Indholdsfortegnelse for 2024-06-30 i Sunday Tribune

The travel industry was one of the hardest hit sectors during the Covid-19 pandemic and has been picking itself up from the floor since 2020. According to data released by the global report from the Mastercard Economics Institute – “Travel Trends 2024”, the sector is expected to pick up this year. The report found that consumer spending on travel is robust, with significant increases in passenger traffic. Despite fluctuating exchange rates and varying levels of affordability, the desire to travel remains stronger than ever. From South Africa, the top five trending destinations to escape the winter, are Dubai, Mauritius, Istanbul, Frankfurt, and Nairobi. Cape Town is among the top three trending destinations from Saudi Arabia. Globally, Japan (#1), Ireland (#2) and the UAE (#9) are among the global front-runners for…

ALTHOUGH coffee is typically enjoyed as a morning beverage, it can be used to enhance recipes by adding a deep and rich flavour. Coffee can even be used as a secret ingredient in variety of chocolate baked goods. It’s also a great ingredient to use when cooking, due to its high acidity and powerful flavour. Adding coffee to your recipes can enhance the complexity of the flavour overall. Use coffee like you use spices, and try adding it to soups, stews and marinades to see how it blends with other flavour profiles. You can even add a sprinkle of coffee grounds to your next cheeseboard to improve the strong cheese flavours. Here are ways to cook with coffee that you probably haven’t tried yet: Enhance the flavour of fajitas Do…

The countdown to the biggest horse racing event in South Africa, the Hollywoodbets Durban July, has begun, with punters, racegoers and fashionistas set to descend on the theatre of champions, Durban’s Hollywoodbets Greyville Racecourse, on Saturday. While punters will be placing their bets on the 12 races, designers and fashionistas will show off their creations and display their interpretation of this year’s theme, “Ride the Wave”. This week the final field of the R5 million Grade 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July was announced. Devin Heffer, brand and communications manager for Hollywoodbets, said they were looking at achieving a maximum capacity of 50 000, a return to pre-Covid figures. He said the Hollywoodbets Greyville Racecourse would warmly welcome seasoned racegoers, once-a-year visitors, punters, owners, trainers, jockeys, grooms, breeders and race officials. “This…

In2assets will be auctioning a host of properties ripe for investors on July 23 at 11am. The first featured lot is a mixed-use commercial property at 28 Hill Street in the Pinetown CBD. The property features retail shops, workshops, basement parking and accommodation on both levels. With a GBA of about 5060m², it would be ideal for a residential conversion. The retail component consists of seven shops. An arcade comprises more than 37 smaller retail shops. The upper floor has a large open slabbed roof for further development and features offices/classrooms and a reception area along with partitioned rooms, previously used as accommodation. The basement level is being used by car workshops. The property is in proximity to the St Johns Centre, the Pine Crest Shopping Centre, Knowles SPAR and…

A rise in the demand for red meat and the proliferation of shisa nyama braai outlets have livestock farmers worried. Farmers who can afford it are upping security on their farms. Several livestock farmers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they were concerned and believed a syndicate was behind the stock thefts and that its members were servicing an existing market. Some indicated they had hired private security companies to deal with the problem. With shisa nyama outlets now operating in central business districts as well as in townships, the demand for meat has continued to grow. The term means “burnt meat” in Zulu, and is widely used to describe an outlet where braaied meat is sold. Farmer Fano Ngubane, from New Hanover in the KZN Midlands, said livestock…

THIS week, religious and traditional leaders of society from across the country gathered at the Birchwood Hotel in Ekurhuleni for a three-day consultative conference organised by the Cultural, Religious and Linguistic (CRL) Rights Commission. There were various recommendations and resolutions passed in a bid to curb some of the prevalent issues affecting traditional, cultural and religious practices across the length and breadth of our country. Speaking during the conference, Dr Edward Mafadza, who received an avalanche of requests from cultural and traditional leaders, said that even though the commission was not a watchdog but rather an oversight- driven institution, there were various illegal practices that called on the commission and some of its stakeholders to play a more meaningful and active role in arresting some of these practices which brought…

