Hadeda News - 14 April 2023

Operation Phakisa Executed In The Coastal Areas Of The Namakwa District

The multi-disciplinary operation Phakisa commenced over the Easter weekend from 06 to 10 April 2023 in Port Nolloth, Kleinsee,Groenrivier, Alexander Bay and Hondeklipbaai.

The focus area addressed this quarter included illegal activities in relation to marine related crimes by monitoring and ensuring strict compliance of the prescribed fishing regulations.

During this period the public was authorized to engage in recreational fishing permitting them to possess and transport a prescibed amount of fishing resources that include mussels, limpets, oysters etc. , a maximum of four West Coast rock lobster fish (crayfish) per permit was allowed.

Secondly, to prevent harvesting and poaching of marine resourcing, including temparing of important infrastructure which results in substantial economic losses and lastly ;

To enforce the law on any other criminality happening during this

period.

The multi-disciplinary operations were executed under the overall Command of Colonel Kholakele Sontsi, the Provincial Commander for Public Order Police (POP) andTactical ResponseTeam (TRT) Units, supported by Mr Thulani Mthombeni from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment as well as Mr Errol Swartbooi from the Department ofAgriculture, Environmental Affairs, Rural Development and Land Reform assisted by the Tactical Commander, Captain James Peters who actively participated in the planned actions.

Teams from different Departments and Entities, including Department of Water and Sanitation, SARS Customs Unit and SAN Parks executed the disruptive actions.

Actions and activities executed during the commencement of the operations included, compliance inspections, vehicle check points

UPINGTON

(VCP's), stop and searches, foot patrols along the coastal areas and raids at identified houses for illegal drugs and other commodity smuggling.

Nine (09) vehicle check points were conducted on the Port Nolloth /Alexander Bay road and the Port Nolloth / Kleinzee road during which 214 vehicles and 504 persons werestopped and searched.

Anumber of operational successes were achieved: 110 fishing permits were inspected at harbours, camping sites and launching pads visited by the multi-disciplinary law enforcement officials for which fines to the value of R18 000 were issued for the contravention of the Marine Living Resources Act as well as the National Environmental ManagementAct.

Anumber of road traffic offences fines to the value of R5 300 were also issued.

The multi-disciplinary team also searched and seized dagga and

Tik to the value of R4 808 and R1 020 cash that is believed to be the proceeds of crime.Three suspects were arrested for dealing in drugs and will appear in the Kleinsee and Port Nolloth Magistrate Courts soon.Mullet and West Coast rock lobster fish to the value of R2 500 were also seized.

The Provincial Commander of POPandTRTUnits, Colonel Kholakele Sontsi thanked all members and stakeholders involved in the protection of the marine resources and environment.

He expressed his appreciation to the public (tourists and or campers) who fully co-operated with the inspecting law enforcement officials.

He also warned those intending to break the law, to desist from temparing with essential infrastructure as signage and notice boards erected at the coastal sites were removed or vandalised.

Die skryf van kortverhale

Wenke van Welbekende Gepubliseerde Skrywer - Annerle Barnard

slegte goed met hulle karakters laat gebeur om te wys van watter stoffasie die karakters gemaak is. ‘n Kortverhaal kan nie te veel spanning hê nie.

Vermy keel skoonmaak

In ‘n kortverhaal is daar nie tyd om die agtergrond of karakters te beskryf nie. Gebruik in media res, klim in jou storie in en suggereer agtergrondsinligting, ens. om jou leser aan die dink te sit.

hou?

Menige skrywer reken dat dit moeiliker is om ‘n kortverhaal as ‘n roman te skryf. Wat is die verskil tussen die twee? Bloot wat die lengte betref is daar ‘n verskil. Kortverhale is normaalweg enigiets tussen 1 500 en 10 000 woorde terwyl ‘n roman ten minste 50 000 woorde in beslag neem. ‘n Storie van 100 woorde word as mikrofiksie beskou en dis seker een van die heel moeilikste tipes stories om te skryf, maar dis ‘n briljante skryfoefening.

Watter belangrike aspekte moet jy in gedagte neem wanneer jy kortverhale skryf?

Sny jou storie tot op die been

Wenke: die skryf van kortverhale Jy het nie woorde om mee te mors nie. Sny daarom enige irrelevante besonderhede. Indien dit nie tot jou plot of karakterisering bydra nie, raak daarvan ontslae. Ook fokus kortverhale (in teenstelling met romans) slegs op een aspek van ‘n karakter se lewe of een aspek van ‘n probleem.

In media res

Vermy vreeslike lang vooraf verduidelikings en mooiskrywery. Begin so na aan die einde as moontlik. Gebruik jou inleidende sinne en paragrawe om die leser te haak en in te katrol.

Omdat kortverhale naby die einde begin, moet jou storie reeds aan die beweeg wees wanneer dit die leser tref. Dit moet die leser meesleur en die tempo versnel gewoonlik wanneer die protagonis die finale konflik nader. Moenie jou leser verveel nie.

Voorbeeld:

“Ek kan nie glo dat prinses Diana gisteraand dood is nie.”

Susan laat val haar teekoppie. “Ek het nie geweet nie.”

Min karakters

Daar is nie tyd of plek om ‘n groot hoeveelheid karakters te ontwikkel nie. ‘n Kortverhaal kan so min as een karakter hê, maar het nie meer as drie karakters nodig nie.

