DURBAN GRAND-MOTHER SCORES A HOLE-IN-ONE

 

(ANJI VALJEE PICKING UP HER BALL FROM THE 16TH HOLE AT CHAMPAGNE SPORTS GOLF COURSE AFTER NOTCHING UP A HOLE-IN-ONE)

 

A 67-year-old Greenwood Park, Durban, golfing grandmother is on top of the world after achieving a hole-in-one when playing in a golf game at the prestigious Champagne Sports Golf Course in Central Drakensberg on Tuesday, Feb 22.

Mrs Anji Valjee, who has been playing golf for the past 23 years, scored her first hole-in-one after using a three wood to cover the 138 metre par three 16^th hole.

Her dream achievement was witnessed by her husband, Sam Valjee, and two friends who were playing in a four-ball.

“It was a good drive and the ball landed on the green,” she said.

“But I could not believe it when Sam and one of our friends began shouting that the ball has rolled into the hole and it’s a hole-in-one.

“This is every golfer’s dream and I am on top of the world right now. It was not an easy hole as you have to hit the ball over a lake to reach the green.”

When Mrs Valjee completed her game and reported to the Champagne Golf Club, she was presented with a hole-in-certificate by the management.

Mrs Valjee, who has three sons and three grand-children, started playing golf when the family was involved in raising funds at a golf tournament organised by the officials of the Kendra Temple in Durban.

“All our ladies said why must we stand on the side lines only and just watch our husbands playing golf. It was from this very moment that golf had become part of our lives.”

She first started playing competitive golf by joining the Athlone Golf Club in Durban. She is currently a member at the Mount Edgecombe Country Club and plays in a ladies competition every Wednesday.

“I have had at least one near miss for a hole-in-one at the Mount Edgecombe course two years ago.”

Mrs Valjee, who also plays bowls, said she enjoyed played golf because “the sport keeps me on my toes all the time”.

“You have your highs and lows in golf.” Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com Feb 22 2022

 

SHIVA AND HANUMAN MURTHIS DEEP IN CENTRAL DRAKENSBERG AREA OF KWAZULU-NATAL IN SOUTH AFRICA ATTRACTS VISITORS ON A DAILY BASIS

 

A large Shiva Murthi, a Hanuman statue and other holy idols built deep in the mountains in the Central Drakensberg region of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa are stirring the interest of people and attracting visitors on a daily basis.

The Murthi and statues are the creation of Mr C J  Hood on his farm, not far from the Champagne Sports Golf Resort and the Drakensberg Sun Hotel. It's about 7km up the road from the Champagne Sports Golf Reesort.

A manager at the Shiva Murthi Centre told the writer and his friends today (Feb 24 2022) that Mr Hood, a farmer, started building the holy site after returning from a visit to India in 2010.

"Mr Hood is a staunch devotee and received the inspiration of Shiva when he was involved in meditation.

"He started building the Shiva Murthi in 2010 and only opened the holy site to visitors in 2018."
Now people visit the holy site every day and large numbers, including bus loads of people, turn up at weekends.
Last weekend two bus loads of people from Durban visited the site.
A prayer group from Tongaat, north of Durban, has donated about 50 chairs for visitors to use during prayer services.

"This place is very inspirational and I will encourage my family members and friends to visit and see the devotional nature of the place for themselves," said one of the  visitors. Ends : subrygovender@gmail.com Feb24 2012    NB: Anyone wanting to visit should telephone 0829551404.

 

RELEASE OF NELSON MANDELA 32 YEARS AGO ON FEBRUARY 11 1990 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE HISTORIC DAY

 

(Nelson Mandela addressing the media at the home of Archbishop Desmond Tutu after being released on February 11 1990. With him were his wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Walter Sisulu and his wife, Albertina Sisulu. At the left end of the photo is Subry Govender who worked for international radio stations and the Press Trust of India at that time)

On Friday, February 11 (2022), when we as South Africans observed the 32^nd anniversary of the release from prison of freedom icon, Nelson Mandela, I recalled that I was one of scores of local and foreign correspondents who had gathered in Cape Town to report on this historical event.

