Sylvester_TUTjourn

By Sylvester Raraza Email: SylvesterRaraza@gmail.com Twitter: @Sylvester_tut The Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) in partnership with Agricultural Writers South Africa, hosted a workshop at TUT’s Department of Journalism – Soshanguve North Campus. Agricultural Writers South Africa is a non-profit organization (npo) that promotes the public image and standards of agriculture journalism in South Africa. The NPO was established in 1977 and it is a member and associate of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ). Liza Bolmann, Chairperson Agricultural Writers SA Agricultural Writers South Africa, as an organization, represents agriculture journalists who work for agriculture magazines, newspapers, radio and television. It also allows qualified members to extend membership to people who are agriculture journalism friendly, meaning, people who want to grow the sphere of agriculture journalism, people who invest in the growth of activities that are associat...

By Sylvester Raraza Twitter: @Sylvester_tut Email: sylvesterraraza@gmail.com David Mashabela at a panel discussion | Image: David Mashabela via Instagram His is a story of a typical black child: he grew up in a township northeast of Pretoria in Apartheid South Africa, single parent home and living hand to mouth. David Mashabela remembers his childhood days in the 1980s. He is Pedi by birth – Bapedi are a Southern African ethnic group that speak Sepedi, but despite being brought up in a Bapedi household, his early learning years began at a Setswana-speaking Primary School in Mamelodi. So, he never got the chance to learn in his mother tongue because the only available school and the closest to his home, at the time, taught in Setswana. PW Botha (Prime Minister of South Africa from 1978 to 1984 and State President between 1984 to 1989), declared a countrywide state of emergency because of internal resistance to Apartheid and international pressure. David has vivid memories of seeing ...

By Sylvester Raraza Email: sylvesterraraza@gmail.com Twitter: @Sylvester_tut SARB building in Pretoria | Image: Moneyweb World War I caused global financial uncertainty, monetary conditions that were crippling world economies and it shrunk domestic and international wealth. These are consequences of wars. To try and cushion South Africa from the effects of World War I, the Colonial rulers of South Africa (Great Britain) at the time founded the central bank in 1921. 20 th century South Africa’s financial system comprised of banknotes that commercial banks issued to members of the public along with gold to back the notes up. South Africa has always been a minerals rich country, so when the price of gold in the United Kingdom climbed, revenue could be made by people who had capital by converting banknotes into gold in the country and sell the gold in London. But doing this meant that commercial banks in South Africa had to purchase gold for re-import at an even steeper prices from ...

by Sylvester Raraza Email: sylvesterraraza@gmail.com Twitter: @Sylvester_tut It should be of grave concern that in a population of about Sixty million (60 million) people, South Africa has low levels of blood donors. According to the South African National Blood Service (SANBS), “less than 1% of South Africans are active blood donors.” These are astoundingly low active blood donor figures, for an organization that was established in the early 2000s. South Africa is a low blood donor country, and this was worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic  and subsequent lockdown regulations (people’s movements were restricted). Fortunately,  there are now eased regulations under the ‘Disaster Management Act’, and these allow for  the free movement of South Africans, and it makes easy for blood donors to visit donor  centres. Blood donor centre | Picture: Jarryd Subroyen The South African National Blood Services (SANBS) made changes to the Covid-19 donor  deferral measures, allow...

By Sylvester Raraza Email: sylvesterraraza@gmail.com Twitter: @Syvester_tut Bread, breakfast cereals, maize meal (which is used to make popular South African cuisine Pap) and other food products that are produced by using grain, are all set for price increments, according to South Africa’s largest food producer Tiger Brands. These food price increases are going to hammer already under pressure consumers, who have been hit with continued fuel price hikes. Tiger Brands anticipates that wheat and grain food products are likely to surge at a rate of between 15% and 20%. And it doesn’t end there, Tiger Brands Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Noel Doyl, says Koo baked beans and other food products packaged in tins should be expected to rise in costs. Consumers have certainly been feeling the pinch of food price inflation. Picture: Albany via their website. The context from which these food price hikes should be drawn from is the conflict in Europe, between Russia and Ukraine, and China’s ...

By Sylvester Raraza Email: sylvesterraraza@gmail.com Twitter: @Sylvester_tut Although South Africa has no reported and confirmed cases of Monkeypox, experts urge the public to be cautious about the person-to-person transmissible virus. Monkeypox is a virus that is a family to the genus Orthopoxvirus and Poxviridae, and these viruses are carried by different animal species and are known to infect human beings as well. Monkeypox disease in humans causes blister-like lesions (mostly resembling chickenpox) that appear on the face, and in extreme cases it develops on the soles of the feet, palms of the hands and other parts of the body. Its signs and symptoms are visible averagely between 7-14 days, and initial symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, backaches, chills and exhaustion. Monkeypox patient | Picture: Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. The monkeypox virus is transmissible through person-to-person and via human contact with an animal that has the virus, also through t...