civil unrest in our area

Well, things have been a little bit heated for the past weeks. Hard for an outsider who has been here for only two months to understand what really is going on, or know rumors from truth, but here a couple of paragraphs from a news paper, the Herald, as to what is happening. It is a bit funny cause since Plett is so small, I have been in meetings with two of the three arrested men ;-), which makes it all the more interesting...

"THE Bitou council is reeling following the arrests yesterday of former municipal manager George Seitisho and former mayor Euan Wildeman on charges of fraud and theft.

The arrests come hot on the heels of violent unrest by residents of KwaNokuthula outside Plettenberg Bay last week to highlight alleged government corruption in the region, as well as the authorities‘ failure to stop it. Protesters destroyed a councillor‘s house, intimidated residents and threw stones at police, who closed the N2 highway at the entrance to the troubled township outside Plettenberg Bay. Three petrol bombs were thrown at Bitou councillor Mirriam Sishuba‘s house, completely gutting it, police said. The attack coincided with a work stay-away and followed similar petrol bombings in the township earlier this week.
The protesters blocked all vehicle access to KwaNokuthula with burning tyre barricades in Sishuba Street, which intersects with the N2.

The high-profile arrests coincided with the court appearance of local economic development officer Putco Maphitiza on charges of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm and kidnapping after a man was attacked with a panga during the unrest over the weekend. He was released on a warning and will appear in the Plettenberg Bay magistrate‘s court next Thursday.

Both Seitisho and Maphitiza also have charges of malicious damage to property hanging over their heads in connection with unrest in KwaNokuthula in May. The two men, along with the mayor‘s political advisors Peter Lobese and Kenny Leluma, are facing charges after community members accused them of burning down their houses.

A so-called voluntary stay-away was called last Thursday by disgruntled community leaders who felt businesses were tacitly condoning council corruption by not checking how their rates were being used.

The stay-away turned violent when residents were intimidated and houses were petrol-bombed. Police reinforcements were called in and 26 people were charged with public violence and intimidation.

Seitisho, Wildeman: The case so far . . .
IN 2005, the Auditor-General accused George Seitisho and former mayor Euan Wildeman of using council credit cards for personal spending, of double claiming on a pricey overseas trip, and of hiring a luxury car for personal use in Johannesburg in 2003 while writing the cost off against an official function in Kranshoek.

The AG found that Bitou councillors were paid the salaries of executive committee members instead of ordinary councillors for more than six years. It found there was no indication that the council had taken steps to reclaim the money, which amounted to more than R500 000.

Other findings by the AG included that Wildeman and Seitisho notched up more than R100 000 in credit card expenses for which no invoices were submitted, that the council sold almost R250 000 worth of land for which there were no audit details, and that an official was allowed to take out vehicle loans from the municipality totalling more than his annual salary.

The report also said the Bitou municipality was unable to repay three loans totalling R21-million.

Look to the Left, there's the Story - music memories....

Songs make you remember, and these songs'll make me remember Plett...

After having been on Dr Grey's Anatomy, now at our local backpackers place, Nothando, here in South Africa!! Like the tune, enjoy the lyrics...
All of these lines across my face
Tell you the story of who I am
So many stories of where I've been
And how I got to where I am
But these stories don't mean anything
When you've got no one to tell them to
It's true...I was made for you

I climbed across the mountain tops
Swam all across the ocean blue
I crossed all the lines and I broke all the rules
But baby I broke them all for you
Because even when I was flat broke
You made me feel like a million bucks
Yeah you do and I was made for you

You see the smile that's on my mouth
Is hiding the words that don't come out
And all of my friends who think that I'm blessed
They don't know my head is a mess
No, they don't know who I really am
And they don't know what I've been through but you do
And I was made for you...



And another one, often heard in the club, dear Beyonce sending us all to the left:

A little something about Plett and the Bitou area

Well, here we have been living in Plettenberg Bay for two months, and I am sure hardly anyone knows where it is... Well, let's start by situating it in South Africa, at +/- 600km from Cape Town, on the Garden Route and in the Western Cape Province.

Now, for all of us westerners who just love their statistics, let's see what we can find out for numbers about the Bitou municipality (of which Plett is the center):

In 2001, there were almost 30,000 people and 8,756 households residing in the municipality. The racial makeup of the municipality is
- Black African 37.95%, (against 80% for all of South Africa)
- Coloured 40.25%, (against 9% for all of SA)
- Indian/Asian 0.31%, (2,5% for all of SA)
- and White 21.50% (at 9.2% for all of SA)
Quite a big difference huh, so it ain't your average South African town...

In short, Bitou (like the rest of the Western Cape province) is a lot whiter and has more coloureds then the rest of South Africa. It is fairly well developed, and the center is a touristy coastal town that sometimes feels like Blankenberg. Many people from Cape Town come for the summer and stay either at a fancy hotel or have a luxurious house or villa here (it is estimated that 75% of all the house remain empty most of the year!!). But there are also 5 townships around it, where housing is a problem.