At this time I was working as a Foreign Correspondent for the  Press Trust of India (PTI) and national radio stations in many parts of the world.

From the early hours of February 11 1990, I was sitting in my small hotel room, monitoring local TV and radio stations to get the latest about Mandela’s planned release.

Then I got in touch with PTI in New Delhi and Radio Deutsche Welle in Koln and other national radio stations in several countries.

“Just get the latest from the entrance of the prison,” one of the Editors told me.

Together with two foreign colleagues, I jumped into a rented car and drove to the Victor Verster (now Drakenstein) Prison, about

65 km from Cape Town.

I watched from a distance as Mandela walked through the prison gate, holding hands with his wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. He lifted his right hand into the air, giving the power salute.

He was smiling and greeting people, while the crowd around me started shedding tears and some started dancing and screaming for joy.

Seeing Mandela walking, I felt a lump in my throat.

Mandela had been a source of inspiration for me. From 1980 to the end of 1983, the apartheid regime had banned me from working as a journalist.

The apartheid politicians and security branch officers had considered my reports for the radio stations such as Deutsche Welle, BBC, Radio France Internationale, and Radio Netherlands and news agencies such as the Press Trust of India to be a “threat to the security of the state”.

Some prominent figures from the United Democratic Front(UDF), the internal wing of the ANC at that time, had waited at the prison gate to receive Mr Mandela.

They told us that we should gather at the centre of Cape Town – where he would address a rally.

We then drove back and arrived in the centre of Cape Town. What I witnessed was a scene I’ll remember for the rest of my life: Tens of thousands of people, dressed in the colours of the ANC’s yellow, black and green.

Freedom songs filled the air and the shouts from thousands – “Amandla Awethu” – “Power is ours”.

Pushing back my own emotions, I went around interviewing people and recording their jovial mood.

When Mandela arrived and took to the stage, there was a massive roar from the crowd.

A smiling and jubilant Mandela punched his fist into the air and shouted: “Amandla, Amandla – Power, Power”. The tens of thousands of people returned the chant with lively vigour. I worked my way through the throngs of people to get to the stage and placed my recorder near a microphone to capture Mandela’s first words to the people of South Africa after more than 27 years.

I recorded his entire speech and used sections for my report to Deutsche Welle and other radio stations and for my written reports to the Press Trust of India (PTI). His words that gripped me as a struggle journalist were some of his opening remarks.

“I stand here before you not as a prophet but as a humble servant of you, the people,” he said.

“Your tireless and heroic sacrifices have it possible for me to be here today. I, therefore, place the remaining years of my life in your hands.” I had witnessed the dawn of a new era with the release of Mandela – but my greatest joy and honour was that I had the chance to pass it on to listeners of Deutsche Welle, and other radio stations around the globe and readers of newspapers aligned to the Press Trust of India and other publications.

My stories were published widely in the Indian Express, the Hindustan Times, the Hindu and other newspapers.

The newspapers also published as headline news my first question that I posed to Mr Mandela when he addressed a press conference at the home of Archbishop Desmond Tutu after he addressed the rally.

I asked him now that he had become a free leader after 27 years, which country he would visit first.

Mr Mandela did not waste any time by saying that the country he would first like to visit would be India because India had been one of the first countries to support the cause for freedom in South Africa. India had taken up South Africa’s struggles for freedom at the United Nations and that he had  also been inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlall Nehru in his struggles against oppression in South Africa.

His release and his comments on his desire to India first were headline news in nearly all the national newspapers in India.

Now, 32 years later, I consider my reportage on Mr Mandela’s release, the negotiations for a new non-racial and democratic South Africa between 1990 and 1994, the election of the ANC as the new post-apartheid government; and the installation of Mr Mandela as the first democratic president as being of historical value.

