South Africans Worldwide Newsletter

Late again with the Newsletter !- Apologies Readers.
Getting to do this "Ex Gratia " work is often very difficult,
as I'm often away at the oddest hours for days on end, doing
the Medivac flights.
Catching up on sleep becomes essential for air safety too.

Last night's Medivac flight had only one brief moment of levity, as
there was a train derailment near Victoria Falls, caused when it hit a elephant. [ There were many casualties of course ]
I asked the doctor on board how the elephant was responding?
His quick response:- " Not too well, as the locals have carved it up
and were cooking it for a midnight feast !"
Oh well! Fortunately there are still plenty of elephant in the area.
'Till next week.

Letters to the Editor TOP

The police must also respect the Constitution

Justine White: COMMENT

I am going to charge you with the murder of that dead person." With these words Superintendent Ngubane of the Booysens police station turned what had been just another dreary encounter with dysfunctional police into a full-on fight over the state of policing in Gauteng.

I am a Quaker and on Friday evening, November 3, I was attending a meeting in Rosettenville. I am not familiar with this area, so departing from the meeting I followed fellow Quaker Alex Kuhn, who was also heading home. As we turned on to Kliprivier Drive we passed the scene of an accident. A pedestrian had been run over, blood was running in streams across the street, and there wasn’t an ambulance or police vehicle in sight.

Alex pulled in at the Booysens police station up the road. She went inside to report the accident. I waited outside. She was gone for quite a while. While she was gone I watched various police officers coming and going with food and Cokes and ferrying people, who were laughing and joking, in police vehicles. The whole place looked like a rave scene. Eventually Alex came out, visibly upset. She had walked through the whole station. Many officers were out back, milling about and having what looked like a party. No one would respond to her pleas for someone to go to the dead body. Eventually she screamed for the commanding officer. A man in plain clothes introduced himself as Superintendent Ngubane and said he would go to the dead body “in a minute”. She left in disgust.

While she was telling me this Ngubane came out and ordered her to take him to the accident scene in her car. She refused, saying, “No way, that is your job, take one of the vehicles in the parking lot.” He then walked off. Alex got in her car and, thinking I was following her, drove on to the highway heading for home.

Except I wasn’t following her. I didn’t want this policeman to think that only one person had seen their refusal to attend to a death. I rolled down the passenger window of my car. “I want you to know that I too am a witness to the fact that the police here have done nothing about the body in the road,” I said. He walked up to me, jotted down my registration number and slowly, deliberately and with great menace said: “I am going to charge you with the murder of that dead person.”
If I had just driven off this would probably have remained a dinner-table story about crime and the general uselessness of the cops. But I didn’t. I shot out the car shouting: “This is outrageous behaviour. How dare you threaten me. I am an attorney and I am going to lay a formal complaint. I want your name, rank and badge number right now.” He walked off with great nonchalance, ignoring me, brushing me off with a contemptuous wave of his hand, confident in his impunity. I carried on shouting at his retreating back: “You’re a bad cop, a disgrace. No wonder this station is notorious for being the most corrupt in the country.”

At that he turned on his heel and came flying towards me. “You cannot say that, you are insulting me. I am going to lock you up!” With that he grabbed hold of my upper arm, gripping me hard and pulling me toward the station entrance. At that moment I felt the cold, metallic taste of fear in my mouth -- what the hell was I doing in Booysens, alone, late on a Friday night with a crazed police officer who had threatened to charge me falsely with murder and who was now trying to drag me off to the cells?

My brain sort of switched off except for one thought -- I knew I had to fight to stay out of those cells. It wasn’t the criminals in the cells I was afraid of: it was the criminals in charge of them.

We tussled as he carried on shouting at me (I cannot remember what he was saying-- the words were blurring), stabbing his index finger PW Botha-style in my face. I felt a stabbing pain under my nose; he had hit me in the face. I tried to wrench free, he held on -- my jersey tore as we fought. I got away. He started to walk away. I then turned on him again, screaming with rage -- “You are insane, look at how you are behaving.” I ended my tirade with “You are a corrupt arsehole,” not very Quakerly language I am afraid. At that he turned back again. I ran to my car, tripping over the kerb and injuring my ankle. I was shaking so badly I was hardly able to turn the key.

I got away and phoned Alex. We agreed to meet at the Parkview police station where I would lay a charge of assault. I was feeling weary, and not up to another encounter with the cops just then.

