Through protest, backyarders in Mandela Park have now held up construction of houses in the area for more than two weeks. But they continue to face intimidation and repression from SANCO and other unelected leaders in Ward 97.

Mandela Park Backyarders have continued to stop the construction of houses. Because of our efforts, construction has been unable to proceed since the 17th of August. The Mandela Park Backyarders are demanding that the MEC for Housing, Bonginkosi Madikizela, come and listen to their grievances. He promised to attend the mass meeting last Sunday, the 29th of August, but failed to pitch. He again promised to come the next mass meeting on the 5th of September and has informed the Mandela Park Backyarders that he won’t be able to make it.

The Mandela Park Backyarders say that there can be no development in their communities if there is no meaningful engagement with residents. “Madikizela is ignoring our constitutional right to participate in the development of our own communities.”

“We are also sick and tired because of the corruption in Mandela Park. It is carried out by party-appointed leaders in the area connected with local SANCO boss, Mr Makade, as well as other undemocratic political organisations operating in Ward 97. Residents are not getting houses because of this corruption. The buying and selling of RDP houses is continuing. The placement of ‘extra’ houses in pathways instead of in demarcated plots is continuing. We know who is doing it but no one is taking action.

Since we have begun protesting, our members have also been threatened, detained, and arrested. These are political cases against us. When we speak up, we suffer repression from political leaders and their police. Just this morning, a backyarder was arrested for ‘damaging property’. There is no evidence against him. He was arrested because of pressure from SANCO leaders and contractors who are angry about the building delay.”

Last night, the Mandela Park Backyarders met with local Cllr Mthwalo Mkhutswana who came to ask; “what is our problem” as a result of getting lots of questions from the media.

The Backyarders presented him with the following demands:

• We demand that 50% of all houses built within Mandela Park must go to residents in the area. Only people from outside Mandela Park or people with political connections have benefited from housing construction.
• We demand that the MEC must order an independent investigation into corruption in Mandela Park. This investigation cannot be carried out by local leaders as they are the ones involved in these corrupt activities.
• We demand that the construction of housing in Mandela Park must employ local residents. A democratic, not a political, process must be used to hire local workers.
• We demand an end to the politicised targeting and arrest of backyarders by the Harare Police and the Metro Police. Last year, there were over 20 politicised arrests of our members. All current political arrests against backyarders including cases against Luvo Vanyaza, Sibongile Mhlahlo, and Loyiso Mfuku should be dropped and immediate apologies made to targeted residents and their families.

Mr Mkhutswana responded to the demands by saying he can’t do anything to help the situation but that he will ask the contractors not to continue building until the grievances are resolved with the MEC.

Mr Lesley De Reuck, Director: 2010 Operations, City of Cape Town, recently briefed the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on the plans for the Cape Town Stadium, as well as the status of some initiatives currently in place. He noted that the City of Cape Town (CCT) had appointed Sail Stade France Operating Company to manage the stadium, after a public tender process. A 30 year lease was set to commence on 1 November 2010.

Mr de Reuck outlined what the management company was required to provide as part of its lease agreement. This included a business plan and event strategy, planning, training and resourcing of employees, testing of the operational systems, engagement with stakeholders, maintenance of the stadium’s facilities, pitch management, cleaning, procurement of sponsorships, liaison with the City of Cape Town, the organisation of events and the maximisation of stadium usage.

The current operational and maintenance costs, including the management of the adjacent Green Point Park, totalled R46.5 million. This did not include the proposed sinking fund that would provide a capital source for replacement of large parts of the stadium that would ordinarily not fall under the standard maintenance budget.

Cape Town Stadium

Mr de Reuck described the two types of activities undertaken at the Cape Town Stadium. These included core and non-core activities. Core activities consisted of Bowl or Stadium events, suite sales, and advertising rights. Non-core activities included conferences, concessions and peripheral opportunities.

Mr de Reuck outlined some of the challenges facing the Cape Town Stadium. These included an unprecedented electricity hike, as well as the need for a revised transport management plan for the surrounding area. Restrictive zoning and safety and security requirements, as well as the securing of an anchor tenant, were also challenges.

