In totaal het Kruinpark 88 uitonderlike prestasies gelewer!
Deelnemers van Laerskool Kruinpark.
Hierdie Kruinpark Kekkelkouse en hulle afrigters het aanlyn geoefen en al die kompetisies het aanlyn plaasgevind. Dit was ‘n nuwe avontuur, maar uit en uit al die moeite en lugtyd werd!
Con Spirito Eisteddfod was in 2003 gevind deur Lizelle van Staden en Zabé Jonker in die Oos Rand. Hulle het die nood gesien om kinders te bevorder en hulle talente te op ‘n platform te kan skouspel.
Hulle glo dat kinders ontwikkel moet word. Elke kind word as ‘n individue gesien gedurende hulle Eisteddfod.
Con Spirito is ‘n platform waar elke kind hulle talente kan ontwikkel in ‘n vriendelike omgewing met persoonlike terugvoering om die kind te help groei.
Sasol is warning the public to be aware of criminals who are pretending to be from Sasol’s Supply Chain function, who are using fraudulent requests for quotations (RFQs) to extract personal information, goods and even money from unsuspecting businesses.
“Sasol has become aware of this new wave of phishing and procurement-related scams that are committed in its name, aimed at both registered and unregistered suppliers,” said Eben Kok, Senior Manager: Supplier Management and Transformation. “These scams typically take the form of RFQs or similar purchase requests.”
How the scam works:
The fraudsters pose as either Sasol employees or as companies mandated to act on Sasol’s behalf and send businesses a request to tender for the supply of certain goods.
The text message is sent to registered and unregistered Sasol suppliers informing them of an open tender to provide specific goods. Unregistered suppliers are encouraged to send their company details and CK document to info@sasolsgroupsa.com or call 012 743 6638 while registered Sasol suppliers are often merely requested to just tender to supply that product.
“In most instances, these scammers posing as Sasol employees, request a product so specific that it can only be procured from one ‘unique’ business,” Kok explained “This ’unique business’ then requests payment for the niche goods but delivery never takes place, thus conning the unsuspecting victim.”
The correspondence documentation may look convincing, therefore it is important for people to be vigilant. Below are tips to help the public to ascertain whether or not the correspondence is fake:
Sasol will only contactyou from a Sasol email address (name.surname@sasol.com), never from a sasolsgroupsa or a Gmail or Yahoo or any other generic mailbox address, nor will we ask you to submit information to such an address.
Sasol will not ask you to send your full company profile or your banking information via email.
Sasol will not request you to pay any fees in order to become a Sasol supplier or to participate in the RFQ/ Bid nor will we ask you to deposit money through Retail outlets via Mobile Money Service on a cellular account number, i.e. 063 894 6813.
There are only two mechanisms which RFQs are issued by Sasol:
Electronically via SAP by the ‘once-off’ supply chain team. When printed, this document looks the same as the Sasol purchase order.
Manually by Category Management or Capital Project Procurement, which will take place via email or an Ariba invitation.
All Manual RFQs are consistently structured in the same way.
The document will always request electronic delivery to bids.secunda@sasol.com. No other email addresses should be used or copied.
The subject line of the e-mail will always contain the following information:
The name of the responsible Sasol Supply Chain Specialist/ Advisor
Most importantly, businesses are advised not to respond to an email or text message that they think might be fraudulent. Rather, Sasol encourages companies to get in touch with the company to establish the validity of an RFQ or procurement request, via the Sasol Contact Centre, which is (+27) 0860 104 777 or contact.secunda@sasol.com.
Sasol also encourages all individuals who have received similar correspondence to please report RFQ fraud to the police and rfqfraud@sasol.com.
Bethal residents took to the streets on Tuesday to show their anger and frustration with the current situation in Bethal.
Roads were blocked and no traffic were allowed through the town.
Tires were burned at the blockages and residents blocked the road with their vehicles.
Everyone demanded that their grievances be addressed.
On Wednesday afternoon a meeting with the Mayor, The Municipal manager and a technical team was called. The meeting that started at 18H00 was well attended by some council members from GMM as well as residents and businessmen from Bethal
The following issues were raised by the residents.
The electricity NMD and the subsequent load shedding when exceeding the NMD.
The current financial situation between Govan Mbeki Municipality and Eskom.
