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Cronje tragedy: 'Hansie looked like he was sleeping' Inside the wreckage of a crashed Hawker Siddeley cargo aircraft, high on the freezing mountainside, Mossel Bay businessman, pilot and police reservist Kobus Crous held Hansie Cronje's dead hand and mourned. "I took his hand and wondered: how many cricket bats did these hands hold, how many cricket balls did they bowl?" Crous was the first man to find South Africa's former cricket captain in steep terrain high above George on Saturday morning. He recalled his sad encounter during the recovery effort for Cronje and his companions, who had died hours earlier when the aircraft ploughed into the eastern ridge of East Peak in the Outeniqua Mountains. Cronje's eyes were closed, Crous said. But for a thin trickle of blood on his tanned forehead, he could simply have been sleeping. But despite the peaceful look, his left arm, raised protectively to his head, conjured the the chilling picture of Cronje and the two pilots seeing the mountain rushing towards them seconds before impact. Crous and his fellow pilot and partner in Swan Helicopters, Nico Heyns, had begun scouring the mountains in their nimble Bell Jet Ranger after the Hawker Siddeley failed to land as scheduled at George airport. Eventually they spotted the wreckage, and while Heyns held the chopper steady above the rocky slope, Crous jumped down to the ground, headed for the scene and began the grim task of checking for signs of life. There were none. His next job was to start clearing a landing patch for the subsequent recovery teams, which arrived at midday. On Sunday, Crous said he had not slept that night. "I saw those faces all over again," he said. When they had set out, neither he nor his partner had had any idea of who had been on board the ill-fated aircraft. When they arrived, the area surrounding the right wing was still smouldering. Crous remembered afresh his anger at how Cronje had been treated during the King Commission, the forum which had investigated the cricket match-fixing scandal. When he had seen Cronje on TV, a broken man, he had been outraged. The people of Bloemfontein have lost their hero and cannot come to terms with it, says Boeta Dippenaar, the South African middle-order batsman. "Everyone respected Hansie. They loved Hansie and they admired him every step of the way. "I've been to Hansie's parents - they are sad, but they are putting up a brave front." Thanks to IOL.co.za [ Top ]  Kytie Koekblik ColumnKytie Koekblik Washington D.C. - Disclaimer: kytie k is (alweer) officially depressed. Dit verklaar sy met n tikkie selfspot.In hierdie rubriek hiedie week mis sy so bietjie oor die girl wat sy eenmaal was. Ek het my eerste kortbroek gekry die jaar toe ek 8 geword het vir ‘n verjaarsdag persent. Dit was ‘n helder, ligblou kortbroek. Ek het daardie dingetjie gedra tot ons hom moes weggooi. Dit was seker ook maar goed dat iemand besluit het om vir my n kortbroek te gee vir n verjaarsdag persent, want ek wou altyd soos Saartjie Bauman wees. Ek weet nie eers of vandag se Afrikaanse kinders nog weet wie Saartjie Bauman was nie. Saartjie Bauman was ietwat van n tomboy, en natuurlik het sy leiers-eienskappe gehad. Onder andere was Saartjie Bauman die leier van die Drie Musketiers: Lina en Anna was haar twee makkers en hulle was meer girlie-girls as wat Saartjie was. In my kop was ek Saartjie. Ek weet tot vandag nie of ek actually n leier is/was, en of ek net te veel boeke gelees het nie. Ek het n gang gehad, elke kort-kort moes ek ander kinders van ons buurt recruit om in my gang te wees want my gangs het nooit vreeslik lank bestaan nie. Obviously was ek maar altyd die gang-leier. My standerd twee gang het bestaan uit n paar girls wat "mooiblaadjies" uitgeruil het. Dit was nou boekies met skryfpapier, met prentjies van couples in die sunset en Minnie-muise en allerhande wolkies en corny goed. Maar natuurlik het ek ook My Sin gekry as gang-leier. Ek het n paar girls gekry om hulle vingers met n naald te steek en bloedmerke op papier te maak wat ek in die gang (of "kliek" - Saartjie se term) se swart boekie sou plak en bewaar in geheime plekke. Natuurlik het was ek en my beste buddie Edrich zimmerman, en later Jaco Nel na die zimmermans na PE getrek het, ook in n gang. En ek moes altyd die leier wees van hierdie missions, getrou aan Saartjie Bauman se aard sou ek vir geen