Joburg based clothing brand - My Closet - eyes Eastern Cape

By: Luviwe Pinda

High flying fashion house, my closet is set to open shop in the Eastern Cape as part of its expansion strategy. The Johannesburg based company said the decision to open a branch in the Eastern cape was a way of giving back to their home province and helping to create employment and boost the expertise of  fledgling  designers in the region.

My Closet which was established three years ago by two enterprising ladies, Akhona Shosha and Akho Mayatula has gradually carved a niche for the brand in the traditional design sector. Speaking to IDikelethu recently, Shosha said the company is poised to redefine the design of traditional attires to make it more attractive. Traditional wears she said represent a unique way of promoting the cultural heritage and identity of South Africans but regretted that many young South Africans were not keen on wearing the attires because they do not flow with modern trend. “That’s what we are focused at doing at my closet, to adapt our traditional wears into modern designs, she said. On the challenges of being an entrepreneur, Shosha confessed that “starting your own business is not easy, but something that requires a lot of time and effort’, however, she said the brand was committed to do all it takes to get to the top.

My Closest has dressed celebrity stars, such as Zandile Msutwana, Sisa Hewana, Zizo Beda and her husband Mayihlome Tshwete. Shosha says the brand which slogan is “Your style vault” is looking forward to adding many a-list stars to its clothing line this year and to engage upcoming designers and entrepreneurs who are skilled, especially in designing traditional wear to achieve their dreams.

 

Pictures: Courtesy of Akhona Shosha

In most cultures, traditional designs are considered appropriate for both men and women. It performs a range of social and cultural functions, such as individual, modesty, religion and also serves as a form of an expression of personal taste and style.

NEW OPPORTUNITIES AIMED AT EMPOWERING ALICE YOUTH

By Samkele Letese

The Calabar Foundation, the Sifunda Kunye Educational Project and other Stakeholders were in Alice at Ntselamanzi Village to visit the project site of the Bridging the Gap Hub as well as to present the project to the community. Bridging the Gap Hub is the container that will serve as the community’s internet hub.  Founder of the Bridging the Gap hub, Lwazi Mbambo said “In our rural setup areas there’s a digital divide but Sifunda Kunye has made it possible that today we (Ntselamanzi) are one of the townships that have free internet access and WIFI.”
Ali Pauluhn, the executive director of the Calabar Foundation and Sifunda Kunye, said “we’re here visiting our project sites for now, that includes our technology and computer labs at our five partner schools across the Eastern Cape and also visiting some potential schools where we will be building computer labs in the future.”Linked with the Sifunda Kunye project is the Nkonkobe Economic Development Agency (Neda) who will utilize the container as a business support center. Head of the NEDA, Mandisi Mali said “Sifunda Kunye we are going to a partnership, we have an internship program in place and we are going to offer those interns an opportunity to get practical experience through working with the project”. Mr. Mani also pointed that that Neda has to ensure that the local economy has growth and that there’s participation from the youth and local enterprises, etc.
Mr. Khai Webber from the German Development Corporation GIZ, working with Neda, spoke of the opportunity the hub will provide for Ntsela mansi village and that they plan to connecting the hub to business support so that businesses from Ntselamanzi Village will develop. Mr. Webber said that they would like to have business support on a fortnightly basis.
After words of welcome and the community leaders’ vote of thanks, one of the stakeholders, Mr. Andrew Summers shared some of his memories of Alice. He then said that after his successes in London and New York his way of giving back is to invest in rural education in the Eastern Cape. We provide schools with computer and literacy programs.Mr. Mbambo said that since Ntselamanzi has becoming a residence for students from Fort Hare and Lovedale College, and that this would benefit said students. He  also said “I also want to thank all our stakeholders, from Delyn Security, Neda,, our municipality and our community for embracing this project which is on the its baby steps but we are moving from strength to strength”Mr. Morne Tesnar from Delyn Security also sent a vote of thanks to be a part of the project. Delyn Security would offer free services to the hub.    

THABO MBEKI BREAKS THE SILENCE

By: Ayabonga Nkalitshana

The transcripts written by former president of the republic Thabo Mbeki explain the manner by which certain issues were misjudged and the way which certain individuals who contend for leadership positions within the African National Congress use their corporate ties to manipulate the public through certain media individuals who become part of propaganda plots to gain power and be in leadership positions. The media (likes of Ray Hartley) formulate attacks on imaginary enemies to discredit them in the public domain by deforming their character and reputation as a leader.

