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FOR world-renowned reptile and amphibian expert Dr Bill Branch, who retired this week from Bayworld after 32 years employment there - it all began in 1969, on the shores of a lake in East Africa. It was one of those “bum in the butter moments”, he told The Herald, that changed his life forever. Born a cockney in the bomb-blasted down-trodden Eeast end of London after the war, he moved with his parents when he was still a youngster to live in Crawley, a model new country village in West Sussex, developed by the British government.
There, for the first time in his life, he had access to forest and streams and he became not only a fledgling naturalist but also a fanatical angler.
Having finished school he won a bursary offered to kids from disadvantaged families and, having scrutinised his study options in terms of where the best fishing was, he settled on the University of Southampton (with the Hampshire Avon in suitably close proximity).
Young Bill enrolled to study molecular biology and, now and again during semesters, he got to fly to East Africa courtesy of a hefty discount offered to his Dad, who worked in maintenance in the hangars at Gatwick Airport.
In 1969, his destination was Kampala (for £24 return) and from the Uganda capital he hitched north-west to the border with what was then Zaire to Lake Albert where he had heard about a strange fish called polypterus, “a kind of fresh water coelacanth”.
He pitched his tent on the lawn of the Ginger Yacht Club (where he had heard a superb chicken curry was served) and got talking to the barman, an old English sailor.
The extraordinary thing happened when they got onto the subject of polypterus, he recalled.
“He told me, ‘hang on half a minute,’ and picked up the telephone and after a while I heard him say, ‘hi George.’
“George turned out to be the great icthyologist Prof George Brown. We were calling from a pub on the shores of Lake Albert in the heart of Africa - and he was in Seattle in the US.”
Brown was also the founder of an organisation called the Society for Protection of Old Fishes, and he was very interested to hear of a youngster who was right that moment at Lake Albert on a mission to find polypterus.
“My friend the barman passed across the phone to me and in no time I had made a deal with the professor to try to catch him some live specimens.”
Using a rod and line and wading into the swampy areas of the lake, Branch achieved just that. The species breathes air so travelled quite well in specially prepared water-tight crates. He flew back to London with his cargo and from there was able to forward 20 specimens to Seattle.
With the £400 he was paid by Prof Brown, he decided to go big - spending it all on an engagement ring for his then first wife.
Shortly after the grand purchase, however, standing on the pavement outside the Portabello Road jewellery store - he started to seriously feel ill.
“I thought it was as a result of having spent so much money, but then I fell unconscious. It turned out to be a bad case of bilhartzia which I had contracted in Lake Albert. So Africa really had got under my skin.”
With a doctorate in molecular biology from Southampton, Branch returned to Africa in 1970 via a job in Pretoria with the Atomic Energy Board on a medical team that was researching liver cancer, which was worse in SA at that time than anywhere else in the world.
It was a “schitzophrenic time”, pressured by the Apartheid government’s suspicion’s about a Communist threat, and it became clear in hindsight that the work of this team was a front for more dubious behind the scenes activity developing an atomic bomb.
Branch at the time, however, was a young scientist preoccupied by his research into liver cancer. He and his team discovered that the high prevalence of the disease was linked to the mould which grows on maize stored in the dry season in underground pits, a common practice in rural SA at the time.
After four years, he was sick of lab work and Pretoria, where the fishing was useless. Bored of “sweating by the swimming pool” he returned to the field work he had started in Uganda.
His interest especially in snakes grew “not for the macho danger of being bitten by the venomous ones, but because of the amazing things a sausage can do”, he said.
“I realised that snakes have been stripped to the minimum: no legs, no arms, just one lung..... Yet they are one of the most successful groups of reptiles.”
Having collected specimens he started recording them and studying them using a molecular approach amplifying DNA and, in some of the earliest work of this nature, “revealing the relationships of life”.
