BirdLife South Africa’s Important Bird Areas launches online texts for South Africa's 124 Important Bird Areas

BirdLife South Africa’s Important Bird Areas (IBA) team is very pleased to announce the launch of the online texts for the 124 Important Bird Areas in South Africa. The texts are based on the publication The Important Bird Areas of Southern Africa (Barnes 1998). Over 45 IBA texts have been updated, with either partial or full revisions. The texts can be viewed at: http://www.birdlife.org.za/conservation/iba/iba-directory

Each page consists of:
• General information about the IBA
• Google Earth map of the IBA
• Site description
• Description of the birds that occur at the site
• Conservation issues
• List of IBA trigger species
• Threats to the IBA (if assessment has been completed)
• Conservation actions (if assessment has been completed)
• References and further reading

The revision of the IBA directory is a work in progress, but it is important to have the updates accessible to the birders, environmental practitioners, conservation planners and other people as and when they are completed. Partial updates are where the bird species and place names have been updated/corrected. Where a recent assessment has been completed for an IBA, the text is fully revised. The goal is to complete the partial update of all 124 IBAs in 2012 (so all IBA webpages will then be live on the website), and to have completed full assessments for all 124 IBAs by the end of 2013, by which time we aim to have completed a revision of the entire IBA network. This will be a major achievement for the IBA Programme. Thereafter the IBA pages will be regularly updated (as and when new assessments are completed).

The IBA Programme’s success is partially dependent on inputs from interested people, so please read through the texts and provide comments, photos and species lists.

For general information on the IBA webpages, please contact Ernst Retief (conservation.gauteng@birdlife.org.za). For information about specific IBAs, please contact the relevant person listed at the bottom of that IBA’s webpage.

RIGHT2KNOW STATEMENT ON WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY 2012

The Right2Know Campaign aims to ensure everyone living in South Africa is free to access and to share information. This vision will never be realised without a strong, critical, well-funded media sector, that is free from government and corporate control.

Thursday 3 May 2012 – the 19th commendation of the United Nations’ Press Freedom Day – is an opportunity to reflect on the ongoing struggle to realise that vision.

Despite savage cost-cutting in the newsroom that has left fewer journalists carrying a greater workload and greatly strengthened the hand of spin doctors in the public and private sector, critical investigative journalism continues to exist in South Africa. A broad popular coalition has mobilised against legislative threats such as the Secrecy Bill, and the judiciary holds strong against attacks on journalistic independence.

Yet we cannot claim to live in a society in which the right to access and share information through the media is realised by all.

Media are a public good – a constitutional right that is the key to the realisation and defence of other rights. If media consumption and production opportunities remain in the grip of monopolies, they will continue to be enjoyed disproportionately by the economically powerful. In a country with such high levels of poverty, unemployment and inequality, appropriate interventions may be necessary to counter market forces that contribute to this phenomenon. We should not have to choose between media are beholden to political interests and media that are beholden to corporate interests. We need more media, not less; more voices, not fewer.

Print Media

Media freedom and diversity are two sides of the same coin. Without media freedom the media would become the voice of the government, without a diversity of ownership and economic models (non-commercial and commercial) the media would be the voice of an economic elite.

In recent years the print media has come under attack from elements of the ruling party wanting to introduce statutory regulation via a Media Appeals Tribunal accountable to Parliament. In this context the Right2Know Campaign welcomes the final report released by the Press Freedom Commission (PFC) on 25 April 2012.

While many of the details need to be debated further, the PFC recommendations may help strengthen our non-statutory regulatory system. We hope that the ANC General Secretary’s initial welcoming of the PFC recommendations is a sign that the ruling party will abandon its call for statutory regulation of the print media.

The Right2Know was also glad that the Press Freedom Commission acknowledged that the issue of “media transformation” (including ownership, content, and staffing) needs to be addressed to ensure print media credibility. The PFC’s recommendations include considerations for content diversification, skills development and training, a media charter and support for community newspapers.

In this regard the Right2Know Campaign will be engaging Parliament’s ongoing Media Transformation Indaba aimed at addressing the state of transformation in the media, including the high concentration of ownership in the commercial media. We will continue to argue that the definition of transformation must move beyond race and gender profiles in ownership. Transformation must ensure that the media reflect society (including working-class communities) at the levels of ownership, staff and product.

