Table of contents for 2024-05-11 in Independent on Saturday

The 2024 Met Gala was a feast for the eyes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Widely regarded as fashion’s biggest night out, the annual fund-raising gala, known as the Met Ball, sees celebrities, designers and high-profile figures creatively expressing themselves on every first Monday of May. This year’s theme was “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion”, but the official dress code was the “Garden of Time”, inspired by British author JG Ballard’s 1962 short story which is set in a garden filled with translucent, time-manipulating flowers. The gathering saw the globe’s biggest stars bring the theme to life in their own unique ways. And with the world watching, Kim Kardashian managed to steal the spotlight with her incredibly snatched and almost non-existent waistline in a one-of-a-kind sheer dress…

If life smiles on you, you will have a job. If it beams at you, you will have found a way to make a living doing something you are passionate about and spend hours pondering, honing and polishing. With murky origins and a wide range of attributions from Confucius to Mark Twain, the famous quote “choose a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” is as close to human truth as anything “they say”. When I grow up, I want to be as wise as “they”. It doesn’t matter if your work does not make you rich and famous, unless, of course, it’s your job to be rich and famous, and that is what makes you happy. Words have kept me passionately employed for more…

The George building collapse tragedy leaves more questions than answers. Questions around shoddy workmanship, quality of the materials used and whether due diligence was followed. Also, on what grounds had the structural engineer given the go-ahead? Did the building inspector sign off every floor as and when it was completed in order to move on to the next level? For most of the week officials said the number of workers on site was 75, only to find out – a few days into the search – that six additional people were unaccounted for, bring-ing the total number of people to 81. A number of those workers have been pulled from the rubble after the under-construction building caved in. Fourteen, including nine who made it out alive, have died, and many…

The owner and developer of the five- storey building that collapsed in George, claiming the lives of at least 14 people as of last night, said they would fully co-operate with the investigation into the cause of the tragedy. “As owners and developers, we are more than shocked and horrified with this catastrophe,” said Neo Victoria Developments in a statement released yesterday. “Buildings are not built with the purpose to collapse. “The project team of specialists are appointed to execute the planning, design, and manage construction process and quality of work. As landowners and developers, we have committed to work with the investigating teams to analyse and evaluate whatever is needed as soon as practically possible.” The Victoria Street block, which was to have included a rooftop deck and underground…

Hours after a building under construction collapsed in George on Monday, emergency rescue operations went into action. Eighty-one people were reported to have been in the building when it caved in. Forty of those workers have been pulled from the rubble, 12 of those have since died. More than 200 rescuers were still working tirelessly to find trapped people as rescue operations surpassed the 70-hour mark. A crucial component of the search and rescue operations through the week has been the sniffer dogs from the K9 units that have been deployed to the Garden Route town. The site is difficult for rescuers to move around freely, and victims are located by sound and sight in a desperate race against the clock. Four days after the collapse, 44 construction workers remained…

Collectors relish so-called “hidden mother photographs” as historical oddities. These 19th-century images contain very young children held still by half-obscured adults who crouch behind chairs or lurk at the margins of pictures, their protective arms stabilising the babies. The heads and shoulders of the adults are sometimes draped in textiles or summarily cut off, or their bodies are partially tucked behind decorative mats that frame the centred child. The startling realisation that Victorian infants were not reclining on cozy blankets but on comfortable laps fuels breathless online attention. Eager resellers of flea- market finds advertise hidden mother photographs using terms like “spooky wonderful”, “cutie creepy” and “bizarre”. Articles about them tend to imply a treasure hunt for hiddenness – for adult knees or noses, poised hands, bosoms, hat brims and…

CELUXOLO Dlamini could not afford to travel to this week’s capping ceremony to receive his Master’s degree cum laude in Environmental Science. But the 23-year-old is driven by determination and has already registered at UKZN to do his PhD, which he aims to complete by the time he is 25 years old. For his Master’s degree, Dlamini used remotely sensed data from unmanned aerial vehicles – drones – and machine learning techniques to predict maize yield. This means that farmers, particularly small-scale farmers, would know exactly how much they could expect to harvest. The information was simplified and then shared with them, he said. “In that way, you know how much you’ll get if you’re going to sell that maize and how much you’ll roll out to people if you’re…

The Constitutional Court yesterday dismissed former president Jacob Zuma’s application to have the justices recused from the appeal case by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). The IEC approached the Concourt to challenge Zuma’s eligibility to serve in the National Assembly. The Electoral Court ruled earlier that Zuma would be on the ballot for the May 29 elections, representing the Umkhonto weSizwe Party, despite his 15-month jail sentence in 2021. Last week, Zuma launched a counter- application to have the justices removed when the court heard his matter. He claimed apprehension that a minimum of six of the justices were tainted by bias and not fit to sit on the adjudication panel for his case with the IEC. Before the decision could be handed down, Deputy…