He was forced to return to England but, because of this work, he then received an invitation from Port Elizabeth. Newly appointed director John Wallace wanted a research-orientated herpetologist to join his team and had been trying to get the great Don Boardley on board. Boardley elected to stay on in Rhodesia - but referred Wallace to Branch, a young snake specialist with whom he had been in correspondence.
Branch arrived in PE in 1979, happy to return to Africa but “naively concerned” that the extensive field research already done in the PE region by John Hewitt and FW FitzSimmons might have left little to discover and, in biological terms, it might turn out to be a bit dull.
“I could not have been more wrong.
“With five biomes (broad habitat types) and two different weather patterns all smashed together at this point, the result is a unique range of animals and plants. Port Elizabeth was and still is a biological wonderland.”
Another “fortuitous collision” occurred in getting to know Harold Braack, who had just taken over as warden of Addo Elephant National Park. Braack wanted all the species in the park to be documented including the reptiles and amphibians. He contracted Branch to do the work and a long-standing collaboration began.
When Braack moved to Karoo National Park and then to the Richtersveld, he applied the same approach, once again involving Branch, who thereby got the opportunity to explore completely different terrain and habitats.
The partnership led to what is still today possibly Branch’s favourite of the 27 new species he has discovered in his career. He found the paradise toad in Paradys Kloof in the Richtersveld, a deep incision in that desert landscape, nurtured by a tiny system of springs.
Since the political transition in 1994, the world has opened up for SA-based researchers and Branch has since travelled to 20 African countries, returning just last month from a multi-national research expedition to Largo Curambo, a lake in north-east Angola where he discovered a new water cobra.
Besides numerous scientific papers, he has written seven popular books. Among the many honours he has received, he is the youngest recipient of the African Herpetology Association’s “exceptional and, in 2001, he presented the keynote address at the world herpetological association’s meeting in Indiana in the US.
But the honour he treasures most, he said, is the name post doc field students have for his book on Southern African reptiles: “Uncle Bill’s Bible”.
Commenting on the state of museums in South Africa, he said his chief concern is that as decision-makers seek to introduce greater quotients of entertainment and education to make these institutions “pay for themselves” - the great value of their natural history archives is being neglected.
“We must not throw the baby out with the bath water. These archives are what define a museum. They are not colonial anachronisms, they are not guided by arbitrary or personal idioscynchrisy. They are the thing that underpins our understanding of biodiversity; the what and the where of all things.”
The DA will ask the Public Service Commission (PSC) to do a full investigation into the widespread abuse of sick leave by police officers, MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard said on Wednesday (15/02/2012).
ANC, COSATU relationship needs debateThe debate on whether the ANC is leading Cosatu in the right direction needs to continue, the trade union federation’s Gauteng chairman Phutas Tseki said on Wednesday. (15/02/2012)
Cellphone evidence in Henning caseThe former Nigerian Olympic athlete accused of hiring the killers of a Pretoria mother phoned her estranged husband’s best friend 55 times the week before the murder, the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court heard on Wednesday (15/02/2012).
Health MEC blasts staffEASTERN Cape Health MEC Sicelo Gqobana has described the management of his own Health Department in Bhisho as lazy, out of touch, obsessed with planning and unable to make even the smallest changes that would improve the delivery of basic healthcare.
Camdeboo 'best place in East Cape'DUBBED the best place to live in the Eastern Cape, Graaff-Reinet’s Camdeboo Municipality emerged as the biggest winner at the Vuna Awards in Port Elizabeth last night, walking away with R105000 in prize money.
Cops wait for late comersAbout 27 pupils who arrived late at Lavela Secondary School in Zola North, Soweto, on Tuesday found policemen waiting for them at the gate, The Star reported on Wednesday (15/02/2012).
Delivery gripes rule in debate on secrecy billSERVICE delivery complaints took centre stage at Protection of Information Bill public hearings in Mamelodi, east of Pretoria, yesterday.
