Phuthu Stay Phut, Don't go!

I’m sure we can all appreciate the thankless work that the SPCA does in our country. Despite being an underfunded and many times, understaffed society, they usually do a good job at caring for animals. So it’s disheartening to hear of a case like this, where the actions of an SPCA inspector are grossly incongruent with what the SPCA stands for.

Our friend Katrine has just recently had a traumatic encounter with a crazy lady and an even crazier man, all in the hopes of removing a sweet little dog, Bella, from the hands of her negligent owner.

We will let her tell you the story………

I found a black female sausage dog (without a collar) running around on a very busy road in Padfield Park on Saturday the 16^th of January. I stopped and picked her up as I was worried about her getting run over, and took her home with me. My fiancé and I went back to Padfield Park, to the same road where I found her, and rang 10-15 doorbells in the area. But no one recognised or claimed her. We went home and called the SPCA, but they were closed. So I went back to the area again, where I saw a notice saying ‘black female sausage dog found‘ – and I called this number and spoke to a lady named Lauren – who had found the same dog a few weeks earlier. She informed me that this dog has been in and out of the SPCA many times and is always running around in the road. She did not know the owner’s name, neither did she have her details. I subsequently called the SPCA for advice. They took my name and number and said they would let me know if anyone called and reported her missing.

Bella(left) and Sophie(right)

I kept the dog safe at our house and she quickly became part of the family and bonded with us as well as our own sausage dog Sophie. I kept looking for notices that might have been put up in Padfield Park, but there was nothing. I never received a call from the SPCA either.

3 weeks later, on Friday morning the 5th February, I received a call from a lady called Cathy – who got my number from the SPCA. I was surprised that the they had given Cathy my number, instead of looking into the matter themselves and calling me about it first. Cathy wanted the dog back but I told her that I would deal with the matter through the SPCA – as I was reluctant to return the dog to an ‘owner’ who didn’t care about her enough to start looking for her as soon as she went missing.

I had called the SPCA four times on Friday the 5th February and spoke to two people, one of them said an inspector named Steve White would call me back with advice. Needless to say, he never did, so I decided to go and see him on Saturday morning (6 Feb).

When I arrived at the Kloof SPCA Cathy was also there. She didn’t thank me for caring for her dog for 3 weeks, and her excuse for not looking for her dog earlier was ‘being away, moving house, working full-time and being a mother.’ If my dog Sophie went missing I would roam the streets searching for her, put up posters everywhere, call the SPCA immediately and pop into the SPCA and all local vets 3-4 times a day.

One thing led to another and Cathy eventually accused me of ‘taking her dog’, even though she had obtained my number from the SPCA and I was now standing there at the SPCA trying to sort this matter out. If I was stealing the dog I would have never called the SPCA in the first place! During this tirade, I found out that Bella had been to the SPCA three times before, and she has a brother too who had also been missing until recently.

I could see that the matter would not be resolved by speaking to Cathy alone, so I looked to the SPCA for help.

We were sent to chat with Steve White, the inspector who had not returned my calls previously. He spoke to Cathy first, then me. From the minute I walked into his office I could see that he was not interested in investigating the matter further. It was obvious that he did not have the dog’s best interests at heart

Steve then told me that because Cathy owns the dog, I need to give her back. He also said that if I had followed the correct SPCA procedures, the dog would have been mine by now. This was news to me! The procedure was that I needed to have handed her in to the SPCA straight after I found her, and I could have adopted her 7 days later had the owner not been there to claim her- which she obviously wasn’t. I was devastated that nobody had informed me of this, Steve’s response to this was ‘to take it up with my manager.’ When I asked why he hadn’t returned my urgent calls the previous day his reply was ‘I am busy trying to fight off an Animal Rights group who’s trying to get me fired.’

I asked him to ask Cathy to give me proof – perhaps a photograph of her missing dog. But Steve reported back that she didn’t have any. ‘Who doesn’t have a photo of their dog after 8 years,’ I asked. ‘Well to be fair, I don’t,’ he replied. Once again he urged me to give Cathy back her dog and once again I was reluctant.

Steve called me later that day (Saturday 6 Feb) and said he had inspected Cathy’s property and that it was safe. Apparently this was a new place she had moved to within the last couple of weeks, so all the problems related to Bella going missing before have now been rectified. Steve then said that I must return the dog to him the following morning at 6am, Sunday 7th February. So once again I pleaded my case, but he was rude and put the phone down.

