Table of contents for 2023-03-31 in DFA News

WINNING a medal at a sporting event is an achievement on its own. Winning a gold medal is something truly special. But winning seven gold medals and breaking five records in the process is – to put it mildly – something to be very proud of. Yet this is precisely what happened to 12-year-old Willene Wiid when she took part in the South African Sports Association for the Physically Disabled (SASAPD) competition held in Cape Town recently. Willene was born on June 18, 2010. At the age of five, while holidaying at Hartenbos and frolicking in the water, she suffered a stroke that affected the right side of her body. The young child had to learn to do everything all over again. She had to learn to crawl, walk, talk,…

THERE’S a useless bit of trivia to start the weekend: Apparently the longest word in the Oxford English Dictionary is a word made up of 45 letters. The word is the name for a type of lung disease caused by inhaling very fine silica particles. The word itself: ‘pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis’, is one word that I will not be memorising in a hurry; I see no need to. I mean, when was the last time you met someone who suffered from pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis? However, that’s not the longest English word that exists. That title goes to a word that has 189,819 letters and could take a very long time to pronounce. The word is the chemical name of ‘titin’ – the largest known protein. The word will not fit into a dictionary…

THE INAUGURAL Diamond Cup Schools Tournament for 2023 was recently launched; the first of its kind in many years. The tournament is organised by Accelerate-To-Great Sports Academy in partnership with the Sol Plaatje School Soccer Structure. The competition will take place over two days, April 7-8, during the Easter weekend at the Galeshewe Stadium, with eight schools participating in the tournament. Kimberley Boys High, Technical High, St. Boniface High, Vuyolwethu High, Emmang Mmogo High, Thabane High, Roodepan High, and Rietvale High are the schools that will do battle during the tournament. These eight schools qualified to play in the Diamond Cup because they finished in the top eight of the Schools League during the 2022 season. The draw for the tournament took place on Friday, March 24, at the Teachers…

Kimberley Golf Club Results for the week of March 22-25 and news about next week’s programme. Results for the week of March 22-25 are: The Wednesday, March 22 John Dorys sponsored 18-hole IPS was won by Jason Barnes with 39 pts. Second was Gavin van Zyl on 35 pts with Barend Burger 3rd on a count-out with 34 pts. The Thursday, March 23 KWV sponsored 9-hole IPS with power play options was won by Michael Kidson with 27 pts with Tenderson Manyetsa 2nd on 23 pts and Lutchman Poonawassy 3rd on 22 pts. The Friday, March 24 Flamingo sponsored Niner was won by Chris Gordon on 18 pts with Bernie Turton 2nd on 17 pts and Donald Witbooi 3rd on 16 pts. Fourth was Neville Alexander on a count-out…

SINCE we celebrated our 140th birthday five years ago we have faced and overcome many challenges. We also made some fundamental changes in how we operate to ensure that your newspaper survives, while others disappeared. We survived Covid-19 and although we had to stop publishing a print edition due to lockdown restrictions, we kept the people of Kimberley and the Northern Cape informed via our digital platforms. The DFA’s website, www.dfa.co.za, continues to be a huge success story. However, when the masks came off and we were allowed back onto the streets, the world, and Kimberley, had changed. And we needed to change as well. While many newspapers across the country disappeared, we survived, going from a daily newspaper to a weekly newspaper. We managed to keep our heads above…

THE CONTRACTORS of the R167 million Hull Street social housing project have given the assurance that they will be able to drain the waterlogged houses that are under construction. The three-storey building will accommodate 600 high-density units for low-cost and subsidised housing beneficiaries. The contractor, Amandla Construction, stated that the ground-level water would be channelled to surface drains on the road. “The foundation is solid and has been built on dolerite soil, you can see rocks sticking out of the ground. The water is the least of our worries.” He added that sewerage lines and manholes would be installed in the next four to six weeks. “We have paid about R1.5 million for the bricks and reinforcing and about R1.4 million for the slabs.” Residents living in the Hull Street…

THE NEWSPAPER industry is well known for its traditions, traditions that bring together staff and often even competitors. It has always been an industry focused on respect and ethics. ‘In the good old days’ . . . as they say, the newspaper pages were cast in lead columns and then packed on a flat stone, packed together to make up the page. The flat stone was later replaced by a flat steel plate. However, technology overtook the flat stone and flat steel plate. But the tradition of wetting the stone remained at the DFA until we relocated to our new offices at the North Cape Mall. The steel plate was simply too heavy to move. In this historic picture taken more than 25 years ago, members of the DFA staff,…

