there was a need for the respective countries not only to hold meetings but to “walk the talk too”.

Both countries, with Saudi Arabia being rich in oil and South Africa having a vast array of resources, were looking to diversify their economies.

Business ventures between the two countries needed to employ South Africans and Saudi people.

Saudi Arabia mainly exports medicines, petrochemical products and plastic textiles, among others.

In 2013, South Africa had a R74.8 billion trade deficit with Saudi Arabia, hence it is important for South Africa to increase its

exports in order to balance trade.

In June 2012, the two countries set up a joint holding company to enhance business opportunities and investment between the two countries. The holding company – Saudi Arabian South Africa Holding (Sasah) – had the potential to create R20 billion worth of business opportunities in the two countries.

The company comprises different business sectors, including real estate and health services.

At Tuesday’s meeting, delegates heard that talks were underway on an agricultural project between the two countries.

Tuesday’s business forum preceded the fifth session of the SA/Saudi Joint Economic Commission (JEC) on Thursday that was co-chaired by Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies.

- SAnews.gov.za

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| 25 - 31 March 2014 | thesouthafrican.com

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SA invests R50 billion in thousand new trains to revive rail network | Transnet signs R50 billion (£2.8bn) deal as part of biggest infrastructure investment in South African history

BY FRANK BURBAGE SOUTH African railway company Transnet has signed a R50 billion (£2.8bn) deal with two Chinese and two North American companies to make 1000 new trains as part of a seven-year R300 billion Market Demand Strategy aimed at reducing reliance on roads by improving the country’s archaic railway, port and pipeline infrastructure.

Together, this amounts to the biggest locomotive supply contract in South Africa’s history, and the largest single infrastructure investment ever by a South African corporate.

The four groups are General Electric, CSR Zhuzhou Electric, Bombardier Transportation and CNR Rolling Rock. More than half the trains will be made by Chinese companies, though nearly all the trains will be built in South Africa.

All but 70 of the locomotives would be built at Transnet Engineering’s plants in Koedoespoort, Pretoria and Durban, with Transnet Engineering sharing approximately 16% of the total build programme – about a third

of which will be outsourced to local emerging engineering and manufacturing firms.

Transnet chief executive Brian Molefe said the deal would “transform the South African rail industry by growing small businesses and creating new ones. We are going to create and preserve approximately 30,000 jobs. In total, the localisation elements are expected to contribute over R90-billion to the economy.”

In terms of the contracts, the last of the 1 064 new locomotives will roll off the production line within three-and-a-half years. “In other words, at the programme’s peak, we will be producing 480 locomotives per year at 48 per month,” Molefe said.

The majority of the locomotives will be deployed in Transnet Freight Rail’s general freight business, which is all cargo except for dedicated heavy haul lines for iron ore and coal. Transnet aims to grow its freight volumes from the current 207-million tonnes to 350-million tonnes.

Freight transport is used for 96 per cent of South African exports. Molefe also said: “One-

third of the R300bn, which is about $10bn, will go towards our ports…We have already started buying new equipment for the ports. We have bought cranes for Durban, for Cape Town, for the port of Ngqura and Port Elizabeth…We are deepening the ports and we have a programme to improve not just the rail, but the ports and the pipelines as well.”

Speaking to the Financial Times, Tim Schweikert – chief executive of GE Transportation, subSaharan Africa – said the contract was a “huge deal” because “with the 5 per cent plus GDP growth across Africa, rail is going to be a vital piece of infrastructure.”

Speaking to Xinhua, General manager of Human Capital at Transnet Engineering, Dudu Masoek, said that CSR Zhuzhou has trained more than 100 engineers for her company, and at least 400 engineers are needed for the future capacity building plans in the contract. “I haven’t had a chance to visit Zhuzhou China, but there will be more and more interactions between the two companies in the technology and capital transfer from China to South Africa,” Masoek said.

Things to keep in mind between receiving ILR and applying for British Citizenship | Last week we have discussed the issue of ’Good character’, as requirement that needs to be in place before being able to apply for British Citizenship. This week our focus is on the Knowledge of Language and Life requirement.

