Knysna water crisis ‘could have been prevented': Mayor admits planning failure
Chelsea Ogilvie/News24
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News24
an hour ago
- News24
Seventy people rescued as Durban informal settlement blaze destroys 40 homes
At least 70 residents were rescued after a fire ripped through their homes in Kennedy Road informal settlement in Durban on Wednesday night. KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) spokesperson Senzelwe Mzila said the fire, which broke out around 20:00, destroyed more than 40 informal structures. 'Disaster response teams received urgent calls from residents reporting a significant fire within the informal settlement,' he said. He added that disaster response, police, and fire and rescue teams were at the scene. 'The incident resulted in over 40 shacks being destroyed, leaving many residents without shelter and having lost essential documents and personal belongings. 'A comprehensive investigation will be conducted to determine the cause of the fire,' Mzila added. No deaths were recorded. The affected residents are being housed at a nearby community hall. Mzila said the informal settlement was one of several in the province where the department had installed smoke alarms. 'These alarms played a crucial role in saving lives by providing early warnings to residents, allowing them to evacuate safely,' he said. Cogta MEC Thulasizwe Buthelezi applauded the teams for their rapid response. He said the disaster management centre had alerted relevant departments and social partners to provide relief measures. 'These efforts will focus on providing immediate support to affected residents and assisting them in rebuilding their lives,' Buthelezi added.
News24
2 hours ago
- News24
False SA school calendar goes viral – from a known fake news website
A viral article and subsequent post claiming that South Africa's Department of Basic Education has 'revamped' the 2025 school calendar is false. The department has confirmed the post is fake and urged the public to verify information through official government channels. The fabricated article failed multiple generative AI tests. It claims that new term dates have been introduced, and that 'South African students rejoice' as a result. It uses a stock image, originally posted on the photography website Alamy in 2015, to depict overcrowding in rural classrooms, which has appeared in dozens of legitimate education articles. Official response: the calendar is unchanged In a public statement, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) said: 'We have become aware of an online article claiming that the school calendar for 2025 has been changed. This is fake news. The annual school calendar is set in advance and gazetted by the national Minister of Basic Education.' The DBE confirmed that the school calendars for 2025, 2026 and 2027 are available on its official website at The official 2025 calendar, published in the Government Gazette, was confirmed in 2023. It outlines the following term dates: Second viral hoax from the same website The article is the second fake story from the same website to gain traction this month - again forcing a government department to step in. Earlier this week, News24 debunked the same site's false claim that South Africa was facing '14 hours of daily load shedding". These articles are also replicated across copycat websites, which follow the same formula to publish unverified content about schooling, grants, and public sector jobs - hoping one will break through into public discourse. In the context of AI-populated websites, many articles are obviously fake. However, when shared via WhatsApp and social media without obvious giveaways, such as poor spelling or irrelevant images, many users repost them without pausing to verify the facts. The danger behind the shares The site's apparent goal is to generate traffic for ad revenue, rather than undermine government operations. But the impact is far-reaching. The Department of Basic Education notes that school calendars are critical planning tools for teachers, learners, and families. Disinformation about term dates disrupts planning, causes confusion, and undermines trust in official communication channels. Any change to the national school calendar would require a formal notice signed by the minister and published in the Government Gazette. The Department of Basic Education advises the public to verify school calendars and related information via:
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
Ken Jennings: Trivia and ‘Jeopardy!' Could Save Our Republic
When I first stepped behind the host lectern on the quiz show 'Jeopardy!,' I was intimidated for two reasons. Most obviously, I had the hopeless task of filling the very large shoes of Alex Trebek, the legendary broadcaster and pitch-perfect host who'd been synonymous with the show since 1984. But I was also keenly aware that the show was one of TV's great institutions, almost a public trust. Since I was 10 years old, I'd watched Alex Trebek carve out a safe space for people to know things, where viewers get a steady diet of 61 accurate (and hopefully even interesting) facts every game. And I wondered: Even if 'Jeopardy!' could survive the loss in 2020 of its peerless host, could it survive the conspiracy theories and fake news of our post-fact era? Facts may seem faintly old-timey in the 21st century, remnants of the rote learning style that went out of fashion in classrooms (and that the internet search made obsolete) decades ago. But societies are built on facts, as we can see more clearly when institutions built on knowledge teeter. Inaccurate facts make for less informed decisions. Less informed decisions make for bad policy. Garbage in, garbage out. I've always hated the fact that 'trivia,' really our only word in English for general-knowledge facts and games, is the same word we use to mean 'things of no importance.' So unfair! Etymologically, the word is linked to the trivium of medieval universities, the three fundamental courses of grammar, rhetoric and logic. And much of today's so-called trivia still deals with subjects that are fundamentally academic. Watch a game of 'Jeopardy!' tonight, or head down to your local pub quiz, and you're sure to be asked about scientific breakthroughs, milestones of history and masterpieces of art. Trivia, maybe — but far from trivial. There might also be questions about pop lyrics and sports statistics, but even those are markers of cultural literacy, the kind of shared knowledge that used to tie society together: the proposition that factual questions could be answered correctly or not, that those answers matter, and that we largely agreed on the authorities and experts who could confirm them. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
