A crater, a curry and an arthritic baboon saved my sanity:
So, here you are on the morning commute to work.
You would prefer to have started earlier but other family members are involved, meaning it is the usual stressful race against time and traffic to get everybody to university and work on time.
The mental traffic-calming measures are in place with Nirvana’s Nevermind album blasting from the sound system.
You are skilfully bobbing and weaving around the potholes, the locations of which have been etched into your memory by painful past experience, when suddenly the Kimberley Big Hole opens up before you.
Last night’s prolonged downpour has opened up a crater where just yesterday there was reasonably smooth tar.
The car lurches and there is a nasty crunching sound as your front wheel thumps into the pothole. An anguished howl bursts from your mouth followed by a stream of curses usually reserved for the multitude of death-wish drivers on our roads.
This scenario has only one ending — another expensive trip to whichever tyre shop has a deal that won’t completely deflate your wallet.
But these days there can be a silver lining to this horror show.
There is a worldwide audience out there frantically scrolling on their phones, trying to find something — anything — vaguely amusing.
And millions of people have become content creators to profit from this captive audience.
Crash-bang noises, violent cursing, loud music, anguished faces. This is spontaneous content creation. All you need is a dashcam, maybe an inside-the-car cam, a bit of creative editing and to press upload.
And, if this incident happens in a particularly dangerous part of town, say on the off-ramp underneath Joe Slovo Drive near Ponte in Joburg, the tension as you change the tyre is bound to ramp up the “likes”.
Despite my general disdain for social media, I confess that I am not immune to its limitless offerings and have been known to let my scrolling fingers dance to the algorithm’s beat.
Predictably, what pops up on my screen most often has to do with food.
Bunny Chow Hunter is a daily stop-off for me. Curry lovers, particularly those from Durban, are always in search of the best place to get their fix and I now know where to find a bunny chow in even the most obscure places in South Africa.
Reviews are taken very seriously. Freshness of the bread; size and tenderness of the ubiquitous potato; number and tenderness of the pieces of meat; heat, flavour and quantity of gravy and the tastiness of the essential carrot sambal.
There are disagreements and sometimes harsh words are exchanged.
Mostly, I am attracted by the pictures of delicious (often traditional) dishes and immediately want the recipe. The problem is that many of these content creators haven’t made allowance for the short attention span of scrollers and precious minutes are taken up showing us how to prepare the ingredients, with particularly tedious attention given to the correct way to chop onions.
This is why the young Greek guy @Nikolopaa tops my list. Clad in a white vest and a gold chain, and with an accent thicker than the best Greek yoghurt, he whips through the recipes for all the classic Greek dishes.
“Chop im up good,” is the closest he gets to advice on preparing the ingredients and soon it is time for the taste test. “It’s bladdy good,” is always his verdict.
And, just like that, you know how to make meatballs, spanakopita and kleftiko.
Rose is a woman from Ghana who married a Chinese man and went to live with him in his home village in a rural area. She speaks the dialect fluently, has become an expert at cooking the local traditional food and is much loved by all the villagers.
Rose’s scenes of everyday life in the village, shopping, cooking, looking after her children and working in the fields are somehow fascinating. Perhaps it is just such a wholesome escape from our often troubled lives in South Africa.
Another amusing escape can be found at Ruben Namibia. Ruben lives on the family farm, surrounded by a horde of rescued animals. There are meerkats, a mongoose, warthogs, a squirrel and a porcupine, among others, all ruled over by Cindy the large, blind, arthritic baboon.
Watching the interactions between this strange menagerie can bring a smile to my face even after the most stressful deadline day. And I think the buff Ruben with his Clark Gable moustache and tight khaki farmers’ shorts (Google him) has much to do with the multitude of followers.
There is no doubt that cute animals are hard to compete with in this strange world of “content”. Dogs with cats, birds with dogs, cats with horses, cows with cats, dogs with dolphins, pigs with goats, horses with cats, donkeys with horses. All these combinations ramp up the cuteness factor that guarantees the sought-after likes, shares and follows.
