PW_MAIN_E1_160520_ALL-1

— FOUNDED 1898, PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA [ IOL.CO.ZA ] SATURDAY, MAY 16 2020 — 

Dodgy deals and 

daring acts in 

search of a smoke 

| P3 

Household incomes 

hit hard by virus 

| Personal 

Finance 

Lockdown diary: 

Looking forward 

to next level 

| P4 

LEVEL 3, HERE WE COME 

Country readies for move from level 4, which will see less harsh restrictions imposed on South Africans 

Guidelines 

for armed 

forces 

E 

STAFF REPORTERS 

THE wheels are in motion for the lifting 

of alert level 4 restrictions and the move 

towards level 3 for most parts of the 

country. 

After his announcement on Wednesday, 

President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday 

held a virtual meeting of the 

National Economic Development and 

Labour Council (Nedlac) to deliberate 

on the detail of new regulations around 

level 4 and the plan to move most of the 

country to level 3 of the lockdown by 

the end of May. 

Speaking to eNCA, Health Minister 

Dr Zweli Mkhize said the areas with the 

largest outbreaks were also those with 

high economic activity – including Cape 

Town, Joburg and Tshwane. 

The government will monitor these 

areas but cannot allow the relaxation 

of restrictions in these districts, which 

would be awarded individual lockdown 

levels to be reviewed fortnightly. 

However, Gauteng Premier David 

Makhura has said different levels would 

not work in the province where people 

move around Joburg, Ekurhuleni and 

Tshwane. 

In the Western Cape, Premier Alan 

Winde wants the government to allow 

the whole province to move to level 3 

restrictions. 

Meanwhile, two opposition parties, 

the DA and Freedom Front Plus, continued 

to prepare legal action against the 

lockdown, while interest groups pushed 

for the sale of cigarettes and alcohol 

to be allowed after a seven-week ban, 

for longer periods in which to exercise 

outdoors, and an end to the curfew. 

Religious organisations are also 

unhappy, with Michael Swain of Freedom 

of Religion SA saying his community 

was not been factored into any 

published lockdown levels. 

“The meeting of Nedlac’s government, 

labour, community and business 

constituencies marks the start of 

widespread consultation, as promised 

by President Ramaphosa, between government 

and various sectors of society 

and the economy on the possible progression 

to level 3,” the presidency said. 

In terms of current regulations, 

clothing, bedding, books and stationery 

were added to the list of items for 

sale, while inter-provincial movement 

remains banned for ordinary citizens 

without special permits. 

Alert level 3 entails a more extensive 

reopening of the economy and the lifting 

of restrictions on movement. 

A large responsibility falls on 

employers to have measures in place to 

prevent the spread of infection at the 

RUNNER Dineo Masilo jogging during lockdown level 4 regulations in Plein Street, Sunnyside. | THOBILE MATHONSI African News Agency (ANA) 

workplace, and on public transport to 

protect commuters. 

Liquor may also be sold at level 3 

with various scenarios being proposed, 

domestic workers return to work, all 

government services should be up and 

PERSONAL 

trainer Andre 

Asu working 

out on Friday 

morning during 

lockdown level 

4 regulations 

in Plein Street, 

Sunnyside. 

| THOBILE 

MATHONSI 

African News 

Agency (ANA) 

running again, movement between 

provinces and some air travel is allowed. 

At any stage, parts or all of the 

country can go back to a stricter set 

of regulations should the virus spread 

dramatically. 

COVID-19 NUMBERS IN SOUTH AFRICA 

BY yesterday – day 50 of lockdown – 

there had been 310 confirmed cases of 

Covid-19 in Tshwane, four of them new. 

A release from provincial authorities 

confirmed a total of 2 135 cases in 

Gauteng, with 24 deaths and 1 552 

recoveries as of yesterday. A total of 58 

patients are being treated in hospitals, in 

the private and public sector. 

The metro with the highest number 

of cases is Joburg with 1 153, followed by 

Ekurhuleni with 460. 

The regions with the highest number 

of cases are Joburg E which includes 

Alexandra and Sandton, followed by 

Joburg B which includes Randburg, 

Rosebank, Parktown and Northcliff. In 

Tshwane the region with the highest 

number of cases is region 3 which 

includes the CBD, Pretoria West, 

Atteridgeville and Saulsville. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa 

announced this week that most of South 

Africa would move to level 3 restrictions 

by the end of May, although areas with 

high infection rates may remain at level 4. 

On Thursday, a total of 403 018 tests 

had been done nationally and South 

Africa had 12 739 confirmed cases of 

Covid-19, with 238 deaths. 

The Western Cape is the province 

with the highest case load, with 7 235 

cases – 58% of the total – and 129 

deaths. KwaZulu-Natal had 1 444 cases 

and 44 deaths while the Eastern Cape 

had 1569 cases and 31 deaths. 

ZELDA VENTER 

zelda.venter@inl.co.za 

A HIGH Court judge has made it clear 

all armed forces must toe the line during 

lockdown, but added citizens also have 

a duty to ensure they follow the rules 

and regulations of lockdown. 

In a step to improve the accountability 

of the police and the SA National 

Defence force while enforcing the 

Covid-19 lockdown, the ministers of 

defence and police have been ordered 

to, within five days, develop and publish 

a code of conduct and operational 

procedures to regulate the conduct of its 

members, including that of metro police 

departments countrywide. 

The order is part of a 77-page judgment 

issued by Judge Hans Fabricius, 

and comes in the wake of the death of 

Collins Khoza, who was assaulted at 

his home in Alexandra in Joburg for 

allegedly contravening the lockdown 

rules by drinking alcohol in his yard. 

Judge Fabricius ordered that all 

SANDF members and Johannesburg 

Metro Police Department (JMPD) members 

who were present at Khoza’s home 

that day, or adjacent to his premises, be 

placed on suspension pending the outcome 

of an investigation into his death. 

The new guidelines must include 

how to enforce physical distancing and 

the restriction of movement and other 

activities at each stage of lockdown and 

indicate circumstances under which the 

use of force or an arrest is warranted. 

The public must know where they 

can go to lodge complaints against 

members of the SANDF and the SAPS 

who do not toe the line, he said. 

Khoza’s family brought an urgent 

application before the Gauteng High 

Court, Pretoria. His family also successfully 

secured an order that the incident, 

and other similar incidents during this 

time, must be properly investigated. 

Judge Fabricius said his orders are 

designed to ensure South Africa complies 

with its constitutional and international 

obligations. 

He called on the SAPS, SANDF and 

other armed forces to instruct their 

members to act in accordance with the 

Constitution and the law. 

He ordered the ministers, and chain 

of command, to warn members that 

failure to do so would expose them individually 

to criminal, civil or disciplinary 

sanction. 

They must ensure the investigation 

into Khoza’s death – and any other 

similar incidents in which members 

are implicated – be completed and 

that reports regarding the findings are 

handed to the court before June 4. 

Ipid must file its report into the 

Khoza matter with the court by May 22. 

Moving Parliament to Pretoria may save the government R650m a year: professor 

VAL BOJE 

THE Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown 

have accelerated the need for South 

Africa to move its Parliament from Cape 

Town to Pretoria. 

So says Professor Johan Marx of 

the School of Economic and Financial 

Sciences at Unisa. Dramatic changes in 

our way of life, seen as a result of the 

pandemic, is leading to “a new normal” 

and it was time to consider the risk and 

cost of continuing to shuttle members 

of Parliament and officials between Pretoria 

and Cape Town, as has been done 

for decades. 

The risk of contracting the virus 

during travel and taking into account 

the loss of revenue meant South Africa 

should consider reducing the number 

of MPs, and the cost of running the 

legislature, he said. 

Parliament would have to use part 

of the budget for infrastructure development 

to construct a suitable building 

in Pretoria – but this cost in the long 

term is substantially less than continuing 

to operate with Cape Town as 

the legislative capital and Pretoria as 

administrative. 

“Moving Parliament to Pretoria 

could cost an estimated R7 billion, 

but may save the government about 

R650 million per year,” said Marx. 

Borrowed funds should be spent 

wisely, and ideally on capital projects, 

and not on operating expenses such 

as parliamentary salaries and travel 

expenses, said Marx. 

He proposed that the vacant land 

opposite the Department of International 

Relations and Cooperation 

(Dirco) in Soutpansberg Road was ideally 

situated for the purpose of a new 

THE OR Tambo building, headquarters of Dirco in Pretoria. One of the suggested sites for a new 

Parliament building is on the land opposite it. | Dirco 

Parliament building. 

“Not only will such a move reduce 

the risk of ministers and directors- 

general contracting illnesses such as 

Covid-19, but it will also result in significant 

cost savings and improved 

communication with the directors-general 

of the 42 central government 

departments.” 

In 2018, a formal public bid process 

was launched and a project steering 

committee was tasked with investigating 

the matter. The idea was supported by 

former Tshwane mayor, Dr Kgosientso 

Ramokgopa, who now heads the president’s 

investment infrastructure office. 

Last year, Public Works Minister 

Thulas Nxesi gave an update on the 

government’s proposed plans to relocate 

Parliament during a parliamentary Q&A 

session, He said the project was still a 

work-in-progress. 

The project involves a comprehensive 

feasibility study report relating to 

the socio-economic impacts of leaving 

Parliament in Cape Town while offices 

are in Pretoria, versus relocating it. 

Possible construction sites in 

Tshwane were identified, Nxesi said, but 

could not be confirmed until Parliament 

accommodation requirements had been 

signed off. 

Other factors include the impact on 

parliamentary staff who are resident, 

and strong opposition from Cape Town 

and the Western Cape government to 

such a move. 

Marx said recent developments 

required the matter be expedited, especially 

in terms of the new economy 

envisaged by President Cyril Ramaphosa. 

“Parliament may have to continue 

with virtual meetings over the shortterm 

(2020). However, should construction 

commence by early 2021, the new 

facility could become a reality by late 

2022. 

“The work will benefit a struggling 

construction industry and assist in creating 

job opportunities,” he said. 

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SATURDAY, MAY 16 2020 | PRETORIA NEWS 

MMETRO 

As a child, as a teenager, I 

was kind of not allowed to 

wear fashionable clothes 

ELTON JOHN 

ICYMI | IOL.CO.ZA 

TO GO TO THE FITTING 

ROOMS OR NOT? 

WE are so used to collecting an armful of 

garments and heading off to the changing 

room and take our time trying them on. Is 

this something you would even consider 

doing now? Go to: www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/ 

style-beauty/fashion 

WEATHER 

GAUTENG 

TODAY’S FORECAST 

Sunny 

LONG WAIT 

PRETORIA 9 | 23 

POPULAR CITIES & TOWNS 

Min |Max 

Johannesburg 8 | 23 

Durban 15 | 23 

Cape Town 13 | 21 

Pietermaritzburg 8 | 21 

Margate 16 |22 

Bloemfontein 2 | 23 

Polokwane 7 | 24 

Upington 6 |26 

Port Elizabeth 9 | 21 

East London 11 | 21 

George 10 | 19 

Kimberley 2 | 23 

PRETORIA FIVE-DAY FORECAST 

Sunday Partly cloudy 7 | 23 

Monday Sunny 7 |24 

Tuesday Sunny 8 |24 

Wednesday Sunny 8 | 24 

Thursday Sunny 7 |21 

Phases of the moon 

New moon May 22 

First quarter May 30 

Full moon June 5 

Last quarter June 13 

Moonrise 01:05 | Moonset 14:09 

GAUTENG TODAY 

Sunrise 06:40 Sunset 17:29 

Humidity 20% Wind: Gentle – SSW 

INTERNATIONAL TEMPERATURES 

Harare 11 |25 

Abuja 25 |34 

Cairo 21 | 41 

Jerusalem 26 | 37 

Rome 16 |24 

Madrid 11 | 21 

Paris 8 | 19 

London 10 | 17 

Berlin 6 | 14 

Moscow 8 | 15 

New Delhi 34 | 42 

Beijing 17 |30 

Tokyo 14 |20 

Canberra 2 | 14 

Wellington 11 | 13 

Ottawa 8 | 18 

Washington 18 | 28 

Brasilia 18 |25 

CITIZENS try to rebuild their homes in the 

aftermath of typhoon Vongfong in San 

Policarpio, Philippines, yesterday. 

| JEROME PEDROSA CEPA-EFE 

More forecasts, weatherSA.co.za 

New Health 

DG named 

SOUTH Africa’s 

Department 

of 

Health has 

announced 

the appointment 

of Dr 

Sandile 

Buthelezi 

as its director-general. 

DR SANDILE BUTHELEZI 

A seasoned expert in health governance, 

policy, and programme management 

with more than 15 years in 

the field, the health department said 

Buthelezi promises to bring a wealth 

of knowledge to South Africa’s health 

system. 

Buthelezi is the chief executive 

of the South African National Aids 

Council (Sanac), a position he has 

held since September 2017. He trained 

as a medical doctor at the University 

of KwaZulu-Natal and worked at the 

Edendale Hospital in Pietermaritzburg, 

before entering the health department. 

“The lessons we’ve learnt from 

dealing with HIV in South Africa are 

coming in handy as we are dealing 

with Covid-19, specifically when it 

comes to community-based testing 

and screening,” said Buthelezi. 

“With a visionary health minister 

like Dr Zweli Mkhize, and the leadership 

of President Cyril Ramaphosa, I 

believe we are in safe hands. We all 

want to contribute towards quality 

health-care services for all South Africans. 

We are together in this, and for 

all of us, it should be all hands on 

deck.” | African News Agency 

A PICTURE from a drone shows the enormous queue of people waiting for food parcels in Mooiplaas/Spruit west of Pretoria. More than 10 000 parcels were handed out on Thursday by MealSA as part of a project involving a number of 

community organisations under the banner of the Spruit Community Support Forum and co-ordinated by Ziyaad Shaboddin. The parcels contained mealie meal, vegetables, masks and soap. 

• LEVEL 3 

Public transport prepares 

for influx of commuters 

Mbalula checks 

up on readiness of 

buses and stations 

LIAM NGOBENI 

liam.ngobeni@inl.co.za 

THE public transport system must 

remain compliant with Covid-19 

health regulations as more and more 

people return to work, said Transport 

Minister Fikile Mbalula, bewailing 

cases of non-compliance which put 

commuters at risk. 

He was in Pretoria yesterday to 

inspect city buses as government prepares 

to relax the level of restrictions 

and allow many more people return 

to work in the weeks ahead. 

On Thursday he was in Soweto 

to inspect safety measures on Rea 

Vaya buses and stations, and he has 

previously inspected taxis. 

Already some sectors, such as 

e-commerce, have opened up and, 

at level 3, domestic workers, many 

of whom use public transport, can 

return. Mbalula was escorted to the 

Daspoort Putco bus depot to inspect 

controls around buses, and he also 

received donations of protective 

equipment from the Danish Embassy. 

He was satisfied with the sanitising 

measures had been put in place to 

ensure the safety of commuters, as 

well as markings within the depot to 

ensure workers comply with physical 

distancing rules. 

Mbalula said with the easing of 

the lockdown and the resumption of 

• REACTION 

Residents have mixed feelings over possible lifting of regulations 

STAFF REPORTERS 

City residents have mixed feelings 

about having to wait until the end 

of the month for level 4 restrictions 

to be relaxed to level 3. 

Joey du Preez said it was clear 

that the lockdown had been effective 

– the figures proved it. “For 

that, I am grateful. And I have been 

heartened by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 

leadership in an extremely 

TRANSPORT Minister Fikile Mbalula has been inspecting buses and depots to ensure Covid-19 regulations are adhered to. He also received 

PPE donations for transport workers. | OUPA MOKOENA African News Agency (ANA) 

economic activity in certain sectors, 

the role of public transport could not 

be overstated. 

But, he said, public transport was 

also an area of high risk for the transmission 

of the virus if strict protocols 

were not followed. 

“The disinfection of stations at 

regular intervals is equally important 

to ensure that surfaces people come 

into contact with when waiting to 

board a bus, are free of the virus,” 

he said. 

“(Regular) intervals for disinfecting 

both buses and stations are important 

in keeping the environment safe.” 

difficult situation,” she said. 

“What has bothered me – a lot – 

is the authoritarian streak we have 

seen in some of our ministers, who 

believe they can control, somehow, 

how people will behave,” she said. 

“This has resulted in irrational 

regulations, which have negatively 

affected how people respond to the 

lockdown. What I would like to see 

is rational leadership that balances 

the need to curb the spread of the 

He reiterated that lockdown rules 

meant that every driver and passenger 

must wear a mask, and he thanked 

law enforcement officers for diligence 

in ensuring this. Addressing metro 

traffic officers and police (but without 

mentioning the Collins Khosa case) 

he said they should conduct themselves 

in a manner that “respects the 

rights of our people, when enforcing 

the law.” 

Mbalula committed to continued 

monitoring of the situation within 

public transport to ensure adherence 

to social distancing norms. 

This includes strict compliance 

disease, while allowing people to 

have a livelihood. 

“All businesses that are able to 

trade safely should do so. NGOs 

should be helped, not hindered, by 

the state to provide relief for the 

poor.” 

For another city resident, going 

for walks whenever she wanted 

would make her feel much better 

about the situation. 

“More time outside the house 

with the 70% limit to licensed passenger 

capacity at all times – and 

marking off certain seats to ensure 

social distancing. 

He said he had received complaints 

of buses being over the allowed limit. 

“Drivers must practice what we 

have seen here (at the depot). It must 

be the new norm and we must not 

receive a lot of complaints that buses 

are overloaded or we will close down 

the depot,” he warned. 

Mbalula thanked the Danish government 

for its donation of PPE for 

drivers and other essential services 

workers in the front line. 

would lift my mood,” she said. 

“I don’t smoke and drink, but 

I feel for my friends who literally 

suffer day in and day out without 

their vices. I hope they can buy their 

fix very soon.” 

For siblings, Mgidvo, 10, and Sihlangule, 

14, the opening of borders 

could not come soon enough so they 

could visit family in eSwatini. 

But Sihlangule – who is in Grade 

9 – is worried about the academic 

• TRIBUTE 

High praise for 

Mini at service 

GOITSEMANG TLHABYE 

goitsemang.tlhabye@inl.co.za 

THE gentle freedom fighter with a 

naughty smile is no more, but his 

legacy will continue to live on in the 

hearts and minds of the people he 

touched. 

These were the words used to 

describe Dr Clarence Mini, chairperson 

of the Council for Medical Schemes, 

who died on Monday. 

The 69-year-old medical professional 

died after testing positive for 

Covid-19, triggering an outpouring 

of praise for his legacy at a memorial 

service in his honour yesterday. 

Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba, a close 

friend and former comrade, said 

although nuch could be said about 

Mini’s naughty smile, his leadership 

and courage, it would not suffice to 

describe the kind of man he was. 

“He was not one to be restricted to 

theoretical debating and did not fear 

to get his hands dirty to get things 

done. If anything, whenever there was 

a price to pay for social justice, Mini’s 

simple response to it would end up 

being: ‘So be it.’” 

Ntsaluba said Sars-CoV-2 (the virus 

that causes Covid-19) arrived in the 

country “like a well-trained army”, 

adding: “It has robbed us of our most 

trusted general (Mini) as we are preparing 

for the fight of our lives, but you 

(Mini) have given it your all.” 

Mini went into exile as a member 

of Umkhonto weSizwe’s June 16 

detachment and trained in Angola. He 

went on to study medicine in Bulgaria 

and later contributed to the reform of 

the health-care sector. 

Dr Sipho Kabane, chief executive 

and registrar of the CMS, said Mini 

had made submissions to the minister 

of Health aimed at ensuring legislation 

was in place to make sure people 

were covered for Sars-CoV-2 screening, 

testing and other Covid-19-related 

issues, irrespective of the scheme under 

which they fell. 

year. She spends her mornings doing 

school work but says it was not the 

same as being in class. 

Similarly, Grade 11 learner Mpho 

Selepe said his parents were making 

sure he was keeping up with his 

studies, but he hoped the relaxation 

meant he could see his friends. 

Lehlogonolo Moeti was waiting 

to hear what the details of level 3 

would be to know if she could return 

to work.

PRETORIA NEWS | Saturday, May 16 2020 

3 

There is only one thing 

people like that is good 

for them; a good night’s 

sleep 

EW HOWE 

CORONAVIRUS (Covid-19) 

Proposed rules for sale of liquor in level 4 submitted 


LOCKDOWN EFFECT STUDY 

A CONSORTIUM of researchers from SA 

universities are investigating the effects 

of the lockdown on daily routine as it 

relates to lifestyle behavioural factors – 

including sleep – and associations with 

anxiety and depression. Go to: www.iol. 

co.za/capeargus/news 

MMETRO 

THERE could still be two weeks to go 

before South Africans are allowed to 

buy alcohol – and even then it will be 

strictly controlled. 

In terms of the risk-adjusted lockdown 

policy, alcohol sales only come 

in at level 3, which we can expect to 

be implemented in most areas between 

now and the end of May. 

The Liquor Traders’ Association of 

SA (LTASA), in a document submitted 

to the government, makes recommendations 

on how this should be reintroduced 

to prevent chaos. 

In terms of the level 3 proposals 

announced at the start of lockdown, 

ZELDA VENTER 

zelda.venter@inl.co.za 

Daring acts in search for fags 

After lockdown there will be dramatic stories to share over how rules were defied in pursuit of smokes 

WHILE South Africans will have many 

stories to tell once lockdown is over, 

ways smokers have circumnavigated 

the ban on cigarette sales must be one 

of the most dramatic. 

The ban – which started on Day 

1 of lockdown on March 27 and 

remains in place today – has seen 

those dependent on nicotine go to 

extraordinary lengths to get cigarettes. 

From office workers to housewives, 

teachers, lawyers and even pensioners, 

normally law-abiding citizens have 

resorted to dodgy deals, and have been 

willing to pay exorbitant prices for a 

packet of cigarettes. 

As a 72-year-old smoker who lives 

in an upmarket eastern suburbs old age 

home said: “Quite frankly my dear, I 

am too old to worry.” 

Grandma M said she had her “connections” 

– about which she was not 

very clear – but someone who knows 

someone has ensured she has had 

a steady supply of cigarettes during 

lockdown. 

“This is not my brand,” she says, 

but during this time “one can’t be 

choosy, can you?” Even though she’s 

a pensioner, she had paid R80 to R100 

for a no-name brand box of 20. 