SINCE ascending to power in 2018, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s difficult challenge has been the creation of job opportunities in the country. This has not had the desired results. However, the president hopes that parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU) will help to create jobs. Ramaphosa’s ANC will be sharing power with five other parties after eating humble pie in the May 29 general elections, losing its party dominance for the first time in the 30 years since democracy. This has not only hurt the party’s popularity but has also presented a new challenge as to how the party will be able to deliver on its promise to create jobs, among others. In his motivation for South Africans to warm up to the GNU, Ramaphosa said on Monday last…

Amid an outbreak of mpox, Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla said the actual number of infections could be higher than the reported laboratory cases and deaths recorded so far. This past week, the department said they had 16 laboratory cases and three deaths, but Phaahla warned: “The actual number of infections is likely much higher.” As the health sector implements steps to prevent it reaching pandemic levels, there is fear that it may already be out of control. Mpox, first diagnosed by the government’s laboratory last month, is caused by the monkeypox virus. While it spreads mainly through skin-to-skin contact, it can also be contracted through direct contact with body fluids, internal mucosal surfaces such as the mouth, throat respiratory droplets, and contaminated objects, according to the World Health Organization…

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi affirmed this week that there would be no policy shift in the Government of National Unity (GNU). Speaking at the Beijing-South Africa Business Co-operation Promotion Conference in Johannesburg, Lesufi reassured attendees that the GNU’s policies would remain unchanged, emphasising strengthened relations with China and accelerated economic opportunities. A delegation from the Beijing Sub-Council of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade convened in Johannesburg to explore business prospects and collaboration with their South African counterparts. Lesufi stated: “No one will lead us to exit BRICS. We are committed to remaining part of BRICS indefinitely, regardless of changes in government. China remains a reliable partner.” Reflecting on his visit to China, Lesufi praised that country’s safety measures, expressing the desire to replicate the security standards…

THE selling and buying of Premier Soccer League (PSL) statuses has become an all-too-familiar pattern in South African football of late. The frequency or the nature of these multimillion-rand transactions has raised huge debates and discussions throughout the land, equalled by a similar degree of emotions. This past week saw what may be the final demise of Soweto giant royalty in Moroka Swallows, whose DStv Premiership status was sold to Marumo Gallants’ owner Abram Sello. Bahlabane Ba Ntwa, who were relegated to the Motsepe Foundation Championship at the end of the 2022/23 campaign, will now play in the top flight next season and will move the club to Bloemfontein. Dube Birds’ chairperson, David Mogashoa, was very vocal about the club’s financial troubles during this past season, with players going on…

PORTUGAL’S talented squad led by captain Cristiano Ronaldo will be under scrutiny when they step on to the Frankfurt Arena pitch to face underdogs Slovenia in their Euro 2024 Round-of-16 clash tomorrow. Despite finishing top of Group F with six points, Portugal stumbled to an unexpected defeat against lowly Georgia that raised many questions after they arrived in Germany with high expectations as one of the odds-on favourites to win the title. Even though the defeat came with Portugal fielding a second-string side, they were still led by Ronaldo and were never able to get a foothold against a Georgia team who seemed to enter every challenge as if it was their last. Georgia played locked down with a deep back five, a defensive style that has been causing headaches…

THE Proteas Women showed good fight and determination to keep their hopes alive on day two of the one-off Test match against India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai yesterday. South Africa will begin the moving day trailing the home side by 367 runs. India declared on a record highest women’s Test score of 603-6 in the first session. South Africa reached stumps at 236-4. Captain Laura Wolvaardt (20) and Anneke Bosch (39) looked good in an opening stand of 33. The surface was doing enough to keep both bat and ball in the contest, with few changes from day one’s conditions. Wolvaardt, looking to help the ball on to the leg side, missed one that kept low, and was trapped leg before wicket (LBW) by Sneh Rana (20-3-61).…

RED Bull’s triple world champion Max Verstappen followed up a sprint win yesterday with a statement pole position for today’s Austrian Grand Prix, with McLaren’s Lando Norris again alongside on the front row. The pole was a career 40th for the 26-year-old and his fifth at the team’s home Red Bull Ring. Norris was 0.404 of a second slower at the circuit with the shortest lap time on the calendar. George Russell was third fastest for Mercedes, after McLaren’s Oscar Piastri – second in the sprint with Norris third – was ruled to have exceeded track limits and dropped to seventh on the grid. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz will start fourth with Mercedes’s seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton fifth and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc sixth after running wide on his final attempt.…

