Table of contents for 2023-05-31 in Post

HOMEOWNERS should make sure they understand the impact load shedding can have on any security system. Sufficient battery backups and charging capacity can extend the uptime of alarm systems during load shedding. It is not ideal though for any battery to be faced with continuing bouts of power cuts whether they are planned or unplanned. Batteries play a big part in your home’s security system, which includes your electric fence and the gate motor. Wireless security systems have batteries in the detectors that are not affected by load shedding, but the main control box still contains a backup battery that should not be neglected. When you check your backup batteries, make sure you look at everything. Preventative maintenance action today can help ensure that your security system still operates the…

LOAD SHEDDING is hitting South African consumers right in their pockets. King Price has seen a 100% increase in the number of claims for damage caused to appliances due to power surges since the onset of load shedding. With Eskom’s troubles, things are only going to get worse. King Price Insurance has settled more than R21 million in claims between August 21 and April 23 alone for damage sustained through power surges and dips affecting residential buildings, home contents and portable possessions. This figure excludes lightning-related and large commercial claims. We’re getting a massive number of claims for “fried” computer equipment, fridges, TVs and even distribution boards caused by power surges. But there are several steps you can take to avoid having to replace your expensive appliances: Unplug your appliances:…

ACTRESS Priyanka Chopra had a fun Sunday with her husband Nick Jonas and daughter Malti Marie. The trio went on a picnic date. Taking to Instagram, Chopra posted a picture in which she sits next to her daughter and husband in a park. “Sundays are for picnics,: Chopra captioned the post. Malti was born via surrogacy in January 2022. The duo, in a joint statement, announced the birth of their first child on social media. “We respectfully ask for privacy during this special time as we focus on our family. Thank you so much (sic),” the statement read. | ANI…

DOCTOR Neven Govender, who is based at the Phoenix Plaza, said in recent weeks they have seen an uptick in viral infections. These, most commonly, are with symptoms of a persistent cough, runny or blocked nose, body aches and headaches. He said one of the best defences against sickness was to build your immunity by living healthy. “Drink two to three litres of water (30ml per kilogram of body weight per day), and eat a variety of fruit and vegetables in your diet. Different colours usually mean a different nutrient is present naturally in the food. Avoid processed and refined foods. “Exercise regularly, 30 minutes per day, five days per week. Housework and walking around your workplace is excluded from these times. Exercise outdoors preferably, when it’s not too cold,…

RELATIONSHIP ADVICE Q: Dear Sahaj I recently got engaged, and we are both South Asian but not the same ethnicity. Our religion, culture and languages are different but we understand each other. Overall, I feel like my fiancé's family will never accept me because I am not Punjabi/Sikh. They have never welcomed me into their home as if they were gaining a daughter, and they have always made me feel like I am a stranger. Sometimes, I express my thoughts and I feel judged or shamed. I've tried to go out of my way to be kind but it makes his family feel like they need to give me something in return because I brought them something. For example, if I gave his family chocolates for the holidays, my fiancé’s…

MAY marked Asthma Awareness Month, and alarmingly, South Africa has one of the highest asthma death rates in the world, with around 15 000 deaths each year. In a bid to further educate South Africans on asthma to avoid unnecessary deaths, the Allergy Foundation of South Africa (Afsa) is busting five harmful myths about the disease. Myth 1: It’s better to ‘tough it out’ without taking medication: The lungs do not get stronger or become better able to deal with asthma if a person tries to work through an attack without medication. In fact, the lung inflammation that goes along with an attack, can cause permanent damage to the lungs. Always use medication to treat asthma. Myth 2: Sports and physical activity make asthma worse: Physical activity, and the health…

TRIBUTES have been posted on social media for Tremaine Joshua Hembert, a paramedic, who was killed in a car crash during the early hours of Monday. Hembert, 25, from Trenance Park in Verulam, was employed at KZN VIP Medical Services. Gareth Naidoo, the spokesperson for the company, said residents from the area heard Hembert’s car, a Nissan Almera, screech and then crash into a tree. He said Hembert died at the scene but the passenger sustained minor injuries. “After matriculating, Tremaine did a paramedics course and did his 1 000 hours of voluntary service with us. After he completed the service, he began working as a paramedic. “Over the years. he continued to study and went on to finish courses that qualified him as an armed reaction officer. He was…