And, while she is not much bothered 

by lockdown rules, she will not 

break the rules of her retirement home 

so she does not leave the premises. 

Instead, her supplier delivers to the 

gate where the guard will call her 

down to collect her packet. 

As the lockdown continues, the 

availability and cost of cigarettes has 

become steeper. And, while some 

smokers have seen it as a chance to 

quit and others have turned to vaping, 

there is still a strong market for illegal 

cigarettes. 

This – along with individual rights 

– is one of the arguments put forward 

to allow the legal sale of cigarettes 

because, as those selling on the black 

market enrich themselves, SARS is losing 

vital revenue from cigarette tax. 

City worker Mr H, a decent honest 

man who cannot do without his 

cigarette breaks working under lockdown, 

said the prices being asked were 

ludicrous especially as he had to take 

a salary cut. 

Cigarettes are openly offered on 

social media and the going rate is R850 

to R1 200 per carton. 

He had been on leave before lockdown 

forced him and his family home, 

and he had not realised that it would 

become impossible to buy so he did 

not stock up on cigarettes. 

H went into lockdown with just 

two packets and it only hit him when, 

a few days later he drove around trying 

to buy more. 

CORONAVIRUS 

UPDATE 

FOR BREAKING NEWS AND UPDATES IOL.CO.ZA 

alcohol may be sold from 8am to 

noon, Monday to Wednesday, for consumption 

at home. 

Sean Robinson, a spokesperson for 

the liquor association, warned that 

such limited trading hours would lead 

to long queues, making social distancing 

almost impossible. 

He said the reality of the lockdown 

and prohibition on the sale 

of alcohol meant that thousands of 

independently owned liquor stores 

faced financial ruin. Already, SAB has 

dumped beer and he said liquor stock 

worth tens of millions of rand was 

close to reaching its expiry date. 

WITH the ban on cigarettes during lockdown, smokers are doing dramatic things to sate their cravings. | Pixabay 

He managed to buy four packets 

from a tiny garage shop. On the way 

home he passed a cafe he had not been 

in before and, after some negotiation, 

managed to buy eight packs of his 

usual brand at the usual price. 

By the time these ran out, his local 

cafe was open again and he got a 

carton of Sharp Menthol – a cheap 

brand – at R350. 

“It was cash-only. I had to wait in 

my car and the guy comes out, opens 

your back door and pushes the box 

under the seat, and says go! When that 

carton ran out, I went back to him, 

but he said he had run out of stock.” 

Desperate H found himself deeper 

in the underworld… “I got a number 

for one Habib,” who would provide 

him with a carton of his preferred 

brand for R600. 

While he waited, he found an old 

cherry cigar, given to him eight years 

ago when his son was born. 

“That lasted me a day while I tried 

to get hold of Habib. 

“So one day, without smokes, I’m 

on edge. Habib says I can come but 

he only has Voyager at R350 a carton. 

“He tells me to stop in front of the 

shop and go up to the gate. When I got 

there he tells me to drive around for 

10 minutes and then go up to the gate 

of the block of flats above his shop. 

“There another guy pushes a 

bag with two cartons under my seat 

and tells me to get the hell out of 

there.” 

Meanwhile, the local shop has been 

raided by the cops so that option no 

longer exists. Instead a schoolteacher 

he knows offers his connection… but 

his connection is running scared. 

Back to the original supplier, but 

now it is R700 for a carton of a dodgy 

brand. 

H has a few packets left and 

watched keenly as the president gave 

his address on Wednesday hoping for 

relief. “I can’t afford this any more,” 

H said his pockets were empty and his 

nerves frazzled. 

Research from the Human Sciences 

Research Council shows that people 

from across the spectrum have found 

ways to buy cigarettes illegally during 

lockdown. 

FACT BOX 

CIGARETTE BAN DEBATE 

FEW lockdown regulations have 

caused as much unhappiness as the 

ban on the sale of cigarettes. 

So it was with relief that 

smokers – and those supporting 

their right to smoke – welcomed the 

announcement by President Cyril 

Ramaphosa during an address to the 

nation ahead of moving from level 

5 to level 4 restrictions that the ban 

was to be lifted. 

But that was not to be, as 

Corporative Governance minister 

Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma announced 

shortly afterwards that the decision 

had been rescinded. 

This means that for the past 

seven weeks, cigarettes have not 

been sold legally, leading to a 

massive increase in the illegal trade, 

with boxes of 20 selling in places 

for more than R100 and cartons for 

more than R1 000. 

A survey by the HSRC found 

cigarettes (11.8%) were more 

accessible than alcohol (2.5%) 

during lockdown, while an armed 

robbery at Makro Centurion showed 

criminals will also go to any lengths 

to get cigarettes to sell. 

Smoking is a known riskfactor 

for respiratory infections, 

and there is an increased risk of 

more serious symptoms and death 

among Covid-19 patients who have 

underlying conditions, including 

cardiovascular diseases. 

However, the Fair Trade 

Independent Tobacco Association 

described the ban on cigarette 

sales during level 4 lockdown as 

“irrelevant and illegal”. In a court 

application challenging it, it asked 

to see minutes of the National 

Command Council which voted 

against lifting the ban as planned. 

Activists have argued for the 

lifting of the ban for economic 

reasons, saying millions of rand is 

being lost in tax and going instead to 

the illegal cigarette trade. 

“Government needs every cent 

of revenue to fight this pandemic, 

save lives and rebuild our nation 

once the worst has passed,” said 

one. 

The ongoing ban means tax 

revenue from the sale of cigarettes – 

estimated to amount to R100 billion 

a year before lockdown – is lost. 

Another concern is the illicit sale 

of cigarettes. “We cannot claim as 

a country that we are on top of it. 

At a time like this when the legal 

sale is not permitted, it encourages 

the trade of these products in the 

illicit economy,” Sars Commissioner 

Edward Kieswetter said. 

Thousands of local elective procedures to be called off 

COVID-19 disruptions will lead to 

28 million surgeries being cancelled 

worldwide – 146 000 in South Africa, 

according to a new research. 

Cancelling or postponing elective 

surgeries mean a long wait for patients 

who are suffering from a variety of 

health issues. 

The CovidSurg Collaborative has 

projected that, based on a 12-week 

period of peak disruption to hospital 

In arguing that liquor trading 

for off-site consumption should be 

allowed sooner than at level 3, the 

association said: “Many of our members’ 

liquor stores are suffering severe 

short-term economic stress and are on 

the verge of collapse.” 

The association has argued for the 

sale of liquor during level 4 under the 

following conditions: 

1. Trading hours: 9am to 6pm, 

Monday to Friday, and 9am to 4pm 

on Saturday. 

This would spread demand and 

enable retailers to cope, ensure adherence 

to safety protocols, LTASA said. 

2. Quantity restrictions: A consumer 

can buy five items of liquor 

at a time. An item is a tray of beer 

or ready-to-drink pack (24 cans or 

bottles); a crate of beer (12 returnable 

bottles), a box of wine (6 bottles), a 

unit of wine (1 box), a bottle of spirits, 

liqueur or fortified wine. 

3. Adherence to all Covid-19 health 

and safety protocols. 

4. Manage the initial surge in 

demand by allowing staff to work in 

liquor stores four days before opening. 

In addition, LTASA proposes an 

alphabetical system for the first week 

of opening whereby customers must 

services due to Covid-19, 28.4 million 

elective surgeries worldwide will be 

cancelled or postponed this year. 

The modelling study, published in 

the British Journal of Surgery, indicates 

that each additional week of disruption 

to hospital services will be associated 

with a further 2.4m cancellations. 

In South Africa, it is estimated this 

will result in over 146 000 cancelled 

surgeries, including 12 000 cancer procedures. 

These cancellations will create 

a backlog that would subsequently 

need to be cleared after the Covid-19 

disruption ends. 

Professor Bruce Biccard, of the 

Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative 

Medicine at UCT, said that 

following the surge in the epidemic, 

there would need to be a safe resumption 

of elective surgery at the earliest 

opportunity. 

BUYING alcohol could be very different at 

level 3. | African News Agency (ANA) 

present their ID and may only shop on 

certain days according their surnames. 

| Staff Reporter 

The government would have to 

ensure the Department of Health was 

provided with additional funding and 

resources to ramp up elective surgery 

so as to clear the backlog. 

The main reason for cancelling 

the surgeries is to reduce the risk of 

patients being exposed to Covid-19 

in hospital, and to support the wider 

hospital response to the pandemic. 

| STAFF REPORTER 

ONE way of limiting the spread of Covid-19 

is to practise social distancing. | Pixabay 

Use the length of a 

bed to judge distance 

SOCIAL distancing calls for us to keep 

2m apart – but how can one easily 

judge that? 

CNN Health came with a list of 

items to assist, ranging from the length 

of a bed or the height of a door, to 

the more imaginative “two golden 

retrievers standing nose to tail”. 

Among the others which may be 

useful as we get in the habit of keeping 

our distance are the width of an average 

car, the length of a standard threeseat 

sofa, an eight-seater dining room 

table, and a decent-sized bathtub. 

The reason for social distancing, 

according to the World Health Organization, 

is to prevent droplets from the 

nose or mouth of others who may be 

infected with the coronavirus, from 

infecting us. 

Dr William Schaffner, of Vanderbilt 

University, explained that “without a 

cough or a sneeze, if we exhale, the 

distance three to six feet (0.9m to 

1.8m) from each other is called the 

‘breathing zone’ ”. 

“It’s in that kind of volume of air 

that what I exhale begins to mix with 

the air that’s already in the room,” he 

said. | STAFF REPORTER 

Steenhuisen, SABC 

clip goes viral 

A CLIP from DA leader John Steenhuisen’s 

interview with SABC anchorwoman 

Flo Letoaba went viral after 

she asked which South Africans he 

spoke for. 

The 2-minute clip discusses the 

party’s decision to file papers in the 

High Court, challenging the rationality 

of lockdown-related issues. 

“You’ve said in the press briefing 

that you had, that South Africans are 

begging for clarity on the way forward… 

Which South Africans are you 

speaking for?” Letoaba asked. 

“Well I’m having conversations 

with South Africans, who are frankly 

fed up with the lack of information,” 

Steenhuisen said. 

The interview grew tense as Letoaba 

requested to get her point across and 

Steenhuisen repeatedly asking, “would 

you like a list?” | STAFF REPORTER 

Good Samaritan 

comes to women’s aid 

IN tough times, there is nothing like 

help from a stranger. 

This was the experience of 

Nomzamo Mbali Vezi of Chatsworth 

in KwaZulu-Natal. Vezi, 40, lives with 

her daughter, 19, and two sons, one in 

matric,18, and one who is autistic, 14. 

Due to lockdown, neither she nor 

her daughter could find work, and 

they had only a packet of mealie meal 

left to eat. Desperate, she put out a cry 

for help on a women’s support group 

on Facebook and received a voucher 

from Brenisha Moodley, in Gauteng. 

She contacted Vezi via Facebook 

and sent her a R1000 grocery voucher 

through cellphone banking. 

“When I received the notification 

for the voucher, I just fell to my knees 

and began to cry. She put a smile on 

our faces,” said Vezi. | STAFF REPORTER 

Relief for domestic 

and farm workers 

THOSE who employ domestic workers 

should help them apply for Covid-19 

relief. 

This is the advice of the Department 

of Labour, which said yesterday 

it wanted to reach domestic workers 

and farm labourers so they could also 

benefit from the state Covid-19 relief 

scheme. 

Minister Thulas Nxesi said the 

department had handed out almost 

R12 billion in benefits to close on 

2.1 million workers through employers 

and appealed to those of domestic 

and farm workers to also apply on 

their behalf. 

To apply, go to labour.gov.za and 

fill in the TERS registration form. | 

STAFF REPORTER

4 


MMETRO 

When you are asked if you can 

do a job, tell ‘em, ‘Certainly I can!’ 

Then get busy and find out how to 

do it 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT 


DEALING WITH A JOB LOSS 

KNOWING why a job loss makes us feel 

so awful is key to understanding how to 

deal with it. The emotional turmoil we 

experience when losing a job creates the 

same grief as losing a loved one. Go to: 

www.iol.co.za/personal-finance/guides 

‘Pandemic 

could last 

for years’ 

IT COULD be four to five years before the 

Covid-19 pandemic is completely under 

control, a senior global health official 

has warned. 

But with hopes of an end to the pandemic 

dependent on containing the 

virus and development of an effective 

vaccine, other experts have dampened 

expectations of putting a date on 

curbing the virus. There are globally 

more than 4.44 million confirmed 

Covid-19 cases, with the death toll 

now past 300 000. 

Addressing the Financial Times’s 

Global Boardroom Digital Conference, 

World Health Organization (WHO) 

chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan 

said: “I would say in a four- to 

five-year time frame we could be looking 

at controlling this.”Influential factors 

include whether the virus matures, 

the containment measures put in place 

and the development of a vaccine” 

She added that a vaccine “seems for 

now the best way out”, but there were 

“lots of ifs and buts” about its efficacy 

and safety, as well as its production 

and equitable distribution. 

Asked about Swaminathan’s comments 

during a regular WHO’s briefing 

from Geneva, Dr Mike Ryan, who 

heads up the organisation’s health 

emergencies programme, said no one 

could predict when the disease would 

disappear. 

But he also issued a warning about 

easing lockdown measures without 

appropriate surveillance measures in 

place, adding: “We should not be waiting 

to see if the opening of lockdowns 

have worked.” 

“We have a new virus entering the 

human population for the first time, 

and therefore it is very hard to predict 

when we will prevail over it, Ryan said. 

“What is clear, and I think maybe 

what Soumya (Swaminathan) may 

have been alluding to, is that the 

number of people in our population 

who’ve been infected is actually 

relatively low. 

“And if you’re a scientist and you 

project forward in the absence of a vaccine, 

and you try to calculate how long 

is it going to take for enough people to 

be infected so that this disease settles 

into an endemic trace… 

“This virus may become just 

another endemic virus in our communities. 

And this virus may never 

go away. 

“HIV has not gone away; we’ve 

come to terms with the virus and 

we have found the therapies and we 

found the prevention methods, and 

people don’t feel as scared as they 

did before. And we’re offering a long, 

healthy life to people with HIV. 

“I don’t think anyone can predict 

when or if this disease will disappear. 

We do have one great hope: if we 

do find a highly effective vaccine that 

we can distribute to everyone who 

needs it in the world, we may have a 

shot at eliminating this virus,” Ryan 

said. 

But, he said, there were effective 

vaccines for other diseases which had 

not been used effectively so even if 

science finds a vaccine for Covid-19, 

there must be a determination to 

invest in health systems to deliver it. 

| Daily Mail 

Lockdown role 

for trainees 

ENFORCING lockdown regulations 

will be one of the tasks of 171 Tshwane 

metro police trainees who have been 

absorbed into the city’s workforce. 

The SA Municipal Workers Union 

(Samwu) in Tshwane welcomed the 

trainees’ inclusion in the workforce, 

which ends a long dispute over delays 

in hiring them after they completed 

traffic management diplomas last year. 

This week, Human Settlements- 

MEC Lebogang Maile said: “These 

new recruits will reinforce the city’s 

by-law enforcement capacity, including 

strengthening the city’s capacity to 

fight against illegal land and building 

invasions, vandalism of state assets 

and the enforcement of lockdown 

regulations.” 

Samwu spokesperson Nkhetheni 

Muthavhi said the decision to hire 

them was long overdue, after they 

repeated courses they had failed. 

He hoped it would open the way 

for the absorption of other trainees 

such as meter readers. | Rapula Moatshe 

• TRAVEL 

Physical distancing to hit airfares 

WITH temperature screening and the 

wearing of masks now commonplace 

at airports because of the global Covid- 

19 pandemic, the head of Dubai airport 

has warned that physical distancing 

could make flying more expensive. 

Around the world, governments, 

airports and airlines are considering 

temporary safety measures to restart 

air travel, including mandatory temperature 

checks, the wearing of face 

masks and keeping passengers apart. 

“We are going to have to take whatever 

measures are necessary to protect 

the travelling public and our staff,” 

chief executive Paul Griffiths said. 

Dubai International, one of the 

world’s busiest airports, suspended 

passenger services in late March as 

the United Arab Emirates took drastic 

measures to contain the virus. 

The UAE has since allowed some 

repatriation flights and eased other 

restrictions in the Gulf state, though 

it is not clear when normal flights 

will restart. 

Temporary safety measures should 

be expected as flights resume, but 

Griffiths cautioned that physical distancing 

rules would eventually limit 

growth as demand rebounded. 

“We will not be able to operate at 

anything close to our original design 

capacity if we have to maintain social 

distancing,” he said. 

LOOKING BACK ON LEVEL 4 

A chronology of events and developments over the past two weeks, looking ahead to level 3 

ON Wednesday this week, President 

Cyril Ramaphosa once again 

addressed the nation. Here are the 

highlights of the past period in the 

country’s fight against Covid-19. 

FRIDAY, MAY 1 - SUNDAY, MAY 3 

Level 4 lockdown begins. Major 

roads busy as people travel between 

regions ahead of returning to work. 

Outdoor exercise allowed between 

6am and 9am and there is a rush on 

malls for the sale of winter clothing, 

bedding, hardware and office supplies. 

MONDAY, MAY 4 

Back to work day for more than 

one million South Africans, with health 

and safety guidelines clearly set out. 

The president, in his weekly 

newsletter, says the continued 

prohibition of cigarette sales was 

a collective decision, not made by 

Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma 

TUESDAY, MAY 5 

National Treasury and the 

SA Revenue Service (Sars) brief 

Parliament’s finance committees on 

impact of lockdown. 

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni 

calls for the economy to be reopened, 

echoing calls from business to lower 

level 4 restrictions. 

A number of publishers announce 

the closure of their magazines. 

THURSDAY, MAY 7 

Business confidence dropped to an 

all-time low in April, according to an 

index compiled by the SA Chamber of 

Commerce and Industry. 

The Department of Basic Education 

warns against premature reopening of 

schools. 

FRIDAY MAY 8 

Ramaphosa announces a parole 

dispensation for selected categories 

of sentenced offenders in high-risk 

facilities. He also holds a virtual 

consultative meeting with heads 

of state and government from 

neighbouring countries. 

DA leader John Steenhuisen calls 

on government to “end the lockdown 

crisis” leading to Mboweni telling him 

to “stay in your lane”. 

The Unemployment Insurance Fund 

(UIF) has disbursed almost R9.5 billion 

through the Covid-19 Temporary 

Employer/Employee Relief Scheme. 


International Nurses’ Day takes on 

special significance during the fight 

against the Covid-19 pandemic. 

In his address in Durban, Health 

Minister Zweli Mkhize refers to 

COMMUTERS for the Rea Vaya buses walk through a sanitising tunnel in Soweto. | GCIS 

A MAN is screened for Covid-19. 

the critical role that nurses play 

in protecting and caring for our 

communities, and the special 

importance they have at this time of 

the fight against the pandemic. 

SOON, mandatory masks may not be the 

only ‘barrier’ to air travel. | AP 

Physical distancing could also 

increase airfares if airlines were 

restricted to selling fewer tickets in 

order to keep some seats empty, Griffiths 

said. 

But until there was a vaccine, 

treatment or reliable, quick 

method to detect the virus, measures 

that reduced the risk of contagion 

would need to be enforced, 

Griffiths said. 

It is unclear when global travel will 

recover from the pandemic, which 

has shattered demand, as this will 

partially depend on countries lifting 

their lockdowns. 

Regaining public confidence in the 

safety of air travel is seen by the aviation 

industry as a significant challenge. 

| REUTERS 

After confusion clarity on what 

winter clothing, footwear and bedding 

may be sold is given in directions 

gazetted by Minister of Trade and 

Industry Ebrahim Patel. 

A NURSE lights a candle to mark International Nurses’ Day. 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 13 

Global infections of Covid-19 stand 

at 4 429 810, with deaths at 298 174. In 

SA, the figures are 12 074 cases with 

GlamourSouthAfrica glamour_sa glamour_sa 

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the 

nation on Wednesday about the gradual 

lifting of level 4 of lockdown. | GCIS 

219 deaths, but Mkhize says without 

lockdown, at least 80 000 South 

Africans could have been infected with 

Covid-19 and the death toll could have 

been much higher. 

The South African Social Security 

(Sassa) says that over 1 million people 

applied for the R350 coronavirus grant, 

although more than half did not qualify. 

President addresses the nation. He 

announces some changes would be 

made to level 4 restrictions and that 

most of South Africa will move to level 

3 restrictions at the end of May. 

His speech is short on details – to 

be clarified in the days ahead. 

THURSDAY, MAY 14 

The 95th running of the Comrades 

Marathon, scheduled for next month, is 

officially cancelled. 

Basic Education Minister Angie 

Motshekga postpones plans to 

announce the re-opening of schools. 

She has convened a meeting of the 

Council of Education Ministers (CRM) 

on Monday to consider the progress 

towards the reopening of schools. 

Government lifts restrictions on 

e-commerce, allowing online stores 

to sell everything except alcohol and 

cigarettes. 

FRIDAY, MAY 15 

The start of week 8 of the national 

lockdown. 

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula 

continues his inspection of public 

transport readiness while Ramaphosa 

has a virtual meeting with Nedlac 

to plan for the further easing of 

restrictions. Pretoria High court orders 

armed forces to toe the line during 

lockdown.


5 

It is a golden maxim to cultivate 

the garden for the nose, and the 

eyes will take care of themselves 

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 


REDESIGN YOUR GARDEN 

FOR those of us who have gardens, it is 

a great time to redesign areas that have 

looked neglected. We cannot use the 

excuse that we don’t have time and are 

too busy. Go to: www.iol.co.za/ios/arts 

MMETRO 

• CYBERSECURITY 

LAID BACK 

Five ways to help your kids stay safe online 

WITH Basic Education Minister 

Angie Motshekga to address the nation 

on the reopening of schools soon, Anna 

Collard has provided tips for parents, 

teachers and learners on how to move 

forward. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has put 

school in the bedroom, study, kitchen, 

backyard and lounge. Parents and 

learners are figuring out how to juggle 

home working and full-time schooling 

from within the confines of the home 

and, let’s face it, it’s hard. 

Schedules clash, the internet 

crashes, time is in short supply and 

the learning curve is steep. 

But, there’s more. 