But as Alex said when we walked in, the place couldn’t have been more different. Three or four uniformed police officers were behind the desk, staffing the clean, quiet charge office. They were professional, courteous and concerned -- exactly how police officers should be. As I was giving my statement they asked me if I knew the policeman’s name and rank. My heart sank as I realised how difficult pressing charges was going to be as I had no idea and said “No”. But then Alex calmly said, “But I do -- he identified himself to me in the parking lot as the commanding officer, Superintendent Ngubane.”
The policemen listened with great concern. After the statement was taken I was informed in careful detail about the process. My heart sank -- the case now leaves Parkview and gets handed over for investigation at -- yes, you guessed it -- Booysens. “What’s the good of that? He’s a superintendent there,” I wailed. I was assured that this would be handled at the station commissioner level and the officers were at pains to advise me to contact the Independent Complaints Directorate if no one had contacted me within a few days.

As we were leaving, the commanding officer at Parkview said: “You know, we work so hard to serve the public and when an officer behaves like this it undoes all our good work.” He looked forlorn and defeated. I felt so sorry for him and all the others like him: good police officers, working for very little pay, against terrible odds -- not just violent criminals but also disinterested, corrupt police officers.

As I was leaving I looked up and saw a photo of provincial Minister for Safety and Security Firoz Cachalia. I knew him from Wits in the 1980s. He is a fine man of principle and integrity. A light came on as I thought that perhaps I might be able to find a way to hold this cop to account -- not just for my stinging lip, grapefruit-sized ankle and torn jersey but, more importantly, for his and his colleagues’ callous disregard for the person lying dead in the street.

On Saturday Margaret Diedricks, director general of safety and security for Gauteng, contacted me. She listened to my story and was professional and very concerned. She said that the investigation was starting immediately and she would call me on Monday with a progress report. She stressed that they were working to improve policing in the province and what a terrible setback an incident like this was to their work -- I could hear the devastation in her voice.

This is not the state of emergency era. The police cannot act with impunity. Within 24 hours I had laid charges with the help of concerned police officers, and senior government officials were impressively responsive. It seems that Ngubane might rue the day he acted out his caricature of a bad cop with me.

The problem, though, is one of equality of access to justice. I am highly educated, a professional and an academic, and I have ready access to top lawyers, journalists and government officials -- so for me there is probably going to be justice at the end of the road. What if I was poor, uneducated and living near Booysens? I imagine justice would be the behaviour meted out by Ngubane.

If bad cops are allowed to be commanding officers of our police stations, people will simply stop reporting things such as pedestrians dying (or worse). They will stop for fear of being abused or realise that there is just no point -- that the police simply do not care about people lying dead on the street.

When on-duty police officers would rather party than attend to something as serious as a death, the nation is in deep trouble.

Superintendent Ngubane: you need to be held to account for your actions. The public is not asking for heroics, but we need to ensure that you and your colleagues do your jobs. That includes treating members of the public with dignity and respect -- whether we are bringing you information or dying at an accident scene. Our Constitution demands this of you.

Justine White is a director at Mkhabela Huntley Adekeye, and visiting senior fellow at Wits Law School

EXCELLENT IDEA FOR YOUR INFORMATION

A recent article from the Toronto Star, "the ICE idea", is catching on and it is a very simple, yet important method of contact for you or a loved one in case of an emergency.

As cell phones are carried by the majority of the population, all you
need to do is program the number of a contact person or persons and
store the name as "ICE".

The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when they went
to the scenes of accidents, there were always mobile phones with patients, but they didn't know which numbers to call.

He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a
nationally recognized name to file "next of kin" under.

Following a disaster in London The East Anglican Ambulance Service has launched a national "In Case of Emergency (ICE)" campaign.
The idea is that you store the word "ICE " in your mobile phone
address book, and with it enter the number of the person you would want to be contacted "In Case of Emergency ".

In an emergency situation, Emergency Services personnel and hospital
staff would then be able to quickly contact your next of kin, by simply dialling the number programmed under "ICE".

Please forward this to everybody in your address book. It won't take too many "forwards" before everybody will know about this. It really could save your life, or put a loved one's mind at rest.

For more than one contact name simply enter ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc.
A great idea that will make a difference!

