NEIGHBOURLY NOTES
ON Monday the boys and girls of the Port Alfred High School Interact Club (an initiative of Rotary Club International) donated a whopping R20 000 to the school to assist in the fire fund following the burning of the school foyer earlier this year. Well done to the Interacters and all those who contributed. CONGRATULATIONS to Clinton Millard for winning the South African Bodyboarding Association masters trophy at the SA Champs. Well done, and let’s hope we can teach the Aussies a thing or two when they join us for a week of bodyboarding a little later in the year. DO not forget the open public meeting on crime at the Port Alfred Ski-boat Club today (Thursday) at 5.30pm. The Community Policing Forum (CPF), the local SAPS Cluster, Rapid Rural Response and members of the public will all be in attendance to discuss crime in our communities as well as the measures to be taken to reduce or even eliminate the problem. This is an important meeting, so make sure your voice is heard. ON to national news, and the new crisis to hit our country is the summons of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who is charged with fraud. Well, the markets didn’t take too kindly to the news, and the rand lost about 5% of its value overnight, and continued to decline yesterday. Gordhan has been summonsed to appear in court, along with former SARS commissioner Oupa Magashula and former deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay on November 2. Addressing an Open Tender conference in Johannesburg when he heard the news, Gordhan said that South Africans should ask who the Hawks (and the National Prosecuting Authority – NPA) are really serving and getting their instructions from. This is not the only issue on the table. There have also been allegations that the former number two at Sars had embezzled money and that current Sars commissioner, Tom Moyane, sat on a report for months and was less than forthcoming about illegal activities at the institution. Meanwhile, on the day Gordhan received his summons, energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson announced that Eskom would be the owner of the proposed one trillion rand nuclear power deal, something Gordhan has refused to sign off on. Oh dear, will the lying and deceit ever end? PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma, proved once again that he is made from Teflon as he skirted around the issue of state capture with outgoing public protector, Advocate Thuli Madonsela, initiating a stalling tactic regarding his role and that of the Gupta family in the appointment of ministers and various other nefarious dealings. ANC chief whip, Jackson Mthembu has stated that his party has full confidence in Gordhan, but the subtext to the story is that Zuma is manipulating his cohorts in an effort to protect his position. We’ll see how this plays out over coming weeks, but the question must be asked, does anyone still have any faith in the independence of the NPA? WHAT’S small, powerful and blows up in your pocket? It’s the new Samsung Galaxy S7, which has now been recalled. Apparently there have been several incidents of the phone getting hot and then blowing up, and Samsung stand to lose several billion US$ with this latest debacle. This is not the first time the S7 and S7 Edge phones have been recalled, and directors at Samsung are reported to be having sleepless nights worrying about the problem. CONGRATULATIONS and happy birthday greetings to everyone enjoying a special day, especially Dorothy Bowen, Doreen McCarthy, René Denis, Benji Jurgensen, Pat Terrey, Joani Stötter, Dax Wilmot, Nicole Flanagan, Chantell Saunders, Nadia Harris, Pat Soine, Pieter Bezuidenhout, Johan Potgieter, Arno Strohm, Joan Purdon, Kim Wilson, Doreen McCarthy, Arabella Sponneck, Tamara Yete, Terence McCarthy, Eve Wallace, Brendan Walker, Jenivie Grune, Sarah Ford, Samantha Costa, Rodney Gradwell, Neil de Villiers, Ray Davidson, Alfred Scheepers, Shaun Elms, David Drennan, Arthur Manning, (Rev) Warren Muller, Andrew Warren, Michael Dewsnap, Mick Tuck, Dean Samuel, Jan Simpson, Denis Stirk. BEST wishes and congratulations to all the businesses having an anniversary and here’s wishing you all continued success, especially to Remax Kowie, Thospark’s, Sparrow Pools, Paws and Claws. WITH all the controversy at SARS at the moment the rand has seen a rapid fall against most international currencies. However, with British Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to accelerate her country’s exit from the EU, the pound is also struggling. With last year’s rates in brackets, the rand was trading at R14.43 to the dollar (R13.42), R17.69 to the pound (R20.58) and R15.91 to the euro (R15.31). Commodities were trading with gold at $1 253.84 per fine ounce ($1 176.35), platinum at $963.90 per ounce ($996.00) and Brent crude oil $52.69 per barrel ($49.70). SPECIAL thoughts and prayers are with all those folk who are not well, who are having or have already had tests, operations and treatments. "Sterkte" to Roy Potter, Andrew de Vries, June Hart, Linda Hulley, Val Kilian, Ben Kember, Blake Squires, Llewellyn Wicks, Philly Dell, Myrna Keet, Barbara Tee, Bevan Edwards and Brenda Shelton. CONDOLENCES go out to the family and friends of Carl Lutge, who passed away suddenly on Monday, October 10. May memories of happier times carry you through your sadness. MAY continuing happiness be with the following couples as they celebrate their wedding anniversaries with good wishes for many more. Congratulations to Peter and Gill Wansell, Tristan and Regan Rissik, Warwick and Leonie Beetge, Peter and Elaine Collins, Owen and Colleen Moore, Ronald and Junette Smith, Norman and Greta Levine, Robert and Jenne Boyce. WHAT a week of sport, and only one of our national teams came through with flying colours. The Springboks looked outclassed in their clash against the mighty All Blacks last Saturday. Their defence was an open invitation to the boys in black, and they missed so many opportunities that, despite the ref and TMO’s many errors, they thoroughly deserved a thrashing. Lots of work for the selectors and coach Alister Coetzee to do. Then Bafana Bafana played to a hapless 1-1 draw against the Ghanaian Black Stars, and coach Shakes Mashaba will have a lot of work to do if the boys are to regain some pride in the return leg. However, South African ODI cricket has never looked better. Too late for this paper, South Africa took on the Australians at Newlands Stadium yesterday (Wednesday) in an effort to complete a 5-0 whitewash of their opponents, rated the No 1 ODI side in the world. AND finally, October 17, we want to wish all the bosses, all the very best on Boss’ Day and thank them for everything they do, especially when they make our working lives more pleasant. THOUGHT for the week: “Time is that fleeting moment when the future passes into the past. So use every moment, grab it, embrace it and make it into your own memories”. BEST regards as always, The Team.