Cape Town International Airport welcomed more than 200 000 international arrivals, an encouraging signal that South African travel is on the rebound. This latest statistic from January and February this year showed the industry exceeded the 2019 figure of 194 058 over the same period and broke all previous records for the last five years. This is remarkable for a destination that’s long-haul for almost all of its top markets. The travel statistics revealed that the UK, Germany, the US, Netherlands, and France are the country’s top five overseas markets and none are less than an 11-hour flight away. In other words, overseas tourists visiting Cape Town aren’t just spending a lot of money to get there, but also investing time in the city. Clinton Thom, general manager of the…

THE one-bag travel trend continues to gain popularity worldwide. According to Samantha Pillay, director of ekko, a leading lifestyle brand for millennials, people tend to pack far more than what they need. She said the one-bag minimalist approach challenges traditional travel norms by advocating for packing everything into a single carry-on bag, regardless of a trip’s duration. Pillay highlighted that efficiency and flexibility are some of the benefits for travelling light as this trend also saves you time. You can have quicker transitions as you don’t have to queue at check-in counters or baggage claim carousels at airports. This trend also makes it easier to keep track of your luggage, is cost effective, and helps in reducing the carbon footprint associated with excess baggage weight and transportation. Pack strategically Choose…

As several annual general meetings have taken place across the South African Financial Services sector this month, progress towards gender parity has been high on the activist shareholders’ agenda. In its annual round-up reports non-profit shareholder activism organisation, Just Share has so far put the leadership of Absa, Nedbank, Sanlam and Old Mutual on the spot over a range of gender parity issues. Shareholder concerns include the lack of transparent reporting on the current numbers of women in senior leadership positions or if reported, the low percentages achieved, and the lack of strategic, CEO-backed plans to address critical gender imbalances in the high echelons of their corporations. Amid this local flurry, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has released the Global Gender Gap 2024 report. Only one African country made it…

The film The Bikeriders offers an interesting test case: If one aspect of a movie is way above average, does it make up for the parts that are subpar? Specifically, if the performances are phenomenal across the board, is it okay if there’s no plot? Or not much of one? The Bikeriders is an immersion in the life and times of the fictional Vandals, a Chicago motorcycle gang that evolves over the course of the 1960s from a working-class racing club to a criminal outfit involved in drug- running, extortion and murder. The film is based on a 1968 book of the same title by the celebrated New Journalism photographer Danny Lyon, who lived with the Chicago Outlaws for several years and documented their lives around the same time that…

FORMER president Jacob Zuma and an NGO want two separate international forums to force the South African government to allow Zuma to be an MP, and are also challenging the Constitutional Court’s authority. Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) intends to approach the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) in terms of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The UNHRC is not a court of law but a panel of experts monitoring the implementation of the ICCPR. South Africa has been a signatory since 1998. In 2008, the UNHRC ruled in favour of Sri Lankan politician Dissanayake Mudiyanselage Sumanaweera Banda Dissanayake, who had been charged with contempt of that country’s constitution. Dissanayake was found guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to two years rigorous imprisonment and was…

Durban jockey Serino Moodley will be looking to ride his horse Flag Man to victory at Saturday’s running of the Hollywoodbets Durban July at the Greyville Racecourse. Moodley, 27, will feature in the main event of the day, the Grade 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July, where 18 of the country’s finest thoroughbreds will compete for the R5 million in stakes. “In the main race, as a rider, everyone wants to win. It’s a good feeling knowing that I will be riding a horse that actually has a chance in the race. It’s a competitive race, but I think my horse has a chance of winning. It is very difficult to get a ride in the July because every jockey wants to ride in it. “I’m a positive person and I want…

The Blind and Deaf Society has opened the state-of-the-art Victor Daitz Computer Lab for the Deaf and Optima College Computer Lab for the Blind. Veetha Sewkuran, president of the KZN Blind and Deaf Society (KZNBDS) said she was delighted about the new computer labs opening this week in Durban and Pietermaritzburg. The Victor Daitz Foundation sponsored the technical equipment, software, and set up the Computer Training Centre for the Deaf and the South African National Council for the Blind Optima College, sponsored the Computer Training Centre for the Blind. This included the cost of staff and stipends for the students. “It is through programmes such as this Computer Training Centre that blind and deaf youth will overcome obstacles that will significantly enable them to thrive in a world that is…