Quote/s of the Week TOP

'Taint't worthwhile to wear a day all out before it comes.
-- Sarah Orne Jewett, The Country of the Pointed Firs, 1896

Nature magically suits a man to his fortunes, by making them the fruit of his character.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Help others get ahead. You will always stand taller with someone else on your shoulders.
-- Bob Moawad

It's very easy to feel someone's pain when you love them.
-- Salma Hayek, Conversation with Salma Hayek, 2002

Visit our new site - The Literature Page: Read hundreds of classic books, plays, and poems online FREE! - New titles added daily.
http://quotationspage.com

He who laughs, lasts!
-- Mary Pettibone Poole

That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest.
-- Henry David Thoreau

For today and its blessings, I owe the world an attitude of gratitude.
-- Clarence E. Hodges

Everyone has a doctor in him or her; we just have to help it in its work. The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well. Our food should be our medicine. Our medicine should be our food. But to eat when you are sick, is to feed your sickness.
-- Hippocrates

Life Recipes TOP

Today's Story: Escorting a Marine Home
"While traveling to Chicago on business, I noticed a Marine sergeant traveling with a folded flag, but did not put two and two together. After we'd boarded our flight, I turned to the sergeant, who'd been invited to sit in First Class and was seated across from me, and inquired if he were heading home.
"No," he responded.
"Heading out?" I asked.
"No. I'm escorting a soldier home."
"Going to pick him up?"
"No. He is with me right now down below. He was killed in Iraq. I'm taking him home to his family."
The realization of what he had been asked to do hit me like a punch to the gut. It was an honor for him. He told me that, although he didn't know the soldier, he had delivered the news of his passing to the soldier's family and felt as if he did know them, after so many conversations in so few days. I turned back to him, extended my hand, and said,
"Thank you. Thank you for doing what you do so my family and I can do what we do."
Upon landing in Chicago the pilot stopped short of the gate and made the following announcement over the intercom:
"Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to note that we have had the honor of having Sergeant Steeley of the United States Marine Corps join us on this flight. He is escorting a fallen comrade back home to his family."
"I ask that you please remain in your seats when we open the forward door so as to allow Sergeant Steeley to deplane and receive his fellow soldier. We will then turn off the seat belt sign."
Without a sound, all went as requested. I noticed the sergeant saluting the casket as it was brought off the plane, and his action made me realize that I am proud to be an American.
"So here's a public thank you to our military for doing what you do, so we can live the way we do."
Stuart Margel, Washington , D.C.

Ad Hoc Article/s of the Week TOP

WHEN MADIBA GOES
A sad day is approaching. I think it is a day that none of us really want to think about because it will signal the end of an era, the end of a remarkable life. But like it or not, we are going to have to come to terms with a post-Mandela world.

Madiba has aged so much over the past 15 years. From the firebrand who emerged from 27 years in jail so strong in body, mind and conviction, and fulfilled his destiny by becoming South Africa's oldest president, he has finally begun to show his age and vulnerabilities. He has, in a short space of time, become an old man.

If it wasn't for Madiba, I don't believe South Africa would have survived the traumas of the end of apartheid. If it wasn't for his leadership, his courage, his compassion and his magnificent commitment to reconciliation and working for the greater good, we may well have slipped into the abyss of civil war or retribution. Madiba took us along the high road. He took on a leadership role not just of
South Africa, but of Africa and the world, a moral leadership that ranks him up with the greatest of the greats.

We all know what an extraordinary man Madiba is. We all know what he has achieved. We all love and respect him. I am not intending to outline his achievements - that has been done a thousand times over. This is not a premature obituary (although this did actually happen when pre-written obituaries of Mandela, Fidel Castro, Pope John Paul II amongst other luminaries were erroneously made publicly available on the CNN website due to a lapse in password protection); rather, this is a tribute to a great man and a personal thank you for all that he has done for my beloved country.

Madiba, Tata, I am so grateful we have got to where we are today. You were and are everything to everyone when we needed that the most. You brought us together at a time when it was not believed possible. You put South Africa on the map for all the right reasons. You are revered around the
world.

Your job is done. You've done more than anyone could have asked of you, you've given your life and soul for this country. Your legacy is a South Africa at peace with itself and with the world.

So thank you Tata, thank you for all that you do and continue to do. You've spent your whole life fighting the good fight, against apartheid, AIDS, tyranny and oppression. You've sacrificed so much.

You led us through an extraordinary honeymoon period after our peaceful transition to democracy but those halcyon days are over and we are faced with some harsh realities. The only way I could possibly repay you for all that you have done is to commit to doing my part in making this the country of our dreams.

And on that sad day when you do pass and move to an even better place, I believe you will bring all South Africans together once again like you did on that famous day in June 1995 when you changed the world by merely wearing a rugby jersey. On that sad day, all South Africans
will join together like never before to celebrate your life and to mourn your passing. In death you will achieve all that you have fought so hard for during your remarkable life. It could well be the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, your final gift to a grateful nation.

Thank you, Madiba. Enkosi, Tata.

