10 Advertising & Newsdesk: (046) 624-4356 Find us on Facebook 25 March 2021 TALK OF THE TOW NN E I G H B O U R LY NOTESE-mail Rob Knowles at knowlesr@tisoblackstar.co.za or fax (046) 624-2293or drop in at 29 Miles Street from 8am to 4.30pm, Monday to FridayOne day short of a year, todaymarks 364 days under the nationallockdown regulations, currently atlevel 1.A year of restrictions has beendifficult for many and lack ofwork, staying isolated at homeand taking a wage cut has beenmost people’s experience duringthis trying, mentally challengingand often painful time.Not being able to see familymembers, especially the oldermembers of our families whomight be housed in health carefacilities, has causedpsychological issues in many, withisolation adding to the misery.Yet now, at level 1, manythings are back to somesemblance of “normal”, thoughwe have probably forgotten whatnormal actually is.We are still required to wearmasks when in public andmaintain our social distancing,and so normal is a relative term.In SA, Covid infection rates,despite the new variant, aredropping significantly, yet onlyabout 150,000 people have beenvaccinated at this point.This is far short of the 75% to80% purported to be required forherd immunity.Having resold the R1m doses ofthe AstraZeneca vaccine intoAfrica for fear it was not effectiveagainst the SA variant, we are nowreceiving vaccines from Johnsonand Johnson that should be rolledout from now and throughout thesecond quarter of the year.WITH only a week to go, it isgetting close to the Easter holidaysand, unlike last year, SouthAfricans may travel to theirfavourite holiday destinations.It is unlikely that Ndlambe willsee as many visitors as in pre-Covid years, and the current watercrisis in the area is likely todissuade all but the mostdetermined visitor.Added to this, the imminentthreat of more loadshedding(Eskom says it is currently highlyconstrained and that this is a realpossibility), as well as the price offuel will force many potentialholidaymakers to stay at home.THE body of a second person fromthe car crash into the Kowie Riveron March 16 was discovered onSaturday morning, floating downthe Kowie River at Wharf Street.Apparently canoeists cameacross the body and guided ittoward the riverbank but were toldto leave it while police andsecurity retrieved it.But the story of what happenedon Saturday was related to TotT onFriday, leading to speculation thatS a t u r d ay ’s body was actually thethird body to be recovered fromthe tragic motor vehicle incident.Police spokesperson Capt MaliGovender said there were onlytwo bodies and not three.When asked on Friday about asecond body Govender replied itwas just “rumour”.THE SAPS is under pressure at themoment and police officers seemto be taking advantage of thesituation by exerting unnecessaryforce when exercising theira u t h o r i t y.Take our story this week of ayoung woman who was allegedlybeaten at the police station due toa false claim.Then, four police officers arebeing denied bail for the murderof Mthokozisi Ntumba during theWits student protests, 257 officersare currently under arrest forcorruption and, in total, 397 casesagainst police officers are beinginvestigated. Surely this is a signthat something is wrong with thesystem?The police are responsible forensure citizens’ safety andmaintaining law and order.But the heavy-handedness ofcertain police officers has ordinarycitizens afraid of the police andthis is completely contrary to theSAPS’ stated mission.The police are also citizens andmust not only be seen to beenforcing the law but must alsoact in accordance with it.AFRIFORUM are going afterPresident Cyril Ramaphosa for hisinvolvement in cadre deployment,stating it was not possible that, asdeputy president at the time,Ramaphosa was unaware of thecorruption of those he appointed.It has requested the Inquiry intoState Capture to call the presidentanswer some important questions.With SA waiting for a definitivedecision on former presidentJacob Zuma’s refusal to attend theinquiry to answer questions, thiscould see a very dangerous anddebilitating precedent, renderingall the time and money allocatedto the inquiry a huge waste.We need leaders who are thereto improve the lives of all SouthAfricans, not just a cabal ofconnected cadres.BIRTHDAY greetings,congratulations and good wishesto everyone celebrating a happyoccasion in the week ahead,especially Mary Hobbs, BabetteVermaak, Hannah Beukes, AmilliaSnyman, Cherie Antrobus, JadenMcKinnon, Ethan Tulk, John Dell,Mike Brown, Hannie deFlamingh, Sally-Ann Phillips-Page,Joy Geard, Vicky Kleynhans,Okkie duPlessis, Rosalie Hare,Christopher Phillips-Page, JamiWeeber, Jay-Leigh Taai, JulieDavidson, Eve Dombai, VinceMcDuda, Shireen Hilpert, DavidCooke, Daniella Swanepoel, BerylPancoust, Joyce Harrison, CharneBoshoff, Ashley Riddin, NtiaCELEBRATING A MILESTONE: Dee Jones-Phillipsoncelebrates her 80th birthday with family and friends at theRoyal St Andrews Hotel on March 16 Picture: SUPPLIEDSylianou, Wendy Cock, LindaBuchanan, Reuben Hayes andTosca Spenceley.EVERY success for many moreyears to follow to the followingbusinesses and organisations onanother anniversary, especiallyKTP Kitchens and Sports ‘n All.THE international markets seem tohave settled down over the lastfew weeks and have returned tosome semblance of order, closelyresembling the values before thestart of the Covid pandemic.However, it is worth noting thatwith vaccine nationalism andbattles with China over trade,together with racially-drivenprotests and climate changeissues, as well as a possible thirdand more waves of Covid-19 tofollow, the markets could regressat a moment’s notice.With last year’s figures inbrackets for comparison, thecurrency was trading at R14.87(R14.61) to the Dollar, R20.35 tothe Pound (R19.32) and R17.60 tothe Euro (R16.48).In the commoditiesdepartment, gold was trading at$1,727.29 per fine ounce($1,318.35), platinum was tradingat R1,175.36 ($855.85) per ounceand with Brent crude oil at $60.26($67.48) per barrel.SPECIAL thoughts and prayers arewith all who are not well, havingor have already had tests,operations and treatments.Sterkte Roy Potter, Andrew deVries, Jenny Groenewald, JanHaig and Lesley Stevenson.CONGRATULATIONS and bestwishes for many more years ofhappiness to all couples enjoyinganother anniversary, especiallyCraig and Melissa Keevers, Jeddand Tania Reid, René and EileenDenis, Jimmy and Julia Jamieson,and Gordon and Katie Japp.THOUGHT for the week:“Harmony makes small thingsgrow, but a lack of it can makegreat things decay.”BEST regards as always,The team
TALK OF THE TOWN 25 March 2021 Advertising & Newsdesk: (046) 624-4356 Find us on Facebook 11