Handhaaf die tempo vs. Konflik

Sonder konflik het jy nie ‘n storie nie. Die konflik kan innerlik, uiterlik of beide wees. Konflik stuur stories. Dit is die enjin van jou storie. Vir ‘n kortverhaal is een punt van konflik voldoende. Rooikappie sal dus nie ‘n vete met die wolf en die houtkapper en die burgermeester en die bouer hê nie. Haar vete met die wolf is voldoende.

Kurt Vonnegut reken dat skrywers sadiste moet wees. Hulle moet

Maak seker dat jy die dialoog effektief gebruik en dat dit die storie dra en voortstuur. Dit moet karakteriseer en die plot dryf. Onthou, dit wat nié gesê word nie, kan baie belangrik wees. Sny die dooie hout en maak seker die dialoog dra gewig.

Voorbeeld:

“Vertel my van jou beste vriend. Watter tipe mens was hy?”

vs. “Jou beste vriend was ‘n wetter, nè?”

Mik vir die hart

Selfs al is jou storie kort, moet dit steeds soos ‘n vuishou verpak wees. Die leser moet daardeur geraak word: maak nie saak of dit die leser laat lag, bly maak, kwaad maak of hartseer laat voel nie.

Een van die heel beste kortverhale ooit, is een van Heinrich Böll wat ek in 1991/1992 gelees het. Ek onthou nie al die besonderhede nie, maar ek onthou die verskriklike ontnugtering wat ek aan die einde van die verhaal ervaar het.

‘nAnder een van Franz Kafka het my sprakeloos hartseer gelaat.

Dialoog Mik vir die leser se hart.

‘n Protagonis waarvoor die leser omgee Indien jou leser vere vir jou protagonis voel, gaan jou storie nie slaag nie. Hoe maak jy seker dat die leser van jou protagonis sal

Gee vir jou protagonis ‘n passie: iets wat sy/hy hopelik met die leser in gemeen sal hê. Gee vir die protagonis iets wat haar/hom uit hulle gemaksone neem. Dit moet vir hierdie karakter uiters belangrik wees. InThe Hunger Games, byvoorbeeld, probeer Katniss Everdeen haar suster red deur aan te bied om in haar plek aan die spele deel te neem. In Spel, weet Lukas Brandt hy moet die transterrane en kuborge vermy, maar hulle het sy broer, Daniël, ontvoer. Hy gaan soek na sy broer al weet hy dat dit lewensgevaarlik is. Hy is só gedetermineerd om sy broer te red dat hy bereid is om sy gemaksone te verlaat en gevaar in die oë te staar

Gee vir jou karakter ‘n swakheid wat sy/hy hopelik met die leser sal deel: Lukas Brandt in Spel stoei metADHD, Paul Rudman in Sweepslag en Sindikaat stoei met major depressie en angs.

Gebruik al vyf sintuie

Moenie lesers tot die visuele beperk nie.Trek hulle in jou wêreld in: laat hulle voel, ruik, hoor en proe. Die leser moet ervaar. Dis wat bedoel word met “wys, moenie vertel nie.”

“Hy vee die slaap uit sy oë uit. Die reuk van spek en eiers op die stoof het sy drome verdryf.”

Redigeer, redigeer, redigeer! Raak van oortollige byvoeglike naamwoorde en bywoorde ontslae.

Kombineer karakters waar moontlik.

Wys, moenie vertel nie.

Laat elke sin tel.

Raak van oorgangstonele ontslae.

Raak ontslae van herhaling.

Die skryf van kortverhale

Besluit hoeveel van die agtergrondsinligting is regtig noodsaaklik. Beperk storielyne, asook die hoeveelheid karakters en beperk die konflik tot slegs een gebeurtenis.

Lekker skryf.

Mariska0825728366

Christelle 0636968287

Ancois0782764011

Elretha0835616705

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1 k Water

2 eetl Botter 5ml Vanielje

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Meng meel, bakpoeier, asyn, appelkooskonfyt en sout bymekaar

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Sous Metode:

Bring alles tot kookpunt en gooi kokende stroop oor die warm poeding wat direk uit die oond uit kom. Prik ‘n

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Wenke:

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Bron: Facebook / Recipe Thieves / Het jy geweet? Lekker resepte en wenke

Mining Company With Russian, ANC Links Mum On War With SARS

Alocal mining company still hurting from a major court loss in its battle with SouthAfrican Revenue Service (Sars) Commissioner Edward Kieswetter is tight-lipped about whether it will fight on or fold and settle with the tax agency

“With reference to your queries regarding the Sars litigation, kindly note that United Manganese of Kalahari (UMK) does not have any comment to make at this point in time,” UMK company secretary as well as its legal and compliance officer, Ori Phayane told Sunday World in an email reply

Kieswetter has smacked UMK, which mines manganese in the Northern Cape, with a R351-million extra tax bill, which the company has so far fought tooth and nail.

UMK is partly owned by Russian oligarch and billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who lives in Moscow, and theANC’s investment vehicle, Chancellor House, also has a stake in the company The US government has issued sanctions against Vekselberg.

Forbes estimates that at the end of March, he was worth $6.7bn (R120bn), which made him the world’s 360th most wealthy person.

The events that led to the extra tax bill started in March 2017 when Sars issued a letter to UMK and indicated that it would audit the company for the 2011, 2012 and 2013 tax years.

Then, in January 2020, Sars issued UMK with an assessment letter stating that it would increase the company’s tax bill by R351-million.

