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Showing posts from February, 2020

Four Seasons Before Lunch Gauteng (Pretoria)

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 I have lived in Pretoria for half my life, but even at almost 50, l still am not ready for mornings like this . I step out of  home in the morning at 7 a.m., greeted by a warm, gentle breeze and sunshine so golden it felt like summer had arrived overnight. The sky was clear; the jacaranda trees glowed purple; the air smelled of warmth and possibility. “Perfect day,” l muttered, locking his door. By the time l drive out—five minutes later—the sky starts to be darkened. A cold wind came crawling in from nowhere, sweeping dust across the pavement. The temperature dropped so suddenly that  l have  to switch the heater for warmth. Laughing. “Ah, Pretoria… you never disappoint.” Halfway to the office, the heavens opened. Not soft rain— a storm . Sheets of water hammered the road, street gutters overflowed instantly, and distant thunder rolled like a grumpy giant waking up too early. People scattered, hiding under bus shelters already too full.  “Ten minutes ago...
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Gold mine gangs tote AK-47s to outgun South African Police

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ECONOMY  /  8 FEBRUARY 2020, 07:00AM  /  FELIX NJINI Barberton Mines are now using state of the art equipment to trace illegal miners. Gold mines offer soft targets for syndicates that previously specialized in cash-in-transit heists. Picture: Simphiwe Mbokazi JOHANNESBURG - At 10 p.m. on the second Sunday in December, a criminal platoon armed with AK-47 and R6 assault rifles stormed one of the largest gold mines still operating on South Africa’s fabled Witwatersrand basin. Moving with military precision, the 15 attackers took hostages and plundered the smelting plant at Gold Fields Ltd.’s South Deep mine. While failing to break into the main vault, the gang escaped three hours later with gold concentrate worth as much as $500,000. Violent crime soared through a decade of kleptocracy and graft under South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma.  Gold mines offer soft targets for syndicates that previously specialized in cash-...
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Armed robbers kill four cops during Nigerian bank heist

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AFRICA  /  7 FEBRUARY 2020, 2:02PM  /  ANA REPORTER Picture: leo2014/Pixabay Pretoria - Four Nigerian police officers were killed by armed robbers during a bank robbery on Thursday at Ile-Oluji, in the Ile-Oluji/Okeigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State. On Friday, the Premium Times Nigeria reported that police spokesman, Femi Joseph, confirmed that two banks were attacked by the robbers, who used dynamite to destroy entrances before gaining access.  Joseph said the suspects succeeded in robbing one of the banks, but failed in their attempt to rob the other, which he identified as Polaris Bank. No civilian deaths were recorded and an as yet undisclosed amount of cash was stolen.   “When they attacked one of the banks, they shot dead one of the policemen on duty,” said Joseph.  “But while they were trying to escape, they ran into four policemen who were on their own, guarding a VIP, and they killed three of them...
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UNHCR raises as fresh round of violence rocks Mozambique

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AFRICA  /  7 FEBRUARY 2020, 8:41PM  /  JONISAYI MAROMO A young boy sells peanuts in Maputo, Mozambique. File picture: Ferhat Momade/AP PRETORIA – The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday said there had been a dramatic increase of brutal attacks by armed groups in Mozambique over the past months. Recent weeks had been the most volatile period since the incidents began in October 2017.  UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic said at least 28 attacks were carried out in Mozambique’s northernmost Cabo Delgado province since the beginning of the year.  The attacks have now spread across nine of the 16 districts in Cabo Delgado. The province is one of the least developed parts of Mozambique.  Attacks are now spreading towards the southern districts of Cabo Delgado, prompting people to flee to Pemba, the provincial capital. One of the latest incidents took place only 100 kilometres away from Pemba, sai...
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MultiChoice’s BEE scheme trying to find 22 000 shareholders who are missing out on millions

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  USINESS REPORT COMPANIES MultiChoice’s black economic empowerment scheme is looking for about 22 000 shareholders who owned shares and did not receive dividends of R207 million between 2006 and 2020. Picture: Karen Sandison/African News Agency(ANA) MultiChoice’s BEE scheme trying to find 22 000 shareholders who are missing out on millions By Edward West   Feb 16, 2021 CAPE TOWN - PHUTUMA Nathi, the MultiChoice black economic empowerment scheme of more than 80 000 shareholders, is looking for about 22 000 shareholders who owned shares and did not receive dividends of R207 million between 2006 and 2020. “This money belongs to our shareholders. We’re calling on them to contact us to get their money. In these tough economic times we want to do everything in our power to give them what is rightfully theirs,” Phuthuma Nathi chairperson Mandla Langa said in a statement yesterday. Phuthuma Nathi has been paying dividends every year since the start of the scheme in 2006. Am...
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Fighting Drug addiction

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 Here's the story: We sat down with a man who had a harrowing journey with addiction. He began by telling us about his early days in tertiary education, where he would occasionally smoke dagga with friends. However, his focus remained on his studies, and he worked hard to graduate and secure a qualification. After landing a job, he started building a life for himself. He got married, bought a property, and even splurged on a car. Life was good, and he felt like he was on top of the world. But one fateful night, while out with friends, he was introduced to heavier narcotics. At first, the experience was exhilarating. He described it as an elevation from the mild high of dagga to a level 5 high, where he felt invincible and euphoric. The effects would last for days, allowing him to party from Friday to Sunday without sleep. The problem, however, began to manifest on Mondays and Tuesdays every week, when the withdrawal symptoms would kick in, and he'd struggle to function at work....
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Ultra-Widebody Volkswagen Bus "Volkswide" Looks Like a Porsche Racing Van

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  Home   >   News   >   Renderings It's easy to understand why a muscle car or a Ferrari is cool - the big engine and cool body. But car culture is also influenced by television, rarity, or simply a generation growing up with a particular vehicle. The Volkswagen Bus is a perfect example of this because it's slow, not sporty-looking, yet it can cost a lot of money.  16 photos The Bus is perhaps one of the least understood collectibles, right up there with bubble cars. You see them grabbing huge money at auctions, making it difficult to visualize why somebody wouldn't rather have a Ferrari or some 1960s Mustang. Comedian Gabriel Iglesias is known as the VW Bus King, as his collection of Vdubs is reportedly worth in excess of $3 million. The Hoonigan crew recently did a feature video, but we still had trouble picturing the value of these vehicles. Fortunately, there's a set of renderings that takes the visuals of the Microbus to the level where everybody...
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