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Friday, bloody Friday, splashed one headline in the Sunday Times’ Business Times on October 12, 2008. The JSE All Share index lost just over 3% on Friday, October 10. At opening on Friday the Dow Jones industrial average was trading at 14% lower than Thursday’s closing, sustaining a loss of 1.5% for the day. In the East, the Nikkei share average went off the precipice with almost a 10% loss, Hong Kong shares were down 7.2%. Australian stocks tumbled by 8%. Britain’s FTSE 100 index lost 8.9%, the French CAC 40 was down 7.7% and the German DAX in the red by 7%.

Southern Desk - Daniel Silke

By now you have probably seen it on YouTube or somewhere on the World Wide Web. And, ex-pat South Africans (and those at home) are possibly still laughing uncontrollably at the perilous state of politics in the country as a result! Yes, I refer to the SABC’s live interview on national television where Parliament’s finance committee chairperson, Nhlanhla Nene found himself on a broken chair, which resulted in him crashing to the floor in mid-sentence! And remember, he is the chairperson! Nene might well think that he was portrayed as a ninny, but he managed to recover his composure pretty well. Hopefully the SABC will take a look at all the chairs…as will the ruling political party in future!

Sharks Lift the Currie Cup - Brad Morgan
The Sharks claimed a well deserved fifth Currie Cup title with a 14-9 win over the Blue Bulls in the final on Saturday. After a big build-up to the game in Durban, the mostly local Absa Stadium crowd, which was electric and vocal, greeted the home team's first Currie Cup title in 12 years with a massive roar.
Bulls captain Victor Matfield said, "The Sharks were awesome. They were really motivated in front of that fantastic crowd."
Despite the closeness of the score, the Sharks were full value for their win, which was more convincing than the five-point difference might suggest the tenacious Bulls defense ensured the margin was not bigger.
Sharks captain Johann Muller said afterwards that his side never felt they were going to lose.

SA's Anonymous Crime Tip-Off Line -www.southafrica.info

Over 500 arrests have been made since the launch of Crime Line, a groundbreaking anti-crime initiative that allows members of the public to make anonymous SMS tip-offs on suspected crimes at any time of the day.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) said in a statement last week that Crime Line tip-offs had resulted in 14 arrests in Gauteng and 14 in the Western Cape over the past two months, bringing the total number of arrests as a result of anonymous tip-offs to 534.
In addition, the seizure of R2.4-million worth of goods, including a variety of drugs and stolen property, were made during the same period. This, according to the police, has brought the total value of seized goods and confiscations resulting from tip-offs to R22.8-million.
Possession and dealing in drugs remains the most common crime reported, but some significant and interesting arrests and confiscations also took place as a result of detailed information being anonymously provided to the SMS line and website, the SAPS said.
SAPS spokesperson Director Sally de Beer said the Crime Line family and support base was growing rapidly.

Faux Pas - Anli Serfontein

An excerpt from her new book From Rock to Kraut

The layers of meaning in a new society are never explained explicitly to newcomers and sometimes I wish that I had been handed my bible of “In Germany, thou shalt and thou shalt not” as I crossed the border.
Our first Christmas was one case in point. Christmas is a serious, more contemplative time here and full of old traditions. During the season of Advent, every German family has a pine wreath with four candles on it. On each of the four Sundays in Advent, the family sits down for afternoon tea and Stollen—the traditional fruit loaf, eaten only at Christmastime—and another candle gets lit, until all four are burning on Christmas Eve. It is a wonderful tradition but not mine, and my children have suffered from their non-German mother’s inability to “bastel”—to make things with one’s hands—and to make an Advent wreath ourselves.
Our first Christmas here, my husband decided, as the German contingent in our marriage, that he would make an Advent wreath with Louise, thinking it couldn’t be that difficult. He and Louise sat down on a Sunday with some wire and pliers and pine branches taken from the neighbor’s trees. After much intense work, I was called to admire our very own and first Advent wreath. I had to bite my sharp tongue and suppress a chuckle, while hypocritically telling them how great it looked.