As a result, in February 2020, UMK instituted legal action against Sars in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to set aside the extra assessments. However, the high court dismissed that application and ruled that the tax court should adjudicate the dispute.

UMK then applied to the Supreme Court ofAppeal (SCA) to set aside the high court’s ruling.Three SCA judges heard the matter on 22 February

However, this month, those judges found that the SCAlacks jurisdiction to review the matter

“It follows that the appeal must fail, and it is accordingly dismissed with costs,” the SCAjudges ruled.

UMK will have to move swiftly if it

wants to lodge an appeal against the SCAruling. The UMK shareholders established the company in 2005, and according to its website, it is South Africa’s fourth-largest manganese producer

Vekselberg holds his interest in UMK via a Cyprus-registered entity called NewAfrican Manganese Investments (Nami), which owns a 49% stake in UMK, according to amaBhungane.

Majestic SilverTrading is a consortium that includes Chancellor House, PitsaYa Setshaba Holdings and a Kalahari community trust, and owns 51% of UMK. Chancellor House managing director Mogopodi Mokoena is the chair of UMK’s board.

UMK has been a significant donor to theANC, given its strong political links to the party

According to the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) party funding disclosure report issued in late February, UMK donated R30million to theANC in the IEC’s 2023 financial year, comprising a declared donation of R15-million and R15-million in-kind donation.

“The [in-kind] donation from UMK

was a payment made on behalf of the party to the Johannesburg Expo Centre for theANC elective conference of December 2022,” the IEC noted.

During the IEC’s 2022 financial year, UMK made significant donations to theANC, the IEC added.

The US Department ofTreasury sanctioned Vekselberg inApril 2018 and again in March last year after Russia invaded Ukraine. However, Nami’s shareholding in UMK of under 50% means it will not get sanctioned by the US government. US laws state that a company in which a sanctioned individual owns over 50% is liable for sanctions.

Spanish police and the FBI inApril 2022 seized Vekselberg’s $90million superyachtTango in Spain.

The Spanish police acted following a request from the US government for assistance after the issuance of a seizure warrant filed in a US court, which alleged that theTango was subject to forfeiture based on violation of US bank fraud laws, money laundering, and sanction statutes, the US Department of Justice said in a statement at the time. - Sunday World

United Manganese of Kalahari, Russian ANC Links, Huge Tax Bill

Alocal mining company still hurting from a major court loss in its battle with SouthAfrican Revenue Service (Sars) Commissioner Edward Kieswetter is tight-lipped about whether it will fight on or fold and settle with the tax agency

With reference to your queries regarding the Sars litigation, kindly note that United Manganese of Kalahari (UMK) does not have any comment to make at this point in time,” UMK company secretary as well as its legal and compliance officer, Ori Phayane told Sunday World in an email reply

Kieswetter has smacked UMK, which mines manganese in the

Northern Cape, with a R351million extra tax bill, which the company has so far fought tooth and nail.

UMK is partly owned by Russian oligarch and billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who lives in Moscow, and theANC’s investment vehicle, Chancellor House, also has a stake in the company The US government has issued sanctions against Vekselberg. The events that led to the extra tax bill started in March 2017

Forbes estimates that at the end of March, he was worth $6.7bn (R120bn), which made him the world’s 360th most wealthy person.

when Sars issued a letter to UMK and indicated that it would audit the company for the 2011, 2012 and 2013 tax years. As a result, in February 2020, UMK instituted legal action against Sars in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to set aside the extra assessments. However, the high court dismissed that application and ruled that the tax court should adjudicate the dispute.

UMK then applied to the Supreme Court ofAppeal (SCA) to set aside the high court’s ruling.Three SCA judges heard the matter on 22 February

Then, in January 2020, Sars issued UMK with an assessment letter stating that it would increase the company’s tax bill by R351-million.

However, this month, those judges found that the SCAlacks jurisdiction to review the matter.

“It follows that the appeal must fail, and it is accordingly dismissed with costs,” the SCA judges ruled.

UMK will have to move swiftly if it wants to lodge an appeal against the SCAruling.

Continued to page 13

The UMK shareholders

Continued

from page

established the company in 2005, and according to its website, it is SouthAfrica’s fourth-largest manganese producer.

Vekselberg holds his interest in UMK via a Cyprus-registered entity called NewAfrican Manganese Investments (Nami), which owns a 49% stake in UMK, according to amaBhungane.

Majestic SilverTrading is a consortium that includes Chancellor House, PitsaYa Setshaba Holdings and a Kalahari community trust, and owns 51% of UMK. Chancellor House managing director

UMK has been a significant donor to theANC, given its strong political links to the party.

Mogopodi Mokoena is the chair of UMK’s board. According to the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) party funding disclosure report issued in late February,

UMK donated R30-million to theANC in the IEC’s 2023 financial year, comprising a declared donation of R15million and R15-million inkind donation.

“The [in-kind] donation from UMK was a payment made on

behalf of the party to the Johannesburg Expo Centre for theANC elective conference of December 2022,” the IEC noted.

During the IEC’s 2022 financial year, UMK made significant donations to theANC, the IEC added.

The US Department ofTreasury sanctioned Vekselberg inApril 2018 and again in March last year after Russia invaded Ukraine.

However, Nami’s shareholding in UMK of under 50% means it will not get sanctioned by the US government. US laws state

that a company in which a sanctioned individual owns over 50% is liable for sanctions. Spanish police and the FBI in April 2022 seized Vekselberg’s $90-million superyachtTango in Spain.

