Inner City Gazette

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Est 2009 Tel : 011 402 - 1977 Inner-City Gazette

Fax: 086 609 8601

Issue 41 - 2019

Email : info@inner-city-gazette.co.za @ICG_Sales

17 - 24 October 2019

Website : www.inner-city-gazette.com

072 824 3014

Inner City Gazette

Distributed free to households, churches, schools, clinics, government departments, police stations, libraries and businesses in Bellevue • Berea • Bertrams • Braamfontein • City and Suburban • City West • Crown Gardens • Doornfontein • Fairview • Fordsburg • Hillbrow • Jeppestown • Jules • Johannesburg Inner City • Kensington • Lorentzville • Malvern • Marshallstown • New Doornfontein • Newtown • North Doornfontein • Park Meadows • Rosettenville • Selby • Troyeville • Turffontein • Village Main and Yeoville

Rail transport network outlines recovery path

Dr Sipho Sithole

Johannesburg - Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) says it has improved peak on-time performance to 60% in mornings, from 49% eight weeks ago.

Prasa chief strategy officer Dr Sipho Sithole said afternoon peak on-time performance across the country has improved from 55% to 63%.

“This is most important times of the day when most people are getting to work or home. It is therefore important that trains

arrive on time in those times,” he said.

He added that other improvements include improving the number of people paying for Prasa services in one region in Pretoria, where new trains sets are being used, from 39% to 91%.

“The railway lines under temporary speed restriction because of infrastructure problems, such as lack of electronic signalling, have also declined from 167km to 138km. Prasa is now on track

to have around 94km of railways under temporary restriction by the end of December,” Sithole said.

He added that Prasa has stepped up procurement and repairs on trains, and is on track to have 191 train sets by March 2020. “The biggest obstacle is vandalism of railways, stealing of cables and people using services for free,” he said.

To address this, he said Prasa plans to spend around R6.5 billion to fence rail

lines in urban areas with concrete blocks.

“When the lines have been fenced, revenue will increase by R4.6 billion as commuters will no longer be able to jump off before stations, and will have to buy tickets. That also means less vandalism, which will reduce delays caused by signalling cables being stolen. We will then start recovering all the passengers we’ve lost over the years, and make rail the transport of choice,” Sithole said.

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For further information contact Boston on 011 551 2000 Email: info@boston.co.za Visit www.boston.co.za, or Facebook

Boston

shines at

CompTIA SA

awards event

2019

to recognise partner

contributions to skills development

17 - 24 October 2019

Facebook training programme for small businesses In the coming weeks, Facebook said it will roll out tools like instant replies to let businesses automatically respond to initial messages, and give people more information about their business or let them know their typical response time.

Boston City Campus Business College - Outstanding Leader “CompTIA is the leading trade association for the global technology industry. We hold our partners to very high academic and mentoring standards,” so says Loraine Vorster, VP Business Development, Southern Africa/ANZ. “The CompTIA South Africa Partner Awards event recognises the contribution of training partners and corporate customers to skills development in South Africa, using the industry recognised CompTIA certifications,” says Vorster. “We were thrilled to announce that Boston City Campus & Business College was awarded the Global Award for Outstanding Leader 2017/2018 period. This award is issued by CompTIA HQ at the annual CompTIA Partner Summit event in the USA and is based on revenue generated for CompTIA. This shows that during the period 2017/2018, Boston City Campus & Business College was the biggest partner in Southern Africa for CompTIA.” CompTIA is one of the leading international certification benchmarks in the technology world. While NQF-based qualifications are certainly potent additions to a business, due to its long and rich history CompTIA certification can often come closer to delivering what a company requires in terms of ICT skills. Says Kobus Olivier, National Academic IT Manager at Boston. “CompTIA certifications hit the mark on what companies need at the coalface”.

Certifications and qualifications are not always the same thing. This creates a conundrum for companies, since skills development is a core part of doing business in

South Africa. Being able to quantify a workforce’s abilities is key - whether in order to comply with new B-BBEE changes or other legislation, - particularly to the scale of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF).

