"Not right now, sis, the president's on the line!" - Scrolla.Africa

Thursday 21st January
                                      2021, 0145

Real News. Scrolla.Africa

                  “Not right now, sis, the
                  president’s on the line!”
                  Arthur Greene
Just a day before Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th US
president, he took the time to make a phone call to a Nigerian-
born family to thank them for their support during his
campaign.
Biden spoke to Dr Oke and his two daughters, Josephine and
Beatrice from Springfield, Illinois, for 12 minutes.
The phone call was caught on camera by a member of the
doctor’s family.
The warmhearted conversation covered a range of topics, from
discussing Dr Oke’s hometown of Ibadan in Nigeria’s Oyo State,
to the president extending an invitation to the family to visit
him in the White House.
In a comedic moment, Beatrice enters the room while
Josephine is talking to Biden, and she is clearly unaware who
her sister is chatting to!
This moment of warmth and friendliness is currently doing the
rounds on social media.

Its popularity is unsurprising because it represents a marked
difference to the divisiveness and toxicity which came to define
Trump’s time in the Oval Office.

Video source: @DeleOlojede

Picture source: @POTUS

           Ouch! Cops seize massive cargo
           of booze
           Kabelo Tlhabanelo

Trying to move a bakkie-load of booze to a safer place has
turned out to be an expensive exercise.
The Tops in Harrismith, Free State, has lost more than 850,000
litres of beer and cider.
And the driver of the vehicle has been fined R5,000.
The cops stopped the company’s Nissan NP200 on Tuesday
morning and a 57-year-old driver was arrested.
The driver, who did not want to be named, said the alcohol was
being transported to a safer storage place.
“We have had problems with an alarm that kept on going off at
the store and the alcohol was not safe,” the staff member told
Scrolla.Africa.

“The alcohol was being taken to storage when the police
stopped the bakkie.”
He said cops did not want to listen to his story and the bakkie
and the alcohol were confiscated.
“The fact is, the alcohol was not being sold,” he said.
Police spokeswoman Colonel Thandi Mbambo said liquor
amounting to 871,680 litres and the company bakkie were
seized.
Mbambo said: “On 19 January at about 10:30, Harrismith
Visible Policing received a tip off about someone who was
transporting liquor using a company bakkie. The liquor was
transported from Tops bottle store to an unknown destination.
The vehicle was spotted driving in Stuart Street and was found
to be loaded with alcohol. The 57-year-old man was fined
R5,000 for violating Disaster Management Act Covid-19
regulations.”

Picture source: SAPS

Man mocked for filling his taxi
              with an unusual load
              Kabelo Tlhabanelo

When taxi driver Simon Duiker needed transport for bricks to
extend his house he found the bakkies-for-hire were too
expensive.

The transport from a building material warehouse in
Botshabelo to his house in section H in the township would
have cost R400.

So Simon decided to load the bricks inside his taxi.

People laughed at Simon but he didn’t care.

He told Scrolla.Africa: “Last week I went to buy two pallets of
building bricks. There were bakkies there to help customers
with deliveries but they asked for money that I couldn’t afford.”

He said he decided to load the bricks into his taxi and take them
home where he was building two rooms.

“I saw the man who was taking the video but I thought he was a
friend of the building warehouse staff. I was shocked when I got
home and my family showed me the video,” he said.

“I want to meet that person and tell him it was my taxi and I did
nothing wrong. I did not mix passengers with bricks. People

load building materials in the cars all the time. My taxi is not
damaged and still works perfectly.”

A taxi driver said Simon made them laugh.

“But he is a stingy owner. R400 is not a lot of money compared
to the damage the bricks will do to his taxi. I heard people
calling his taxi ‘Stene Taxi’, which means brick taxi.”

But Simon said he’s not bothered with what people say.

“My rooms are being built and I have saved money. People
should learn to mind their own business,” he said.

               Lions face Bulls in Covid
               delayed semi-final
               Timmy T Maranda
Lions centre, Burger Odendaal is excited to be playing against
his former union this weekend.
“As a player, that is the match you want to play,” said
Odendaal.

The Xerox Lions face the Vodacom Bulls in the first semi-final of
the Carling Currie Cup on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld in
Pretoria. Kick-off is at 14h00.

Bulls and Lions were given two-and-a-half weeks to prepare for
the semi-final after the postponement due to Covid-19
protocols and challenges.
"We had a weekend off so I believe the guys will be fresh and
up for the game," said Odendaal.

"Everyone is very excited for this semi-final. This time we won't
miss an opportunity. We know we have to be at our best for 80
minutes."