In terms of sustainability, Mr de Reuck commented that the stadium would need to draw at least 13 to 20 events a year. Suite rentals, concessions, and supplier rights needed to be addressed in such a way that they would optimise the efficient running of the stadium, and there was a need for the operator to develop two self owned events. The stadium complex had to be developed in order to help convert the site into a multi-activity destination, with a proposed gym, medical and fitness facilities being put forward as options. The development of a partnership between the V&A Waterfront and other nearby tourist destinations would also help to promote the stadium as a destination for people to visit outside of sporting events.

Mr de Reuck stressed that for the stadium to be viable, an operating cost subsidy would be needed. This fund, in conjunction with the proposed sinking fund for capital element replacement, would help the stadium stay viable until it started to become independent and profitable.

Mr D Hugo, City of Cape Town, added that the projections on profitability of the stadium showed that it was likely to make a loss over the next two years, with break even being achieved in the following two years of 2012/13. It should show a profit in 2014/15. This, however, would only be possible if government subsidized the stadium.

Mr Oregan Hoskins, President, South African Rugby Union, briefed the Committee on the problems facing the South African Rugby Union (SARU) and the cities of Cape Town and Durban. Mr Hoskins identified Cape Town and the Ethekhwini Municipality (Durban) as having problems around the relationship between the provincial rugby unions and the stakeholders involved with the establishment of the new stadiums.

Mr Hoskins stated that, in anticipation of the problems to be discussed at this meeting, he had written a letter to the Department of Sport in 2007, asking for their intervention in the matter. Regrettably, he had never received a reply to this letter. He stated that this problem should have been addressed before the stadiums were built, and that it was unfortunate that the Committee was now having to “work in reverse” to try to correct the matter.

Mr Hoskins said that the situation in Cape Town was completely out of hand. The problem was referred to SARU when talks between the relevant parties broke down. He was of the opinion that parties were talking past each other and that as long as this continued, there would be no solution of integrating these two stadiums into the sports event calendar, as they should be.

Mr Tobias Titus, President, Western Province Rugby, addressed the Committee on the events leading up to the creation of the problem now facing rugby in Cape Town. Mr Titus stated that Western Province Rugby made a bid when the new Cape Town Stadium was built. However, he claimed that it was advised to pull out of the tender bid, by the eventual winners of the tender, and were thus locked out of the talks surrounding the new stadium. Western Province Rugby was eventually advised, by a consultant that it should, for financial reasons, stay at the Newlands Stadium. At Newlands, Western Province Rugby gained R10 million a year, so there had to be serious consideration of how it might benefit from moving to the Cape Town Stadium.

Mike Meyer, SA Whale Disentanglement Unit (SAWDU), said: “On Saturday 14 August at 11h15 the SA Whale Disentanglement Unit were activated following reports of an 8 to 10 metre young Southern Right whale spotted entangled in rock lobster rope and floatation buoys in the vicinity between Gordon’s Bay and Koegel Bay.

The whale was spotted swimming between Gordon’s Bay and Koegel Bay and numerous sightings had been reported by eye-witnesses.

The whale had first been spotted on Friday night 13 August by private boats in False Bay and efforts, by the City of Cape Town’s Department of Environmental Affairs – Oceans and Coast, to find the whale had been called off at last light and on Saturday morning the Department of Environmental Affairs Coastal Patrol fixed wing aircraft, which happened to be in the air and in the area on normal patrol operations at the time, was asked to try to spot the whale but no sightings were made and a request was made on Maritime vhf radio frequencies for private vessels in the area to keep a lookout for the whale.

At 11h09 on Saturday the private craft Southern Right happened to spot the whale and they called the NSRI.

Two NSRI sea rescue craft were dispatched by sea rescue Gordon’s Bay, the Sanlam Rescuer and the Douglas Murray, and the whale was found off Steenbras Point where specialised disentanglement equipment was used by SAWDU volunteers to free the whale from it’s entanglement.

Once the whale had been successfully freed the young whale swam off appearing to be in a healthy state.

Southern Right Whale Entangled. Photograph courtesy of SAWDU.

Some of the specialised equipment that was used during the rescue operation was damaged. It is quite normal during these rescue operations for the equipment being used to get damaged due to the unpredictable behaviour of these large animals. All the equipment is sponsored or donated to the SAWDU volunteers to carry out these operations.”

The SA Whale Disentanglement Unit is a specialised unit that set up a network of volunteers in 2006 to deal with these types of situations and comprises volunteers – from NSRIi, the Department of Environmental Affairs – Oceans and Coast, SA National Parks, Cape Nature, the SA Police Services, various aquariums from around South Africa, the Natal Sharks Board, various other organisations and volunteers, with the support of the Dolphin Action and Protection Group (DAPG).