Established in 1982, CompTIA represents the best of breed thinking in terms of ICT training. A CompTIA certification is attractive to technical employers, due to the graduates’ superior on-the-job skills, says Olivier.

“What we’ve found over the past few years is that many HR departments may be bound by skills development particularities and specifications in terms of their abilities to claim grants. We therefore believe that in order to maximise benefits to companies and individuals, a combined certification route using both NQF as well as international accreditation such as CompTIA serves both parties best.”

Boston saw this problem and decided to engage stakeholders on both sides of the equation, as a CompTIA Platinum Partner and one of the most prolific producers of CompTIA-certified people - ranked first in SA and third globally by CompTIA. “We often get a company with an employee who completed a CompTIA A+ or N+ certification, relevant occupational skills in today’s business technology environment.

But the company wants to know what the NQF level is. However the two are completely separate and governed by different bodies. You can’t just draw parallels. After discussions with our partners; CompTIA and MICT SETA, Boston decided to create

a unified picture that removes the confusion.”

With this new bridging model, people who obtain certification through CompTIA gain credits on the national learner records database. This in turn creates NQF numbers that administrators can use. At the same time managers of technical staff benefit from hiring people with CompTIA skills.

“This doesn’t diminish what NQF qualifications offer,” Olivier explains. “But we must keep in mind that CompTIA is a strong and proven international standard for technology-based skills. For example, having an A+ or N+ certification is valuable to technology managers for their staff pool.”

The ability to bridge the two means companies can enjoy the perks of both worlds: hiring staff with the best skills while also keeping complying with skills development on a national and labour level.

It also encourages companies seeking further training of their staff to embrace CompTIA certification. Olivier hastens to add that they should pick their training partners carefully.

“The South African industry understands the relevance of certification. But companies must be mindful that not all training facilities are the same. There is a reason why Boston is a CompTIA Platinum partner. Other than our exceptional pass rate, we also lay claim to very high standards of training and our examinations are those supplied internationally by CompTIA. We understand the value of both, and the needs of the industry.”

Own Correspondent

F

acebook has announced that over 140 million businesses use its apps every month to find new customers, hire employees or engage with their communities, and has initiated a programme to train entrepreneurs.

VP of Global Business Marketing Michelle Klein said Facebook is opening up 17 of its largest offices and hubs around the world to host Boost with Facebook Holiday Bootcamp, a training programme designed to help small businesses and NPOs learn how to grow their businesses and get ready for the holiday shopping season.

“We know holidays are one of the busiest times of the year for many businesses, so having the right resources and skills to manage your business during this time is critical,” Klein said.

The Boost with Facebook Holiday Bootcamp will welcome small businesses to Facebook offices in Johannesburg, Lagos, New York,

Michelle Klein

Menlo Park, Austin, Chicago, London, Dublin, Berlin, Madrid, Warsaw, Istanbul, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Singapore and the Philippines.

Earlier this year, Facebook enabled businesses to manage their messages from Messenger and Instagram Direct in a single location from their Facebook Page Inbox.

“During the holiday season, we’ll introduce new features to Instagram Direct messages to help businesses manage customer communications more seamlessly and efficiently across our apps,” said Facebook.

In the coming weeks, Facebook said it will roll out tools like instant replies to let businesses automatically respond to initial messages, and give people more information about their business or let them know their typical response time.

Businesses can also set up an away message for days when they are closed or on vacation and create saved replies to answer commonly asked questions.

The Morning and Evening Brief

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Pilot project benefits waste pickers and residents Zoë Postman

The late Arvitha Doodnath

Foundation mourns

A

pilot project called “recycling with reclaimers” aims to bring residents and reclaimers together, instead of residents recycling through private companies contracted by the City of Johannesburg.

Launched on Monday, the initiative partners residents of Brixton and Auckland Park with African Reclaimers Organisation (ARO) and Unilever.