Copper from Former O’kiep Copper Mine at Nababeep

COPPER 360 has finally released its pre-listing statement (PLS) after getting approval from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and will list on the JSE’sAltX sector onApril 21 after raising up to R152.4m through a private placement of 38.1 million shares.

While much of the business strategy outlined in the PLS runs as per previously communicated by Copper 360, it does include the name of an interesting and surprising new investor

The copper junior has been created through merger of the extensive Northern Cape copper rights and projects controlled by mining entrepreneur Shirley Hayes’s SHIPmining company and the SX-EW (solvent extraction – electro-winning) plant set up by Jan Nelson to recover copper from dump material on the site of the former O’kiep Copper Mine at Nababeep.

Hayes is the chairman and controlling shareholder in Copper 360 while Nelson – the former CEO of PanAfrican Resources – is the CEO.

Its short term plans are to push

copper cathode production from the SX-EW plant from the current 50 tons a month to 660t/month of copper cathode and copper metal in concentrate over the next three years.

That metal will come from the current surface esources at the Nababeep plant as well as from the first of the planned new operations on the ground

controlled by SHIPwhich is the Rietberg mine.

The 19,000 hectares of mineral rights held by SHIPto the north of the town of Springbok contains 12 former copper mines and 60 copper prospects. SHIP’s original plans were to mine this area on a modular basis setting up a series of small mines which would have their production treated through a central processing plant.

Three critical aspects revealed in the PLS are the identity of Copper360’s new backer as well as just how seriously the company is taking the social challenges of operating amongst the impoverished Northern Cape communities and the extent to which Nelson has “skin in the game”.

The new backer is the Ekapa Consortium in which the key shareholder is former trade unionist and politician Marcel Golding who subsequently went into business co-founding Hosken Consolidated Investments.

Ekapa’s CEO is Jan Hohne who runs Kimberley Ekapa Minerals (KEM) which employs 1,500 workers recovering diamonds from surface dumps and underground operations around Kimberley

Ekapa will become a 15% shareholder in Copper 360.

“Ekapa were keen to diversify their business. We were keen to have them on board because of their skill sets in mining and processing – in particular upgrading surface material –

which we believe could help our operations”.

As a performance guarantee Nelson has struck a private agreement to sell Ekapa 10 million of his own Copper 360 shares at a price of one cent each “in the event that Copper 360 produces less than 7740t of copper metal over the period of date of listing to February 28 2025 placing his personal wealth at risk in order to secure the Ekapa consortium’s participation in the funding of the group.”

Then Copper 360 has appointed QuintonAdams as an independent non-executive director Adams is a psychologist – and former professor at the University of Stellenbosch – who is a legend in the Western Cape because of his pioneering social work amongst the Coloured communities.

He has designed, built and delivered shacks to poor communities in his personal capacity for which work he has been recognised as a “South African Hero” by eTV. He has also carried out research into crime amongst some of the most dangerous communities on the Cape Flats.

Nelson saidAdams involvement will be crucial in helping Copper 360 deal with social issues in the Northern Cape where impoverished communities are often “anti-mining” because of previous experiences with the mining companies that have operated in the region.MiningMx

Marcel Golding, now backing Copper 360

Kom Skou Saam Met Ons in Upington

A.W.S. Saterdag 14 April in Pabelllo Upington

DieAWS span is Saterdag 15April in Pabalello = plek sal ons deurgee sodra bevestig. Ons beplan om 8.30 te begin - omdat dit soggens begin koeler raak - begin ons effens later as gewoonlik Ons sal dip en ontwurm en kos sal uitgegee word aan diere wat ons besoek -- solank voorraad hou

KODA, Masekane Arts - Andriesvale

Recently Koda had the privilege of assisting MasakhaneArts Center in their outreach program to the Andriesvale community, where they handed out clothing to the community and goodie bags to the kids while teaching them to bead with nothing but paper and string.

That's not all - the team also visited one of the chief leaders of the Khoisan and performed impactful drama and poetry pieces that brought attention to the struggles of the Upington 26 under and other important socioeconomic issues.

It was truly heartwarming to see the joy on the children's faces as they learned new skills and as they received their gifts.Their parents were deeply moved by the drama and poetry and could not stop thanking the actors for such a marvelous and insightful performance.

We are so grateful to have been part of this initiative and we look forward to continuing to support MasakhaneArts Center and other organizations in their mission to bring positive change.

Koda is eager to join forces/ collaborate with other organizations to create a strong network focused on positive change in the Northern Cape and beyond. Let us collaborate and build a better future together!

By working together, we can amplify our impact and make a difference in the lives of those in need. Thank you.

FJ Booysen, our Treasurer FJ Booysen Treasurer

Bou Met Poort Beton in 2023

Het u al die materiaal wat u benodig om u projek suksesvol af te handel ?

Moenie onkant gevang word nie

Skoonmaak van Upington Muurbalbane Bel ons Vandag vir die Skoonmaak van jou Perseel of Gebou

Flying to Namibia's Shipwreck Lodge - which, given its total isolation, is the most convenient way to arrive - is a bewildering but spectacular experience.

Depending on your starting point, you'll likely have coasted above Namibian landscapes for over an hour - gawking at scenes that shift effortlessly from city to savannah to rutted canyons to stark soaring sand dunes.