Plea to protect Plett businessmenBITOU mayor Memory Booysen has asked Western Cape premier Helen Zille and provincial Community Safety MEC Dan Plato to urge the police nationally to deploy a 24-hour task force to Plettenberg Bay to protect businessmen under siege from service delivery protests which have spilt into the town’s industrial area.
Whites control judiciary, claims MalemaThe judiciary is controlled by the white minority, embattled ANC Youth League leader Julius Malema said at a closed session of the league’s lekgotla.
Judgment reserved in defamation caseJudgment in a civil case of defamation brought against the Mail & Guardian and a reporter by Bosasa operations was reserved by the High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday (14/02/2012).
Athletics SA facing R7-million debt crisisAthletics SA (ASA) could face liquidation if it failed to repay a R7 million debt to a sports promotion company, Beeld newspaper reported on Tuesday (14/02/2012).
Die Antwoord trailer pulled after copyright concernsThe teaser trailer for Die Antwoord’s new album Ten$ion has been pulled from the internet after copyright concerns over an anti-apartheid sculpture, the Cape Times reported on Tuesday (14/02/2012).
View moreECO-TOURISM is set to bring more jobs and revenue to the Garden Route, with the planned relocation and expansion of a small Mossel Bay wildlife sanctuary. The proposed R6-7 million move follows on the acquisition of Jukani Sanctuary by the respected Primate Resort company, which already owns Monkeyland and Birds of Eden in The Crags, near Plettenberg Bay.
ANC councillors killed in crashTHREE ANC councillors died instantly and others were seriously injured when the minibus taxi they were travelling in overturned on the R72 road in Alexandria at the weekend.
Sports Minister in sex scandalMarried Minister of Sport Fikile Mbalula - who last night celebrated his 40th birthday with a lavish party in Pretoria - is embroiled in a nasty spat with a former lover.
Kabuso report: Why heads should rollHERALD reporter Brian Hayward explains in a nutshell the most controversial issues exposed in the 175-page forensic report.
Secrets brought to light from lettersTWO projects singled out by Local Government MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane when he finally made public the Kabuso report yesterday are laid bare in secret letters to political bigwigs and confidential special investigations attached in the report’s annexures.
MEC vows to 'clean up the rot'AFTER a turbulent fortnight in Nelson Mandela Bay politics, mayor Zanoxolo Wayile and his boss, Local Goverment MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane, came out guns blazing yesterday, vowing to clean up the rot which has pushed the city’s administration to the brink of collapse.
Another attack at festering ArlingtonANOTHER knife attack has occurred at Arlington Waste Disposal Site. The attack, which took place on Saturday afternoon, comes amid calls by the DA for an investigation into the chaotic state of the site and questionable swopping of contractors.
Schoenies otter takes fishing lessonsIT’S one of the iconic wild animals of the metro’s open spaces, but it’s not often seen - certainly not clambering onto the rocks right under your feet. But that was the experience of fishing buddies Gavin Curtis and Stuart Duckenfield who were trying their luck with light tackle and pilchards at Schoenies yesterday (August 10 2011).
Cause and effect of climate change explainedSO HOW to communicate the complexity and magnitude of climate change to youngsters from a little school in Zwide? The kids, in grades six and seven at Mzimhlophe Primary School, were given the answer to this question during their visit to the SA Marine Rehabilitation and Education Centre (Samrec) yesterday (August 03 2011).
R1.5-million farming venture will fit Eastern Cape to a teaTHE Eastern Cape government has set aside R1.5-million to kick-start an expanded honeybush tea industry that could be ramped up to produce a turnover of R100-million a year and hundreds of new jobs. The good news follows on the results that have emerged from a study of the honeybush industry, commissioned by the Coega Development Corporation (CDC) on behalf of the provincial economic development and environmental affairs department.
