The South African 14 - 20 January 2014

www.thesouthafrican.com

14 - 20 January 2014

Issue 548

ANC ELECTION MANIFESTO PROMISES 6 MILLION JOBS

| Opposition parties have expressed doubt that the SA government will be able to fulfil its promises to create six

million jobs, fight corruption and improve education, as detailed in the ANC’s election manifesto unveiled by Jacob Zuma on the weekend

BY STAFF REPORTER PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma said the South African government will expand its public employment programme with an aim of creating six million job opportunities to all South Africans.

Presenting the ANCs January Statement at the Mbombela Stadium, Mpumalanga, on Saturday, Zuma said with youth unemployment reaching alarming levels, the majority of the mooted jobs would be reserved for young people.

The statement was anchored on employment and economic development. The ANC also unveiled its manifesto ahead of this year’s elections.

The statement, which the ruling party presents at the beginning of every year, usually sets the tone for the President’s State of The Nation Address that outlines government’s service delivery progress, and a plan of programmes and priorities of government.

Addressing a packed stadium, Zuma said, “The ANC will expand our already significant public employment programme and we aim to provide six million work opportunities. The majority of these jobs will be reserved for young people. We are also increasing the number of training and skilling opportunities for young people throughout the state-owned enterprises and

UK Immigration • UK Visas • Permits • EEA visas • Residency • Citizenship • Appeals • Sponsorship Licences South African Immigration

INSIDE:

p3 | Dates and times of SA voter registration in London p2 | Dr Mamphela Ramphele to speak in London this week

p14 | New Africa wealth report sees SA still on top – just

PROMISES, PROMISES: The ANC has failed to deliver on prior election promises, when even the modest target of 1,5 million jobs was promised. South Africans are therefore right to be sceptical that the same president who brought us Nkandla can bring us more jobs than have been created in the last 20 years, in the next 5.

other government entities.

Our infrastructure programme continues to generate massive numbers of sustainable jobs.”

He said the ANC saw the implementation of a national minimum wage as a key intervention of reducing inequalities.

Zuma claimed that employment was now higher than it has ever been and the SA economy had regained the one million jobs lost as a result of the 2008 global economic crisis.

However, DA National

Spokesperson Mmusi Maimane disputed this. “The unemployment crisis is the single defining failure of President Zuma’s five years in office.

The fact is, since he assumed the Presidency in 2009, more than 1.4 million more people have joined the ranks of the unemployed.”

Agang SA, whose leader Dr Mamphela Ramphele is visiting London next week (see page 2), said the ANC’s election manifesto was a “predictable laundry list of promises” while

it expected South Africans to conveniently forget past failures.

“Can the ruling party be so tone deaf to the disbelief and distrust citizens have towards it that it expects us to believe, without reason, that it will be able to meet these promises any better than it has in the past?” the party said.

Other key announcements that topped the ANC’s agenda for the next five years included: ■ Improving education and training by making two years of pre-school education compulsory,

eradicating adult illiteracy, bolstering teacher development, opening new universities and expanding the FET sector ■ Implementing the National Health Insurance scheme beyond its pilot phase to improve the quality of health care while reducing the cost of medicine and treatment to promote access to the poor ■ Providing housing opportunities to qualifying households in rural and urban areas for the next five years and connecting 1.6 million homes to the electricity grid over the next five years ■ Clamping down on the current tender system. Zuma said regulations were being finalised that would prohibit public servants from doing business with the state. He said the ANC would institute internal procedures to deal with corruption.

■ Zuma said the 1913 Land Act and the resultant dispossessions were directly related to the current problems of poverty, unemployment and inequality. He called on public representatives to finalise the legislation meant to speed up the expropriation of land in the public interest. continued on page 2

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Mamphela Ramphele ANC’s top ten recent achievements to speak in London Continued from front page

Zuma said government had made a lot of progress in the past five years to improve the lives of South Africans.

These included, among others: ■ More than R1 trillion has been invested in national infrastructure projects, compared with R451 billion in the previous five years.

■ The proportion of adults with access to banking services grew from 60% in 2009 to 75% in 2013.

■ Nearly 500 informal settlements have been replaced with quality housing and basic services.

■ The matric pass rate increased from 60.6% in 2009 to 78.2% in 2013.

■ FET enrolments doubled from 545,566 in 2010 to 657,690 students in 2012.

■ Loans and bursaries to poor students grew from 2.3 billion in 2008 to 8 billion in 2013.

■ Over seven million learners are in no fee schools, up from five million in 2009.

■ Teacher education has expanded-the number of new teacher graduates doubled from 6,000 in 2009 to 13,000 in 2012.

■ Through the ‘prevention of mother to child transmission’ programme, the number of babies born HIV positive was reduced by 66% from 24,000 in 2008 to 8,200 in 2011.

■ Average life expectancy increased by 4 more years to 60 years in 2012.

on ‘Policies to fire up SA’s economy’

| Dr Mamphela Ramphele, the leader of Agang SA, a party championing clean government and a political home for all South Africans that is contesting the 2014 elections, will address expats in London on 20 January.

Matric 2013: are 78% of pupils truly ready to leave school? | Hesitant cheer among adults has greeted jubilation among school-leavers: South Africa’s 2013 report card is the best since 1994. But what does having a Matric pass really mean?

BY BRETT PETZER PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma congratulated Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga on the best Matric class since the end of Apartheid this week as the government announced the country’s highest-ever pass rate.

An unprecedented 78.2 per cent of those who sat exams for the National Senior Certificate – colloquially still known as the Matriculation examination – passed.

No one, not even the state, has argued that these results mean the education system is fixed. At most, the South African government has congratulated itself on a modest but sustained improvement from the disaster Motshekga inherited in 2009, when 60,6 per cent passed.

However, South African parents’ commonplace criticism that the passing mark is too low have caused some to call the quality of the results in question. Students in South Africa need obtain only a 40 per cent passing mark in a primary and secondary language and in mathematics to pass; for all other subjects, knowing only 30 per cent of the content examined suffices.

Big business and universities have long held that this preparation is desperately inadequate to the needs of South Africa’s sophisticated economy, dominated by services, and to higher study at the continent’s best universities.

In addition, the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) has questioned the neutrality of the results. The DA contends that, because Matric marks are adjusted,

the process should be overseen by an independent body. The DA has repeatedly called for the competency of markers to be tested as recommended by Umalusi, the national skills authority.

The only provincial education authority the party runs, that of the Western Cape, this year fell in the rankings with a surprise leap by Free State and the North West to first and second place, respectively.

The two upstart provinces earned 87.4 and 87.2 per cent pass rates.

For 78 per cent of pupils – including a record number in the nation’s perennial worst performer, the Eastern Cape – the celebrations have begun. Many excellent and historic schools that could well afford the move to Independent Examination Board exams remain on the State system; many rural schools have achieved excellence against the odds, and the examinations have been declared broadly free, fair and credible.

Yet the chilling fact is that the 78 per cent who passed Matric are just a third of those who started Grade 1 with our rightly elated new graduands, twelve or more years ago. Somewhere in South Africa, two thirds of what should have been the class of 2013 are making some sort of a living, inside or outside the formal economy. To shepherd the lost two-thirds of today’s Grade 1s to Matric in 2025, is going to take much more effort sustained from universal preprimary schooling through to extra classes and more remedial help in the higher grades. Then, perhaps, we will have something everyone can celebrate.

BY STAFF REPORTER DR Mamphela Ramphele will be visiting London this month to give a number of public talks, including an address hosted by the SA Chamber of Commerce on ‘Policies to fire up the South African economy’.

Dr Ramphele has been a student activist, medical doctor, community development activist, researcher, university executive and global public servant. Always an active citizen, she is now the leader of Agang SA, a party championing clean government and a political home for all South Africans that is contesting the 2014 elections.

Following the Soweto uprising in 1976, she was detained without trial, released after five months and soon afterwards served with an apartheid banning order.