By Ian Macdonald
http://www.sagoodnews.co.za/

Emission-to-biofuel technology comes to SA

http://www.sagoodnews.co.za

CSIR joins solar disinfection of water project

http://www.sagoodnews.co.za/

Ryk stars In Italian Swimming Grand Prix

http://www.sagoodnews.co.za/

===============

Limpopo lodge owner wins tourism entrepreneur award

http://www.sagoodnews.co.za/

SOUTH AFRICA: TOO MUCH OF A WELL-KEPT SECRET
-----

"South Africa is our most well-kept secret" was a sentence that swam round and round in my brain as I drove to the office from the Fifth Business Roundtable with the Government of South Africa organised by Economist Conferences. The theme was "accelerating and deepening economic growth: the challenge for business".

I was invited as a member of the press and was quite chuffed to be there amongst the Who's Who of the South African business community. But I was also very interested to hear what the speakers had to say. You see, I had just that morning attended a business breakfast entitled "The War for Talent" where I had learnt that South Africa was currently 40,000 jobs short in the civil service and 1,000,000 short in the economy. I also dutifully listened to the news that morning which focused on the rejection of Shabir Shaik's appeal and his brother Younis's stern advice -
warning actually - that this decision could negatively impact the succession battle and our next elections. Upon skimming the Business Day, I was reminded that the JSE had reached a record high, that we had slipped marginally on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index to 61 out of 163 countries, and that the Commissioner of Police was implicated in a crime scam.

This left me feeling somewhat schizophrenic. That's the hard part about being South African - especially if you really believe in this country's future - is that you're constantly faced with pathological pessimists and sometimes, albeit rarely, enthusiastic optimists.

To digress for a moment, last week I was hosted by Tim Modise on 702 during a show questioning whether South Africans are better off now than they were 10 years ago. I was simply amazed at the number of callers (nearly all of them white) who had nothing good to say about our economic progress, even in the face of incontrovertible evidence
to the contrary. "Do these people want the country to fail?" I asked myself. "Why do they absolutely reject good news and psychopathically latch onto bad news?".

So, to get back to the point about schizophrenia, I really wondered whether the Economist Conference would tell me something I didn't already know, whether it would be the same kind of "these are our opportunities and these are our challenges" type talk which would leave one somewhat bewildered and none the better for it.

Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Nguka was the first to speak. I'll come back to what she said. She was followed by Kong Dan Chairman CITIC Group China (we all had to don earphones to listen to the translation). He spoke very convincingly about the opportunities for growing China/SA investment and trade relations, but what particularly impressed was the way he described our country and our economy and his long-term confidence in what we had to offer.

He was followed by David Lyons, Divisional President, Coca-Cola South Africa.
In his introduction, he mentioned that South Africa is Coke's 9th largest market internationally, and the best performing division within Coke. He talked positively of his experience in working with government and particularly in the area of public private partnerships.

"When business works with government, business/government/communities prosper," he said. "I believe 2010 will represent this. When the world descends on South Africa in 2010, they will see a country poised for economic growth. For us, South Africa is too much of a well-kept secret."

A number of questions were directed at the Deputy President regarding 2010. Her answer: "we have chosen public transport and social cohesion as the legacy we want to leave behind after 2010. We will bring South Africans back home, leave an ICT legacy for Africa and improved relations with our neighbours".

As the presentations went on, more and more questions were directed at the Deputy
President. She answered them well, with humour and confidence. I think everyone in the audience would agree with that. "Many, if not all, of our problems are solvable, it just requires greater resolve. We need to focus more on public private partnerships and in particular giving NGO's more space to do their work with less time spent on fundraising - this is a challenge for both government and private sector."

South Africa is no longer just a political miracle, it is also an economic growth contender in the league of "the Chinas, the Indias, the Russias and the Brazils of this world", she said.

Paul Hanratty, MD of Old Mutual, spoke of plans to improve saving in South Africa and the contribution that will have sustainable economic growth. He spoke of a unique project in the Eastern Cape where Old Mutual is investing R250m in SMME development.

Pat Davies, CEO of Sasol reminded us of where we were in 1994: "a conference of this nature would have been a dismal affair. Sasol has grown by 10 times over 10 years in market capitalization, the cost of capital has reduced by a third, and that looks set to continue."

Paul Baloyi, CEO and MD of the Development Bank of South Africa, focused on the bank's absolute commitment to developing SMME activity, especially in those areas where there was poor infrastructure.