seun terug staan nie. Een van ons geheime plekke was in die rivierwal agter ons huis, waar ons net gespeel het as daar "grootmense" of seuns saam met ons was. Ons het n gat in die rivierwal gemaak en ons geheime wapens daar versteek. Ons wapens het bestaan uit darts wat ons met scoobydooby draad "versier" het. Ons sou iemand se oog kon uitgooi met ons wapens. Ons het ook bessie-gevegte gehou. Eendag het een van die boys in die gang, ene Pieter, vir my die kys gevra. Dit was die laaste van die gang. Ek het NOOIT weer met Pieter gepraat nie. Ons vriendskap was selfs dwarsdeur hoerskool gestrem. Soos alle goeie tomboys, het ek boom geklim en straatkrieket en touchies gespeel. En obviously ook spin the bottle - toe ons so standerd vier se kant was. Doen vandag se kinders nog sulke dinge/ Kan jy in die pad speel sonder om aangeval te word/is ouers paranoies? Kan jy as graad vyfie (deesdae is dit mos grade en nie meer sub A, sub B, standerd een ens nie) Terwyl die regering klaarblyklik state of emergencies verklaar het en apartheid sy peak bereik het, het ons ons self vermaak deur na Roxette en "New Kids on the Block" en die Pretty Woman soundtrack te luister. Ons het ook toktokkie gespeel dat dit klap. Ek wonder of vandag se kinders nog "toktokkie' speel. Jy klop aan die deur en jy hardloop so vinnig moontlik weg voordat die grootmense jou vang. Eenmaal moes ons vir ure omstreeks nege-uur in die aand in n bos wegkruip. Ons was SO bang, want die vies bure het die maltese uitgelaat op ons spoor. En het daai goedjies geblaf. OP n ander okkasie, toe ek in standerd drie was, is ons gevang deur n buurman wat ons agtervolg, en toe self weggekruip het en ons verras het…. Dit was ek en ene Lederi Smit, nou n gelukkig getroude girl met n townhouse in Kuilsrivier. Ek en Lederi het pienk fietse gehad en geheime kodes en ons was in die "sweetie pie" gang. Ons het so vinnig moontlik probeer weghardloop maar die oom was vinniger as ons dogtertjie beentjies. Ek het afgekyk. Die oom het gese: "Kyk op. Bly jy nie in Ralphsingel 11 nie?" "Ja oom. Moet asseblief nie vir my ma'le se nie." Natuurlik, as tomboy, was my favorite TV-show "Rieksie Rautenbach." Rieksie was n tawwe polisie-vrou en sy was die coolste op die aarde. Sy kon skop en slaan en die skelms wys waar Eva die wortels begrawe het. Ek het die buurkinders en my boetie gesummon om saam met my Rieksie Rautenbach te speel. Elke lamppaal en bos was n geheime ingang; elke boom n konstruksie-tower. My ma het jare later gese sy dink ek stel belang in skryf en movie-maak omdat ek so gespeel het as kind, omdat ons ons verbeeldings gebruik het - ek het nie tv-game of computer games gehad nie. In my verbeelingwas Ralphsingel 11 n plek vol star wars effekte. By the way, ek dink nie ek het ooit probleme gehad met gender-relations nie. Seker maar van al die speel met seuns. Dit was pre-hoerskool kytie Koekblik. Die half weird om vandag aan daardie girl te dink. O ja, ek moet ook noem dat my ander heldin ene Kobie Malan was, van die Maasdorp reeks.. Kobie was n achiever en natuurlik hoofmeisie van haar hoerskool; sy in allerhande dinge uitgeblink. Ek wou Kobie wees. Ek het die hele Maasdorp reeks gelees voor ek standerd twee was. So het ek deur die lewe gedroom en myself altyd met girls vergelyk. Later was die hoofmeisie van 1993 my ultimate rolmodel, ene Jackie batt - n goeie redenaar; n pragtige stem, ‘n girl-extra-ordinaire. En ekke, ene kytie koekblik, het so hard geprobeer. Soms het ek my eie mate van (relatiewe) sukses bereik en soos my ma se, ek het altyd te veel ysters in die vuur gehad. Vandag probeer ek onthou wie my heldinne was en dit maak my half sad. Ek dink aan my kleintyd drome en wonder of ek myself teleurgestel het, en of ek net grootgeword het. Ek het altyd gedink ek gaan Amerika toe kom om n Hollywood ster te word. Vandag is ek in Washington Dc en ek is nie tomboy nie, nie super-ster nie, net ek. Nie meer die hoopvolle over-achiever was ek altyd wou wees nie; heeltemal ge-disorganized; ek het nie veel leierseienskappe nie maar talle vriende regoor die wereld en n boyfriend wat glo soos John Travolta lyk (ek dink hy's definitief meer sexy) Soms raak ek depressief as ek dink ek gaan elke dag na dieselfde klein kantoortjie met die underground; ek wag op die busse, ek moet budget en lyk dus altyd soos n fashion flop; mense kry my jammer en gee vir my meubels persent. Wie ek was, het toe nie verander in wie