Latest news with #Tsonga
TimesLIVE
3 days ago
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
'I'm not English': Papa Penny defends himself over language struggles in parliament
MK Party MP Gezani Kobane, popularly known as Papa Penny, has defended himself after receiving backlash for struggling to articulate himself in English during a portfolio committee meeting on sport, arts, and culture. Kobane, who has no formal education, was appointed as an MP last year and is not fluent in English. His home language is Tsonga. During the meeting, Kobane asked South African Football Association (Safa) officials questions about the fraud and mismanagement case involving Safa funds. However, this left many confused as to what he was trying to say, as he was struggling to pronounce some English words. This sparked a debate on social media, with many users questioning the standard of parliament and how he was appointed as an MP.
The Citizen
25-05-2025
- General
- The Citizen
NPO cares for Olievenhoutbosch by providing food
Rivoni Foundation was established in 2023 by Zimasa Zama Mretyana alongside her two friends, Doris Mamogobo and Sidwell Jaji. The NPO offers programmes including a soup kitchen, clothing drive, and youth and child development. Mretyana said the inspiration behind the organisation was born from a dream to fight hunger in the community. She said the name Rivoni originates from the Tsonga language, meaning light. Seeing people scraping for food in dumpsites became very unpleasant for her to watch, and she then saw this as a cry for help. 'In 2023, I woke up with this burning idea of restoring hope and dignity in my community, so I thought of having a soup kitchen where people can come together for meals. 'I started this from my home, and later thought of growing it. I then presented this idea to my two mentioned friends, and they were very fond of the idea.' With the support of her co-founders, they began collecting donations and gained the trust and support of community members. 'A local pastor offered us his church to work from since the issue of finding space was proving to be difficult,' said Mretyana. She said they started asking for donations from community members, and to their surprise, people loved the idea. 'We have a team of community members who have dedicated their time to assist us, and we also have school leavers who have come on board to assist us, especially with the kids.' Despite facing many challenges, including limited funding and a permanent centre, Rivoni has thrived with the help of volunteers and occasional support from donors. 'We're still facing challenges, but despite all of that, we still strive to keep this dream alive. Our recent sponsor was Shoprite, and we were very proud of achieving that because it keeps the dream alive,' Mretyana explained. She said they have managed to overcome some of the challenges as a means of relief by starting a small vegetable garden to produce some of their own greens. Mretyana said the organisation has grown beyond serving meals to distributing clothing and school uniforms to kids from disadvantaged families. She emphasised the NPO's pursuit of a broader mission, as they recently launched a kids' programme, calling participants in the games 'the Rivonians'. 'We want to grow from all of this to having our own place to run a fully functional centre where we will not only serve food but have a place for our elderly. 'People and those living with disabilities to come and partake in occupational therapeutic programmes such as game days, painting days and things like knitting,' she said. She added that they would also love to have youth church leaders who will come and render sessions because they are also faced with people who have lost hope, as some lost their jobs during Covid. She said they are currently seeking donations from business owners to sustain and grow their organisation. Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to bennittb@ or phone us on 083 625 4114. For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord's websites: Rekord East For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram or TikTok. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
IOL News
30-04-2025
- IOL News
Pastor told widow he was divorced - court sides with her in RAF customary marriage case
The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg ordered the Road Accident Fund to compensate a widow after an intense legal battle surrounding the legitimacy of her customary marriage. Image: File The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg ordered the Road Accident Fund (RAF) to compensate a widow, Catherine Letaoana, after an intense legal battle surrounding the legitimacy of her customary marriage to the late Samuel Chauke. Chauke died in a car accident in 2011. He was first married to Flora Manganyi in a civil union and later entered into a customary marriage with Letaoana. Chauke and Manganyi were not divorced but had lived separately for over 20 years. Letaoana, 60, insisted that she was legally married to the deceased by way of customary marriage. However, RAF denied the existence of the customary marriage, and the fact that Letaoana had relied on Chauke for financial support. In her application, she testified that she met Chauke in 2007 and he told her he was divorced. Subsequently in August 2007 they decided to cohabitate. She explained that she had no reason to doubt that he was divorced because he was a pastor and was ordained in 2008 at a church in Rustenburg. Moreover, his divorce status was confirmed by some of his relatives including his son and uncle. As their relationship progressed, she said Chauke introduced her to his sisters and cousins but, in accordance with Tsonga tradition, he could only introduce her to his mother after lobola had been paid. Similarly, Chauke could not enter her parental residence in accordance with Tswana custom after payment of lobolo. In March 2010 they celebrated their marriage at her parents' house, and she went to Chauke's family in Malamulele, Limpopo during May 2010, and was welcomed by his family members. Before meeting Chauke, she said she worked at a well-known law firm in Johannesburg as a Human Resources Consultant. She resigned in 2004 to start a restaurant business and eventually sold it. Thereafter, she has not been employed again as it was hard to find another job due to her age. 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. 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Next Stay Close ✕ She said Chauke was employed and earned R11,000 every month and the money was used to support both of them, and he also sent some to his mother. During his funeral, she was allowed to sit on the traditional widows' mattress, while the second wife, who had also attended the funeral, was not allowed to sit on the mattress. She argued that this signified that Chauke's family recognised her as the wife. After the funeral, Chauke's employer informed her that she was a beneficiary on his policy and when she went to his workplace, she found the first wife already there. She said she received 60%, a figure that contrasted with the 40% allocated to Manganyi. She shared her amount with Chauke's mother and gave her five percent. Even though she remarried again in March 2024, she said she and her new husband are surviving on government grants. Meanwhile, in a written argument, RAF sought to argue that the customary marriage was invalidated by the provisions of the Civil Union Act which prohibits the conclusion of a customary marriage where there was a pre-existing civil marriage or civil union. However, this defence was never pleaded in court, nor put to Letaoana during cross-examination. Judge Dawid Marais said RAF was not entitled to rely on such defence as the defence was not pleaded, nor was it fully ventilated during the trial. RAF tried to rely on Chauke's death certificate which showed that he was still married to Manganyi, but judge Marais said the death certificate was meaningless as it does not reflect the entire history of the marriage, whether the marriage was dissolved by divorce, or by the death of a spouse. "It also does not indicate whether the marriage was by way of civil union or by customary law. In the premises, the content of the death certificate does not assist the defendant (RAF) in this matter. In addition, he said RAF failed to prove that Chauke and Manganyi's marriage was extant. Judge Marais said he could not find deception in Letaoana's evidence as she had no reason to doubt a man who was to be ordained as a pastor, secondly, he assured her that he was divorced. Additionally, his family also believed that he was divorced. Consequently, RAF was ordered to pay Letaoana for the loss of support caused by Chauke's death. The matter was postponed to determine an appropriate amount due to Letaoana. IOL News Get your news on the go, click here to join the IOL News WhatsApp channel.
