* The T20 final produced a fitting finish to a tournament that was followed by millions all over the cricketing world. Sri Lanka were the underdogs and deservedly won a nail-biting match. But the star of the tournament and a sublime model for budding cricketers was Virat Kohli. The Indian superstar who is idolised by millions on the sub-continent is not only a great cricketer, but a distinguished sportsman. He went up to congratulate the opposition, Kumar Sangakarra, when the Sri Lankan scored 50 runs during his match-winning innings. Kohli proved that humility is the hallmark of greatness – a trait some of our national players should emulate.
* Minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced that the government will distribute coloured and flavoured condoms among students to end “condom fatigue”. His comments came after a survey showed that condom usage had fallen in South Africa. The decline in usage may be because “the standard-issued choice condoms just aren’t cool enough”, he added. South Africa has some 6.4 million HIV-positive people – more than any other country. The survey, by South Africa’s Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), showed that the rate of people with HIV had risen from 10.6% in 2008 to 12.2% in 2012. In his response to the report, Mr Motsoaledi said, “We need to inject enthusiasm into the condom campaign, and we are about to start rolling out new types of free, coloured condoms which are also flavoured.” The condoms will be distributed free of charge at South Africa’s universities and colleges, he added. Rather be yummy than mummy?
* Unpaid e-toll bills cannot lead to the withholding of vehicle licence registrations. This clarification was given by the director of licensing & prosecutions at the Johannesburg metro police department, Gerrie Gerneke. Speaking on Talk Radio 702 last week, he explained that “there’s no legislation that prohibits motorists from renewing their vehicle licences if they have outstanding e-toll bills”. “His explanation clarifies that the failure to pay an e-toll bill was not a traffic infringement, and that the traffic authorities have no jurisdiction over non-payment of e-tolls bills,” said the Opposition to Urban Tolling Alliance (Outa). “This is the first unambiguous statement from any authority we have heard on a major issue of confusion surrounding e-toll bills,” said Outa spokesperson John Clarke.
* Someone in charge of reticulation at the ‘Boxer bridge’ has lost his / her marbles. Parts of the steel fence are removed to permit pedestrians to avoid using the bridge… But a few days later, that part is replaced, thereby forcing people up and down the stairway of the bridge. Broken one day and fixed the next. This ‘yo-yo’ syndrome has gone on for weeks. What the frikkadel is going on with this comedy of errors? The pedestrians are paying the price for someone else’s cock-up.
* More ships with sophisticated detection equipment have converged on an area where a Chinese vessel searching for the missing Malaysian plane, MH370, detected pulses of signal. None have been confirmed as coming from the flight recorders of MH370. The plane disappeared over four weeks ago, with 239 people onboard. There is a new urgency to all this. It is feared that the batteries running the beacons on the black boxes will start to run out. The area covers a total of 216,000 square kilometres and the depth of the water in that zone is said to be about 4.5km!
* Nigeria has “re-based” its gross domestic product (GDP) data, which has pushed it above South Africa as the continent’s biggest economy. Nigerian GDP now includes previously uncounted industries such as telecoms, information technology, music, online sales, airlines, and film production. Their GDP for 2013 totaled $509.9bn. That compares with South Africa’s GDP of $370.3bn at the end of 2013. However, Nigeria’s population is three times larger than South Africa’s.