She studied Medicine at the then University of Natal, has a B Comm degree, a Diploma in Tropical Hygiene, a Diploma in Public Health and a PhD in Social Anthropology. She went on to become Vice-Chancellor of UCT, then one of four Managing Directors of the World Bank, based in Washington DC. Dr Ramphele has served as chairperson of Gold Fields, Circle Capital Ventures (Pty) Limited, Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), as a director of

Medi-Clinic Corporation Limited and Remgro Limited. She was founder of the Open Society Foundation for South Africa and the Citizens Movement, and is currently a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

The landscape is shifting, following Mandela’s death, and having been a close friend, inaugurated as Vice Chancellor of UCT by him, and as someone who has worked alongside every government since, Dr Ramphele is well placed to speak about the political landscape in South Africa going forward.

As leader of Agang SA she can address some of the key challenges and biggest opportunities for the country, whether specific policies or a wider picture for expats who want to understand better.

Dr Ramphele will give two London talks on 20 January: Perspectives on the political and business climate in SA ahead of the election (more details here) Hosted by: The Business Council for Africa Time: 12pm Policies to fire up the South African Economy (more details here) Hosted by: South African Chamber of Commerce Time: 6.30pm

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South African in UK? Register by 7 February to vote in 2014 | The High Commission in London has announced the dates and times of voter registration for South Africans based in the United Kingdom, including over two weekends this month

BY STAFF REPORTER REGISTRATION for the 2014 elections has now opened for South Africans abroad.

First-time voters living abroad must register themselves as voters before 7 February 2014; people who have voted before must look out for the President’s proclamation of the Election Date (TheSouthAfrican.com will announce this as soon as it happens).

Despite attempts to make more voting stations available abroad this year, the only voting stations will be embassies, consulates and foreign missions, meaning in the case of the United Kingdom, only the SA High Commission in London.

The High Commission in London has now opened registration for South Africans based in the United Kingdom.

Venue: South African High Commission (Springbok Entrance). During this period the registration process will be conducted as follows: Weekdays: (Mon to Fri) : 09h00-17h00 Weekend of 18-19 January: 09h00-17h00

Weekend of 25-26 January: 09h00-17h00 The registration process will close on 07 February 2014 at exactly 17h00.

Once the Election Date is finalised, the High Commission will make available the VEC-10 form which all South Africans wanting to vote abroad must fill in online and return (within 15 days of the announcement of the election date).

To deal with any confusion, we have prepared a few Frequently Asked Questions (with contact details for the Independent Electoral Commission at end of article).

Question 1: I have never voted before and have never registered to vote before. I want to vote outside South Africa in 2014.

A. If you have never registered to vote before, and you want to vote outside South Africa in 2014, you must go to the South African High Commission on Trafalgar Square and register.

To register, you will need to apply in person with your (1) passport as well as (2) identification (in the form of a green, bar-coded South African Identity Document, smartcard

ID or a valid Temporary Identity Document. If you have both (1) and (2), you will be allowed to register.

Once the Special Registration Officer has verified that you’re eligible to apply, you will complete a registration form and will then be given a Proof of Registration Application form.

This is not proof of registration, but only that you applied. You can confirm your registration status online at www.elections. org.za/content/For-voters/ My-voter-registration-details 7 working days after applying.

Once you know that you are registered, you will have to complete a second form, called the VEC-10 form, in order to be able to vote at a South African foreign mission. This form is not yet available: it will only be available once the President actually announces the date of the election, and it must then be completed online within 15 days of the announcement of the election date. He has to do this after 9 February 2014, which is two days after voter registration closes.

So you cannot register to vote after 7 February, but, once you have registered, you must still complete the VEC-10 form and send it back (within 15 days of the announcement of voting day) to the SA High Commission. On Election Day, having registered and having sent in a VEC-10 form to an SA foreign mission, you must then go to the High Commission to vote.

Question 2: I have never voted before, but I have registered to vote before. I want to vote outside South Africa in 2014.

A. You are already registered for this election (registration is for life). You must, once the President announces the date of the election (after 9 February 2014), fill in a VEC-10 form indicating that you intend to vote in London, and then send it back to the high commission within 15 days of the announcement. The VEC-10 form will only become available once the election date has been

announced and gazetted. On Election Day, you must then vote at the same foreign mission.

Question 3: I have voted inside South Africa before, and am registered to vote. I want to vote outside South Africa in 2014.

Must I re-register?

A. You are already registered for this election (registration is for life). You must, once the President announces the date of the election (after 9 February 2014), fill in a VEC-10 form indicating that you intend to vote in London, and then send it back to the high commission within 15 days of the announcement.

The VEC-10 form will only become available once the election date has been announced and gazetted. On Election Day, you must then vote at the same foreign mission.

Question 4: I have never voted before, but I cannot remember

whether I am registered or not.

I want to vote outside South Africa.

A. Check your registration status using the IEC’s handy online tool (requires ID number). If you are registered, see the answers to Questions 2 and 3. If you are not registered, see the answer to Question 1.

Question 5: I intend to vote inside South Africa in 2014.

A. If you have voted before and you intend to vote at the same voting station, you do not need to re-register; you can just show up at the same voting station and vote. If you have voted before and you intend to vote at a different polling station (e.g., if you have moved since the last elections in 2009, or if your voting district boundaries have changed), read the Independent Electoral Commissions’s FAQs to find out what to do.

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New Year with SAZZ in Basingstoke

BY YVETTE HUTTON

SAZZ, a social group of South Africans, Zimbabweans and their friends in and around Basingstoke, held a Boogie Nights Disco New Year’s Eve party at Mays Bounty Sports Club. Everyone enjoyed music, dancing, biltong, Klippies and Cokes and other South African goodies. Find ‘SAZZ and Friends’ on Facebook to join the group and find out about the next event.

Win a £20 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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SA contacts and connections directory in the UK | Are you looking for a South African organisation or society in the UK? Perhaps you’ve recently arrived in Britain, missing

home and looking to meet other South Africans? Here are some of the key contacts to help you find your way around.

Societies and Organisations: DA Abroad The DA is the fastest growing political party in South Africa.

The DA Abroad is the Democratic Alliance’s overseas network of volunteers who aim to raise the profile of the DA and its work in government around the world. da-abroad.org

BY HEATHER WALKER Government: South African High Commission Apply to retain your South African citizenship, for visas, passport renewals etc. southafricahouseuk.com Local MPs Members of Parliament (MPs) represent the interests and concerns of the UK public in the House of Commons. MPs are involved in considering and proposing new laws, and can use their position to ask government ministers questions about current issues.

Here we list some of the MPS for London areas with large numbers of South African residents. To find the MP for the area you live, visit findyourmp. parliament.uk Wimbledon: Stephen Hammond www.stephenhammondmp.com Southfields, Putney, Roehampton: Justine Greening www.justinegreening.co.uk Earlsfield, Balham, Tooting, Furzedown, Graveney and Wandsworth Common: Sadiq Khan www.sadiqkhan.org.uk Richmond Park and North Kingston: Zac Goldsmith www.zacgoldsmith.com Twickenham: Vincent Cable vincentcable.org.uk/en Business SA Chamber of Commerce The SA Chamber of Commerce is an umbrella organisation and conduit for trade, community and investment into and out of South Africa. The SACC aims

to bring under one concerted effort, a forum and meeting point for businesses who have an interest in both the UK and South Africa in an attempt to facilitate the development of business opportunities.

The SACC runs monthly First Wednesday speaker events, Breakfast Indaba networking sessions and the annual SA Business Awards. It facilitates trade missions, Mamba Mentors and research. southafricanchamber.co.uk UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) UKTI helps UK-based companies succeed in the global economy.

They also help overseas companies bring their investment to the UK economy. UKTI in South Africa helps companies in Britain increase their competitiveness through overseas trade in South Africa.