At best, in terms of civilisation, your aerial perspective may have given you a sighting of a small, likely nomadic, village. Or perhaps a solitary lodge set at the foot of a towering mountain. Or a lone road cutting through a sandy desert floor that disappears into a shimmer on the horizon.And more than once, you may have wondered how luxury tourism, the kind Shipwreck Lodge is famous for, can exist so far from anywhere.

About 90 minutes into the flight, the small Cessna's altitude dropped. I peered over the pilot's shoulder, trying - and failing - to pick out the runway from the stark gravel surface below. Instead, I gazed out my own window and watched the once-distant scenery pull sharply into focus.

With most travel in Namibia, the journey is touted to be as much a part of the experience as the destination. Usually, it's a neat trick that self-driving overlanders play on themslves to justify the vast distances on corrugated roads.And to be fair, the scenery en route is often as impressive as the desolate campsite at the other end.

But this isn't the case with the painfully photogenic Shipwreck Lodge. It rises like a mythical oasis at the foot of the country's most dramatic dunes and, in many ways, is a destination

within itself.

The luxury lodge is the only of its kind in the 500km long Skeleton Coast National Park, better known for more rustic alternatives.And its unique design and seemingly bizarre placement made it an instant icon when it opened five years ago.

Nina MaritzArchitects designed the lodge to resemble the less habitable wrecks that litter the hostile Skeleton Coast. It's built from sustainable wood and can, in theory, be removed entirely without leaving a trace on the landscape despite its apparent permanence.

There are just ten rooms, which fan out parallel to the coastline on an elevated dune. Each resembles a small wreck of its own and is named after one of the roughly 500 actual ships foundered on the coastline.

Inside are king-size beds with lavish throws and more pillows than you'll need - including one perfectly positioned to prop up your head so you can fully appreciate the views.

views - but it'll quickly shift to the large, luxurious rain shower

Given the tiny home nature of the rooms, it's tempting to kick back with a book and a crackling fire and remain relatively docile. Which is totally acceptable. But then the views from the flight or drive in will surface in your mind, and you'll find yourself emptying sand from your shoes, lacing them up, and casually strolling the boardwalk back to the common area, where all the action starts.

Guests eat most meals in the main dining area, which on one side also has a fully-stocked bar, coffee station, and lounge with Wifi connectivity You may be a day's dirt road drive from the nearest city, but that doesn't stop you from eating meals prepared with the freshest ingredients - or your phone pinging in your pocket with an update from home.

If the weather turns, as it has the potential in this wild and sometimes windswept destination, it's easy to envisage a day spent hunkering down in the central section and playing board games on the plush window-side sofas.

But, polite as he was, Shipwreck Lodge guide Imanuel Mbuale, who introduced himself as Imms, was eager to showcase what he loves about his Skeleton Coast office.

"This is just such a beautiful part of Namibia and the world," Imms said of the Skeleton Coast. "There's something about the oceans and the dunes, and how much sometimes invisible life can sustain itself between them, that makes it incredibly special."

On a walk across the dunes, Imms showcased this life - in small beetles scampering over the sand, succulent plant leaves fed on by thirsty antelope, and footprints of brown hyenas, jackals, springboks, and even elephants.

the dunes that rise up behind the lodge, your thumb alone gets you to a place where they fully envelop and disorientate you thanks to their vast windinduced swirls - and where you can whoop with joy or terror and have no one hear you.

After 30 minutes of long, fast flats, skirting the edge of dune lips, and dipping down into their shadows, Imms slowed before a dune peak so steep nothing but blue sky was visible on the other side. He motioned for us to switch off and walk cautiously to its edge.

"We'll take it slowly with the engines off, sitting backwards on both brakes," he said, peering down the precipice. "Listen to the rumble of the sand beneath you as you make your way down. It's incredible."

It wasn't a joke. Imms casually rolled his four-wheeler off the top of the dune and rapidly miniaturised some 50 metres below before motioning for the next person to follow

As static and undisturbed as life along the Skeleton Coast may seem - there are wrecks decades old that bear little written history and whale bones that lie equally undisturbed - no two days there are alike.

Winds pick up and subside, coastal fog drifts in and out from the horizon, and shifting sands that can reveal bones and relics also conceal the morning's footprints and tire tracks.

As a result, the best Skeleton Coast itineraries are also equally changeable.

"My plan this evening was to take you to my favourite viewpoint," he said. "But one of our desert-adapted elephants has finally returned to the lodge. So if you don't mind, I think we should go and find him."

The lodge is solar-powered and hundreds of kilometres off the grid, so there's no fridge or kettle in the rooms - but a flask of boiling water in your ship's galley, really an interlude between the bedroom and the bathroom, allows you to make a perfectly good cup of tea or coffee.

And after the galley is an ensuite bathroom, where your attention will first move towards eye-level portholes with ocean

Adaybed adjacent to the angled windows also catches afternoon sunlight.And, close by, a woodburning stove will keep you warm or just set the mood, if necessary Within

"It's equally a place of death," he said, pointing to the weathered bones of an oryx. "Hence the park's name."

Slow scenic walks are an everyday activity at the lodge, but to gain a true appreciation for the scale of the Skeleton Coast there's only one way to explore - astride a growling quad bike.

These elephants, Imms explained, walk dozens of kilometres through dry inland river beds in their deceased mother's footsteps to reach the Shipwreck Lodge. Quite why, they're not entirely sure - but Imms believes it's partly for nostalgic purposes.

"He remembers where his mother left the supplies," Imms said with a rye grin. "So he's really here to pick up the milk and cornflakes before returning inland for a few weeks.”