Those wanting to beautify their homes will find inspiration at the East Coast Radio’s House and Garden Show, taking place at the Durban Exhibition Centre until July 7. Among other things, the show offers a food fair, decor spoils, gardening hacks and kids entertainment as well as over R300 000 worth of competition prizes to win with Plascon’s digital treasure hunt, Hirsch’s Mysterious R10 000 Big Blue and Cricut’s R100 000 DIY giveaway. The best thing about the show is that it also caters for families so kids don’t get bored, making it a fun day out for the whole family. There will be a jungle gym, bubble house, sand art and an indoor play space, plus story time to keep children endlessly entertained. Then for the food fanatics,…

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) says it had made significant inroads in arresting those involved in high-profile cases. Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya, the national head of the DPCI (also known as the Hawks) provided information on Friday on the significant strides made by the directorate in the fourth quarter of the 2023/24 financial year. During that period, the Hawks secured 547 arrests, 182 convictions and 88 assets court orders. These pertained to national priority offences which included serious corruption, serious organised crime, serious commercial crime, fraud, money laundering, police killings, cash-in-transit robberies, illegal mining, damage to essential infrastructure, theft of fuel from pipelines, drug trafficking, trafficking in persons and trafficking in endangered species. The majority of the arrests, 224 in total, were fraud-related. During this period, 182 convictions were…

The death of democracy will not be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference and lack of nourishment. If the DA is genuine about its quest to ameliorate the lives of the downtrodden, it must always prioritise their interests first, and desist from being too self-centred. The biggest challenge we face as humans is the one that lies within ourselves, the result of an innate and probably biological tendency to satisfy personal desires over the well-being of society. This is exactly what the DA is doing with its outrageous bargaining for ministerial posts. Regarding the impasse on ministerial allocations, one suggests a modified version of Kenneth Burke’s theory of rhetoric as a way to address the question of how a new coalition government…

THE author of The South African Dream, Tracey Reign, has criticised the leaders of this country, including the government, for not doing enough to empower the youth – arguing that not much was said in Youth Month in support of young people. June 2024 marked the 48th anniversary of the Soweto uprisings of June 16, 1976, which ended tragically with hundreds of young people brutally killed. Following the dawn of democracy in 1994, June became known as Youth Month. The government said earlier this year that Youth Month would be celebrated under the theme “Accelerating youth economic emancipation for a sustainable future”. However, Reign said not enough was being done to emancipate the youth in the country. She said that ordinarily the youth would be prioritised, but in recent years…

The slow pace at which those implicated in criminal activities and state capture are being pursued has exposed institutional weaknesses and challenges in the criminal justice system. This is according to Corruption Watch, which said the lack of progress to date was disheartening. About 1 438 people have been implicated in the rampant looting and the capture of South Africa’s state-owned enterprises, termed state capture. However, only a relatively few have been prosecuted, mainly those close to former president Jacob Zuma. Other implicated ANC leaders such as Gwede Mantashe, Thabang Makwetla, David Mahlobo, Malusi Gigaba, Faith Muthambi and Mildred Oliphant have not been prosecuted. Corruption Watch executive director Karam Singh said besides the initial set of cases, there were numerous persons implicated in criminal activities and state capture who the…

THE future of the ANC’s planned Government of National Unity (GNU) appears to be hanging in the balance amid growing opposition to the idea within the party and its alliance partners. This as the ANC’s Zolile Sangoni Branch in the Eastern Cape’s King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality, called for a special consultative conference to discuss the current political developments following last month’s national and provincial elections. Furthermore, the ANC’s ally, the SACP, has urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to snub the DA’s demands and move swiftly to appoint a deputy president, ministers and deputy ministers. The ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid, as voters vented their anger over power cuts, corruption and poor service delivery. Having failed to secure an outright majority, the…