Yes, the issues of crime and HIV/Aids were addressed by the Deputy President. "We need to do more work with communities, our focus must be on violent and domestic crime both from institutional and a community point of view. We don't want to shout about it, but we are serious about fixing it in partnership with business and the affected communities - the same can be said for HIV/Aids. There is absolute resolve in this regard."

I think we do beat ourselves up too much. After a conference like this, one has an overriding sense that the last 10 years have been very good for South Africa and that the level of international confidence in both our economic and political prospects has improved considerably.

I think we are guilty of focusing on the “vrot”* apples as if they are the only apples in the box. This creates a downward spiral, everything becomes “vrot”, the box, the orchard, the farm, ‘die hele bliksemse land’**. We must stop this, get on with solving our problems and maximising the opportunities that will result from this growing international confidence.

By Steuart Pennington

Note:_ * ‘vrot’ - translated means- something that went bad.
** ‘die hele bliksemse land ‘- the whole damn country

********************************************************
THIS IS OUR 100TH NEWSLETTER!

To celebrate, we are giving away a copy of our third book South Africa 2014: The Story of Our Future to FIVE of our subscribers.

To win a copy, email us (ian@sagoodnews.co.za) with a suggestion - or a few suggestions - as to how we can improve our service of highlighting the good news in South Africa. The books will be given as a prize to the subscribers who offer the best suggestions.

Please note that this competition is only open to
subscribers living in South Africa.

QUOTE FOR THE WEEK

Twixt the optimist and pessimist
The difference is droll:
The optimist sees the doughnut
But the pessimist sees the hole."
~ McLandburgh Wilson, writer ~

STAY IN TOUCH
---------------
If you have any suggestions or contributions for this newsletter please contact ian@sagoodnews.co.za

South Africa - The Good News
Tel: (011) 463 5713 Fax: (011) 463 1143

Bits and Bobs TOP

Model treatment centre [ HIV-AIDS]
Branson's idea, developed with game rangers and community workers, was to work with major donors and the local community to develop a battle plan against the disease.

The result, unveiled recently at a ceremony attended by the US and British ambassadors, is the region's first "Autonomous Treatment Centre" aimed at providing testing, counselling and HIV drugs to as many as 75 000 people.

Wealthy visitors to Ulusaba are encouraged to donate what they can to the project.

"Eighty percent of South Africans are negative, and we have to work damn hard to keep it that way," said Dr Hugo Tempelman, a doctor who worked with Branson's team to develop the clinic.

The heart of the clinic -- and the element which Branson and others hope may be replicated in other rural regions -- is the "Togatainer": a fully transportable, self-contained laboratory put in a shipping container.

Equipped with its own generator, the mobile laboratory built by South Africa's Toga Molecular Biology Laboratories, brings key elements of HIV care, including blood testing and monitoring of viral loads, within reach of remote communities.

"It's plug-and-play. Presto, you immediately have local capacity to treat patients and most importantly to monitor their progress," Tempelman said.

There are now two Togatainer labs in operation in South Africa, and officials hope more will be rolled out in a country still desperately short of hospitals and clinics.

The $6,8-million Agincourt health centre, also funded by the US government's Aids programme and mining giant Anglo Coal, marks a step toward new cooperation between the game lodges and the communities that serve them, industry officials say.

"HIV and Aids pose a serious threat to many tourism and hospitality businesses," said Jennifer Seif, executive director of Fair Trade in Tourism South Africa, an industry body. "To mitigate against the impacts of HIV and AIDS, the industry must work together, pool resources and share lessons learnt."

Sean Ingles of the Singita game lodge said many lodges were waking up to the potential, and despair, of local communities.

"We are finding there is support from the people who visit the lodges, especially if they know the local people," Ingles said.
- Reuters
Excerpt from :- http://www.mg.co.za

NEW DRIVING REPORT: USA IS BEST, SOUTH AFRICA IS WORST

With its oversized cars, hellish traffic and litigious drivers, the USA may seem like an unlikely contender for the UK's number one drive, however,from Paris to Perth, it has completely over-taken its rivals.

http://www.easyCar.com 's World Driving Report 2006 reveals the USA is the clear
favourite to drive through, followed by Canada and Australia. Conversely,the world's most challenging countries to drive in are Portugal, Italy and South Africa - the latter being the world's least favourite.

The study of almost 2,000 drivers found that South Africa is home to the rudest drivers, with half (50 %) of British tourists experiencing
bad roadside manners there - more than double that of any other country.
The people of Portugal (19 %) also need to watch their ps and qs,
appearing second in the list, while the French came in third (18 per cent).

The Netherlands and Ireland boast the most courteous drivers with 58 % and 54 % respectively finding them polite.