Television and Radio

While major strides have been made since 1994 in terms of the transformation of broadcasting – we now have a three-tier broadcasting system consisting of public, community and commercial media – significant work still needs to be done. The public media tier (the SABC) has been rocked by governance and financial crises since late 2007. The community media sector has been plagued by governance problems and systemic under-funding. The commercial media sector is dominated by a few major players, making it difficult for new players to enter the market. Our once vigilant regulator, the Independent Communications Regulator of South Africa (ICASA), has failed to regulate and monitor broadcasters’ license conditions, and allowed our public broadcaster in the main to serve up a diet of repeats and cheap foreign content

Given these challenges we welcome the Department of Communications ICT policy review process, which includes a broadcasting policy review. The review includes a Green Paper / White Paper process leading to the tabling of new legislation. We believe that it is both urgent and important to craft a new ICT vision for the country that prioritises vibrant, diverse, citizen-empowering local content.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)

The internet and digital technologies are changing the way media is produced and consumed. In the past decade South Africa has enjoyed blossoming mobile phone networks and Internet access, creating new opportunities to produce and share knowledge, new mechanisms for exercising the right to know.

However, there are a number of limitations and threats to the democratising potential of these technologies. Most notably we have an effective duopoly of mobile phone companies, whose profiteering make mobile internet access too expensive for the majority of people who use prepaid airtime and data. A system of differentiated airtime and data costs have created a situation of upward redistribution, in that poor users cross subsidise rich users.

We are encouraged by the recently published ANC discussion document on communications that call for a National ICT Policy to “define ICTs as a basic utility, similar to water and electricity.” The Right2Know is committed to campaigning for free basic and affordable airtime and data ensuring that phone penetration does not merely create a mirage of connectivity, but rather enables ordinary South Africans to become producers and consumers of media on more equal terms.

As with broadcasting, much will depend on the ability of the Ministry of Communications to introduce a transformative policy and ICASA to establish the independence to regulate such a policy.

For further comment contact:

R2K Media Freedom & Media Diversity spokesperson:
Dr Julie Reid:      012 429 6824,    reidjbj@unisa.ac.za 

Leopard spottings all over Mpumalanga

A recent serge in the amount of leopards being spotted running wild in the heart of Mpumalanga has sent farmers running for their rifles. As a result these solitary felines have speedily made their way onto the IUCN Red List of “Near Threatened" species. With several sightings having been reported in the Kwena Basin, the Dullstroom area, and most recently in the vicinity of Middleburg we encourage anyone who spots one of these spotted beauties to contact the authorities rather than trying to kill the animal. Many who have tried hunting them down ended their lives as a carcass in a tree and others as an inmate in one of South Africa’s overpopulated prisons.

This weekend is set to be a busy one around the heart of Mpumalanga

Runners from across the country are already warming up for the Elands Valley Marathon, South Africa’s fastest downhill road race, which will be taking place on Saturday the 14^th of April 2012. This 42.2km race is well known as one of the easiest Comrades qualifiers making it one of the most popular races in Mpumalanga. The route follows the stunning N4 highway as it winds through the Elands valley from Emgwenya (formerly Waterval Boven) to Ngodwana. The run starts at 6am on Saturday and includes a 21.1km and a 10km run for those with a shorter breath or who merely favors a more leisurely pace.

If you prefer something slightly faster then the Toyota Dealer 400, taking place just over yonder in Lydenburg, might be your best bet. With over 50 crews said to be pitching up at Lydenburg Toyota for this second round of the Absa Off Road Championship, accommodation is already scarce and traffic will be quite hectic. Luckily the prologue to determine the starting lineup will be taking off on Friday the 13^th at 12:30pm, while the actual race will only get underway at 8.30am on Saturday the 14^th. So if you find yourself in Mpumalanga this weekend, make sure you look both ways before crossing the road.