SOUTH Africa is far from being a truly sports-mad country, but former president Nelson Mandela was once moved to remark: “It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. Sport can create hope where once there was only despair.” Mandela said this during an address at the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation in Monaco in 2000. Ever since, South African politicians, almost without fail, have repeated this speech as a source of inspiration when speaking at sports events. South African sports have enjoyed success in the international arena over the years, but many sporting campaigns were hamstrung by a lack of support on various fronts. There has also been the problem of poorly-performing national sports federations. This has resulted in a lack of much-needed sponsorship,…

SPRINGBOK Women’s Sevens coach Renfred Dazel expressed satisfaction at the end of their two-week Olympic Games camp in Potchefstroom yesterday and said all planned objectives had been met. Dazel also finalised the 14-player roster for their first ever appearance at the Olympics, where their Rugby Sevens participation will start the day after the opening ceremony. Team South Africa will play defending champions Australia in their opening game on July 27 and will also take on Great Britain and Ireland in Pool B of the competition. “I am very happy with what we got out of the two-week camp,” Dazel said. The camp also gave the coaching staff time to further integrate the likes of Sizophila Solontsi, Veroeshka Grain, and Byrhandre Dolf, who recently played in the XVs code, as well…

Just when it looked like it was going to be a quiet Saturday in South African rugby yesterday, Rassie Erasmus decided to spice things up ahead of next week’s first Test between the Springboks and Ireland in Pretoria. Mzansi’s attention yesterday was focused on the Proteas cricket team as they faced India in the T20 World Cup final in Bridgetown, Barbados. Closer to home, there was an under-strength Bafana Bafana side taking on Botswana in the Cosafa Cup. On the rugby scene, the highlight was the Junior Springboks facing Fiji in their World Rugby Under-20 Championship opener at Cape Town Stadium last night. It was also the final day of Craven Week in Krugersdorp, where Western Province were the unofficial champions by beating Free State 37-24. But what Erasmus called…

IT WASN’T all smooth sailing, but the Junior Springboks opened their World Rugby Under-20 Championship campaign with an emphatic 57-7 victory over Fiji at the Cape Town Stadium last night. The South Africans managed to grab eight tries to warm the hearts of the few thousand supporters on a chilly night in the Mother City – and provide some cheer to Mzansi after the Proteas lost the T20 World Cup final by seven runs to India in Barbados yesterday. While Fiji are renowned for their all-out attacking style, it was their forwards who got stuck in during the early stages as they knocked the Junior Boks back with a couple of ferocious tackles. They competed hard at the breakdowns too, with No 8 Simon Koroiyadi prominent. But the home side…

Pietermaritzburg sisters Cevana and Makayla Naidoo are taking the South African squash scene by storm. The duo are the reigning South African squash champions for their respective age divisions. The teenagers, who attend St John’s Diocesan School for Girls, started playing squash at a young age. Cevana, 17, started playing at the age of 8. “I started playing squash because I was overweight. Even though I played many sports, nothing helped.” She said playing the sport was not easy, but she persevered. “It is difficult to play squash when you are a beginner. You need good hand-eye co-ordination which takes quite some time to develop. It was also difficult to keep up with the pace. It is a very fast-paced game and requires one to be very fit.” The sisters…

The annual Hollywoodbets Durban July (HDJ) is almost here! Taking place at the Greyville Racecourse on Saturday, fashionistas and horse racing fans are going to want to watch this event with other like-minded fans. So, why not make a party out of it? The task of getting your friends and family together for a themed event may seem daunting, but there is really not much to throwing the perfect HDJ watch party. With a trip to the grocery store and the party supply store, you are already almost at the finish line. The first thing is to understand that you do not need to actually host a party if all you want to do is eat good food and have a few drinks with your family and friends. Many areas…

REFLECTING the global decline of print media, Media24 recently announced the proposed closure of several of its print titles, including Rapport, Beeld, Daily Sun, Soccer Laduma, and City Press. This development underscores the profound challenges facing media houses worldwide as they navigate the complexities of an evolving industry and an increasingly digitally driven and dependent world. This is a situation, that we, as a print publishing house of more than 150 years, are more than familiar with. Like media houses the world over, Independent Media has had to evolve to appeal to our diverse readership, which we have strived to do with news and editorial teams that represent them. This includes appointing the youngest black editor in the history of the company and also the most female editors of any…