ek wou wees nie. Ek moes 24 word voor ek kon besef ek het nou nog nie my eerste boek gepubliseer nie (ek wou altyd die jongste Afrikaanse skrywer wees); en ek het nog steeds stage fright en ek kan nog steeds nie kitaar speel nie (en ek kan nie eers basic goed doen soos kook nie.) Om die eerlike waarheid te se, my familie en vriende en boyfriend het altyd gemoan oor ek dan nou nie eers my veters behoorlik kan vasmaak nie. Ek het vir so lank met my kop in die clouds geleef, dat ek nooit die basics van leef geleer het nie, soos hoe om rys te kook. Laasweek het die boyfriend my in slowmotion gewys hoe om my veter vas te maak. Ek dink omdat ek as linkshandige soos n regshandige probeer veters vasmaak het, het ek iewers die kat aan die stert beetgekry sonder om ooit te besef dat ander mense nie elke half-uur hulle veters van vooraf hoef vas te maak nie. Totally embarrassing. Maar nou ja, nou kan ek immers my veters vasmaak, op die ouderdom van 24, deur die loop te maak soos alle ander mense hulle veters vasmaak. En eendag sal ek dalk my eie kinders kan leer om hulle eie veters vas te maak. So, Kytie Koekblik moes leer nuwe drome droom en ek moes leer dat maybe net maybe is dit n goeie ding om een voet in die boom en die ander voet in die kombuis te hou. Dan kan jou kop mos maar soms tyd kry om in die lug te wees. Kytie K. Kytie Koekblik would like you to respond to her tongue-in-cheek running commentary on suburban life in America in this editorial. Fresh off the boat, she is ready to explore and experiment with American bath plugs and to drive on the other side of the road. You can contact her here. © RSA-Overseas & Matheson Communications [ Top ] Mark Shuttleworth and Mbeki do the astro jive South Africa's first man in space, Mark Shuttleworth, has celebrated his return to the country by jiving with President Thabo Mbeki at a hi-tech reception in his honour in Pretoria. His parents, Rick and Ronelle, beamed as their son was cheered by admirers on Sunday and as praise was heaped on him. Mbeki thanked Shuttleworth for all he had done for South Africa and the African continent. "There is an indigenous African saying: 'Please hold the sun where it is, so it doesn't set'. Mark's statement to the world is - Here we are, a country and continent that are being reborn, on which the sun will never set. "He has shown us that the stars are accessible to us. We are grateful that he had the courage and vision to do what he did," Mbeki said. Shuttleworth signed autographs and shook hands with his fans. "It is truly wonderful to be back. During this experience I noticed two beautiful things - seeing Africa from space and seeing Africa as I came in to land on a 747." Shuttleworth said he was filled with pride walking to the rocket with a badge of the South African flag on his spacesuit. "There is so much to be proud of in South Africa. On my way here we stopped at a red robot, and a young entrepreneur stepped up to the car and put a small globe on the bonnet. He made me realise two things. One was that entrepreneurship is alive and well in South Africa as he tried to sell me two globes. The other was that the globe seemed to be upside down, with the south pole on top. Then I thought: there is no sign in space saying north should be on top. I think it is time that the southern hemisphere should be on top." Shuttleworth's parents weren't sure of his future plans. "He always waits for something magical to happen and then he runs with it, but he is always full of ideas. "He has been achieving amazing things all his life. It is great to know that people have responded so well to what he did," said his mother. Shuttleworth will welcome the other two members of the Soyuz crew for a visit when they will visit a game reserve. The next few months will see him visiting schools and encouraging children in the fields of science and technology. Thanks to IOL.co.za [ Top ] Africa's first Aids vaccine 'within 10 years' Scientists are more optimistic now than ever before about developing an Aids vaccine in Africa, according to Medical Research Council (MRC) chairperson Malegapuru Makgoba. "There is light now in the dark continent," he told journalists after the opening session of the first forum of the African Aids Vaccine Programme (AAVP) in Somerset West on Monday. Expectations of a vaccine within seven to ten years were realistic, but it was important to be "prudent rather than