Views from the flight to Shipwreck Lodge are dramatic. (Photo: Andrew Thompson)

continues from pg 28

So with the original evening plans happily scuppered, we hopped aboard the Land Cruiser and went in search of the lone bull.And although he may have inexplicably walked across hostile lands in his mother's footsteps for days, he also inadvertently offered the perfect send-off from what must be one of the world's most remote and remarkable lodges.

Travelling to the Shipwreck Lodge

of which expand to family units that sleep three.

It's possible to self-drive to the lodge pickup point in Möwe Bay, but the most convenient commute is via light aircraft from Windhoek or Swakopmund, which can be arranged directly with Natural Selection via Desert Air

Natural Selection offers discounted rates toAfrican residents through their Explorer's Club.

FONDSINSAMELING TENBATE VAN GRA AD R

There are 10 double or twin rooms at Shipwreck Lodge, two

AndrewThompson was a guest of Natural Selection. - News24

Shipwreck Lodge Rooms are designed to resemble mini marooned boats. (Photo: Andrew Thompson)

Quad biking on the dunes of the Skeleton Coast.

(Photo: Andrew Thompson)

Lone elephants walk dozens of kilometres to feed on the fresh greens by the river mouth. (Photo: Andrew Thompson)

Accredited

Platfontein Community Outside Kimberley Without Power After Girl’s Electrocution

Electricity supply has been cut-off indefinitely in Platfontein and parts of GalesheweTownship in Kimberley in the Northern Cape.

This after a young girl was electrocuted allegedly by illegally connected power cables on the road in Platfontein on Saturday afternoon.

Sol Plaatje Municipality Spokesperson, Thoko Riet says investigations are still under way

“Due to a tragic incident of a young girl who got electrocuted and sadly passed away, the power has been switched off. Platfontein and parts of Galeshewe are without electricity currently until forensics have completed their investigation at the scene where the incident occurred.”-sabc

Alocal resident and her child from the Platfontein Community that have endless service delivery problems

New telescopes with unprecedented sensitivity and resolution are being unveiled around the world –and beyond.Among them are the Giant Magellan Telescope under construction in Chile, and the James Webb Space Telescope, which is parked a million and a half kilometres out in space.

This means there is a wealth of data available to scientists that simply wasn’t there before.The raw data off just a single observation from the MeerKATradio telescope in SouthAfrica’s Northern Cape province can measure a terabyte.That’s enough to fill a laptop computer’s hard drive. MeerKATis an array of 64 large antenna dishes. It uses radio signals from space to study the evolution of the universe and everything it contains –galaxies, for example. Each dish is said to generate as much data in one second as you’d find on a DVD.

Machine learning is helping astronomers to work through this data quickly and more accurately than poring over it manually. Perhaps surprisingly, despite increasing reliance on computers, up until recently the discovery of rare or new astrophysical phenomena has completely relied on human inspection of the data.

Machine learning is essentially a set of algorithms designed to automatically learn patterns and models from data. Because we astronomers aren’t sure what we’re going to find – we don’t know what we don’t know – we also design algorithms to look out for anomalies that don’t fit known parameters or “labels”.

This approach allowed my colleagues and I to spot a previously overlooked object in data from MeerKAT. It sits some seven billion light years from Earth (a light year is a measure of how far light would travel in a year). From what we know of the object

so far, it has many of the makings of what’s known as an Odd Radio Circle (ORC).

Odd Radio Circles are identifiable by their strange, ring-like structure. Only a handful of these circles have been detected since the first discovery in 2019, so not much is known about them yet.

In a new paper we outline the features of our potential Odd Radio Circle, which we’ve named SAURON (a Steep and Uneven Ring Of Non-thermal Radiation).

SAURON is, to our knowledge, the first scientific discovery made in MeerKAT data with machine learning. (There have been a handful of other discoveries assisted by machine learning in astronomy.)

Not only is discovering something new incredibly exciting, new discoveries are critical for challenging our understanding of the cosmos.These new objects may match our theories of how galaxies form and evolve, or we may need to change how we see the universe. New discoveries of anomalous astrophysical objects help science to make progress.

Identifying anomalies

We spotted SAURON in data from the MeerKATGalaxy Cluster Legacy Survey The survey is a programme of observations conducted with SouthAfrica’s MeerKAT telescope, a precursor to the Square KilometreArray The array is a global project to build the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope within the coming decade, co-located in South Africa andAustralia.

The survey was conducted between June 2018 and June 2019. It zeroed in on some 115 galaxy clusters, each made up of hundreds or even thousands of galaxies.

That’s a lot of data to sift through – which is where machine learning comes in.

We developed and used a coding framework which we calledAstronomaly to sort through the data. Astronomaly ranked unknown objects according to an anomaly scoring system.The human team then manually evaluated the 200 anomalies that interested us most. Here, we drew on vast collective expertise to make sense of the data.

It was during this part of the process that we identified SAURON. Instead of having to look at 6,000 individual images, we only had to look through the first 60 that Astronomaly flagged as anomalous to pick up SAURON.

But the question remains: what, exactly, have we found?

Is SAURON an Odd Radio Circle?

We know very little about Odd Radio Circles. It is currently thought that their bright, blast-like emission is the wreckage of a huge explosion in their host galaxies.