SADWU covers the entire SA coastline.

Brad Geyser, Sea Rescue Hout Bay station commander, said: “On Friday, 13 August at 17h15 Sea Rescue Hout Bay volunteers were activated by the Transnet National Ports Authority following reports of a drowning in progress between Duiker Island and The Sentinel in the Karbonkelberg vicinity of Hout Bay.

Our sea rescue Hout Bay volunteers launched our rescue craft MTU Nadine Gordimer and Albie Matthews and sea rescue Kommetjie volunteers launched their rescue craft Rotary Winelands and the SA Police Services, a Police Dive Unit, Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services, the Metro Ambulance and Rescue Services and local Community Security responded.

On arrival on-scene a search commenced for a 19 year old male reported to have disappeared in the surf near to rocks near to the shoreline.

It appears that the man, a local from Hout Bay, may have either been fishing (angling) or free diving near to the rocks when he reportedly got into difficulties in the water and the friends he was with at the time claimed that he had disappeared in the surf.

A sea and shore search well into the night revealed no sign of the man and this morning (14/08) at first light sea rescue Hout Bay launched two rescue craft and the Police Dive Unit launched their rigid inflatable boat to resume the search and during the search the body of the man was located and recovered from in between rocks on the shoreline and the body was brought to the sea rescue Hout Bay base and handed into the care of the Forensic Pathology Services.

Trauma counselling has been initiated for the family of the deceased man by the SA Police Services.

Police have opened an inquest docket.

Leon van Niekerk, Sea Rescue Melkbosstrand coxswain, said: “On Tuesday at 12h36 Sea Rescue Melkbosstrand volunteers were activated following reports of a drowning in progress in front of the old slip-way next to the NSRI Melkbosstrand rescue base.

Myself and a fellow sea rescue crew member responded to the scene and 2 private ambulance services, the SA Police Services and Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services responded to the scene.

On our arrival on-scene we found a man on a surfboard in the process of rescuing the casualty from the water.

We waded into the water to help them out and once safely ashore paramedics attended to the casualty treating him for hypothermia and near drowning symptoms and the casualty has been transported to hospital by ambulance in a stable condition for treatment and it has been reported that he is recovering well in hospital and is due to be released from hospital.

In this incident the Head Chef of the Beach House Restaurant, Steven Freeborough, 41, from Melkbosstrand, was outside of the Beach House Restaurant when he noticed two men and a female walking their dog on the beach front.

Steven said that he noticed that the three had stopped and stripped down to their swimming attire and they had waded into the water and they were in knee high water when a strong rip current swept one of the men, Deaven Mbango, from Melkbosstrand, (aged in his mid twenties), out to sea.

Steven said that he saw the man screaming for help while he was being swept out to sea and Steven, who is a surfer in the area too, grabbed his longboard surfboard, got out of his chef’s gear to don a wetsuit, and then paddled out to sea after Deaven in an attempt to try to rescue the man.

When Steven reached Deaven he found that Deaven was clinging onto kelp in the strong rip-current which was preventing Deaven from being swept further out to sea.

They were about 50 metres out to sea in 1.5 metre surf.

Deaven was shivering from the cold.

Steven then encouraged and coaxed Deaven to climb onto his surf board and to lie down on the surfboard and then Steven lay down on the surfboard behind Deaven and together they paddled across the beachfront (to get away from the rip-current) and once they were out of the rip-current they paddled to shore where they were met by the rescuers.

Steven Freeborough is commended for his quick actions today for rescuing Deaven Mbango.”

Pat van Eyssen, Sea Rescue Table Bay station commander, said: “On Saturday 7 August 2010, at 13h00 Sea Rescue Table Bay volunteers launched our rescue craft Spirit of Vodacom and Rotary Endeavour to investigate getting the small rubber-duck off the rocks at Robben Island on the North West side of the Island.

On arrival on-scene a sea rescue team was sent ashore where the rubber-duck Sniper was prepared for recovery and we successfully brought her off the rocks and she has been towed to the Port of Table Bay by our rescue craft Spirit of Vodacom.”

Original Report: Robben Island Scuba Divers Assisted After Boat Capsize.