expedient". Makgoba said the first phase-one efficacy trials on a candidate vaccine for HIV sub-type C - the variant prevalent in southern Africa - could start in South Africa soon, and were only awaiting regulatory approval. However, this process could not be rushed. "You need high ethical standards... we have to be sure that the day we start injecting we are not going to be facing the consequences of destroying the whole process," he said. Makgoba - who is also chair of the AAVP - said the programme brought African scientists together in the search of an accessible and affordable vaccine for the disease "in the shortest time possible". The AAVP also aimed to guard against the exploratory and "fly-by-night research that tends to come into this region in various forms", he said. Pontiano Kaleebu, the programme's principal investigator and Uganda Virus Research Institute scientist, said so far two studies had been completed in Africa - one in Kenya and one in Uganda - and one was ongoing. More were to start soon. "A few trials have taken place, but there are a number that are lined up," he said. WHO-UNAids HIV Vaccine Initiative co-ordinator Jose Esparza said at the briefing that the first results of phase-three trials, conducted in the United States and Thailand, should be available in February or March next year. "This will be the first opportunity to have an HIV vaccine, but nobody can say how effective that vaccine will be." He warned that vaccine trials were extremely complex from an ethical point of view and thus took a long time to complete. Esparza complained of the bias in Aids research towards developed countries. Although Africa accounted for 70 percent of the world's HIV positive infections, only two of the 60 trials initiated so far had been on this continent. African vaccine research received less than two percent - about $50-million (about R500-million) - of resources directed towards such research world wide. "There is a feeling that Africa cannot contribute to research... but that model is not acceptable in the case of HIV." Plans had to be put in place now to ensure that Africa received the vaccines first, he said. Other scientists and health officials participating in the forum had earlier also bemoaned what they believed was the cool response of the developed world towards investing in an African Aids vaccine. "We will continue to question and challenge the apathy of the rich nations to investing in vaccines for Africa," Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said. The development of a vaccine for Aids in Africa was critical and the South African government was committed to supporting such research. However, the holistic approach needed to fight the disease required resources that were way above what developing countries could afford, she said. World Health Organisation Africa director Ebrahim Samba said the European Commission spent about R10-billion a day in protecting agriculture in Europe. "It is not a dream or an idle hope to think that they will be sufficiently generous to assist Africa," he said. The AAVP is a network of scientists working to promote and facilitate HIV research and evaluation in Africa and was initiated in June 2000 when 45 African scientists pledged collective commitment to find a vaccine. According to the World Health Organisation, the meeting in Somerset West aimed to define a plan of action for the next seven years and to raise R23,3-billion for the AAVP. Thanks to IOL.co.za [ Top ]  Nel's KitchenRagel Nel Ragel Nel Washington D.C. - For the past few weeks, I’ve been acquainting myself with a treadmill. And I assure you, so far not so good. It has NOT been a pleasant experience. Now, before I continue you should know that I’m not known for agility, grace or for being sporty. (The sportiest things I’ve ever done include being driven around at high speed in a wealthy date’s sports car. Oh, and I was actually appointed to the sports desk of a community newspaper in Jo’burg during my days as a cub reporter, believe it or not. The editors, the readers and I still wince collectively whenever that image is revisited, so I’d rather not elaborate. The risk of traumatising everyone all over again is too great.) Okay, fine. I admit. I DID go ten-pin bowling once. And I suppose you can even say that I did have a strike of sorts, because apart from me, no one else in the history of the Roodepoort