“Recycling with reclaimers brings residents and reclaimers together to protect the environment, increase reclaimers’ incomes and provide them with job security. It is also a way to create a better kind of city where different kinds of people get to know each other, value and support each other,” reads the explanatory note.

According to Luyanda Hlatshwayo, a reclaimer with ARO, residents will be given a clear plastic bag to put their recyclables materials in; including paper, cans, juice and milk cartons, polystyrene, cardboard and steel.

On the day before the usual municipal collection, 50 reclaimers dressed in green uniforms and carrying ID cards collect the bags and give the residents a new recycling bag for the following week.

The bag of recyclable material will

death of member Waste picker McLean Banda who lives at the informal settlement near Genesis Landfill in the CBD, sorts his materials.

Pic: Zoe Postman

be weighed and reclaimers paid a top up fee of 50c per kilogram over and above what they receive for the recyclable materials when they take them to one of the city’s buy-back centres.

Sophia Welz of the Brixton Community Forum said the pilot project is to develop an implementable model that other areas could use in the future.

“The community and ARO will be recording progress and failures to see how it can be improved.”

A year and a half ago a visiting academic introduced Welz to an organisation that worked with reclaimers. After that Welz invited reclaimers from ARO to a Brixton park clean up, and since then they have been looking for new ways to collaborate.

Melanie Samson, a researcher at Wits who works with reclaimers said reclaimers collect up to 90% of recyclable materials from households.

Depending on how the landfill space is valued, reclaimers are estimated to save municipalities up to R750 million a year in landfill space by diverting recyclables away from landfills.

“But reclaimers do not get paid a service fee for their work and often compete with private waste companies that have more resources,” she said.

ARO chairperson Eli Kodisang said Unilever agreed to sponsor the pilot project, including a service fee for reclaimers. “The service fee of 50c per kilogramme is a balance between making it worthwhile for the reclaimers and still making it financially viable for the City should it decide to implement the model.

Kodisang said the aim is to get the City to use some of the money that reclaimers saved it to pay the reclaimers a service fee which would help stabilise income for the reclaimers because

the prices of materials often fluctuate depending on the time of the year.

“These are black men and women who have created this system that sustains their livelihoods because they have no other choice. They save the municipalities a lot of money but the City would rather pay private companies to do the work that reclaimers do,” said Kodisang.

The current system is not benefiting anyone because reclaimers end up sleeping in parks, the recycling companies do not get the materials, and the City ends up spending money on companies that do not provide the service, he said.

Another benefit is that this helps reclaimers and residents form relationships. “Reclaimers do not seek charity but participate in this profession and need to be recognised and paid accordingly,” said Kodisang.

GroundUp

Johannesburg - The Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) says its workers were devastated by the murder of one of its fellows, Arvitha Doodnath who was found dead inside her car in Parktown on Saturday.

Doodnath, who was a Law lecturer at Vaal University of Technology was found dead in her car in Parktown on Saturday, in what appeared to be an attempted hijacking. She was a research fellow at the HSF. Police are investigating a murder.

HSF director Francis Antonie said Arvitha joined the foundation as a legal researcher in 2015, and took over the HSF’s health desk.

“After three years she joined the academic faculty at the Vaal University of Technology where she lectured in Policing Law. Following her departure to take up her lecturing position, she was appointed Research Fellow of the HSF,” he said.

Antonie added that they remember Arvitha for her passion for justice “It is devastating that her life was taken in the manner that it was.”

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Cell tower protection app wins TADHack competition

Boxer

Superstores offers a helping hand for

SASSA

The batteries powering these towers have become hot property in criminal circles

grantees The South African government provides assistance to millions of people monthly by ensuring its citizens have access to important and much needed SASSA grants.

Boxer Superstores is proud to play a part in the government’s efforts by assisting social grantees in accessing their monthly payouts by being a SASSA payout point.

SASSA grantees need to simply bring in their valid SASSA card and head to a till point to collect their grant. Since the inception of social grants in South Africa years ago, Boxer has been a community champion by offering social grantees the ability to shop as well as withdraw their grant at a level of service which they deserve.