Photograph courtesy of Sea Rescue showing Sea Rescue Table Bay volunteers preparing the rubber-duck for recovery off Robben Island where she lay hard aground after capsizing and drifting onto rocks the night before.

Pat van Eyssen, Sea Rescue Table Bay station commander, said: “On Friday 6 August at 19h03 Sea Rescue Table Bay volunteers were activated following a request for assistance from the authorities on Robben Island reporting a rubber duck capsized on the North West side of the island.

The Robben Island authorities reported that 3 men had walked to the harbour on Robben Island after their boat had capsized and run aground on the North West side of the Island. The 3 survivors had reported, to the authorities on the island, that a further 3 men, who had been scuba diving from their boat, were still in the water somewhere between Sea Point and Robben Island.

NSRI Table Bay volunteers launched our rescue craft Spirit of Vodacom and Rotary Endeavour and a search commenced between Sea Point and Robben Island for the 3 missing Scuba Divers.

Shortly after sea rescue initiated the search the 3 missing scuba divers had telephoned their friends (on Robben Island) to say that they were safe after being picked up by a passing boat and that they had been taken to Hout Bay.

Our sea rescue craft then proceeded to Robben Island to assess the 3 men who were still on the island and a shore rescue party rendezvoused with the 3 men who were already ashore.

All 6 men were found to be safe and not injured and their 4.5 metre rubber duck Sniper is lying capsized against rocks on the North West side of the island.

The 3 men on the island were brought back to mainland aboard our sea rescue craft Spirit of Vodacom.

The men claim they were scuba diving in thick fog between Sea Point and Robben Island and while 3 of the men were on a dive the boats steering had failed and the boat drifted ashore and eventually capsized in the surf on Robben Island and the 3 men who were still on the boat had managed to get ashore on Robben Island. They had lost their 3 dive mates at sea and had then walked to the harbour on Robben Island to raise the alarm.

The 3 men who were diving at the time claim that they had surfaced from their dive to find their support boat missing when a passing Snoek boat Oubaas had picked them up from the water and brought them in at Hout Bay harbour.

The men are skipper Gert Meyer, 25, from Port Elizabeth, and crew Regan James, 25, from Hout Bay and Mario Kleynhans, 29, from Milnerton, who were on the boat when it capsized, and Jacobus Dalton, 17, and Samuel Coverwell, 38, from Milnerton, and a man known only as James, from Hout Bay, who were the 3 divers in the water at the time.

They had launched their boat at the Oceana Power Boat Club earlier in the day to Scuba Dive.

Their boat remains capsized on the North West side of the island and authorities will assess if it can be salvaged.”

My children and I were the victim of our house burning down. It happened this weekend and I am desperately looking for a home for us. It`s all been very traumatic on them and we are staying by my family but there`s no room and people have donated stuff to us as we have been left with nothing but I need them to get back to normality after all of this. It needs to be in Bothasig as they go to school there. It has been so traumatizing on them that we are going for trauma councelling this evening and my 6 year old daughter has changed overnight going into denial and wondering off ie; staring into space, doesn’t sing or dance anymore, my 6 year old son is waking up with nightmares because of the know when he heard the popping sound of our house going down. And now my teenage son, who turns 16 in two weeks, has gone to dye his hair from blonde to black. I suffer anxiety and am also suffering.

Telephone Number:072-2532133

You can also see the details on my Facebook account.

This post was submitted by Alicia.

Anything can happen at sea that could threaten survival. Your crafts batteries could die, your crafts motors could fail, you could hit a semi-submerged object, your boat or paddle craft can be capsized by a wave even in the calmest seas, someone on-board your vessel could get injured or suddenly sustain a serious medical condition, you could find yourself in thick fog and lost or a sudden on-set of inclement weather could threaten your safety…..

The NSRI appeal to all fishermen and anyone launching any kind of craft to go to sea to:

Carry safety equipment: Wear a properly fitting lifejacket at all times while at sea. Have red distress flares; a signalling mirror or CD disc; communications devices – a handheld radio or cellphone with batteries fully charged and kept in water tight plastic sleeves; a referees whistle; waterproof torch, a handheld GPS (Global Positioning System) – Kept in an easily recoverable watertight capsize kit.

Your craft should be painted in a bright colour with reflective stickers pasted on your craft and stencil your name, a contact number of a responsible person on-shore and your own contact number on your craft.