In the first decade and half of the new South Africa much had been done to promote the “better life” for most South Africans. But for the past decade and more, the freedom that Mr Mandela and others had sacrificed their lives for has degenerated to levels of wide-spread corruption, unemployment of more than 11 million people, and destruction of public services such as education and health, and state-run economic structures  like SAA, Transnet, and Escom.

If Mr Mandela was alive today he would be just as deeply disillusioned as thousands of former political activists and leaders. Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com Feb 16 2022.  

RETIRED PORT SHEPSTONE FARMER AND FAMILY SURVIVE HIJACKING, TORTURE AND ROBBERY ON THE N3 BETWEEN VILLIERS AND BALFOUR

 

                                                                (Mr Raj Govender)   

 

Subry Govender

 

A retired Port Shepstone farmer and four members of his family are

counting their blessings after being hijacked, tortured and robbed of all

their possessions while driving to Johannesburg a fortnight  ago.

Mr Raj Govender, his wife, daughter, sister-in-law and seven-year-old

grandson were waylaid between Villiers and Balfour on the evening of

Thursday, January 27.

Mr Govender of Band Farm in Port Shepstone said the incident took

place at about 8:20pm after they were stopped by a vehicle driven

 by a person in a police uniform.

“We were followed by a vehicle for some distance and then suddenly

 we heard a loud siren sound from a vehicle with blue lights,” Mr

 Govender told me in an interview.

“My daughter, who was driving, pulled off to the side of the road. The

 man in the police uniform asked my daughter why they were not

 wearing masks. She told him that we were all family members and

 she did not think it was a problem.

“The man then asked whether she had a drivers’ licence. While she

 was trying to get the licence from her bag, the man pushed his hands

 into the car and unlocked the four doors by pressing the central

 locking.

“Then from nowhere three other armed men jumped into the car and

 threatened us and cable-tied us.”

Mr Govender said the armed men then drove the vehicle into a

 deserted spot.

“Here we were all tied up and warned that we should co-operate so

 that nothing would happen to us. We were asked who owned the

 vehicle, a Toyota Legend 50 and where we got the money to buy such

 a vehicle.

“We were constantly threatened and assaulted while the men grabbed

 whatever monies we had and all our possessions, including jewellery

 and the Thali (holy) chains my wife, and sister-in-law were wearing.

“The men also took away the groceries that we were taking with us to

 Johannesburg for a Kavady prayer. The grocery items were to have

 been used to prepare lunches for the people attending the Kavady

 prayer at the Benoni Temple in Johannesburg.

“The armed bandits even took away the shoes we were wearing.”

Mr Govender said they were held up and maltreated for nearly two

 hours before the bandits drove away with their vehicle and all their

 possessions.

“Suffering from shock and disbelief we then began walking towards

 the N3. A security vehicle that was driving past stopped and wanted to

 know what had happened and we were even walking bare feet. After

 we explained that we had been hijacked and robbed of our vehicle

 and all our possessions, the security official then assisted us.”

After sometime they found their way to the home of their family in

 Johannesburg and the next day went to report the incident to the

 police in Johannesburg.

But the police informed them that they had to report the matter at the

 nearest police station where they were hijacked and robbed.

They drove about 160km to the Grootflei police station to report the

 matter. At the police station they were informed that hijacking of

 motorists and robberies were a common feature on the N3.

“What is really traumatising for us is that we were held up and robbed

 about 10 months ago on our farm. And now we had to go through a

 similar incident while driving to Johannesburg.

“It’s now just over two weeks but we have not yet heard anything from the police.”

Mr Govender said he wanted to inform other motorists to be on guard

 when driving on the N3 to Johannesburg.

“The high rate of violent crime seems to be affecting us wherever we are and even when driving on the national roads.” Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com Feb 6 2022