Category: Published on IOL

#SunMet – Local entrepreneur is in it to win it

As seen on IOL.

Life | 24 January 2017
Saarah Survé

Cape Town – Despite horse racing still being an elitist sport, one local entrepreneur is not letting that stop him.

Businessman Hassen Adams, executive chairman of Grand Parade Investments and owner of horse Mac de Lago, drawn at barrier 14 for Saturday’s Sun Met celebrated with GH Mumm, said if you’re in the race, you’re in with a shot at winning.

“(It’s) elitist in the sense that it is very expensive, high fashion and high cost. We have years and years of economic catch-up and that’s a problem.”

Adams said he has been in the industry for 30 years. “My father loved horses and I have never given up. There are still some people with apartheid bias, but I’m very vocal about it. The reality in life is that unless you challenge these frontiers, you will never be able to understand it and talk about it.”

Adams said he has one of the biggest stud farms and is one of the biggest owners. “As Mandela said to me one day: ‘I want you to be a torch-bearer because I know that you will be able to shine the light on many of our people’.”

Adams said he employs thousands of people at Grand West, SunWest, Table Bay, Burger King, Grand Parade Investments and Dunkin’ Donuts.

“I am a serial entrepreneur. By that I mean that I am hungry to grow so that I can create jobs.”

See the article here.

#SunMet – Expert names favourites to win

As seen on IOL.

Life | 23 January 2017
Saarah Survé

Cape Town – Favourite Legal Eagle is the horse to beat in the R5 million Sun Met celebrated with Mumm over 2000m on Saturday, said Rouvaun Smit, leading South African commentator.

“As things stand on paper, theoretically, Legal Eagle should win the race.”

On Thursday, Legal Eagle was drawn at barrier number nine.

“He is in the prime position to decide whether he is going to go to the front or come from off the pace like he did in the Queen’s Plate,” said Smit.

“At this point, having a look at the full field, whoever beats Legal Eagle will win the race. I know the jockey himself (Anton Marcus) has great respect for Marinaresco, who has drawn two. He’ll be in a favourable position to be able to give him a run for his money.

“The horse that everyone else is touting about is Whisky Baron. He has drawn barrier number 8, right alongside Legal Eagle.”

According to Smit, the way the conditions of the race look and the way that the draw has been completed, only one of three horses can win it: Legal Eagle, Marinaresco or Whisky Baron.

Bela-Bela (with jockey Anthony Delpech) is the only filly in the race. “Last year a filly won. She probably has as good a chance as any other filly in this race to win it.

“Very seldom you’ll find fillies going for The Met, because there is a race on the day, The Majorca, which is primed at Grade 1 level fillies. Obviously the connections think that she has a chance of winning it. That’s why they put her in the race.”

Smit said that the pools are huge. “As a first-time better, I don’t think you can hurt yourself if you’re going to take R50 and put it on Legal Eagle, because of the volume of money that’s going to be in the pool.

“They’re looking at in excess of R5 million in the win pool alone. So, you are guaranteed to more than double your money if the favourite does win.”

See the article here. 

‘Language a barrier to exam success’

As seen on IOL.

Western Cape | 10 January 2017

Cape Town – Pupils forced to write their matric exams in languages other than their mother tongue are put at a distinct disadvantage, leading to lower scores on their papers, according to UWC’s linguistics department head.

Professor Bassey Antia said the Department of Basic Education (DBE) should invest in more teachers, moderators and invigilators who speak African languages in order to administer examinations across more diverse languages than just English and Afrikaans.

“In classrooms, learners are often taught in more than one language.

“It is therefore somewhat unnatural for such learners to be tested in only one of these languages, especially when it is the weaker of their languages,” he said.

“Speakers of African languages, in particular, score the lowest since their languages are not used in examining content subjects.

“The language of the exam paper itself should not be a challenge; the content of the paper should.

“When results are released everybody says the performance is dismal and the language question tends to be dismissed.

“I say we should look at it differently, because the environments are multilingual and learners acquire knowledge across languages. However, when it comes to assessment, learners are tested in one language, the official language.”

The DBE said it does not have enough teachers to teach indigenous languages and therefore cannot administer exams in African languages.

Department spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga said the DBE embarked on an initiative aimed at bringing indigenous African languages into mainstream education, but it has yet to bear fruit.

“We implemented the Incremental Introduction of African Languages policy in 2014 which was aimed at forcing all schools in South Africa to offer at least one African language.

“At the end of the pilot we learned there was a shortage of teachers in this area.

“We have started to attract teachers using a variety of measures aimed at increasing the numbers and thus grow African languages in our schools.

“As things stand, we don’t have enough people that work in this area of our system and that is what we need to do first before we can administer exams in African languages.”

Antia conducted a study which found students who registered to write matric in English and who know both matric exam languages (English and Afrikaans) would flip their exam papers over to read the Afrikaans side if they did not understand the term in English, and vice-versa.

His study, which started in 2013 and is ongoing, includes 119 students from different language groups.

“Terms in one language can be more descriptive than in another language,” said Antia.

“There is knowledge embedded in terms.

“Knowing several languages can afford different entry points to understanding.”

Antia hopes to present his research to the DBE once it has been published.

See the article here. 

SA meets India

As seen on IOL.

Special Features | 30 March 2017

Yasmine Jacobs and Saarah Survé

Cape Town – When you combine the sounds of South Africa and India, one cannot predict the end result.

The answer lies in the combined sound of Deepak Pandit, Ranjit Barot and Marcus Wyatt.

“The idea is that it should be blending nicely… The idea is that two different musics when played together should sound like one piece of music,” said Pandit, at a press conference for the Cape Town International Jazz Festival on Thursday.

Wyatt joined in on this point and added, “It’s not super easy because stylistically we come from quite different worlds.”

They have been rehearsing for a few days and what they have found is a commonality.

“I believe the point of this (collaboration) is to have some sort of ‘cross-pollination’ of sound and style from the two countries.”

Wyatt reiterated that this is easier said than done. “Some styles of music blend easier than others and I have always been a musician that is up for a challenge.”

Barot chimed in: “I think it all begins with a willingness to have a dialogue… I think that there is a place where all people, all cultures, all genders meet. It’s a neutral, magical place where you stop defining yourself by everything that has been imposed on you in this life. “

See the article here.

STTA introduces ‘next-level’ electro

As seen on IOL.

Special Features | 30 March 2017

Yasmine Jacobs and Saarah Survé

Cape Town – STTA (better known as Sampling Through The Ages) is promising ‘next-level’ music at Cape Town International Jazz Festival this year.

Forget all you know about DJ’s, mixing beats, MPCs and electro.

“The best way I can describe our sets is a DJ set being performed live. We take on popular music in itself and remix and rearrange it in front of you and give it our own twist,” said Joshua Zacheus, the band’s drummer, vocalist and musical director.

STTA is a local live concept band that can formulate their music to the preferences. They consist of a drummer, two turntablists, three live beat machine samplers, one versatile vocalist/hypeman and a collective of “industry-recognised” guest features.

Festival-goers can expect a tribute to a number of musicians who passed away last year in STTA’s set.

The band opens the Bassline stage on Friday, March 31.

See the article here.