Electricity Schedule
The water situation
Refuse removal
Dumping site
The status of the roads within Bethal
Overtime electricians
The Bulletin spoke to Hilda Pretorius, spokesperson of the Bethal Peacefull Actions group to hear about the history of the problems and the actions that took place. The Bulletin also enquired about the road forward.
Following the meeting on Wednesday Night the Bethal Peaceful Action group reported the following to their group:
“According to the discussion which took place with regards to the NMD, Eskom stopped Govan Mbekhi from exceeding the allocated NMD, which up until March 2020 we had been doing and in doing so Govan Mbkeki would be penalised by being fined. Now the question is why dont we just increase the NMD, well that is what we asked too.
The short response to this is that Govan Mbhekhi has too pay Eskom a lump sum of R90 million before they will lift the NMD for Bethal and Emzinoni.
Due to financial constraints, it is not possible for Govan Mbeki to do this BUT the good news is, is that the MM has a meeting with Eskom tomorrow morning at 10 o clock.”
The Bulletin does not know what the outcome of the meeting with Eskom was and are awaiting feedback from GMM.
A schedule was promised to the residents but by Sunday no schedule was finalised and provided to the residents.
Residents said that if they received a schedule they would at least be able to plan for the load shedding.
As of August, Govan Mbekhi Municipality will be assisted by Gert Sibande Municipality to re-establish a positive connection with Eskom (payment agreements).
GSDM released the following statemnt in this regard on the 12th of August:
Following challenges related to electricity at Bethal and Emzinoni, the Govan Mbeki Municipality (GMM) made a request for assistance from the Gert Sibande District Municipality (GSDM) in this regard and has since appointed the GSDM as an Implementing Agent (IA) for the management of electricity in Bethal/ Emzinoni. On 12 August 2020, the GSDM and GMM concluded a five year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in this regard by the signing of the MOU by both the District Acting Municipal Manager Mr. Ephraim Thabethe and Municipal Manager of GMM at the GSDM Office complex.
The MOU provides all the activities which the GSDM, as an implementing agent will be responsible for. The priority is to ring-fence the business by appointing a service provider (SP) that would inject seed capital and run the business for a period of five years under the supervision of the GSDM. During the five year period, the service provider will collect revenue, pay the monthly account for Eskom on behalf of the GMM, improve the state of the infrastructure by providing more reliable electricity supply to customers, improve the revenue collection and improve customer service.
From left: Mr. Felani Mndebele (Municipal Manager of GMM) and Mr. Ephraim Thabethe (District Acting Municipal Manager
GSDM, as an Implementing Agent, will help negotiate repayments of the current Eskom account on behalf of the GMM moving forward but the GMM will still be responsible for its current debt.
With regards to the water restrictions, the MM has an appointment with Rand Water tomorrow morning at 8 o clock. Let hope that this meeting too will have a positive outcome but currently Govan Mbheki does own Rand Water a lot of money there as well hence the water restrictions.
Please prepare yourself for this by always having a back up for water.
There is currently only one operational refuse removal truck to remove refuse. The MM has undertaken to sort this out by providing the workshop with finance to purchase the necessary parts to repair the other refuse removal trucks so that they can become operational again.
The Dumping site needs cleaning up and an offer was made to the council that should they need any assistance they are welcome to reach out and ask for help from the community.
The problem with the roads comes back to a financial shortage.
We all know that our protest actions came about because the electricians were not paid their overtime. According to the Mayor this issue has since been resolved, although it was brought to my attention that the electricians are concerned that their overtime might become an issue again at the end of August, so the Mayor will get back to us in this regard.
To cap: We all know that Govan Mbheki is struggling financially. Behind the scenes there has been a lot of work put into motion via different avenues i.e. the legal actions by the Business Forum, The Eskom / Nersa project and pressure on parliament from both the DA and VF and you the community via protest actions.
All of this proves that the residents of Bethal are very capable and can stand together.
With regards to the protest actions – should the need arise for us to go this route again, we would need to do it legally (this will be discussed at such a time).
What we all need to do now is support the Business forum financially so that their goal can be achieved.
N17 in Bethal blocked by angry residents
Furthermore we need to wait it out and see what is going to transpire in the following couple of days.”
Govan Mbeki Municipality released the following statement on 20 August 2020 after the meeting with Bethal residents.