THE ELIZABETH Conradie School in Kimberley recently made headlines for their impressive performances at the South African Sports Association for the Physically Disabled competition held in Cape Town. The school’s motto: ‘Lux Orta Est’ (the light arose) was definitely showcased by the 15 athletes participating in Boccia, athletics, cycling, and powerlifting. Through them, the school brought home an impressive haul of medals. In the Boccia category, two bronze medals were won, a great achievement for the school. In athletics, seven gold and one bronze medal were awarded to the school's athletes, highlighting their strength and skill in this area. The cyclists took home an astounding 25 gold, two silver, and two bronze medals, taking second place in the country for their efforts. Finally, in the powerlifting category, the athletes brought…

The SA National Junior Age Group Championships held recently in KwaZulu-Natal proved to be an exciting event for junior swimmers across the country. The competition brought together some of South Africa’s most promising young swimmers competing in a variety of events and disciplines. The Northern Cape should be incredibly proud of their four junior swimmers from Flamingo Aquatics who represented the province at the event. Not only did these youngsters make an impressive showing, but they also managed to break an impressive nine Northern Cape Aquatics Swimming Association (NCASA) records. To come away from such a competitive event with 12 medals is a testament to the hard work and dedication of these young athletes. The medals are a well-deserved recognition of their commitment to the sport, and they should be…

SOL PLAATJE Municipality has been instructed to provide a detailed report on how the R500 million that was announced by Northern Cape Premier Dr Zamani Saul to address service delivery issues is being spent. The funds were released in 2021 to urgently repair potholes and leaking sewage and water, however, no tangible improvements are noticeable in the city. Members of the portfolio committee on co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta), during a visit to the Northern Cape this week, described the potholes as “overwhelming” and the amount that was allocated towards fixing them as “hair-raising”. DA member of Parliament Gizella Opperman indicated that according to the municipality, R215 million of the funds was used for urgent maintenance and pothole repairs while R118 million was directed towards road maintenance. “What is…

THE FUTURE is bright for two small businesses in Postmasburg after 40 of their employees received technical skills training that will significantly enhance their ability to execute complex Anglo American projects that they are contracted to. The employees were trained in the areas of manhole construction, painting, paving and plumbing, for which they received NQF 2 (manhole construction and plumbing) and NQF 3 (paving and painting) certifications. The training was part of a pilot project by Anglo American’s enterprise development arm, Zimele, in collaboration with Kumba Iron Ore’s Kapstevel South Project team and Tjeka, a private further education and training institution. The two businesses currently perform construction and civil works at the Kapstevel South Project, which is a new pit and infrastructure development project at Kumba Iron Ore’s Kolomela operations.…

CITY residents have blamed the financial struggles of Sol Plaatje Municipality on the “fat cat tendencies” of municipal officials. During a visit from the portfolio committee on co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) earlier this week, former DA councillor Philip Vorster advised the committee that the staff complement at Sol Plaatje Municipality was bloated with 2 500 staff members, while the organogram only accommodated 1 500 employees. “This means people are being employed so that they can earn a salary. Many staff members have no work to do. If you ask them why they are not working, they tell you it’s none of your business. “With a budget of R2.2 billion, about R800 million goes towards paying salaries while about R800 million is used to pay for bulk services.” Vorster…

Griquas need to retain possession and use it against WP AS THE Windhoek Draught Griquas prepare to take on DHL Western Province in their next Currie Cup match in Cape Town tomorrow evening, they will definitely be looking to improve on their recent performance against the Airlink Pumas. Last week Griquas went down 28-13 in Mbombela to the dominant and determined defending champions. And the Kimberley team will have to shake off that loss and get back to the business of winning as they find themselves in the bottom half of the table with one win and two losses from their first three games. The Western Province lads are in a better position, with two wins from three games, although last week’s loss to the Sharks – a team that…

ON WEDNESDAY afternoon, the Raising Giants Organisation handed over soccer kits, a five-a-side soccer pitch and two netball/basketball courts to the Phatsimang College and the Sol Plaatje Masters Football League. After the handover, the delegates moved to the new soccer pitch to cut the ribbon to officially hand the facilities over. Raising Giants is a Non-Governmental Organisation that aims to bridge the educational information gap between rural high school learners and their peers in urban high schools. The organisation aims to offer opportunities to previously disadvantaged young people who demonstrate the potential to excel academically, and who have the desire to fully engage in those opportunities. Through funding from the National Lottery Board, they were able to give funding to three colleges – Northern Cape Urban Tvet College, Orbit Tvet…