20.4% of all households are made up of individuals. The average household size is 3.33.

Ages: In the municipality the population is spread out with 26.1% under the age of 15, 18.1% from 15 to 24, 35.1% from 25 to 44, 15.1% from 45 to 64, and 5.8% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 27 years.

Languages : In the municipality 49.3% of residents speak Afrikaans at home, 14.1% speak English, 35.4% speak Xhosa, and the remaining speak Zulu, Sotho, or a non-official language at home.

Religion: 83.7% of residents are Christian, 12.1% have no religion, 0.2% are Muslim, 0.5% are Jewish. 3.5% have other or undetermined beliefs.

Education: 7.1% of residents aged 20 and over have received no schooling, 17.4% have had some primary school, 8.0% have completed only primary school, 32.3% have had some high school education, 24.0% have finished only high school, and 11.2% have an education higher than the high school level. Overall, 35.2% of residents have completed high school. In the 10 major schools around Plett, 6.200 kids attend schools, while only 1.300 kids go to pre-schooling (which creates a big problem for the first year in school!).

51.2% of housing units have a telephone and/or cell-phone in the dwelling, 43.5% have access to a phone nearby, and 5.3% have access that is not nearby or no access. 83.1% of households have a flush or chemical toilet. 86.7% have refuse removed by the municipality at least once a week and 1.9% have no rubbish disposal. 47.2% have running water inside their dwelling, 79.9% have running water on their property, and 84.7% have access to running water. 61.5% of households use electricity for cooking, 61.5% for heating, and 80.8% for lighting. 77.9% of households have a radio, 59.1% have a television, 13.7% own a computer, 59.4% have a refrigerator, and 36.8% have a cell-phone.

Jobs: 18.4% of the population aged 15-65 is unemployed. Of the unemployed persons, 70.4% are Black African, 26.6% are Coloured, 0.2% are Indian/Asian, and 2.8% are White. 32.1% of Black Africans are unemployed, 12.8% of Coloureds, 10.6% of Indians/Asians, and 2.5% of Whites.

The median annual income of working adults aged 15-65 is R 13 541 ($2,032). Males have a median annual income of R 14 366 ($2,155) versus R 12 051 ($1,808) for females. The median annual income by race is R 9 567 ($1,435) for Black Africans, R 12 167 ($1,826) for Coloureds, R 32 679 ($4,903) for Indians/Asians, and R 50 331 ($7,552) for Whites (five times as much as the blacks!!).
The annual income distribution in Plettenberg Bay Municipality is:


South Africa is one of the countries most affected by HIV with 5-6 million HIV infected individuals. Nearly 20% of the 15-49 year old population is infected and in parts of the country up to 40% of women of child-bearing age are infected. Overall, 12-13% of the population is infected and by 2005, this rate could reach 15%. About 2,300 new infections occur each day or over 850,000 annually. Approximately 40% of adult deaths and 29.8% of all deaths in 2000 were due to AIDS. Without effective prevention and treatment 5-7 million cumulative AIDS deaths are anticipated by 2010 (with 1.5 million deaths in 2010 alone), and there are projected to be over 1 million sick with AIDS. Recent studies predict the epidemic could cost South Africa as much as 17% in GDP growth by 2010. The extraction industries, education and health are among the sectors that will be severely affected. Over the last decade, national government leadership has not effectively addressed the epidemic although a good HIV prevention strategy was initiated.

de bouworde die hier orde op zaken kwam stellen

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Six people from Flanders, volunteering in Plett, South Africa for a month. These pictures show Koen, Kate, Ste, Fien, Jill and Hilke, as well as some of the other volunteers and people from organisations like Die Sterreweg, Born In Africa and Mad About Art where they lend a hand. There are some of the children they entertained, some of their own entertainment, landscapes of the Garden Route, and a couple of animals... It was a great pleasure to host and accompany them!!! Thanks buddies!!!

2 months here already...

Yep, girls and guys, two months here already.... Reminds me of the old saying:
"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana..." ;-)
Anyway, a couple of pictures from those first two month, a couple of memories....


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Highest Bungy Jump in the world

Sunday we went with the six volunteers from the Bouworde (Flemish) to the nearby situated Bloukrans Bungy pas, where they claim is the highest Bungy Jump in the world. For 580Rand (55Euro), we did the jump!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
For Thomas, watch his video on youtube or on his blog

Let's all make a wish, shall we?

Shooting stars are set to grace the night sky with a spectacular light display this weekend.

The annual Perseid meteor shower will reach its peak during the early hours of Monday, but it will be visible from Saturday night until Tuesday morning.

The celestial show will be most apparent in the north-eastern part of the sky near the Perseus constellation.

If the skies remain clear, it will offer stargazers the best opportunity for a few years to see the Perseids.

The shower this year coincides with a new Moon, providing sky watchers with the dark skies necessary for excellent observing conditions.

"If we're lucky, on Sunday night and Monday morning we might see as many as 100 meteors an hour," said Dr Robert Massey from the UK's Royal Astronomical Society. "But the usual caveat applies: you still need good weather."