Every single day we receive graphic warnings of how climate variability is impacting disastrously on the lives of people. The dramatic scenes in Dubai and other parts of the Gulf region a few weeks ago showed the effects of intense rainstorms with more than 400 flights cancelled, hundreds of planes diverted and chaotic scenes around the cities. These heavy rains were the highest ever recorded in the United Arab Emirates, flooding portions of major highways and the world’s busiest airport, Dubai International. Who would have thought this would happen? Back in South Africa, there is no doubt that emergencies and natural disasters are on the increase. In the second half of last year, for example, there were more than 80 serious such incidents in six of our provinces, with initial…

The African (African Union) anthem was inscribed on the exquisite lyrics of Ethiopian poet Tsegaye Gabre- Medhinas. The anthem beckons the sons and daughters of the continent to make Africa the “Tree of Life”. The stanza on unity is a strong rally call for Africans to stand together for lasting peace and justice. “Let us all unite and sing together” the anthem implores, “To uphold the bonds that frame our destiny”. Sixty-one years ago, 32 African nations came together in Ethiopia to establish the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which is today known as the African Union (AU). Since 1963, Africa Day has been celebrated annually, on May 25, as a commemoration of this historical unification of countries. Through the decades, Africa Day has become an important marker of the…

ITALY and Germany have earned an extra spot each in the Champions League next season after their clubs performed well in European competitions this season, Europe’s soccer governing body Uefa said yesterday. With the Champions League expanding to 36 teams next season, Uefa said two of the four additional places would be filled by European Performance Spots, which go to associations “with the best collective performance by their clubs” in Uefa competitions. After the semi-final legs of the Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League concluded this week, Uefa said Italy and Germany are guaranteed to finish in the top two of the 2023-24 association club coefficients. As things stand, Borussia Dortmund are outside the top four in the Bundesliga, but will qualify in fifth place. Dortmund are also…

From movies to TV as well as fashion and beauty, Zendaya is currently one of Hollywood’s leading ladies. The award-winning actress has so far this year alone, had leading roles in Dune: Part Two and Challengers. She will also feature in the sci-fi drama, Megalopolis set to be released next week. At just 27, the actress whose full name is Zendaya Maree Stoermer Coleman, has won two Emmy Awards, starred in one of the biggest superhero movies and led one of the biggest teen series. And it’s not just on-screen where she is making her mark. Zendaya is widely regarded as one of this generation’s biggest fashion icons. At Monday’s Met Gala, she stunned in a green-and-blue Maison Margiela corset gown. Zendaya was also one of the event’s co-chairs alongside…

Lecturer Jesca Batidzirai never thought she would get married anytime soon. Then she enrolled for a PhD in statistics at the University of KwaZulu- Natal where she lectured and her life changed. The academic, who is from Zimbabwe, focused her research on the tiny town of Mtubatuba on the KZN North Coast and examined trends in marriage; when people enter it, why it fails and how people transition between the changes. “This PhD I started before I got married and, at that time, I was not planning to get married anytime soon. It just happened but now it feels like it was preparing me for marriage,” she said. Batidzirai, who lectures in the school of mathematics, statistics and computer science, said her research was important for public health because it…

Fears of a decline in ecotourism in Pietermaritzburg and surrounding areas have driven businesses and civil society in the KwaZulu-Natal capital to campaign together in a bid to get the SA Human Rights Commission to intervene in Dusi River pollution. After numerous reports of waste, including raw sewage, being discharged into the river, the campaigners have questioned the commitment of Msunduzi Municipality. They warn that failure to act quickly will see many businesses linked to river activity closing because of the poor water quality. The campaign to stop sewage spills, collect solid waste and clean up Pietermaritzburg aimed to get as many signatures as possible to submit to the commission in the hope that the Chapter 9 institution would get the municipality to deal with the problem. GroundTruth director and…

As the political negotiations for a new dispensation took shape in 1993, the Interim Constitution was adopted. One of the main decisions taken was that post-apartheid South Africa would be a unitary state, not a federal state. The same view was sustained in the final Constitution, which was adopted in 1996. However, while this decision was binding, something strange was allowed to happen – all in the name of recon- ciliation. Following the demise of apartheid in 1994, Carel Boshoff IV founded Orania in the Northern Cape. This place elected its transitional representative council in 1995 and vowed to run its affairs like an independent state. For someone to qualify to live here, he or she had to meet certain requirements. Among them was that the individual had to be…

