The current salary/wage strike in Public sector has brought to a halt work in schools and even in courtrooms. Almost all the schools in KZN have been disrupted due to the ongoing strike by teacher unions.
As of today no one knows how long the strike may last. Even the high profile case of Brett Kebble has been halted.
Valuable teaching and learning time has been lost. There are always 2 sides to every story. The timing of this strike could not have come at a worse time for learners. In about a months time the Trials Exams were scheduled to start. But then the workers also have a right to strike if they feel they have been shortchanged in the salaries they are getting. The cost of living have been increasing(petrol prices, food prices even rent prices are on the up).
I have found some teacher humour to lift the spirits.
A teacher asks her class, ”If there are 5 birds sitting on a fence and you shoot one of them, how many will be left?” She calls on little Johnny.
”None, they all fly away with the first gunshot.”
The teacher replies, ”The correct answer is 4, but I like your thinking.” Then Little Johnny says, ”I have a question for YOU. There are three women sitting on a bench having ice cream. One is delicately licking the sides of the triple scoop of ice cream. The second is gobbling down the top and sucking the cone. The third is biting off the top of the ice cream. Which one is married?”
The teacher, blushing a great deal, replies, ”Well I suppose the one that’s gobbled down the top and sucked the cone.”
”The correct answer is the one with the wedding ring on…but I like your thinking.”
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on August 18, 2010 at 3:51 am.
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Sfiso Zulu and Mbhekeni Mhlongo
A week after the FIFA World cup final had been decided and Spain announced as Champions. We hosted our very own Mpilonhle Football Predictions Awards.
This was a brain child by Musa Khumalo who came up with a concept also assisted by Jonathan van Niekerk.
We had 2 World cup predictions competitions. We had a nice function for the winners on the day and everyone got a piece of cake. Sifiso Zulu and Mbhekeni Mhlongo were the 2 overall winners of the competitions.
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on July 27, 2010 at 2:13 am.
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Learners have attended some of the games during the World cup. We got some tickets from Sony, which is one of the sponsors.
Schools from Umkhanyakude District then selected learners that can attend matches. We also got Mtuba Soccer academy learners attending matches.
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on June 29, 2010 at 8:43 am.
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A dream has come true for me this past week. I have attended a FIFA World Cup match for the first time in my life.
I watched my first World cup game back in 1994. It was held in USA, then France 98′, Korea 2002 and Germany 2006. All these I watched on tv with my father.
Sadly he passed away in November 2006. We never attended a single game with him. When I took my seat inside the Durban stadium tears just came to my eyes. It felt like I had fulfilled his dream and mine. I could not concentrate on the game. It took me about 40 minutes to realise that I was watching Holland (The masters of total football) live.
Wherever I go, whatever I do I will never forget this. I have been to the stadium before in December when Kaizer Chiefs played Sundowns. That was great but this is special. I have to thank Grassrootsoccer and Sony for the tickets to the game.
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on at 8:03 am.
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Last week Tuesday we played a match against Slethukukhanya High School educators. The great thing about this match is that we played at night at the Floodlighted ground. This is the first time we played a match at night. The other great thing about this is Mpilonhle helped in building this ground. We played our first game as a team last year against these guys.
We managed to win the game 5 nil. I scored a beautiful first goal where I went one on one with the keeper. Nathi got the 2nd, Tony got the 4th(Grassroots soccer trainer) and Chris got the final goal.
The game lasted 60 minutes and great fun was had by all except for the educators. 
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on June 15, 2010 at 5:35 am.
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Hlabisa hospital launched their HCT campaign on the 25th of May 2010. The theme was “MINA NGIZIMISELE, NAWE UZIMISELE, THINA SIZIMISELE, KWAHLABISA SIZIMISELE” Which means I AM RESPONSIBLE, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE, WE ARE RESPONSIBLE, HLABISA IS RESPONSIBLE”
The event was supported by local DoH partners such as Cotlands, Africa Centre, SACBS, Mpilonhle just to mention a few, as well as the Jozini Health District office. Mrs DDL Zungu (Hospital Manager-Hlabisa) explained the purpose of the launch, she stated that by having this launch they are encouraging people to know about their health, this can be achieved by community members visiting their local clinics and hospitals so that they can check not only their HIV status but also knowing about their blood sugar levels, blood pressure, cervical cancer, etc. She further mentioned that Hlabisa hospital is prepared to help individuals to know their state of health.
The speaker of the day was Mr. Fakude (Jozini HAST Prog.)
Mr Fakude mentioned that the HCT launch is not a one day event, but a program that should have started years ago, where Health Counselling and Testing is integrated into all other health services provided within a health facility. During this process 5 things need to be integrated and those are:-
1. Blood Pressure
2. Diabetes
3. Haemoglobin
4. HIV
5. TB
He further encouraged male to go for male medical circumcision.