Snowed-in guards airlifted to safetyNINETEEN stock-theft guards stationed on the top of the Drakensberg have been plucked to safety as heavy snow presses in on their lonely outposts. The guards are housed alone or in pairs in 10 shipping containers, at key points along the Lesotho border with the north-eastern Eastern Cape, in the Rhodes area.
Algoa Bay the best monitored in all of AfricaALGOA Bay is now “the best monitored bay in Africa” with millions of rands worth of equipment installed below the surface measuring a wide range of environmental conditions. That was the proud revelation yesterday (July 28 2011) from SA Environmental Observation Network (Saeon) co-ordinator Shaun Deyzel, who was speaking at a marine science symposium hosted by SA National Parks, at the Addo Elephant National Parks.
Mantis in new Nigeria dealPORT Elizabeth based tourism group Mantis Collection has announced a bold expansion into West Africa with a landmark, multi-million US dollar deal signed in PE yesterday (July 25 2011) to roll out a sumptuous suite of boutique hotels in Nigeria. Mantis founder Adrian Gardiner signed the deal at Shamwari Townhouse in Summerstrand with highly respected Nigerian businessman Nze Chidi Duru, who is the chairman of Abuja-based Grand Towers Plc. The Nigerian company has interests in the pension, banking, retail, communications, IT and hospitality sectors.
Surf event sets greening benchmarkBILLABONG Pro J-Bay is setting a benchmark for international surfing contests with a comprehensive programme to protect the local environment and combat global climate change.
Karoo farmers take their fracking probe to Jo'burg oil summitA SMALL Karoo farmers’ association is so concerned about fracking, and damning new evidence out of the US, it is funding the R10000 bill demanded for a four-day oil and gas conference in Johannesburg, to allow one of its members to attend.
Swell job for man with decades of experienceWITH the small waves prevailing yesterday (Sunday July 17 2011) for the Billabong Pro J-Bay, all surfing mojos are focused on the second week of the contest and the swell that, it is hoped, will still set things on fire. The man with un-paralleled expertise in this department is contest director Eric Stedman, 54, who has been scanning synoptic charts, fiddling with barometers and assessing wind direction since he was a grommit back in East London in the 1960s. It also helps that he began surfing Jeffreys Bay 43 years ago.
New official whale watching operator launch in the bayALGOA Bay’s first boat-based boat-based whale-watching operation in a decade has been officially launched - and already some exciting sightings are being reported. Lloyd Edwards of Raggy Charters, the company awarded the boat-based whale watching (BBWW) license for Algoa Bay, said yesterday (July 14 2011) he spotted the cow and calf pair of southern right whales off Algorax earlier this week.
Super surf contest starts at J-BayTHE latest edition of one of the great global surfing contests, built around an iconic right-hand point break, was launched in Jeffreys Bay last night (Wednesday July 14 2011).
Unique source of Bay waterHOW many cities in the world can say they get their water from a World Heritage Site? Very few, I bet. Yet, that’s the case with Port Elizabeth and the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and in fact the Gamtoos River Valley vege farmers.
Bayworld raggies returned to the oceanTHE biggest baddest pair from Bayworld’s de-commissioned aquarium, two bulky raggedtooth sharks, were released yesterday (July 26 2011) back into the sea. It was a sad day for the oceanarium, where they have lived for nearly two decades, inspiring awe in hundreds of thousands of visitors - but it is good news for the species, as the pair are now part of a research project aimed at securing our waters as one of the few safe havens in the world for raggies.
Dairy farm could close soonBUSHY Park Dairy Farm, a flagship “proudly Port Elizabeth” business and a much-loved feature of the metro for the past 20 years, is facing closure. The shock news was confirmed yesterday (June 21 2011) by managing trustee Puffer Hartzenberg, who was responding to unconfirmed reports about the matter.
Unique study of great whitesA UNIQUE study into the abundance, distribution and movement of great white sharks in Algoa Bay, sponsored by the metro, has been launched. There has never been a fatal shark attack in Algoa Bay, but the metro has committed the R800000 grant as a pro-active step, taken in line with their marketing of Port Elizabeth as “the watersports’ capital of Africa”, researcher Dr Matt Dicken explained yesterday (June 21 2011).