WHENEVER Tasmika and Akhil Mahabir felt unwell as children, they cuddled with their favourite teddy bears. The warmth from those hugs made them feel better. Rekindling those memories, the siblings from Somerset Park in Umhlanga started the Teddy Up initiative in July last year. Tasmika, 23, a final-year medical student at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, said they collected new and pre-loved teddy bears for underprivileged children. “We started Teddy Up as a Mandela Day project last July and collected more than 550 teddies. The teddy bears were donated to more than 15 children’s organisations, including Phoenix Child Welfare and Sahara Women’s Shelter. “The initiative this year was inspired by Akhil. He came up with the plan to donate to sick children in hospitals because he works at…

GROWING up in Crossmoor, Chatsworth, Denver Naicker found himself drawn to and fascinated by the lives of celebrities. Today the television presenter, in his mid thirties and now residing in Windermere, Durban, is living his childhood dream as host of a TV show that zones in on the life of celebs. The Get Real Show previously broadcast on Glow TV, will be on a new platform, on DStv from this Sunday at 7pm, and on Openview. “I attended Crossmead Primary and Crossmoor Secondary. I started getting fascinated with the life of celebrities and who they are in reality. I read a lot and watched talk shows on TV while growing up. I always wanted to get on screen. It’s been my dream,” he said. Naicker, who is also a…

IT IS becoming more commonplace to see grown men urinating in public. And the long arm of the law is turning a blind eye to this health hazard and a chronic symptom of societal decline. Why, I have often seen a police van stopped at the side of the road and its male occupants splashing their boots with no regard for what others think of them or the impact of their actions. Over the years public urination has become one of the worst public nuisances. The dirty phenomenon of open weeing is now as familiar as a dog lifting a leg. Urinating in public is socially unacceptable. It is wrong. In almost every country around the globe, urinating in public is illegal. Offenders may be guilty of presenting a public…

Louisa Zondo is a lawyer and political activist who has held a number of high-profile roles in public life. She served as the deputy executive director of the Constitutional Assembly during South Africa’s transition from apartheid and went on to become the chief executive of the South African Human Rights Commission in 1996. Zondo subsequently held a number of senior roles in public and non-profit sector organisations, most recently as acting executive director of Oxfam South Africa. Along with other members of her family, she is involved in establishing the Riky Rick Foundation in memory of her son Rikhado Makhado (Riky Rick), a rapper, singer and songwriter who took his own life in February last year. Zondo’s work has helped to shape the new SA, but she has also faced…

A GLEN Anil resident, charged with the murder of his mother, Debigee Pillay, will make his second appearance in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday. Krishen Pillay, 40, appeared last Thursday after he had been in hospital under police guard. This was after he stabbed himself in the neck during the May 13 incident in Glen Anil, Durban North. According to IOL, Pillay is being represented by attorney Anand Nepaul, who handed to the court two medical certificates that state that Pillay suffers from schizophrenia, a psychotic medical condition. He is also charged with the attempted murder of his sister, Lutchmee Pillay. Natasha Kara, the spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority in KwaZulu-Natal, said the matter was postponed to Wednesday for a district surgeon’s report. Colonel Robert Netshiunda, a…

MS Dhoni, who led Chennai Super Kings to a record-equalling fifth IPL title on Monday, would have spent his life inspecting tickets on Indian Railways if he had listened to his father. Instead, he followed his dream and became one of his cricket-crazy country’s most-beloved players, second only in adulation to the “little master”, Sachin Tendulkar. In a career spanning two decades, he was India’s most-successful skipper and even after retiring from international cricket in 2020 has had a glorious Indian summer playing the IPL. His journey, which was made into a Bollywood biopic, began in a cramped one-bedroom government flat in the eastern city of Ranchi. As a boy, Dhoni was passionate about sport and honed his skills playing tennis-ball cricket and borrowing bats and other kit from friends.…