As online learning becomes more 

prevalent and children become more 

active online, there are risks. Cyberbulling, 

hacking, phishing, credential 

theft – these are all risks that come 

hand in hand with any login, virtual 

conference or platform. Parents, stop. 

This does not have to be another thing 

to worry about. 

“While it is incredibly important to 

be aware of the threats and to have systems 

in place to protect your kids and 

your online life, it isn’t rocket science,” 

said Collard, chief executive of Popcorn 

Training, a subsidiary of KnowBe4. 

“A secure and safe online life can be 

established following basic steps and by 

being aware of the dangers.” 

1. Educate yourself 

Did you know that you can hover 

over a link to see if it’s legitimate? 

Sometimes cybercriminals will send 

you fake links to well-known virtual 

conferencing platforms that ask you to 

sign in. This is a form of phishing that 

results in stolen credentials that can 

be used to hack into your accounts – 

especially if you use the same password 

for multiple sites. 

The most important security risks 

you need to know about are: 

Phishing – where cybercriminals 

use emotion and clever tricks to con 

you into sharing your login credentials 

with fake sites or trick you into 

opening up an infected attachment. 

Cyberbullying – where other 

children or adults attack people 

online. This can have serious 

emotional and mental consequences. 

Leaves the 

powerhouse 

for the rose 

Manage pests using insect spray with low 

toxicity, so it’s safe for all the other plants 

BY MAY, the rose season is almost at an 

end and you can look back with satisfaction 

(or score the garden a six out 

of 10, which means, “Can do better”). 

Healthy leaves are the powerhouse 

for the rose. If they are stunted, diseased 

or drop off, the performance of 

the rose suffers. From interaction with 

rose gardeners I have become aware of 

several factors that affect leaves. 

Thrips 

Thrips has become a huge problem 

and virtually no rose garden is spared 

from this pest. Thrips deforms the 

leaves, making them smaller, chlorotic 

and distorted. It also affects the 

buds and blooms. Larvae are invisible 

during the first stage, nestling in the 

leaf nodes further down the plant, and 

migrate upwards during their second 

feeding stage to suck the sap out of the 

growing tips. 

The best cure is prevention, and the 

most effective action is to drench the 

soil with Koinor in August and December, 

as this systemic insecticide has a 

long-lasting action. Being systemic, it 

gets to the hidden larvae that garden 

sprays can’t always reach. Treatment is 

2ml Koinor to 1 litre water per bush. 

Another option is weekly spraying 

with Ludwig’s Insect Spray. The garlic 

in the spray will bring them out from 

among the petals, and the oil and pyrethroid 

will make it uncomfortable for 

them and kill them off. This product 

• RESCUE 

RESCUED dog Lulu 

GARDENING 

TANYA VISSER 

has a very low toxicity and can be 

safely used by organic gardeners. 

Red spider mite 

Red spider mite loves hot, dry conditions, 

especially if roses are in pots 

against a hot wall. We have had plenty 

of heat this season and gardeners 

have reported rapid outbreaks. Leaves 

infected by spider mite look stippled, 

then turn yellow and dry out, finally 

dropping off the bush. 

Spraying twice a month with 

Ludwig’s Insect Spray will prevent 

light infestations, provided the bushes 

are regularly watered. For severe 

infestations, spray with a double 

dose (80ml in 5 litres water) and 

make sure the underside of the leaves 

are drenched. Repeat a week later 

since the sticky oil does not control 

the eggs that have been laid and from 

Hacking – gaining access to 

systems and accounts and using the 

information to steal money, identities 

and data. 

Malware – risky software that can 

lock your computer (ransomware), 

destroy your system (virus) and so 

much more. Don’t click on links or 

images from people you don’t know 

or in emails that look strange or you 

haven’t expected. 

2 

. Get digitally savvy 

Look after your digital identity. 

Your password is the last, great 

defence between your information and 

the cybercriminal. Do you really want 

to risk your money, information, child’s 

information and identity by using the 

password “12345”? Lots of people do. 

Use a really good password that 

consists of up to 12 letters by using 

a phrase or a line of a song and 

then don’t use it across multiple 

accounts. One password per account. 

To make this easier, invest in a reliable 

password manager that will help 

you create and manage your logins. 

which the next generation will hatch. 

Rose tasks for May 

Reduce watering to once a week, 

but water deeply. 

No need to fertilise, except in Kwa- 

Zulu-Natal and the Lowveld. 

Heavy dew overnight makes 

3 

. Use multi-factor authentication 

This is combining your password 

with something that you own, such 

as a one-time password app on your 

phone. Most sites such as Gmail, 

Facebook, Instagram support this. 

You may think that younger kids 

won’t really understand this, but children 

are remarkably resilient and capable. 

If you can instil strong security 

skills into your kids at a young age, 

you’ll have set them up for a secure life. 

Show them how multi-factor authentication 

works. 

4 

. Set up parental controls 

Parental controls on home 

devices like your computers, mobile 

phones and tablets as well as gaming 

consoles help parents protect children 

from inappropriate content, such as 

pornography or other adult content. 

Parental controls can also be set on 

Google, YouTube and enforced via 

dedicated apps that allow parents to 

monitor activity, ensure children access 

only age-appropriate content and set 

usage times. 

roses more susceptible to black spot. 

Spray once a month with Chronos or 

Rose Protector. 

Eradicate aphids by spraying every 

two weeks with Ludwig’s Insect Spray. 

Transplant roses that are not 

getting enough sun or are suffering 

5 

. Create a family online contract 

It’s hard for kids to sometimes share 

things that have happened to them 

online. It’s equally difficult for parents 

to keep track of everything their children 

are doing online. To combat this, 

create a digital contract that allows for 

you to build trust and openly share 

concerns. 

This contract could include information 

like: 

Never meet anyone you met online 

in real life without parental permission 

Don’t share anything online that 

you wouldn’t share with your parent 

Talk about anything that happens 

that makes you feel uncomfortable 

The signs of cyberbullying 

The rules of online behaviour 

No go zones 

“If you work together to create and 

stick to a digital contract, then you’re 

building trust and a safety net for one 

another. 

“Let the kids choose the rules too – 

they often know things parents don’t,” 

said Collard. 

from root competition. 

Keep deadheading to encourage 

new blooms. 

For more tips on gardening, visit 

www.tanyavisser.com or www.thegardener.co.za 

and download your free 

Survival Guide on gardening. 

Lockdown dog Lulu finds new home 

LISA ISAACS 

RESCUED from the rubbish in February, 

Lulu the lockdown dog has 

become something of a mascot of hope 

for residents of Cape Town. 

Images of the scraggly dog bundled 

into a rubbish bag with other waste 

and dumped in Mitchells Plain captured 

the attention of residents. 

Ricardo Daniel heard her muffled 

cries and, on investigation, saw the 

bedraggled dog. 

He reported the incident to a crime 

group on WhatsApp and he was given 

the SPCA’s number to call. 

The small mixed-breed dog was 

admitted to the SPCA’s animal hospital 

and treated for an infection as a result 

of her matted coat being infested with 

ticks and fleas. 

Despite the trauma, the dog given 

the name Lulu was patient while under 

the treatment and care of Dr Sunaina 

Jain. 

Now she is loved beyond measure 

by her new owner Andy Hauke and is, 

slowly but surely, winning her fur-sibling 

over, the organisation said. 

“Lulu is incredibly affectionate, 

playful and just the cutest girl,” Hauke 

said. 

HEALTHY 

leaves make 

for a healthy 

rose bush. 

Recent photos show Lulu being lavished 

with love during the lockdown. 

“Your support gave Lulu the chance 

to receive the life-saving treatment 

which brought her back from the brink 

of certain death had we not stepped 

in,” the SPCA said. 

“Thank you for allowing our team 

to continue helping animals just like 

Lulu who need us more than ever at 

this time.” 

Abandonment is a crime in terms 

of the Animals Protection Act No. 71 

of 1962 and those found guilty of contravention 

could face a fine of R40 000 

and/or a prison term of 12 months. 

WE’LL MEET 

AGAIN SOME 

SUNNY DAY… 

A BIT LATER 

JOUBERT MALHERBE 

THE WORLD has surely changed in 

the wake of the outbreak of the Covid- 

19, I thought to myself the other day 

when I took a rare trip to the mall to 

get some “bare necessities”. 

I first went to the DIY store to get 

a measuring tape and as I got in, the 

formidable woman at the door said 

she had to spray my hands with sweet 

smelling sanitiser. 

I then popped into Woollies next 

door where the gent at the front 

moved to do the same. I told him I had 

been done next door and he said fine, 

but instructed me to put on my mask 

properly (over the bridge of the nose). 

Well, the outbreak of the pandemic 

has been a real boon for the manufacturers 

of the sprays. They are a bit 

sickly sweet and leave you smelling as 

if you had applied toilet cleaner. 

With the advent of the cold, darker 

mornings, I thought all along that 

the 6am to 9am slot for exercising (ie, 

jogging, or taking the dogs for a walk) 

was ill thought out, to say the least, 

and a truly case of the nanny state 

gone mad. I recalled the song by The 

Motels, Total Control. 

To stay on the right side of the 

law, we’ve been taking the dogs on 

our morning strolls in the allotted 

time and it has been rather strange 

to see just how walking has taken off 

following the move to level 4. 

I wait in anticipation to see what 

changes there will be regarding exercising, 

as were mooted when the president 

spoke on Wednesday evening. 

The effect of the lockdown has 

been pretty disastrous all over, employment-wise 

especially. In South Africa, 

we heard that by the start of this week, 

120 companies had gone into business 

rescue. 

Let’s hope the softening of restrictions 

at the end of May will help to 

boost the economy; not least the wine 

trade, if… 

Further afield, an auspicious occasion 

badly affected by lockdown was 

in the UK where the 75th commemoration 

of VE Day (WW II Victory in 

Europe) was marked last Friday. There 

was a spectacular Red Arrow flypast, 

but no street parties for which the Brits 

are renowned. 

Instead, TV news bulletins showed 

footage of people celebrating in the 

front gardens and driveways, chatting 

over their garden fences and sharing 

sandwiches, cakes, teas and, of course, 

champagne. 

I remember when the 50th anniversary 

of VE Day was held in 1995 

in Hassocks, Sussex, where we lived at 

the time. The outside walls of terraced 

houses in our street (Parklands Road) 

were all decorated with bunting, and 

it was truly festive. 

On the night of May 8, a fireworks 

display was held in a field next to the 

village at the foot of the South Downs. 

The song that rang out repeatedly – as 

it did again last week – was Dame Vera 

Lynn’s classic We’ll Meet Again. 

What made it all the more poignant 

was that Dame Vera (who got a 

nod from Pink Floyd on their classic 

album, The Wall), lived in the neighbouring 

village of Ditchling. Now 103 

years old, she sang it again last week, 

while standing at her front door. 

The Queen – who is in her 90s – 

made her VE Day speech from her 

study at Windsor and I was quite 

moved, especially when I realised that 

this was probably one of HRH’s final 

public speeches. 

Although she made no specific 

reference to the corona pandemic, 

she alluded to the fact it was vital this 

new enemy be defeated in a joint effort 

by us all. 

As the song says; “we’ll meet again/ 

some sunny day”. 

* RIP Little Richard… thanks for 

the great music, Sir. “Awobopaloobop 

Alopbanboom”, indeed.

OOPINION 

6 

You have casual Fridays. 

Those of us who work at home have 

shaveless Mondays… deodorantless 

Tuesdays… sockless Wednesdays… 

and of course, topless Thursdays. 

ROB HARRELL 

Adam@Home cartoonist 



PR EXERCISE REEKS OF 

DESPERATION 

The publicity stunt by former president 

Jacob Zuma and his son Duduzane is 

an ill-advised political strategy, and a 

pathetic public relations exercise, argues 

writer Jovial Rantao of the Twitter videos 

Zooming with the Zumas. 

See https://bit.ly/ZumaGamble 

EDITORIAL 

COMMENT 

Children 

bear brunt 

of lockdown 

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa’s 

extension of the continued 

quarantine of this country 

until the end of the month, 

which he announced on 

Wednesday night, is already 

being met by legal challenges 

over the impact this is having 

on our beleaguered economy. 

There is one aspect, though, 

that everyone is missing; the 

collateral damage wrought by the 

lockdown. 

Ramaphosa, to his credit, spoke 

out harshly this week against the 

perpetrators of domestic violence. 

We almost always see domestic 

violence as meted out by men 

against women: assaults that are 

verbal, physical and sexual. 

What no one has seen though 

is the violence visited upon 

children by parents who are 

unused to having their children 

around them all the time for a 

protracted period such as this. 

No schools are operating. 

Instead, parents and caregivers 

are expected to undertake those 

educational responsibilities at 

home. No school meals are being 

offered, placing further strain on 

already overstretched resources. 

The result is as inevitable as 

it is tragic: some households are 

buckling under the strain with 

terrible consequences – parents 

and adults lashing out at children, 

many of whom are far too young 

to understand why or what it is 

that they have done wrong. 

Some families unable to cope 

are choosing the desperately heartrending 

solution of abandoning 

their young children at places 

of hope more accustomed to 

receiving unwanted newborn 

babies. 

Nowhere in the rhetoric 

and feverish debates about lives 

versus livelihoods have we heard 

anyone take up the cudgels for 

the children. 

It’s high time we did. As 

adults, we don’t just have a 

responsibility to the youngest 

and most vulnerable; we have a 

vested interest in ensuring they 

are properly nurtured and given 

the best chance – not just because 

they are tomorrow’s leaders, but 

also because they will be our 

caregivers, too. 

Editor 

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PUPILS in rural areas have been getting a raw deal when it comes to schooling compared with their urban counterparts. | ANA Archives 

Stimulus plan needed 

for rural education 

Teachers and pupils across all schools deserve equal ‘norms and standards’, says experts 

SAKHELA BUHLUNGU, NHLANGANISO 

DLADLA, SELLO HATANG, NOBUNTU MAZEKA, 

VUSI MNCUBE, RELEBOGILE MOLETSANE, 

SISA NGEBULANA, BUHLE PHIRI, KIMBERLEY 

PORTEUS and MVUYO TOM 

WE COME together united by a longterm 

commitment to education and 

rural development, to motivate that 

we approach the Covid-19 crisis as 

one that fundamentally combines 

health, the economy and education. 

We motivate to rapidly extend the 

stimulus package to make a massive 

once-off investment into equalising 

the basic resources of schooling, with 

an emphasis on primary schooling 

and early childhood development. 

As a nation, we have been focusing 

our attention on the Covid-19 curve. 

We draw attention to another 

curve. We can call it the Ed-Curve. 

It consistently destroys between 60% 

and 70% of our children’s lives. 

The Ed-Curve represents children’s 

educational performance by 

measures of socio-economic status 

of a child. Across the world, there is 

a relationship between educational 

performance and the socio-economic 

circumstances of a child. 

The South African Ed-Curve is 

more severe than this international 

norm. Analysts describe the South 

African Ed-Curve as “bi-modal” 

because it reflects two school universes 

within one nation. 

In the top quintile of schools (former 

“Model C” schools) the global 

rules apply. Children from more 

wealthy homes have a statistically 

better chance of learning to read with 

meaning by the end of Grade 4. Children 

from less wealthy families have 

an uphill battle, but they still have a 

fighting chance. Taken together, 65% 

of children achieve the low international 

benchmark for Grade 4 reading. 

If we focus on the poorest 60% of 

schools, the line looks very different. 

Like an electroencephalogram (EEG) 

of a patient in a protracted coma, the 

line is basically flat. Only 11% of children 

in the poorest quintile reached 

the lowest international benchmark, 

increasing to only 15% by the third 

quintile. Statistically speaking, 60% 

of children do not have a fighting 

chance to learn to read with meaning 

by the end of Grade 4. Schooling fails 

not only to mediate inequality, but 

makes it worse. 

Why is the system so unproductive 

for 60% of the school system? 

Education is notoriously complex; 

solutions take time. 

The Department of Basic Education 

(DBE) is working to build sustainable 

solutions. However, one starting 

point remains intractable. Teachers 

in rural schools do not have the basic 

resources that give them a fighting 

chance to succeed. 

Covid-19 has clarified our national 

understanding that we cannot expect 

health care professionals to take on 

this challenge unless we provide them 

with the basic resources that enable 

them to do their jobs. It has forced us 

to take a calculated political and economic 

risk to invest into our nation 

beyond normal fiscal disciplines. 

When applied to education, this 

means identifying the basic resources 

that provide teachers and children 

with a fighting chance to perform, 

and holding ourselves accountable 

to achieving these “norms and standards” 

across all schools. 

In the past 10 days, we have 

observed rising public tensions as 

the DBE has grappled with how to 

safely open schools. The department 

has established “non-negotiable” preconditions 

for school opening. 

Despite assurances from the Minister 

of Basic Education, there is little trust 

among teachers and parents that their 

concerns have been heard. 

One of the most important assets 

of any education system is the solidarity 

between and among parents, 

teachers, and the educational systems 

and authorities of the state. 

Solidarity is under threat not simply 

from Covid-19, but from a system 

that has been unable to fully respond 

to the daily struggles of rural schools 

for too long. 

The public knows, in its bones, the 

task at hand lies beyond the resources 

and systems currently at the disposal 

COMMENT 

of the DBE. We believe the public 

is unlikely to trust the plans going 

forward unless education is provided 

with a massively extended mandate, 

machinery and resources to get the 

job done. 

While the detail of an educational 

stimulus plan lies beyond this call, we 

highlight a few elements below. 

First, Covid-19 threatens to further 

undermine the early childhood 

development services serving poor 

children. 

A recent rapid analysis undertaken 

by ECD stakeholders concludes that 

between 20 000 and 30 000 centres 

run the acute risk of closure. We 

must ensure that the stimulus package 

reaches people working in early 

childhood development, whether 

registered or not. 

Second, we must make a massive 

investment into school infrastructure 

(classrooms – including Grade 

R and RR, sanitation facilities, water, 

electricity, staff rooms, furniture, 

libraries and playgrounds), teaching 

and learning resources and ensuring 

pupil-teacher ratios do not exceed 

policy expectations in each classroom 

setting. This includes the “nonnegotiables” 

identified by the DBE 

(classrooms, substitute teacher posts, 

water, safe sanitation, cleaners) and 

the less obvious resources that contribute 

to building a more differentiated 

culture of teaching and learning 

where every child has a sense of 

individual learning space (moveable 

desks and learning resources for each 

child). 

The DBE has detailed plans to 

address many of these concerns; it is 

time we mobilise the resources and 

private sector skills to get the job 

done. 

Third, we need to invest quickly 

into building the online resources 

and capacities of rural schools. Middle 

class teachers and parents are rapidly 

strengthening their capabilities to 

leverage online resources to support 

children. 

The shift to supplement traditional 

teaching with online resources 

will grow in the future. Without a radical 

investment into upgrading rural 

teachers, children in rural schools 

will again be left impossibly behind. 

We must use this period to ensure all 

teachers have appropriate technology, 

data, connectivity, and experiences 

using online resources for teaching 

and collaboration. 

Teachers must be equipped to 

engage parents in modest homes to 

support schooling (during and after 

the Covid-19 crisis). This includes 

combining an increase of the child 

grants with affordable mobile phones 

for parents, better zero-rated data for 

educational engagement, and tools 

for parental support in modest home 

environments. 

Far from a critique of the DBE, this 

is a call to get behind the work of the 

department. 

If we fail to undertake a massive 

plan of reconstruction in this period, 

Covid-19 will rip the “two universes 

of schooling” further and further 

apart. 

We call on the Covid-19 Command 

Council to make an unprecedented 

investment into rural schools, ensuring 

that we open the 2021 school 

year with a vastly more equitable 

landscape for schooling. 

♦ Buhlungu is Vice Chancellor, 

University of Fort Hare 

♦ Dladla, is CEO of the Eastern Cape 

Rural Development Agency 

♦ Hatang is CEO, of the Nelson 

Mandela Foundation 

♦ Mazeka is the Alfred Nzo District 

Co-ordinator, Nelson Mandela Institute 

for Education and Rural Development 

♦ Mncube is the Dean, Faculty of 

Education, University of Fort Hare 

♦ Moletsane is the John Langalibalele 

Dube Chair in Rural Education, UKZN 

♦ Ngebulana is CEO and Deputy 

Chairperson, Rebosis Property Fund 

♦ Phiri is the Operations Manager, 

Zenzele Itereleng 

♦ Porteus is the Executive Director, 

Nelson Mandela Institute, University of 

Fort Hare 

♦ Tom, is an independent consultant, 

Albertina Sisulu Executive Leadership 

Programme in Health 

LINDSAY SLOGROVE 

The people 

are not the 

enemy 

AGH, no man, he did it again. 

There were all the president’s 

fellow citizens, hanging on every 

word, holding their breath for 

answers. There were some good 

words – acknowledging errors, 

saying the government was willing 

to listen, that some relaxation was 

on the cards – but not telling us 

anything concrete. 

South Africans have been 

ordered to stay home in one of 

the worst situations in history. The 

pain of lost jobs, hunger, hacked 

salaries, isolation, fear of the 

future and restriction of individual 

choices exacerbates the stress. 

Enforcement has, in some 

cases, been brutal and deadly. 

The reasoning – explained 

carefully and fully right at the 

beginning of this horror show – 

behind the lockdown is simple: to 

try to slow, not stop, the spread 

of Covid-19 and avoid having 

people dying hideous drowninglike 

deaths in their thousands 

in the car parks of overwhelmed 

hospitals. 

We should remind ourselves 

often that we are not wearing 

masks and staying locked away 

only for ourselves: we do it for our 

fellow citizens, to save lives and 

acknowledge how important every 

life is. And to keep the danger as 

far as possible from the essential 

workers who turn up every day, 

making it possible for the rest of us 

to isolate and stay safe. 

South Africans are, for the most 

part, good people who want to 

help others. But when the ruled 

lose trust in the rulers, rebellion 

begins to bubble. 

The constitutionality of 

some of the regulations has 

been questioned, and the 

implementation of those rules is 

making people angry. That, on top 

of the financial hardship, and the 

perception that decision-making 

is not transparent and fully 

communicated, is detracting from 

the reason for the lockdown. 

For example, Minister of Trade 

and Industry Ebrahim Patel, 

already taking fire for limiting 

ecommerce, this week revealed 

a list of clothing and other 

“essential” items which were 

allowed to be sold. 

