Dlamini spends over R760 000 for 166 nights in five star hotels
By Mike Waters
9 December 2012
Release: immediate
In the 26 months from June 2009 to August 2011, the Minister of Social Development, Bathabile Dlamini, spent R764 742 on 145 nights in luxury hotels across the country.
This was revealed in information recently received by the DA in response to a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application submitted to the Department of Social Development in November 2011.
The detailed invoices received by the DA shows that Minister Dlamini has a preference for five and six star establishments such as the Radisson Blu and One and Only Hotels in Cape Town, the Hilton in Durban and Intercontinental Sandton Towers Hotel.
Some of the most extravagant stays included:
4 nights at Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront in Cape Town at a cost of R23 346;
10 nights at the Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront in Cape Town at a cost of R62 406;
28 nights at the Cricklewood Manor in Pretoria at a cost of R139 494;
11 nights at the Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront in Cape Town at a cost of R50 816;
5 nights at the Hilton Durban at a cost of R20 053; and
3 nights at the Hilton Durban at a cost ofR24 624.00
In terms of the Ministerial Handbook, members of the Executive may, for official purposes, occupy one state-owned residence in the capital of their choice free of charge. Members may occupy a second state-owned residence in another capital in which case they pay market-related rent.
I will be submitting parliamentary questions to the Minister of Public Works to determine in which city Minister Dlamini's official residence is. If the Minister has an official residence in the cities where she spent so much time in luxury hotels, I will ask the Public Protector to investigate Minister Dlamini for wasteful expenditure of the nature of which her former and current cabinet colleagues Sicelo Shiceka and Tina Joemat-Pettersson have both been found guilty. I will also ask for information on Minister Dlamini's spending on hotel stays since November 2011.
Minister Dlamini's expensive tastes displays a blatant disregard to the 15 million vulnerable South Africans who live from hand to mouth on the social grants that her department is mandated to manage.
The Minister will have to provide compelling evidence that the close to R770 000 she spent on luxury hotels was not a reckless abuse of public funds.
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Enjoy, as a mother of two small children I certainly did!
Sandy Bigara
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14 Steps to Follow Before You Decide to Have Children.
Test 1: Preparation
Women: To prepare for pregnancy
1. Put on a dressing gown and stick a beanbag down the front.
2. Leave it there.
3. After 9 months remove 5% of the beans.
Men: To prepare for children:-
1. Go to a local chemist, tip the contents of your wallet onto the counter and tell the pharmacist to help himself
2. Go to the supermarket. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home. Pick up the newspaper and read it for the last time.
Test 2: Knowledge
Find a couple who are already parents and berate them about their methods of discipline, lack of patience, appallingly low tolerance levels and how they have allowed their children to run wild. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's sleeping habits, toilet training, table manners and overall behaviour.
Enjoy it. It will be the last time in your life that you will have all the answers.
Test 3: Nights
To discover how the nights will feel:
1. Walk around the living room from 5pm to 10pm carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 4 - 6kg, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly.
2. At 10pm, put the bag down, set the alarm for midnight and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 11pm and walk the bag around the living room until 1am.
4. Set the alarm for 3am.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2am and make a cup of tea.
6. Go to bed at 2.45am.
7. Get up again at 3am when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs in the dark until 4am.
9. Put the alarm on for 5am. Get up when it goes off.
10. Make breakfast.
Keep this up for 5 years. LOOK CHEERFUL.
Test 4: Dressing Small Children
1. Buy a live octopus and a string bag.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the string bag so that no arms hangout.
Time Allowed: 5 minutes.
Test 5: Cars
1. Forget the BMW. Buy a practical 5-door wagon.
2. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
3. Get a coin. Insert it into the CD player.
4. Take a box of chocolate biscuits; mash them into the back seat.
5. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.
Test 6: Going For a Walk
1. Wait.
2. Go out the front door.
3. Come back in again.
4. Go out.
5. Come back in again.
6. Go out again.
7. Walk down the front path.
8. Walk back up it.
9. Walk down it again.
10. Walk very slowly down the road for five minutes.
11. Stop, inspect minutely and ask at least 6 questions about every piece of used chewing gum, dirty tissue and dead insect along the way.
12. Retrace your steps.
13. Scream that you have had as much as you can stand until the neighbours come out and stare at you.
14. Give up and go back into the house.
You are now just about ready to try taking a small child for a walk.
Test 7: Conversations with children
Repeat everything you say at least 5 times.