All this creates opportunities for business people to give funds and support the candidate into a position of power and in return they get government contracts and tenders. Some of these businesses have no capacity whatsoever to perform the work needed, and thus weakens the government’s capacity to deliver services.

This practice has not only affected government but also the ANC as a political organization in South Africa because now it has become part of corporate capture. This was also mentioned by General-Secretary of the ANC Gwede Mantashe in an ANC general council last year. This simply means that the ANC main priority is no longer representing the needs of the people, but ensuring that its corporate allies are taken care of. The media puppets who allow to be manipulated in these propaganda tendencies also stand to personally gain something at the end.

These were some of issues which Mr. Mbeki put emphasis on when trying to explain the manner by which he was ousted as the president of both the ANC and the Republic of South Africa.

Maltreatment of co-workers in the workplace

By: Luviwe Pinda

The fact that an employee is told to drop an attitude while his/her employer gets to work late, demanding an assignment that can be researched online. It gets even worse when s/he embarrasses you in front of your colleagues, and bullies you. There will be favouritism against one employee in the working environment. Even worse, the one who has become the manager’s puppet simply drops a bombshell on you about your attitude and gives you the malicious remarks.  That is why some employees are forced to hand in their resignation letters and look for other jobs elsewhere.

Sometimes, it’s true when one says, “If you speak the truth, you will not remember anything.” The quote also relates to that until you know who you are, you will never know what you can become, meaning that in order to be a good liar, or tell a very good lie, you have got to remember what you said EXACTLY how you said it and be able to go over it in the same manner over and over to gain credibility.

As an individual, you come up with ideas that can be useful at work. Questions that we often asks ourselves, do our employers even bother to look at some of the ideas we presented in meetings? The answer you’ll get is that we’ve looked at the ideas, we’ll consult a meeting later in the week, and you find those ideas dumped in the rubbish bin.

Not only that, an employer needs to know that money doesn’t make the world go around. There comes a time when one needs to have peace, respect and trustworthy around the workplace, and that’s sometimes the reason why a co-worker feels uncomfortable.

Initiation disaster in the Eastern Cape

By: Ayabonga Nkalitshana

The Eastern Cape has a recorded number of 42 initiates who lost their lives during the initiation season. This is an increase from the 28 number of deaths recorded in the initiation summer of 2014 which raises concerns about the practice and regulation of the initiation custom. The manager of initiation at the department of health has confirmed that most of these deaths were caused by dehydration especially in the Chris Hani district.

The Chris Hani district boasts of more deaths in the province than any other region with 16 initiates who lost their lives during the initiation season. Chief Ngangomhlaba Matanzima said “We prayed for zero deaths, but instead we lost 42 young lives through a custom that should not kill. All these deaths could have been prevented if we had vigilant traditional nurses and maximum participation by parents. Traditional leaders and communities must understand that initiation is a societal matter,”

Despite these shocking revelations more than 30 000 initiates returned home healthy as the initiation draws to a close with academic institutions and schools reopen on Wednesday the 13^th of January.

'El Chapo' apprehended

The infamous drug boss of Sinaloa  drug cartel Joaquin ‘ El Chapo’ Guzman was apprehended by Mexican authorities in the north western Mexico on Friday morning and sent back to the prison he broke out of in July 2014 through a mile long tunnel that led straight into his prison cell.

It has also been confirmed that Mexico will extradite Guzman to the United States as soon as possible. It is believed that Guzman was on a mission to have a made out of his life. This biopic helped the investigation which led to his arrest.

KHOI-SAN 1000 KM TREK

Khoi – san activists will once again embark on a journey to fight for social recognition and political freedom. The 1000 km walk which is an attempt to raise awareness about the predicament of south Africa’s indigenous people is headed for Pretoria where they hope to engage with the National house of traditional leaders to iron out issues they feel have been dragging for long.

They have previously walked up to 700 km to parliament in Cape town as an effort to engage with the National assembly on issues which they feel have been an injustice to the Khoi tribe. One of their main grievances is the recognition of Khoi-san as the first nation of South Africa with intentions to reclaim the land taken from the tribe after the promulgation of the land claims act of 1913, and the recognition of their native language as an official language in South Africa.