Among these were “crop 

bottoms”, and T-shirts if they 

were displayed and sold as 

undergarments to be used as an 

extra layer to keep warm. 

Everyone went wild and 

Patel and the national command 

council were called out again for 

ridiculous and petty edicts. 

It emerged soon after that 

retailers had asked for specifics 

about what items they could and 

could not sell. 

If this correspondence had 

been communicated effectively, 

and people understood and 

were informed why this list was 

produced, it would have prevented 

a tsunami of mockery. 

The government is relying on 

mass obedience to try to limit an 

enormously dangerous virus. 

It must learn – quickly – that a 

population that has spent decades 

fighting against issues that deeply 

affect their lives is not going to 

suddenly toe the line if there is 

suspicion of other agendas on the 

part of those making the rules. 

The people should be partners, 

not the opposition or the enemy. 

We should be entrusted with 

essential information, behind-thescenes 

reasoning and honesty. 

Buy-in from Joe and Josephine 

Public is vital if we are to tackle 

this health and economic 

catastrophe. 

Slogrove is a news editor


7 

Wash your hands 

and disinfect 

your thoughts. 

DANIEL G AMEN 

American celebrity psychician and author 


BUNGEE JUMPS, HAIRCUTS 

MARK EXIT FROM LOCKDOWN 

WELLINGTON: After seven weeks trussed 

up with some of the world’s toughest 

coronavirus curbs, New Zealanders leapt 

at the chance to cheer the end of the 

country’s lockdown on Thursday - literally 

with a bungee jump while some queue 

from midnight for haircuts. 

WWORLD 

• UNITED STATES 

Executive 

order targets 

Huawei 

Tension with China rattles market 

THE US Department of Commerce 

moved yesterday to potentially block 

global shipments of semiconductors 

to China’s tech giant Huawei, in the 

latest sign of mounting tensions with 

Beijing that are rattling markets. 

The move, once fully implemented, 

means special US-government issued 

licences would be required for foreign 

companies selling chips and other 

items that use US technology to Huawei, 

closing loopholes. 

The department would change 

listings “to narrowly and strategically 

target Huawei’s acquisition of semiconductors 

that are the direct product 

of certain US software and technology,” 

according to a statement. 

The department said the Chinese 

giant was using US software and technology 

to design its semi-conductors, 

a practice that was “undermining” 

national security and export control 

rules by making acquisitions overseas 

despite being blacklisted last year. 

“We must amend our rules 

exploited by Huawei and HiSilicon 

and prevent US technologies from 

enabling malign activities contrary to 

US national security and foreign policy 

interests,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur 

Ross said. 

Meanwhile, the US has been praising 

plans by Taiwan Semiconductor 

Manufacturing Corporation to invest 

billions of dollars in Arizona, starting 

next year, in a related move in 

ThePeople 

‘Wolf of Wall Street’ producer case dropped 

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian 

prosecutors have dropped money 

laundering charges against The Wolf 

of Wall Street film producer and 

stepson of ex-prime minister Najib 

Razak, pictured, in a move slammed 

by Human Rights Watch yesterday 

as a “triumph for impunity and 

corruption”. 

Riza Aziz reached a settlement 

with the government. | AP 

the semiconductor industry. 

The US charges that the Chinese 

companies’ technology could be used 

to spy on Washington and its allies, 

and has been pushing its key partners 

around the world to shun Huawei 5G 

infrastructure, with mixed results. 

In a separate statement, Department 

of Commerce said it was making 

a “final” 90-day extension of a temporary 

measure that allows US users of 

Huawei technology “to continue to 

temporarily operate such devices and 

existing networks while hastening the 

transition to alternative suppliers”. 

Huawei has been at the centre of 

the power struggle between the US and 

China, the world’s two largest economies, 

amid rising rhetoric towards 

Beijing from the US administration 

heightened by the Covid-9 pandemic. 

On Thursday, during a television 

interview, US President Donald Trump 

said he had a “very good relationship” 

with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but 

“right now, I don’t want to speak to 

him.” He openly mused about ending 

the trading relationship with China. 

The Trump administration has 

been mulling ways to punish or seek 

compensation from Beijing for the 

damage caused by the pandemic, as 

Washington tries to pin the blame on 

China for the death toll and economic 

downturn. Beijing has insisted the 

virus is a natural occurrence and that 

it has been transparent. | dpa 

A VATICAN worker sprays the marble cherub holy water font in St Peter’s Basilica yesterday. The Vatican was sanitised by a team 

wearing protective overalls in preparations for liturgical celebrations which will be restarting on Monday. The Vatican revealed it 

was planning to check the temperatures of the faithful before they enter its basilicas for Mass in new hygiene measures. Public 

Masses were banned as part of the initial Covid-19 lockdown measures on March 10. Pope Francis appeared at the chapel of the 

Domus Sanctae Marthae in the Vatican to conduct a private and livestreamed mass yesterday. | Reuters 

• ZIMBABWE 

Police accused of assaulting female activists 

HARARE: Three young Zimbabwean 

opposition activists who were reported 

missing after a protest against that 

country’s Covid-19 lockdown measures 

this week were being treated at a 

hospital yesterday after asserting they 

were abducted and sexually abused by 

state security agents. 

The women, including the 

youngest parliament member, Joana 

Mamombe, were allegedly arrested at 

a roadblock after Wednesday’s protest 

in Harare. Police denied they had 

held the women, saying they were 

unaware of their whereabouts. The 

women had been protesting what they 

called “deepening poverty and lack of 

social protection measures” during the 

weeks-long lockdown. 

Yesterday, government spokesman 

Nick Mangwana said investigations 

into the alleged abductions “are underway”. 

He said the police were keen to 

interview the women “on suspicion 

of committing crimes related to the 

lockdown laws and the holding of illegal 

demonstrations” but “social media 

chatter indicating that the three had 

disappeared was observed” before that 

could happen. 

Johnson declares war on obesity after illness 

LONDON: Prime Minister Boris 

Johnson, pictured, is planning a war 

on obesity after deciding his own 

touch-and-go battle with coronavirus 

was exacerbated by him being 

overweight. 

He is ready to ditch long-standing 

opposition to “nanny state” policies 

and launch a crackdown on the 

nation’s bulging waistlines after 

Covid-19 is defeated. He told senior 

LET US SPRAY 

advisers that the experience – which 

he famously said “could have gone 

either way” – left him determined to 

lead a public health drive. 

Being obese doubles the risk 

of needing hospital treatment for 

coronavirus, research shows. 

And with one in three British 

adults now clinically obese, the UK 

has one of the highest rates in the 

world. | Daily Mail 

The activists were found by a “sympathetic 

villager” who heard their cries 

for help after they were dumped about 

90km from Harare, Richard Chimbiri, 

the father of one of the women, said. 

Meanwhile, a Zimbabwean man 

was charged for disclosing another 

person’s Covid-19 positive status on 

social media. State-owned newspaper 

The Herald said in the first case of its 

kind, Jimmy Mhlanga, 40, was charged 

after revealing someone’s status in a 

WhatsApp group in contravention of 

the Public Health Act which provides 

for patient confidentiality. | AP and ANA 

THE coronavirus is 

affecting 213 countries 

and territories around the 

world. 

COVID-19 

GLOBAL FIGURES 

CORONAVIRUS 

UPDATE 

NUMBER OF CONFIRMED CASES: 

4 569 064 

NUMBER OF DEATHS: 

304 794 

Children’s climate 

protest live online 

CANBERRA: Hundreds of school 

children participated yesterday in a 

climate change protest, which had 

to be held online due to Covid-19 

pandemic restrictions. 

The event was organised by 

School Strike 4 Climate, which 

is aligned with Swedish teenager 

Greta Thunberg’s global climate 

movement. The protest included 

discussions, musical performances 

and poetry, with people from 

countries including Australia, India, 

Uganda and New Zealand joining 

the live online event. 

“2020 is a very important 

year for us to take action for 

climate change,” 9-year-old 

Licypriya Kangujam of Manipur in 

India, told viewers. “If our leaders 

can fight Covid-19, then why they 

can’t fight climate emergency 

together?” | dpa 

Europe bids adieu 

to the cheek kiss 

HOTLINE: 0800 029 999 

NUMBER OF PATIENTS WHO 

HAVE RECOVERED: 

1 724 907 

https://www.worldometers.info/ 

coronavirus/#countries 

BRUSSELS: The cheek kiss is 

fundamental to greetings in many 

countries in Europe. It is also 

exceedingly ill-suited for the new 

pandemic age. 

As Europeans start meeting again 

this month for the first time since 

the virus swept the world, they 

are having to suppress a seemingly 

inherent reflex. 

Kissing-as-greeting is a European 

tradition that can be found all the 

way back in pre-Christian accounts. 

In feudal France, vassals pledged 

loyalty to their lords with a smooch 

on the lips. The practice involves 

one, two, three or even four kisses in 

countries that are linguistically and 

culturally tied to them. 

The Black Death in the 14th 

century made it unfashionable, and 

at the time of the 1918 Spanish flu 

epidemic it tended to be reserved for 

family members. | The Washington Post 

Covid-19: don’t fall in Trump’s trap of shifting blame 

BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT 

IF WE’RE to believe US President Donald 

Trump, the Covid-19 outbreak can 

be blamed on a range of suspects, from 

China to front line medical workers, 

troublesome American governors, and 

possibly even the tooth fairy. 

This week, Bryan Adams added his 

voice, in a foul-mouthed racist rant 

on Instagram, deriding China as the 

“bat-eating, virus-making source” of 

the virus, conflating unproven theories 

about the disease’s origins. 

The Canadian crooner, angered 

after the cancellation of his residency 

at the Royal Albert Hall in London, 

posted on Instagram: “Tonight was 

supposed to be the beginning of a 

tenancy of gigs at the @royalalberthall, 

but thanks to some f**g bat eating, 

wet market animal selling, virus 

making greedy bastards, the whole 

world is now on hold, not to mention 

the thousands that have suffered or 

died from this virus. My message to 

them other than ‘thanks a f***g lot’ 

is go vegan.” 

It’s hard not to feel sympathy for 

the artist’s cause: people the world 

over are angry and frightened. They 

have just cause: the pandemic has not 

only infected 4.18 million people the 

world over, but it’s also killed around 

286 500 – many of whom include 

vulnerable members of society and 

front-line workers. The disease has also 

Bryan Adams 

felled the young and the old, across the 

class spectrum. 

In South Africa, infections are 

sharply increasing, with an estimated 

11 400 infections and at least 220 

deaths. Under lockdown, social systems 

have been pushed to the brink, 

economies have collapsed and political 

machinations laid bare. Critically, 

jobs have been lost, schools shut, citizens 

imprisoned and entire sectors of 

the economy declared non-essential, 

therefore unable to trade. 

And yet, the blame game played 

by Adams, Trump and his Republican 

fandom is a distraction. A dangerous 

one at that. 

Trump’s trade war has pushed 

US-Sino relationships to its most 

fragile point in decades. Now, in an 

effort to deflect criticism of his own 

mortifying response to the outbreak 

in his own country, he has shifted 

blame on to China. It’s classic Trump 

Donald Trump 

OPINION 

bait-and-switch politics. By calling the 

novel coronavirus the “Chinese virus”, 

Trump has conflated various theories 

of the origins of the virus. One of these 

theories suggests the virus was passed 

on to humans after eating bats – or 

pangolins – sold in “wet markets” in 

Wuhan. But that “wet market” theory 

is not supported by the evidence as a 

number of early cases were traced to 

people who had not visited the market. 

Another theory says that the virus 

is a man-made bioweapon, which was 

leaked, either accidentally or not, from 

one of two laboratories within walking 

distances of a Wuhan wet market. 

Trump has actively promoted these 

theories because they deflect blame 

from his administration’s sheer inertia 

in responding to the imminent crisis. 

The laboratory leak theory is not 

new, having gained traction back 

in January when the conservative 

Washington Times published a 

report suggesting the laboratory link. 

On February 18, 27 prominent 

scientists – outside China – published 

a statement in the prestigious medical 

journal The Lancet, condemning 

“conspiracy theories suggesting that 

Covid-19 does not have a natural 

origin” and state the research “overwhelmingly” 

concludes the “coronavirus 

originated in wildlife”. 

Further comments and updates 

have been published, offering zero 

conclusive evidence. On April 30, the 

New York Times reported that senior 

Trump administration officials had 

coerced spy agencies to help push 

the agenda – even though most intelligence 

agencies had poured scorn 

on the suggestion. That day, the US 

intelligence community released a 

statement saying they concur with the 

“scientific consensus that the Covid-19 

virus was not man-made or genetically 

modified”, adding that officials would 

continue investigating a possible link. 

No such link has been found – 

because it does not exist. It is still 

not clear if the virus jumped species 

in Wuhan, nor is there consensus on 

the outbreak’s source. And yet, class 

actions for damages suffered from the 

pandemic have been filed in the US 

against China. The plaintiffs claim 

Chinese authorities knew that Covid- 

19 was capable of causing a pandemic, 

but responded too slowly. 

The fact is that Chinese authorities 

were in the dark when the virus first 

presented as a mysterious lung infection 

in late December. China has been 

proactive: on January 3, they notified 

the US government. On January 9, the 

state broadcaster, China Central Television 

reported for the first time about 

the discovery of the new virus, known 

as Covid-19. Days later, Chinese scientists 

shared the virus’ genetic sequence 

internationally. On January 20, Chinese 

President Xi Jinping made his 

first public statement on the outbreak, 

demanding that the government “put 

people’s lives and health first”. On 

January 23, authorities locked down 

an entire city: Wuhan. 

Whether or not the virus originated 

in a part of China – or large 

parts of Central and West Africa, where 

pangolins continue to be trafficked, 

despite China’s ban on wildlife imports 

– countries were notified of the outbreak 

and chose their own responses 

to that intelligence. 

The virus knows no borders and 

has even been found in the deepest 

Amazon: what the world needs now 

is for co-operation and support, in the 

effort to fight this invisible enemy that 

has introduced humanity to concept 

of social distancing; and the need for 

hand sanitiser and masks. It’s forced us 

to face up to our mortality and given 

the world pause for thought. Let’s 

face this global threat together: not as 

pawns in a political game. 

6.5 magnitude 

quake in Nevada 

TONOPAH: Authorities in western 

Nevada checked for possible 

highway damage after a magnitude 

6.5 earthquake in a remote area 

yesterday. 

The US Geological Service 

reported that the 4.03am temblor 

was about 56km west of Tonopah 

and east of the Sierra Nevada range. 

It was felt in Reno and Las Vegas, 

Salt Lake City, Utah and California’s 

Central Valley. 

The initial quake struck 

about 7.6km deep and dozens of 

aftershocks were recorded. 

There were no immediate reports 

of injury, but part of US 95 highway 

was closed as state troopers checked 

road and State Route 360 for possible 

damage, the Mineral County sheriff’s 

office said. | AP 

Jail time for burning 

flags in Germany 

BERLIN: Publicly burning the EU 

flag or those of other countries in 

Germany is now punishable by up to 

three years in prison, after a bill was 

passed by the federal parliament on 

Thursday evening. 

In 2017, demonstrators in Berlin 

destroyed Israeli flags, an incident 

that prompted a law reform. Until 

then, punishment could only apply 

for denigrating symbols of Germany. 

Sovereign symbols of other 

countries and the EU were only 

legally protected under certain 

conditions. | dpa

8 Saturday, May 16 2020 | AFFLUENCE 

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK 

SATURDAY, MAY 16 

Modern Family: M-Net, 6pm 

Mitch and Cam help Lilly with her fears 

about wearing a swimsuit to a pool 

party. With Gloria spending so much 

time at work, Jay starts feeling a little 

neglected. 

MONDAY, MAY 18 

How To Get Away With Murder: 1Magic, 

8pm 

Annalise discovers there’s a surprise 

witness who threatens her case; Connor 

tries to persuade the K3 to go along with a 

new plan; a lie between Frank and Bonnie 

threatens their relationship as the killer is 

finally revealed. 


Saving Notre Dame: National 

Geographic, 7pm 

In April 2019, a fire ripped through the 

Notre-Dame de Paris. A team goes into 

the rubble with the heroes who are 

risking their lives to stabilise what’s 

left of Notre-Dame so that she can be 

restored to her former glory. 

• DOCUMENTARY 

MICHELLE OBAMA 

Michelle 

Obama’s 

lesson in 

staying on 

script 

EVERYTHING Michelle Obama does 

will always be of interest, even if it 

isn’t interesting. As the first black 

woman to be the First Lady of the 

US, she knows this scrutiny comes 

with the territory. 

Early on in Becoming, a new 

Netflix documentary about her life, 

Obama encourages Melissa Winter, 

her chief of staff, to express her 

emotions. They are in Chicago, the 

first stop of a 34-city book tour for 

her 2018 memoir, and Obama is 

about to speak in front of a packed 

arena. For her, and those who have 

been on the journey with her, it’s 

overwhelming. “You don’t have to 

keep it together. You don’t have to. 

You can go ahead and cry your eyes 

out,” Obama says to Winter. “I can’t 

do that right now.” But one wonders 

if she ever could, or even would. 

The film is being billed as a “rare 

and up-close look” at the former first 

lady’s life. But, whereas the memoir 

– through its deeply personal stories 

about Obama’s existential struggles 

in young adulthood and the pains 

of a miscarriage later on – offered 

a partial illumination of a woman, 

who critics and admirers alike have 

tried to understand for years, the 

documentary feels more routine. 

It hits all the notes of a mega 

star choosing to share her life with 

the public: selective biographical 

moments and star-studded guest 

appearances, plus a healthy dose of 

motivational messaging about the 

virtues of education and the holistic 

ownership of personal narratives. 

Directed by Nadia Hallgren, the 

movie takes viewers on an evenkeeled 

journey with Obama as she 

embarks on her book tour. She 

intends to use the time to reflect 

on her eight years in the White 

House and “to figure out what just 

happened to me”, she says. 

Obama’s multi-city conversations 

are invigorating, offering more 

personal insights and showing 

sharper versions of her signature 

charm and humour. She discusses 

overcoming impostor syndrome, that 

nagging feeling of not belonging 

while studying at Princeton 

University. 

She talks about her initial 

reluctance to date Barack Obama 

when they worked at the same 

Chicago law firm because, in part, 

everyone expected it. “That’s just 

what they are waiting for,” she 

recalls. “You two love each other, 

don’t you? You’re black, he’s black. 

This will be great.” 

While many elements of the 

documentary feel stagy, Obama’s 

more interesting responses are 

instigated during community events, 

when she speaks to smaller groups of 

people, often young students. They 

ask her how she overcame the sense 

of isolation that haunts many black 

women. 

She attributes her confidence 

to her parents, who allowed her to 

ask questions and made her feel 

visible. “We can’t afford to wait for 

the world to be equal to start feeling 

seen,” she says. 

Becoming is not the candid 

Michelle Obama film that people 

might have been waiting for. Instead, 

we get a familiar, more carefree, 

Obama who, in her own words, 

learned a long time ago “to be much 

more scripted”. | The New York Times 

Finding poetry 

...in survival 

Rebecca Solnit, who inspired the term ‘mansplaining’, 

explains herself (sort of) 

LAUREN SARAZEN 

IN 2008, Rebecca Solnit wrote an 

essay titled “Men explain things 

to me,” a biting critique of a 

condescending male behaviour that 

drowns out and belittles women’s 

voices, that went viral. The term 

it inspired – “mansplaining” – 

became not only a part of everyday 

conversation, but an entry in the 

Oxford English Dictionary. 

Solnit captured the anger and 

frustration of millions of women 

and quickly became a major feminist 

voice speaking out on #MeToo, 

climate change and the power of 

collective organising. 

Solnit’s memoir Recollections of 

My Nonexistence promises a more 

intimate look at her life. Here she 

tells us how she found her way as 

a writer, about her life in 1980s 

San Francisco and her shift from 

chronicling the trajectories of 

men forgotten by the art world, 

to analysing the tensions over the 

environmental and gender issues 

that define our times. 

Solnit writes vividly of her 

influences, from the thick 

atmosphere of gendered violence 

and discrimination, to the open 

landscapes of the American West, 

where she house-sits in New Mexico, 

researches and hikes alone. With 

Solnit as a guide, you can hear her 

neighbours tell tales of Texas and 

Oklahoma, walk past the varied 

shades of devotion in a community 

dotted by churches and sift through 

the archives at the San Francisco 

Museum of Modern Art. 

Readers are offered snippets of 

a life. 

Solnit writes of trying to both 

“appear and disappear”. The book’s 

cover echoes this theme: a snapshot 

of Solnit pressed up against a wall, 

bracing herself with elegantly 

gloved hands. She wears one of her 

favourite outfits, a 1940s pencil 

skirt and a men’s waistcoat belted 

and worn backward. The clothes 

may speak to confidence and 

transformation, but her pose is all 

about concealment. 

So it is in the book: there 

is a sense of reserve that feels 

deliberate even as it is unsatisfying. 

Solnit obeys the conventions of 

the memoir genre sparingly. For 

example, when she moves into her 

apartment on San Francisco’s Lyon 

Street at 19, she is the only white 

person in her building. Rather than 

delving deeply into the implications 

of her presence, Solnit reflects 

beautifully on the intricacies of the 

neighbourhood at large, writing 

one of the most vivid sections of 

the book. Yet when she moves years 

later, she leaves a gentrified, white 

middle-class area that bears little 

resemblance to the Lyon Street of 

1981, she has little to say about it. 

Solnit tells us how her voice 

developed: by listening to and 

reading stories in the news about 

violence against women, depicted 

in the arts and in personal stories 

told by friends. “I am a woman who 

during my youth thought it likely 

that I would be raped and maybe 

also murdered and all my life have 

lived in a world where women were 

raped and murdered by strangers for 

being women and by men they knew 

for asserting their rights or just being 

women and where those rapes and 

murders were lasciviously lingered 

on in art,” Solnit writes. 

Reading this, it’s difficult to 

fathom a way out of such darkness. 

What possible hope can remain 

within a society that passively allows 

violent female erasure? 

