|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
EXCITEMENT AT THE WATER
FESTIVAL Sunday started off with a big 'dive' as skydivers did a jump into the crowd. This was followed by the mighty NW Eagles who showed off their flying skills and entertained the public. The underprivileged children had the opportunity to take helicopter and 4x4 rides. Another festivity that brought atmosphere to the day was the wheelbarrow races where all of the attending companies got to participate in. The participants decorated their wheelbarrows according to their company image. Car Trendz won the award for the most creative wheelbarrow. There prize of R500 was donated to the under privileged children. This day would not have been possible without the contribution of the following sponsors: Electro & Hydraulic Projects, Rio Casino, Kwik Fit, AngloGold Ashanti, Bosal and Yourcity. This too shall pass The current unease in world financial markets is quite simply a man-made phenomenon born out of two emotions that all of us suffer from , to a greater or lesser degree: greed and fear. And right now large quantities of ink are being used to explain this crisis! Some fancy words like deleverage, uncoupling, and shorting are being bandied around. However you look at it greed and fear are at the heart of it, with the so-called sub-prime collateralised debt obligations providing the impetus. Snazzy word 'sub-prime' simple put, money (lots of it) was lent to people with a poor credit history, who stood a good chance of not paying it back. In banking parlance; high risk business. With high risk comes the chances of high returns, and on the flip side of the same coin, an equally good chance of a poor return. As it turns out, investors got a good dollop of both. The upsetting part for me is that due to the avarice of bankers elsewhere, we locally, also got affected. Such is the nature of markets, which right now are far from perfect. The imperfection (imbalance) came about as a result of the indiscriminate lending to sub-prime borrowers. This in turn created an oversupply of housing which caused values to drop. As a consequence borrowers ended up with assets which were worth less than their outstanding loans (known as negative equity). They merely returned the house keys to their bankers and defaulted on the outstanding loans. So a downward spiral began and started spinning out of control and suddenly old and respected banks started looking dicey: balance sheets with depreciating assets are not good to do business with. One of the cornerstones of a healthy and thriving economy is interbank lending. A process where banks lend and borrow among themselves. This is the liquidity that markets require in order to stay afloat. The grease that keeps the engine turning, so to speak. This is precisely what happened to Lehman Brothers recently. They, because of their bad debt book, were perceived to be risky. Other banks stopped lending to them credit crunch. They ended up going to the wall and you could see bank staff filing out the building on Main Street with those proverbial little brown boxes with personal belongings. The price of living now and paying later. And so enter, centre-stage, the central banks; the lenders of last resort. Many have asked if the events of recent weeks are not a repeat of the Great Depression of 1929. Trust me there was nothing great about that time in history. Looking back, one can draw parallels. During the 1920's people, mainly Americans, led lives of luxury. Most of it funded by credit. Instant credit. Part of the craze, other than the Charleston, was to own shares (equity). This fad became so popular that a buying spree known as margin buying sprung up. Margin buying involves the practice of buying shares on credit with buyers only putting down a deposit of say 10 per cent (the margin) and the balance paid for by the broker, who held the shares as security. This was all well and good if the share price rose. The shareholder could sell, pay the broker and pocket the profit. Unfortunately this did not happen during September of 1929. Stock sellers far outnumbered stock buyers. Result, share prices went south. In one instance a young New York Stock Exchange messenger-boy offered 1US$ for a block of shares that six days earlier, was trading at 100,000 US$. Trying times indeed. In order to stem the tide 'bank holidays' were declared. This resulted in state wide closure to business of all banks. It took F.D. Roosevelt and his New Deal in 1933 to instill confidence in the financial markets. By that time millions around the world were unemployed. What went so seriously wrong? Stock market volatility, after all, is part and parcel of the risk of investing in shares. The underlying reason of the Great Depression as unearthed by Milton Friedman, was not so much the stock-market crash, but rather the drying up of credit available to banks, which resulted in thousands of banks closing down. The current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, a student of the