Latest news with #IOL
IOL News
4 hours ago
- Business
- IOL News
FlySafair announces flight schedule changes due to potential pilot strike
FlySafair has made schedule changes affecting flights from July 22 to 28 due to potential strike action by pilots, who are members of trade union Solidarity. South African domestic airline FlySafair has announced schedule changes as a precautionary measure in light of "ongoing labour discussions". The airline said in a statement on its website that the changes will affect selected flights departing between July 22 and 28. The announcement comes after IOL reported on Wednesday that talks between trade union Solidarity and FlySafair regarding salary negotiations for pilots had reached an impasse. In their statement, the airline said affected customers would be notified of the changes. "Customers whose flight times have been affected will be contacted using the contact details provided at the time of booking. Customers are also encouraged to check the status of their bookings or make changes at no additional cost to more convenient alternative flights via the Manage Booking portal on the FlySafair website." The airline said it will continue efforts to minimise inconvenience and maintain safe, reliable services during this period. "The airline thanks customers for their patience and understanding." In their statement, union Solidarity said FlySafair's final offer – a 5,7% salary increase along with some additional adjustments to compensation – was rejected by the vast majority of its members. Solidarity deputy general secretary Helgard Cronje said the rejection was not only due to the content of the offer but also due to the tense relationship between the pilots and FlySafair's management. 'The relationship is at an absolute low,' Cronje said. The union said even before the start of the salary negotiations, a dispute over a new shift roster system had arisen – a core issue for pilots as it has a negative impact on their family life. Another obstacle in the salary negotiations, the union said, was the company's new policy on leave and days off. "Pilots believe that these policies are detrimental to their quality of life, and that they are unfavourable and do not meet minimum expectations." Strike rules are expected to be finalised under the guidance of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) on Thursday, July 17. The first strike regarding the salary dispute could then commence a few days later, Solidarity said. The union noted that the airline is also locked in separate salary negotiations for cabin crew. THE MERCURY
IOL News
10 hours ago
- IOL News
An Epidemic of Mal-Parenting
The alarming rise in juvenile delinquency highlights a pressing issue: mal-parenting. This article explores the tragic case of Ethan Crumbly and argues that effective parenting is crucial in preventing crime among youth. Image: IOL The nation is afflicted with an epidemic of mal-parenting. How do we know? The persistence of shocking levels of juvenile delinquency and crime. The poster child case is Ethan Crumbly guilty of murdering four students at Oxford High School in southeastern Michigan in 2021 and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. You do not need to be a criminologist to understand the nexus between parental mal-parenting and crime. It is as obvious as the force of gravity. If there is a father in the household to impart discipline and provide a role model of righteous behavior and a mother to provide tender loving care in times of child adversity, the probability of juvenile waywardness approaches zero. The greatest influence on children are parents. Second is not even within shouting distance. Parents should spend hours daily with their children reading and discussing books that impart moral lessons like parables. Here is a partial list: Aesop's Fables; Grimm's Fairy Tales; Edith Hamilton's Greek Mythology; Charles and Mary Lamb's A Child's Version of Shakespeare; Louisa May Alcott's Little Men and Little Women; Hariet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin; Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. If you don't want to make the effort and sacrifice, then don't be a parent. It is a status freely chosen. Parents should also regularly take their children to museums. For starters, the National Museum of African American History and Culture; the National Museum of the American Indian; the Holocaust Museum; the Smithsonian Museum of American History; and the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Parents should take their children on outings to Lexington Green, Mount Vernon, Monticello, Montpelier, Yorktown, the Gettysburg Battlefield, Ford's Theater, the Battle of the Little BigHorn, the Alamo, Tuskegee University, and Wounded Knee Battlefield. They should take them to performances of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, and Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ If parents do all these things, children will be so excited by learning and inspired to righteousness that crime or delinquency will never enter their minds. And the out-of-pocket costs for parents are de minimis. Every bride and groom should be required to master these lessons before marriage. They should be preached in the pulpit and taught in the home. Federal, state, and local governments should issue Parents of the Year awards superior to the kudos showered on beauty queens or football heroes. Hollywood should glamorize irreproachable parents, making them de rigueur. It's well worth the investment. As Frederick Douglass admonished, 'It's easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.' Mountains of criminological literature tell us the root causes of crime are poverty, discrimination, failing schools, lack of jobs, or the vestiges of centuries-old oppression. But crime trended down during the Great Depression and spiraled during the boom years of the 1960s. It all comes back to the family. It's easy to blame kids rather than parents. Kids have no votes. Parents do. Kids have no financial resources. Parents do. Kids are inaudible. The voices of parents are heard. It requires maturity and intellectual honesty to acknowledge we have a parent problem, not a delinquency problem. I understand that excellent parenting is arduous, demanding, and time-consuming. It requires forgoing a tempting menu of hormonal gratifications. It is not for everyone. In his first public address as Vice President, J.D. Vance declared, 'I want more babies in the United States of America.' The declaration is unobjectionable as far as it goes. But more babies without more enlightened, selfless parents are a problem. The chief victims of mal-parenting are the children whose lives are stunted and ruined. Parents everywhere, the ball is in your court. * Armstrong Williams is an American political commentator, entrepreneur, author, and talk show host. Williams writes a nationally syndicated newspaper column, has hosted a daily radio show, and hosts a nationally syndicated television program called The Armstrong Williams Show. ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.