Test 8: Grocery Shopping
1. Go to the local supermarket. Take with you the nearest thing you can find to a pre-school child - a fully grown goat is excellent. If you intend to have more than one child, take more than one goat.
2. Buy your weekly groceries without letting the goat(s) out of your sight.
3. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys.
Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.
Test 9: Feeding a 1 year-old
1. Hollow out a melon
2. Make a small hole in the side
3. Suspend the melon from the ceiling and swing it side to side
4. Now get a bowl of soggy cornflakes and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon while pretending to be an aeroplane.
5. Continue until half the cornflakes are gone.
6. Tip the rest into your lap, making sure that a lot of it falls on the floor.
Test 10: TV
1. Learn the names of every character from the Wiggles, Barney, Teletubbies and Disney.
2. Watch nothing else on television for at least 5 years.
Test 11: Mess
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out:
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains
2. Hide a fish behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flowerbeds and then rub them on clean walls. Cover the stains with crayon. How does that look?
4. Empty every drawer/cupboard/storage box in your house onto the floor and proceed with step 5.
5. Drag randomly items from one room to another room & leave them there.
Test 12: Long Trips with Toddlers
1. Make a recording of someone shouting 'Mummy' repeatedly. Important Notes: No more than a 4 second delay between each 'Mummy'. Include occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet.
2. Play this tape in your car, everywhere you go for the next 4 years.
You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.
Test 13: Conversations
1. Start talking to an adult of your choice.
2. Have someone else continually tug on your shirt hem or shirt sleeve while playing the Mummy tape listed above.
You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.
Test 14: Getting ready for work
1. Pick a day on which you have an important meeting.
2. Put on your finest work attire.
3. Take a cup of cream and put 1 cup of lemon juice in it
4. Stir
5. Dump half of it on your nice silk shirt
6. Saturate a towel with the other half of the mixture
7. Attempt to clean your shirt with the same saturated towel
8. Do not change (you have no time).
9. Go directly to work
You are now ready to have children. ENJOY!!
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Theme: Nature vs Nurture
I sat for hours (hours and hours and hours...and some more hours) and made my little girl a mermaid outfit, she chose the fabric, details and watched me like a hawk every stitch!
You see, she is 4 and her dream is to be a *real* mermaid...
We went down to the beach today and even with the wind whipping around us and the water being cold, little Savanna was a very professional mermaid. Even though she ended up in tears a little bit because she was cold, she told me later on, wrapped in a blanket in the car: "Thank you for making my dream come true"
This was truly a case of Nature (the beach) vs Nurture (a mother's time and love)
Hope you "like" it :o)
It is entered into this months photo competition: The Lens Affair
You may be aware that over the past few days, Woolworths has been accused of racist recruitment practices – specifically, of not employing white people.
We want to reassure you that this is SIMPLY NOT TRUE.
The rumours apparently were sparked by some of our recruitment ads that designate certain posts for certain groups, and are being fuelled by an organisation that has called on its members to boycott us.
As a Woolworths customer, we thought you'd like to hear the facts:
Woolworths DOES employ white people. We employ women and men of all races – white, black, coloured, Indian, as well as people with disabilities, and will continue to do so.
We're a passionately South African company, so diversity is important to us. So is offering fair career opportunities. There are some areas of our business where certain groups are seriously under represented. These are the positions where we actively look for qualified candidates from specific groups.
Most other businesses do the same to bring diversity into their workforces. In fact, in South Africa all businesses that have more than 50 employees are required to do this.
We believe the responsible thing to do is to be open and transparent in our recruitment ads about the type of candidates we are looking for. Integrity is one of the values we hold dear.
As a born-and-bred South African company, we care deeply about the long-term sustainability of our country. With your help we've made significant contributions, through programmes like MySchool, to socio-economic development. We'll continue supporting transformation and socio-economic development because they're essential for our country's (and our company's) future.
We hope that we've answered any questions that you might have had about what's been posted on social media and reported in the media.
Thank you for your continued support.
Ian Moir
CEO - Woolworths
------------------------
Just thought it would be prudent to post this here, I'm being bombarded with BBM's that are filled with heresay and nonsense, trying to incite drama.
BBEEE (BBBEE? BEE? EE? BEBEB??) is flawed, it is also unfair, but Woolworths is bound by the laws of this country just as all of the other big team players are. Focus your rage and 'upset' on government, send written petitions to government. Lashing out at a Service provider for being honest in their advertising is silly. Pardon me for saying so.