During the whole of Saturday 6th  February Cathy kept sending me threatening messages and on Sunday morning she went to the police and charged me with theft. She accused me of stealing her dog! The police came round and fetched Bella, saying they would take her to the SPCA and that the matter would be sorted out there. But the police handed her over to Steve, who handed her over to Cathy.

My fiancé, his mother, Lauren (who found Bella on the road a few weeks earlier) and I all tried to call Steve to convince him to do the right thing and keep Bella at the SPCA while further investigation into the matter took place. But he was extremely rude to all of us and ignored us completely. As if this is not enough, Steve said that the SPCA had nothing to do with the matter and it had to be sorted out between the two parties concerned. My question then, is: why did he get involved in the first place?

As far as I am concerned he does not deserve to be in a position where his job is to protect animals, and the fact that he has been involved in similar incidents before, only strengthens my belief.

I am a journalist and feel the public deserves to know about this. The matter will go to print unless something is done about removing Steve from his position.

By Katrine

Why, oh why is it that there is nothing but the warm southern ocean happening in Durban? It’s all happening in Jozi or Cape Town.

Is it something we said?

If you have a look-see at Computicket, for example, you will notice that every festival or music/stage performance takes place in either one of these two sister cities but there is a heavily pregnant silence once you get to the Durban category. We don’t want to overreact and in the process come across as being overly sensitive but hey, we do have feelings. I can just imagine how the people in Koster must feel!

I have some solid facts to back it up (a skill I’ve learned through married life):

Current shows:

Dance performances
Jhb: 25
Cape Town: 8
Durban: 1

Comedy:
Jhb: 36
Cape Town: 11
Durban: 7

Music:
Jhb: 187
Cape Town: 138
Durban: 45

I rest my case.

With Durbs being the spiciest city in this beautiful country of ours, we love different local flavours, so please don’t exclude us. Once we leave the woodwork and the surf, we are actually quite social. An’all.

If you’re a cycling fan, you’ll probably already know that Lance Armstrong will be taking part in the Pick ‘n Pay Cape Argus Cycle Tour in March. Yup, it’s true. Lance announced it on the popular micro-blogging site, Twitter,  last week. I got terribly excited when I heard about it, not because it’s likely that we’ll catch a glimpse of him but just because he’ll be here, in our beautiful country, supporting a race close to many South African’s hearts. And if you’ve ever had a look at his Twitter profile, you’ll realise this guy is not afraid of travelling – it’s almost as impressive as his cycling, seriously. So I’m chuffed SA finally made it onto his busy travel schedule!

He’ll be riding with South African Daryl Impey who is also part of Lance’s new RadioShack team. Although Lance said he would be racing the event “Dave Bellairs said at a media briefing in Sandton on Tuesday that he believed the American would take it easy on race day, and he was unsure in which batch he would start.”

My husband and I are doing the Argus too which I’m really looking forward to. I just love Cape Town…aaaah!

We’ve decided to leave behind the cupcakes, poems and dreams this week and get serious. Our question: What do think of the latest Zuma saga involving his love child and what is the appropriate course of action?

Elzet

Okay, so he said he is sorry. Again. If he meant it, it would’ve been a different story, but I think he is just sorry that he got caught. The thing about remorse is that it has to be sincere and you actually need to change your ways.

 I’m all for a clean slate and that’s what he was given but where do we draw the line? Fathering a child out of marriage is not the issue here. He is a role model to millions of South Africans. Like children, they don’t hear him say ”do as I say, don’t do as I do“,  no, they look at this actions and in reply shout their approval. His actions send the following message: It’s ok to be dishonest and it’s acceptable to have unprotected sex in a country where HIV/AIDS is a real issue:

“Zuma arrived three-and-a-half hours late for his first public appearance since issuing an apology to the nation for fathering a child out of wedlock. Thunderous applause, cheers and repeated loud hails of his name greeted him and his entourage…” – The Mercury.

To them, he is a hero.

It’s not fun for us to constantly see our President being ridiculed – every newspaper has unflattering cartoons of his latest scandal. South Africans deserve a President they can look up to. For change to be seen outwardly, it has to start within.

I would personally prefer him stepping down. My reason: As the representative for South Africa, he is constantly in the public eye (locally and internationally) and it puts SA in a bad light if his comings and goings are constantly surrounded by negative publicity. And I think our youth is in desperate need for an authentic role model and leader.