Practice using your safety equipment before launching your craft. The NSRI recommend you jump into a swimming pool fully clothed, with your lifejacket on, to practice recovering safety items from your capsize kit. It will be of little help if the first time you familiarize yourself with your safety equipment is in a real emergency when adrenalin and rough seas are at play.

Always let a responsible person on shore know what time you are leaving, your exact route and intentions and your arrival time. Stick to your plan at all costs.

Anyone going to sea regularly for prolonged periods should sms (communicate) coordinates giving your position to the responsible land party at regular intervals (the NSRI recommend hourly). If you change your plans during your voyage or if you wander off-course during your voyage you should let the responsible person on-shore know.

Discuss a plan of action with the responsible shore person so that everyone involved in your planned voyage knows what the procedures will be if you fail to return or if you fail to make a communications connection at the designated times.

The NSRI urge skippers of boats to brief their crew and passengers on safety procedures prior to launching. Cover areas such as capsizing and what everyone should do if the boat capsizes. Flooding and what everyone should do if the boat floods and begins to sink. At regular intervals during the voyage go over emergency safety procedures for your crew and passengers.

Everyone living along the coast, anyone visiting the coast and anyone going to sea should have the sea rescue emergency phone number programmed into their phone (The responsible person on shore should also have the sea rescue emergency phone number programmed into their phone). In a sea rescue emergency contact the sea rescue emergency phone number. Contacting the sea rescue emergency phone number will immediately activate all authorities responsible for a sea rescue emergency without delay and allows the sea rescue authorities the ability to immediately set up a central communications joint operations control centre and launch an effective sea rescue operation.

If you don’t know your nearest sea rescue emergency phone number call the NSRI headquarters during office hours at (021) 4344011 to find out.

If you suspect someone to be in difficulty at sea, or, if you suspect someone to be overdue from fishing, paddling or boating, you should call the sea rescue emergency phone number without delay allowing the sea rescue authorities to investigate immediately. This will save essential time if there is trouble.

Dear Mr. Madikizela

The Mandela-Park-Back-Yarders would like to extend words of appreciation to the intervention played by the DOH regarding the house of the Finca and Magcoba Family last week. We are looking forward to a fair outcome.

First and foremost it must be clear that the Backyarders hold a view that any acts of corruption on the poor and innocent is tantamount to killing our dignity and those who commit such acts should be brought to books and be shamed.

Mr. Zalisile Mbali (your spokesperson) highlighted at the recent meeting that the DOH was not aware of the problem with the home of the Finca & Magcoba family and other corruption related housing issues in Mandela Park. At the meeting, Mr Mbali gave the impression that our grievances are possibly being hidden by Steering Committee and by Sebra Ltd whom have been outsourced to manage the houses in question. We are surprised and worried that Mbali claims that he does not know what is going on in out communities. Does information get transmitted so slowly by the Ward 97 Steering Committee to the DOH? These are pressing matters around the possible erection of 100 housing units in Mandela Park. Things are heating up once again. People are angry.

Most of these problems can be avoided and/or resolved in advance if things are done with dignity and honesty. However, with the way things are happening, its clear there is also an attempt to sideline Mandela Park residents from the housing development which is about to take place in our own backyard despite what the councillor told M-Park residents a month ago. Protest will always re-occur when big projects are done without a fair contract with the host community – especially when taking into account the history of the housing crisis in Mandela Park.

As we are told, the DOH will be paying a visit to our community in 2 weeks time. It will be nice if solutions to housing log jam will be prioritised and our needs are listened to.

Once again as the Mandela Park Back-Yarders were are willing to re-establish a direct communication with the DOH. We want to talk but our engagement must be meaningful. No more false promises otherwise we feel that the current lip-service given to us will lead to unnecessary warfare.

Regards

Ms. Nosipho Kwepile
Secretary The Mandela Park Back-Yarders

The Mandela Park Back-Yarders is a voluntary nonprofit citizens rights group working for housing rights and against evictions in Mandela Park, Khayelitsha. It is an unfunded community group made up entirely of affected residents and representing the most vulnerable individuals and families living in Mandela Park. The focus is on providing legal support for residents, conducting workshops and democratic discussions about housing issues, as well as helping build the community’s negotiation power vis-a-vis housing and other government officials.