Email satrade@fco.gov.uk Phone (Johannesburg) + 27 (0) 11 537 7000 or (UK) +44 (0)20 7215 5000 Business Council for Africa West and Southern The Business Council for Africa West and Southern is the leading membership organisation supporting companies and entrepreneurs with business interests in Sub-Saharan Africa. www.bcafrica.co.uk SATOA SATOA is a leading professional non-profit travel and tourism association formed in 1982.

Managed by a committee in the UK on behalf of its members, SATOA promotes travel to Africa and the Indian Ocean while providing its members with a platform from which to promote their products, network and create new business opportunities. http://www.satoa.com/

SA LegionUK The South African Legion of Military Veterans UK is an ex-servicemen association comprised of military veterans who have either served in South Africa’s security forces or in the British armed forces under Commonwealth and now reside in the UK. They are dedicated to the grateful recognition and memory of South Africans who have served their country. salegion.org.uk Africa Centre The mission of the Africa Centre is to promote Africa’s cultural diversity seldom seen outside of the continent and to bring to the forefront, issues affecting not just Africans in Africa, but also in the Diaspora wherever they may be found.

Its objectives are to serve as the custodian of African Art and Culture in the United Kingdom, to be a voice for Africans in the Diaspora and to serve as a platform to promote African Socio-Economic and Developmental issues. www.africacentre.org.uk SAAX Southern African Actuarial ConneXion (SAAX) is a notfor-profit group which brings together people with a common actuarial connection, working in and around London amd sharing an affiliation with Southern Africa. Saax hosts three to four events each year in central London to encourage networking and relationship building amongst members. www.saaxgroup.org SA Youth Development SAYD works in partnership with a wide range of public, private and voluntary sector organisations to support and improve services for young South African people living in the United Kingdom with a particular focus on youth mentoring. www.facebook.com/ pages/South-African-Youth-

Development-PromotingPositivity/141858542589528 School of Oriental and African studies SOAS, University of London is the only Higher Education institution in Europe specialising in the study of Asia, Africa and the Near and Middle East. SOAS holds regular talks and events. www.soas.ac.uk Royal African Society The Royal African Society is Britain’s prime Africa organisation. It prides itself in its goal is to promote Africa in different catagories for example, in business, politics, culture and academia. It is a membership society that works to foster better understanding and strong relationships between Britain, Africa and the world. www.royalafricansociety.org

South African Tourism South African Tourism has its London office in Wimbledon. http://country.southafrica. net/sat/content/en/gb/contact/ regional-office/ Brand South Africa Brand South Africa markets and promotes South Africa to the world. Its role is to create a positive, unified image of South Africa; one that builds pride, promotes investment and tourism.

Brand South Africa aims to mobilise influential, well-placed South Africans abroad behind a programme of investment recruitment, skills identification, mentoring, skills transfer, study exchange and work experience initiatives. www.brandsouthafrica.com/ contact-us

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Directory of South African charities working in UK

| Looking to support a UK-based South African cause? Did you realise there are more than 20 South African charities active in Britain? They are all listed here in alphabetical order, for ease of reference.

BY HEATHER WALKER Action for Southern Africa Action for Southern Africa (Actsa) works to eradicate poverty, support rights, justice, sustainable development and democracy across southern Africa. http://www.actsa.org/ Afrika Tikkun UK AfrikaTikkun UK raises funds to support the work of Afrika Tikkun, an award winning child development charity in South Africa providing community based education and health care programmes for underprivileged children in the townships. afrikatikkun.org Amref Amref is the largest health charity in Africa. Amref works in South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, South Sudan, Malawi, Tanzania and Senegal. 97% of its staff are African. It aims to transform Africa’s health from within the continent through training and support for local people, helping communities to create lasting and sustainable health change. www.amref.org Breadline Africa Breadline Africa is a Cape Town based UK-registered charity supporting early childhood development centres and skills training for young people in some of the most deprived areas of SA. The charity also converts old shipping containers into libraries, classrooms, soup kitchens and ablution blocks for schools. breadlineafrica.org/gb Children’s Hospital Trust South Africa The Children’s Hospital Trust South Africa raises funds for the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital and support paediatric healthcare in South Africa. childrenshospitaltrust.co.uk Chiva Africa Chiva Africa sends volunteer teams of doctors, nurses, dieticians, pharmacists and psychologists to South Africa to provide mentoring and training to those working on the frontlines of the HIV epidemic – ensuring the best long term care for its most vulnerable victims. www.chiva-africa.org

clouddog clouddog offers inner city young people an intensive twelvemonth programme of personal development, skills acquisition and activity in environmental and conservation issues. www.clouddog.org Education for Democracy in South Africa Education for Democracy in South Africa is a small West Oxford based charity which has been in existence since 1989 including during the years of apartheid.

EDSA developed through a strong link with educationalists working within the Cape Town area, who were striving to ensure that as many disadvantaged black South Africans as possible had access to education and training.

EDSA’s focus for support at the moment, both financialially and through advice and guidance, is a rural township project called Net Vir Pret in the Overberg area of the Western Cape. www.edsa.org.uk FoodBank South Africa FoodBank South Africa (FoodBank SA) is leading a large-scale co-ordinated effort to establish food banks in communities with the highest concentration of food insecure people. The food bank rescues and procures food (and essential non-food groceries) usually from donors such as producers, manufacturers, retailers, government agencies, individuals and other organisations. www.foodbank.org.za Friends of Amasango The Friends of Amasango is the UK charity that supports the work of the Amasango Career School in Grahamstown, South Africa.

This special needs school enables street children to obtain a primary education and build self-esteem. www.amasango.org.uk Goodwill and Growth for Africa UK (GAGA) GAGA UK works in Southern Africa and elsewhere, supporting children and communities in the poorest areas. Their aim is to develop education, healthcare, welfare and empowerment. www.gaga-uk.org Helwel Trust Helwel Trust UK mainly supports two charities working in northern KwaZulu-Natal: Training and Resources in Early Education

(Tree); and African Co-operative Action Trust (Acat). Tree trains pre-school teachers and makes and distributes educational toys and equipment to pre-schools, while Acat assists people in rural areas to develop sustainable agriculture or entrepreneurial development. www.helweltrust.co.uk Jo’burg Child Welfare Jo’burg Child Welfare (JCW) provides direct services to children aged 0 – 18 and through our Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Forum, we assist community based organisations in providing services to orphaned and vulnerable children within the communities they serve. www.jhbchildwelfare.org.za/ index.php/jcw-today-uk Love is All We Need Love is All We Need is a UKbased charity that provides for the basic needs of children suffering the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in South Africa. The charity provides food, medicine and care to AIDS orphans in Sweetwaters, a community in KwaZulu Natal. www.loveisallweneed.org.uk mothers2mothers mothers2mothers train, employ, and empower Mentor Mothers, who are mothers living with HIV, to work alongside doctors and nurses in understaffed health centres as members of the healthcare team. In one-on-one and group sessions, Mentor Mothers provide essential health education and psychosocial support to other HIV-positive mothers on how they can protect their babies from HIV infection, and keep themselves and their families healthy. www.m2m.org Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund UK The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund UK fundraise for and publicises the work of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund in South Africa. The organisation and its partners are working to get disabled children into school, to identify and protect children who are vulnerable having lost parents to the HIV/Aids pandemic, to help the most vulnerable children who are refugees, or displaced from their families as a result of poverty and family breakdown and to help young people develop skills for work. www.mandela-children.org.uk

Rhodes University Trust The Rhodes University Trust UK provides funding and support for educational activities conducted

by Rhodes University and other educational institutions and initiatives in Grahamstown and the surrounding area. www.rhodesalumni.co.uk SA-UK Trust Network The SA-UK Trust Network enables a forum where representatives of UK-based Trusts and Charities, supporting their South African partner organisations, can interact and further their common purpose: the development and upliftment of South Africa. http://www.sa-uktrusts.org.uk SOS Africa Children’s Charity The SOS Africa Children’s Charity is a small, non-profit, UK registered, predominantly volunteer-run Somerset charity, which funds the education and care of underprivileged African township children. http://www.sosafrica.com/ Starfish Greathearts Foundation Starfish supports Aids orphans and vulnerable children in South Africa by working with partner organisations in local communities to provide holistic care, including nutrition, education , shelter, and psychological support.