IOL News
11 hours ago
- Health
- IOL News
'Stop telling stories without facts': Gauteng Health MEC says foreigners pay for healthcare
Gauteng MEC for Health and Wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Rakehoko with chief executive of Tshwane District Hospital, Monene Mogashoa during the MEC's visit to the institution. Image: Jonisayi Maromo/IOL Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko has criticised the vigilante blockages where activists have been blocking state-owned hospital entrances, demanding identification from patients and turning away foreign nationals. A week ago, IOL reported that members of Operation Dudula in Gauteng and members of the March and March movement began their campaign of manning the gates of government clinics and hospitals, including Addington Hospital, Gateway Clinic and RK Khan Hospital in Chatsworth, preventing alleged undocumented foreigners from accessing healthcare. Speaking to broadcaster Newzroom Afrika on Wednesday, Nkomo-Ralehoko said the South African government has agreements with some countries where funds are recouped for services provided to foreign nationals in South Africa. For immigrants who walk into hospitals in Gauteng, without any government recommendation, the MEC said they are subject to stipulated fees for medical care. 'Yes, we do have those agreements, and some of those agreements, the countries are paying. But individuals that come on their own accord in the hospitals, they do pay too. There is this notion that everybody that gets there (government hospitals), coming from foreign countries, is not paying, that is not true,' she said. 'Not everyone is not paying. Like South Africans, some come and do not have money, but we make arrangements even for anyone that comes to our institutions who does not have the R100 to pay. There is no such. 'That is why I always say, people sometimes must stop telling stories that they do not have facts about. They must come so that we are able to explain to them,' said the Health MEC. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading She said in many incidents, heavily pregnant women arrive at the healthcare facility, presenting an emergency, and turning them away because of nationality would be catastrophic for the mothers and unborn children. 'It is emergency cases, some of those people that come, that is why I get worried when people get turned away. Once it is an emergency, on that person, you don't have a choice, you can't stop that person,' said Nkomo-Ralehoko. 'It is not right what you are doing, of violating other people's rights, you bring cameras so that you can show-off that indeed you are turning them back.' The MEC there are ongoing discussions with non-government organisations and different stakeholders. 'We have to resolve this issue, all of us as South Africans. We cannot be seen being xenophobic, targeting specific nations so that they cannot get these services,' she said. A week ago, IOL reported that the government had resolved to deploy Public Order Police to several public health facilities following a wave of protests in which foreign nationals were blocked from receiving medical care. Clashes were previously seen at Kalafong Provincial Tertiary Hospital in Tshwane when police used stun grenades to disperse members of Operation Dudula who were vetting people entering the hospital. Image: Oupa Mokoena/Independent Media The South African Police Service, along with other law enforcement agencies, were implementing an operational plan to address protests by groups blocking foreign nationals' access to healthcare facilities. "The SAPS in collaboration with the Department of Health, is deploying Public Order Police to maintain law and order during the protests at the affected health facilities," said the government in a statement. The government added that law enforcement officials, working alongside the Department of Home Affairs, will continue to arrest and prosecute foreign nationals found to be in breach of the Immigration Act. This escalation comes amid growing pressure from groups such as Operation Dudula and March and March, who accuse the government of failing to address the country's migration challenges. These groups argue that foreign nationals are placing undue pressure on South Africa's public healthcare system. They want foreign nationals to be denied medical care. IOL News
IOL News
a day ago
- Science
- IOL News
Skills, not just Grades, will shape South Africa's Future
Are South African classrooms preparing students for the challenges of tomorrow's economy? As we celebrate World Youth Skills Day, Dumisani Tshabalala argues for the urgent need to prioritise skills development over traditional grading systems. Image: IOL / Ron AI Today, as South Africa celebrates World Youth Skills Day with speeches and hashtags, a persistent question echoes beneath the vuvuzelas: are our classrooms shaping the skills that tomorrow's economy will require, or merely polishing report cards for yesterday's tests? Certificates hang proudly on lounge walls, but too many of their owners feel lost at university, adrift in their first jobs, or stuck when facing problems no textbook predicted. If we keep mistaking grades for growth, we risk creating paper success and practical stagnation. Good schooling is not measured by how much content a learner can recall, but by how effectively that content becomes a foundation for skills. Ask a Grade 12 learner to quote Newton's laws, and many will oblige; ask the same learner to design a simple pulley and far fewer succeed. Mathematics, history, and life sciences should ignite curiosity, critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity. However, when facts are disconnected from purpose, the high marks they produce easily slip through opportunities and then collapse. Learning must ignite before teaching can guide it towards tangible competence. In the best classrooms, every subject sparks discovery before delivering instruction. Mathematics exemplifies this: instead of rehearsing predictable routines, teachers nurture curiosity to explore beyond worked examples, build vocabulary to pose precise questions, and develop reasoning to test ideas. A pupil who models a pattern or challenges a claim is already practising mathematics as a language of inquiry. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ The consequences of neglecting skills are clear. Data from the Council on Higher Education's VitalStats Public Higher Education 2022 show that less than half of students who start university finish their degrees within six years, revealing weak analytical and academic-literacy foundations. Employers also notice this gap: the 2023 BankSETA and merSETA Employment Outlook survey found that nearly a third of firms view graduates' communication and collaboration skills as inadequate for the modern workplace. Graduates fluent in theory often go quiet in agile meetings; excellent with prescribed problems, they falter when the brief changes. Technology raises the stakes. Artificial intelligence now drafts legal briefs, manages supply chains, and edits film trailers. The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs 2025 warns that roles like data-entry clerk and payroll officer are disappearing, while demand grows for AI prompt engineers, renewable energy technicians, and cybersecurity analysts. Those who can frame precise questions for machines will thrive; those who only consume algorithmic output will see opportunities diminish. Unless classrooms become training grounds for data literacy, complex problem-solving, and ethical judgment, digital prosperity will mainly benefit the already privileged. Policy makers repeat the mantra of STEM and urge young South Africans to create jobs rather than queue for them. Yet fewer than one in six matriculants enrols in STEM degrees, and many arrive with little practice in risk-taking or teamwork, the heartbeat of enterprise. Laboratories, incubators and solar farms will not fill themselves with drill-and-practice pedagogy. Where learning meets doing, the story transforms. Skills-focused lessons conclude with two silent questions: what did I practise, and where will I apply it next? An essay on Romeo and Juliet becomes training in persuasive rhetoric; a photosynthesis investigation turns into data-visualisation practice; coding a simple game introduces logic, debugging, and iteration. Learners who experience such teaching leave understanding not only that carbon has four valence electrons but also how to turn an idea into a prototype, and a prototype into a pitch. Evidence is mounting. Pupils from under-resourced schools who accessed skill-rich programmes have earned doctorates, launched renewable energy firms, and stood on podiums at international robotics Olympiads. Their journeys trace back to classrooms that refuse to teach content in isolation from cognitive skills and capabilities. If we are serious about change, the curriculum must treat knowledge as a gateway to skill: a history debate trains evidence‑based argument; a chemistry experiment teaches protocol design and teamwork; a coding project builds logic and resilience. Teacher preparation must shift from marking schemes to coaching inquiry and empathy. Without mentors who model collaboration, graduates will never lead diverse teams. Schools need industry partners, apprenticeships, maker spaces, and neighbourhood hackathons to keep learning relevant as sectors evolve. And accountability must shift from applause to analysis: celebrating record averages without asking whether pupils can write a project proposal or read a dataset is praise without purpose. South Africa's youth population will reach its peak within the decade. Invest this potential in developing skills, and the nation will have a generation ready to heal, build, and innovate. Waste it, and the cost will be measured in alienation and lost potential. Enter any classroom, pose a meaningful challenge, and guide learners until understanding emerges. Replace rote routines with the rhythm of skill, and watch dormant talent come alive. * Dumisani Tshabalala is Head of Academics at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls. ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.
IOL News
a day ago
- Automotive
- IOL News
New Renault Boreal, a potentially affordable family-sized SUV, is on the radar for South Africa
The Renault Boreal is likely to arrive in late 2026 or early 2027. Renault has revealed a brand new SUV product called the Boreal, and it will be sold in emerging markets outside of Europe. South Africa is also on the radar for the new product, with the French brand's local representative confirming to IOL that the newcomer is under consideration for late 2026 or early 2027. Based on the Dacia Bigster, Renault Boreal is larger than the Duster, but its overall length of 4,560mm makes it marginally smaller than established C-segment SUVs such as the Toyota Rav4. Aimed at emerging markets and set to be built in Brazil and Turkey, the Boreal is likely to be more affordable than similarly-sized rivals. However, it is still too early to speculate on its pricing in markets like South Africa.