Darius van Niekerk, Sea Rescue Mykonos station commander, said: “At 19h00, on Monday 26th July, our Mykonos Sea Rescue volunteers were activated following reports of a Crayfish Bakkie (Small open crayfish boat) reported to be overdue from fishing with 2 men onboard.

Sea Rescue Mykonos dispatched a land party to the scene to scour the shoreline and the Police Port of Entry Security, the SA Police Services and a large contingent of local fishermen began a search.

The search covered a 15 nautical mile stretch of the coastline.

Sea conditions were calm with a light wind.

At midnight NSRI Mykonos suspended a search, with no clear indication of where the men had been fishing, and the matter was handed over to Police and the Transnet Port Authority.

From first light today a 35 Squadron Dakota fixed wing aircraft from the SA Air Force (SAAF) was dispatched and NSRI Mykonos were requested by the Transnet Ports Authority to join in the continuing search.

At approximately 09h50, today, 27th July, one of the missing fishermen, 68 year old Ngwane Mncedisa, was found 3.5 nautical miles North West of Elands Point (also known as Bobbejaan Punt), clinging to the upturned hull of the capsized Crayfish Bakkie. He was found by a passing boat and he was brought ashore in a severe state of hypothermia and he has been transported to hospital by a Metro ambulance in a serious but stable condition.

Sea Rescue Mykonos, the SAAF 35 Squadron Dakota, the SA Police Services and local fishermen are continuing a search for the remaining missing fisherman.

It has been confirmed that neither of the men were wearing life-jackets.

Both fishermen are from Elands Bay.”

Darius van Niekerk, Sea Rescue Mykonos station commander, said: “On Saturday 24 July at 14h05 sea rescue Mykonos were activated following reports of a 4.2 metre skivee, open deck boat, capsized at Needles (a popular diving reef off-shore of Malgas) with 2 spear fishermen onboard.

Boat owner and skipper, Robert Guthrie, 47, from Langebaan, reported that he had swum to Malgas Island, after their boat capsized, leaving his friend, Deon Louw, from Hopefield, (age not established by NSRI but we believe he is older than Robert) behind on the upturned hull of the capsized boat, to raise the alarm but, after finding no one on Malgas Island, he then swam to the mainland at Malgas where he found the SA Naval Base and the Navy duty officer who raised the alarm activating the NSRI.

Robert confirmed that his spearfisherman partner, Deon, was still onboard the upturned hull of their capsized craft.

The Navy launched a harbour patrol boat with Robert onboard and sea rescue Mykonos launched our rescue craft Gemini Rescuer.

On arrival on-scene the casualty, Deon, who was found sitting on the upturned hull, was taken onboard the Navy harbour patrol boat and the NSRI and the Navy personnel righted the capsized craft which was then towed by the NSRI to Mykonos harbour.

Neither of the 2 men were injured and once safely ashore the 2 men required no further assistance.”

Cape Town – Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman and a group of 20 celebrity motorcyclists stopped off at a community health centre in Khayelitsha on Sunday morning to erect a 35m fence shortly before completing a five-day ride from Johannesburg to the city in celebration of Nelson Mandela Day.

Freeman and the bikers were met at the Aids Response Centre by Premier Helen Zille and Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato who chipped in to help the actor to bolt fence poles to create the new steel fence.

Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor was also there to welcome the group, which left Johannesburg on July 13 and stopped on the way at various towns to devote at least 67 minutes to work on community projects in each region.

Wearing a corduroy jacket, avaitor sunglasses and a peak cap, a beaming Freeman, who accompanied the riders in one of eight support cars during the five-day ride down from Johannesburg, said any community could get together and do something to improve the lives of ordinary South Africans.

The actor who starred in the 2009 film Invictus, which told the story of how Mandela used the 1995 Rugby World Cup to unite South Africans, said he hoped that Madiba’s dream for a new and just South Africa would be fully realised.

“We’re trying to head for a world where there’s peace and where we can teach our children about integrity of this vision,” said Freeman, who returns to the US on Tuesday.

A visibly perspiring Zille, wearing arm warmers depicting the South African flag, said she hoped South Africans would use the day to reflect on the example of the former president’s life held for others.

The centre, which is run as a joint initiative by Aids Response, a non-governmental organisation which supports community care workers, and the South African Christian Leadership Assembly (Sacla) was badly vandalised last year – stripped of everything from taps to doors and windows.