The GMM Executive Mayor, Municipal Manager, Director for Technical Services and his team of senior officials have met with Bethal residents and business owners today 20 August 2020 at the Council Chambers.
The meeting was chaired by Mr Ziyad Dangor, Chairperson of the Bethal Business Association.
A series of items were discussed which included inter alia, the outstanding debt for Bethal, Notified Maximum Demand (NMD), electricity challenges, the Eskom and Rand Water Accounts, loadshedding, illegal connections, schedule for Rotational Loadshedding, refuse removal, roads to name just a few.
It should be particularly mentioned that the meeting was conducted in an open and transparent manner despite the fact that there were heated moments which were robust but progressive.
As a matter of fact, the meeting made a plethora of proposals, suggestions and best practices with a view of finding possible and workable solutions for all the challenges that GMM is currently grappling with.
Importantly, the meeting agreed that going forward, the Municipal Manager will liaise with the team through Ms Hilda Pretorious for updates on all issues discussed and other service delivery related matters.
The meeting noted with appreciation the behind-the-scenes engagements and progress that GMM is involved in which are aimed at ameliorating the service delivery challenges in Bethal in particular and GMM in toto.
But, it was strongly mentioned that GMM must bring its house into order and improve the delivery of services to the public.
To this end, the Municipal Manager will henceforth share the feedback of GMM-ESKOM Engagements regarding the NMD issue with Ms Ms Pretorious in order to keep the public in the loop.
The Executive Mayor welcomed the positive engagements, profusely apologised to the residents/business owners and appealed for collective wisdom in dealing with the challenges.
The meeting agreed that such-like further engagements will be pursued in order to ensure that the challenges are addressed and monitoring implemented.
NB: Further Updates on these issues will be shared with all and sundry as and when they are made available
15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.
20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?
21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?
22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.
Groot Woorde… My vertroue is in God al doen Hy nie wat ek vra nie of al vat Hy niks weg of maak niks reg nie, vertrou ek Hom dat Hy beter weet.
Die uitnodiging bly om die Here te vertrou ten spyte van ons omstandighede. Ten spyte van die donker die hoop en vertroue te hê dat Hy die lig is! My geloof is op wie Jesus is.
Groot Woorde… My vertroue is in God al doen hy nie wat ek vra nie of al vat Hy niks weg of maak niks reg nie, vertrou ek Hom dat Hy beter weet.
Die uitnodiging bly om die Here te vertrou ten spyte van ons omstandighede. Ten spyte van die donker die hoop en vertroue te hê dat Hy die lig is! My geloof is op wie Jesus is.
Hebreërs 12:2 Die oë gevestig op Jesus die begin en die voleinder van ons geloof.
Juda (Israel) was op soortgelyke plek as ons, donker en voel as God ons nie hoor nie! Habakuk praat namens die volk en vra die Here;
Habakuk 1:2-5(Boodskap) Hoekom laat U my hierdie verkeerde dinge sien? Hoekom verdra U dit dat mense swaarkry? Waar ek ook al kyk, lê dinge verwoes. Dit is ’n wêreld vol geweld. Oral stry en baklei mense. Here, hoe lank moet ek nog bly roep dat U moet help? Dit klink nie of U hoor nie. Ek kla by U omdat mense ons aanrand en doodmaak, maar U red ons nie. Mense steur hulle nie aan die wet nie. Die howe sorg nie dat wat reg is die wenner is nie.
Habakuk 1:2-5 (Boodskap) Die Here het toe vir die mense van Juda gesê: Hou ’n bietjie die ander volke om julle dop. Ek het binnekort ’n groot verrassing vir julle. As iemand julle daarvan sou vertel het, sou julle hom nie geglo het nie.
Habakuk 2:3-4 (Boodskap) Dit voel dalk vir jou of dinge sloer en of niks aan die gebeur is nie, maar wees geduldig. Jy sal sien, kom sal dit kom en niks en niemand sal dit kan terughou nie. Die vyand is vol van homself, maar sal nie oorleef nie. Maar mense wat die Here met ’n opregte hart dien, sal lewe as hulle aan Hom getrou bly.
Die Here sluimer of slaap nooit nie en Hy nooi ons om te wag en geduldig toe te kyk hoe Hy regeer. En dan sê Habakuk groot woorde wat ons moet mooi oor dink en ons eie maak.
