“I grew up in a very strange way,” says Dave Harker. He is sitting in his house in the southern suburbs of Cape Town, talking about the meandering journey that led him to where he is now. He shares the story in a gentle, confident manner, with a kind and compassionate regard for everyone he met along the way.
His father was a woodworker who installed cupboards and his mother a furniture saleswoman. The family, consisting of Harker and his sister, grew up in a middle-income neighbourhood, nestled between Gugulethu and the rest of the Cape Flats.
“My father started off installing cupboards in the rich neighbourhoods, such as Constantia and Rondebosch. But then he decided to cater to people in the townships and to build nice furniture for them. And he never advertised a day in his life. It was all word of mouth, through people in the townships. Working for him was my first exposure to township life.”
PREMIUM! (FILES) In this file photo taken on June 24, 2020, One of the first South African Oxford vaccine trialists looks on as a medical worker injects him with the clinical trial for a potential vaccine against the COVID-19 coronavirus at the Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, South Africa. (Photo by SIPHIWE SIBEKO / POOL / AFP)
Official figures indicating the decline in South Africa’s Covid-19 infections should be taken with a pinch of salt, with experts warning that these numbers may not be fully reflective of the grim picture on the ground. According to co-chair of the Covid-19 Ministerial Advisory Committee, Professor Salim Abdool Karim, South Africa is approaching the end of its second Covid-19 wave and this is a very positive trend. Official figures show that there has been a consistent decline in the number of infections in the last two weeks, with Karim, an epidemiologist and infectious diseases specialist
Derrick Hendrickse
Stellenbosch is mourning the sudden loss of political stalwart EFF councillor Derrick Hendrickse.
He died of Covid-19 complications on Monday 4 January. He would have celebrated his 56th birthday on Tuesday 12 January.
“He was a formidable political fighter and was very aggressive politically when it came to injustices in our communities,” said former DA councillor Alderman Valerie Fernandez.
She knew Hendrickse before he entered politics. He was the chairperson of her ward committee. “He knew his national, provincial and local regulations and laws very well. I always leaned on his shoulder. He always knew what he was talking about. Because I knew him very well, I understood his aggression with regards to politics. He was a fighter for the community and he never beat around the bush. He treated everyone the same, whether you were a homeless man or the president. Equality was of the utmost importance to him. He believed in wha
A decade after the release of Dylan Valley’s debut film, Afrikaaps: The Documentary, artists are working with Afrikaans in exciting ways to reflect on the history and future of the language.