Israel launched fresh strikes in the Gaza Strip yesterday after negotiators pursuing a long-stalled truce agreement left talks in Cairo without having secured a deal. AFP journalists in the Gaza Strip witnessed artillery strikes on Rafah on the territory’s southern border with Egypt, while witnesses reported air strikes and fighting in Gaza City further north. Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams left Cairo on Thursday after what the Egyptian hosts described as a “two-day round” of indirect negotiations on the terms of a truce, Egyptian intelligence- linked Al-Qahera News reported. In Gaza, Israeli tanks captured the main road dividing the eastern and western halves of Rafah yesterday, effectively encircling the entire eastern side of the city in the southern Gaza Strip. Residents described explosions and gunfire east and north-east of the…

ARSENAL have barely put a foot wrong in the Premier League in 2024, but as the title race approaches the finish line they desperately need a favour from Fulham, who host relentless Manchester City today. Mikel Arteta’s Gunners, who travel to Manchester United, are one point clear at the top of the table with two matches to play, but Pep Guardiola’s men, crucially, have a game in hand. Nottingham Forest will take a huge step towards safety if they beat in-form Chelsea, who are battling Newcastle and Manchester United for a European spot. We look at three talking points ahead of the action. Arsenal cling to hope of City slip-up When the 2023/24 fixture list came out, tomorrow’s trip to Manchester United would have seemed a tricky task for Arsenal,…

THE Confederation of African Football (CAF) and UCT this week signed a ground-breaking memorandum of understanding in Cairo, Egypt. The momentous agreement will see CAF, the controlling body for association football in Africa, join forces with UCT, the continent’s leading university, to promote world-class administration in African football. Together, the duo will drive a programme for African football stakeholders that will expand their strategic acumen and strengthen their leadership capabilities. The key objectives of the programme will be to enhance the skills and expertise of football’s role-players within CAF’s 54 member associations. It will also contribute to the advancement and sustainability of African football. CAF general secretary Véron Mosengo-Omba said the initiative is in keeping with the quest by CAF president Patrice Motsepe to improve professionalism in African football.…

Internationally recognised South African thriller, Face Deep, due to be released in cinemas later this month, promises a gripping story that will leave viewers on the edge of their seats. Directed by visionary film-maker Vuyani Bila and produced by Mathabo Bila, it’s set to take viewers on a journey into the complicated lives of its characters. They include Luna (played by Lerato Walaza, pictured), whose idyllic life with her partner Noah (Phillip “Tipo” Tindisa), takes a dramatic turn when his long-lost daughter Bonnie (Mohau Sonny) reappears. As buried secrets resurface and tensions escalate, Luna finds herself confronting her past in a desperate bid to protect her secrets. Vuyani explained: “Through stunning visuals and gripping storytelling, we are excited for viewers to experience our latest work on the big screens." He…

An advertising spot that shows a South African flag in flames to represent our country’s destruction by the ANC. What an outrage! We should all unequivocally condemn this monstrous slur on the part of the DA. For starters, it’s untrue. We all know for a fact that long before the official symbol of the nation could go up in a puff of smoke, an ANC comrade would have stolen it. (Fortunately, there is always another comrade at hand to replace any charred or missing piece of coloured cloth by means of a corrupt multimillion-rand tender.) The television spot is a computer-generated depiction of a paper flag lying on what appears to be a grill. Over the course of some 33 seconds – as an off-camera voice warns that “life will…

While welcoming a new name for the street that houses its HQ, the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) said it was surprised at the missing “Marathon”. CMA chairperson Mqondisi Ngcobo said it was an honour that the City recognised Pietermaritzburg as the home of the ultimate human race, but the job was only half done. Connaught Street, long the headquarters for the ultra marathon, has been renamed Comrades Street, “acknowledging all who had been part of the race that transcends all boundaries,” said Ngcobo. He was addressing a small gathering of public representatives from Msunduzi Municipality, including council speaker Eunice Majola, acting City manager Sabelo Hlela and CMA officials, at the offices on Thursday. Ngcobo said it had been nearly three years since mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla committed to the change, and…

While the focus tomorrow will be on our moms (Happy Mother’s Day for tomorrow!), Tawanda Makusha looks at the other side of the equation, writing about the importance of fathers being present in their children’s lives at all stages of development on Page 5, where William Saunderson-Meyer also examines the brouhaha over the DA’s flag-burning ad. Then and Now (Page 4) goes down south and back in time to when Margate had its own sea monster, and on the same page we have the blues being sung in the Indian Ocean, off Seychelles. There’s more history on Page 8 in a series of old pictures of children with their “hidden mothers”, and we have an extract from Dr Roy Havemann’s book where he explains what we can learn from other…

Tired of cleaning up loads of muffin pans? Food vlogger Nagi (recipetineats.com) has a solution. This is a zucchini-loaded savoury cheese muffin in slab form, a handy big-batch recipe to serve lots of people without fussing with muffin tins (pain to clean). Consider it a zucchini slice, but more like a muffin than a frittata. Excellent shelf life of five days, economical to make, this will serve15 to 20 people and is great to tuck into lunch boxes or serve for morning tea. “Don’t be alarmed by the thickness of the batter, it gets a lot of moisture from the zucchini as it bakes,” Nagi writes. There is also a pizza version at recipetineats.com Preparation: 20 minutes Cooking: 40 minutes Serves 15-20 people What you need: 300g zucchinis (about 3,…