http://www.starfishcharity.org Tutudesk Tutudesk provides portable school desks to children in Sub Saharan Africa, where over 95 million children don’t have the benefit of a classroom desk. To date over 1 million desks have been distributed. The Tutudesk Campaign aims to provide 20 million desks to 20 million children by 2020. http://www.tutudesk.org/ Ubuntu Education Fund Ubuntu Education Fund works with children on a daily basis at every step of their development and provides such essentials as pencils and clothing to HIV treatment, holiday camps and career guidance. http://www.ubuntufund.org/ The University of Cape Town Trust The University of Cape Town Trustis a UK registered charitable trust set up in 1991 to build support for South Africa’s leading and oldest university. It raises funds from UK and Europe based foundations, companies and individuals for projects at UCT and organises events for UCT alumni living in the UK and helps them to stay in touch with their alma mater. www.ucttrust.org.uk

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So I miss the hawkers and parking assistants – does that make me weird?

| I look out of my lounge window and I see two school-kids walk by, a little lady on a motorised scooter, and a man with his

dishevelled Springer Spaniel, and I feel miles away from the people selling their wares on street corners and robots, and just noticed and recall an advert off-ramp intersections. I feel and his fingertips bleeding from the beggars at the highway off-ramp intersections.

BY KATYPOTATIE BUYING my first pair of proper Wellies is an exciting day. Ok, albeit being from a general wellknown DIY store, but new Wellies they are nonetheless. I could say gumboots, but it wouldn’t have the same charm.

Wellies.

We’ve been planning a trip to Wales, and I thought the visit (in the heart of the summer) requires Wellies – you know, for sploshing around mud puddles in etc. Perfect excuse.

So I trundle back home, with a pair of spotted Wellies in the car, a bag of prawn-flavoured chips (because that’s what they are), and a new pair of secateurs to attack

the Willow tree in the front garden that has decided it was growing a Belieber mop. I am nonchalant in my own little world, driving up the main road, when I spot three High Vis bodies standing outside of the pharmacy. Arms folded. Stern Look upon faces. One with a notebook.

They don’t look like the law, but who am I to know. Instinctively I check my speedometer and notice that I’ve been travelling slightly over the 20mph zone, and my foot extends to the brake pedal and casually slow down. Not making eye-contact as I pass, I make my way home.

Whilst crumbling my last Peppermint Crisp over the tart I’ve just made, I think about the High Vis brigade that I had

for a community speed watch campaign that was being launched in our town. Living in the quiet countryside, where the largest criminal activity is perhaps a garden shed that has been broken into, or a drunken brawl that ended up with a blue eye and a sore head (I jest), I’ve become almost distant from the constant reminder of The Law, no matter the capacity thereof.

I look out of my lounge window and I see 2 school-kids walk by, a little lady on a motorised scooter, and a man with his dishevelled Springer Spaniel, and I feel miles away from the people selling their wares on street corners and robots (because that’s what they are), and beggars at the highway

Are Londoners allergic to me? Why it’s hard to make friends with locals

| South Africans living in London fully embrace all this city has to offer, including its people. But

sometimes it seems like the locals don’t share our same enthusiasm for making new friends.

BY CLAIRE ADAMS I’VE been living in London for nearly 10 years. The honeymoon period ended after four. Around this time the Underground went from novelty to daily grind, I observed traffic accelerates to run pedestrians over, and English accents lost their foreign lustre. I also realised how difficult it is to make decent friends in this city. Discounting the possibility Londoners may be allergic to my personality, I’ve had to consider why this is so, for the sake of my sanity. If you find yourself scratching your head as well, here are a few observations: London is vast The geographic spread of London is enormous. There is also a definite north/south divide across the Thames. Regardless of the convenience of the Underground, most people will not make the effort for new associations if it involves travelling any distance at all and it takes up too much of their time.

London is also massive in terms of population. Many are itinerant with short term visas. Associations on these terms will be fleeting and superficial. The established social networks are amongst the long term residents and most of these people already have friends and don’t need to make the effort for any more.

Public vs private persona Ever wondered why people who you met only last week just walk past you on the street?

Meeting someone privately is easy, establishing connections outside of the context of the original association is near impossible.

If you meet someone within an

interest group, you need to regularly attend for a good ten years before they consider you quite safe and not an axe-wielding maniac. It takes a long time and great dedication. In private, most are approachable and friendly. In public, Londoners are polite but unkind.

The paradox of the Internet/ social media The internet can crack open your social world. Subsequently, you will meet far more people via Meetups, club memberships or interest groups. Unfortunately, this does not necessarily mean you will make more friends. Like the proverbial fisherman, your net may be cast wider, but the holes are far bigger. You might meet more people and go further afield, but most associations will fall through.

Londoners don’t tend to like being singled out and prefer to travel in packs. They are also quite reserved and require you to make the effort before they choose to do so. Social media may also hook you up to many more individuals, but it is also a useful tool to keep everyone at arm’s length. Texting, e-mail and Facebook are lazy and cheap ways of ‘staying in touch’ without making any effort for face to face contact.

Lack of social flexibility Londoners tend to have their spare time sewn up fairly tightly.

Social diaries are booked months in advance. Many evenings will be accounted for and most will never cancel their gym class for one evening to have a spontaneous drink after work. If you stop attending a group no one will call you to get you back or make the effort for you

outside of the club. Londoners also have certain ways of cutting you loose if they are not interested. If you have ever had someone agree to a social engagement with you and then cancel at the last minute, with a promise to ‘reschedule’, they never will. It is not a good sign when someone says they cannot make a proposed meeting and that they are busy for the next three months.

There are plenty of empty gestures and not so much genuine substance.

A fear starts to fester if they agree to one social engagement. They may be prevailed upon to do it again and then what? Will you be appearing, unannounced, on their doorstep with an overnight bag? Will you be asking to borrow substantial sums of money? Will you announce you have leprosy? It will never end!

Best to shut you out at the beginning and avoid the embarrassment.

miles away from guys earning their keep by looking after my parked car, and feel stupid at the countless times that I felt irritated by their directing my reversing out of a parking bay, while I knew perfectly well how to drive!

Ironically, I find myself suggesting exactly the same when I look at the way some people drive and park in the countryside. I hypocritically add, “One thing they could do with here, were some car-watch guys to help these people park”.

My beaded artwork of the African women hanging up their washing, hangs on the wall in my lounge.

And I remember meeting Oscar on the corner of the N2 and Somerset West’s Victoria Road, where he was hard at work with this creation –

countless time the wire had pierced his rugged skin. And I remember buying this massive work of art, while knowing that my flat was already packed up and ready to ship – and not knowing how I’d get this to the UK. But here it hangs. And suddenly, it dawns on me that the High Vis Beliebers, fulfilling their role of traffic speed management, are no different to Oscar, nor to the tannie that bakes pancakes outside of the Bonnievale Spar on a Saturday morning. They’re merely doing their bit for their families and for their community, regardless of how it may appear to anyone else.

And suddenly, I feel very small, and so I put on some Johnny Clegg.

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| 14 - 20 January 2014 | thesouthafrican.com

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Living in two places is the biggest gift

| Living in two places is difficult. Living in two places is the biggest gift. Hot and cold, Woollies and

Waitrose – how lucky am I? KAREN DE VILLIERS

SHE stood beside the ironing board, shoulders drooped, eyes glancing first at the rain spattered window, again to the laundry draped over the door and sighed…

Two days ago I complained about the heat. I know, I know, one should never complain about the blazing sun if you have grey for most of the year, but then are we ever satisfied?