Habakuk 3:17-19 (Boodskap) My vertroue in die Here is nie afhanklik daarvan dat dit met my goed gaan nie.
Hierdie is ‘n moeilike ding vir ons, ons meet baie keer die goedheid van die Here aan hoe dit met ons of die mensdom gaan. Maar Jesus het nooit dit vir ons beloof nie eintlik het Hy die teendeel vir ons beloof. Die Here is altyd goed ten spyte van hoe dit met ons gaan. Habakuk gaan aan met hierdie gedagte;
Habakuk 3:17-19 (Boodskap) Al dra die vyeboom nie vye nie en is daar nie druiwe aan die wingerd nie; al misluk die olyfoes en lewer die landerye geen oes op nie; of al vrek die skape en die beeskrale is leeg, sal ek die Here met ’n hart vol blydskap dien. Ek het al ervaar hoe die Here my uit moeilike omstandighede red. Die Here wat as koning regeer, gee vir my die krag wat ek nodig het. Hy maak dit vir my moontlik om probleme sonder moeite te kan hanteer.
Hebreërs 13:5-6 Daarom kan ons met vertroue sê: “Die Here is die Een wat my help. Ek hoef vir niks bang te wees nie. Buitendien, wat kan ’n mens aan my doen?” Wees tevrede met wat julle het en moenie heeltyd agter geld aanhardloop asof dit die belangrikste ding in julle lewe is nie. God het mos gesê: “Ek sal jou nooit alleen los nie en Ek sal jou nooit in die steek laat nie.”
Johannes 16:33 Dit het Ek vir julle gesê, dat julle in My vrede kan hê. In die wêreld sal julle verdrukking hê; maar hou goeie moed, Ek het die wêreld oorwin.
So om te weet dat die Here saam ons is al sien ons dit nie in ons lewens nie is moeilik maar dis groot realiteit in ons lewens. Ons vertrou Hom dat Hy met ons is al werk dit nie uit soos wat ons hoop nie.
Spreuke 3:5-6 (Boodskap) Vertrou volkome op die Here en moenie op jou eie insigte staatmaak nie. Ken Hom in alles wat jy doen en Hy sal jou die regte pad laat loop. Hou goeie moed die Here is met ons al voel dit nie altyd so nie.
Besprekingsvrae
Is dit dalk dat jy die goedheid van die Here meet aan hoe dit met jou gaan?
Kan jy die Here vertrou met jou hele lewe al werk niks vir jou uit nie?
Gert Sibande District Municipality (GSDM) remains focused on its mandate which is to support local municipalities to provide excellent services and development.
During the State of the District Address (SODA) for 2020, District Executive Mayor Cllr Muzi Chirwa made a commitment that GSDM would continue to support local municipalities with service delivery fleet which is needed by the municipalities in the provision of basic services, especially in rural areas.
On 12 August 2020, GSDM lived up to its promises. Seven 10 000lt water tankers amounting to R10.3m were handed over to the local municipalities to help improve the provision of water to communities without access to running portable water particularly amid the corona virus outbreak. Chirwa led the handover event supported by the District Whip of Council Cllr Trevor Nkosi, Member of Mayoral Committee for Infrastructure and Technical Services Cllr Dumisile Nhlengethwa and the acting Municipal Manager Mr Ephraim Thabethe.
The handover meant that the infrastructure belongs to the seven municipalities and would be the responsibility of the municipalities. Chirwa urged municipalities to take good care of the infrastructure being handed over.
Representatives from the municipalities at GSDM
He pleaded with the municipal leaders present to ensure that the water tankers were used for the purpose for which they were purchased for, which is to make people’s lives better. He added that the water tankers are also aimed at helping to fight the Corona Virus outbreak.
“The Corona Virus is real and we all need to make sure that we adhere to the government health protocols in order to curb its spread,” said Councillor Chirwa.
The team from Mkhondo with their new tanker
He called on both the political and administrative leadership of the seven local municipalities to remain vigilant in the fight against the spread of the pandemic within the District, that the provision of water must be prioritised in order to ensure that everyone is able to wash hands regularly.
Leaders from the local municipalities expressed their appreciation for the support received which is anticipated that it will help improve service delivery in the local municipalities.