Marketing Director of Boxer Andrew Mills said that Boxer has always had the community in mind. “We offer memorable service to our shoppers and fantastic savings across a range of products. In addition, we provide a space for our local grantees to easily and quickly draw their SASSA

17 - 24 October 2019

Lebone Mano

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grants monthly in-store. Whether uGogo is collecting her pension or uMama is withdrawing her child support grant, Boxer is proud to serve all recipients. We look forward to seeing you again soon as we are here to serve you,” Mills said.

In addition to grant collection, grantees can shop in-store using their SASSA card and withdraw money in a safe and secure environment, all the while taking advantage of fantastic discounts across a range of items.

For more information on Boxer visit www.boxer.co.za or download the Boxer App on the App store or Google Play.

riends Tumelo Baloyi and his Facebook friend Thabang Mamashela beat over 40 other teams to claim the $1 000 prize for the 2019 TAaDHackJHB. TADHack Global is a hackathon that ran across 10 cities around the world on 12 and 13 October, challenging young people to use IT and Internet technologies ‘to solve problems that matter’. This year’s theme was “Localised and Contextualised – Battle of the Bots”.

The local event, TADHack Johannesburg, was sponsored by MTN and hosted at its head office.

The winning solution, CharOn, is a cell tower protection app. While it is aimed at telcos, it is powered by ordinary citizens acting as a watch over cellphone towers. The batteries powering these towers have become hot property in criminal circles.

The #1632 team beat 47 other teams to win the top prize of R15 000 ($1 000). As a special mention from Huawei, one of the event sponsors, the #1632 team members each won a

Tumelo Baloyi and Thabang Mamashela display the cheque

Huawei P30 Lite smartphone.

The two-man team was stood up by teammates at the last minute and ended up running their app’s core server from a ‘landline’ – as the two called their laptop as its battery only works when it is plugged in.

Using the CharOn app, individuals can report suspicious activity within the vicinity of the towers. If the app collects enough data of the same case reported, authorities get alerted.

One of the rules of the hackathon is to use the tech of event sponsors to develop their solutions.

“We used Here Live Map and Simwood, and we also used Huawei’s

cloud infrastructure and their elastic load balancing,” said Baloyi.

“The prizes I have are not the most important thing,” said Mamashela.

“The most important thing has been the memories I’ve made and the time I’ve spent with Tumelo.”

They are Facebook friends who met for the first time at the hackathon.

Baloyi said: “The Johannesburg TADHack was part of the hackathons that were run globally and simultaneously in cities including London, Kuala Lumpur and Chicago. Remote entries were also allowed, while all the hackathons were also streamed live on YouTube channel.” ITWeb

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Inner-city Gazette

Tech revolution sparks job losses Luyolo Mkentane

T

he tech revolution is to blame for massive retrenchments, with the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) warning that it is only just the beginning.

CCMA director Cameron Morajane said retrenchments in the construction, mining and metals sectors contributed to the 38 588 retrenchment notices referred to the commission.

Morajane said that of the 38 588 potential retrenchments, they managed to save 15 787 jobs; which equated to a success rate of about 41%.

Morajane said the retrenchments related to automation and artificial intelligence, and singled out the banking sector as hardest hit by far.

“The biggest contributor is the fourth

industrial revolution. The banking sector is the hardest hit because they use more automation which affects the bank branch approach. The revolution is here. It is inevitable; we have to accept that reality,” he said.

In September the Labour Court interdicted Cosatu and its affiliate the SA Society of Bank Officials (Sasbo) from embarking on a shutdown of the banking sector. The interdict prevented over 50 000 Sasbo members from protesting against job losses brought by the tech revolution.

Morajane stressed however that they only deal with issues that have been referred to them. There could be retrenchments “under the radar”, contributing to the unemployment crisis.

A total of 193 000 cases were referred to the CCMA in the year under

CCMA director Cameron Morajane

review, with the highest referring sector being business and professional services which accounted for 27%, followed by security with 12% and the retail sector at 11%.