WILL it be a case of third time lucky? Rachel Venniker has been waiting two years for her redemption race. She was meant to be the first woman to ride at the Durban July in 2022, but she was injured. She returned last year but could not compete because of the last-minute withdrawal of her horse. She is back this year riding Without Question and hoping to win big. The 23-year-old from Summerveld, Hillcrest, is so hyped up about horse racing that she lives five minutes away from the racehorse training centre. She says she has been involved in horse racing her whole life. “I used to showjump and when I was 14 years old I started riding track work (exercising the racehorses in the morning). I then began competing…

Lois Lasher and Lori Hoots slept side-by-side in the same crib as babies. Nine decades later, the identical twin sisters share a queen bed. The sisters have a four-bedroom house in McClusky, North Dakota, US, but said they preferred sleepovers. “It’s nice to always have company,” said Hoots. Lasher and Hoots, who celebrated their 90th birthday last week, have been inseparable most of their lives. Lasher is five minutes older, and often reminds Hoots, and others, of her elder status. The twins were born in their family’s farmhouse in rural Sheridan County in 1934. “It was raining so hard. Our dad went to get a doctor and our grandmother had to deliver us,” said Lasher, noting that their grandmother placed them in a basket on the oven door to keep…

Well-groomed hair is a symbol of beauty for many black African women. Natural hair requires special care and attention, though, which can be time-consuming. Wigs (human or synthetic hair), weave-ons and other artificial hair extensions offer women an alternative to their natural hair. In Nigeria, these alternatives are very popular with women, both young and old. The synthetic hair value chain is a big business worth millions of dollars and run by both local and foreign industries. Hairdressing salons flourish, providing styling and grooming services for women. But we’ve found that there are contaminants hiding in synthetic hair. Man-made fibres go through various chemical processes to make them look and feel more like human hair. The raw materials used to make some of the products are toxic. And the hair…

The additional 1 500 police officers who were deployed to KwaZulu-Natal before the May 29 general elections will remain there indefinitely, national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said on Friday. The Public Order Police (POP) members deployed to the province will remain in place until such time that a decision is taken to withdraw them, Mathe said. “KZN has been relatively stable thus far and this is a direct result of the heightened police visibility and well co-ordinated and executed Provjoints elections plan,” she added. When asked about the cost of the deployment to KZN, Mathe said: “Police officers are continuously deployed from area to area and time to time – what is being spent is well within the SAPS yearly budget.” The last deployment took place on June 15,…

The Deputy National Police Commissioner for Crime Detection has authorised an investigation into the alleged forgery of a judgment at Mahikeng High Court, North West. Following a complaint lodged by Ramphele Attorneys detailing what it described as a “fraudulent court order” – allegedly used against their client by the Mahikeng High Court Sheriff to seize a multimillion-rand property – the firm has asked the police to step in. National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe confirmed that Lieutenant-General Shadrack Sibiya had been assigned to look into the matter. Last week, the Sunday Independent revealed that Sarah Modimokoane became the administrator of the estate of her late husband, Andrew Modimokoane, who was the registered title holder of the property (a business centre) in the Tlhabane area. A letter authored by Tshepiso Ramphele…

THE levels of child abandonment in South Africa may have many reasons, but a weak support system for mothers and families could very well be the main reason. This, Pretoria West social worker Nandi Tseola said, was the only reasonable explanation for the increasing numbers of children reportedly abandoned. “The level of desperation that confounds both mothers and families is insurmountable – it is not in the nature of humans to want to part ways with their offspring, but when they reach a level of not having the means to support them they will in a word ‘cut them loose’ so they themselves have a semblance of survival,” she said. Saying child abandonment had been around from time immemorial, Tseola said there was no doubt the numbers had been increasing…

BY THIS stage of the European Championship, favourites France and contenders Belgium would have wanted to be well into their stride and hitting their straps as they enter the knockout stages. Instead, the neighbours go spluttering into the last 16 and into a head- on collision in Duesseldorf tomorrow after both failed to finish top of their first-round groups. France’s much-vaunted attack is suffering from a crisis of confidence and coach Didier Deschamps, usually a steady hand guiding the squad, looks unsure of what his next move will be. Belgium will have had some motivation sucked out of their cause following an astonishingly hostile reaction from their own supporters after they limped into the next stage of the tournament in Germany. Despite Wednesday’s draw with Ukraine assuring them progress, they…