bowling alley has EVER managed to let go of the ball right as their arm was fully extended… backwards. (I don’t know if they’ve managed to fix that hole in the wall next to the counter where you get those snazzy bowling shoes. It was quite a hole! I couldn’t understand everyone’s surprise. Then again, with such a heavyweight ball, what sort of damage did they expect?) No, I’m definitely not sporty. In fact, I relate all too much to a character in a television commercial currently being aired in the USA, in which a guy who is reclining on his couch says something like: "Sure I’m sporty. I fish." Well, no, I don’t even fish… but you get my drift. Unfortunately there comes a time in everybody’s lives when one’s (in my case, alleged) metabolism slows down and the effects of gravity speeds up. (And the latter, sadly, is just about the only thing that speeds up!) So one needs exercise. I’ve always considered the commute up- and downstairs at home to be a stiff (and completely sufficient) workout. Then I noticed the effects of Sir Isaac Newton’s discovery in the mirror one day. I passed out from shock and the next thing you know – when I came to it again – there was a treadmill in my life. Just like that. We wearily scouted each other out first, that treadmill and I. (No need to rush into these things. Besides, anything with the word mill at the end of it promises to lead to great unpleasantness. For example: Puppy-mill.) Always one to approach things intellectually (don’t smirk like that!), I read the accompanying literature first, which came in the form of warranties (although, I have to point out, they don’t guarantee that you’ll make it out of the experience alive!) and instructions. The instructions basically read: Plug it in, position yourself on the treadmill, flip the switch to ON and run for your life. And the rest of the 200-page booklet contained a series of urgently marked warnings – in VERY small print, I might add – to tell you of all the possible ways you could injure and/or kill yourself. I promptly christened it the D*R*E*A*D*M*I*L*L. "But," giggled my best friend in Botswana when she heard about this new contraption in my possession, "You can hardly put one foot in front of the other on DRY LAND without tumbling into manholes or tripping over tiny cracks in the pavement." (With a friend like that… See why we live in different Hemispheres?) Somehow encouraged even more, she continued: "I predict that you are going to shoot backwards like a cannon ball (or should I say a bowling ball?) the moment you set foot on the thing." Followed by evil laughter. "Whoa, ha, ha, ha, haaa!" (Okay, not really… but that preceding bit all happened on e-mail.) With those words of support and faith in my inability, I started fretting about my severe lack of hand-eye-foot-brain co-ordination. I’ve told you before, I’m not good at doing two things simultaneously. Actually, I often have trouble keeping my wits about me while performing merely ONE task! The closest I ever come to multitasking is when I’m daring enough to eat in front of the television, and even then it’s a toss-up between food somehow disappearing somewhere between the plate, the fork and my mouth, or – in the event that I successfully manage a bite – losing track of the plot of whatever is happening on television. (Charming picture, isn’t it?) So I decided I had to do something to improve my basic motor skills before jumping onto (and being expected to keep up with) a machine with its own set of motor skills. Thus I went back to cautiously observing it from afar for a few more weeks. Finally, one day, during a surge of unexpected ambition (I was clearly on a caffeine high!) and a fit of temporary insanity ("fit" in that sense of the word is unfortunately the only definition that applies to me.), I jumped on. It was actually not so bad. I had a lovely stroll at about one mph (I didn’t want to risk a heart attack the very first time, see, by putting too much pressure on myself.). After a series of successfully executed steps (without even holding onto the handlebars!), I became rather confident and cocky and decided to step it up a notch (so to speak) and speed that baby up. A few miles per hour faster (no need in revealing the exact numbers, right?), and I nearly collapsed when I realised that I was actually breaking a sweat! (Believe me, considering my previous level of activity, it was indeed