I tried valiantly to embrace the blazing sun hitting the sleeping eye at five in the morning, and spending the rest of the day with a sundress clearly stuck to the sweaty body whilst attempting to escape sandal burn and frizzy hair. Really? Cape Town was scorching; a borrowed car with no

air-conditioning, a house with no air-conditioning and ice melting in the glass of Chenin before my first sip. No pool. There are some things one just has to have at that temperature …

Still I had the most glorious evenings folding into light night when I could sit on my little ‘stoep’ with friends, local Franschoek wine and reflect on just how easy it is to live there. Not for everyone, but for me a world away from laundry and London fluff.

For a week Stafford arrived with a huge grin and exempted me from washing up and that alone was like a second honeymoon. Part of me felt so guilty having someone else take care of the house, I seemed to compensate with jovial chats, pouring cold drinks and a tip enough to buy him a year’s membership at Virgin Active.

Bonus that Woolworths launched their flagship food store a quick walk from my door. I took photographs of the interior and languished in the air-conditioned space over my latte and free wi-fi whilst deciding on the winelands, the beaches of Camp’s Bay or some whale watching in Hermanus – when I was brave enough to venture outdoors. Heaven, and a little hotazhell wrapped up in all that is the Cape Beauty, the Cape Flats, car-guards from the Congo and all the colours and cultures of my home.

Interesting that no-one asks about my life here. They enquire about my survival of the weather, the crowds, the endless winter.

Sympathise at my one armed tan (from driving in an airconditionedless car) and assume that our purchase of a place in South Africa can only mean the beginning of the return.

She looks again at the rain-

streaked window. And sighs.

I love the rain. Landing at Heathrow and tasting the strong coffee in the cold is magic. Forget the washing draped everywhere, the fluff and dragging the groceries three floors in my building – the possibilities of tasting life in a different form, in a cultural mecca of history and beauty is addictive. Still childlike

about catching the tube, waiting for the bus and knowing that the best art, the greatest theatres and the energy of London is as special as those sunsets in the Cape.

Living in two places is difficult.

Living in two places is the biggest gift. Hot and cold, Woollies and Waitrose – how lucky am I? Back to the ironing before booking the ticket to the sun…

Spur Steak & Grill opens in Leicester

| Spur has several locations around the UK and Ireland, including the London

O2 Arena, and is delighted to be bringing the Spur experience to Leicester.

BY STAFF REPORTER CHEERING news for steak and rib lovers – Spur Steak & Grill has now landed in Leicester.

Called Soaring Eagle Spur, their new 60-seater restaurant is situated right by the Holiday Inn Express Walkers Stadium and within walking distance of the Tigers ground, so perfect for a pre- or post-match feast or a drink and a bar snack.

Spur has several locations around the UK and Ireland, including the London O2 Arena, and is now

delighted to be bringing the Spur experience to Leicester.

Open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, it offers a friendly, casual dining experience for all. The menu offers something for everyone, from Spur’s legendary steaks and sizzling man-size ribs with our unique and fabulous barbecue sauce, to delicious burgers, chicken dishes and popular combo meals.

All mains come with a choice of two sides and there are some unmissable weekday and match

day specials. The restaurant offers generous helpings and great value for money, with lunch starting from just £5.95, plus fantastic discounts for LCFC and Tigers season ticket holders and also for students.

Kids are always welcome at Spur and there are plenty of choices, with all-time favourites like burgers or hot dogs with chips, spaghetti & meat balls, pizza and great desserts. And, with an accompanying adult ordering from the main menu, kids eat free from Friday to Sunday. Spur has an under 12s Kids’ Club, and Spur Steak & Grill kids’ birthday parties are the best ever, with balloons, lucky packs and a birthday cake.

Soaring Eagle Spur also has upstairs room hire facilities with bar and we welcome meetings, 6 conferences and, of course, private parties.

They are committed to giving every customer the best possible Spur experience filled with generosity, good times, great value-for-money and the great Spur taste. Their friendly team is waiting to welcome you so come along and try the new Soaring Eagle Spur.

Soaring Eagle Spur Steak & Grill, Holiday Inn Express Walkers Stadium, Filbert Way, Raw Dykes Road, Leicester LE2 7FQ Tel: 0116 254 7465 6 www.ukspur.co.uk Join us on Facebook: http:// facebook.com/U.K.Spur

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Where There’s a Will There’s a Way: Part 2 | You could place all your hard-earned wealth at risk by simply not making a valid Will.

BY PAUL FLUDE DEATH is certain and brings enough grief without the extra problems your family will face if you die without a Will or if your Will is invalid or inadequate. If it’s the last thing you do, ensure that you have drawn the one legal document that will have the biggest affect on the lives of your family once you’re gone.

In the second and final part of this article, I focus on 3 key questions that often arise when you are making your Will or updating your Will, particularly where you have assets in more than one jurisdiction.

My assets are too insignificant – only really wealthy people need a Will, right? Anyway, I already have Will – why should I make a new one?

These are common misconceptions. Everyone over the age of 18 should write a Will.

You don’t have to be wealthy to have a Will. If you draw up a personal balance sheet, you may be surprised at exactly how much you have to dispose of.

Often forgotten “hidden” assets are pension rights, insurance policies and all your electronic data, which should form part of your estate planning, but may not necessarily form part of your Estate for Will-writing purposes.

If you have multiple assets and multiple heirs or you have specific items that you would like to leave to specific people (bequests) then you should make a Will.

A Will is a personal document in all senses of the word; it

moves with you on the path of your life. Your Will must be tailor-made to fit your current individual and financial circumstances and wishes.

If you already have a Will, you should review it regularly (at least on an annual basis), as it is surprising how quickly a Will gets out of date.

Time doesn’t stand still. Your financial position will almost certainly change (for the better or worse!) while residence, births, marriages, divorces or deaths in the family all impact on the validity of your Will. Tax Laws and other legal matters change frequently – all have a significant impact on your Will.

I don’t have a Will, but everything automatically go to my spouse/civil partner and my children, doesn’t it? From your experience what are the greatest risks associated with not having a Will?

Another misconception. Failing to draft a Will, or having a poorly drafted Will or an invalid Will, will mean that you die intestate and may have the following results: The applicable Law usually provides a fixed and arbitrary formula for the division of your Estate which may not accord with your actual wishes – distant relatives or even the State may benefit and your spouse/civil partner may not receive the full share you want them to inherit, left with a legal battle or have to share assets with your blood relatives;an Administrator not known to you or your family will be appointed; No Guardian of your choice

for your minor children, which could have a huge detrimental effect on them;assets such as bank accounts could be frozen for a lengthy period.

It generally leaves complications for your family and a financial mess to clear up; and the costs of winding up your Estate will soar.

I’ve lived in different places and acquired assets along the way including fixed property.

What about my assets in other jurisdictions – do I need more than one Will to cover these?

You can have one “worldwide” Will to cover all jurisdictions, but it is not advisable.

If you have significant assets in multiple jurisdictions, you should have separate Wills to cater for each jurisdiction.

This is particularly so where fixed (immovable) property is concerned, as in certain jurisdictions a property transfer may only be effected by way of a valid Will.

Another important point is that there are significant differences in the inheritance laws and practices in common law and civil law countries. Add to that the application of Shariah Law, which will dictate strictly who gets what if you have assets in say the UAE. Preparing a separate South African Will, will assist you from separating your assets subject to Estate Duty in South Africa from those assets in your non-South African Estate (which are exempt from SA Estate Duty).

It also makes the appointment of Executors easier and significantly reduces time frames and costs.

It is vital that your different Wills don’t revoke or cancel each other or create an ambiguity and are “ringfenced” per jurisdiction, so it is preferable to get professional advice in this regard.

If you have a Will that is specifically limited to your UK, South African, US or Australian assets for example, you will die intestate in an offshore jurisdiction such as Guernsey, BVI or the Isle of Man if you have assets there and have the added burden of probate costs associated with an offshore Estate.