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag said he was happy to have Harry Maguire in the squad but the centre back would have to make a decision about his future after losing his regular place in the side. The England international has fallen down the pecking order behind Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof, and left back Luke Shaw has also played in central defence, leaving Maguire with eight Premier League starts this season. Maguire became the world’s most expensive defender when United signed him from Leicester City for $101 million in 2019. His contract is due to end in 2025. Asked about Maguire’s future, Ten Hag told London’s Times newspaper: “Let’s say I’m happy he’s here and when we needed him he did his job. But it’s also…

Serbian world No 3 Novak Djokovic risked stirring up a political controversy at the French Open on Monday, after writing a message about Kosovo on a camera lens following his first-round victory. “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia. Stop the violence,” 22-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic wrote in Serbian. Some 30 Nato peacekeeping soldiers defending three town halls in Kosovo were injured in clashes with Serbs protesters in the town of Zvecan, where Djokovic’s father grew up. Serbian authorities said 52 protesters were injured in clashes. The tense situation developed after ethnic Albanian mayors took office in northern Kosovo’s Serb-majority area after elections the Serbs boycotted – a move that led the US and its allies to rebuke Pristina on Friday. Serbs, who comprise a majority in Kosovo’s north, have…

When was the first kiss? Recent papers have suggested that romantic kissing began 3 500 years ago, in what is now India. But a new review paper in the journal Science says this style of kissing is also mentioned in clay tablets from Mesopotamia that predate the Indian texts by about a thousand years. Danish researchers Troels Pank Arboll and Sophie Lund Rasmussen say the behaviour did not emerge abruptly or in a specific society, but appears to have been practised in multiple ancient cultures, including Egypt. They say “the act of kissing may have played a secondary and unintentional role throughout history” by enabling disease-causing micro-organisms to spread from one mouth to another. But the kiss “cannot be regarded as a sudden biological trigger” that led to societies being…

The brother of slain Overport businessman Zeyn Moideen said his family were still soldiering on after charges were recently dropped against one of the suspects. Moideen, 41, was shot multiple times in front of his children after a soccer match in April 2022. Reesin Perumal, 37, who was believed to be the mastermind behind the killing, is now free. Perumal handed himself over to the police last August. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), however, withdrew the charges, citing insufficient evidence. Three co-accused Sbonelo Madanono Shangase, 31, Talent Mkhize, 26, and Mcabangeleni Mkhize, 26, still face charges in relation to the incident. Moideen, the owner of Zenmo Construction and co-owner of Durban Spurs Football Club, was leaving a soccer tournament at the Tills Crescent Sports Grounds with his father, three children…

HAJJ, which will see pilgrims leave for Saudi Arabia to undertake the holy journey to Makkah, starts next month. The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and a once-in-a-lifetime duty for all able-bodied Muslims to perform if they can afford it. According to reports, more than a million pilgrims are expected to travel. Nazir Malek, of Nazir Travel and Tours, said they have many Muslims joining Hajj for the first time. Mohammed Hamid is one of them. He will be accompanied by his wife, Amina. “The process of Hajj is not easy. In 2014, we put our names down to go on our pilgrimage. Our names were called in 2020 but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we were unable to attend. “It was a stressful period. We…

WHEN we reported last week on the trial of two Phoenix brothers who were facing a murder charge related to the July 2021 looting and rioting that rocked the suburb and many other areas of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, the focus was on the guilty or not guilty verdict. The not guilty ruling with respect to the murder of Mondli Majola understandably left his family and friends, as well as the survivors who are complainants in the charges of assault and attempted murder, disappointed. Judge Gregory Kruger ruled that the evidence placed before him was insufficient to convict the two of murder. Despite video evidence showing the unarmed deceased man being shot at by a man wearing a yellow T-shirt, the police failed to collect enough evidence to assist the State’s…