BY STAFF REPORTER SINCE 28 October 2013, all applicants for settlement (Indefinite Leave to Remain) in the UK, as well as UK citizenship are expected to fulfil two requirements, unless exempt; • To pass the Life in the UK test; and • To have an English speaking and listening qualification at the B1 Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR).

This is known as the KoLL requirement – Knowledge of Language and Life requirement.

Persons who are nationals of majority English speaking countries, and those who have obtained a degree taught in English will not be required to take the English test. In this regard it is important to note that South Africa is not reckoned to be a majority English speaking country.

It is possible to fulfil the English

language requirement in two ways; If your degree was taught in the UK, you will automatically fulfil the English language requirement.

If taught in another country, and you can prove that it is equivalent or at a higher standard than a UK bachelor’s degree, and evidence that it was taught in English, you will fulfil the requirement. This evidence can be obtained via UK NARIC; or An applicant will have to pass an English speaking and listening qualification, with an approved provider, at the Level B1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR).

Certain persons are exempted from the KoLL requirement, this inter alia include; Children under 18 years of age; Persons aged 65 years and older; Persons who have a physical or mental condition which restricts their ability to learn English and/ or communicate and/or to take the

Life in the UK test; Persons on the adult dependent relative, and retired person of independent means migration routes; Spouses of British citizens or persons settled in the UK who have been victims of domestic violence or whose spouse has died.

For further information or for assistance with your application, please contact one of consultants who will be able to provide specific information in your unique case.

JP Breytenbach Director of BIC, Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants Limited. www.bic-immigration.com or info@ bic-immigration.com

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Zimbabwe Community

| 25 - 31 March 2014 | thesouthafrican.com Follow us on Twitter: @TheSAnews

Robert Mugabe expects pay rise after latest lavish celebrations | The Zimbabwean president recently celebrated his ninetieth birthday and his daughter’s wedding in opulent style using public money – and now he wants a salary increase.

BY FRANK BURBAGE ZIMBABWE may be bankrupt but this has not stopped President Robert Mugabe asking for a pay rise. It has been estimated that he currently earns about £5,000 a month based on the fact that his cabinet ministers are thought to receive around £2,000 a month.

It is expected that the government will not be able to pay civil servants on time, if at all, this year.

This request has emerged despite the fact that he has just spent $16 million of taxpayers’ money on his daughter’s wedding – including $1 million on resurfacing roads in

Harare to be used by the party that included South African President Zuma – and is currently asking governments around the world to lend Zimbabwe $20 million after an expected loan from China fell through.

Zimbabwe needs the money to repair a broken dam which has left 60,000 people cut off from the rest of the country following recent heavy rainfall.

Mugabe reportedly warned the treasury against pulling an April Fool’s joke on him after finance minister Patrick Chinamasa said pay increases would come next month.

“We’re promised that we would

get the money in April. Even the President is also a worker – 1st of April don’t fool us,” Mugabe said.

Last month Mugabe celebrated his 90th birthday in lavish style, during which he attacked Nigeria, saying: “Are we now like Nigeria where you have to reach into your pocket to get anything done…You see we used to go to Nigeria and every time we went there we had to carry extra cash in our pockets to corruptly pay for everything.”

In the world rankings for corruption (with higher numbers indicating higher levels) Nigeria is ranked 163rd while Zimbabwe is 170th.

15

thesouthafrican.com | 25 - 31 March 2014 |

Sport

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Sri Lanka snatch win over South Africa

| SRI LANKA produced a superb death bowling performance to beat the Blue Label Telecoms Proteas by five runs in the opening match in Pool A at the ICC World Twenty20 in Chittagong on Saturday.

BY ALASDAIR FRASER T2012 finalists Sri Lanka got off to a winning start in their opening World T20 Super 10 stage match with a five-run victory over South Africa in Chittagong on Saturday.

The Sri Lankans registered their highest T20 score against the Proteas and it could’ve been even higher had it not been for a superb bowling performance by Imran Tahir, who took 3/26.