Mpumalanga two times safer

Two of the most notorious villains in Mpumalanga have been shot dead. Bheki Magagula was the first to fall during a shootout with police that took place in the Hazyview area on Saturday. He was shortly followed by Mathew Khundula, another well known criminal, who was gunned down by police on Monday, at the Gudl'umgwenya Trust near Mbombela. Each of the two men had a rap sheet that included criminal offences like; ATM bombings, armed robberies, escaping from custody, rape, possession of stolen motor vehicles, murder, and possession of unlicensed firearms/ammunition.
It would appears that the witch hunt is only getting started, as Lieutenant General Thulani Ntobela called on two other wanted men, Douglas Mogakane and Mvelo Robert Mazibuko, to hand themselves over to police. With the law bearing arms to stop these fiends and the smaller towns now relying on community policing forums, Mpumalanga is quickly becoming a criminal’s worst nightmare.

Emakhazeni be ready for petrol price increase

The energy department announced a warm little 6.3% price increase for petrol and a 5% increase in diesel prices set to take effect on Wednesday the 4^th of April. This will push up the price of leaded petrol with as much as 71 cents per liter while unleaded will jump to about R11.77p/l. So if you are still planning a few expeditions through the heart of Mpumalanga then we suggest you get your car to the nearest pump before the 4^th.

March 2012 Cover

Right to Reply: The full-length, unedited WB Noka Consortium's rebuttal

The below is the rebuttal, written by Sheriff Molefe, from the WB-Noka Consortium. We are carrying a summary (due to print space constraints) of the rebuttal to our November front page article “Who’s investing R6-bn in Emgwenya?” in our December edition, which is distributed throughout the heart of Mpumalanga, and at the Machado toll plaza from today.

Who’s is investing R6 billion in Emgwenya?

The answer to the topic of your article published in your November issue is: WB-NOKA Development Consortium, made up of four companies, Koplan Consultants, Chrome Ore Loading Trust, Bunger & Associates and Home Grown Supplies Solutions.

Not for one moment, did we think that project at Emgwenya would not raise spectre of doubt, scepticism and suspicion. We anticipated that some in the community of Emakhazeni would react to the project with disbelief, cynicism and outright dismissive gestures. That is natural reaction to anything that looks extra-ordinarily good. The philosophy of a “public good” has slowly been eroding away since the beginning of mankind therefore it is painfully normal for people of Emgwenya whose town has been mired in a downward social and economic spiral for decades. It is inconceivable for any investor to choose to invest over six billion rand in a place like Emgwenya but WB-NOKA Development Consortium is not “just any” investor and Emgwenya is not just another town somewhere in the buttocks of South Africa. Emgwenya has attributes that cannot be found anywhere in the world which give the place an edge over any other would-be destination of our investment.

The object of this piece is to correct perceptions that your article might, wittingly or unwittingly, have planted in the minds of your readers about the project and the Consortium:

·        If the Consortium seemed to be indifferent to your questions, it was not out of a desire to stonewall the media but it was borne out of terms of engagement and protocol requirements we have to adhere to at certain development phases of the process. Until the PPP has been signed, sealed and delivered and the Executive Mayor has publicly made a pronouncement on the project, the Consortium cannot be seen consorting with anyone, including the media on the project. It is the duty of the Mayor and the Council to protect the interest of the people whose aspirations and values define the offices they hold. They are beholden to the people of Emakhazeni and until they are satisfied that the project has addressed the interest of the people that elevated them to the lofty corridors they are occupying, the Consortium’s preoccupation at this point is to adhere to all legal requisites set out in a myriad of legislation, policies, regulations and plans of government. The media has a very important role to play in the development of Emakhazeni which will be articulated towards the last paragraphs of this piece. 

·    Your altercation with Mr. Ignas Oberholzer is very unfortunate but has nothing to do with WB-NOKA Development Consortium. Mr. Oberholzer is neither a member nor has he any interest in the Consortium. Our relationship with Mr. Oberholzer is restricted to mere normal consultations which we have held with many citizens of Emakhazeni running to the Public Participation events which were held in the town of Emgwenya. We must admit, however, that we find him very knowledgeable of the place and his desire to help in actualization of the development in the municipality is underscored by unrivalled passion. The only thing that WB-NOKA DC wants to ‘break’ in Emgwenya is the spine of underdevelopment and inter-generational poverty, not people’s legs. 