For me, the real winners in the cute creature category are the turtles and whales. I know that if I could be one of those people who lifts turtles out of the water and scrapes off all those pesky barnacles weighing down their shells it would be good for my soul.
And if I dived into the sea to cut the rope and fishing gear that has entangled a whale, all the sins of my past would be washed away.
These random examples seem tame and innocent compared with what we know is out there.
And I do admit to going through a time when the popular Puy Roti Lady popped up on my screen with uncomfortable regularity.
She plies her trade from a food cart on the streets of Bangkok dressed in fashionable — revealing — outfits. I just can’t resist the rotis filled with banana and slathered in cream.
BYD launches three new-energy vehicles, but just how impressive are they?:
BYD launched three new-energy vehicles (NEVs) on Thursday, including an electric vehicle and two plug-in hybrid vehicles.
The Chinese manufacturer seems to be all about marine life. In 2024, it gave us the Dolphin and Seal 7, and now it has brought two more SUVs — the Sealion 6 and Sealion 7 — and a bakkie called the Shark 6.
Even though the brand came to South Africa in 2023, it feels like it has only officially arrived now. It outsold Tesla worldwide in the last quarter of 2024 in terms of battery energy vehicles, recording almost 100 000 more vehicles sold than Elon Musk’s company.
While NEV sales surged in 2024, they still made up only 3% of the new vehicle market in South Africa. Charging infrastructure is a key factor in this, and because most South Africans are being priced out of new-energy vehicles also contributes to the slow sales in this sector.
With a six-model lineup, BYD can finally begin to lure South Africans towards NEVs.
But just how impressive are these new models and what are they going to be priced at?
Sealion 6
The Sealion 6 is an SUV that is a plug-in hybrid vehicle, and is now going to be South Africa’s cheapest. Priced from R639 900 and given the quality of the build and interior, it is sure to turn some heads. It will come in three variants: dynamic, comfort and premium.
The dynamic and comfort will have a 1.5 litre engine coupled with a front-mounted electric motor drawing power from an 18.3 kWh battery pack. This will give the driver 160kW of power and 300nm of torque.
The premium will have a 1.5 turbocharged engine and will have an extra rear-mounted motor. This will boost the power to an insane 238kW and 550Nm. That almost seems like too much for a compact SUV.
While the power figures are extremely impressive, the most impressive thing about the Sealion 6 is the range it will be able to go. The dynamic and comfort variants will have a range of 961 km while the premium will have a range of 1 092 km.
To get that premium model will cost R789 900.
Sealion 7
The Sealion 7 is also an SUV, but this model is fully electric.
It will have BYD’s 82.56 kWh Blade Battery that will give the driver up to 482km of range. BYD claims that DC fast-charging from 20% to 80% will take just 30 minutes.
It will come in two variants, a front-wheel drive premium and an all-wheel drive performance. The former will do 0 -100 in 6.7 seconds while the latter will go to 100km/h in just 4.5 seconds.
While this vehicle also has a superior interior, there were two things that really stood out for me. The first was the look of this car. It gave Mercedes-Benz GLC vibes with a touch of Porsche Cayenne at the back.
The second was the amount of space there was at the back. I’ve never sat business class, but surely, that was it.
BYD has gone above the R1 million mark with this vehicle however. The Sealion 7 entry model will be R1 099 900 while the performance variant will cost R 1 299 900.
Shark 6
BYD has also brought in a double cab bakkie. It is also a plug-in hybrid vehicle and looks like a shark from the front. It also might perform like the most fearsome creature in the ocean.
The Shark 6 is powered by a 1.5 litre engine paired to two electric motors which delivers 321kW of power and 650Nm of torque.
The 29.6kWh battery has a range of 100km and the double cab has a total range of 840km.
BYD has made this bakkie feel premium, without taking away the feel of bakkie. The interior is robust, giving off the energy of a fighter jet with nice leather and a screen as big as your TV to give drivers luxury.
The tailgate was by far the most impressive feature. It’s the first time I’ve seen an electric tailgate on a bakkie, but it felt good to have it.
BYD has priced the Shark 6 at R959 900.
While this means that it enters the market above Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux prices, it seems it is here to really test the worth of the bakkies South Africans truly love.