The name SAURON captures the fundamentals of the object’s make-up. “Steep” refers to its spectral slope, indicating that at higher radio frequencies the “source” (or object) very quickly grows fainter. “Ring” refers to the shape.And the “Non-Thermal Radiation” refers to the type of radiation, suggesting that there must be particles accelerating in powerful

magnetic fields. SAURON is at least 1.2 million light years across, about 20 times the size of the Milky Way

But SAURON doesn’t tick all the right boxes for us to say that it’s definitely an Odd Radio Circle. We detected a host galaxy but can find no evidence of radio emissions with the wavelengths and frequency that match those of host galaxies of the other known ORCs.

JAnd even though SAURON has a number of features in common with Odd Radio Circle1 – the first Odd Radio Circle spotted – it differs in others. Its strange shape and its oddly behaving magnetic fields don’t align well with the main structure.

One of the most exciting possibilities is that SAURON is a remnant of the explosive merger of two supermassive black holes.These are incredibly dense objects at the centre of galaxies such as our Milky Way that could cause a massive explosion when galaxies collide.

More to come

More investigation is required to unravel the mystery. Meanwhile, machine learning is quickly becoming an indispensable tool to find more strange objects by sorting through enormous datasets from telescopes. With this tool, we can expect to unveil more of what the universe is hiding.The Conversation - Michelle Lochner, Senior Lecturer in Astronomy, University of the Western Cape - SA People

SAURON: radio intensity (purple) from MeerKAT overlaid on an optical image from the Dark Energy Survey. Michelle Lochner / The Dark Energy Survey Collaboration 2005

Eerste vir STAAL

Saracens

Rugby

Hero Jacques Burger Talks Stepping Away From The Sport And Embarking On His Incredible New Career Farming In The Middle Of The Kalahari Desert

your way. Namibian dollars aren’t as good as the pound! But the quality of life is good.You spend a lot of time with the kids, your own boss, out in nature. It’s unique, man.’

He stands by the window and points out the perimeter of his 5,700-hectare plot, stretching about six miles into the distance, beyond the dunes.There are sheep, springbok, oryx and kudu.

our second home, but we wanted to bring up our kids back in Namibia.

Head south out of Windhoek centre, swerving round the roadside baboons, and within 10 minutes you reach theAuas Mountains.They are split open by the meandering B1 highway that joins up with Robert Mugabe Avenue.An arid oasis of camel thorn trees and flowering aloe plants, rich green having sucked every last drop of water out of the dry and dusty hillside.

In the driver’s seat is Johan, a retired wildlife photographer who knows the area inside out. He pulls over at the petrol station on the edge of town, heading straight for the meat counter where he picks up a kilo of droewors. ‘Dried sausage,’he explains, handing one over. ‘Just a snack!’

Get back in the 4x4 and you pass an ostrich farm on the righthand side, marking the start of the long and open road.The next town, a small Baster community made up of German Namibians, is 62 miles away. Our destination is even further. 250 miles.

Johan plays Soweto Sounds on the CD player and tells stories about being chased by black rhinos.The tinted windows ease the glare of the sun.As we pass a sign for theTropic of Capricorn, the terrain becomes flatter and more expansive, gradually changing colour from faded yellow to burnt red.The bone-dry river beds simply blend in.

‘When you see the red sand, you know you’re in the Kalahari,’ says Johan.

There are few cars, just the occasional cattle truck and an abandoned donkey cart. No roadside service stations — hence the droewors — but plenty of scuttling meerkats and a kudu

bull on the loose.

In four hours on the road, we pass just four sleepy settlements. The final 25-mile stretch is a gravel track, leaving a trail of dust in our wake. Our finish point is marked by a metal gate on the left. Blink and you’ll miss it.The gate is open so we pull in, winding down the driveway towards a barn, a faded rugby ball on the doorstep.

‘You found it!’shouts Jacques Burger, stepping out in his khaki work overalls, immediately recognisable despite cutting off his long curly hair. ‘Bit of a journey, hey?You must be ready for a coffee!’

He invites us in and puts the kettle on, explaining that his wife, Lehanie, is on the monthly grocery shop, 50 miles away in Mariental. ‘Things are a bit different here!’says the retired Saracens and Namibia forward, laughing as we take shelter from the 32C heat outside. ‘It’s actually pretty mild today. It gets very hot, especially when you’re out working.That’s why I cut my hair pretty early on. I had it for about three months but when it gets to 40 degrees, the flies, it’s too much. Long hair isn’t for the Namibian climate!

‘We’ve only had one weekend of rain this year, at the start of February There was a cyclone over Madagascar that sucked out all the moisture so there’s been a drought. It’s tough times.There’s not enough grass to last the season so we’ve got to sell off a few hundred ewes because we haven’t got enough vegetation. Everyone else is doing the same so the price is terrible.

‘There’s not a lot of money to be made unless all the factors go

‘You don’t get many big cats around here because there’s no place for them to hide,’he says. ‘It’s wave after wave of dunes. The big cats prefer to be in high trees or caves so they’re closer to Windhoek and further north. We get a lynx or a leopard every now and again.

‘Loads of snakes, though. Puff adders, Cape cobras.They tend to come out when it’s been raining.The kids know they have to look where they step.Afriend of mine, 5km down, found a Cape cobra under the air fryer in his kitchen, just hiding there!You just have to make sure you close the doors.

‘It’s basically a management job. Most days you go out and see if your electric fencing is working; make sure the water’s fine. About six times a year you inject all your animals against insects and diseases, move them from camp to camp.This morning I’ve been putting out honey badger traps because they eat the sheep.They’re tough, scavengers, not even afraid of lions.’The family dog, Zola, is snoozing on a zebra skin rug on the floor The wall is decorated with memorabilia from Saracens, where Burger spent six years, earning his place in the club’s hall of fame as a wild and fearless flanker. His children, Malan and Mila, were born in the UK but have been raised in the outback since 2016.