Sandy B
Sent from my BlackBerry®
Sandy B
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Democratic Alliance press statement
Ian Ollis MP, DA Shadow Minister of Transport
Date: 22 August 2012
Release: immediate
Replies to DA parliamentary questions have revealed that 2353 panel vans have been illegally converted into minibus taxis and are likely still on our roads.
The unsafe, unstable converted panel vans were officially declared to be illegal in late 2007 and are currently the subject of a national investigation by the Public Protector.
Transport Minister Ben Martins has admitted that his department has no plan in place to address this issue. He is essentially conceding that his department is not taking any steps to change a situation in which the lives of thousands of commuters are put at risk daily.
It not clear how many passengers are currently using illegally converted vehicles. The Minster and his department also "does not have information on the number of persons who have died in such minibus taxis."
It is the responsibility of the Minister and his Department to ensure that public transport is effectively regulated, safeguarding the lives of the passengers who use it.
I will be calling on Minister Martins to appear before the Transport Portfolio Committee to answer questions on this issue and on why the lives of South Africans continue to be put at risk.
The City of Cape Town and the Western Cape government is clamping down on illegal minibus taxis and have increased their impoundment capacity for private vehicles and taxis. Impoundment centres in Maitland, Ndabeni, Beaufort West, George and Hermanus allow for illegal taxis to be removed from the streets and have proven to be a powerful weapon in the city and province's fight against illegal taxis - largely because its effects are immediate and cannot be laughed off by the guilty party.
It is now the Minister's turn.
Minister Martins needs to roll out a national plan of action to eradicate these unsafe vehicles from our roads. To ensure the safety of minibus drivers, passengers and other road users, we need a plan which all nine provinces buy into and implement.
Media enquiries:
Ian Ollis MP
DA Shadow Minister of Transport
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I have moved away from Industrial Theatre (doing road shows to hundreds of schools, mainly disadvantaged and performing in all kinds of weather!) And I've taken the leap towards mainly doing live shows at different venues (piano and vocals), and traditional theatre shows. Added to my already hectic schedule doing school edu-tainment shows, running a music school, and home schooling my children... Gah!
My new show BESWITCHED has taken over every spare inch of time that I used to have, and launches this Thursday!
Tickets are R50 and Shika Budhoo and I are so excited about it! It will run at The Catalina Theatre, Wilson's Wharf Durban, from Aug 16th till Sept 02nd.
If you are feeling especially kind today, and you live in Durban/KZN please copy paste this as your FB status or BBM status - so many of our friends/contacts have already and we're so grateful!:
"#Beswitched runs @CatalinaTheatre 16 Aug- 2 Sept. New Comedy with Sandy Bigara and Shika Budhoo 031 3056889 to book! Only R50/ticket"
In the show I play 9 different characters - white, indian, australian, afrikaans, zulu and more ...... Fun! Stressed! Happy!
So yes, for now I have been asked personally by the Durban South Constituency of the Democratic Alliance to post specific articles written by leaders of the DA and so I will do so, I also post articles that interest me: I sometimes copy the article text for ease of reading but always post the link to the original (there will be follow-up articles on the topic on the original news pages) - I share what grabs my attention and, yes, I ramble (hence the blog name) and I hope you're alright with that 'cos it aint gonna change... When I have a break from writing scripts and working on my two new novels, I will put up some self-written articles. Right now I'm lying in the dark typing on my Blackberry... Not ideal!
xxxxxx
Here is the Press Release for the show:
"BESWITCHED- Best friends, one Indian - Leela, and one White - Pamela.
Leela is marrying Pamela's brother Eric and, the morning after a disastrous engagement party the two friends sit and share a disjointed cup of tea... The result is that due to Granny Vashti's "Special Tea" the girls swop bodies... The problem is this: The wedding is TOMORROW!!
Filled with gorgeous memories and flashbacks to growing up in the 80's and 90's in Durban, audiences will see "both sides of the coin" and meet many zany and outspoken characters along the way.
This comedy with a dramatic twist will have audiences smiling, remembering and hopefully even tapping their feet as Pamela and Leela try to "Make the circle of love complete" and Be-switch-ed back before Leela's wedding!"
xxxxxx
Have a fab day people and please let me know of any interesting news links etc that you'd like me to consider for posting!
Get in touch with me on Facebook xx
Sandy Bigara
www.facebook.com/sbigara
Sent from my BlackBerry®
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"TEHRAN: Rescuers in northwest Iran are striving to dig survivors from the rubble of twin earthquakes that have levelled villages and killed at least 180 people and injured 1300 others.