Solnit emphasises the need to 

find poetry in survival. Describing a 

delicate Victorian writing desk gifted 

by a friend, she imbues the object 

with a strong sense of her intellectual 

life and credibility as a writer. She 

meditates on the words she wrote 

sitting at this desktop – the emails to 

friends, the 20 books and countless 

essays – before revealing its darker 

history. “A year or so before she gave 

me the desk, my friend was stabbed 

15 times by an ex-boyfriend to 

punish her for leaving him,” Solnit 

writes. It’s a sombre turn, yet rather 

than lingering solely on despair, 

Solnit pivots toward hope: “Someone 

tried to silence her. Then she gave 

me a platform for my voice.” 

Perhaps it’s not surprising that 

the iconoclastic Solnit would, in 

her memoir, renounce the trappings 

of memoir itself. Solnit seems to 

see her own experience as part of a 

more sweeping experience of being a 

woman in the world. Writing about 

her own fear of rape, for example, 

she says, “I tell all of this not because 

I think my story is exceptional, but 

because it is ordinary; half the earth 

is paved over with women’s fear 

and pain, or rather with the denial 

of them, and until the stories that 

lie underneath see sunlight, this 

will not change”. Her book then, 

might be read less as memoir than 

as manifesto – a voice raised in hope 

against gender violence. It’s a call we 

should listen to. | The Washington Post 

SATURDAY | MAY 16 

SABC1 06:00 Bonisanani 06:30 Marco Polo 07:30 

Jabu’s Jungle 08:00 YoTV Big Breakfast 09:00 

Imizwilili 10:00 Mzansi Insider 11:00 Generations – 

The Legacy Omnibus 13:30 Sport magazine 14:00 

Soccer Build Up 14:30 Laduma 17:30 Roots 18:00 

Katy Perry – Live At Glastonbury 19:00 Xhosa/ Zulu 

News 19:30 Real Goboza 20:00 I Am A Slave 22:00 

Get2Gether Experience 

SABC2 06:00 The Numtums 06:57 Op Pad 07:00 

Morning Live 08:30 Muvhango Omnibus 11:00 

Lithapo Omnibus 12:30 Relate 13:00 Life Begins 

After Coffee 13:30 Dijo Le Bophelo 14:00 SA Inc 

14:30 Trendz Travel 15:00 A-Team 16:00 Saving 

Flora 18:00 Nuus 18:15 Setswana/seSotho News 

18:30 Point Break 20:30 Supernatural 20:57 Lotto 

Live Draw 21:00 Supernatural 21:30 Catch My Killer 

23:00 Game Plan 23:30 Full View 

SABC3 06:00 Psalted 06:30 An Nur – The Light 

07:00 Sadhana 07:30 Restyle My Style 08:00 

Xcellerate 08:30 Challenge SOS 09:00 48 Hours 

09:30 Judge Faith Jenkins Omnibus 12:00 The 

Longest Date (R) 13:00 Ready For Love (R) 14:00 

The Fashion Hero (R) 15:00 Mela 16:00 Tamara Dey 

17:00 Christina Milian Turned Up 18:00 Top Billing 

19:00 The Launch 20:00 Tropika Island Of Treasure 

Curacao 21:00 News @21:00 21:30 Catch Me If You 

Can 23:30 First Wives Club 

M-Net 06:00 The Goldbergs Omnibus 08:00 

Supernanny US (R) 08:55 Celebrity Family Feud 

(R) 09:50 The Bachelor South Africa (R) 11:20 

Homefest: James Corden’s Late Late Special (R) 

12:15 Madam Secretary (R) 13:15 This Is Us (R) 

14:15 Survivor (R) 15:15 Mia & The White Lion 17:00 

American Housewife 17:30 Carol’s Second Act 

18:00 Modern Family 18:30 Young Sheldon 19:00 

American Idol 21:00 Tell Me A Story 22:00 Castle 

Rock 23:00 Ride Upon The Storm 00:10 Sunnyside 

e.tv 06:10 Friends: Girls On A Mission 06:25 

Hanazuki 06:40 Wissper 06:55 Dawn OF The 

Croods 07:25 Voltron: Legendary Defender 07:55 

e-Insert 08:00 TBA 08:30 Scandal Omnibus 10:20 

Imbewu: The Seed Omnibus 12:15 Infomercial 

12:30 TBC 13:00 Xplosion 14:00 Night At The 

Museum 16:00 X-Men: The Last Stand 18:00 

Spartan Race: Ultimate Team Challenge 19:00 

NewsNight 19:30 Marlon 20:00 Tower Heist 22:10 

The Watch 00:00 NBA Playoffs 

SABC1 06:00 Kids News & Current Affairs 06:30 

Wild Soccer Bunch 07:30 Mvubu & Friends 08:00 

Generations – The Legacy (R) 08:30 Muvhango 

(R) 09:00 Makoti (R) 09:30 Skeem Saam (R) 10:00 

Emzini Wezinsizwa 10:30 Daily Thetha 11:30 TBC 

12:00 Against All Odds (R) 13:00 Lunch Time News 

13:30 Mam’ Sakhile’s Story House 14:00 Break 

The Beat (R) 15:00 Degrassi: Next Class 15:30 Yotv 

Live 16:30 Yilungelo Lakho 17:28 Izwi La Bantu 

17:30 Siswati/ Ndebele News 18:00 Nyan’ Nyan 

18:30 Skeem Saam 19:00 Xhosa/ Zulu News 19:30 

Selimathunzi 20:00 Generations – The Legacy 

20:30 Makoti 21:00 Cutting Edge 22:00 Nyan’ 

Nyan (R) 22:30 The Chatroom (R) 23:00 Ispani (R) 

SABC2 06:00 Morning Live 09:00 The Agenda 

09:30 Ke Zaka 10:00 Covid-19 Learner Support 

11:00 Teenagers On A Mission 11:30 7de Laan 

(R) 12:00 Muvhango (R) 12:30 Generations – The 

Legacy (R) 13:00 Skeem Saam (R) 13:30 Ga Re 

Dumele 14:00 Knight Rider 15:00 Dinopaws 

15:30 Yotv Land 15:45 Ilitha Lethu 16:00 The 

Epic Hangout 16:30 Hectic Nine 9 17:00 Naruto 

TUESDAY | MAY 19 

WEDNESDAY | MAY 20 THURSDAY | MAY 21 


Marco Polo 07:00 Bible Stories Chi Rho 07:30 

Mvubu & Friends 08:00 Generations – The Legacy 

(R) 08:30 Muvhango (R) 09:00 Makoti (R) 09:30 

Skeem Saam (R) 10:00 Emzini Wezinsizwa 10:30 

Daily Thetha 11:30 Gospel Unplugged 12:00 

The Chatroom 12:30 Identity 13:00 Lunch Time 

News 13:30 Mam’ Sakhile’s Story House 14:00 

Khumbul’ekhaya (R) 15:00 Degrassi: Next Class 

15:30 Braniac 16:00 Yotv Live 16:30 Ispani 17:28 

Devotions 17:30 Siswati/ Ndebele News 18:00 Mi 

Kasi Su Kasi 18:30 Skeem Saam 19:00 Xhosa/ Zulu 

News 19:30 NFVF Films – Dipiri Le Makunutu 20:00 

Generations – The Legacy 20:30 Makoti 21:00 

Khumbul ‘ekhaya 22:00 Perfection 23:00 Mzansi 

Insider 


09:30 Covid-19 Learner Support 11:00 Teenagers 

On A Mission 11:30 7de Laan (R) 12:00 Muvhango 

(R) 12:30 Generations – The Legacy(R) 13:00 

Skeem Saam (R) 13:30 Lithapo (R) 14:00 Knight 

Rider 15:00 Sid The Science Kid 15:30 Yotv Land 

15:45 Ilitha Lethu 16:00 Disney Cookabout 16:30 

Hectic Nine 9 17:00 Naruto 17:30 Venda/ Tsonga 

News 18:00 7de Laan 18:30 Nuus 19:00 Fokus 

19:30 The Riviera 20:00 Setswana/ seSotho News 

20:30 Ngula Ya Vutivi 20:57 Lotto Live Draw 21:00 

Muvhango 21:30 Lithapo 22:00 Ke Zaka (R) 22:30 

Our Moments 23:00 Naruto (R) 23:30 Full View 

SABC3 06:00 DBE Learning Tube 07:00 Expresso 

09:00 The Profit (R) 10:00 The Agenda 11:00 

Isidingo (R) 11:30 Judge Faith Jenkins (R) 12:00 

Knight Rider 13:00 On Point 14:30 Special 

Assignment (R) 15:00 George Of The Jungle 16:00 

Hectic On 3 16:30 Judge Faith Jenkins 17:00 

Afternoon Express 18:00 The Profit 19:00 Isidingo 

19:30 Ready For Love 20:30 The Hostess With 

Lorna Maseko 21:00 News @21:00 21:30 Navy 

NCIS 22:30 High Rollers 23:30 Knight Rider (R) 

M-Net 06:00 The Kelly Clarkson Show (R) 06:50 

My Kitchen Rules Australia (R) 08:00 Modern 

Family (R) 08:30 Station 19 (R) 09:30 Manifest (R) 

10:30 Supernanny US (R) 11:30 The Kelly Clarkson 

Show (R) 12:30 My Kitchen Rules Australia (R) 

13:30 American Idol (R) 15:30 NCIS (R) 16:30 

Speechless 17:00 The Kelly Clarkson Show 18:00 

My Kitchen Rules Australia 19:00 Hawaii Five-O 

20:00 Magnum P.I. 21:00 Prodigal Son 22:00 Evil 

23:00 The Late Late Show With James Corden 

e.tv 06:00 The Morning Show 08:00 The Morning 

News 08:30 Tanto Amor 09:30 Days Of Our Lives (R) 

10:30 Gebroke Harte (R) 11:30 Rhythm City (R) 12:00 

Scandal! (R) 12:30 Imbewu: The Seed (R) 13:00 e.tv 

News 13:30 The Wild 14:00 Couples Court With The 

Cutlers (R) 14:30 Peppa Pig 14:35 Care Bears 15:00 

Barbie Dreamtopia 15:15 Littlest Pet Shop 15:30 

Supa Strikas 15:55 Power Rangers: Ninja Steel 16:20 

Judge Judy 16:45 Days Of Our Lives 17:30 Bittersoet 

18:30 Paternity Court 18:55 e-Insert 19:00 Rhythm 

City 19:30 Scandal! 20:00 e.tv News 20:30 Chicago 

Fire 21:30 Imbewu: The Seed 22:00 Kingdom 23:05 

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert 23:50 Everest 

SUNDAY | MAY 17 

SABC1 06:00 Teenagers On A Mission 07:00 Bible 

Stories Chi Rho 07:30 Bonisanani 08:00 Imvelo 

08:30 Gospel Avenue 09:30 Skeem Saam Omnibus 

12:00 Get2Gether Experience (R) 14:00 Zaziwa (R) 

14:30 Football Goes Retro 15:00 Laduma 17:30 

Gospel Unplugged 18:00 Break Da Beat 19:00 

Xhosa/ Zulu News 19:30 Big Momma’s House 21:30 

Agent 22:30 Loxion Lyric 23:00 Mina Nawe 23:30 

Selimathunzi (R) 

SABC2 06:30 The Numtums 06:57 Motheo 07:00 

Morning Live 08:30 7de Laan Omnibus 11:00 

Simcha 11:30 Oh My God 12:00 Music And The 

Spoken Word 12:30 Sports Lifestyle 13:00 Ladies 

Club 13:30 Countdown To Tokyo 14:00 The Cube 

15:00 A-Team 16:00 Issues Of Faith – Consecrated 

Life 17:00 Gospel Classics 18:00 Nuus 18:15 

Setswana/ seSotho News 18:30 Red Cake – Not 

The Cooking Show 19:00 The Cube 20:00 Speak 

Out 20:30 RSPV – Dare To Change 21:00 Africa 

With Ade Adepita 22:00 Supernatural 23:00 

Hosanna 23:30 Full View 

SABC3 06:00 Psalted 06:30 An Nur – The Light 

07:00 Sadhana 07:30 Yum.Me 08:00 Ex-Frontiers 

08:30 Massive Monster Mayhem 09:00 Whip The 

Chef 09:30 Isidingo Omnibus 12:00 Top Billing (R) 

13:00 The Hostess With Lorna Maseko 13:30 Funny 

You Should Ask 14:30 Housefull 3 17:30 Mela 18:30 

Spy In The Wild 19:30 Spirit 20:30 Drive 21:00 

News @21:00 21:30 Down With Love 23:30 Koze 

Kuse 

M-Net 06:00 American Housewife (R) 06:30 

Carol’s Second Act (R) 07:00 Modern Family (R) 

07:30 Young Sheldon (R) 08:00 9-1-1 (R) 09:00 

American Idol 13:00 A Dog And Pony Show 14:35 

The Bachelor South Africa (R) 16:00 Extreme Africa 

17:00 Celebrity Family Feud 18:00 Survivor 19:00 

Carte Blanche 20:05 Us 22:00 Last Week Tonight 

With John Oliver 23:35 Hide And Seek 

e.tv 06:00 I Am Soul Precious 06:25 e-Insert 

06:30 Hillsong 06:55 Peppa Pig 07:00 Care Bares: 

Unlock The Magic 07:25 Elena Of Avalor 07:55 The 

Epic Tales Of Captain Underpants 08:25 Ninjago: 

Masters Of Spinjitsu 08:55 e-Insert 09:00 Rhythm 

City Omnibus 10:50 Infomercial 11:00 Checkpoint 

(R) 11:30 Infomercial 11:40 Tower Heist (R) 13:50 

X-Men: The Last Stand (R) 16:00 Impact Wrestling 

18:00 Family Feud South Africa 19:00 NewsNight 

19:30 Modern Family 20:00 The Transporter 2 

21:50 kasi Our Stories – Umhlaba Uyahlaba 22:50 

Murder In My House 00:35 Judge Judy 

17:30 Venda/ Tsonga News 18:00 7de Laan 18:30 

Nuus 19:00 Geure Uit Die Vallei 19:30 Melody 

20:00 Setswana/ seSotho News 20:30 Nhlalala 

Ya Rixaka 21:00 Muvhango 21:30 Lithapo 22:00 

Gospel Classics (R) 23:00 Naruto (R) 23:30 Full 

View 

SABC3 06:00 DBE Learning Cube 07:00 

Expresso 09:00 The Profit (R) 10:00 The Agenda 

11:00 Isidingo (R) 11:30 Judge Faith Jenkins (R) 

12:00 A-Team 13:00 On Point 14:30 Unfiltered 

15:00 George Of The Jungle 16:00 Hectic On 

3 16:30 Judge Faith Jenkins 17:00 Afternoon 

Express 18:00 The Profit 19:00 Isidingo 19:30 

Tropika Island Of Treasure Curacao 20:30 Special 

Assignment 21:00 News @21:00 21:30 Line Of 

Duty 22:30 High Rollers 23:30 A-Team (R) 


My Kitchen Rules Australia (R) 08:00 Carol’s 

Second Act (R) 08:30 Supernanny US (R) 09:30 

Madam Secretary (R) 10:30 Modern Family (R) 

11:00 Young Sheldon (R) 11:30 The Kelly Clarkson 

Show (R) 12:30 My Kitchen Rules Australia (R) 


Marco Polo 07:00 Bible Stories Chi Rho 07:30 




Daily Thetha 11:30 TBC 12:00 Perfection (R) 13:00 

Lunch Time News 13:30 Mam’ Sakhile’s Story 

House 14:00 Selimathunzi (R) 14:30 Teenagers On 

A Mission 15:00 Degrassi: Next Class 15:30 Yotv 

Live 16:30 Ispani 17:28 Journeys Of Inspiration 

17:30 Siswati/ Ndebele News 18:00 One Mic 

18:30 Skeem Saam 19:00 Xhosa/ Zulu News 19:30 

Throwback Thursday 20:00 Generations – The 

Legacy 20:30 Makoti 21:00 TBC 22:00 Mzansi 

Insider 23:00 Yilungelo Lakho (R) 


09:30 Covid-19 Learner Support 11:00 Teenagers On 

A Mission 11:30 7de Laan (R) 12:00 Muvhango (R) 

12:30 Generations – The Legacy (R) 13:00 Skeem 

Saam (R) 13:30 Lithapo (R) 14:00 Knight Rider 15:00 

Sid The Science Kid 15:30 Yotv Land 15:45 Ilitha 

Lethu 16:00 Cave Quest 16:30 Hectic Nine 9 17:00 

Naruto 17:30 Venda/ Tsonga News 18:00 7de Laan 

18:30 Nuus 19:00 Beter Assie Bure 20:00 Setswana 

/ Sesotho News 20:30 Guys With Kids 21:00 

Muvhango 21:30 Bone Of My Bones 22:00 Prison 

Wives 23:00 Naruto (R) 23:30 Full View 




Airwolf 13:00 On Point 14:30 The Hostess with 

Lorna Maseko (R) 15:00 MPC Report 2020 16:00 

Hectic On 3 16:30 Judge Faith Jenkins 17:00 

Afternoon Express 18:00 The Profit 19:00 Isidingo 

19:30 The Fashion Hero 20:30 The Hostess with 

Lorna Maseko 21:00 News @21:00 21:30 El Chapo 

22:30 High Rollers 23:30 Koze Kuse 


My Kitchen Rules Australia (R) 08:00 Young 

Sheldon (R) 08:30 Chicago Fire (R) 09:30 Chicago 

Med (R) 10:30 This Is Us (R) 11:30 The Kelly 

Clarkson Show (R) 12:30 My Kitchen Rules Australia 

(R) 13:30 Station 19 (R) 14:30 Manifest (R) 15:30 

NCIS (R) 16:30 Speechless 17:00 The Kelly Clarkson 

Show 18:00 My Kitchen Rules Australia 19:00 The 

Bachelor South Africa 20:10 Still Breathing 21:10 

Madam Secretary 22:05 The Outsider 23:10 The 

Late Late Show With James Corden 


News 08:30 Tanto Amor 09:30 Days Of Our Lives 

(R) 10:15 Infomercial 10:30 Gebroke Harte 11:30 

Rhythm City (R) 12:00 Scandal! (R) 12:30 Imbewu: 

The Seed (R) 13:00 e.tv News 13:30 The Wild 14:00 

Paternity Court (R) 14:25 Infomercial 14:30 Peppa 

Pig 14:35 Care Bears 15:00 Ninjago 15:30 Spirit 

Riding Free 15:55 Epic Tales Of Captain Underpants 

16:20 Judge Judy 16:45 Days Of Our Lives 17:30 

Bittersoet 18:30 Couples Court With The Cutlers 

19:00 Rhythm City 19:30 Scandal! 20:00 e.tv News 

20:30 Chicago Fire 21:30 Imbewu: The Seed 22:00 

The Fixer 23:00 The Late Show With Stephen 

Colbert 23:45 The Huntsman: Winter’s War 

MONDAY | MAY 18 


New Ben 10 07:00 Bible Stories Chi Rho 07:30 




Daily Thetha 11:30 Real Goboza 12:00 Yilungelo 

Lakho 13:00 Lunch Time News 13:30 Mam’ 

Sakhile’s Story House 14:00 Katy Perry – Live At 

Glastonbury 15:00 Degrassi: Next Class 15:30 

Mvubu & Friends 16:00 Yotv Live 16:30 The 

Chatroom 17:00 Expressions 17:28 AUM 17:30 

Siswati/ Ndebele News 18:00 My First 18:30 Skeem 

Saam 19:00 Xhosa/ Zulu News 19:30 Sgudi’ Snaysi 

20:00 Generations – The Legacy 20:30 Makoti 

21:00 Black Lives 22:00 Against All Odds 23:00 

Making Moves (R) 




(R) 12:30 Generations – The Legacy (R) 13:00 

Skeem Saam (R) 13:30 Ga Re Dumele 14:00 Knight 

Rider 15:00 Dinopaws 15:30 Yotv Land 15:45 Ilitha 

Lethu 16:00 The Epic Hangout 16:30 Hectic Nine 

9 17:00 Naruto 17:30 Venda/ Tsonga News 18:00 

7de Laan 18:30 Nuus 19:00 Safari Live 20:00 

Setswana/ seSotho News 20:30 Leihlo La Sechaba 

21:00 Muvhango 21:30 Lithapo 22:00 Nothing To 

Lose 23:30 Naruto (R) 




Magnum 13:00 On Point 14:30 Truth Be Told 15:00 

George Of The Jungle 16:00 Hectic On 3 16:30 

Judge Faith Jenkins 17:00 Afternoon Express 18:00 

The Profit 19:00 Isidingo 19:30 The Longest Date 

20:30 Unfiltered 21:00 News @21:00 21:30 Line Of 

Duty 22:30 High Rollers 23:30 Koze Kuse 


My Kitchen Rules Australia (R) 08:00 Extreme 

Africa (R) 09:00 Survivor (R) 10:00 The Bachelor 

South Africa (R) 11:30 The Kelly Clarkson Show 

(R) 12:30 My Kitchen Rules Australia (R) 13:30 

Celebrity Family Feud (R) 14:30 Carte Blanche (R) 

15:30 NCIS (R) 16:30 Speechless 17:00 The Kelly 

Clarkson Show 18:00 My Kitchen Rules Australia 

19:00 Station 19 20:00 Manifest 21:00 Little Fires 

Everywhere 22:05 The Plot Against America 23:10 

The Late Late Show With James Corden 





The Seed (R) 13:00 e.tv News 13:30 The Wild 

14:00 TBC 14:30 Peppa Pig 14:35 Care Bears: 

Unlock The Magic 15:00 PJ Masks 15:15 Wissper 

15:30 Transformers – Robots In Disguise 15:55 

GGO Football 16:20 Judge Judy 16:45 Days Of Our 

Lives 17:30 Bittersoet 18:30 Paternity Court 18:55 

e-Insert 19:00 Rhythm City 19:30 Scandal! 20:00 

e.tv News 20:30 Chicago Fire 21:30 Imbewu: The 

Seed 22:00 Claws 23:00 The Late Show With 

Stephen Colbert 23:45 Newlywed And Dead 

13:30 American Idol (R) 15:30 NCIS (R) 16:30 

Speechless 17:00 The Kelly Clarkson Show 18:00 

My Kitchen Rules Australia 19:00 Chicago Fire 

20:00 Chicago Med 21:00 Chicago Pd 22:00 

Shameless 23:05 The Late Late Show With James 

Corden 23:55 Little Fires Everywhere 





The Seed (R) 13:00 e.tv News 13:30 The Wild 

14:00 Paternity Court (R) 14:25 Infomercial 14:30 

Peppa Pig 14:35 Care Bears: Unlock The Magic 

15:00 Elena Of Avalor 15:30 Dragons: Riders Of 

Berk 15:55 Pokemon The Series: Sun And Moon- 

Ultra Legends 16:20 Judge Judy 16:45 Days Of 

Our Lives 17:30 Bittersoet 18:30 Couples Court 

With The Cutlers 18:55 e-Insert 19:00 Rhythm City 

19:30 Scandal! 20:00 e.tv News 20:30 Chicago 

Fire 21:30 Imbewu: The Seed 22:00 Checkpoint 

22:30 Forensic Files 23:00 The Late Show 

Stephen Colbert 23:45 Urban Justice 

FRIDAY | MAY 22 


Jabu’s Jungle 07:00 Bible Stories Chi Rho 07:30 

Mvubu & Friends 08:00 Generations The Legacy (R) 