·     Your coverage of who the member companies of the Consortium are, leaves so much to be desired. You concentrated on one Member company, Home Grown Supplies Solutions, by the time you were done with it, it was so battered and pulverized beyond recognition. If we did not know better we would, with a good measure of justification, concluded that you were accusing the consortium of implied corruption and associated ills that beset government administrations. To start with, the two ‘directors’ you have named in your article are complete strangers to the company. The rest of your article is predicated on the two individuals you claim are owners of Home Grown Supplies Solutions and therefore can be described as an absolute waste of ink and paper. The company has not even the remotest links with any of the people you have mentioned in your article, least of all, the Premier of Limpopo and Mr. Julius Malema. 

·        We implore you to retract the factually devoid maze of linkages the article is making. The subliminal messages of perceived association with powerful politicians and the suggested award of tenders based on patronage is completely wrong and a fabrication of dizzying heights.

The media has to uphold unquestionable ethics and ethos. The Consortium has, through engagement with Emakhazeni community, made a startling revelation on the mind-set commonly prevalent in the municipality which is that of a defeated people who do not believe that their towns can be transformed into modern world class habitats. We have established that many promises of glitterati have been made in the past with no results. Without fail we have been bombarded with questions which reveal that the people of the municipality do not think that they are worthy of such expensive attention. 

The media has a role to play in rekindling the spirit of self-worth, pride and dignity amongst the people of the area. It is very unfortunate for the media, without justification, to jump on the bandwagon of non-believing and a posture of planting unjustified resistance. When the media assume a confrontational stance and begin to smudge and attack the reputations of people and companies they know very little about then our country is in trouble. In an effort to assert media independence, in this case, we see the media setting off a veld fire and hoping that it will only burn the alien invasive species while miraculously circumventing the life-sustaining ecosystem. 

While we are aggrieved by the article we also acknowledge that this matter could have been handled differently on our part to avoid what has finally transpired. It is for this reason that we have decided to follow the route of a rebuttal rather than that of legal confrontation. We commit to working with the media from hereon in providing information to avoid misinformation mishaps such as the one in your November article. Yours and other smaller media houses whose threshold and circulation jurisdiction falls within the perimeter of the Municipality have, by your geographic location, become a pivotal stakeholder to this project which burdens you with the ideals of staving off any untoward interventions from outside of the area unless they have merit. 

The Consortium has already spent obscene amounts of money and man-hours in an effort to make the project a reality. We have been to the Emakhazeni Municipality so many times that it has become a home away from home, we have met and reached ground-breaking agreements with the mining houses in the area, we have taken the project to the Provincial Cabinet wherein it was endorsed as an official programme of government, we have held two very engaging public participation events which unanimously endorsed the project, we have been vetted by the National Treasury who subsequently became the Transactional Advisors of the project and are responsible for brokering a fair and just PPP Agreement, we have been to the Reserve Bank of South Africa for further vetting processes of the protocols and viability of the foreign direct investment (FDI) we will be bringing to these shores. 

Surely, the media will not be privy to the body of all these negotiations unless we have given them the information which up to now except for the public participation processes we have not divulge to any other person or institution other than those that are directly participating in unlocking all the legal requirements. We would like to appeal to media to exercise patience and caution. We are so up the road in the processes that not long from now we will be giving so much information that the media may not have enough pages for. 

Let the esprit de corps prevail for all to work in harmony in generating socio-economic energies that will transform Emgwenya in ways never fathomed before.

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2011 Green Drop Results for Emakhazeni

GREEN DROP STATUS

While Emakhazeni scored a commendable 70.2% in the 2011 Green Drop report, which measures management of waste water (up from 19% in 2009) of particular concern is that not one of the five waste treatment plants in the area “comply with effluent discharge limits, thereby posing a risk to the receiving environment and public health.”  Here’s how each town scored (Source: Department of Water Affairs).