The scale of the disaster is still emerging with emergency teams in the devastated zone northeast of the city of Tabriz pushing through the night after the Saturday quakes.
With telephone communications interrupted, officials say they're relying on radios and travelling in person to hard-hit villages to assess and rescue.
The quakes, which struck within 11 minutes of each other, measured 6.2 and 6.0 on the moment magnitude scale, according to Tehran University's Seismological Centre.
The US Geological Survey, which monitors seismic activity worldwide, ranked them as more powerful than that, at 6.4 and 6.3, respectively.
"Unfortunately, the toll is mounting and we are now at 180 dead and some 1300 injured," Khalil Saie, the head of the regional natural disasters centre, told state television on Sunday morning.
"Up to now, there are no deaths reported in the cities and all the victims come from rural areas," he said.
Earlier he told the television: "We are asking people to not panic. Help is arriving and rescuers are already at the scene."
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's office has posted a statement on its website expressing condolences to those in the disaster zone and calling on authorities to "mobilise all efforts to help the affected populations".
An emergency services official said 66 rescue teams were at work, using 40 devices and seven dog squads to detect buried survivors. He said 185 ambulances had been sent to the area.
Those hurt were taken to hospitals in Tabriz and Ardebil, the two biggest nearby cities, both of which escaped relatively unscathed by the temblors.
Villages outlying the towns of Ahar and Varzaqan, 60 kilometres from Tabriz, were decimated, being closest to the epicentres of the two quakes.
Dwellings close to Heris, another town close by, were also badly shaken.
Residents in the region were terrified as their homes shook around them when the quakes hit and they fled into the streets for safety, according to reports.
Tehran University Seismological Centre said the first earthquake happened at 4:53 pm (2223 AEST) with an epicentre just 60 kilometres from Tabriz, close to Ahar, and at a depth of 10 kilometres.
The second - actually a big aftershock - rumbled through from nearly the same spot. A series of more than 17 smaller aftershocks rating 4.7 or less rapidly followed.
The disaster zone is located around 90 kilometres from the borders with Armenia and Azerbaijan and around 190 kilometres from the border with Turkey.
Iran sits astride several major fault lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes, some of which have been devastating.
The deadliest was a 6.6-magnitude quake which struck the southern city of Bam in December 2003, killing 31,000 people.
AFP"
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05 August 2012
The DA has submitted parliamentary questions to the Minister of Human Settlements, Tokyo Sexwale, to reveal the names of contractors whose inferior work will result in R50 billion being spent on the rectification of RDP housing projects.
We want to know who these fly-by-night contractors are and whether they are still contracted to build houses. Contractors who build faulty houses must be blacklisted so that no more public money is wasted. It is time that Minister Sexwale took some tough action to match his tough talk.
This year alone, R930 million was set aside for the rectification of just over 34 000 housing units across the country. The vicious cycle of spending, shoddy workmanship and rectification must be broken by blacklisting bad contractors and preventing them from future involvement in contracts for state-funded housing.
Minister Sexwale is trying to shift the blame for crumbling RDP houses by saying that it is service providers, and not his department, that are responsible for RDP construction. The Minister conveniently ignores the fact that service providers are contracted by his department and should be held accountable by it. He also fails to mention the obvious failure by the National Home Builders Registration Council, an entity within his department, to protect housing consumers from unscrupulous contractors and to ensure that contractors who deliver sub-standard housing projects are blacklisted.
The Department of Human Settlements' dogged defence of under-performing contractors was evidenced again in last week's discussion in the portfolio committee for Human Settlements on the continuation of contracts to two sanitation service providers who have repeatedly failed to deliver on their commitments. In 2010/2011, the Independent Development Trust (IDT) and Mvula Trust received contracts to the value of R32 million and R11 million, respectively. Despite their failure to meet their targets, their allocated contracts grew to R150 million and R120 million in the current financial year.
It is time for the Minister to prove to South Africans living in appalling conditions in state-funded housing and the millions of South African still awaiting access to housing opportunities that he wants to get rid of service providers who squander state resources.
South Africans deserve sustainable human settlements, where families can be raised, where dreams can be realised and where people are given access to the economic opportunities that arise from home ownership. We challenge the Minister to purge the housing system of bad contractors.
Media enquiries:
Stevens Mokgalapa MP
DA Shadow Minister of human Settlements
083 275 1779
Piera Abbott
Senior Media Officer
076 130 5779
Sent to me by Shehana Gaibie.