During the launch we had a play which highlighted the importance of parents disclosing and informing their children about their HIV status, Mrs Hlabisa from Hlabisa hospital mentioned that they encounter a problem when children default from their treatment because their parents did not inform them about the treatment and HIV status.
HIV counselling and testing was provided on site during the launch and hospital management was encouraged to lead by example and go for counselling and testing. All other members who attended the launch were also given an opportunity to go for HIV testing as well.
The day ended with a visit to a local primary school where the local Home Based Carers provided health education to the learners. There was also a business visit to Hlabisa Municipality and in town where there were also tents placed for community members to test for HIV.
Compiled by Khanya Mdletshe
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on June 3, 2010 at 9:26 am.
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- A Thief is a Thief
Recently we have had to deal with a few cases of stolen items here at Mpilonhle. Some of the items lost are laptops, 3G Modems, cameras and most recently computer monitors. Now some of these items have been recovered, unfortunately others not. I would really like to attend a court case of someone who stole from me personally or from the organisation.
I have to ask why would someone take something that doesn’t belong to them. How people are able to go on day by day knowing that they have cheated someone or some organisation of valuable items they worked hard for. There are only things that we can assume may be a reason for someone to want to do these things.
The first of many reasons is for money. On the black market you can sell an item for 50% of its value–possibly even more if the item is popular in the community at the time. Right now the most popular items are IT gadgets. Now the strange thing is even if a person does not know how to operate them they still take it. This type of thief is known as a professional.
The second most common reason people steal is obsession. They can’t help themselves and they steal just to get the rush. This type of thief will take anything they can get there hands on because they just do it to see if they can get away.
Last but not least the third most common reason that people steal is for survival. This type of thief steals things that he/she needs to survive. Most of the time they take things like clothing for their children or medicine, baby formula and sometimes food. This type of shoplifting you can understand, but the act still wrong and illegal.
No matter which of the three reasons a person has for stealing, it is still wrong. Someone I know once said “a person not only steals items but trust as well gets stolen at the same time”.In addition to greed thieves also have no conscience. This allows them to steal and not feel guilty about it. They actually believe that they are doing nothing wrong.
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on May 19, 2010 at 3:25 am.
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This is it!
The people of Esikhawini/ Empangeni/ Richards Bay got a once in a lifetime opportunity when they came face to face with the iconic Fifa World Cup trophy on Monday. Courtesy of Coca Cola, the solid gold trophy will landed in Richards Bay on the final leg of its global tour and went on display at the eSikhawini Sports Ground. The most coveted trophy in world sport has already travelled throughout the world over the past 225 days and has been seen and admired by millions of people in 86 countries. For local residents, it was the only chance to get up close to the real thing before it is handed over to the captain of the winning team of the 2010 World Cup on 11 July. This is probably the only time the trophy will ever visit Zululand.
Everyone got to see the trophy up close and enjoyed the wide variety of entertainment and activities on the day. This is the first time that the trophy has made an extended trip across the length and breadth of the host country. Although not everybody will be able to see a World Cup match live in a stadium, they have at least had an opportunity to experience the Coca-Cola Trophy tour,
Here in Mpilonhle we hope to atleast attend one World cup match.
Residents got a chance to take photos with the Trophy
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on at 2:18 am.
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South Africa had more cases of measles in the years 2009 to 2010 than the years before that. If not controlled we may see more cases of measles. Measles is caused by a very small germ, called measles virus. It cannot be seen by a naked eye. It is spread when a person suffering from measles coughs or sneezes, passing on the germ to others. It can cause blindness, hearing problems, brain damage, pneumonia and even death.
Right now, many children have received one two doses of measles vaccine during their first two years. Those doses work in about 9 out of
10 children. Outbreaks may still occur amongst those that were not immunized or amongst those in whom the vaccine did not work.
In 19-24 April 2010, Mpilonhle team has visited some of the schools that it is working with to provide measles and polio immunization services, i.e Masibonisane High School 318 learners immunized, Nkosana High 93 learners immunized,Shikishela Primary 200 learners immunized and Kwa Nyamazane Prmary 93 learners immunized. The second round will from the 24 – 28 May 2010.
by Thuli Biyela
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on May 5, 2010 at 8:32 am.
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The year has finally come to an end. It has been a great year. There have been so many firsts for Mpilonhle this year. This blog has grown in stature, this year also the Mpilonhle Football program was launch this year. We have had so many great visitors to our sites. People like Lucas Radebe(former Bafana captain), Charlize Theron(Oscar winner), Matt Damon(East coast radio ehh no thats the other Damon..) and Pieter Dirk Uys. The OneSight clinic was also huge in the response from community. I hope next year will be the same. Bring on 2010! Goodluck Bafana Bafana!
Mpilonhle jersey
OneSight clinic
Lucas Radebe and Mike
Lucas Radebe at the football ground launch
Our second match of the year. We won 3 - 1 against Municipality
Mpilonhle Man of the Year 2009 : Siyabonga Mavuso
Posted by Siyabonga Mavuso on December 18, 2009 at 6:15 am.
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