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Eyewitness News
4 days ago
- General
- Eyewitness News
Wheelchair tennis star Kgothatso Montjane makes it to the Roland Garros quarter-finals
Palesa Manaleng 4 June 2025 | 13:50 Kgothatso Montjane French Open wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis player Kgothatso Montjane arrived to a hero's welcome at the OR Tambo International Airport on 15 July 2024 after winning the Wimbledon Women's Wheelchair doubles final with her partner, Yui Kamiji. Picture: Katlego Jiyane/EWN JOHANNESBURG – Wheelchair tennis star Kgothatso Montjane is through to the quarter-finals of the French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Tuesday. The three-time semi-finalist on the red clay beat Macarena Cabrillana of Chile 6-3 6-3 to set up a contest against No4 seed Ziying Wang of China in the quarters. The five-time Paralympian was last at Roland Garros at the 2024 Paris Olympics Games, where she had to withdraw due to personal issues. She reached the semi-final at the French Open in 2013, 2021 and 2022. READ MORE: Roland Garros: Kgothatso Montjane grabs doubles Grand Slam US Open: Kgothatso Montjane claims second grand slam of the year Montjane secures a spot in French Riviera Open quarter-finals In doubles, Montjane will partner with Yui Kamiji, the 2023 Roland Garros champions, as they begin their campaign on Wednesday. Montjane was the first African wheelchair tennis player to compete at Wimbledon when she was handed a wild card for the Wimbledon Grand Slam tournament in London in 2018. In 2012, she made Wimbledon history by being the first black South African woman to reach the final at Wimbledon while reaching the doubles final as well. Montjane competed at her first Paralympics in Beijing (2008), then in London and Rio de Janeiro. In 2018, she became the first African wheelchair tennis player to compete in the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open in the same calendar year. Meanwhile, in the quads event, Donald Ramphadi kicks off his campaign today against Dutch second seed Sam Schroder.
Eyewitness News
05-05-2025
- Eyewitness News
Mbenenge and Mengo exchanged more than 800 messages, tribunal hears
Zoleka Qodashe 5 May 2025 | 14:02 Selby Mbenenge Andiswa Mengo Judicial Conduct Tribunal Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge (back row) at the Judicial Conduct Tribunal in Sandton, Johannesburg on 5 May 2025. The tribunal is investigating sexual harassment allegations against him. Picture: Katlego Jiyane/EWN JOHANNESBURG - Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge and high court secretary, Andiswa Mengo, exchanged more than 800 September last year, digital forensic investigator and data analyst, Francois Moller, was handed the smartphones of both parties to investigate, among others, the contents of the messages exchanged between the parties. Mengo accuses the Eastern Cape's top judge of making unwanted sexual advances towards her and sending her explicit content on social media platform, WhatsApp, between 2021 and 2022. ALSO READ: Mbenenge tribunal: First expert witness reveals Mengo and judge deleted messages from their phones Moller is the expert tasked with combing through evidence found on the phones of Mbenenge and Mengo. The digital forensic investigator confirmed some of the evidence previously presented by Mengo, including the message that read: "Are you quick to melt?"Moller corroborated that the message was sent by Mbenenge."Again, incoming message and the WhatsApp ID 5902, screen name Mfanelu, and it was sent to 5395, Ms Independent. So again, the same incoming messages to the device for Ms Mengo but it shows there the chat message, 'What if we melt? Which is not impossible,' and the date and time June 20, 2021, 22:38. And again, it indicates it's an incoming message."Despite this, a technical challenge for the tribunal will be determining that Mbenenge indeed sent the messages. While indeed originating from his device, the panel noted that it could, however, have been sent by another party.
Eyewitness News
22-04-2025
- General
- Eyewitness News
Turning trash from the Jukskei River into art
Jabulile Mbatha 22 April 2025 | 8:23 An Alexandra resident collects waste from litter traps in the Jukskei River that be transformed into art. Picture: Simphiwe Nkosi/EWN JOHANNESBURG - One of the fondest memories Sipho Gwala has of growing up in Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, is playing by the Jukskei River searching for crabs. As a child, he was told crabs had money inside of them, a myth that motivated him and his friends to fish for the fable he was told as a child led to his interest as an adult when he learnt that crabs were indeed known for "consuming trash found in water" and being the "sea cleaning creatures", scientifically known as scavengers for their ability to consume dead organisms and said he worried that crabs could not be the only ones cleaning this river when he partnered with the Alexandra Water Warriors, a community-run environmental organisation focused on cleaning the Jukskei River, among other Jukskei River is the longest river in Johannesburg, spanning over 300km from the city into the Crocodile River, which then drains into the Limpopo River and ultimately the Indian the community of Alexandra, it was once a stop on a tour-guided route but with the deterioration from the pollution, it has become an eyesore. CEO of Alex Water Warriors, Semadi Manganye, said: "We live in an area where water is scarce and our river suffers too, with all the dilapidated infrastructure, sewage ends up in the river which is where we come in; we want to clean these spaces make sure we preserve them for future generations." The Alex Water Warriors found a unique way to clean the Jukskei River by incorporating the use of litter traps, handwoven by members of the Kula Marolen Foundation, another Alex-based organisation. The traps are made from plastic materials that are found in the river, recycled and reused. By profession, Gwala is an artist and his part in the project is making art to exhibit alongside the river. Gwala is part of a group of other Alex-based artists who use the recycled materials found in the river to create art, like sculptures. One of those artists is Rejoice Malete, who sculpted a human-sized rodent and mongoose from tyres thrown away in the river. She was also part of the team that made a mosaic, something she said she did not know she could has only been a resident of Alex for two years, forced to move after the loss of a family member. She said: "When I moved, I could not find a school for my child who has special needs, so I've been involving him in my projects which require handwork and it's been fulfilling knowing he is learning new skills."Yesterday the launch of a partnership led by environmental artist and scientist, Hennelie Coetzee, who works with Alex Water Warriors and the Johannesburg Inner City Partnership (JICP). JICP CEO, David van Niekerk said: "The three-year initiative is aimed at revitalising the Upper Jukskei River catchment through nature-based solutions that address flooding, erosion, manage urban heat, improve water security and enhance biodiversity protection, ultimately increasing climate resilience for over a million people." Researcher at Gauteng City Region Observatory, Dr Samikhsha Singh, said this recycling could offer the manufacturing industry the solutions of biodegradable material to use to avert a pollution crisis. She said: "If we are finding a lot of polystyrene in the river system, they come from food packaging and they very easily break down into smaller pieces, so what can we do to manage this, should we do something like swapping out polystyrene packing for more biodegradable stuff."Manganye said they hoped to get more partnerships of this nature. "We are trying to build that bridge between the ones that want, the ones that need with the ones that have."