08:30 Muvhango (R) 09:00 Makoti (R) 09:30 Skeem 

Saam (R) 10:00 Emzini Wezinsizwa 10:30 Big Up 

11:00 Throwback Thursday (R) 11:30 Live AMP (R) 

12:00 Imizwilili (R) 13:00 Lunch Time News 13:30 

Mam’ Sakhile’s Story House 14:00 The Chatroom 

14:30 Teenagers On A Mission 15:00 Sportsbuzz 

15:30 Yotv Live 16:30 Restyle My Style 17:00 My 

Night 17:28 Devotions 17:30 Siswati/ Ndebele 

News 18:00 Lip Sync Battle 18:30 Skeem Saam 

19:00 Xhosa/ Zulu News 19:30 Live AMP 20:00 

Generations – The Legacy 20:30 Makoti 21:00 

Dragon Fist 23:00 Get2Gether Experience (Live) 




(R) 12:30 Generations – The Legacy (R) 13:00 

Skeem Saam (R) 13:30 Lithapo (R) 14:00 Knight 

Rider 15:00 Sid The Science Kid 15:30 Yotv Land 

15:45 Ilitha Lethu 16:00 Against All Odds 16:30 

Hectic Nine 9 17:00 Naruto 17:30 Venda/ Tsonga 

News 18:00 7de Laan 18:30 Nuus 19:00 Soul’d 

Out Session 19:30 #karektas 19:58 Motheo:Eid 

ul Fitr Islamic Special message 20:00 Setswana/ 

seSotho News 20:30 Visionaries 21:00 Muvhango 

21:30 Phamokate 22:00 Mmampodi 22:30 TKO 

Boxing Magazine 23:30 Naruto (R) 




Miami Vice 13:00 On Point 14:30 The Hostess With 

Lorna Maseko (R) 15:00 George Of The Jungle 

16:00 Hectic On 3 16:30 Judge Faith Jenkins 

17:00 Afternoon Express 18:00 The Profit 19:00 

Isidingo 19:30 Christina Milian Turned Up 20:30 

Mr. Robinson 21:00 News @21:00 21:30 Jules And 

Doleres 23:30 Miami Vice 


My Kitchen Rules Australia (R) 08:00 American 

Housewife (R) 08:30 Hawaii Five-O (R) 09:30 

Magnum P.I. (R) 10:30 Carte Blanche (R) 11:30 The 

Kelly Clarkson Show (R) 12:30 My Kitchen Rules 

Australia (R) 13:30 Chicago Fire (R) 14:30 Chicago 

Med (R) 15:30 NCIS (R) 16:30 Speechless 17:00 

The Kelly Clarkson Show 18:00 My Kitchen Rules 

Australia 19:00 The Voice 21:00 A Million Little 

Things 22:00 Sunnyside 22:30 Shrill 23:05 The 

Late Late Show With James Corden 


News 08:30 Tanto Amor 09:30 Days Of Our 

Lives (R) 10:15 Infomercial 10:30 Gebroke Harte 

11:30 Rhythm City (R) 12:00 Scandal! (R) 12:30 

Imbewu: The Seed (R) 13:00 e.tv News 13:30 

The Wild 14:00 Couples Court With The Cutlers 

(R) 14:25 Infomercial 14:30 Bernie The Dolphin 2 

16:20 Judge Judy 16:45 Days Of Our Lives 17:30 

Bittersoet 18:30 The Culture 19:00 Rhythm City 

19:30 Scandal! 20:00 e.tv News 20:30 Chicago 

Fire 21:30 Imbewu: The Seed 22:00 Babylon A.D. 

23:50 The Late Show With Stephen Colbert

AFFLUENCE | Saturday, May 16 2020 

9 

CRYPTIC CLUES 

ACROSS: 9 Left or was removed forcibly 

(6,3) 

10 Not drinking from the little cup at all (8) 

12 Asleep when she got back in (4) 

13 Attack with something picked up in the 

shipyard, say (6) 

14 Key man who introduced antiseptics for 

a burn (7) 

15 Didn’t stop the girl and boy getting 

together (7,2) 

17 Some hot concoction to start with that’s 

tasty (9) 

18 To get a plant it’s for the kitchen (7) 

20 “Cheapjack” has a strange cast all 

round (6) 

21 Satisfied with the flat I am occupying (4) 

24 From the first appearance, utterly 

delight one (8) 

26 The better the summer, the faster it’s 

dealt with (8) 

28 Having recovered from, once again (4) 

29 Tries to make one admit they’re 

setbacks (6) 

31 Fiddles with some things in the workbox 

(7) 

34 Keep batting, mind befuddled, in the 

game (9) 

36 They didn’t win the “Fastest Climbers 

Competition” (7-2) 

38 When spring comes, in dire trouble, lose 

heart (7) 

39 Follows us back and gets seen prowling 

round (6) 

40 So back “Bogeyman” (4) 

41 Bananas are popular at children’s 

QUICK CLUES 

ACROSS: 9 Unhurried (9) 10 Radical 

change (8) 12 Ready money (4) 13 Revenue 

(6) 14 Ecstasy (7) 15 Sparkling wine (9) 

17 Emergency vehicle (9) 18 Bodice-like 

top (7) 20 Season (6) 21 Elevator (4) 24 

Passageway (8) 26 Excessively precise 

(8) 28 Second-hand (4) 29 Arachnid (6) 31 

Abandon (7) 34 Sport (9) 36 Able (9) 38 

Substantial (7) 39 Gloomy (6) 40 Article (4) 

41 Painting (8) 42 Immovable (9) 

CRYPTIC 320 

ACROSS: 1 Original pair with 

damaged mail (6) 

8 Old boys were better when hidden 

from view (8) 

9 It has none at all of French space 

(6) 

10 Vile eastern dye concoction said 

to have a bad look (4-4) 

11 Rushes around to see the guides 

(6) 

13 One with a will to try out a piece of 

high ground (8) 

16 Gave a little if new starter inside 

went wrong (8) 

19 Have more by replacing a 

developing organism (6) 

22 Some animal catcher could be 

looking after horses (8) 

24 Gain affection in finish before 

listener (6) 

25 Unruly pair tore off with some 

African capital (8) 

26 Illuminated unspecified number in 

a form of prayers (6) 

JUMBO CROSSWORD 

parties (8) 

42 Hurried up as he’d arranged to take a 

friend out (4,5) 

DOWN: 1 Part of the shoe’s damaged? 

Blow! (8) 

2 Heavier cold the person who was beaten 

had (6) 

3 Think “Heavens! Denis has broken in!” (8) 

4 Filter, at most, half the water (6) 

5 Something dangerous I allowed the tots 

to play about with (8) 

6 Forceful and mettlesome, unlike the 

royals? (3-7) 

7 Near through, you add, before daylight (7) 

8 Marks on the skin from a beating (6) 

11 After a day, concludes they’re allies (7) 

16 One by one, as part of the act (2,4) 

19 Is she asinine when drunk? (5) 

20 The woman in the library (3) 

22 It’s only a pound single (5) 

23 The first wrong note creates a discord 

(6) 

25 It won’t run and it won’t jump! (3-7) 

26 Twit of a girl who lost her head (3) 

27 Didn’t allow to go off in the van (7) 

30 A bundle of nerves after the business 

talk (8) 

31 Claims one is a fighter (8) 

32 Would have drink laid on, one imagined 

(8) 

33 When trained, can bring in excellent 

money (7) 

35 Might be a fool, you say, to leave (6) 

36 Continue to think, going back through 

again (6) 

37 Underline “anxiety” (6) 

DOWN: 1 London taxi (5,3) 2 Afternoon nap 

(6) 3 Adolescent (8) 4 Past (6) 5 Tepid (8) 6 

Type of biscuit (10) 7 Frog larva (7) 8 Planet 

(6) 11 Keepsake (7) 16 Large church (6) 19 

Cooker (5) 20 Knight’s title (3) 22 Spanish 

island (5) 23 Dinner course (6) 25 Senior 

teacher (6,4) 26 Standard (3) 27 Refuse 

(7) 30 Explosive (8) 31 Very hungry (8) 32 

Guess (8) 33 Stateliness (7) 35 Mythical 

monster (6) 36 Stroke (6) 37 Crowd-scene 

actors (6) 

DOWN: 2 Seeker loses direction 

around unpleasant smells (5) 

3 Some move on original large 

member of deer family (5) 

4 Last rode around on a guiding light 

for sailors and astronomers (8) 

5 It’s a type of wine I’d return to (4) 

6 Olden Greek’s triumphant cry at the 

Stockade (6) 

7 Deter one starting out as a mollusc 

boring into wooden ships (6) 

12 Leaders have all legislated for one 

of two equal parts (4) 

14 Realised change made is 

determined by the stars (8) 

15 A pleasant journey some take into 

Uruguay (4) 

17 Inherent tendencies of the whole 

universe (6) 

18 Forces payments to be made in 

former laws (6) 

20 Remain in place to start an 

accessory to toiletry (5) 

21 Have strong desire for new 

beginning after a long time (5) 

23 Some traveller’s luggage 

container left at sea (4) 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

9 

11 12 

16 17 18 

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

8 

8 

10 

22 23 

25 

R-esum-e. 37 Stress. 

EASY: Across: 9 Leisurely. 10 Upheaval. 12 

Cash. 13 Income. 14 Rapture. 15 Champagne. 

17 Ambulance. 18 Bustier. 20 Summer. 21 Lift. 

24 Corridor. 26 Pedantic. 28 Used. 29 Spider. 

31 Forsake. 34 Badminton. 36 Competent. 38 

Staunch. 39 Morose. 40 Item. 41 Portrait. 42 

Steadfast. 

Down: 1 Black cab. 2 Siesta. 3 Teenager. 4 

Bygone. 5 Lukewarm. 6 Shortbread. 7 Tadpole. 8 

Saturn. 11 Memento. 16 Priory. 19 Stove. 20 Sir. 

22 Ibiza. 23 Entree. 25 Deputy head. 26 Par. 27 

Rubbish. 30 Dynamite. 31 Famished. 32 Estimate. 

33 Dignity. 35 Dragon. 36 Caress. 37 Extras. 

13 14 15 

19 20 21 

24 

26 

TODAY’S SOLUTIONS 

CRYPTIC: Across: 9 Pulled out. 10 Tee-total. 

12 (pe)Elsa (rev). 13 Assail (a sail). 14 B-Lister. 

15 Carrie-D-on. 17 To-othsome. 18 To-aster. 20 

Sh-odd-y. 21 Pa-I-d. 24 Entrance. 26 Addition. 28 

Over. 29 Knocks. 31 Chisels. 34 Ba-dmin-t-on. 36 

Runners-up. 38 De-spa-ir. 39 En-su-es. 40 Ergo 

(rev). 41 Crackers. 42 Ma-de has-te. 

Down: 1 Upper-cut. 2 C-loser. 3 Co-nside-r. 4 (mo) 

St-rain. 5 St-I-let-to .6 Red-blooded. 7 To-nigh-t. 8 

Tattoo. 11 Fri-ends. 16 In turn. 19 Annie. 20 She. 

22 A-L-one. 23 Strif-E. 25 Non-starter. 26 (l)Ass. 

27 For-bad-e. 30 Co-nverse. 31 Contends. 32 

Sup-posed. 33 Fin-ance. 35 Desert (dessert). 36 

TODAY’S 

SOLUTIONS: 

Across: 1 Primal. 

8 Obscured. 

9 Devoid. 

10 Evil-eyed. 

11 Ushers. 13 Testator. 

16 Inferred. 

19 Embryo. 

22 Strapper. 

24 Endear. 

25 Pretoria. 26 Litany. 

Down: 2 Reeks. 

3 Moose. 4 Lodestar. 

5 Asti. 6 Eureka. 

7 Teredo. 12 Half. 

14 Sidereal. 15 Tour. 

17 Nature. 18 Exacts. 

20 Bidet. 21 Yearn. 

23 Port. 

NICK BARNETT CHESS 

THE ONLINE Nations Cup ended on Sunday 11th of 

May and the Chinese team (playing the USA in the 

final) walked off with the top prize. Co-organized 

by FIDE and Chess.com, the competition included 

six days of chess at the highest level between six 

international teams of top grandmasters and it had a 

peak of over a million viewers across all languages 

and broadcast partners. 

At the end, GM Yu Yangyi had a brilliant win against 

GM Wesley So, which gave his team the desired two 

board points. Final result: Ding Liren ½ - ½ Hikaru 

Nakamura; Wei Yi 0-1 Fabiano Caruana; Yu Yangyi 

1-0 Wesley So; Hou Yifan ½ - ½ Irina Krush 

* * * 

NOTED however was Magnus Carlsen’s absence 

from the tournament. As questions mounted, a 

statement was made public: ‘As a FIDE event, all 

player invites for the Online Nations Cup were 

handled solely by FIDE. Magnus was invited to 

participate in this historic tournament, and we would 

have loved to have him take part in it. Unfortunately, 

though an offer to play was extended by each 

of FIDE Director General Emil Sutovsky and FIDE 

President Arkady Dvorkovich, our understanding is 

that Magnus was not willing to play under the same 

financial conditions as the other participants. We 

have the utmost respect for Magnus’ talent, and 

he will continue to receive invites to Chess.com’s 

events on a regular basis, just as he has for many 

years.’ 

Stung by this, Carlsen tweeted ‘Thanks for putting 

up a very entertaining event, and letting me now 

that I will be invited to events in the future! Now that 

you have outed me as greedy, I will ask for at least 

triple what I would have asked this time, though’ 

Many fans have pointed to Carlsen’s undisputed 

status but alternatively many detractors cited the 

fact that Chess.com is a competitor to Chess24.com, 

which is owned by Carlsen. 

* * * 

THE IMMORTAL Game was a chess game played 

by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky on 21 

June 1851 in London, during a break in the first 

international tournament. The bold sacrifices made 

by Anderssen to secure victory have made it one 

of the most famous chess games of all time. In 

1996, Bill Hartston called the game an achievement 

‘perhaps unparalleled in chess literature’. 

Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky 

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bc4 Qh4+ 4. Kf1 b5 5. Bxb5 

Nf6 6. Nf3 Qh6 7. d3 Nh5 8. Nh4 Qg5 9. Nf5 c6 

10. g4 Nf6 11. Rg1 cxb5 12. h4 Qg6 13. h5 Qg5 14. 

Qf3 Ng8 15. Bxf4 Qf6 16. Nc3 Bc5 17. Nd5 Qxb2 18. 

Bd6 Bxg1 19.e5 Qxa1+ 20. Ke2 Na6 21. Nxg7+ Kd8 

22. Qf6+ Nxf6 23. Be7 Mate! 

* * * 

For comment or news please write to thechessnik@ 

gmail.com 

PUZZLE BY HJC Andrews 

If today is your birthday: 

This new year there are no mistaking challenges from 

the start. But somehow you can be better than ever. So 

take that first step to a new you. it’s no trouble, you were 

always going to start something big. 

Aries (21 March-20 April) 

You give as good as you get. This week is about being 

ready to face anything. The way you do things is in the 

spotlight. Make sure it’s all above board. Ultimately you 

have to be sure of yourself. 

Taurus (21 April-21 May) 

Somehow, you need to give it another go. You tried 

before, you need to keep trying. The best results are when 

you put in the effort. You may not feel like it, things too 

challenging, but you can see a new you. Even now. 

Gemini (22 May-21 June) 

Now you’re in a new place, things unpredictable. Best to 

be ready for anything, use all that is available to you. You 

owe to yourself to be prepared for any outcome. You can 

be on your way, however. Nothing to stop you. 

Cancer (22 June-23 July) 

This week your lovelife is in question. You need to answer 

the question: what is love for me? There might be new 

developments, you need to be open for love. It’s not going 

to happen just like that, however. 

Leo (24 July-23 August) 

No time like the present to make a new plan. Take the gap, 

use all that’s available to you. Things may seem impossible 

but you can build on what you’ve got, and try something 

new too. No-one knows this more than you. 

Virgo (24 August-23 September) 

Don’t let yourself down, you need to build yourself up. 

Maybe you feel you can’t but news is you can and you 

FASTRACK 

HAGAR 

YOUR STARS 

Barbara Kiselev 

always could. Now make sure you have what you need to 

start anew. Because the times require it. 

Libra (24 September-23 October) 

Sometimes you learn new things about yourself when you 

are put under pressure. So show your true colours, and 

you can be on your way. Nothing to stop you now, you can 

be the one who makes a difference. 

Scorpio (24 October-22 November) 

This week you are starting something new. Hello! Where 

have you been? Don’t ever give up, keep going. You can 

see something new, don’t hold back. Not that you ever do. 

Once you start something, you see it to the end. 

Sagittarius (23 November-21 December) 

Time to take yourself higher, you’re almost there. So keep 

walking, keep up the effort, you can overcome, and maybe 

start on a new journey. You were always going places, 

now more than ever keep going, it’s possible, despite the 

circumstances. 

Capricorn (22 December-20 January) 

Up to now it’s been all good. Here’s hoping the trend 

continues. So in hard times you can help yourself go and 

be inspired. Don’t wait for things to happen, and follow a 

plan. You need to be active, in the moment. 

Aquarius (21 January-19 February) 

Why not try something new? Now is as good a time as any, 

you have nothing to lose. It’s a big deal, things not going 

as planned, but somehow you can make the best of it. No 

time for looking back. 

Pisces (20 February-20 March) 

You may be onto a good thing here. Somehow you got it 

going even though everything says you can’t. No time for 

doubts, or holding back. Somehow something new is on 

the horizon, even though the days are hard. 

Bill Holbrook 

Dik Browne 

10 MINUTE CROSSWORD 

9 

White to move and mate in 3 

10 

11 

Solution: 

1. Bd5 Kxd5 2. Rf5+ Ke6 3. Rxe4 mate! 

NEIL HAYWARD BRIDGE 

ACROSS 

1 Professional misconduct (11) 

9 Disparate (7) 

10 South American pack animal (5) 

11 Neat (4) 

12 Inability to sleep (8) 

14 One or the other (6) 

16 Cut down (6) 

18 Distinction (8) 

19 At a distance (4) 

22 Recurrent idea in art (5) 

23 Expand (7) 

24 Record of enacted laws (7,4) 

DOWN 

2 In the future (5) 

3 A stone fruit (4) 

4 Unwell (6) 

5 Discuss (4,4) 

6 Medium of communication (7) 

7 Fitting reward (4,7) 

8 Social discipline (3,3,5) 

13 Intensity of feeling (8) 

15 Three-pronged spear (7) 

17 Regional pronunciation (6) 

20 Relinquish (5) 

21 Fluent and plausible (4) 

TODAY’S SOLUTIONS: 

Across: 1 Malpractice. 9 Unequal. 10 Llama. 11 Tidy. 12 Insomnia. 14 Either. 16 Felled. 

18 Eminence. 19 Afar. 22 Theme. 23 Enlarge. 24 Statute book. 

Down: 2 Ahead. 3 Plum. 4 Ailing. 5 Talk over. 6 Channel. 7 Just deserts. 8 Law and order. 

13 Vehement. 15 Trident. 17 Accent. 20 Forgo. 21 Glib. 

12 13 14 15 16 

18 19 20 

22 

24 

ACROSS 

4 To have given up, is to have done 

what (7) 

8 What is a French castle (7) 

9 Who was widely considered the 

leading actor of the 20th century, 

Laurence ... (7) 

10 To bewitch, is to do what (7) 

11 What are places of ingress (7) 

12 What are dishes of uncooked 

vegetables (6) 

14 Name a legendary venerable 

magician (6) 

18 What is an overwhelming quantity 

(7) 

21 To give life to, is to do what (7) 

22 To be more in want, is to be 

what (7) 

23 To be the most dexterous, is to 

be the what (7) 

24 What are one’s female siblings (7) 

DOWN 

1 What are underhand plots (7) 

17 

21 

23 

2 To keep guard, is to do what (5) 

3 To have conducted oneself 

properly, is to have done what (7) 

4 What are estimates of costs given 

in advance of work being done (6) 

5 Name a senseless person (5) 

6 To be of little importance, is to be 

what (7) 

7 When one mends holes, one does 

what (5) 

13 What are pantries known as (7) 

15 To be in accordance with the 

rules for right conduct, is to be 

what (7) 

16 What is a decorative and usually 

worthless trinket (7) 

17 When one acquires knowledge, 

one does what (6) 

18 Which disorder is found in divers 

who have surfaced too quickly (5) 

19 To be similar, is to be what (5) 

20 What are fundamental principles 

(5) 


Across: 4 Quitted. 

8 Chateau. 9 Olivier. 

10 Enchant. 

11 Entries. 12 Salads. 

14 Merlin. 18 Barrage. 

21 Animate. 

22 Needier. 

23 Neatest. 

24 Sisters. 

Down: 1 Schemes. 

2 Watch. 3 Behaved. 

4 Quotes. 5 Idiot. 

6 Trivial. 7 Darns. 

13 Larders. 15 Ethical. 

16 Novelty. 17 Learns. 

18 Bends. 19 Alike. 

20 Bases. 

NORTH 

♠ Q T 

♥ 9 6 5 

♦ 7 6 4 2 

♣ A K J 4 

WEST 

EAST 

♠ J 7 3 ♠ K 9 8 6 2 

♥ A K Q T ♥ 8 4 2 

♦ J 9 8 5 

♦ T 

♣ 8 5 ♣ T 9 6 3 

SOUTH 

♠ A 5 4 

♥ J 7 3 

♦ A K Q 3 

♣ Q 7 2 

West North East South 

Pass Pass Pass 1NT 

Pass 3NT All Pass 

The Early Play: West leads the ♥A, followed by 

three more top hearts and a club, won in hand. 