AB de Villiers wore the captain’s armband after Faf du Plessis was ruled out due to a hamstring injury.

Although the whole South African top order scored valuable

contributions, none of them went on to make a big score and guide their team to victory.

Set 166 to win, the South Africans started off slowly until Quinton de Kock unleashed his fury in the third over to smash Nuwan Kulasekara for 15 runs.

He was soon clean-bowled by a Lasith Malinga yorker which brought JP Duminy to the crease.

Both Duminy and Hashim Amla combined well for a 50-run partnership which kept South Africa well on course to chase down Sri Lanka’s challenging total.

Meet one of the many awesome In2Touch Teams.

Why not join the fun?

BY STAFF REPORTER POST winter league Sunday matches, you won’t find Touch players heading on home to get ready for the week, or to do jobs, or catch up on the washing. No, you will find them following the muddy brick road across the pitches to the local pub. The post-game chat isn’t pointing fingers at who did what wrong, but more so fits of laughter over how you got stepped on by a girl, dropped an intercept, scored on the 10 metre line, not the try line… it’s about finding the fun in the game.

One London club does this rather well. And this is their story.

Hot, hot, adj.

- of high temperature: very warm: animated: passionate: new: much favoured: spicy: fiery: sl. good, quick, smart: charged with electricity: near the object sought: of news, fresh, exciting: of music, sport etc., activities which are intensely played with complex rhythms and exciting improvisations: skilful.

Custard, kus’tðrd, n.

- sweet mixture (of milk and eggs etc.): sauce, served hot or cold.

Hot Custard, hot kus’tðrd, n., adj.

- having a good rapport whilst performing: amiable, play to play, not to win: a recipe for fun: social sporting team based in London,

known for having fun and enjoying their sport.

“Hot Custard is a bunch of people having fun playing sport. And once the sport is done (and often before) we move the fun to the bar. What do you need to enjoy Hot Custard?

Just yourself and maintain an ego that doesn’t inflate. Maybe some footwear too, though that’s optional.

For us, it’s not about winning, it’s looking good that counts. But every now and again we accidentally get good at something. Hot Custard is basically a long extension of friends and an excellent place to be. We don’t judge people on ability or hipness, and we consider ourselves post-game specialists; the end of a match is just half-time in our book.

And as for the name - where did that come from? Well, that’s a long story. Lucky for you we like to tell stories. Come over and ask us sometime, we’ll be at the bar” As said last week, touch is more than a sport, it’s a way of life. Hot Custard is only one of many, many teams in London that take a sport, mix in social fun and create an atmosphere full of people who are genuine and just there to have a good time.

To get involved and join in the awesome atmosphere that we have at In2Touch, go to www.in2touch. com , LIKE the In2Touch page on FACEBOOK or e-mail Jess at jess@in2touch.com

Amla departed on 23 and Duminy was then joined by his skipper and the pair both looked like they would take their team over the finish line until De Villiers edged a catch to Sangakkara.

This left the Proteas with 51 runs needed off 31 balls as David Miller made his way to the middle.

Four runs later, Duminy was caught on the boundary which signalled the beginning of the end for the South Africans.

Earlier, the Sri Lankans won the toss and elected to bat.

Luckily for South Africa their bowling spearhead, Dale Steyn, was

fit to play and although he bowled the most expensive opening over in the tournament thus far, he cleaned bowled Tillerkatne Dilshan for a first-ball duck.

But it was the explosive hitting of opener Kusal Perera which put his team ahead of the South Africans as Sri Lanka raced ahead at over 10 runs an over.

Steyn, Morkel and Tsotsobe were expensive as Perera bludgeoned the South African fast-bowling trio.

The rout was soon ended when Tahir was brought into the attack and he struck in his first over

removing Sangakkara in the process.

Tahir then bowled a welldisguised googly and Perera’s carnage ended as he skied an easy catch to De Villiers at mid-off.