The Lemmings - Dorianne Berry

Take a look at the CD cover. From left to right are Ludwig, Abri, Brian and Warren. These guys make up the band “The Lemmings.” Ludwig and Abri have been playing together for over 15 years. To get a good band working together you need that special “something.” Brian and Warren joined the band about 3 and a half years ago. When they played as a group for the first time, says Abri, it was just the perfect chemistry. The Lemmings have played together ever since.
These guys make great music and in South Africa, their band is a serious contributor to the respected professional musical fraternity. Now they are here in the USA to promote their new album, and also to establish themselves as artists. The launch in the USA is slated for November 15 in Charlotte, North Carolina. They have made appearances in Los Angeles, where the band was showcased extensively. It is a very good introduction to the crazy world of the music industry here. Smart enough to play in some totally tacky venues, they have been approached by several agents and promoters, who know that there is often a diamond lurking under all the dust in some unappealing places. And it works. They already have some great contacts.

The Lekota & Shilowa Show Takes to the Stage - Daniel Silke

The somewhat un-ceremonial recall of Thabo Mbeki, which led to his eventual resignation from office, continues to cause major ructions in the ruling African National Congress. Always a controversial decision, it might just be enough to cause a degree of internal dissention at a level never quite seen in the recent annuls of the party of liberation.
Already, a variety of personalities who were clearly supportive of Thabo Mbeki have indicated they are now likely to start a new splinter political movement which will campaign in existing ANC heartland for black votes.
The chief dissenting voices are the former Minister of Defense, Patrick ‘Terror’ Lekota and former Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa. Both were not afraid to distance themselves from the axing of Mbeki. Both have also spoken in recent weeks of the need to form an alternative political movement to counter the ‘unconstitutionality” of the ANC.

Left of What’s Right - Marlan Padayachee

Marlan Padayachee jives to a tongue-and-cheek sing-along as political dissidents step aside to give way to a babalaas blast of entertaining escapism. DATELINE DURBAN: With South Africa’s political drama swirling ahead of the 2009 election, South Africans are taking the arts, culture and entertainment escapism route. Fourteen years later, there’s growing turbulence in the world’s youngest democracy in the aftermath of the Polokwane Triangle that has changed the political landscape, but take heart because some of the world’s top pop-rockers are heading out to Rainbow Country this sizzling summer.
With the winter of discontent etched with the memories of political, crime, social and economic victims, add a specter of xenophobic violence, compatriots will be letting their hair down as they drown in the soulful and lilting lyrics of Lionel Ritchie. Rod Stewart will marvel at how the Canadian Master of Unusual Comedy, Michel Lauziere, can play Mozart in uptown New York with his skateboard blades tickling the little green bottles. Soon the sunset clause will be history as the revelers get into the party mood when the big hitters croon and drool on the concert stages.

NOVEMBER, TRULY A MONTH OF THANKSGIVING -Drienie Hattingh

New York, New York, November 1, 1986.
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and to humbly implore His protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many single favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.” Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.
(Excerpt: George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation, October 3, 1789.)
Almost 160 years after the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving, President Washington proclaimed that there would be a day of Thanksgiving for the nation. Thanksgiving only became an official national holiday in 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln declared that the last Thursday of November be a day of Thanksgiving. When we arrived in America, 23 years ago, on November 1st, we were not familiar with the American holiday of Thanksgiving. After we learned more about Thanksgiving, we could not believe how appropriate it was that this holiday would fall in the month of November. November has always been a month of thanksgiving for Johan and me. I was born on November 21, 1949. Then November became even more special when a young boy called me on the phone 14 years later, on November 3, 1963, in Johannesburg. Six years later the same boy asked me to marry him. We got married on November 21, 1971. Since then, we've been blessed with three wonderful children and a beautiful grandson, Simon.