Refurbished Skead book publishedA NEW book aimed at celebrating our natural heritage and guiding sound future conservation policy has been published in Port Elizabeth. Historical Incidence of the Larger Land Mammals in the Broader Western and Northern Cape (including the Eastern Cape as far east as Sundays River) is a complete re-furbishment - with summaries, maps, illustrations and two new chapters - of the original work of the same name by legendary naturalist Dr Jack Skead, who died in 2006.
Co-op sponsors two farmers on US missionTWO Karoo farmers have flown out of PE on a ground-breaking mission to the US, to get the low-down on fracking, in the country where it all began.
Link Refit to electric cars proposalIF WE CAN link Refit with electrical motorcars - then we could really be onto something. Speaking to The Herald yesterday (June 14 2011), department of environmental affairs deputy-director general for climate change, Peter Lukey, said the scheduled launch this month of South Africa’s Renewable Energy Feed-In Tariff (Refit), will likely lead to significant positive change.
Exciting reforestation project underway in TranskeiAN UNUSUAL re-forestation and carbon sequestration project is underway in the heart of the old Transkei, where savage erosion is a common feature. The R7600000 project is being run as a partnership between the Congress of Traditional Leaders’ of South Africa (Contralesa), the national department of environmental affairs and a Johannesburg-based company called Carbon Worx.
Green electricity programme set to launch this monthGOVERNMENT will this month launch the long-awaited Refit programme that will make funding available to pay private energy entrepreneurs who will generate their own green electricity and sell it to the grid.
EC investment boost to counter climate changeEASTERN Cape economic environment MEC Mcebisi Jonas yesterday announced significant new green economy investment to boost green economy skills in the province.
EC leads climate change battleTHE Eastern Cape government has declared its intention to lead from the front in the war against climate change, with a landmark multi-benefit project agreement signed at the Eastern Cape Climate Change Conference in East London yesterday (June 08 2011).
Climate change conferenceEVERYONE change - a milestone Eastern Cape climate change conference, featuring senior political leaders and climate change experts, is set to start in East London today (Wednesday May 8). The Eastern Cape Climate Change Conference will focus on the strategy document that has been prepared by local role-players, and will look towards the UN’s Cop17 summit, the international climate change indaba in Durban in December
'Plenty of power for smelter,' says CDCBLACK-out fears notwithstanding, there is more than enough electricity for the megawatt-hungry Coega manganese smelter, according to the Coega Development Corporation (CDC). CDC communications’ chief Senzeni Ndebele was responding this week to concerns expressed about the power demands of the smelter and how this will affect Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality residents and existing businesses.
Motherwell eco-schools big recipientsTWO Motherwell “eco-schools” were the recipients this week of tens of thousands of rands worth of equipment and furniture to help them learn better. The 26 maths and reading software packages, 100 desks and 200 chairs were donated by ABB after the power and automation giant participated last year in a Wessa eco-schools’ workshop in PE.
Pollution plume off the beachfront raises concernsA STRANGE-looking plume of discoloured water has been appearing sporadically in the bay between Shark Rock Pier and Humewood Beach, resulting in a number of calls from concerned residents, Following an initial report on May 20 by Humewood resident Elize Pretorius, and then disappearing for several days, it reappeared again this week, prompting further calls.
Put the environment on agenda of new councils Concerns over Ngqura oil leak 'unfounded'CONCERNS have been raised that the oil and gas exploration rig in Port of Ngqura could be leaking oil into the bay. Both the Norwegian company that owns the ultra-deepwater drilling rig and the harbour authorities have rejected as unfounded the concerns raised by environmental group Ocean Messengers.