You test the diamonds, and stop after two rounds, 

finding West started with four. What is your plan? 

Recommended Line: Since West passed as 

dealer, the nine points seen in hearts suggest 

West will not hold the ♠K. Modern players open 

a 12-point hand without even drawing breath, 

having fed Aunt Mildred’s notes to the shredder 

many moons ago. So, you expect to lose a spade 

to East, to go with four heart losers. However, 

bridge is an amazing game; you just never know. 

You should cross to a club on table, and lead the 

♠Q. If East covers, which is likely, you win in hand. 

You now cash your clubs, throwing a spade. West 

needs to keep three cards: a spade to guard 

against the ♠T, and two diamonds to guard that 

suit. But eleven tricks have been played. West 

has already given up his winner. Squeezed! 

SHOE 

TREKNET 

Gary Brookins and Susie MacNelly 

Gavin Thomson and Dave Gomersall 

DOUBLE CROSSWORD 

SUDOKU 


CRYPTIC: Across: 1 Information. 9 Imp. 

10 Generally. 11 Titan. 13 Asinine. 14 Reason. 

16 Angler. 18 Builder. 19 Asset. 20 Orientate. 

21 Air. 22 Inalienable. 

Down: 2 Nap. 3 Organ. 4 Menial. 5 Torsion. 

6 Oil fields. 7 Picture book. 8 Typewriters. 

12 Tradition. 15 Ordinal. 17 Ornate. 19 Areca. 

21 Awl. 

QUICK: Across: 1 Opinionated. 9 Net. 

10 Spectator. 11 Earns. 13 Observe. 

14 Capers. 16 Retain. 18 Detests. 19 Fence. 

20 Rebellion. 21 Cos. 22 Never-ending. 

Down: 2 Pet. 3 Nests. 4 Oberon. 5 Artiste. 

6 Entertain. 7 Interceders. 8 Free and easy. 

12 Reputable. 15 Resolve. 17 Aspire. 

19 Fined. 21 Con. 

CLANCY 

Mark Lynch 

CRYPTIC CLUES 

ACROSS: 1 News of how the squadron 

is flying (11) 

9 He shows the beginnings of 

indiscipline more puckishly (3) 

10 Not specifically what gives character 

to the reunion (9) 

11 Here’s the giant – beat it inside! (5) 

13 As stupid as one having one over the 

eight! (7) 

14 Give logical thought to a cause (6) 

16 One who corners the fisherman? (6) 

18 See 3 Down 

19 Change seats to get this advantage 

(5) 

20 Smash into a tree – you need to find 

your bearings (9) 

21 It’s indispensable to any inspiration 

(3) 

22 The kind of right that can’t be 

transferred to foreigners? (11) 

DOWN: 2 A downy covering needed for 

a short sleep (3) 

3 and 18 Ac A worker associated with 

manuals and footnotes! (5,7) 

4 Your humble servant? (6) 

5 The strain caused by doing the twist 

(7) 

6 The old file is showing fuel-producing 

areas (3,6) 

7 Photograph album? (7,4) 

8 Electric ones work by an arrangement 

of pretty wires (11) 

12 The passing on of ideas - do it in art 

for a change (9) 

15 This shows the sequence position 

taken from a word in a lexicon (7) 

17 20 Ac without a tie is still decorative 

(6) 

19 A rough acre produces betel nut (5) 

21 This is used for boring everybody, 

we hear (3) 

QUICK CLUES 

ACROSS 

1 Dogmatic (11) 

9 Entrap (3) 

10 Onlooker (9) 

11 Merits (5) 

13 Watch (7) 

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LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION 

Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 

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We have found 91 words that can be made from the letters 

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Today’s Target: Good 60; very good 73; excellent 91. 

Today’s solutions: ague airgun argue argus auger augite aunt auntie 

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triune true trug tuan tuna tune tuner tung turn ugrian uniat uniate unit 

unite unrest unrig unseat unset untie urea urge urgent urine ursine 

usage user

10 Saturday, May 16 2020 | PERSONAL FINANCE 

Clearing up the confusion about annuity products 

• ASSETS 

New legal 

position on 

living annuities 

on divorce 

A RULING this week by the Supreme Court 

of Appeal (SCA) has overturned the existing 

legal position on what happens to a living 

annuity on divorce. Although pre-retirement 

assets must be split between the two parties 

in a divorce, until now this has not applied to 

post-retirement assets in an annuity. 

Jenny Gordon, head of technical advice 

for investments, product and enablement 

at Alexander Forbes, says a 2016 ruling by 

the Johannesburg High Court that a living 

annuity cannot be taken into account for the 

purposes of calculating the assets on divorce 

was overturned on appeal by the SCA. 

The court ruled in the case of Montonari 

v Montonari that the right to the income of a 

living annuity formed part of the assets of a 

marriage for the purposes of divorce. 

The court ordered that “the value of the 

annuitant’s right to future annuity payments 

under a living annuity is an asset in his estate 

for the purposes of calculating the accrual in 

his estate”. 

Gordon says although the legal principle 

that a right is capable of valuation and 

capitalisation is sound, the practicalities of 

applying this to living annuity income is 

extremely difficult. This is because variables 

such as the investment return assumptions, 

the level of drawdown and the annuitant’s 

mortality had to be taken into account. It does 

also not change the fact that the income from 

the living annuity can still be paid only to the 

annuitant. 

She says although this case dealt with 

a living annuity, “the principle would 

apply similarly to a right to income from a 

guaranteed (life) annuity, which might be 

easier to value than a living annuity”. 

“Despite the difficulties in valuation, this 

is a step in the right direction. The solution 

is legislative intervention, which has been 

proposed by industry organisations,” Gordon 

says. | Staff Reporter 

u For a detailed account by Gordon on 

this matter, see www.iol.co.za/personal-finance 

PERSONAL FINANCE MAGAZINE 

WE REGRET that, owing to the disruption 

caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and 

restrictions imposed by the lockdown, the 

second-quarter edition of Personal Finance 

magazine, which was due to appear on the 

shelves earlier this month, is not available 

in print. However, a digital edition of the 

magazine will be available free to subscribers 

and at a discounted price to non-subscribers 

on our digital platform https://digital360. 

africa/ from Monday, May 25. 

UNIT TRUST PRICES: As a result of space 

constraints, we are unable to publish the unit 

trust prices. The performance data can be 

found online at www.fundsdata.co.za/navs 

THIS WEEK, I was to have focused 

on life annuities, but input from 

readers has persuaded me to change 

tack slightly. It seems there is a lot of 

confusion among consumers about 

the various retirement products, and, 

considering the terminology, I am 

not surprised. 

There are essentially three 

“annuity” products on the market, 

of which one contains the word 

“living” and another the word “life”. 

That in itself is confusing. Living 

and life annuities are post-retirement 

products that use the term “annuity” 

in its strict sense of something that 

provides regular income payments – 

in other words, a pension. 

The third “annuity” on the 

market is not a pension product 

at all, but a pre-retirement savings 

vehicle. 

1. Living annuity: An 

investment-linked living annuity 

(illa), to give it its full name, is a 

pension product that you “buy” 

with your retirement savings when 

you retire. It sits on an investment 

platform that offers a choice of 

underlying funds. 

You have full control over both 

the underlying investments and your 

drawdown (the percentage of capital 

you draw annually as income, which 

• SURVEY 

can be paid to you in monthly 

instalments), within limits. You take 

on the investment risk and the risk 

of running out of capital before you 

run out of life. 

Because you buy the product 

with the proceeds of a retirement 

fund (to which contributions are 

tax-deductible), you pay income tax 

on your income. Whatever capital is 

left over when you die goes to your 

beneficiaries. 

2. Life annuity: So called because 

it is a pension product provided by 

a life insurance company, a life (or 

guaranteed) annuity is literally a 

life insurance policy in reverse: you 

give the insurer a lump sum (your 

retirement savings or a sum from 

discretionary savings) and the insurer 

pays you an income for the rest of 

your life. This may be a fixed rand 

amount, or it might be inflationlinked, 

and it may also cover your 

spouse. It gives you and your spouse 

the security of never having to worry 

about your income for the rest of 

your days. But a life annuity dies 

when you (or your spouse) dies – 

there’s nothing left over. If bought 

from retirement fund savings, you 

pay income tax on your pension. 

3. Retirement annuity (RA): This 

is a pre-retirement product in which 

you accumulate savings. It’s basically 

your own personal retirement fund, 

and was designed primarily for the 

self-employed, but now used by 

many to supplement their retirement 

savings. It enjoys the same tax 

status as retirement funds, with your 

contributions being tax-deductible 

up to certain limits. 

You cannot draw an income 

from an RA – at age 55 or at any 

later age you can take one-third 

of it as cash (on which there are 

tax implications), but the other 

two-thirds must be used to buy a 

pension in the form of a living or life 

annuity. 

In none of these products are 

investment returns and capital gains 

taxed. 

Covid-19 decimates 

household income 

Consumers under pressure as ability to service debt and pay for shelter diminishes 

GEORGINA CROUTH 

georgina.crouth@inl.co.za 

THE COVID-19 pandemic is causing 

significant financial hardship 

the world over, with the biggest 

impact felt among millennials and 

Generation X. 

The latest weekly TransUnion 

global report, which compares 

the impact of the pandemic on 

household finances of 9 215 

respondents in seven regions on five 

continents, found that household 

incomes of 84% South African 

millennials have been hurt by the 

pandemic, compared with the global 

average of 76%, while 79% of all 

other generations in South Africa are 

affected and 64% are globally. 

Millennials make up a third of 

the world’s labour force, and their 

consumption habits contribute 

significantly to economic demand. 

Typically, they would have entered 

the job market during the last global 

recession and, compared with other 

generations, they entered the Covid- 

19 crisis with less income, assets and 

wealth – as well as more debt. The 

pandemic has hit this generation 

during their peak-earning years, 

when they were already on track 

to be the first generation in history 

to earn less than their parents, 

TransUnion says. 

In South Africa, the financial 

choke-hold is tightening, as nearly 

a third of workers say their work 

hours have been reduced and 88% 

of consumers say they are concerned 

WORDS ON WEALTH 

MARTIN HESSE | martin.hesse@inl.co.za 

about their ability to service their 

debt. On average, respondents will 

be short about R7 000 in the near 

future and they expect to experience 

a shortfall in less than four weeks. 

The survey, comparing South 

Africa, Canada, Colombia, Hong 

Kong, India, the UK and the US, 

tracks how consumers are affected 

differently by the economic fallout 

of the pandemic based on employer 

size, generational differences, 

government interventions and 

income dynamics. 

The research has shown that 

while many consumers are worried 

about their finances, millennials 

(ages 26 to 40) globally are under the 

most pressure: 22% of millennials’ 

household incomes have been 

affected due to job losses compared 

with 16% for all other generations, 

while 45% have seen their work 

hours reduced compared to 35% of 

other generations. In South Africa, 

11% of millennials have lost their 

jobs, and 34% have had their work 

hours reduced. 

Dependent children add to the 

pressure on millennials. Globally, 

61% of millennials have dependent 

children living at home (compared 

with 39% for other generations), 

while 66% of South African 

millennials have dependent children 

at home, compared with 48% for 

other generations. 

Millennials are also experiencing 

bigger problems with some of their 

debt obligations: 63% say they will 

not be able to make their rent or 

mortgage bond payments, compared 

to 54% for other generations. 

In South Africa, 47% of affected 

millennials are unable to pay for 

shelter compared with 43% for other 

generations. 

Despite their financial struggles, 

consumers are coping relatively well. 

The study showed that five in six 

(85%) global respondents indicated 

they plan to deal with their financial 

gap (regardless of generation), while 

in South Africa 75% said they have 

a plan. 

Those employed by small 

businesses across the globe are 

feeling the most pain, because small 

and medium-sized enterprises supply 

and anchor economies around the 

world. The researchers noted that 

when income grinds to a halt, “debt, 

rent and other obligations continue”. 

Compared with large enterprises, 

small businesses have less access to 

resources to absorb the pandemic’s 

shock, leaving them with far greater 

risk of shuttering for good. 

The TransUnion survey’s results 

are born out by a local survey 

conducted by personal finance 

website, JustMoney. 

Its survey, conducted last month, 

asked respondents about the 

pandemic’s effect on their finances. 

Of the 1 986 participants, more 

than 11% work in retail, nearly 

9% in government, and 8% in 

construction. The rest (43%) selected 

“other”, with many specifying 

they worked in manufacturing, 

communications and the informal 

There are variants among the 

first two, including hybrid products, 

such as a with-profit annuity, which 

is essentially a life annuity that gives 

you increases related to the returns 

of its underlying investments, over 

which you may have a certain 

amount of choice. 

LIVING TO LIFE 

A living annuity can be converted 

to a life annuity, but not the other 

way around. Once you are in a life 

annuity you are literally in it for life. 

Personal Finance put the 

following questions to Segabe Ditodi, 

head of legal and compliance at Just 

in South Africa, about converting 

your living annuity to a life annuity: 

u Can you outline the 

procedure involved in transferring 

from a living annuity to a life 

annuity with a different provider? 

You or your adviser must notify 

the provider (Provider A) of your 

intention to transfer out of the living 

annuity. This is usually accompanied 

by a signed quote and application 

form from the life annuity provider 

(Provider B). Provider A drafts a set of 

annexures which is sent to Provider 

B, who in turn also drafts a set of 

annexures. Both sets of annexures 

must be signed by the client. 

| Freepik 

sector or were unemployed. 

Just under half of the respondents 

(43%) earned under R10 000 a 

month and about 10% earned more 

than R40 000 each month. 

Almost three-quarters of the 

respondents say the pandemic has 

“significantly or very significantly” 

affected their family earnings 

and most of them can afford an 

u What transfer costs are 

involved? None. Regulations 

stipulate that there can be no costs 

associated with transfer of a living 

annuity to a life annuity. Your 

adviser can charge a fee, but it 

should be invoiced separately and 

settled by you. 

u Can you convert a portion of 

the living annuity to a life annuity 

or must it be the entire amount? 

No, you cannot transfer a portion of 

a living annuity to a conventional 

life annuity. However, if you transfer 

the full amount to a living annuity 

where a life annuity is available as 

a portfolio (often referred to as a 

blended living annuity offered by 

some product providers), you can 

allocate a portion of retirement assets 

to the lifetime income portfolio in 

tranches at any time. 

u How long does it take? The 

timing of the process varies between 

providers and depends on factors 

such as delays in tax directives or the 

signing of annexures. The best-case 

scenario is two to four weeks, but it 

can take about eight weeks. 

u If the provider with which 

you have the living annuity also 

offers a life annuity, is the process 

easier? Not necessarily. The process 

still needs to follow the same steps. 

emergency payment of less than 

R5 000, while fewer than 10% can 

afford an emergency payment of 

R10 000. 

JustMoney says considering these 

income brackets, just over 68% of 

participants said they would not 

be able to survive for more than a 

month on their savings. And many 

would struggle to survive a week. 

Trustees as shareholders or directors of a company 

A TRUST may hold shares in a 

company for asset protection and to 

ensure the continuity of ownership 

of assets. The trustees owe, both in 

common law and in terms of statute, 

a fiduciary duty (a legal obligation of 

one party to act in the best interests 

of another) to the trust’s beneficiaries. 

The trustees are required to administer 

the trust, including any shares held 

by the trust in a company, solely for 

the benefit of the trust’s beneficiaries. 

Often, estate planners and trustees 

are uncertain about the role trustees 

have to play in such companies, 

particularly when the trust is not the 

only shareholder and not all directors 

are trustees of the trust. 

A trust does not have legal 

personality and therefore cannot vote 

as a shareholder, because it is only an 

accumulation of assets. 

Despite its lack of legal personality, 

a trust has legal capacity, and the 

trustees, on behalf of the trust, may 

perform juristic acts relating to trust 

assets, such as managing investments 

in companies, as long as the trust 

deed allows for that. The trustees 

therefore may own shares on behalf 

of the trust and are able to vote and 

attend to the trust’s business. They act 

as shareholders in this capacity and 

should always act in the best interests 

of the trust. A company is managed 

by its directors and other officers. The 

directors at all times have to act in 

the best interests of the company and 

not a particular shareholder (who may 

have appointed them). 

The director has a fiduciary duty 

towards the company (and not the 

beneficiaries of the trust he or she may 

represent as trustee) and may incur 

personal liability if he or she breaches 

this duty towards the company. This 

may cause conflict if a director is 

expected to act in the best interests 

of a particular shareholder (trust) that 

appointed him or her and for which 

he or she is a trustee. 

THE MEMORANDUM OF 

INCORPORATION (MOI) 

The MOI is an important document 

in establishing the balance of power 

between shareholders and directors. 

Unless a matter is specifically excluded 

from the authority and powers of 

the directors by the company’s MOI 

or the Companies Act, the directors 

must manage the business and affairs 

of the company. The shareholders 

are not involved in the business and 

affairs of a company unless the MOI 

or the Companies Act requires their 

involvement or their approval of a 

decision of the directors. 

ALL ABOUT TRUSTS 

PHIA VAN DER SPUY 

Companies frequently set out 

additional matters, which would 

have to be effected through a special 

resolution of shareholders. These 

have historically been contained in a 

shareholders’ agreement. 

Under the new Companies Act, 

the principal governing document 

is the company’s MOI, and so 

companies with additional special 

resolution requirements (for example, 

the changing of the auditors or the 

incurring of certain types of debt) 

should transfer these into their MOIs 

in order for them to remain effective. 

It is therefore important for the 

board of trustees, which manages 

the trust assets to be involved in and 

apply their minds when the MOI is 

entered into or amended. When a 

board of trustees invests in an existing 

company, they should study the MOI 

and request changes to the extent of 

protecting the trust’s investment and 

minimising risks. 

TRUSTEES AS SHAREHOLDERS 

AND DIRECTORS 

The board of directors and the general 

meeting of shareholders (such as 

trustees of the trust) are separate 

organs of a company. 

The directors exercise the 

managerial and executive powers 

of the company, save to the extent 

that their rights are limited by the 

company’s MOI. Shareholders can 

remove the directors or change the 

company’s MOI, but they cannot 

otherwise control the management of 

the company placed in the hands of 

the directors. 

As a trust cannot operate as a 

person distinct from the trustees, it 

is important to name the trustees on 

behalf of the trust, as the registered 

shareholders in a company share 

register. This should be done in 

accordance with the provisions of 

the trust deed and the required duly 

approved trustee resolutions. The 

listed trustees therefore have to act as 

the representative shareholders of the 

trust. 

A share register sets out the 

classes of shares; who all the 

shareholders are; the amounts 

paid for the shareholding; and the 

changes in shareholding over time. 

Every company is obliged to keep 

and maintain a share register at its 

registered offices. 

A share certificate is merely 

evidence that a person may be a 

shareholder, but it is the share register 

that will ultimately provide conclusive 

proof. In our law, a company can 

rely only on its share register, which 

means that the company cannot allow 

anyone but the person whose name is 

on the share register to cast a vote. 

If this person is holding the 

shares as a nominee for another 

(such as a trust), the company cannot 

be concerned with that fact. Any 

disagreement between a nominee 

shareholder (a trustee) and the 

beneficial shareholder (the trust) is a 

matter to be decided between them, 

and the company cannot be party to 

their dispute or question the validity 

of decisions taken by the board of 

trustees. The company can rely only 

on the share register to ascertain who 

is authorised to act as shareholder, and 

cannot rely on any other evidence to 

question the validity of the actions of 

trustees on behalf of a trust. 

Shareholders only own shares and 

do not participate in the day-to-day 

management of the company. The 

shares are their property and they 

have voting rights attached to the 

shares they hold. In essence, the 

shareholders can do as they please 

with the shares they own and, as such, 

they do not have a fiduciary duty 

towards the company. 

The Companies Act prescribes 

certain matters that need the 

shareholders’ approval and in these 

circumstances the shareholders 

will participate in the control of 

the company. The only limit the 

Companies Act places on shareholders 

is that they must not act oppressively 

(burdensome, harsh and wrongful) 

towards other shareholders and 

directors. Other than that they are free 

to do and vote as they please. 

u This is a shortened version of 

“Trustees as shareholders or directors 

of a company” on www.iol.co.za/ 

personal-finance, which details 

shareholders’ and directors’ duties and 

responsibilities. 

u Phia van der Spuy is a registered 

Fiduciary Practitioner of South Africa, a 

Master Tax Practitioner (SA), a Trust and 

Estate Practitioner, and the founder of 

Trusteeze, a professional trust practitioner.

PRETORIA NEWS, SATURDAY MAY 16, 202 

INDEPENDENT MEDIA 

DOMESTICS 001 - 024 

PETS 070 - 085 

MOTORS 300 - 319 

PERSONAL 102 - 127 

HEALTH 140 - 146 

HOLIDAY ACCOMMODATION 160 

INDEX 

LEISURE 160 

ENTERTAINMENT 180 - 183 

MISCELLANEOUS 200 - 240 

MOTOR SERVICES 331 - 338 

ADULT ENTERTAINMENT 190 - 192 

BUSINESS 400 -413 

PROPERTY 425 - 438 

ACCOMMODATION 560 - 575 

STAFF VACANCIES 601 - 654 

LEGALS 700 - 717 

AUCTIONS 780 - 782 

SERVICE GUIDE 801 - 845 


The Good Read 

• FEATURE 

11 

C 

KWAZULU-NATAL 

phone | 031 308 2004 

fax | 031 308 2555 

CLASSIFIEDS 

email | kzn.classifi eds@inl.co.za 

WESTERN CAPE 

phone | 021 488 4888 

fax | 021 424 9891/2 

email | cape.classifi eds@inl.co.za 

GAUTENG 

phone | 0860 115 115 

fax | 011 836 0904 

email | star.classifi eds@inl.co.za 

pta.classifi eds@inl.co.za 

Thanks for the 

memories, Dillyn 

SSPORT 

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- WE CAN HELP! 

WYNONA LOUW 

DILLYN Leyds once said that when people 

hear his name, they don’t think ‘Springbok’. 

Instead, he reckons, they think 

‘Stormers stalwart’… or something along 

those lines. 