It pays to have “universal” Executors and Trustees who know your background and personal circumstances, so that essentially your entire Estate and all assets can be dealt with “under one roof” speedily, confidentially, seamlessly and at

a reduced cost.

Make sure that your chosen Executors have the capacity to be appointed as such in all jurisdictions.

In South Africa, the Master of the High Court follows a strict process in order to appoint foreign Executors nominated in non-South African Wills and may reject a nominated Executor in a foreign Will who is not qualified to act.

Paul Flude is a practising Attorney of the High Court of South Africa, based in London as Head of Private Client at A City Law Firm LLP. He is a specialist in SA and UK Wills, Trusts, Estate Planning and the winding up of Deceased Estates (Probate) in global jurisdictions. For more information about Wills, Trusts, Deceased Estates, Estate Planning & Relocations for global South Africans, contact Paul Flude at paul@paulflude. com or telephone 075 5790 1355.

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Do South Africa’s unskilled youth have a future?

| Millions of South Africans want to believe in the ANC’s promise of 6 million jobs, but the alarming truth is that our economy is a friend of poverty rather than the poor. Rigid labour markets, corruption and shambolic education are what stand in the way of South Africans’ creating jobs for themselves: what we’d like to hear is Zuma promise to stop destroying job opportunities, rather than pledging to create them

BY BRETT PETZER AS millions of South Africans rolled their eyes in response to President Zuma’s promised 6 million jobs, thoughtful observers took to the social media to voice their concern. Two possibilities can explain Zuma’s choosing of such an outlandish figure, and neither of them have anything to do with our troubled economy.

The first is that President Zuma has done sums that show he will not need the votes of the numerate and literate in June.

The second, more alarming possibility, is that Zuma believes that six million jobs can in fact be created - to say nothing of the fact that his departure from office would be, at this point, one of the only pieces of news that could rally the currency.

But the strange thing is that the outsize promise was entirely free of detail. And, without wanting to be uncharitable, we must doubt that the ANC have left out all the details of how South Africa’s two-decade-old jobs problem would be solved in order to make more of a splash with them when they’re revealed closer to election time.

In 2011, Kgalema Motlanthe said that the uneducated and unskilled youth were our ‘ticking time-bomb’, noting that 2.8 million 18-24-year

olds were unemployed and not in training. Since then, youth unemployment has not lessened in any measurable way, and the crisis in education is as deep as ever. While the improved 2013 Matric pass rate have given some cause for celebration, it is not lost on education experts that only a small minority of every Grade 1 class go on to Matric, with an even smaller fraction qualifying for study at university.

Even Blade Nzimande’s briefing last week, in which the Higher Education Minister spoke of 400,000 training, education and upskilling opportunities available to the youth, seems to miss this larger point: South Africa produces more unskilled workers than skilled, and has done so for many years. Even if every Matric writing this year were somehow to be placed in a meaningful, high-quality form of training and equipped for a skilled job, this country would have to solve the problem of several million young, capable citizens who have no specialised human capital to offer the global economy.

South Africa is not cheap enough to become a major low-cost manufacturing hub, and our mining industry battles to survive. Agriculture has been capitalising and shedding manpower for years as it

automates and as small farms turn into large, single corporate farms.

The sectors of the economy that might once have absorbed unskilled workers and turned them into highly-paid labour through on-the-job training and lifelong learning are shrinking or struggling to survive. It remains to be seen whether the Beloved Country’s state and civil society institutions can withstand the pressure of so much talent and energy slowly simmering at home when it could be at work.

As a country, our rigid and rather first-world labour market and labour laws, our adversarial and outdated collective wage bargaining system and other paleo-economics have eaten into the energy and entrepreneurial spirit of what could be a thriving economy that contains every permutation from formal and corporate to informal microenterprises. We could have a big, messy, resilient hybrid economy that hoovers up talent and ideas and in which the social safety net only serves to support South Africans between jobs. But the journey there begins with straight talk, intellectual honesty and realism.

The state cannot give us six million jobs, but if it got out of the way, South Africa’s matchless entrepreneurs could.

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New Africa wealth report sees SA still on top – just | The average South African is still the richest in Africa, but oil and mining wealth mean that other countries are in hot pursuit – while once-bustling Zimbabwe still bleeds wealth. This was the outcome of a major report on the wealth of Africa’s citizens released this week

BY BRETT PETZER THE average South African is still the richest in Africa, but oil and mining wealth mean that other countries are in hot pursuit. This was the outcome of a major report on the wealth of Africa’s citizens released by the consultancy New World Wealth this week.

The Wealth Statistics in Africa report shows that the spread of multiparty democracy in the late 1990s and the commodity booms of the 2000s have transformed the fortunes of ordinary people in countries like Angola, even if this wealth remains concentrated.

While ‘trickle-down economics’ is now widely disproven as an economic theory, and while almost all the countries surveyed are marked by extreme inequality, an indication of average wealth does signal a steady accumulation of capital in almost every African country.

South Africa’s average wealth has leapt up from a mere USD 4200 in 2000 (about ZAR 45 000, close to that of the average Egyptian at present) to USD 11 310, or ZAR 121 046 at current rates.

Despite years of steady growth, relative economic stability and several peaceful transfers of power, East and Southern African states like Tanzania, Mozambique and Uganda range around the USD 400 mark.

Even East African regional power Ethiopia, which has grown and diversified rapidly, has a mere USD 260 in capital per person.

But, if the total wealth – which includes real estate, commercial interests, cash and all other assets – is still low in this region, the trajectory is still upwards; the same cannot be said of Zimbabwe.

South Africa’s neighbour to the north has fallen from its place among Africa’s wealthiest countries before the start of Robert Mugabe’s land-reform program in the 2000s to a place near the bottom in 2013. Even the partial macro-economic stabilisation of 2009 has barely staunched the outflow and destruction of wealth, and the 89-year old Mugabe’s indigenisation policy risks plunging the economy back into freefall. Current wealth in Zimbabwe stands at USD 570, and declining steadily.

Wealth and development in Africa have long clustered at the northern and southern extremes, and North Africa continues to benefit from well-developed trade and economic links with wealthy European and Middle Eastern markets, as well as the ease of maritime trade with these markets.

Wealth in this region ranges from USD 11 040 in oil-rich Libya to USD 4350 in Egypt. Political reconstruction in this area in the wake of the Arab Spring should accelerate wealth production.

Rights of residence in the event of the breakdown of a marriage

BY STAFF REPORTER

Sadly, it is a reality that many marriages break down. In many cases, the visa granted to one of the parties was based on the relationship/marriage, and the immigration status is thus often compromised.

South Africans married to EEA nationals, can keep their rights of residence if the marriage breaks down if inter alia the following criteria are met; The couple need to have been married for at least three years from the date of marriage to the date of divorce; The EEA nationals needs to have been in the UK and exercising their EEA rights of residence in the UK on the date of the divorce (the date of the decree absolute in actual fact); The South African partner / non-EEA national needs to be employed or self-employed on the date of the divorce; The couple also need to have been living together for at least

a year during the period when they were married.

If inter alia the above criteria are met, the non-EEA national will be able to retain a right of residence.

For more information or advice in your unique circumstances, please contact BIC. JP Breytenbach Director of BIC, Breytenbachs Immigration Consultants Limited. www.bic-immigration.com or info@bic-immigration. comimmigration.com or phone us in London on 0845 074 0514.

| Sandton remains Africa’s key concentration of wealth

Rand slumps to five-year lows

BY DYLAN GOATE

THE rand fell to a five-year low of 10.7360 against the US dollar on Monday last week and could soon reach such lows again amid lukewarm investor appetite for riskier currencies, which seem to be taking the brunt of a cut-back in US monetary stimuli.

After the British Chambers of Commerce released a detailed report on Wednesday showing improved confidence among UK businesses and intimated that the recovery is likely to continue at its current pace, the pound was able to extend gains against the rand despite data showing a dip in UK house prices.