Ball of fire not the beginning of the end.Was it a bird? Was it a plane? Was it a comet hurtling to Earth in delayed fulfillment of Harold Campling’s doomsday prophesy? Well, no. In fact, it was the International Space Station (ISS) and space shuttle Endeavour, catching the last rays of the setting sun.
Ngqura a fish magnetTHE Port of Ngqura has become an extraordinary magnet for marine life, and could point the way to an important new role for harbours, according to Bayworld marine biologist and shark specialist Dr Matt Dicken.
Stately emperor pays family a flying visitTHERE are moths and there are moths - and then there is the pine tree emperor, one of the giants of the insect world. Gorgeous yellow in colour and “easily the size of a man’s hand”, one of these moths swooped into a Seaview home the other night.
Endangered forest clearing probedA SWATHE of critically endangered forest and new generation legislation formulated to combat climate change are at the centre of a confrontation in Deer Park. The forestry department has slammed as “reckless and malicious” the clearing of the area, which is over 100m long by on average 4m wide.
Male in search of good life turns up at beachfrontHE WAS a prickly customer - but in the end he came quietly. It was Patrick Mange, the cleaner and gardener at beachfront flatblock Bandle, next to the Beach Hotel, who found him.
EC operators performs strongly at IndabaTHE Eastern Cape has fared well at the Indaba tourism conference and expo in Durban, taking gold in two different categories in the main Welcome awards and only just falling short in the Eteya emerging tourism operators’ awards. The Welcome Awards winners are both from PE and are both family-owned businesses: the Plantation, the wedding, functions’ and accommodation venue on the Sardinia Bay road, and Economic Cars and Bakkies, the 20-year-old Walmer-based car rental firm.
NMMU microscope a global break-throughNMMU has been catapulted into the forefront of nanoscience research with the arrival of a state-of-the-art custom-built microscope from Japan. The high resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM) is the first of its kind that has been sold commercially outside of Japan and the last of a suite of four electron microscopes, costing a total R90-million, that have arrived in the past week from Tokyo manufacturer JEOL and a second manufacturer in The Netherlands.
'Port guards like the Stasi'FOREIGN tourists yesterday compared guards at the Port Elizabeth Harbour to the dreaded Stazi security police of East Germany, following an incident in which their driver was manhandled, forcibly detained and then bundled off to Humewood Police Station. The incident happened yesterday morning as the tourists, a group of five Russians and a Belgian, were about to enter the harbour at its southern entrance, headed for a day diving excursion in Algoa Bay with local dive company Expert-Tours.
How to rejuvenate Baakens River ValleyI WAS chatting to permaculture activist and leading member of Transition Network PE Naomi Suzane the other day, and she came with a great idea of how to secure, rejuvenate and celebrate the Baakens Valley. We kicked her idea around, and this is how it turned out.
Dad's call following son's deathSIMON Swart started drugging in his early teens and he had been through 15 rehabilitation centres before he died, alone in his room in a backpacker lodge in Central, a fortnight ago. But there was much more to this young man.
Nuclear moratorium callTHE concern group challenging the Thyspunt nuclear reactor has called on government to place a moratorium on all nuclear development in South Africa until the full extent of the Fukushima disaster is known. The call by the Thyspunt Alliance - a broad coalition of residential, cultural, environmental, tourism, fisheries, business and surfing interests in the Oyster Bay, St Francis, Humansdorp and Jeffrey’s Bay area - co-incides with the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl, the historic nuclear melt-down in Ukraine.
Major show jumping event scheduled for PEPORT Elizabeth has been named as a host city for a world show-jumping championship qualifier event, sparking great excitement in the show-jumping fraternity, and the promise of an energising mid-Winter injection of tourist revenue. The event will be attracting the country’s top jumpers, so it is being celebrated in horsey circles - but it is much more than that, event co-ordinator Tanya Radke said yesterday.
Oceanarium seals readied for departureHOW do you transport eight seals to Pretoria? That’s the preoccupation right now of Bayworld’s oceanarium team, as the relocation of their animals moves ahead.