That’s certainly true, even though he 

is a Bok. 

The 27-year-old has bagged 10 Test 

caps, and his perception on the team that 

springs to mind when people hear his 

name – Stormers or Western Province as 

opposed to Boks – says way more about 

what he has done, the role he’s played, in 

the blue and white than it does about his 

Test-level abilities. And it should. 

The fact that he racked up around 70 

appearances for the Stormers makes him 

quite an experienced campaigner, but it’s 

what he’s contributed while in the Cape 

that will make his departure to La Rochelle 

a tough one for The Faithful. 

Where the national picture is concerned, 

Leyds is one of those players I’d 

liked to have seen get more chances at 

the highest level. He’s been a consistent 

performer for WP and the Stormers – even 

when the latter experienced some bleak 

Super Rugby times – and it’s a pity that 

he’s leaving for French pastures without 

having had the chance to get fans thinking 

‘Bok’ instead of just ‘Province or Stormers’ 

whenever his name gets dropped. 

Perhaps an even bigger pity is the 

fact that the full-back has, in all likelihood, 

already played his last game for the 

Stormers as it’s unlikely that rugby will 

resume any time soon. While confirming 

his exit, Stormers chief John Dobson 

pointed out that he’d have loved for 

Leyds to get a decent send-off: “The fact 

that they (Leyds and Wilco Louw) could 

have already played their last game for 

the Stormers is very sad. I wouldn’t mind 

if they did stay a bit longer so we could 

play a game and say goodbye to them, 

but that is emotional and less important 

at this stage.” 

It would have been the least he 

deserved, but that’s not going to happen, 

even though there can be no doubt 

that the talismanic full-back would have 

jumped at the chance to put on a show 

like few other South African full-backs 

can in front of his Newlands crowd one 

last time. The fact that he didn’t get the 

‘Stormers stalwart’ takes his game-breaking wizardry to France 

DILLYN Leyds in action for the Stormers breaks through a tackle during a Super Rugby match between the Highlanders of New Zealand and the 

Stormers of South Africa in Cape Town. | EPA 

chance to bid the iconic stadium a proper 

farewell either only adds to everything. 

But if there is one player who can confidently 

rewind through his eight years in 

Cape Town and be more than happy with 

what he’s put on his canvas, it’s Leyds. 

And I doubt any rugby person would 

contest that. 

For years he’s been an attacking catalyst 

for the Stormers and WP, with his 

scintillating runs and pure wizardry from 

the back only a few of the attributes that 

the franchise will miss dearly. 

It’s the way he created something 

out of nothing, the way he can go on 

the counter and almost-too-easily snipe 

through defenders like he alone got a 

pass to those rehearsals, the way he can 

do damage in broken play, all of that will 

make him one tough figure to replace, all 

of that makes knowing that he didn’t get 

to run rampant at Newlands one last time 

better. It makes it better because we all 

know he’s done it so many times before. 

If you had to ask some fans about 

their favourite Leyds moment, you can 

be almost guaranteed that the offload 

against the Chiefs would be top of the 

list, no wonder. It was an insane display 

of skill made even better by the fact that 

it worked out perfectly and set up a memorable 

try against the Chiefs. 

Ridiculously good that pass certainly 

was, and while it will probably be his most 

recognisable piece of individual brilliance, 

it was far from his only one. 

From his try-celebrations of old to the 

way he was ever willing to fill in wherever 

he was needed – from full-back to the wing 

to flyhalf – Leyds has, over the last eight 

years, made an impact that will be hard 

to replace, even in a province as spoiled 

with talent as the Western Cape. 

It certainly would have been great 

to see him get the farewell he deserves 

after all the thrill and excitement he has 

provided the South African rugby public 

with, it would have been great if he could 

do it in front of a home crowd just one 

more time, not only for his fans, but as a 

parting gift to himself as well. 

But given all the superb visuals he’s 

treated us to over the years, that farewell 

would have been nice, not needed. After 

all, we’ve had many chances to see it first 

hand countless times thanks to Dillyn 

Leyds. 

• FOOTBALL 

SuperSport’s Onismor 

Bhasera’s secret to success 

MIHLALI BALEKA 

AT times, the great melancholy of losing 

both parents as a teenager spits you out 

to the wilderness but such was Onismor 

Bhasera’s desire to look after his siblings 

that failure was not an option. 

Born in Mutare, a city in the Manicaland 

Province of Zimbabwe, the 34-year-old 

footballer is the second-born of six siblings. 

But such was his profound understanding 

that after losing his mother 

at the age of six and father at 11, there 

wouldn’t be much of his family. 

Like a vigilant young man determined 

to better the situation at home, Bhasera 

set his eyes on the ball as early as high 

school, captaining Lord Marlvern High 

to three successive Coca-Cola Nash titles 

between 2001 and 2003. 

Such was his drive and quality leadership 

skills that joining the renowned 

Aces Youth Soccer Academy during high 

school, was the springboard he needed 

to land his first professional contract 

when he joined First Division side Harare 

United, a club that plied its trade a league 

below the Premier League. 

“Because I was determined, I can’t say 

that I had a rough patch when I lost 

my parents from a young age. I wanted 

to work very hard and reach my targets 

and goals in life. It’s possible,” Bhasera 

told IOL Sport. 

“The fact that I lost my parents at a 

young age also pushed me to be where 

I am today. If I didn’t do ABC, I knew 

that no one was going to look after me. 

I had to push very hard to provide for 

my relatives and extended family. So, 

all those things pushed me to be where 

I am now.” 

Those uninformed may be bemused as 

to why the SuperSport United left back 

regularly speaks of “where I am now” as 

if he’s done it all in South African football. 

And, in actual sense, that’s because 

he has, alright! 

Bhasera’s career in South Africa started 

with defunct NFD side Tembisa Classic 

(who are now known as top-flight 

football team Maritzburg United). But 

such has been his prominence that his 

exploits for Maritzburg in the elite league 

took him to the most successful club in 

domestic football, Kaizer Chiefs. 

With Amakhosi – where he spent three 

seasons – Bhasera claimed two titles, the 

Telkom Knockout and MTN8. Besides 

the success of silverware, it was learning 

from one of the club’s legendary defenders 

that, indeed, hard work pays off. 

“The most influential people in my 

career have been my brother, kids and 

wife. Cyril “Skhokho” Nzama (the former 

Amakhosi captain) has played a big 

role in my career. Benjani Mwaruwari 

(Zimbabwean legend) has also played a 

big role in my career,” Bhasera explained. 

It was not merely taking advice from 

the duo that took 

Bhasera to the dizzying 

heights of 

the English Championship, 

where he 

spent three seasons 

with Plymouth 

Argyle, after leaving 

Chiefs in 2010. 

Onismor Bhasera 

Instead, putting 

in the work week 

in and week out, 

yielded the fruits. 

“They can always 

tell you ABC but 

it’s always about how you carry it out. 

Someone might tell you something but 

it gets this side and comes out the other 

side. When they tell you something, 

you need to think about that and go out 

there and work,” Bhasera said. 

Even after returning to the PSL to join 

Bidvest Wits before resurfacing at Super- 

Sport where he’s a regular week in and 

week out – despite being on the wrong 

side of 30 – Bhasera is yet to rest on his 

laurels. 

“My biggest highlight is being able 

to play, week in and week out. I’ve 

managed to be consistent – especially 

having learnt from certain people and 

players, like Cyril Nzama, who’s been 

there for me since I’ve been around,” 

Bhasera said. 

• SOCCER 

Players must not 

spit the dummy 

during Covid-19 

MIHLALI BALEKA 

JEROME Damon, the Fifa Referee Development 

Officer for Africa, says it will be 

to everyone’s best interests to comply with 

the new amendments made by the International 

Football Association Board (IFAB) on 

the Fifa laws of the game - in the bid to curb 

the spread of the pandemic coronavirus 

when football resumes. 

As some leagues around the world start 

their preparations for the resumption of 

their respective domestic and continental 

seasons, there’s been a debate around how 

players and stakeholders will continue the 

practices that are in line to flatten or prevent 

the curve of coronavirus considering 

football is a contact sport. 

However, the mother body of football, 

Fifa, through its engagement with their 

medical team and committee led by Michel 

D’Hooghe - this week - announced a new 

set of rules that should be adhered to by 

leagues and clubs should football return. 

The new amendments include: five substitutions, 

23 players in the squad, temperature 

check for everyone entering the 

stadium, one team must use two busses, 

no handshakes at any point, yellow card 

for spitting and change of kits at halftime. 

While most of the new amendments appear 

viable but ‘cautioning with a yellow card 

for - involuntary or voluntary – spitting’ 

ruffled feathers to many. However, Damon, 

believes these rules are there for substantial 

reasons, and therefore, practices should be 

in place to see to it that they are followed 

to the tee. 

“I can understand, almost like everybody, 

why there’s such stern actions behind spitting 

because you can actually spit out the 

virus. I understand that referees take a strict 

but more understanding approach at times. 

So, it will be about a referee’s decision at the 

end of the day,” the former Fifa accredited 

referee said. “But I think that at the end of 

the day, education is key. The education 

will have to start before the players get into 

the field. It’s in the training sessions where 

the coaches will have to enforce this and 

come up with alternatives for players, other 

than spitting.” 

Damon may be giving his verdict based on 

the current position he holds at Fifa but he’s 

also part of the South African Football Association 

(Safa) referees technical committee 

– alongside former referees Abdul Ibrahim 

(chairman) and Enoch Molefe. 

However, while the trio will be part of the 

panel that will advise Safa about the pros 

and cons of the new amendments of the 

laws of the game, current referee Victor 

Hlungwani believes spitting is something 

that cannot be avoided in a game of football. 

“I saw something on the new rules but they 

still need to be approved by Safa. There’s 

one that says when a player is spitting, he 

must get a yellow card. How many times do 

players spit on the field? That’s why I say, 

hayi, hayi, hayi!,” the bubbly Hlungwani 

said. 

Players will have to start changing their 

mindset and behavioural patterns in 

accordance with the new laws. 

“I don’t think it will affect us much. But 

coaches will have 

more decisions to 

make than players. 

They haven’t said 

anything about celebrating 

and stuff, 

so it might just be 

about stopping guys 

from shaking hands,” 

AmaZulu midfielder 

Michael Morton said. 

Jerome Damon 

“It’s (spitting) something 

that the players 

have to be aware of 

because we are in a 

crazy situation (COVID-19) at the moment. 

If guys start spitting, it’s something that 

they are used to doing and out of habit, so 

they need to be aware of the dangers, considering 

what’s going on at the moment.” 

Should Safa give the green light on the 

spitting regulation, it will be quite interesting 

to see how coaches react on the 

touchline – towards their players, against 

the opposition and referee. Polokwane City 

coach Clinton Larsen, though, believes that 

desperate times call for desperate measures. 

“Everything has trial and error. We’ve never 

been in a situation like this. So, it’s going to 

be difficult for players not to spit. They’ve 

been spitting all their lives on the field. So, 

to stop it and prohibit all the celebrations 

of not hugging – it’s going to be interesting 

getting used to,” Larsen said.


12 

| Graphic: MATTHYS MOSS 

| Source: Yahoo; Reuters; planetrugby.com 

• RUGBY 

Sharks stars 

remain but 

Pieter-Steph 

eyes France 

JACQUES VAN DER WESTHUYZEN 

THE Lions won’t get World Cup winner 

Malcolm Marx back from Japan, 

but Elton Jantjies is staying until after 

next year’s series against the British 

and Irish Lions. 

But, there was no finality last night 

about whether World Rugby’s 2019 

Player of the Year, Pieter-Steph du Toit, 

had opted out of his contract with 

Western Province 

and the Stormers 

to take up a bigmoney 

offer from 

Montpellier in 

France. 

The Springbok 

flank was 

rumoured to 

have made a 

late decision on 

Thursday night 

to cancel his contract 

in the Cape 

and take up the deal abroad. 

Pieter-Steph du Toit 

The deadline for South Africa’s professional 

players to cancel their employment 

contracts with the local unions 

was at midnight Thursday, a move 

brought to light to help save the SA 

Rugby industry millions of rands following 

the spread of the coronavirus 

and the suspension of all rugby across 

the globe. 

The players were given 21 days to terminate 

their contracts, with employers 

forbidden from negotiating with the 

players. 

Marx and young back Tyrone Green 

were the big losses suffered by the 

Lions, even though Marx didn’t play 

at all for the team this year after he 

joined the Shining Arcs in Japan after 

last year’s World Cup. He, however, 

was due to return in June and play 

Super Rugby next year ahead of the 

visit by the British and Irish Lions 

next year. Green, meanwhile, has 

apparently taken up an offer from 

Harlequins, while Ruan Vermaak and 

Shaun Reynolds have also chosen to 

move on from the Lions. 

Good news for the Sharks is that 

hot-targets, World Cup stars, Makazole 

Mapimpi and Lukhanyo Am, 

are staying in Durban, as are Curwin 

Bosch and Thomas du Toit, who are 

believed to have been targets for clubs 

in Europe. Flank Tyler Paul though 

opted “out” of his contract. 

In Pretoria, centre Johnny Kotze has 

decided to end his association with 

the Bulls earlier than expected, while 

at the Stormers flyhalf Jean-Luc du 

Preez is believed to be on his way to 

Japan, following flank Cobus Wiese 

out of Newlands. 

Meanwhile, South African rugby industry 

stakeholders announced on Friday 

they had taken pay cuts, among other 

economies, to slice up to R1.2-billion 

from the sports budget by the end 

of the year. The plan was designed 

and concluded by organisations representing 

SA Rugby, provincial unions, 

players and rugby industry employees. 

The economies will be achieved by 

reduced expenditure following the 

cancellation of competitions (49.7% 

of savings), cuts in other operational 

budgets (37.3%) and in salary reductions 

(13%). 

“It was a complex process to find 

alignment with a number of entities 

representing 1396 people in the SA 

rugby industry,” said Jurie Roux, CEO 

of SA Rugby. 

“(Among other things) it has meant 

salary cuts for many, but we have 

put together a plan that will ensure 

the industry will be positioned and 

resourceful to get straight back to 

action just as soon as we are permitted.” 

SA Rugby furthermore said they had 

presented their “return-to-play” plan 

to the government and, according to 

Roux, had “a strong case”. 

“The return to play of our provincial 

teams - even if it is behind closed 

doors - would be hugely beneficial to 

a nation in lockdown,” said Roux. 

MARK KEOHANE 

Bulls Eye! 

“INSPIRATION!” 

Cheslin Kolbe, on the 23rd August, 

2019, posted this one word on his 

Instagram and Twitter account. 

It was power. 

Kolbe, who a few months later 

would be the darling of South Africa 

and recognized as one of the most 

potent attacking weapons in world 

rugby, was referring to Gio Aplon. 

Bulls Director of Rugby and 2007 

World Cup-winning coach Jake White 

this week confirmed the short-term 

signing of Aplon. It was as an inspirational 

moment as Kolbe’s very public 

acknowledgement of the player who 

defied physics a decade before he was 

saluted for making a case for the small 

men of the game. 

I use the rugby term “small” relatively 

because there is nothing small 

about Kolbe and there certainly is 

nothing “small” about Aplon. Both 

players are big in every sense, and 

both have always been big in the way 

they have played the game and also 

in the way they have contributed to 

success, whenever and wherever they 

have played. 

I first saw Aplon play for the University 

of Stellenbosch (Maties) against 

the University of Cape Town (UCT) at 

the Green Mile in Newlands in 2005. 

Former Springbok assistant coach and 

Stormers head coach Alan Solomons 

was helping out at UCT and I met up 

with him afterwards. 

“Did you see that bloke at fullback 

for them?” said Solomons. He may 

have phrased it as a question but he 

said it as a statement. “He is special. He 

will play for the Springboks.” 

Aplon did play for the Springboks, 

but it was more than five years after 

my conversation with Solomons that 

Aplon finally got his international 

• INSIDE 

SuperSport 

United Bhasera’s 

secret to 

success 

reward. The journey was too brief and 

the man with the magical side step and 

potent acceleration would play just 17 

Tests between 2010 and 2012. 

There would be a reintroduction to 

the Springboks under Rassie Eramsus 

at the end of 2018, but there would 

be no on-field action for Aplon as he 

mentored teammates more than he 

monstered the opposition with his 

step and go. 

Aplon turns 38 in October and 

I recall an interview he did with SA 

Rugby Magazine in 2018, when he 

said he aimed to play until he was 

40-years-old. He qualified it by saying 

he was only joking, but he needed 

have because Aplon is unique as a 

talent, and he comfortably has the legs 

and the engine to play until he is 40. 

It is criminal that Aplon’s finest 

years in South Africa were confined 

to 180 matches for the Stormers and 

Western Province. His Test career was 

limited but on arrival in France, Aplon 

instantly made a statement to all of 

rugby Europe. Aplon, playing for Grenoble, 

was adored by the rugby public, 

rugby media and teammates. He was 

also massively respected by the opposition. 

Aplon’s global journey led him to 

Japan to play under White, who has 

now lured the Hawston-born wizard to 

Pretoria for one last hurrah. 

Aplon will mentor the Bulls backs, 

as much as be a part of their attack. 

SA Director of Rugby, Erasmus, 

when explaining Aplon’s call-up in 

2018, applauded the quality of rugby 

Aplon was playing as a 36-year-old 

and espoused the virtues of having 

a fullback/winger with a kicking left 

foot as powerful as his running game. 

Erasmus believed in Aplon’s rugby 

intellect, as much as his career on-field 

experience and Erasmus, in his time 

as head of rugby at the Stormers and 

• RUGBY 

Obsessed with size, Bok coaches turned their backs on a match-winning genius 

“ 

... who knows how 

many international caps 

Gio Aplon might have 

won if he’d been born 

a Kiwi or an Aussie? 

Gavin Mortimer 

Rugby Writer 

Western Province, always invested in 

the skills of Aplon. Unfortunately, the 

national coaches always took comfort 

in the belief that Aplon was simply too 

small to play Test rugby. 

This mentality prompted veteran 

rugby writer Gavin Mortimer to 

lament Aplon’s absence at the 2015 

World Cup. 

Mortimer, for SA Rugby Magazine 

in 2016, wrote: “Gio Aplon’s size has 

not counted against him in France and 

who knows how many international 

caps Gio Aplon might have won if 

he’d been born a Kiwi or an Aussie?” 

Mortimer concluded: “South Africa 

never got the best of Aplon, never 

knew how to most effectively use his 

pace, nor understood his strengths as 

a runner who looked for space before 

contact. All the Springbok management 

ever saw was a man who stood at 

1.75 metres and weighed 79 kilograms. 

Too small for Test rugby. 

“Can you imagine such short-sightedness 

Down Under? Well, exactly. 

Which is why Australia and New Zealand 

contested the World Cup final.” 

Fast forward to 2019 in Japan and 

Kolbe’s stunning run against the All 

The Good Read 

Thanks for the memories, 

Dillyn 

Blacks and even more significant try 

against England in the World Cup 

final. 

Fortunately for South Africa, there 

was nothing short-sighted about 

Erasmus when he picked the Toulouse-based 

Kolbe for the Springboks. 

Kolbe, like Aplon, had to leave 

South Africa to finally get his recognition. 

The French rugby public and 

media love a composer more than they 

do a rock star. They also appreciate that 

skill can stream roll size. 

Aplon prospered in France, 

although his rugby had always been 

as good when playing for Western 

Province and Stormers. Cue the situation 

with Kolbe. 

Neither did anything different 

when they went to France. What was 

different is that coaches in France 

spoke to the players’ strengths and 

never questioned perceived weaknesses 

because of size. 

“I will always fight for the small 

guys as a player and, as a fan, I’ll 

always be shouting for the small guys,’ 

says Aplon. 

Erasmus, who Aplon describes as a 

tactical genius, never questioned the 

capability of Aplon. 

And neither does White. 

“I was lucky to start under Rassie, 

so I got a good base to understand 

and analyse the game better. When 

he came to Cape Town, he shook my 

world with the way he thinks about 

and analyses everything,’ says Aplon, 

who is as much a disciple of White as 

he is of Erasmus. 

“Jake is a serial winner and to be 

coached by him was one of the reasons 

I went to Japan. I’ve already learned so 

much from him in the past 18 months. 

He is a fantastic coach. System-wise, 

he is exceptional, he implements good 

programmes and he will make every 

player better.” 

• FOOTBALL 

Boost for 

Bundesliga 

GERMANY’S Bundesliga will attract 

legions of new armchair fans around 

the world this weekend when it 

becomes the first of Europe’s major 

soccer leagues to resume after a 

two-month shutdown due to the 

coronavirus. 

In normal circumstances, the German 

game, dominated in recent seasons 

by Bayern Munich, lacks the marketing 

pull of England’s Premier League 

or Spain’s La Liga, which boasts the 

world’s two biggest clubs in terms of 

revenue – Barcelona and Real Madrid. 

Yet even with a subdued atmosphere 

given the absence of passionate fans, 

with all games being played behind 

closed doors to prevent the spread of 

the coronavirus, the Bundesliga can 

use the spotlight to show its worth to 

devotees missing live action around 

the globe. 

“With the Bundesliga as the only 

league to be broadcast on TV, I expect 

we will have an audience of a billion,” 

Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge 

told SportBild magazine this week. 

In Britain, BT Sport is showing all 

nine Bundesliga matches live this 

weekend, including the Ruhr valley 

derby between Borussia Dortmund and 

Schalke 04. 

The return of live action will also 

enliven the advertising industry, with 

the prospect of big audiences set to 

drive up rates for commercials during 

matches. 

Misha Sher, vice president for sport 

and entertainment at MediaCom, a 

WPP agency that buys ad space for 

clients, described it as a “huge deal” 

at a time when people have so much 

time on their hands. 

“Football fans will tune in and watch 

top level football because they’ve been 

deprived of that for months,” he said. 

In Scandinavia, all Bundesliga games 

will be available on the Viaplay streaming 

service with selected games on 

pay-TV channels, said broadcaster 

NENT. 

“We know how strong the appetite for 

live sport is, so we are delighted to offer 

top-class football to our viewers once 

again,” said a NENT spokesperson. 

Gambling companies also welcomed 

the resumption of top-level soccer in 

Europe, with British bookmaker William 

Hill describing it as encouraging 

in an update on its business on Friday. 

| Reuters

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