The commodity-driven rand came under pressure as betterthan-forecast US trade balance data added to the case for the US Federal Reserve to taper the level of bond buying by a further five billion US dollars when it meets later this month. Although the rand was able to claw back some losses during local trading on Thursday after domestic foreign exchange reserves data surprised to the upside, gains were minimal ahead

of the publication of the minutes from December’s FOMC meeting.

Looking ahead this week, there is a lot of data to be released out of the US, UK and Eurozone.

Thursday will see most of the important economic data being released, starting with the German Consumer Price Index (CPI), followed by the Eurozone, and then the US. US employment and housing figures will also be released, which could see a lot movement in the markets, according to analysts.

GBP / ZAR: 17.5824 EUR / ZAR: 14.6161 USD / ZAR: 10.6938 NZD / ZAR: 8.9039 AUD / ZAR: 9.6636

Exchange rates as of 08:41, 13 January 2014. :: Note: The above exchange rates are based on “interbank” rates. If you want to transfer money to or from South Africa then please register/login on our website, or call us for a live dealing rate. Make use of a Rate Notifier to send you alert when the South African exchange rate reaches levels you are looking for.

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thesouthafrican.com | 14 - 20 January 2014 |

Travel

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Walking the Wicklow Way

| A week walking in Ireland is a week of softening: eyes trained to see jagged London switch to a diet of green hills, still lakes and moodily-lit ruins. Stomachs used to virtuous quinoa and the Paleo diet gently expand into a universe of potato-and-beer based cuisine. In short, we left for Ireland old and grey, and came back in the bloom of youth. Here’s why the Wicklow Way should be your next city break

BY BRETT PETZER THE Emerald Isle has always been uncommonly kind to walkers and ramblers. Ireland’s spectacular landscape is less craggy than, say, Scotland, but no less dramatic, and the climate is much milder, even in winter. As another rainy weekend in London beckoned, it was the prospect of hearty pub lunches and big skies a very short Ryanair flight away that got the hiking gear out and packed and us into Dublin Airport – all in far less time than it takes to get ready for dinner party across town with vegetarian friends (because, as true Saffas, we have so far cooked and eaten emergency steaks before every evening at Sam and Ian’s*).

Our route would be the Wicklow Way, (www.wicklowway.com) the Irish leg of the very Europeansounding E8 ramblers’ route that runs from Clonegal in County Carlow to Marlay Park in south Dublin – and thence to, well, Turkey. We started at the end, going from south to north, so that we’d have a little time to stretch our legs on flat ground before the route begins to climb. In the event, we stretched our legs at Johnnie Fox’s Pub (www.jfp.ie) within a few kilometres of setting out. Johnnie Fox’s is large, warm and crammed with memorabilia, and when we left rather a few pints later, we were a bit maudlin, a bit musical, and a bit in love with the island – Johnnie Fox’s had turned us Irish within a matter of hours.

Quite soon, it was time for us to bed down for the night, sore of foot and embittered of ear because of our walking companion’s geographically-challenged but spirited a capella renditions

| An abandoned abbey at Glendalough

of Mull of Kintyre from an adjacent dormitory. Being from the Free State, Johan’s hold on the differences between these Northwest European islands was no better than his grasp of what whiskey does to a tired person on an empty stomach, but he was carrying most of the food and we needed his ox-like platteland frame to sherpa the Provitas and tinned sardines at least as far as Lough Dan. Day by day, we curled around hills to find vast, still lakes guarded by one, small ruined chapel, or gentle uplands patrolled by anonymous birds (I am not the sort of hardworking travel writer who can talk to you about the blackbrowed albatross Thalassarche melanophris). The landscape is bewitching to South African eyes because, for all that the Irish find it rugged, it looks more like a longabandoned golf course for giants than anything you could call ‘wild’

by African standards. Stray just a little from a suburban walking trail in Mbombela/Nelspruit, for instance, and you could easily stumble on a species unknown to science.

Table Mountain National Park, for instance, has 885 recorded bird species; there are just half that many in all of Ireland. However, none of us – not even Johan – missed the mosquitoes and, thanks to St Patrick, the puffadders. We were intensely charmed by the official guidance for ramblers: Anyone setting out to walk a long-distance trail such as the Wicklow Way is embarking on a serious test of physical endurance. Each stage involves a period of several hours spent outdoors, frequently in

isolated and remote locations and from time to time at altitudes above 400 metres. As the days wore on (the entire route should take you about one highly memorable week), we broke a sweat sometimes, but the presence of human habitation everywhere somehow made it impossible to feel really distant from anything.

This is another kind of beauty that old Europe gives: the story isn’t about travelling away from other humans; it’s about travelling back with them, to a time when Ireland’s countryside was full of people.

Seeing abandoned churches and crofts everywhere was a moving reminder that this island’s greatest export was, for centuries, its own people: as Eavan Boland’s great poem The Emigrant Irish has it, they left here with Their hardships parceled in them.

Patience. Fortitude. Long-suffering in the bruise-colored dusk of the New World.

And all the old songs. And nothing to lose.

For a diasporic country like ours, these words are close to home, and sometimes, the landscape now bereft of farmers looks not entirely unlike corners of the emptying Eastern Cape.

The Wicklow Way winds on, through the extensive ruins of the 6th-century monastic community founded by St Kevin near Glendalough, through hamlets, through Two Hundred Ways To Serve A Potato, and through a haze of Guinness. Ireland will be seeing us again as soon as possible.

Names have not been changed. Put out damn some biltong next time, Sam and Ian. We’re not asking you to kill it yourself.

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Zimbabwe Community

| 14 - 20 January 2014 | thesouthafrican.com Follow us on Twitter: @TheSAnews

ZANU-PF to start mining as cash crunch looms

| Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF party - which has been in power since democracy in 1980 - is set to enter the country’s mining sector as a competitor in a bid to raise funds

BY BRETT PETZER ZIMBABWE’S ruling Zanu-PF party – which has been in power since democracy in 1980 – has resorted to a new ruse to raise funds as the country grinds through another lean year of anaemic recovery.

According to a report by the Financial Gazette, a report submitted at the party’s national conference in late 2013 outlined non-specific plans to generate income through mining operations.

The idea that a political party might own and invest in profitmaking operations is not very far from South Africa’s reality, where the ANC’s investment arm, Chancellor House, is well-known to readers of the financial (and news) pages.

But, while the ANC has struggled mightily to minimise conflicts of interest between its members’ and the party’s business interests and Government (or, at least, the discovery of these interests by the media), Zanu-PF does not suffer from the same concerns.

In a country where effective checks and balances on state power have effectively been destroyed, and in which the opposition MDC has been rendered fragile by ruling party sniping, there is no one to stop them, and plenty who gain from

the process.

The Gazette quoted the report as saying that “…there are projects at various stages of approval or implementation in particular in the construction industry, mining industry and power generation.

Departments and other private organisations and companies have been identified to partner the party for wealth creation and liquidity”.

The sale of mining licences will likely benefit Chinese and East Asian concessionaires, who would then reimburse ZanuPF. The sums involve make the strategy a game-changer for a party that, according to some reports, is running a deficit of around USD 5 million annually.

Evictions of party regional offices and other humiliations have brought Zanu-PF, whose continued dominance at the polls rests partly on a policy of intimidation, into a vulnerable and dangerous position which foreign cash is supposed to solve.

Zanu-PF’s equivalent of Chancellor House, M&S Syndicate, already possesses extensive business interests, but has not been able to build a sustainable revenue stream from these, burdened by political deployments to senior management and, like all Zimbabwean businesspeople, by the continuing freefall of the economy and interruptions of basics like electricity and fuel.

15

thesouthafrican.com | 14 - 20 January 2014 |

Sport

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Bafana top group after win over Mozambique Mambas | Bafana Bafana got the 2014 CHAN tournament off to a perfect start of the with a convincing 3-1 victory against the Mambas of Mozambique at the opening match played at Cape Town stadium on Saturday evening.