With an astonishing nine million Brits driving abroad each year, leading car hire specialist, easyCar.com, thought it time to lift the bonnet on driving abroad. The World Driving Report 2006 is the most comprehensive study of its kind and investigates the most popular motoring destinations, their rules, regulations and driving cultures.

Congestion is greatest in the Netherlands with 65 % of British holidaymakers experiencing traffic there. Italy meanwhile is parked in second with 61 % noting the high number of hold-ups and bottlenecks.

Spain suffers the most road accidents, reveals the report, followed by South Africa which is also accused of having the most reckless drivers (75%).
The safest roads on the other hand can be found in Australia (44% ) and Switzerland (43 %).

Les rues of France are considered the smoothest (62 %) while the
cliché of the cobbled Irish street still rings true - the roads of Ireland slammed as the roughest (66 % ) in the world.

Those who like to drive a hard bargain should head to the USA or Australia as they offer the lowest petrol prices - all under half the price of UK petrol. Meanwhile, Spain, Cyprus and Malta boast the cheapest car hire.

Over three fifths (62 % ) of Britons felt that they had seen and done
far more on holiday through booking a car. Two fifths (41 % )
meanwhile felt that driving actually renders a trip more relaxing. This sense of relaxation however clearly depends on the nation as a further 42 % found driving in Italy stressful, 36 % felt tense on Portuguese roads and almost a third (30 % ) lost their rag speeding through Spain.

Less kind on the wallet is the Republic of Ireland who dish out more
parking fines than anywhere else, while Italian police are the most likely to pull drivers over.

If you're looking for a decent toilet break, Canada should be your first stop as it boasts the best roadside services around (53 % ). Those fond of their hygiene meanwhile should avoid Greece (35 % ) who
suffer the worst services in the world.

easyGroup Chairman, Stelios, said: "I was personally surprised to see so many disparities between countries - but variety is the spice of life. The USA scores well across many of the league tables but every country has something special to offer - if you want speed, head to Germany. If you like your space, cruise through Australia and if you want friendly drivers, hit Holland. With renting a car abroad so affordable now, there's no excuse for not giving it a go."

To download your free copy of the easyCar World Driving Report, go to
http://www.easyCar.com.

Business news

Mantsopa Tourism Forum launched:
The Mantsopa Tourism Forum, instrumental in promoting tourism growth and distribution along the Maloti Route, labelled as the longest signed tourism route in Southern Africa, is to be launched on 17 November at Ladybrand. The event is to take place at the Town Hall of Ladybrand at 10:00. Key partners in the Mantsopa Tourism Forum are the Motheo District Municipality, the Mantsopa Local Municipality and the Lesotho Tourism Development Corporation. The Forum also promotes the N8 route between Kimberley, Bloemfontein, Ladybrand and Maseru. More information from chairperson of the Forum Jan Oberholzer at 051 – 924 5131 or malotiinfo@xsinet.co.za.

Bushveld Complex enough platinum for 780 years:
It is reported in Mining Weekly that the Bushveld Complex in northern SA and straddling the provinces of North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo, disposes of sufficient platinum deposits to supply in world demand for the next 780 years. The value of these deposits is estimated at $20 trillion. The Bushveld Complex also contains deposits of palladium, rhodium and gold. These extremely rich mineral resources provide a tremendous base for economic development in these provinces, of which the booming Rustenburg economy bears witness.

Manufacturing in September 2006:
According to Stats SA the estimated seasonally adjusted manufacturing production for the third quarter of 2006 increased by 1,3% compared with the second quarter of 2006. In addition, the estimated manufacturing production for the first nine months of 2006 increased by 4,3% compared with the first nine months of 2005 same period last year. The estimated total value of sales of manufactured products at current prices for the third quarter of 2006 increased by 7,0% (+R16 174 million), after seasonal adjustment, compared with the second quarter of 2006.

Acknowledgements to:- http://www.bulletinonline.co.za

The Legal Beagle TOP

Nothing to report this week.

Help Desk TOP

Nobody requested help this week.

Where are they now? TOP

Nobody is looking for anyone this week.

Club and Other News TOP

For more news about the Atlanta happenings see-
http://rs6.net/

Humour TOP

Now That's Efficient!

Last year I replaced all the windows in my house with those expensive double-pane energy-efficient kind.

Yesterday, I got a call from the contractor who installed them. He was complaining that the windows had been installed a whole year ago and I hadn't paid for them yet.

Hellloooo? Now just because I'm blonde doesn't mean that I am
automatically stupid. So I told him just exactly what his fast- talking sales guy had told ME last year... namely, that in just ONE YEAR these windows would pay for themselves!