Great Depression realized what was going on and as early as August 2007 started lowering the federal funds rate and pumping money into the financial system. And this is the single most important difference between 1929 and now the Federal Reserve and the Treasury stepping up to the plate and getting involved in open-markets transactions. By so doing both Bernanke and Paulson of the Treasury have kept markets liquid. This in turn has had a knock-on effect around the world with confidence slowly returning to markets. Sure it can be argued that taxpayers are footing the bill for the bailouts. But I believe it to be the lesser of the two evils suffer some discomfort now rather than entertain a full-flown depression. Oh! by the way the title for this week's article comes from a cameo involving King Solomon. King Solomon, so the story goes, was most distressed about the fact that he was not satisfied. Arguably, the wealthiest man in the world at the time lamented, 'When I feel satisfied I'm afraid that it won't last. And when I don't feel satisfied, I am afraid my sorrow will go on forever. Find me the ring that will end my suffering.' One of King Solomon's advisor's found an old jeweler and related the great King's dilemma. The old jeweler took a gold ring and carved the following inscription into it: This too shall pass. On receiving the ring the wise King knew immediately what the inscription meant: That true satisfaction can only be found when we are content with what we have got. The moral of the story don't live beyond your means and be happy with what you have. Chat again next week. Collin Hyman ANTI-AFKNOU PROJEK BEGIN IN DIE STAD VAN MENSE “Die Rotary Klub van Klerksdorp het op 9 Oktober 2008 begin met `n Anti-Afknou projek in samewerking met Sunningdale Hospitaal en Kohin lewens afrigters in the stad. Die Anti-Afknou projek word by 5 skole in Klerksdorp aangebied vir verskillende Grade.” Vir meer inligting in verband met hierdie goeie saak kontak Marinda Du Plessis op 082 800 8324 Sandra Foley Name: Sandra Foley Star Sign: Vis Birthday: 2 Maart Occupation: Pam Golding Prinsipaal When I look into the mirror every morning I think: Wat hou die dag vir my in? My favourite people in the world are: Kopers en Verkopers My favourite quote is: Wees altyd positief. 'n Grap makes me laugh. The greatest lesson life has taught me so far is: Die son sal weer skyn I'll do almost anything for: Gelukkige kinders I want my tombstone to read:.. Ek hoop ek het 'n verskil gemaak I wouldn't mind being stuck in an elevator with: Tutu Mboweni Om die rente koers te bespreek In three words I am:! Passievol, Pligsgetrou, Positief If I had a million rand to spare I would: Winskopie eiendomme op te kikker I live in Klerksdorp because: Ek is hier gebore The first thing I would save from a house fire is: My dogter se kat I love my job because: …My werk maak 'n verskil Masizakhe Women's Group Are Thusaneng Stokvel, is a group of women who came together with one common VISION (to see women of Matlosana progressing in life and to assist those women who could not afford bank loans to own descent houses (homes). In 2002, the then MEC for Local Government and Housing, Darkey Africa, pledged R5 million to the Masizakhe Women's Group as a starter pack to fulfill their dreams. This year on the 25th July 2008, during the Provincial Govan Mbeki Provincial Awards, they were awarded the Provincial NGO of the Year Award, by the Premier of North West Province, Me Edna Molewa together with the MEC for Local Government and Housing, Mr Howard Yawa. Upon recieval of the Award, the women deemed it fit to come and show and also to thank the man who was and has always been their mentor and behind their success, the one and only Executive Mayor, Cllr China Dodovu. Masizakhe Wome's Group launched their Housing Project, on the 25 August 2008, and to date they have managed to build 22 houses ranging from R86 000.00 to R220 000.00 in Jouberton. Their future plan is to build at least 150 houses in Ext 17 by the end of next year. The President, Me Ntombekhaya Ngxingo, extended encouraging words to other women out there, and said “that they should stop shying away when faced with challenges, women should come up with initiatives to assist government in order for government to assist them”. (VUK'UZENZELE). Masizakhe Women's Group: (President) Ntombekhaya Ngxingo, (Treasurer) Motlagomang Sesing, (Secretary) Thandi Mogakabe NWU-Puk bou innoverende spiesgooi-toestel Die NWU-Puk se atletiekklub spog met 'n unieke spiesgooi-toestel wat selfs deur Olimpiese atlete ingespan word om hul gooie te verbeter. Hoewel dit vreemd mag klink om spiesgooi onder 'n dak te oefen is dit presies wat Puksport en meganiese ingenieurswese reggekry het met die ontwerp en bou van die toestel. “Atlete kan onder meer gooie doen teen verskillende hoogtes en spoedontwikkeling slyp deur aandag te gee aan die verskillende nuanses van krag,” vertel mnr. Terseus Liebenberg, atletiekafrigter. Hy het sedert verlede jaar nou saamgewerk met dr. Barend