The CCMA’s projection is that its case load may increase by about 20% during 2019/2020, Morajane said..

Concern over fake doctors Johannesburg – Following the arrest of several bogus health practitioners last week, the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) says it is concerned with the increasing number of such criminals.

The HPCSA says health practitioners, including medical doctors, dentists, dieticians and physiotherapists have to renew their registration annually by 1 April.

Dr Raymond Billa of HPCSA said: “If they are registered with us then

we have jurisdiction over them, but if they are not registered with us, we have no jurisdiction and there is no way we can protect the public because we need to know who is practicing, and whether they are fully registered with the HPCSA and they gave the correct qualifications.”

Billa added that health practitioners should display a registration certificate in their offices to indicate their name, qualification and whether they are registered with the HPCSA or not.

WhatsApp stokvels ‘most likely pyramid schemes’ Johannesburg - The National Stokvel Association of SA (Nasasa) has warned that WhatsApp stokvels are most likely pyramid schemes rather than savings projects, and those who joined them may have been scammed.

This follows reports of WhatsApp messages encouraging people to invest in a stokvel for R200 and make R1 000 profit.

Like most pyramid schemes, the first few to join received a payout, but those who followed often lost their money.

Nasasa chairperson Andrew Lukhele said scammers are using the popularity of stokvels to create pyramid schemes.

“Traditional stokvels are based on trust where everyone in the stokvel knows each other, and the terms of payout have already been set. The Whatsapp scams

Chairperson Andrew Lukhele

often involve anonymous people, so it is impossible to trace the money when it disappears, or the person,” Lukhele said.

Warning on eWallet scam Own Correspondent

P

olice have picked up a new trend where people are conned of their money through eWallet transactions using their cellphones.

This follows cases in which two men, in separate incidents, were approached by a group of three women posing as “Vodacom agents” in Vincent Park, East London. Captain Mluleki Mbi said the women approached the men with the pretence of wanting “to assist

them in viewing how much talking point and airtime they have on their phones as they were running a promotion”.

“After having handed over their cellphones to these ladies, the victims later discovered that money had been taken from their accounts via eWallet transactions. We are currently investigating two cases of fraud and we wish to warn members of the public to always be vigilant, protect their cellphones and ATM cards,” said Mbi.

Dr Raymond Billa of HPCSA

News

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Comedy series shooting in Joburg

A celebration of indigenous vocal poetry Philile Ntimbane

O

n every last Thursday of the month spoken-word poetry is celebrated at Soweto Theatre under the umbrella Poetic Thursdays.

Poetic Thursdays celebrates poetry in its various forms as a tool of expression, packed with emotional content and gives a platform for established and upcoming poets to showcase their work. It features an open mic slot, guest DJs, live music and exhibitions by some of the most gifted artists in the country.

The event is hosted by renowned poet and writer Poetic Justice.

This month’s event is on 31 October, headlining artists from around the country, from all walks of life.

Makhafula Vilakazi’s poetry is a fusion of Tsotsitaal, English, Zulu and Sotho, an uncompromising depiction of township life, exploring issues such as HIV/AIDS, unemployment and crime. He calls it ‘Kasie Poetry’.

Vilakazi says his writing is inspired by striking similarities of life’s contrasts. His dedication to upliftment of Black people is evident in his poetry. He does not shy away from pointing out the rot, but also reminds that healing and its processes

The Arts

Poet Makhafula Vilakazi

are our own responsibility. His most recent showcase Concerning Blacks has got many tongues wagging, and has led to another Mandela is dead which premieres this October.

Poet Sello Chokoe says to him, poetry is simply an expression of life as it happens. Having had an interest in writing and reading poetry since he was very young, Chokoe started writing in 2010 after spending every spare minute he could reading poetry and listening to poetry recitals. He has made a name for himself on platforms like Word N Sound, World of Words and the like.