Chirwa urged everyone to remain committed to the fight against the spread of the Corona Virus by the continuous wearing of face masks, regular washing of hands with soap or alcohol-based sanitisers and observing social distance at all times
Three accused: John Mahlangu (43), Banone Aron Mokoena (47) and Phindile Mashazi (59) were found guilty and sentenced by The Evander Regional Court on Thursday 20 August 2020.
Mahlangu and Mokoena were sentenced as follows : Count 1-7 respectfully, R 15 000.00 fine or six years imprisonment wholly suspended for 5 years on Condition that the accused are not found guilty of theft or attempted theft, contravening an offence referred to in section 2 of the Counterfeit goods Act 37/1997 and contravening section 86 of the Electronic Communications and transactions Act 25/2002 during the period of suspension.
The duo was also ordered to pay R 10 000.00 each to Janelle Home Child and Youth Care Centre.
The other suspect Sandile Mashazi is still at large and a Warrant of Arrest was issued against him.
In May 2018, the accused conspired to terrorise the community of Leslie and Secunda respectively by skimming the bank cards from different ATMs.
The case was referred to the Hawks` Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Mpumalanga and the team cracked down the case and the accused were arrested and brought to book and during the arrest several illegal equipment’s were found in their possession.
During further investigation while tracing Sandile Mashazi, it was discovered that Phindile Mashazi, the mother of Sandile fraudulently submitted documents to Police Officers claiming that he has a registered business as a loan shark.
During the investigation by the Hawks Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team it was established that the submitted documents were fraudulent and the suspect was arrested and charged for fraud.
The accused was also found guilty and sentenced to pay R 20 000.00 or 12 months imprisonment wholly suspended for five years on condition that the accused is not found guilty of Fraud during the period of suspension.
GMM Mayor meets with angry Bethal residents after residents block town on Wednesday night.
Residents of Bethal gathered on Tuesday night at the municipal yard across the N17 Filling station to voice their anger at GMM and its workers as the power was turned of for a second night in a row over wage disputes.
The residents decided on Wednesday night to block all roads through Bethal for a few hours to voice their anger at the load shedding that has plagued Bethal for so long. The Bulletin reported on this before.
The Mayor met with residents of Bethal on Thursday night to address their grievances. This meeting was facilitated by the area commander of the SAPS.
GMM management released the following statement after the meeting.
The GMM Executive Mayor, Municipal Manager, Director for Technical Services and his team of senior officials have met with Bethal residents and business owners today 20 August 2020 at the Council Chambers.
The meeting was chaired by Mr Ziyad Dangor, Chairperson of the Bethal Business Association.
A series of items were discussed which included inter alia, the outstanding debt for Bethal, Notified Maximum Demand (NMD), electricity challenges, the Eskom and Rand Water Accounts, loadshedding, illegal connections, schedule for Rotational Loadshedding, refuse removal, roads to name just a few.
It should be particularly mentioned that the meeting was conducted in an open and transparent manner despite the fact that there were heated moments which were robust but progressive.
Residents blocked of all roads in Bethal on Wednesday night
As a matter of fact, the meeting made a plethora of proposals, suggestions and best practices with a view of finding possible and workable solutions for all the challenges that GMM is currently grappling with.
Importantly, the meeting agreed that going forward, the Municipal Manager will liaise with the team through Ms Hilda Pretorious for updates on all issues discussed and other service delivery related matters.
The meeting noted with appreciation the behind-the-scenes engagements and progress that GMM is involved in which are aimed at ameliorating the service delivery challenges in Bethal in particular and GMM in toto.
But, it was strongly mentioned that GMM must bring its house into order and improve the delivery of services to the public.
To this end, the Municipal Manager will henceforth share the feedback of GMM-ESKOM Engagements regarding the NMD issue with Ms Ms Pretorious in order to keep the public in the loop.
The Executive Mayor welcomed the positive engagements, profusely apologised to the residents/business owners and appealed for collective wisdom in dealing with the challenges.
The meeting agreed that such-like further engagements will be pursued in order to ensure that the challenges are addressed and monitoring implemented.
NB: Further Updates on these issues will be shared with all and sundry as and when they are made available.
The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) on Wednesday, 19 August 2020, unveiled five methanol fuel cell systems and two hydrogen fuel cell systems, which will be used at Pretoria’s 1 Military Hospital as a primary source of power for the field hospital facilities established as part of Government’s response to COVID-19.