Botha, dosent by meganiese ingenieurswese, en mnr. Jozua Roux, 'n ingenieurswesestudent, wat die toestel op sy versoek gebou het. Die projek is deel van Roux se finalejaarsprojek. Volgens Botha het die projek by die bou van 'n prototipe begin en word die toestel sedert dit in gebruik geneem is, voortdurend geskaaf en verfyn om die atlete die beste te bied. Hy sę verdere ontwikkelings is nie uitgesluit nie en daar is reeds 'n klomp idees op die tafel om die apparaat van die beste węreldwyd te maak. Die spiesgooi-toestel is nog 'n bewys van die NWU se verbintenis tot innovering en is die enigste van sy soort in Afrika en een van min ter węreld. Bekende atlete wat al die toestel ingespan het vir oefening, sluit onder meer in Magnus Arvidsson van Swede en Andreas Thorkildsen van Noorweë wat al twee keer die Olimpiese spiesgooi-kampioen was. Puk Serenaders eiendig tweede in die Old Mutual Nasionale Koorfees Die Puk-Serenaders bou volstoom voort op die rits prestasies wat dié tradisionele Afrika-koor behaal het sedert die ontstaan daarvan in 1994. Die koor, wat ook bekendheid verwerf het vir hul eiesoortige vertolking van tradisionele Afrika- en Suid-Afrikaanse musiek, het pas die naasbeste gevaar in die streekkampioenskap van Ou Mutual se nasionale koorfees. Die Puk-Serenaders het teen sewentien ander kore meegeding. Hier spog die koor se bestuur saam met mnr. Horst Bütow, hoof van die departement kultuur, met die trofee wat hulle verower het. ROF helps 72 with study bursaries The NWU Puk is once again one of the most important beneficiaries of the Rapport Onderwysfonds (ROF) aimed at giving Afrikaans-speaking students access to study bursaries and loans. This year, ROF has voted R468 000 for students at the Potchefstroom Campus. It means students on the campus have already received more than R1,6 million in total in student bursary money. During a recent bursar occasion on the campus, Mr Kobus Rossouw, manager of the ROF, said the NWU Puk is characterized as the heartland of the fund. Many of their systems that are in place are shod on “how the Puk does it”. During the past two years, the management committee of the ROF met on the campus to select bursary applications, and it is anticipated that Potchefstroom will in future always be employed for this purpose. According to Rossouw, the ROF's board of trustees focuses on education students and 75% of the money available is voted for these students. The rest is especially allocated to students at the faculty of economic and management sciences. Furthermore he stressed that many of the students who are helped, had achieved seven or eight distinctions in matric, but were not able to obtain study bursaries elsewhere. The ROF bursars maintain an average of between 70% and 74%. Prof Annette Combrink, rector, said it is essential that good teachers need to be trained, and because tertiary studies are very expensive, any contribution is welcome. “We are thankful that the fund makes it possible for so many students to be able to attend a university. “It is also nice to know that Afrikaans teachers are promoted in this manner and that Afrikaans is further developed as a science and teaching language.” The ROF has awarded R1,7 million in bursary money for 2009. In total, 72 of these bursars are students of the NWU Puk. The fund received 402 applications and eighty new bursaries could be awarded. “It is our dream to give more than the R12 000 students currently receive annually. The eventual objective we strive for is that the ROF can help 250 students with a comprehensive study bursary that includes class and book fees, accommodation and meals,” Rossouw said. HOËRSKOOL WESVALIA TOER NA ENGELAND EN SKOTLAND Akademiese toer? Die vraag word baie gevra: Wat doen mens op 'n Akademiese toer? Die antwoord: Leer, sien, ervaar, verbreed jou węreldvisie, lag, geniet, lag en geniet! 45 Leerlinge en 4 onderwysers van Hoërskool Wesvalia het die afgelope September vakansie die voorreg gehad om deur Engeland en Skotland te toer. Die toer het in Edinburgh begin en by York; Stratford-Upon-Avon; Oxford ('n definitiewe hoogtepunt); Bath en London aangedoen. Daar is ook 3 skole besoek, dit was baie interessant (en soms skrikwekkend!) om bietjie tyd by die skole deur te bring, maar ook lagwekkend die tradisionele skotse dans sessie by Larbert High in Falkirk, Skotland het beide lande se tieners saamgebind soveel lag kan net 'n beter plek van die węreld maak! Al die ervarings kan onmoontlik gedeel word: kastele; honderde trappe tot bo in die William Wallace Memorial; ghostwalks; die underground ry; 'n West End produksie kyk... Dit was werklik die ervaring van 'n leeftyd. Ja, ons het geleer, gesien, ervaar, ons węreldvisie verbreed, gelag en bowenal, geniet! |
| |||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
We hope you have enjoyed receiving this
message. However, if you would rather not receive future e-mails of this sort
from Yourcity.co.za, please visit the
Unsubscribe Page.
This information is copyrighted and property of
Yourcity.co.za