Entsho Phuthi Lephasa Tsopia is a Sotho author and publisher. Tsopia says it is important to keep writing in home languages as it does not only serve as national pride but it’s also how we return to our roots.

His recently published collection Dithoko tsa seSotho explores current affairs both in Lesotho and South Africa, and has made quite a mark in the publishing industry.

Johannesburg - The comedy, Woke in Progress, New Showmax Original series, is shooting in Johannesburg The show is set at Maboneng Marble, where two broke twenty-somethings become unlikely roommates.

After finding out she is adopted, 22-year-old Martie travels to Joburg searching for her birth parents, while 25-year-old Amandla is trying to reconnect with the motherland after decades of following her political elite father between international posts.

Woke in Progress is co-created by show-runner Rea Moeti, who has made a name for herself since graduating from the National Film and Television School in the UK. Moeti’s Marikana-themed short film, Mma Moeketsi, won Best African Short Film at Cape Town, Joburg, and Zanzibar International Film Festivals, and is up for an Africa Movie Academy Award. She was also head writer on the first two seasons of Lockdown, winning the SAFTA for Best Drama Writer.

But comedy is Moeti’s first love; she was head writer on SAFTAwinning sitcoms like Ses’Top La and Abo Mzala, as well as director on SAFTA-nominated Thandeka’s Diary.

In 2017, when Moeti pitched Woke in Progress to Showmax, Vogue had just proclaimed Maboneng “the coolest neighbourhood in Joburg,” while last year Forbes included the cul-

tural hub in its “The 12 coolest neighbourhoods around the World.”

Candice Fangueiro, head of content at Multichoice’s Connected Video says: “Our first two scripted Originals - Tali’s Wedding Diary and The Girl From St Agnes both broke records as the most watched shows on Showmax ever, so we know our audience is hungry for quality South African series. We think they’re going to love laughing with Maboneng’s Afropunk crowd just as much as they did with Talibabes in Sea Point in Tali’s Wedding Diary.”

Laura Lee Mostert plays Martie. She spent 2018 studying in Los Angeles: method acting at Lee Strasberg Institute, whose alumni include Marilyn Monroe and Uma Thurman, and improved at the Groundlings Theatre, whose alumni include Melissa McCarthy and Will Ferrell.

Zandile Lujabe, known as Palesa in Isidingo and Mpho Pop’s love interest Ziyanda in Ayeye, plays Amandla.

Woke in Progress co-creator Rea Moeti

Like Mostert, Lujabe also studied acting at New York Film Academy, whose alumni include Issa Rae. Moeti co-created Woke in Progress with Emma Lungiswa De Wet. The Showmax comedy premieres on 12 December. African Independent

SAFA and SABC reach deal to screen matches Johannesburg - The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and the South African Football Association (SAFA) have reached a fouryear deal on broadcast rights of SAFA matches and events.

The agreement will annually cover six Bafana matches; three home AFCON qualifiers; two international friendlies and the Nelson Mandela Challenge. The deal also covers five Banyana Banyana home friendly matches, including the Winnie Mandela Challenge; domestic competitions including the U/19 Women’s National Championship Final, and also the Burger King U/20 National Championships Final, U/23 Men’s National Championships finals, ABC Motsepe National

Soccer fans have been assured to enjoy watching national teams on SABC television.

play- offs final, Kay Motsepe Schools final, Futsal and Beach Football National Championships Finals as well as the SASOL Women’s League finals, and various SAFA National Women’s League matches; SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe stated that in negotiating this deal with SAFA, the SABC needed to

find a balance between fulfilling its public mandate and entering into a commercially viable agreement.

“We understand our role in promoting sports of national interest and inspiring the next generation of sports stars,” Mxakwe said.

Commenting on the broadcasting agreement SAFA president

Dr Danny Jordaan said: “After protracted negotiations the public will once again get to watch Bafana Bafana, Banyana Banyana and other national teams’ matches on SABC, in addition to various other important football development programmes, that has seen SAFA make a major impact on football on the continent.”