Toverview

11/12/2024

After extensive preparatory work, the Colesberg Heritage Dialogue (NPC) will be formally launched on Saturday 14 December.
The launch will take place at Dinamo Etes at the Colesberg One Stop, and will last from 9 am to 2 pm. Adv. Antony Osler will deliver a keynote address. Board members will be introduced, followed by discussions of key thematic areas.

After extensive preparatory work, the Colesberg Heritage Dialogue (NPC) will be formally launched on Saturday 14 December.

11/12/2024

As the posts flooded my timeline in the wake of Breyten Breytenbach's passing last Sunday, one question in particular gnawed at me. Had South Africa taken adequate stock of the renowned poet's selflessness in his unyielding stance in the fight against repression and injustice as not to downplay his....

29/11/2024

Who would’ve thought that even in the beer-addled, boisterous haunt that is a certain Karoo shebeen, where the conversation usually alternates between the weekend derby or the poor shot taking pitiful aim at the pool table, everybody would suddenly have his or her two cents about that president-elect

BY PHAKAMISA MAYABA Who would’ve thought that even in the beer-addled, boisterous haunt that is a certain Karoo shebeen, where the conversation usually alternates between the weekend derby or the poor shot taking pitiful aim at the pool table, everybody would suddenly have his or her two cents abo...

27/11/2024

Rural settlements often lack adequate sports facilities, which can add considerable value to recreation, health and wellbeing. In some instances, rural sports fields have become mired in forms of corruptions involving tenders, and even mythical payments. In other cases there are major issues around the use of scarce resources. In this article, Destine Nde gives us an insight into the rising tensions surrounding use of a municipal sports ground in Willowmore.

Rural settlements often lack adequate sports facilities, which can add considerable value to recreation, health and wellbeing. In some instances, rural sports fields have become mired in forms of corruptions involving tenders, and even mythical payments. In other cases there are major issues around....

28/10/2024

The researcher Karen Sternberg continues to write the most fascinating articles about wild bees, which she is currently studying in the Wolwekraal Nature Reserve outside Prince Albert in the Karoo.

The researcher Karen Sternberg continues to write the most fascinating articles about wild bees, which she is currently studying in the Wolwekraal Nature Reserve outside Prince Albert in the Karoo. They appear on her website Wild Bees, subtitled ‘Field Notes on the Conservation of Wild Bees and th...

28/10/2024

With Ons Karoo en Kontrei – I just got recognized as one of their top fans! 🎉

21/10/2024

https://toverview.co.za/starlink-is-musk-finally-coming-home/

20/10/2024

https://toverview.co.za/number-day-in-willowmore-a-remarkable-celebration/

By DESTINE NDE LANDMARKS are a major feature of education. When parents first put their children in pre-school, their primary desire is to see them progress from the first to the last landmark. Even the learners, as soon as they are old enough to understand that education is a long journey with many...

17/10/2024

https://toverview.co.za/what-climate-change-means-for-south-africa-and-its-people

By MAEDER OSLER SO IT HAS come about that my eyes of Climate Change feel more clearly opened by a recent academic publication which reads like a straight-arrowed example of a surprisingly refreshingly selected and presented ‘farmers’ stoep talk’, which more of us so-called hunters and so-calle...

16/10/2024

https://toverview.co.za/power-relations-in-the-karoo/

This is a summary of the fifth and last cross-cutting theme outlined in the book Contested Karoo: Interdisciplinary perspectives on change and continuity in South Africa’s drylands, edited by Cherryl Walker and M. Timm Hoffman. For an introductory post summarising all five themes, click here. The ...

15/10/2024

While rubbing shoulders with the US business elite ahead of the 79th session of the UN General Debate in September, it was President Cyril Ramaphosa's closed-door meeting with South Africa-born entrepreneur Elon Musk that set tongues wagging. The question on many people's lips was whether Starlink,....

13/10/2024

https://toverview.co.za/has-education-really-lost-its-value/

By DESTINE NDE 'UNLESS SPEEDY adjustments are made, schools around the world will become irrelevant,’ lamented Mr George Ferreira. He was speaking to me in his office at Willowmore Secondary School, where he serves as principal, and also teaches Afrikaans and Life Orientation. But before I turn to...

13/10/2024

https://toverview.co.za/san-etchings-zen-traces/

By ANTONY OSLER EVERY NOW AND THEN, to our surprise, this life brings a gift. I am not talking only about daily lovelinesses -- coffee in bed in the mornings, reading around the fire at night – but of something so markedly other that who-we-usually-take-ourselves-to-be is swept into something unfa...

10/10/2024

https://toverview.co.za/theme-four-the-vital-importance-of-conserving-biodiversity/

This is a summary of the fourth of five cross-cutting themes outlined in the book Contested Karoo: Interdisciplinary perspectives on change and continuity in South Africa’s drylands, edited by Sherryl Walker and M. Timm Hoffman. For an introductory post summarising all five themes, click here. A p...

10/10/2024

Nearly two months since Floyd Shivambu's departure from the Economic Freedom Fighters and the leader Julius Malema has duly taken stock of the 'betrayal' and composed himself. In place of the morose expression, a straight face. A tamping down of the broadsides at anyone else who might wish to follow...

09/10/2024

https://toverview.co.za/the-karoo-is-a-tough-place-to-be-a-bee/

TOVERVIEW / JUST when we think we know most things about the Karoo, this magical, mysterious region throws us another curveball. This time, it’s come in the form of wild bees. As advised by the eponymous King in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, let’s start at the beginning. (It’s the only w...

07/10/2024

The cover of Noem My Skollie, a movie based on a book by John W. Fredericks. Image: Rotten Tomatoes.

04/10/2024

https://toverview.co.za/services-on-wheels/

By DESTINE NDE AS EARLY AS the 1990s, analysts began to observe that voter turnout almost everywhere was falling, party membership was declining, and ‘politicians were rated below parking wardens as worthy of respect’. The main reason for this tragic state of affairs was poor -- or non-existent ...