The Lions have reported a clean bill of health ahead of the
Jukskei derby with no injuries. They also welcome back Jaco
Kriel, who missed the Vodacom Bulls match due to rotation.
Ivan Van Rooyen's side suffered a 22-15 defeat to the Bulls in
the last match of the Currie Cup round-robin section. The Lions
will be looking to avenge that defeat.
“I don't think we were at our best,” said Odendaal.
“We created a lot of opportunities but couldn't turn them into
points. We took a lot of positives from the game and things we
can work on and rectify."

The Bulls also lost their last league match of the season, by 44-
14 against the Phakisa Pumas in Nelspruit in Mpumalanga, but
it was definitely not the Bulls’ best side. This weekend they play
their very top side.
The winner between Lions and Bulls will progress to the final
and play the winner of the second semi-final between DHL
Western Province and Cell C Sharks.

The final is scheduled for Saturday, 30 January.

Picture source: Xerox Lions
.

                  “Home wrecker” fined 8
                  cattle for cheating while her
                  lover walks free
                  Arthur Greene

The headteacher of Khakhea Primary School in Botswana,
Toppie Lucy Segale, 55, has been fined eight head of cattle for
an extramarital affair, The VoiceBW reports.

Yet, Shima Ditsebe, the married man who she has been seeing
since 1980, has seemingly gone unpunished.

Judge Kgosi Tsimane of Ramotswa, who apparently does not
know that it takes two to tango, has described Segale as, “A
shameless home wrecker who had proved beyond reasonable
doubt that she had been having an affair with a married man
for many years until he finally left his first wife.”

The aggrieved ex-wife of Ditsebe, Prophetess Kebelaele,
testified in court that she found out about the affair when she

discovered texts between the lovers on her husband’s cell
phone.

She further testified that their marriage had been under strain
for years and the two had visited a traditional doctor who had
performed a ritual to join them together spiritually, using feces,
vaginal fluids and sperm.

She alleges that the cheating couple also visited a traditional
doctor to strengthen their own relationship.

In her defence, Segale has denied claims of the affair, and said
she and Ditsebe only dated in the 1980s until he married the
prophetess in 1990.

She claims that Ditsebe proposed to her in 2018.

“He came back to me asking for my hand in marriage, not a love
relationship. So I told him that I would accept it if he could give
me evidence that he was not with his wife.”

Since then, Shima and Kabelaele have divorced and he and
Segale have got married.

The court nonetheless found Segale guilty in the homewrecking
case which was lodged in 2019.

Prophetess Kabelaele is pleased with the judgement, which
gives Segale 45 days to pay the fine or have her property
auctioned to pay the debt.

“God has fought for me,” she said after the ruling.

Picture source: @cedarbarn

Liverpool hit a bad patch
Menzi Magubane

It looks like Liverpool are suffering a
hangover in their English Premiership
League champions title defence as Jurgen Klopp's men have
gone four games without a league win for the first time since
2017.
And their forwards are shooting blanks as well! They last scored
a goal in December in their 1-1 draw against West Brom.
Then they lost 1-0 to Southampton, and drew 0-0 against both
Newcastle United and Manchester United. They’ve dropped
from the top of the table down to fourth and find themselves
trailing the log leaders by three points.
After the United match Klopp was quoted as saying qualifying
for next season's UEFA Champions League would be a big

achievement for them. His comments suggest that he has
already given up on the title.
Tomorrow night Liverpool host Burnley at Anfield at 10pm.
On Sunday the Reds have a tough FA Cup encounter against
Mnchester United.
Klopp will have to decide whether he will go with his regular
first team players or if he will rest some of them for the round
two with the Red Devils. But Liverpool can’t afford to continue
dropping points in the EPL.

Failing to get maximum points against relegation-candidates
Burnley will see Liverpool dropping down further. They could
even lose the Champions League spot with teams like
Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and West Ham United breathing
down their necks.
Tuesday night West Ham defeated West Brom 2-1 to be two
points off the Champions League position.
In another match, Chelsea's miseries continued after they lost
2-0 to title chasers Leicester City.
In other news, Barcelona captain Lionel Messi will serve a two
match suspension after being shown his first ever red card on
Sunday. It is understood that Barcelona will launch an appeal
against it.

Picture source: @midday

THE POET WHO STOLE THE SHOW
Arthur Greene

                Amanda Gorman, who is only 22 years old, is the
                youngest ever poet to recite at a presidential
                inauguration.