Chumming fines co-incide with issuing of whale permitNELSON Mandela Bay Municipality has issued four fines to marine tourism operator Lloyd Edwards related to the controversial chumming incident off Humewood Beach last month. The issuing of the fines at the Port Elizabeth beach office on Friday co-incides with the issuing this week of the long-awaited boat-based whale watching (BBWW) license for Algoa Bay - to Edwards.
Farewell (for now) to Bayworld oceanariumBAYWORLD’S oceanarium is set to close at the end of this month to prepare for the de-commissioning of the 43-year-old dolphin pool and the transfer of 24 penguins and nine seals to Pretoria Zoo. It’s all part of “operation stop the bleed” in which Port Elizabeth’s much loved museum and oceanarium complex has had to make some tough decisions in order to deliver, hopefully, long-term bounty.
Get out the Karoo, farmers tell ShellANGRY residents of the Middleburg area have called for Shell to “get out the Karoo” after the company failed to guarantee the security of their water if fracking goes ahead. Addressing Shell representatives at a hall in Middelburg’s Grootfontein Agricultural College in a hall packed with farmers in T-shirts saying “Don’t Frack with our Karoo,” members of the audience asked repeatedly if the multi-national could “guarantee no risk to our water”.
Radio activity comtamination concern surfaces around fracking planKAROO anti-frackers are calling for the authorities to take note of the latest findings in America that fracking could be contaminating drinking water supplies with radio activity. The findings stem from an investigation by the New York Times and were reported in that newspaper on Friday. The findings include that waste water produced by fracking wells often absorbs radio activity from naturally occurring minerals underground like uranium.
Nieu Bethesda farmers count flood costsIT COULD take some farmers in Nieu Bethesda a decade to get back to where they were before the flood that hit them Saturday. That’s the word from the mountainous catchment area north of Graaff-Reinet, where well over 100mm of rain fell in 24 hours, flooding the Gats River and all its tributaries, flattening stock fences, stripping roads to bedrock and bursting farm dams.
Malema! playing the race card again? you are on a hiding to nothing and smokescreening the issues will not save you! Justice will be served,and if your`e guilty you will pay....
BrandGat 14 February 2012 11:17 amNow Athletics is in the financial 'dwang'!what is happening,money just disappears and no one seems to care,aren`t audits done on these bodys?some one must be responsible....
BrandGat 14 February 2012 5:36 amGood idea lets create a database in the Metro and start with the Municipal Setup,it could get us out of the financial dwang the Metro`s in!...
White Settler 13 February 2012 10:39 pmA database of corrupt officials? Will it not be a database of those officials who are too stupid and have been caught with their fingers in the till? Yes that is a good idea, we had better not employ ...
White Settler 13 February 2012 10:31 pmIs our Mayor not a modern day Robin hood? He takes from the rich who actually pay rates and taxes and gives to the poor school children. ...
Karen 13 February 2012 11:43 amI have to agree with BrandGat. Lloyd Edwards has been operating in the Bay area for a number of years, and I have used Raggy Charters on a personal and corporate basis on many occasions. I don't kno...
thirsty 13 February 2012 10:52 amLets just hope that this is just the start of the process of getting this Metro back to a financial dissipline, lets hope they have the conviction to finish the process required to clean up the histor...
vim 11 February 2012 9:54 amGwen Bisseker, would egg yolk remove the green tinge from blonde hair, or would it add some sparkle by producing pretty blue copper sulphate crystals?...
The Struggle 10 February 2012 2:03 pmClearly the ANC Nelson Mandela Bay Regional Chairman, Cde Nceba Faku ran the municipality as his own backyard. He has enriched himself. The ANC in the region cannot continue be led by a self-centere...
BrandGat 10 February 2012 10:47 amLooks like Lloyd Edwards is being set up here,and the someone is being lined up to get the required permit! dirty tricks again?...