‘When you retire, you need to find your place in the world again.You can feel very lost. I would love to have played for a couple more years but it was time to call it quits. I miss playing but my body was giving up on me. I was in a lot of pain, frustrated, playing worse and worse.

‘I loved my time at Saracens. The people there did so much for me and it has a special place in my heart. We have British passports and it will always be

‘We’ve been on the farm for about four years now. We go hunting, fishing, camping. We go to the crocodile farm.There’s no cinema here. It’s a different lifestyle. If we want a takeaway on a Friday night, we go out and hunt it!’It is the Easter holidays and Burger briefly pops off to check that Malan, left unsupervised, is not spending too much time on his phone in the next room. He returns with a bag full of metal screws that were removed from his knee: a souvenir from his playing days. ‘They served their purpose!’he chuckles, placing them down on the table.

‘I had three shoulder surgeries and 12 knee surgeries. I had an osteophyte, basically a bumpy bone growth in my shoulder that was the size of my thumb. I had it removed twice. I was awake for one of the surgeries, drugged to the max.They gave me the option of whether I wanted to see and I said, “Yeah, sure!”. By the end, I was taking painkillers every day Two in the morning, two in the afternoon, two in the evening.

‘Some of the things I did on the pitch was kamikaze stuff. My skill was to create chaos in defence. I didn’t really care about having the ball in my hands, ever. I just enjoyed hitting rucks, defending, chasing balls like a dog.

‘My main job was to get the fire started. When you make a big tackle the energy of the team changes straight away. I played through pain to do that. I still have pain every day but you get used to it.You have to physically work on the farm. Unloading feed, putting out salts for the animals, loading animals on to the truck. Sheep are quite heavy. You’ll have a group of people but you’ve got to load 500 sheep that weigh 50kg [110lb] each.

‘I feel it in my knee and shoulder but you crack on.They both need replacing but the pain will dictate when. I’ve learnt that the body is tough.’

His scars have faded over time. Occasionally they catch the afternoon sunlight. I ask if he worries about the impact on his brain, given the concerning trend of early-onset dementia in retired

Since retiring from rugby, Jacques Burger has worked on a farm in his native Namibia

players.

‘The MND stuff worries me quite a lot,’he admits. ‘It’s happening more and more, isn’t it? When you see what those guys go through, from being a proud tough guy, it is worrying. What can you do about it now? I had a couple of concussions. It’s hard to say how many because in the early days you would just kind of shake it off. I’m still young, 39, and it’s worth it for the shoulders and knees and stuff like that, but the picture changes if you’re in a wheelchair.’

Burger’s passion for rugby remains. Does he see a way that Africa could one day have its own Champions Cups? ‘That would be amazing but the infrastructure in the rest ofAfrica is terrible,’he states. ‘There’s not a single pro club in Namibia.A lot of money gets lost, a lot of people fill their pockets.There’s a lot of talent but they go over to SouthAfrica. It would take a lot of money to get something

going. It would be extremely hard to set up but it would give kids something to work towards. It would be amazing. I coach at the local school here.African kids are athletes.Tell them to get the money together, man!’

But he retains his passion for rugby and named Josh van der Flier andArdie Savea among his favourite current players

He could talk rugby all afternoon. His favourite players? Josh van der Flier,Ardie Savea and Jasper Wiese. His World Cup tip? France.

The winner of today’s game between La Rochelle and Saracens? Stupid question.

After an hour or two, we hop in his pick-up truck and go for a drive around the farm, bringing along a shotgun just in case.

‘You’ll probably come back with a kilogram of sand in your shoes!’ he warns.

The sand is hot to touch, getting its colour from iron oxide. It is indented with paw prints, all shapes and sizes. I ask what the droppings are from and he puts one in his mouth. ‘Springbok,’he says. ‘Let’s play a game. It’s called Bokdrol Spoeg.’Before I know it, we are having a competition to see who can spit their animal dropping the furthest, marking your distance with a line in the sand.

After a surprise English victory, we turn on the engine and move on, watching a herd of springboks glide across the ground. He pulls up at the workshop and moves a slaughtered lamb into the cooler chamber.That’s dinner sorted.

There are imposing kudu horns mounted on the wall, as well as one deformed set that grew in the shape of a coil. ‘That’s just the way it was born,’he explains. ‘It’s like when you play for Quins, there’s obviously something wrong with you but there’s no real explanation!’

He warns me off checking out the watermelon plants in an allotment around the back. ‘It’s a snake pit, man!’Noted. Passing the citrus trees on the drive back, he explains how the family want to become more selfsufficient in fruit and veg. Lehanie is back from the monthly grocery shop and they crack open a few bottles of Windhoek lager, curious to hear about life back in London.

As the light begins to fade, Johan suggests it is a wise time to get back in the car, before the roads back to Windhoek descend into complete darkness. The chocolate bar on the passenger seat has melted.

We wave goodbye and Burger has one final message. ‘Tell the people in the UK that we miss them!’he shouts, as we pull away up the dirt track, leaving a cloud of dust

The Namibian climate forced the once-fearsome Flanker to ditch his trademark curly locks

But Burger now spends much of his time dealing with livestock and managing his farm

Kom Skou Saam Met Ons in Upington