Dearest MaRiky: A Mother’s Journey through Grief, Trauma and Healing by Louisa Zondo is published by Jacana Media. Below are letters to her son, Rikhado Makhado (Riky Rick), from the chapter titled, On the Mountain. 23 March 2022 Dearest MaRiky, It’s the early hours of the morning – 1.03am Nepali time, to be exact. It’s been one month now, since 23 February 2022. The day on which your spirit and body separated. I am lying on my back in a warm bed in the Buddha Lodge, Phakding, Nepal. I’m in Nepal, because I am on my way walking to Mount Everest Base Camp, MaRiky. I’m awake at this hour because I’m reflecting on life, death and the meaning of everything. Since your death last month, I’ve been starkly aware…

A CHATSWORTH couple who duped victims of R1.7 million in travel scams were recently handed a further six-year sentence for their crimes. Megasen Roland Chetty, 40, and Saraswathie Belinda Pillay, 49, posed as travel agents and promised their victims discounted holidays abroad and locally. They would win the trust of the victims and then use them as referrals. Chetty and Pillay first used a front company called RnB Workwear to conduct their dealings. They later registered another company, Tsar Travels and Affordable Safety Wear. The couple were arrested in March 2021 after Detective Constable Justin Durugiah, of the KZN Commercial Crime Investigations Unit, linked them to cases in Chatsworth, Phoenix, Malvern, Town Hill, Tongaat, Wentworth, Westville and Durban Central. They were charged with 18 counts of fraud. They were subsequently…

WARD 73 in Chatsworth has been retained by the DA following a by-election last week. The ward includes Croftdene, Arena Park and Montford. The DA and ANC sent national delegates to campaign in the area before the by-election. They included DA federal leader John Steenhuisen and ANC president, Cyril Ramaphosa. Daniel Logan Mea, 27, is the new ward councillor. The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) said the DA retained its seat, with 81.74% of the total votes cast. During the 2021 Municipal Elections, the party garnered 67.47%. The voter turnout last Wednesday was 27.23% compared to 49.10% in 2021. The ward was previously represented by Devaraj “Ronnie” Pillay. It became vacant after he resigned from the DA to join the ANC. Last Wednesday, he contested for the ward as…

SACHIN Reddy has stopped buying frozen chips for his takeaway because it is too expensive. In November 2021, the International Trade Administration Commission of South Africa (Itac) initiated an investigation into the dumping of frozen potato chips originating in or imported from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. In a statement, Itac said the investigation was self-initiated by the commission as per the anti-dumping regulations. “The information at the commission’s disposal indicated that the subject product originating in or imported from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands was being dumped into the South African Customs Union (Sacu) market, causing material injury to the Sacu industry. “The basis of the alleged dumping is that goods are being imported into Sacu at prices less than the normal value of the same goods in their…

China has long been the sleeping giant of men’s tennis, but on Monday the giant stirred as Shanghai trailblazer Zhang Zhizhen advanced to the second round of the French Open. One of three Chinese men in the draw, Zhang became the first from the nation to win a main draw match at Roland Garros in 86 years, after Serbian opponent Dusan Lajovic retired due to illness when trailing 6-1 4-1. Compatriots Shang Juncheng and Wu Yibing bowed out in defeat, but 26-year-old Zhang has a big chance to go further when he takes on Argentine qualifier Thiago Agustin Tirante for a place in the third round. That would bring him a step closer to the fourth-round mark set by Kho Sin-Kie in 1936. Kho, who was born in colonial-era Indonesia,…

The seas have been a bit rough with scratching being the predominant method along most of the coast for rock and surf anglers. The North Coast has seen good fishing for anglers targeting inedibles as well as those looking for an edible to take home. Scratching has been the main fishing style up north with the rocky gullies producing a lot of fish with bronze bream being the main catch. The central coast has been producing a good mix of species for the intrepid angler. The shad have been feeding well along most piers and beaches. The stumpies and smaller kob have also been feeding on the rolling banks. Look for the white water along the sandbanks. Chokka and prawn are the baits of choice. The South Coast remains quiet.…