In his final over, Tahir took his third wicket with a stumping. The Pakistan-born legspinner bowled beautifully to ensure the Sri Lankans would not make it past the 200-run mark.

Steyn was then entrusted with the last over and took a wicket while only conceding a miserly five runs.

South Africa next play New Zealand on Monday.

@TheSavannaShop /theSavanna

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EASTER from

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25 - 31 March 2014

MEET ONE OF THE MANY AWESOME IN2TOUCH TEAMS P15

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SARRIES SLAY QUINS IN FRONT OF RECORD CROWD AT WEMBLEY

| Saracens beat Harlequins at Wembley Stadium, with a world record crowd of 83,889 in attendance.

BY STAFF REPORTER

SARACENS leapfrogged Northampton Saints to move three points clear at the top of the Aviva Premiership with a resounding 39-17 win against Harlequins on Saturday.

With a world record crowd of 83,889 in attendance, Saracens faced Harlequins at Wembley Stadium for the third time since the club began playing at the iconic venue. The last time the two London sides played at Wembley it attracted a world record crowd for a club rugby match, with 83,761 attending the game.

In the opening exchanges both sides looked to play wide, expansive rugby on the famous Wembley pitch, with outside halves Owen Farrell and Nick Evans both looking to stretch the play.

The game was stopped after a very poor challenge by Harlequins backrower Maurie Fa’asavalu forced winger David Strettle off the pitch.

The Samoan international backrower did not miss when he lined up a swinging arm on the ex-Quins flyer, with Strettle having to be stretchered off.

After the games prolonged stoppage the Wembley crowd were treated to some Chris Ashton magic.

With Harlequins beginning to look threatening down edges of Saracens defence, Nick Easter attempted palm on Nick Evans pass only for it to be intercepted by the fleet footed winger who raced 70+ metres to score with his trademark Ash Splash

celebration. Farrell made no mistake with the conversion.

Both fly-half’s traded penalties, first Nick Evans slotted over his sides first points of the afternoon with a routine kick after the Saracens scrum was penalised in front of their own posts, then minutes later Owen Farrell kicked a 45 metre effort to re-establish his sided seven point advantage .

Saracens were beginning to cross the Harlequins gain-line with startling regularity, and when George Kruis out powered opposite number Nick Kennedy to race away to score Harlequins Director of Rugby Conor O’Shea must have feared the worst.

O’Shea’s fears would have been temporarily allayed when Karl Dickson dummied his opposite number Richard Wigglesworth to scamper away to score.

As the half wore on Farrell kicked another penalty and then just before the half-time whistle, he scored his sides third try of the afternoon. The England fly-half will have to thank his opposite number Nick Evans for his generosity, as the former All Black pivot delivered a suicidal pass on his own line. Farrell intercepted and scored right before half-time, converting his own try.

If Harlequins needed an immediate response they duly delivered after they scored just minutes into the second half. With Sarries captain Steve Borthwick yellow carded for taking the man out in the line out, Sam Smith powered over to score

| Jacques Burger of Saracens bursts through to score a try during the Aviva Premiership match between Saracens and Harlequins at Wembley Stadium on March 22, 2014 in London, England.

(Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

moments later. Nick Evans nailed the conversion from the right hand touchline.

With the numerical advantage Harlequins looked to spread the ball at every given opportunity, with full-back Ollie LindseyHauge a constant menace – but the reappearance of Steve Borthwick from Rugby’s equivalent of the naughty step seemed to galvanise

Saracens who would cross for their fourth try of the afternoon.

Schalk Brits, enjoying yet another stellar performance at Wembley Stadium combined with lock forward George Kruis at a lineout 40 meters from the Harlequins line – after finding Kruis in the lineout, the England Saxon lock tipped the ball back to Brits who danced his way up the left hand

touch line. After being stopped by some desperate Harlequins cover defence to feed Jacques Burger who barrelled his way over to score.

Both sides continued to plug away at each other as the game wore on as Saracens saw out the game to record a well-earned victory, with Argentine centre Marcelo Bosch scoring right at the death to round off a comprehensive victory.

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