In a lineup of performances which included Lady Gaga and
Jennifer Lopez, she stole the show at Joe Biden's swearing in.

Gorman has joined a prestigious group of poets, which includes
literary greats Maya Angelou and Robert Frost, after reading
from the podium to a global audience of billions.

Her reading of “The Hill We Climb” marked Biden’s first
moments as 46th president of the United States.

It was a five-minute poem calling for “unity and togetherness”
at a time of unprecedented crisis for America.

She opened the recital some lines about her own upbringing,
describing her background as a “skinny Black girl, descended
from slaves and raised by a single mother,” who can dream of
being president one day, “only to find herself reciting for one.”

She went on to address the storming of the Capitol last month -
the very same location she spoke from.

"We've seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than
share it, would destroy our country if it meant delaying
democracy," she declared.

"And this effort very nearly succeeded. But while democracy
can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently
defeated."

Despite condemning the violence which Trump had whipped up
in his final weeks in office, neither she nor Biden mentioned his
name.

Instead, she delivered her lines with grace, which could not
have been an easy achievement for the young poet, who
suffered from a speech impediment as a child.

Yesterday is unlikely to be the brightest in the career of
Gorman, whose debut poetry collection, also called “The Hill
We Climb”, will be released in September.

Swallows blow their chance
               Menzi Magubane

Swallows will have no one to blame but themselves for missing
out on a chance to go on top of the DStv Premiership table.
Izinyoni was expected to take advantage of Mamelodi
Sundowns dropping points on Tuesday.

But Izinyoni too were held at home by Chippa United. Now
both teams have 26 points on top and on Saturday they face
each other.

On Wednesday Swallows took an early lead from their main
man and player of the month for December/January Ruzaigh
Gamildien. But after that goal the home team deteriorated and
allowed Chippa back into the game.

Chippa's pressing paid off and found the equaliser from Kurt
Lentjies' strike, allowing them to end the match in a 1-1 draw.
Coach Brandon Truter came into the match in high spirits after
he was named coach of the month for December/January on
Tuesday.

But he was not happy at all after Wednesday's match.

After missing out on a chance to go on top on Wednesday,
Swallows will have another opportunity to do so on Saturday
when they meet Sundowns in a battle of the top of the table
clash.

"To be honest I think the pressure is on them (Sundowns),” said
Truter. “They have 72 hours of rest before the game on
Saturday and we only have 48 hours. To tell you the truth, they
should win the game on Saturday, they must win," added
Truter.

The last time Swallows met Sundowns was six years ago. This
time stakes are high and the winner will be three points clear
on top of the table.

Other DStv Premiership

Orlando Pirates 0-0 Golden Arrows; SuperSport United 1-1
AmaZulu; Stellenbosch 0-3 Baroka; Black Leopards 0-2 Cape
Town City; Maritzburg United 0-3 TS Galaxy

Picture source: @SwallowsFC

Loved and Lost: “Little did we
know it would be Gogo’s last
birthday”
Everson Luhanga

Mthembelihle Mkhize was a woman of prayer who found real
strength by going to church.

She turned 67-years-old on 1 January but she celebrated her
birthday while in quarantine after showing Covid-19 related
symptoms. Her two grandchildren made her day special by
buying her a beautiful cake and some snacks.

But then gogo Mthembelihle died from Covid-19 on Friday 15
January.

Kwanele Mkhize, 25, one of the gogo’s grandchildren, said he
didn’t know that it was going to be his gogo’s last birthday.

He said his gogo was fit and strong.

“She used to go to shops to buy groceries. She collected her
pension grant herself. She was very strong and her favourite
food was chicken curry and samp and beans,” said Kwanele.

Kwanele said his gogo loved cooking.

“And if she wasn’t cooking, you would find her cleaning. Her
house was spotlessly clean,” said Kwanele.

Gogo Mthembelihle lived in eMbo in KZN with her five
grandchildren.

“She belonged to the Catholic church and most Sundays you
could see her dressed up in her red and white uniform to go to
prayers,” said Kwanele.

“I had lost my mother and gogo was a mother to me. She
looked after us well. She taught us manners.”

He said his gogo spoke only a little English and worked as a
domestic worker.

“She always spoke about extending her three-room house but
she never had enough money to do so. She would have died a
happy person if she had her house extended but she only had
enough money to buy groceries for her family.”

Gogo Mthembelihle had three children, but two have passed
on.

“I never met my grandfather. My gogo stayed alone after her
husband’s death. I see photos on the wall of the two when they
were both alive. They seemed very happy but gogo never spoke
about that,” he said.