Kerry

I think that President Zuma needs to choose between his traditional Zulu beliefs and his social and political persona, when you are president you cannot have two conflicting ideals and expect people to be happy about it. South Africans are looking for him to set an example and so far with regards to his sexual orientation he has been quite a dismal leader and role model. The hypocrisy of it all is unbelievable. You cannot punt AIDS awareness, safe sex and monogamy, when you are married to 3 women and still can’t get enough that you have to have an affair, this just doesn’t make sense to me, I mean how much more sex do you want Mr President?

 He needs to buck-up, keep his ‘Minnie me’ in his pants and set an example for the South African people. I don’t think he should step down, so far (sex scandal aside) his administration has been focussed and he has made some positive changes in this country. Im worried that if he steps down, who will take his place and how much damage will be done. I don’t know who’s next in line, but I’m imagining the likes of another ‘Mbeki’ or worse another ‘Malema’ and my blood runs cold. If Zuma steps down, South Africa’s political future will be like a game of Russian roulette.

Louise

I’ve kind of gone off Zuma to be honest. How many times can we forgive him?

He has unprotected sex with someone other than his three wives (like that’s not enough choice) and then promotes safe sex to prevent HIV/AIDS? Atta boy, good one! And if you do have unprotected sex then hay, no worries, just pop into the shower and lather up with a bar of Lux and you’re sorted!

But let’s say just say, hypothetically, that he really loved this woman and had all intentions of making her his wife in the future. Fine, I can accept that but why not just disclose it to his party to avoid any more pie getting encrusted on their innocent little faces?

Perhaps I should be more objective, maybe he just lost count of the number of children he has? 18, 19, 20? ‘Tis possible.

We’d love to hear from you – let us know what your take on this is.

The SAPS have had a lot of  negative media attention lately (and rightly so) involving the blue light brigade, bogus cops and official police officers abusing their power and disregarding standing orders, procedures and the Constitutional rights of the public. More and more police officers have been found guilty of victimising civilians accused of minor or even fictitious offences, by pushing them off the road, using excessive force, sometimes with racial undertones.

I had chills running up my spine, when I read the related article on Carte Blanche. Not only do we have to deal with murderers, thugs and rapists running rampant in our country, now we have to worry about brutality in our police force as well.

The question that everybody’s asking is, what do you do, if you find yourself being pulled over by an aggressive police officer who obviously does not have your best interests and safety at heart?

In response to this, Eblockwatch has launched the Police the Police campaign.

You register with Eblockwatch, you then save their number into your phone (on speed dial). In the event of an attack you press the speed dial button on your cellphone, it turns into a recording device, where you give an eyewitness account of what’s happening to you at that moment.

When the cellphone connection is terminated – either by you or somebody else – the information is immediately stored on a remote server.

Now that idea is fantastic, but lets expand on it further, why cant you have a similar facility on the police cars, a camera that has a live feed to a remote server, so as soon as the vehicle is turned on, the camera will activate and immediately begin recording. This type of facility will protect the rights of the police officer as well as the rights of the civilians. Should the camera break or be covered during an incident, then additional police officers are dispatched to the scene immediately.

If you have any good ideas on how to ‘Police the Police’ or if you have experienced police aggression first hand, then let us know.

Listen Up music lovers! It is that time of the year again where  South Africa’s best musicians culminate together,  One river, three stages, more than 30 live music and comedy acts and 2000 festival goers with a passion for music – get ready for Up the Creek 2010!

From 5 – 7 February 2010, the usually quiet campsite close to Swellendam will once again be transformed into a slightly surreal spot of revelry, raging rock and soulful tunes, with performances that include-

The Dirty Skirts | The Rudimentals | Bed on Bricks | Flat Stanley | Dan Patlansky | Hot Water | The Black Cat Bones | Andra | Ryno Velvet | Dave Ferguson | Piet Botha | Akkedis | Ashtray Electric | Van Coke Kartel | Taxi Violence | The Pretty Blue Guns | Mr Cat and The Jackal | Willem Welsyn and the Sunrise Toffies | the Plastics | Fox Comet

There will be an AC/DC Tribute slot and the debut performance of The Gods, with Albert Frost, Schalk van der Merwe on bass, Parri Luckhoff on vocals and Francois Kruger on drums..

Bring: Your ticket, ID Book, tent, mattresses , camping chairs, torches, sleeping bag, duvet, sun block, insect repellent, toilet paper, camera, cap or hat, something warm, towel, pillow, headache pills, money, sunglasses, condoms, swimming kit, anything that floats – lilo, paddle, boat – and lastly, your friends and a good attitude.

Kerry is now very jealous……………….again