The project is a partnership between the DSI, the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, the Department of Defence and private sector companies.
In addition to its being part of government’s COVID-19 response, it is also integral to government’s vision to integrate hydrogen within the economy, motivated by the benefits that will accrue as a result, which include decarbonising the economy.
Given its experience in the production and handling of hydrogen which it uses to produce liquid fuels, fuel gas and chemicals, Sasol has agreed to partner with the DSI and other stakeholders as part of its commitment to working with government in creating an economically viable hydrogen economy for South Africa.
For this project, Sasol will be donating 10 000 litres of methanol and 600 kg of hydrogen every month until the end of April 2021 to help power the field ICU facility at the hospital.
The company is also working with its customers, Air Products and Protea Chemicals, to assist with logistics for supplying the fuels to 1 Military hospital.
“This is an important initiative for Sasol for many reasons,” said Charlotte Mokoena, Executive Vice President for Human Resources and Corporate Affairs at Sasol.
“In addition to the fact that this contribution espouses who we are as Sasol and demonstrates our unwavering commitment to supporting and collaborating with government in executing innovative solutions to current challenges, it also illustrates the direction Sasol is taking. We are deliberately pursuing renewable energy sources through technology, innovation and collaboration and sustainably produced hydrogen is integral to us reducing our carbon footprint across our operations.”
Beyond this project, Sasol will continue working with the DSI in the process towards the development of a South African Hydrogen Roadmap.
“We see public-private and private-private partnerships as critical in decarbonising South Africa’s energy landscape, whilst fulfilling socio-economic and sustainable development goals,” said Mokoena.
Other partners on the project are Bambili Energy Group, which is a Black and Black female-owned entity that specialises in commercialising intellectual property developed through the Hydrogen South Africa (HySA) programme, as well as technology providers Horizon, Element One and Powercell Sweden.
Nog ‘n “So is die lewe” rubriek vanuit die pen van Ds Marius Britz. Titel is Versorgingsoord
Dit was Jesus self wat die verhaal vertel het van die verskoningmakers wat Hy gevra het om Hom te volg. Die een ou het gesê: “laat my eers toe om my ouers te begrawe.” Jesus het geantwoord: “Laat die dooies hulle eie dooies begrawe, maar volg jy my.” Jesus se woorde klink hard, maar eintlik het die man gesê: “ek het ‘n groot verantwoordelikheid wat ek moet nakom, wat omtrent al my tyd en energie vat. Ek pas my bejaarde ouers op. Ek het nie nou tyd vir enigiets anders nie.”
As jy ‘n bejaarde en verswakte ouer versorg, groei jou simpatie met hierdie verskoningmaker. Want dit is ‘n groot werk, en nog groter verantwoordelikheid. Die tekens is daar dat jy nie lank meer die taak sal kan nakom nie, al is jy hoe toegewyd en al is jou liefde vir jou ouer onbegrensd groot.
Jy sien die tekens een vir een. Die skouers wat hang. Die hande wat lomp raak en kort-kort ‘n koppie of glas laat val. Die gedagtes wat kort raak. Die oë wat amper deurskynend raak en dikwels betraand is oor onthoudinge. Die skuifelstappie met die loopring. Die bord kos wat ongeëet weggestoot word.
Die vergeet van hoeveel pille gedrink is, en kort-kort weer verkeerdelik gedrink word. Sodat jy moet ingryp. Pille uitdeel. Besigheid doen namens hom of haar, inkopies gaan doen, sorg dat daar brood en melk en toiletpapier is. En magteloos toekyk hoe die een trotse mens, altyd onberispelik versorg, verskrompel tot ‘n hopie bene wat op die bed lê en die vertes instaar.
Dan, die BESLUIT. Die een wat jy uitstel en uitstel. ‘n Vrou kan nog haar ma versorg tot die uiterste, maar ‘n man kan nie sy ma so versorg nie.
Skielik bevind jy jouself voor die deur van die versorgingsoord. Deur jou Covidmasker ruik jy die ontsmettingsmiddels en ander reuke. Jy sien die tannietjies en oompies wat vier-vier in ‘n kamer lê en na die deur staar. Iewers hoes iemand ‘n roggelhoesie. Iemand skuifel in die gang by jou verby. Iemand lui aanhoudend ‘n klokkie.