South Africa 0 Botswana 0 SOUTH Africa’s Bafana Bafana will know their 2024 Cosafa Cup fate in the final round of Group A matches on Tuesday when they face Eswatini after sharing the spoils yet again in their second group game against Botswana’s Zebras at the Wolfson Stadium outside Port Elizabeth yesterday afternoon. That result completed a weird set of results since all the matches in the group have ended in stalemates, and consequently all four teams have two points after two rounds. Earlier in the day Mozambique’s Mambas played to a 0-0 draw with Eswatini at the same venue. In the first round games Eswatini and Botswana drew 0-0, and so did Bafana and Mozambique. Bafana will be hoping for their first victory…

‘Uncles’ take on social media Mzansi’s favourite uncles from the yesteryear are back. Radio comedy duo, Ray Maharaj and Vikash Mathura, together with their alter egos, Peru and Bala, have made a digital comeback on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Peru and Bala are well-known characters from a radio series of the same name, which featured on Lotus FM’s Weekend Lift Off. The show was about the mis-adventures of two old men and their reflection on life characters. After over 800 episodes on radio, the uncles became household names. Their comedic brilliance extended beyond radio, resulting in live shows, two best-selling CDs, a chart-topping book, and a beloved cartoon strip that ran for seven years in a local newspaper. It has been a decade since Maharaj and Mathura retired the…

Children enjoy dhal and rice at 1860 museum This week, children were taken on a tour through the 1860 Heritage Centre where they explored the many exhibitions and learnt about South Africa’s history and the story of Indian indenture. The 1860 Heritage Centre, in Derby Street, Durban, is a museum that showcases the diversity of South Africa’s rich heritage. This week, the centre hosted children from the ages of 7 to 18. Among the exhibitions that they visited were the Story of Indenture and the history of the three giants of South African history – Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi and Chief Albert Luthuli – which are showcased in two rooms. Other displays were about the Natal Indian Congress, the role of women in the freedom Struggle, the Curries Exhibition and…

An increasing number of couples are seeking fun and exciting ways to spend time together. From backpacking, sky-diving to surfing and snowboarding, adventure travel offers anecdotes for pairs looking for adrenaline-pumping activities. Adventure travel also offers the opportunity for cultural immersion, physical activity and getting down and dirty in nature, and many couples want in on that action. South Africa, full of abundant opportunities, is a place to experience a plethora of different adventures. We have mountains, oceans, plenty of sun and the occasional snowfall, making it ideal for travellers of all tastes. If you’re a couple looking for adventure and fun activities, here are some local getaways to enjoy: Tsitsikamma National Park – Western Cape and Eastern Cape An often underrated adventure destination, the Tsitsikamma National Park, part of…

Travel has many associated costs beyond accommodation and flight tickets. Embarking on a journey without travel insurance could land you in significant financial stress, putting a damper on any future travel plans. According to Linah Mabena, the chief executive at Standard Bank Insurance Brokers, those travelling outside of the country should always be cognisant of these expenses and put measures in place to protect themselves. “A comprehensive travel insurance plan can quite literally be a life saver,” said Mabena. Here are the top reasons why the insurance expert believes that travellers should consider cover for their next voyage. Prevent financial losses “The last thing you need is to be burdened with financial losses arising from a medical emergency, trip cancellation or delays and lost luggage while travelling,” said Mabena. Cover…

The South African government’s gazetting of a new set of immigration regulations that would allow remote workers who earn more than R1 million a year to work in South Africa for up to three years, has huge potential economic benefits for the country. This was according to Marc Wachsberger, the CEO of The Capital Hotels, Apartments and Resorts group, who described this move as “fantastic news, especially as our industry begins to return to our pre-pandemic numbers”. He explained that there are roughly 35 million remote workers worldwide with an estimated economic value of more than R1.5 trillion a year. “This new law will allow us to compete for that slice of the pie. “South Africa is an attractive proposition to international workers. Its weak rand is incredibly alluring to…