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Have you ever wondered how margarine is made? Here are nine steps to explain the industrial process of making margarine.
Step 1:
Oils are heated until they turn rancid.
Margarine makers start with second-grade vegetable oils from maize, soy, sunflower seeds and canola.
These oils are then heated under high pressure. The heat turns them rancid. Rancid oils are loaded with free radicals that react easily with other molecules, causing cell damage, premature aging and a host of other problems.
The last bit of oil is removed with hexane, a hydrocarbon with the chemical solvent known to cause cancer. Although this hexane is subsequently removed, traces of it are inevitably left behind.
Canola oil, which is widely touted as the healthiest oil of all, has problems as well. Consumption of canola has been linked to vitamin E deficiency as well as growth retardation. For this reason, canola oil is not allowed to be used in the manufacture of infant formula.
Most of the oils used for making margarine are genetically modified.
Step 2:
Steam cleaning destroys vitamins and antioxidants.
The raw oils for making margarine are steam cleaned. This destroys all the vitamins and antioxidants. However, the residues of pesticides and solvents, such as hexane, remain.
Step 3:
Oils are mixed with finely ground (and toxic) nickel.
Then the oils are mixed with finely ground nickel, a highly toxic substance that serves as a catalyst for the chemical reaction during the hydrogenation process. Other catalysts may be used, but these, too, are highly toxic.
Step 4:
Hydrogen gas is introduced.
The oils are then put under high temperature and pressure in a reactor. Hydrogen gas is introduced. The high temperature and pressure, together with the presence of the nickel catalyst, causes hydrogen atoms to be forced into the oil molecules. If the oil is partially hydrogenated, it turns from liquid into a semi-solid.
Step 5:
Emulsifiers – which are like soaps – are mixed in.
What comes out of the partial hydrogenation process is a smelly, lumpy, grey grease. To remove the lumps, emulsifiers – which are like soaps – are mixed in.
Step 6:
The oil is steam cleaned (again!) to remove the odour of chemicals.
This step is called deodorization and it again involves high temperature and high pressure.
Step 7:
Bleaching.
The oil is then bleached to get rid of the grey colour to make it more visually appealing.
Step 8:
Synthetic vitamins and artificial flavours are mixed in.
A 'natural' yellow colour called annatto, is added to margarine. Annatto (Bixa orellana L.) is derived from the seed of the tropical Annatto tree. It is linked anecdotally to behaviour and learning problems, asthma, hyperactivity, urticaria and allergies.
Step 9:
Promotion as a health food.
Finally, the margarine is promoted to the public as a health food – with the full endorsement of many scientists, doctors, nutritionists and health authorities.
http://www.stop-trans-fat.com/how-is-margarine-made.html
Eady, Julie. 2007.
Additive Alert: Your guide to safer shopping.
Additive Alert Pty Ltd,
Mullaloo WA 6037.
ISBN 0-9775176-1-6.
Article sourced from the lovely site: http://all4women.co.za/health-and-wellness/health-articles/how-margarine-is-made.html be sure to visit it soon! Lots of interesting articles to enjoy!
Take care,
Sandy Bigara
Image sourced from: http://www.asiatatler.com/hong-kong/tiana-harilela/margarine-butter-or-ghee
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I would like to offer an apology to my very dear friend Kate Sydenham - I asked friends to email/bbm or facebook 'tag' me pictures of the hail storm on Friday night. Kate, among others sent me gorgeous pictures - with the rush to get them onto my blog I sent via my Blackberry email, and could not give credit to each photographer under the separate images as I could do if I was online.
The Saturday Independent (www.iol.co.za) saw my link on twitter, accessed my blog and took a photograph from there, without my consent, publishing it on the front page of the Saturday paper. I was given credit for taking the picture. If I had been contacted and asked for permission, I would have sent them directly to Kate and she would have had credit for the image taken.
I sincerely apologise for any hurt feelings and don't want my sources and friends to think that I do this regularly! I ALWAYS ask permission first before publishing any content.
Thanks for your time.
Sandy Bigara
His first job in South Africa was a very sad experience – but it proved to be the catalyst for change in Rene's life. He worked as a domestic worker, doing maintenance and garden work for a family in Durban, unfortunately the racist abuse that he suffered at his 'Master's' hands proved to be too much. Being fed his lunch on the same plate that the family dog had earlier eaten upon was the turning point. Rene quietly but firmly told his employer