Jy ruik Vicks en Lennons. Almal kyk vol afwagting na jou, asof jy die teken is waarvoor hulle gewag het. Asof jy spesiaal gekom het om een van hulle te kom verlos uit hulle eensaamheid. Jy maak jou oë toe, sluk aan die knop in jou keel en gaan haal die aansoekvorms namens jou ma by die kantoor. Jy maak ‘n punt daarvan om nie links of regs te kyk nie. Reguit voordeur toe, weg, weg, van die naakte realiteit wat jou hier trompop konfronteer.
Maar iemand roep jou voordat uitloop. In die ingangsportaal sit ‘n tannie, netjies aangetrek, handsak op die skoot. “Ek wag vir my seun,” sy, “hy kom my haal om by hulle te gaan kuier. Hy is so oulike man. Hy is geleerd, hy het grade en ‘n belangrike werk. Hy ry so mooi kar, en woon in ‘n groot dubbelverdiepinghuis. Hy dien op baie rade en direksies, en maak verskriklik baie geld. Sy kinders studeer almal. My seun gaan my netnou kom haal. Dan gaan ek so paar dae by hulle kuier. Ek is so geseënd om sulke wonderlike en suksesvolle kinders te hê!”
Sy verstaan nie hoe inperkingsmaatreëls werk nie. Ook nie waarom almal maskers dra nie. Jy glimlag saam met haar, deel haar kortstondige vreugde. Sy word die fokus van jou hoop. My ma gaan net so positief soos hierdie tannie wees, oortuig jy jouself. Sy gaan hier gelukkig wees. Almal gaan vir haar goed wees.
As jy jou motor aanskakel, is dit, toevallig, Jacques Brel se Old Folks wat op die radio speel. “The old folks don’t talk much, and they’re talking slowly when they do. They are rich, they are poor, their illusions are gone, they have lived to long.”
Op ‘n manier word die besluit tog vir jou makliker. Moenie dink aan die negatiewe nie. Die mense word met liefde en deernis daar versorg. Die personeel is toegewyd en bekwaam. Hulle verstaan die uitdagings van bejaardeversorging baie beter as jy. Hulle het ‘n passie vir hulle werk. Hulle is 24 uur aan diens.
Jy besef hoe moeg jy fisies, geestelik en emosioneel is. Jy begin om jou ma voor te berei op die moontlikheid dat sy beter versorging nodig het as wat jy kan bied. Jy vertel jouself dat dit vir al die betrokke partye, jou huwelik en gesin, en jou ma inkluis, die beste opsie is.
Jy vul die dik bundel dokumente in. Verslae van die dokter. Mediese geskiedenis. Medikasie gebruik. Finansies. Begrafnispolis. Naasbestaandes. Die woord naasbestaande maak jou bewerig. Jy dink aan ander kontekste waarin dit gebruik word. Na so twee weke is die aansoek gereed om ingedien te word, en jy dapper genoeg om dit in te dien.
Jy stop weer voor die versorgingsoord, hierdie keer meer oortuig van die meriete van jou besluit. Maar, wanneer jy by die voordeur instap, is dieselfde tannietjie van twee weke terug weer daar op haar pos. Dieselfde netjiese blommetjiesrok, selfgebreide truitjie aan, ten spyte van die hitte, en dieselfde afgeleefde handsakkie op die skoot.
Sy kyk stip na die straat voor die gebou, maar herken jou skielik as jy inkom. “More tannie!” Jy groet so hartlik en vrolik as wat jy kan. “Het tannie toe lekker by tannie se seun gekuier?” Vra jy, al weet jy by voorbaat. “Ag jong, hulle is so besig, hulle kon toe nie by my uitkom nie. Jy weet, al die verantwoordelikhede en vergaderings. Maar hy is vandag hier naby vir ‘n belangrike vergadering, en sal kyk of hy na die tyd my kan kom haal.”
En sy kyk weer na die karre wat in die straat verbyry. Jy weet hy gaan nie opdaag nie. Hy mag ook nie tans nie. Ek staan met ‘n groot pak ingevulde vorms in my hand. “Kan ek u help, meneer?”, vra ‘n vriendelike verpleegster my as sy verbyloop. “Nee dankie,” sê ek.
“Ek het net kom kyk hoe dit hier lyk.” Mompel ek agter my masker.