Medical examiner refutes accused’s claims of abuse in Joslin Smith trial:
The doctor who examined accused number two in the trial about the alleged kidnapping and trafficking of Joslin Smith has refuted claims that Stevano van Rhys sustained injuries after being detained by police in March 2024 and forced to confess under duress.
“I inquired from Mr Van Rhyn myself whether he had sustained any injuries since the previous the J88 [form] was completed or any assault, which Mr Van Rhyn denied,” medical examiner Tanya Zimri testified in the Western Cape high court sitting in Saldanha Bay on Friday.
Zimri was tasked to submit a J88 document, used to record findings during medico-legal examinations, after Van Rhyn’s alleged confession into the disappearance in February 2024 of Joslin, who was six at the time.
Defence lawyers say Jacquen “Boeta” Appollis and Van Rhyn — accused one and two in the case — were allegedly abused from 4 March 2025 until the early hours of the following day when both men made their false confessions. They also contend that neither Appollis nor Van Rhyn were read their rights.
Zimri read the J88 document in the witness box, which stated: “Upon questioning Mr Van Rhyn, he denies any new injuries or assault since the J88 completion earlier today by Dr Nel.”
The injuries noted by Zimri included a bandage over the left knee and bruising on the right knee. She said there were signs of healing abrasion on the right shoulder and left wrist.
“No new/fresh injuries noted,” read Zimri’s J88 document, submitted after Van Rhyn’s confession.
Judge Nathan Erasmus asked Zimri to clarify what she meant by “healing” to which she responded: “What I mean is that it is not new, there’s no fresh blood, it’s already in a stage of healing — so it’s not new.”
“Could you age it [the injury]?” Erasmus asked, to which Zimri responded: “It was at least 24 hours old.”
According to the doctor who conducted the pre-confession examination, Hendrik Nel, there were injuries to Van Rhyn’s left and right knee. Van Rhyn told Nel he had had surgery on his left knee a few years ago.
Nel, who testified to the court virtually on Thursday, said he asked Van Rhyn how he got the injury to his right knee, to which the accused said he had fallen from a bakkie the previous day.
“I wrote [in my clinical findings] bilateral form slight swelling anterior aspect, clinically no fractures, his left knee had old surgical scar with a possible hemarthrosis and fluid below the knee, soft tissue injury left knee, no fractures,” said Nel.
“I wrote ‘right knee soft tissue injury clinically no fractures’.”
In court documents, Van Rhys claims that a plastic bag was placed over his head making it difficult to breathe.
But, during the medical examination, Zimri said she had not seen any marks around the accused’s neck.
“I would have expected to see much more severe injuries — bruising, possible deeper abrasions, fractures possibly which is not what I observed when I examined Mr Van Rhyn on that day,” she told the court.
Zimri conducted a post-confession medical examination on Van Rhyn and not Appollis.
Nel and Zimri testified this week in a trial-within-a-trial to determine the admissibility of statements made by Apollis and Van Rhyn, given their allegations of being assaulted and tortured into making them.
On Friday, Erasmus asked to view the footage of Van Rhyn’s confession. The footage played on a big screen in the Saldanha Bay multipurpose centre being used as a court room, showed a calm and relaxed looking Van Rhyn smiling and answering questions.
As the footage continued to play, Erasmus said the video did not seem like a confession, and asked: “Why was I not told this document is no reflection of what is happening here?”
Earlier this week, Brigadier Leon Hanana, head of the province’s Serious and Violent Crimes Unit, testified that he had neither witnessed nor sanctioned any physical abuse during the interrogations of Appollis and Van Rhyn.
Prosecutors allege that Joslin’s mother, Kelly Smith — accused number three and partner to Appollis — sold her daughter to a sangoma for R20??000, with Van Rhyn and state witness Lourentia Lombaard receiving smaller amounts as hush money.
Joslin was last seen on 19??February 2024 in Appollis’s care at the family’s Middelpos shack. The three accused have pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping. Smith has not alleged any mistreatment by the police.
Submit and get free exposure here: Showcase Your Business | Advertise Your Special Offers.