It is not advanced age that is causing a rise in pregnancy complications, rather the poor health of the mother, suggests research. The study led by a team from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago in the US showed that rising rates of adverse pregnancy outcomes such as hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, preterm birth and low birth weight over the past 10 years are largely attributable to the health status of a person before they get pregnant, rather than age. The study found that the average age of pregnant individuals rose from 27.9 years in 2011 to 29.1 years in 2019, yet age accounted for only a small portion of the marked increase in adverse pregnancy outcomes seen during the period. Most striking, the rate of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (high…

BROTHERS Mohamed and Azhar Moosa bought chicken tikka from a takeaway on Saturday. They were in their usual talkative moods. Azhar even told the shop owner about his upcoming wedding, which will now never go ahead. The siblings died following an explosion at their workplace, AutoQuip Motor Spares, in Dr Chota Motala Road, Raise- thorpe, Pietermaritzburg, later that night. A third employee sustained minor injuries. According to witnesses, the explosion happened at about 6pm when most shops were closing. The entire business premises was gutted. Azhar, 26, also referred to as Tubby, died at the scene, while Mohamed, 34, also known as Mo, and a third employee were taken to hospital. Mohamed died on Sunday. Ritesh Hanuman, owner of AutoQuip Motor Spares, said: “I’m still struggling to come to terms…

CHILD and family welfare societies play a pivotal and meaningful role in caring for vulnerable children, primarily orphans, the destitute, the abused and those in foster care. While the government is to be lauded for providing some financial contribution to such benevolent organisations, there is always a shortfall due to the institutions’ enormous monetary needs with mounting costs that exceed income. Thus the institutions host annual charity fairs that play a major role in providing shortfalls. Such fairs have threefold advantages. Firstly, the organisation benefits from the financial returns. Secondly, the attending public is provided with diverse family entertainment coupled with shopping and dining. Thirdly, needy individuals and families are given a better quality of life . Jesus said in the Bible, Matthew 25 verses 40 and 45, that any…

You think you know. Then you lower your guard and act as if everything is fine. With the passage of time, you stop paying as much attention to the things you should. You are confident. What more can you do? Life is smiling on you and so is luck. You love and are loved. You can afford your dreams, everything’s fine and you feel blessed, and then, without warning, the sky falls on your head. And once you’re flat on your back, usually on a hospital bed, you realise that your life, your whole life, with its ups and downs, pains and pleasures and promises and failures, hangs by a thread as flimsy and imperceptible as a spider’s web. That’s how 56-year-old billionaire Steve Jobs must have felt when he…

SIX libraries within the eThekwini Municipality have closed due to leasing problems and damages following the July 2021 unrest and floods in April last year. And, for the 88 libraries that remain open, new reading material has not been procured since 2019. This comes at a time when the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) found 81% of Grade 4 pupils in South Africa cannot read for meaning. This means pupils do not comprehend what they read in class. Lindiwe Khuzwayo, the municipality’s head of communications, said: “The Reservoir Hills library closed in 2021 due to being burnt during looting. The uMzinyathi library closed in 2022 because of damage as a result of the April floods “The uMhlanga library closed in 2020 due to lease-related challenges, which prevented…

MUHAMMAD Lockhat lost 60 sheep in the past two months due to the shortage of vaccines for bluetongue disease. He fears this could affect his livelihood. The Red Meat Producers Organization says there has been a bluetongue outbreak in the country, which can cause up to 50% mortality among herds if they are not vaccinated. Bluetongue disease is a non-contagious, insect-borne, viral disease of ruminants, affecting mainly sheep. The symptoms include high fever, salivation and swelling of the face and tongue. In some cases, the tongue turns blue. The organisation says the shortage of vaccines for sheep, as well as for cattle and horses, could have long-term effects on food supply. Lockhat, 34, from Dundee, has been a cattle farmer for four years and a sheep farmer for a year.…