“It’s a hell of a contradiction to celebrate Nelson Mandela Day by putting up a security fence,” said Zille, who said it would not be necessary to celebrate Nelson Mandela Day if Madiba’s values such as respect, were adopted by more South Africans.

For one of the bikers, radio personality Jeremy Mansfield it was the first time he had ever built a fence.

“It’s been one hell of a journey, but we’ve enjoyed it – the entire trip – it was a wonderful bunch of people and we’ve had a wonderful jol doing it, and no we’re not happy it’s over. We’re getting to a stage where we are going, ‘aah what are we going to do tomorrow’,” said Mansfield.

Clad in his biker leathers, actor Jack Devnarain, who plays Rajesh in the hit SABC3 soap opera Isidingo, was also part of the group.

He said on the way down to Cape Town the group rode through gusting winds and even snow.

“Yes it was cold, but we were there serving a purpose,” said Devnarain, who added that on the way down the group had stopped to help out at orphanges, places of safety and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).

“I’m left with a sense that there is so much more to be done,” said Devnarain.

Sacla general manager Thoko Mtulu said the Khayelitsha centre helped to co-ordinate about 80 care-givers who each regularly attended to about 10 community members, some living with HIV/Aids and others who suffered from a range of illnesses – including high blood pressure, diabetes and tuberculosis.

“I just say praise the Lord,” said Mtulu, who added that the Nelson Mandela Foundation and Aids Response were instrumental in arranging for the bikers to help construct the fence. – BuaNews

Shane Kempen, Sea Rescue Agulhas station commander, said: “On Saturday 17 July 2010 at 09h16 our Agulhas Sea Rescue volunteers were activated following a request for urgent medical assistance from the Hout Bay registered chokka fishing boat, Miniqua, reporting one of their crew suffering continuous epileptic seizures.

The vessel was lying just off Struisbaai harbour in calm sea conditions.

We believe that the crewman, aged approximately 50, had not taken his epilepsy tablets with him to sea and the vessel had been at sea for 21 days. While he had suffered seizures during the 21 day voyage the seizures intensity and frequency was increasing and when the skipper requested medical assistance the crewman had lapsed into continuous seizures and hence the request for urgent medical assistance.

Our Agulhas sea rescue volunteers  launched our sea rescue craft I&J Rescuer II and the Metro Ambulance and Rescue Services and paramedics from the Bredasdorp Fire and Rescue Services were activated.

On our arrival on-scene our sea rescue medics stabilized the patient and he was then transferred onto our rescue craft and brought to our sea rescue base where we were met by the Fire and Rescue paramedics and the Metro ambulance.

The patient was stabilized further at our sea rescue base before being transported to hospital by Metro ambulance in a stable but serious condition.

We believe that the patient is recovering well in hospital.”

Cape Town – Veteran Hollywood star, Morgan Freeman, will lead a group of celebrity motorcyclists in revamping a community health centre in Khayelitsha in support of Mandela Day this Sunday.

The entourage of 20 bikers and eight support vehicles, set off from Johannesburg on July 13, en route to Cape Town.

Along the way, they have been stopping over at various towns to work for at least 67 minutes on community projects in each region.

On their arrival in Cape Town on Sunday, they will be welcomed by the Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille, and Executive Mayor Dan Plato at Khayelitsha.

On the day, they will help erect a security fence at the SACLA centre, which is a joint initiative by AIDS Response, a support organisation for community care workers, and SACLA, a community-based care organisation.

The other 19 celebrity bikers taking part in the five-day tour are:

• Ramon Changuion, off road tutor and member of the CMA
• Jack Devnarain, who stars as Rajesh on Isidingo
• Jan du Toit, legendary off road motorcyclist/trainer
• Hanna Grobler, Survivor SA contestant
• Darren Kelfkens, producer and former Egoli actor
• Sithembiso Khoza, prominent businessman
• James Kilbourn, Radio OFM presenter
• Zelda la Grange, Nelson Mandela Foundation
• Jacqui Mansfield, award winning writer
• Jeremy Mansfield, former Highveld Stereo anchor
• Lori McCreary, film producer (Invictus)
• Paul ‘Rudeboy’ Mnisi, former YFM presenter
• Louis Pepler, (Bok van Blerk), award winning singer
• Bertus Prinsloo, owner of Outdoor Medical
• Grant Roberts, actor
• Lehlohonolo Saint Seseli, actor on Scandal and motorcycling columnist
• Sean Shipalana, owner of SA’s first black owned Harley Davidson dealership
• Constant Visser, businessman
• Ivan Zimmerman, singer and actor.

Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918. Last year, the United Nations declared his birthday, ‘Nelson Mandela International Day’.

On this day people across the globe band together to serve their respective communities for at least 67 minutes in celebration of Mr Mandela’s 67 years of service to South Africa and the world at large. – BuaNews

The Cape IT Initiative (CITi) Board Meeting recently conducted a Board Election process. Candidates were nominated and voted for by CITI Stakeholders and the election was conducted online using an independent third party (Electionbuddy.com).

The three CITi board directors who were re-standing for election, namely Andrea Böhmert (director of Hasso Plattner Ventures), Greg Reis (CEO and founder of Business Systems Group) and Raven Naidoo (chair of Future Perfect/Radian), were all re-elected as CITI board directors.

In addition, three new directors now join the CITi board, namely Mustapha Baboo (Maxxor Business Solutions), Joy-Marie Lawrence (Business Connexion Group) and Russell Dreisenstock (MIH Internet).

Two further changes have been made to the non-elected directors of the CITi Board: Nezaam Joseph replaces Jo-Ann Johnston as the representative for the Provincial Government Western Cape, and Prof Willem Visser replaces Prof Anthony Staak as the Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC) representative.

The other non-elected Board members remain unchanged. Wesley Diphoko remains the Black IT Forum representative; Faith Kolala (alternate to Nokwanda Modise) remains the City of Cape Town representative; Joshin Raghubar, remains a board director in his capacity as the Chairperson of the Bandwidth Barn Board and Jenny McKinnell remains a director in her capacity as the Executive Director of CITi.

“We are very excited to have attracted such a high caliber of directors to the Board and look forward to working with them during the next two years. CITi Board members are all volunteers and we appreciate their willingness to dedicate their time and offer their expertise to assist CITi in achieving its mandate of developing and supporting an information and communications technology cluster in the Western Cape,” says CITi Executive Director, Jenny McKinnell.

More on the new members

Entrepreneur Mustapha Baboo is the founder and director of Maxxor Business Solutions since 2004. Prior to this he was business systems manager at UUNET South Africa. Maxxor is a previous national winner in the SAB Kickstart entrepreneurial development competition and was ranked 5th in Michael Porter’s AllWorld Network South African FastGrow 100 in 2010. Baboo has a BBusSci (Finance) (Hons) from UCT plus numerous IT certifications (including Paypal, Sun, CISCO and IBM).

Joy-Marie Lawrence is the General Manager for the Western Cape office of Business Connexion and its 435 employees, as well as being responsible for the management of the sales team. She previously held positions at Business Connexion as Business Manager in the office of the Group Executive Coastal and International, and as senior legal advisor, and also started up the Public Sector business unit in Business Connexion Western Cape. She was previously senior legal advisor, SABC, attending to both regulatory and commercial legal work in the broadcasting environment; and before that she was commercial legal advisor to the MTN Group. Joy-Marie did her legal articles at Webber Wentzel Bowens and is an admitted Attorney. She has an Executive MBA and an LLB from UCT and a LLM (Masters in Law) from Wits.

Russell Dreisenstock is the GM Business Development: Middle East & Africa for MIH Internet Africa and Middle East and regional head of M&A responsible for acquisition strategy and deal execution. He is based in Cape Town but focused on growing Naspers e-commerce Internet businesses in Africa and the Middle East. He was previously Manager Business Development at M-Web and General Manager: MWeb Home. Prior to that he was Group Financial Director of Alisa Holdings. He has a BCompt (Hons) from UNISA and a CA (SA) and is a Member Institute of Chartered Accounts of South Africa

Nezaam Joseph was recently appointed Director at Department of Economic Development and Tourism. He was previously Head of ICT at Parliament (Western Cape). He has a BCom(Hons) in Information Systems and an MBA from UCT and has worked as an IT architect for companies such as Woolworths, Old Mutual Bank and Sanlam.

Prof Visser is Head of Computer Science at the University of Stellenbosch. Prior to returning to South Africa in 2009, he spent 8 years in Silicon Valley working for the Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science (RIACS) where he was the area lead for automated software engineering at NASA Ames Research Center. He also spent 2 years working at SEVEN Networks, a leader in mobile email. He has a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Manchester.

This post was submitted by Bonita.