BY STAFF REPORTER BAFANA Bafana are top of Group A in the African Nations Championship (CHAN) after opening the tournament with a convincing 3-1 victory over the Mambas of Mozambique in front of a big crowd at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday evening.

‘They gave us a battle’ “In my humble opinion, I think we were far the better team on the day.

We scored some lovely goals and we had full control of the match for 90 minutes.”

The first five minutes saw Bafana Bafana on the Mozambican half, but failed to get an early goal as the solid defence of the visiting team kept them at bay.

The Mambas had taken a shock 11th minute lead against the run of play after Diogo Alberto’s shot from outside of the box deflected off Thato Mokeke and caught South African captain and goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune going the other way.

Equaliser The hosts, though, dictated the pace of the game and drew level when Sibusiso Vilakazi went down in the box and the referee pointed to the spot. Bernard Parker made no mistake and the teams were level after half-an-hour.

Early in the second half, Hlompho Kekana struck a stunning, powerful long distance shot from about 35 metres out that rocketed into the top of the net to put South Africa ahead.

The goalkeeper was totally deceived by the swerving ball, diving towards his left-hand post as it flew by him to his right.

Parker made it 3-1 with his 21st international goal coming after a good build-up ended with a pass from Siphiwe Tshabalala, which gave him time to fire off a strong

left-footed shot from the left into the back of the net.

‘A good day for football’ “This is a good day for football, and I am very happy after this fine performance by the team,” President Jacob Zuma, who attended the game, said in a statement afterwards.

“You showed a lot of character by coming back to not only to equalise but to go on and score two goals.

This is the mark of a good team,” Zuma said. “I hope you grow from strength to strength.”

‘Disappointing’ South African captain Itumeleng Khune said after the contest: “It was really disappointing to have conceded a goal of that nature. The pitch was wet, so when the ball took a wicked deflection I slipped and it went in. But the players showed leadership by telling me to keep my head high because the goal came early and unexpectedly.

“We all showed a lot of character to come back from that point to emerge victorious,” Khune said.

“Now we need to build from there when we go into our next match, which is also crucial as a win should almost guarantee us passage to the next round.”

‘Very confident’ Man of the match and twogoal hero Bernard Parker echoed Khune’s words, saying: “Winning the first game of the tournament gives us a chance to proceed and qualify for the next round. We feel very confident from this victory, but it was a wake-up call for us because we started a bit slow and the positive result is a good motivation for the next game.

“We need to continue with the mental steel we have, where we fight and compete when we are down,” Parker added. “The win has

Anderson digs deep to triumph Down Under

BY MARK ETHERIDGE

TOP-RANKED South African, Kevin Anderson had to dig deep before booking his place in the second round of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on Monday.

Anderson has had a lean streak of late and it certainly looked to be staying that way as he went down two sets to Jiri Vesely.

The young Pole, 20, took the first two sets 6-2 7-6 (4) after 91 minutes of action out on Court 19.

Seeded 19th for the first grand slam of the year, Anderson then dug deep to win the remaining three sets, all with a 6-4 margin in a match lasting three hours 49min.

The final three sets all lasted 46minutes each.

Like Anderson, Vesely is a tall man, standing 1.98m to the South African’s 2.03m.

This resulted in something of a ace-fest with Anderson firing down 21 to Vesely’s 16. There were also plenty of doube-faults

with 10 for Vesely and just one less for Anderson.

In the first service percentages though Anderson had the edge with a 63% success rate to 57% for Vesely. He also won 83% of points up for grabs on first service compared to the 75% of his opponent.

Going into the match Anderson was ranked 20th on the ATP rankings while Vesely is 82nd.

Anderson will need to reach the fourth round to stand a chance of staying in the top 20 when the rankings are next released.

He’ll now come up against another 20-year-old in the shape of Dominic Thiem, currently ranked 137th in the world.

In the women’s draw, our top-seeded singles player, Chani Scheepers, will also be up against an Austrian opponent in the first round of women’s play. She takes on Yvonne Meusberger.

Scheepers is currently ranked 79th on the WTA listings compared to Meusberger’s 49th.

lifted some weight off our shoulders and we can face the next match in a more relaxed mood, but we are aware that this is just the beginning and a lot of work needs to be done so we can go all the way.”

South Africa is in Group A along with Mali, Nigeria and Mozambique.

South Africa finished fourth in the 2011 edition of the Chan tournament held in Sudan.

Next match Bafana Bafana next face Mali, who defeated Nigeria 2-1 in their opening encounter. They meet at Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday at 5pm. The clash between Mozambique and Nigeria follows at 8pm. -southafrica.info

SPORT

14 - 20 JANUARY 2014

BAFANA WINS OVER MOZAMBIQUE MAMBAS P15

ANDERSON DIGS DEEP TO TRIUMPH DOWN UNDER P15

NEWS FOR GLOBAL SOUTH AFRICANS

www.thesouthafrican.com

TWELVE SPRINGBOKS IN SHARKS SQUAD TO FACE SARACENS IN LONDON

| Bismarck du Plessis is among 12 Springboks named in the Cell C Sharks squad to play Saracens at Allianz Park on Saturday 25 January.

| Brad Barritt, Schalk Brits and Alistair Hargreaves will be joining the Saracens Squad to face the Sharks for the Sanlam Private Investments Shield.

BY STAFF REPORTER SARACENS and the C Cell Sharks have named their respective squads for the historic north-south clash at Allianz Park on Saturday 25 January 2014.

English Premiership leaders Saracens have announced a strong 23-man squad to face Jake White’s side, with former Sharks custodians Brad Barritt and Alistair Hargreaves both set to feature.

Springbok hooker Schalk Brits makes the 23, as does former Blue Bulls back rower and Namibian captain Jacques Burger.

Former Stormers No.9 Neil de

Kock is included, as are former Western Province back-rowers Justin Melck and Nick FentonWells. Former Lions No.8 Ernst Joubert has also been named in Mark McCall’s squad, which will be captained by former England skipper Steve Borthwick.

Mark McCall, Director of Rugby, said, “The Sharks are one of the strongest teams in the Super XV, and we’re really looking forward to the challenge. Our match against the Springboks four years ago was one of the greatest occasions in the club’s history, and this will be a similar kind of one-off event… the Premiership leaders against South

Africa’s Currie Cup champions.

We will field our strongest possible side.”

For the Sharks, World Cup winning coach Jake White has named a strong travelling squad, with hooker Bismark Du Plessis one of twelve Springboks included in his plans.

“It’s a special challenge for us,” said Du Plessis.

“Saracens have developed into a really strong team, and their recent success has been keenly followed in South Africa. They will present very tough opposition as we prepare for the Super XV, and we’re excited to play on the

artificial turf pitch at Allianz Park.”

Saracens Squad to face the Sharks for the Sanlam Private Investments Shield: Chris Wyles, David Strettle, Michael Tagicakibau, Marcelo Bosch, Brad Barritt, Duncan Taylor, Sam Stanley, Charlie Hodgson, Neil de Kock, Richard Wigglesworth, Richard Barrington, Nick Auterac, Schalk Brits, Jamie George, Matt Stevens, Petrus Du Plessis, Steve Borthwick (captain), Alistair Hargreaves, Mouritz Botha, Jacques Burger, Nick Fenton-Wells, Justin Melck, Ernst Joubert.

Sharks squad to face Saracens: Lourens Adriaanse, Willem Alberts, Dale Chadwick, Marcell Coetzee, Kyle Cooper, Jean Deysel, Bismarck du Plessis, Jannie du Plessis, Pieter Stephanus du Toit, Adriaan Esterhuizen, Tyler Fisher, Paul Jordaan, Ryan Kankowski, Peet Marais, Charl McLeod, Tendai Mtawarira, Lwazi Mvovo, Odwa Ndugane, Etienne Oosthuizen, Jacobus Reinach, Francois Steyn, Timothy Swiel, Jaco van Tonder, Heimar Williams, Frederik Zeilinga.

Get your ticket on saracens.com

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