The best viewing conditions will be where the sky is clearest and darkest. However, meteors should be visible, to a lesser degree, in cities despite light pollution and smog. "You will see them almost wherever you are, so it's worth a look," Dr Massey added.

Both hemispheres will receive good views but the prime locations will be Western Europe and North America. Hope in OSuth Africa, it'll be observable as well...

Watchers will get the best of the display from about 2200 BST (2100 GMT) on Sunday 12 August, which will peak just before sunrise on Monday 13 August.

Tiny particles

The annual Perseid showers are caused by small bits of debris, many no bigger than a grain of sand, that enter the Earth's atmosphere when our orbit passes through the tail of the Swift-Tuttle comet.

These particles travel at very high speeds, reaching up to 50 kilometres per second (32 miles per second), and burn up in the atmosphere.

This causes the air around them to get extremely hot, which produces the streak of light that we see.

"It's a spectacular phenomenon that everyone can enjoy. The great thing is that you don't need any equipment apart from your eyes," Dr Massey said. "It's a laid back form of astronomy. You can go outside, look up at the sky and enjoy it. And that's really what it's about."

As an added bonus, watchers should be able to see Mars, which will be in view as a bright red dot in the eastern sky after midnight.

Werewolf aka Maffia: my favourite game EVER!

Long overdue that I would make a blogpost about that game that I've played over the world, with so many different people and so many heated discussions: Werewolf - Les Loups-Garou de Thiercelieux!

In the most basic version of the game, minimum 5 players receive one card that either says "villager" or "werewolf" -sometimes also called "Maffia" (usually there are 2 werewolfs in this basic version). These cards are put face down on the table, and the the master of the game asks everybody to close their eyes - night fase. Then the Master of the Game asks the werewolves to open their eyes, and without talking they turn over discreetly one card of one of the villagers, who is thereby killed. Next, everybody opens their eyes and the entire village discovers who has been assassinated and therefor remains out of the game (can't talk but only watch). During this day fase, everybody raises suspicions about who they feel is the werewolf, and arguments based on obvious lies, bad acting and strategy fly back and forth. In the end, everybody raises their hands and simultanously points the person they feel is the werewolf. Whoever receives most votes is "lynched" and has to turn his/her card around, thus dying. If it is the werewolf, congrats to the villagers and they try to kill all of the werewolves this way, if on the other hand it is an innocent villager, well, they just made the werewolves job easier... The game continues with more nights and days until either the werewolves have killed off everybody, or till both the werewolves have managed to kill all the villagers.
For more info, go to wikipedia or another, more historical website is this one. There are many variants and additionnal characters that can make it a lot more interesting.
Characters I usually include:
- the werewolf
- the witch : who can kill one other card just after having been killed
- the alchemist: has a potion of life so he can ressurect himself once
- the fortune teller: during the night fase, before the werewolves open their eyes, consults one card and puts it back in the same way. She helps look for the werewolf but should be carefull how she discloses her info since she is a likely target for the werewolves.
- Romeo & Juliette: if one of them gets killed, the other one has to turn over his/her card as well and dies too.
- Angel & Demon: have to respectively choose somebody (their own choice from the beginning of the game) to protect or accuse during discussions (but don't have to vote for them).
- the thief: has the power to swop three cards from other people then himself after a specific card "eclipse" has been killed (if the thief has been killed before that card is turned over, he is died and can't act).
- the Doctor: if he's been killed, he can ressusitate somebody else that already has been killed.
- the scapegoat: in case of equality of votes during the day, neither of the two indicated people die, but the scapegoat has to come forward and turn over his card.

I just love this game since it is all arguments, discussing and strategy. Personnaly, I don't like guessing from the sounds that one can pick up during the night, I like to stick to guessing wether someone is lying or not. You can also add a separate stack of "events" card that are turned over at each day fase and go for instance:
- voting by innocence: everybody stands up, last werewolf victim begins by sitting down and innocenting the person he/she feels is less likely to be the werewolf. That person also sits down and also innocents somebody and so forth. The last person standing has one card that dies.
- forbidden words: like "I" or "werewolf" words are not allowed during the discussion. If somebody does mention these words, they cannot vote.
- women can only vote for women, or young against old, stuff like that.
- a question regarding the identity of the werewolf can be asked to the master of the game or one of the dead people (if the werewolf was an actor/actrice, who would he/she be?

I have however had to adapt since we were often in small company (4 or 5) and then I actually play a variant that I am pretty proud of (and that I can't see mentionned anywhere else):
- There is only one werewolf.
- Instead of just one card (and therefor one life), every player has 2 or 3 or even 4 cards (and thus lifes). If one gets killed, the player continues playing till everyone of his cards have been killed. Everyone is playing with a combination of characters and tries to establish his best strategy of survival. Therefor, the werewolf also has other characters, but his werewolf role prevails and he can use the other characters to kill of his victims as well (for instance, look with the fortuneteller which would be the best victim).

ENJOY!!