quite a sight. Not a good one, understand, but a true phenomenon – no matter how ugly. In fact, I think that’s about the time when I started looking like a hamster running inside one of those spinning wheels.) "Sweating," I reckoned, "means that something positive must be happening in terms of my fitness level." A few minutes later I looked down at all those flashing screens and things on the control panel (which closely resembles the instrument panel in the cockpit of a Boeing 747 and is about equally as complicated.). "Whoo hoo!" I yelled. (Okay, to be honest, it was more like a gargling, heavy breathing noise emerging from my mouth at that stage.) "I’ve just ran FIVE miles!" But that’s when I looked again and saw that FIVE was NOT the distance covered so far, but really the amount of calories burned. Disheartened, disillusioned and not thinking clearly due to this newly inflicted trauma AND fatigue, I found and pressed Stop. And that’s where the trouble started, because, although the tread stopped turning abruptly and immediately, my brain didn’t respond, and my legs kept right on going. Now, what happened next is usually only explained in Physics textbooks (or is seen in horrible car crashes). I fell off. But no pain no gain, right? I wish I could say that I got right back on (which is exactly what one is supposed to do after falling from horses or other abstract objects like bikes, but I didn’t, because no one has ever written such a rule to apply to treadmills). Besides, I had twisted an ankle, so the pain was real, even if the gain was not. So, that’s the story of my brief but intense love affair with the treadmill so far. For now, I’m nursing the ankle while still observing the D*R*E*A*D*M*I*L*L from afar. (Funny how all things, even relationships with not quite so inanimate objects as treadmills, always seem to come full circle.) But meanwhile I’m not getting thinner, and this gravity issue doesn’t seem to be going away either, so you can be certain that this relationship isn’t at an end. Needless to say, I’ll keep you posted. © RSA-Overseas [ Top ] SA Internet blackout looms Cape Town - The administrator of the dotza (.za) domain name on the Internet would have no alternative but to pull the plug on millions of email addresses and Internet sites if parliament passed the controversial Electronic Communications and Transactions Bill this week, he said on Sunday. Mike Lawrie, the administrator of the dotza Internet and email sites, said the department of communications was pushing ahead with the bill despite repeated appeals. The bill would place the registration of domain names under government control, which was totally unacceptable in terms of international conventions. Lawrie, who has been running dotza since 1990 with the approval of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the United States-based body overseeing Internet and email communications, said this would affect the electronic communications of government, business and academic institutions. "It does seem like there is a most serious crisis looming and something has to be done to avert it," he said on Sunday. The national assembly's portfolio committee on communications is due to finalise the bill on Monday before it comes to a vote on Friday. Lawrie's main concern was with Chapter 10 of the bill, which provides for the minister of communications to appoint a panel to recommend candidates to the board of a Section 21 company to regulate and register domain name users. This was "quite unacceptable in terms of the way that the Internet works", he said. "Parliament cannot pass legislation relating to the Internet and expect that the Internet will kow-tow to that legislation. It does not work that way." He said there were "clear standards laid down for how a redelegation of a country code domain shall take place". This involved all parties, including Lawrie (as the administrator), the government, Internet users and commercial representatives agreeing on how domain names would be registered. "I am not going to give my consent for a redelegation if the bill is in [its present] form," Lawrie said. "My bottom line is that there must be accountability to the Internet community, a democratically elected board of the Section 21 company and independence from interference by the government." Thanks to IOL.co.za [ Top ] |
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