In Roy Havemann’s book How to Fix (unf*ck) a Country, he argues that after state capture, South Africa is not in a good place. The system is down. How do we reboot? We are not the first country to find itself in a difficult spot. China, India, South Korea, Vietnam and many others have gone from being economic basket cases to powerhouses, lifting millions out of poverty. So how can we pick ourselves up and fix things? In this book, Roy Havemann argues that we need to focus on six basic “E”s: Eskom, Education, Environment, Exports, Ethics and Equality. He lays out how to practically learn from other countries’ achievements and mistakes: for example, how China, Greece and Colombia solved load shedding, how South American countries are dealing with inequality…

KATELYN Johnson’s mother was diagnosed with cancer during her PhD studies and, being the only child of a single parent, she had to take care of her mom. However, it did not derail her ambitions and this week she graduated with a doctorate in civil engineering from UKZN, the first coloured woman to do so. Johnson’s PhD research involved estimating extreme rainfalls for guidance when designing and constructing hydraulic structures such as dams, culverts and stormwater drainage to withstand flood events under a changing climate. “With the magnitude and frequency of extreme rainfall and flood events changing in South Africa and globally, it’s important to understand the impact on existing infrastructure as well as the design of new infrastructure,” she said. Johnson said climate change had an impact on the…

The Durban FilmMart Institute has announced the projects and participants for the 17th edition of Talents Durban, taking place during the Durban FilmMart from July 19-22. Included in this year’s line-up are participants from 15 African countries, who collectively reflect the continent’s diversity of emerging film professionals. The selection process was highly competitive, with a record 499 applications resulting in the choice of 26 distinctive projects and 4 film critics, each bringing a fresh perspective to features, documentaries, shorts, series, animation, and film criticism. Selected Talents will participate in project-oriented, hands-on skills development programmes. These include sessions such as Story Junction, where participants present their projects to producers and financiers, alongside masterclasses and one-on-one mentor- ship opportunities. Mounia Aram, Jihane Bougrine, Hawa Essuman, Yanis Gaye, Karabo Lediga, Carol Kioko, Beverly…

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has condemned the burning of the South African flag in an advert produced for the elections this month by the leading opposition party, the DA. Commission spokesperson Wisani Baloyi said the commission was alarmed by behaviours that include the desecration of national symbols. He said the burning of the national flag was a grave violation that went against democratic ideals and seriously risked social peace and security. “The commission is concerned that these utterances, statements and conduct may lead to related hostilities as South Africans head to the polls. “Although freedom of expression is sacrosanct and enshrined in the Constitution, the commission holds that speech that seeks to enrage, coupled with xenophobia; hate speech; and incite violence, as we head to the polls…

Hectic last-ditch talks aimed at striking a landmark global agreement on handling future pandemics rolled into the final day yesterday with a deal still up in the air. Two years of work on drafting an international accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response are coming to a crunch to find a consensus. In December 2021, the raw pain of Covid-19 – which killed millions, shredded economies and crippled health systems – motivated countries to seek a binding framework of commitments aimed at preventing another such disaster. However, big differences emerged on how to go about it – fractures which still had not been healed by yesterday. World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus voiced optimism that the talks would be successful and conclude an agreement ready to be formally adopted…

MANCHESTER United’s owners understand that numerous injuries have contributed to the club’s poor season, coach Erik ten Hag said yesterday, as British media reports continue to speculate about the Dutchman’s future at Old Trafford. Ten Hag’s team have struggled in the Premier League, sitting eighth in the standings on 54 points with three matches remaining. They have reached the FA Cup final where they face Manchester City, but even a win at Wembley may not save Ten Hag. However, the 54-year-old believes owners of the club, including new co-owner Jim Ratcliffe, understand why they have suffered. “The (owners) have common sense,” Ten Hag told reporters yesterday, ahead of hosting Arsenal in the league tomorrow. “You see when we have 32 different back lines, we’ve used 13 partnerships in centre half,…

CRICKET South Africa announced yesterday that Hilton Moreeng will not be renewing his contract, ending an 11-year stay with the Proteas Women cricket team. Assistant coach Dillon du Preez will take charge of the team on an interim basis with director of cricket Enoch Nkwe confirming they will look to fill the vacant post before the World Cup. Moreeng guided the Proteas Women to their first ever T20 World Cup final, their first ever in any format (for both men and women), when they fell short by 19 runs against Australia in Cape Town last year. Moreeng also led South Africa to a historic first ever ODI win away to Australia. Nkwe confirmed the offer was on the table for Moreeng to continue, but the 46-year-old felt his time was…