"Helllooooo"? (I told him). "It's been a year"

There was only silence at the other end of the line, so I finally just hung up....
He hasn't called back, probably too embarrassed about forgetting the
guarantee they made me.
Bet he won't underestimate a blonde anymore.

Author Unknown
Submitted by Maureen Cram
_____________________________________________________________

We've all had trouble with our animals, but I don't think anyone can
Top this one:

Calling in sick to work makes me uncomfortable. No matter how
legitimate my excuse, I always get the feeling that my boss thinks I'm lying.

On one recent occasion, I had a valid reason but lied anyway, because
the truth was just too darned humiliating. I simply mentioned that I
had sustained a head injury, and I hoped I would feel up to coming in the next day. By then, I reasoned, I could think up a doozy to explain the bandage on the top of my head. The accident occurred mainly because I had given in to my wife's wishes to adopt a cute little kitty.

Initially, the new acquisition was no problem. Then one morning, I was taking my shower after breakfast when I heard my wife, Deb, call out to me from the kitchen. "Honey! The garbage disposal is dead again. Please come reset it."

"You know where the button is," I protested through the shower
pitter-patter and steam. "Reset it yourself!"
"But I'm scared!" she persisted. "What if it starts going and sucks me in?" There was a meaningful pause and then, "C'mon, it'll only take you a second."

So out I came, dripping wet and butt naked, hoping that my silent
outraged nudity would make a statement about how I perceived her
behavior as extremely cowardly. Sighing loudly, I squatted down and stuck my head under the sink to find the button. It is the last action I remember performing. It struck without warning, and without any respect to my circumstances.

No, it wasn't the hexed disposal, drawing me into its gnashing metal
teeth. It was our new kitty, who discovered the fascinating dangling
objects she spied hanging between my legs. She had been poised around
the corner and stalked me as I reached under the sink. At the precise
moment when I was most vulnerable, she leapt at the toys I unwittingly offered and snagged them with her needle-like claws. I lost all rational thought to control orderly bodily movements, blindly rising at a violent rate of speed, with the full weight of a kitten hanging from my masculine region.

Wild animals are sometimes faced with a "fight or flight" syndrome.
Men, in this predicament, choose only the "flight" option. I know this from experience. I was fleeing straight up into the air when the sink and cabinet bluntly and forcefully impeded my ascent. The impact knocked me out cold.

When I awoke, my wife and the paramedics stood over me. Now there are
not many things in this life worse than finding oneself lying on the
kitchen floor butt naked in front of a group of "been-there, done-that" paramedics.

Even worse, having been fully briefed by my wife, the paramedics were
all snorting loudly as they tried to conduct their work, all the while
trying to suppress their hysterical laughter......and not succeeding.
Somehow I lived through it all. A few days later I finally made it back in to the office, where colleagues tried to coax an explanation out of me about my head injury. I kept silent, claiming it was too painful to talk about, which it was. "What's the matter?" They all asked, "Cat got your tongue?"
If they only knew!

Why is it that only the women laugh at this?

_______________________________________________________________

A woman calls her boss one morning and tells him that
She is staying home because she is not feeling well.
"What's the matter?" he asks
"I have a case of anal glaucoma," she says in a weak voice.
"What the hell is anal glaucoma ?"
"I can't see my ass coming into work today"

Submitted by Calace
____________________________________________________________

Son asked his mother the following question:
"Mum, why are wedding dresses white?"
The mother looks at her son and replies,
"Son, this shows your friends and relatives that your bride is pure."
The son thanks his Mum and goes off to double-check this with his father.
"Dad why are wedding dresses white?"
The father looks at his son in surprise and says,
"Son, all household appliances come in white."
Submitted by Daniel Jan le Roux
____________________________________________________________

A tourist walked into a Brighton curio/antique shop. After looking around for a while, he noticed a very life-like bronze statue of a rat. It had no price tag, but it was so striking that he decided to have it anyway. So he took it to the owner and said: "How much is this bronze rat?"

The owner replied: "It is £12 for the rat, and £100 for the story."
The tourist gave the man his £12 and said: "I'll just take the rat. You keep the story for another day."

As he walked off down the street, he noticed that a few real rats had crawled out of the sewers and begun following him. This was a little disconcerting, so he started to walk a little faster but within a couple of blocks the swarm of rats had grown to hundreds and they were all squealing and screeching in a very menacing way.
He increased his speed and ran on towards the beach, and as he ran, he looked behind him and saw the rats now numbered in their thousands, and they were running faster. So he increased his speed even more and hurtled towards the beach. When he looked behind him he saw the rats now numbered in their millions, and they were now catching him up.