Performance area	Belfast/ Siyathuthuka	Emthonjeni	Machadodorp	Waterval Boven / Emgwenya	Dullstroom/ Sakhelwe
Process control, maintenance & management skills	78	78	10	68	45
Monitoring programme	100	60	100	100	100
Credibility of sample analyses	100	100	100	100	100
Submission of results	100	100	100	100	100
Wastewater quality compliance	60	60	20	72	15
Failure response management	100	100	45	45	45
Bylaws	100	100	40	100	100
Treatment & collector capacity	22.5	0	15	30	55
Asset management	17.5	0	5	40	5
Bonus scores	9.1	2.6	13.7	9.1	13.7
Penalties	0	0	0	0	0
Green drop score (2011)	76.3%	60.9%	50.9%	76.0%	58.4%
Green drop score (2009)	23%	25%	20%	7.5%	18%

2011 Blue Drop Results for Emakhazeni

Here are the latest Blue Drop (drinking water quality) results for the Emakhazeni Local Municipality (Source: Department of Water Affairs):

BLUE DROP STATUS

2011 results from the Department of Water Affairs show that Emakhazeni is sitting at number three provincially with an overall Blue Drop score of 83.72% (up from last year’s 71%).  Here’s how each town scored:

Performance area	Belfast (Emakhazeni)	Dullstroom	Emgwenya (Waterval Boven)	Entokozweni (Machadodorp)
Water safety planning process & incident response management	70	70	70	70
Process control, maintenance & management skills	40	68	28	40
Monitoring programme	76	91	69	76
Credibility of sample analyses	100	100	100	100
Submission of results	100	100	100	100
Drinking water quality compliance	100	60	100	100
Performance publication	100	100	100	100
Asset management	43	80	43	43
Bonus scores	7	7	4	7
Penalties	0	0	0	0
Blue drop score (2011)	84.95%	83.41%	80.42%	84.95%
Blue drop score (2010)	71.19%	71.19%	65.19%	71.19%

Patchwork

Lusaka. 1978. Pumpkin is nine years old. Her fashionable mother is the queen of Tudu Court, but underneath the veneer of respectability that her father’s money provides lies a secret that threatens their whole world – the tall, elegant Totela Ponga is a drunk. And when Pumpkin’s father – the wealthy businessman JS – discovers her mother’s alcoholism it sets in motion a chain of events that come to define the rest of her life. Weaving together the stories of three generations of women this novel is a patchwork of love, jealousy and human frailty set against a backdrop of war and political ambition. It is a remarkable journey that takes us deep into the heart of a family both fractured and bound together by their love of one man.

TITLE: Patchwork
AUTHOR: Ellen Banda-Aaku
PUBLISHER: Penguin SA
PUB DATE:  June 2011
ISBN: 9780143527534
PRICE: R130

 

 

 

 

Comrades Marathon: The Ultimate Human Race

As the world’s largest and oldest ultra-marathon race, South Africa’s Comrades Marathon can be regarded as a true celebration of and homage to human strength and spirit. What other event so inspires ordinary people to become athletes for a day and compete against themselves to conquer themselves and a brutal course? This book – the result of an exclusive mandate given to the author by the Comrades Marathon Association – chronicles the official history of the race, from its inception to the present day. It includes a comprehensive description of the race course and showcases some of the greatest legends in Comrades history (such as Wally Hayward, Allan Robb and Bruce Fordyce) – and promises an inspirational, interesting and insightful read to runners and their supporters alike.

TITLE: Comrades Marathon The Ultimate Human Race
AUTHOR: John Cameron-Dow
PUBLISHER: Penguin SA
PUB DATE:  May 2011
ISBN: 9780143527923
PRICE: R280

To win a copy of this amazing book visit our facebook page (www.facebook.com/hherald) or pop us an email at: info@highlandsherald.co.za by the 22 August 2011.  

 

 

 

August 2011

One of the BEST front covers and editions yet. Don’t forget to visit our facebook page (www.facebook.com/hherlad) to see our amazing progress over the past 2 years! Well done to our team!

 

 

 

Epilepsy SA: Notice of AGM - 20 August 2011 at 10h30

Epilepsy South Africa Mpumalanga – Limpopo

 

22nd  Annual General Meeting

Date: 20 August 2011

Time: 10.30 for 11.00

Venue: Elandsdoorn Centre,  Hof Street, Moutse 

 

For more information, contact:

Tel: 013 2540161

Email: epilepsympu@mweb.co.za 

NPO 004-022