By now, very concerned, he ran to the edge of the sea and hurled the bronze rat as far out into the water as he could. Amazingly, the millions of real rats ran straight past him, jumped into the water where the bronze rat had entered and all drowned.

The man walked back to the shop to relate all this to the owner. As soon as the man walked in the owner said: "Ah, you've come back for the story then!"

"No," said the tourist - "I came back to see if you've got a bronze racial fundamentalist cleric or anything French.

Recipes TOP

Recipe of the day

Asparagus, goat's cheese and parma ham salad

Method:

Wash and dry the rocket well and place on plates.
Sear the asparagus in a little olive oil.
Top rocket with asparagus, goat's cheese and Parma ham,
and drizzle over some lemon juice.
Add a dollop of tomato chilli jam.

from:- http://www.food24.com

Diarrhoea? -- Here's help

I am feeling rather sorry for myself, because I spent half the night running to the toilet with a badly upset stomach. This morning I feel tired and totally washed-out.
Now I keep on wondering whether it was the Christmas dinner (what madness that we have Christmas functions six weeks before the actual festivity!) on Friday, or last night's fish at a seafood restaurant, or if I have a 24-hour viral gastric 'flu.

General causes of diarrhoea

Diarrhoea can be caused by a wide variety of factors and agents. Spoilt food that has either started to ferment or gone sour, or is infected with microorganisms (both bacteria and viruses) is a common cause of diarrhoea.
During the "silly season", which will last till after New Year, when there are far too many functions and parties and it is hot and humid, food contaminated with microorganisms is an ideal medium for the proliferation of these infective agents.
Ironically, many favourite party dishes such as chicken pies and custards are perfect for promoting the growth of pathogens – especially if they are kept warm for long periods. In fact, party buffets or bain maries are startlingly similar to the water baths in which I used to cultivate bacteria when I worked in a laboratory!

Read more:-http://health.mweb.co.za

How bad food makes you sick

While you know that potato salad you ate at the company picnic made you sick, you may be too miserable to care about exactly how it made you ill.

But Purdue University researchers care. Whether food-borne bacteria makes a person sick depends on a variety of factors, they say, and understanding that infection process could help prevent such illnesses from occurring.
Several factors at work.
They did the first comprehensive study of the virulence of the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes and found that how well the bacteria attaches to cells isn't the only determining factor in whether a person becomes ill or in the severity of the illness.

Other factors at work include the levels at which the pathogen attaches to intestinal cells, penetrates cell walls and then moves into other organs, the Purdue researchers found. Their study appears in the June issue of Applied and Environmental Microbiology.
Read more...

http://health.mweb.co.za

General food safety.

Germs in food and water

Eating food or drinking water that is contaminated (i.e. it contains harmful germs) can cause various infections.

“Food poisoning” is a general term for infections contracted through food. Typical symptoms of food poisoning include stomach cramps, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting. Bacteria are the most common cause of food poisoning, followed by viruses and parasites. There are several hundred food-borne diseases, many of which cause other symptoms besides food poisoning. Poisonous chemicals that get into food can also make you ill.
read more...

http://health.mweb.co.za/

Sports News TOP

Flawless century by Kallis

2006-11-22 18:36 Durban -

Jacques Kallis struck a flawless century as South Africa made an imposing 248-8 in the second one-day international against India at Kingsmead here on Wednesday.
Kallis made 119 not out after South Africa won the toss and batted on a well-grassed pitch in the day-night match.

The Indian bowlers and fielders, marshalled by captain Rahul Dravid, kept the South African batsmen in check for much of the innings despite Kallis' fine innings.

The home side were wobbling at 209 for seven with 26 balls left but Kallis and tailender Andre Nel put on 39 for the eighth wicket before Nel was run out for 22 off the last ball of the innings.

It was Kallis' 14th one-day international century but his first in 25 matches against India - the only major cricket nation missing from his list of hundreds.
Read more...

http://www.24.com

Advertising on South Africans Worldwide TOP

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[There are 27 000 subscribers to the Newsletter plus many thousands of "hits" on the web-site - Ed]

Credits and Contact Info TOP

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Disclaimer TOP

The editors, publishers, directors and shareholders of Maesti Web Consulting (being the holding company that publishes SAW) place on record that opinions and comment published in this newsletter are those of the authors, contributors and correspondents.

It should not be construed that we agree or disagree with any of the material. All information about events is published in good faith as received from the correspondents

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