Impala Platinum (Implats) Strike Friday 17 February 2012

Its 4 o' clock and we are off to Rustenburg. The promise of violence running thick in the air after chaos broke out at Impala Platinum just past Rustenburg. 

We met up with colleagues working for the Pretoria News that we knew where also going. I always feel its better to go in a group because more eyes means that at least sometimes some one is watching your back when your eye is glued to the camera.

When we arrived there we started making our way towards the crowd and saw the cops escorting two men who were arrested, the one mans hands were bleeding, dont know from what?

A Police Officer walking back from the crowd that can be seen standing in the background.

One of the residents walking on a pipe past the crowd op residents.

We started approaching the big group of residents and started photographing oblivious to the fact that the were getting unhappy with us. Until Masi (Photographer from the Pretoria News) told us that we should leave right away because the crowd of people are getting restless and irritated with us.

A big part of the crowd of people started dispersing after they had what looked like a meeting. as can be seen in the two photographs above.

After we left the bigger crowd we hanged around for awhile under a shady tree on the intersection when we saw kids running into a looted building. That is when we at last got some fun in the sun. The next moment a Nyala (Police vehicle) roared past us and all of us broke into a sprint to make sure we got there in time to get some pics. I must also say running with two cameras in the heat, not anybody's idea of fun.

We got there just in time to get some shots before the looters fled and the situation died down a bit.

A policeman arresting a suspect that fled from he looted building.

Looters running when they hear the roar of the approaching Nyala.

The same suspect not very happy with being arrested.

One of the looted shops. This kid and his friend were busy picking through the rubble when the cops came and asked them what they were doing. So they tried to get away but to no avail, there was only way in and one way out.

The same two kids that i mentioned above being escorted to the Police Bakkie.

Masi Losi (Pretoria News Photographer) walking through one of the looted shops.

Fellow photographer Cornell van Heerden (Beeld) standing in the shop. I must just say that the shop reeked of rotten fish and the cops tear gassed the it the day before. So with no real ventilation the shop was a nightmare to walk through, rotten fish smel and old tear gas burning our eyes, noses and throats. I refered to this coctail as the Impala Curry for obvious reasons. 

A man sitting in one of the looted shops.

Cops monitoring the situation from the railway line crossing.

A policeman inspecting the shop after a bunchof looters were chased off.

DBV verwyder honderde katte

Een van die katte probeer ontsnap uit 'n boks uit.

 

Een van die wilde katte wat in 'n klein hokkie aangehou was.

'n Kat staar uit deur n gat in die muur, miskien hopende op 'n beter toekoms.

Berig: Riata Nel (Beeld)
Die onderstaande berig het in Beeld verskyn.

Die Dierebeskermingsvereniging (DBV) het op 14 Februarie 2012, skaars ’n week nadat 34 sieklike katte en vier honde by ’n diereskuiling in Walker Fruit Farms naby Meyerton gekonfiskeer en van kant gemaak is, meer as 200 katte en tien honde weens mediese redes by dieselfde skuiling gekonfiskeer.
http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Nog-diere-by-skuiling-verwyder-20120215 

Van Coke Kartel

Die manne van Van Coke Kartel het Dinsdag 7 Februarie 2012 getsaan vir n Photoshoot terwyl hulle instrumnete en toerusting opgetel het vir 'n gig in die week.

Was awesome om die ouens te ontmoet (eks n huge fan). Die manne was baie cool gewees en eks dankbaar hulle het my tyd gegee om gou die paar fotos te kry, weet hulle was besig.

Rhino dies after anti-poaching procedure

Veterinarian Dr Chris Van Niekerk together with his team busy with the anti-poaching procedure where a dye and insecticide as well as a tracking device is inserted into the Horn of the Rhino. The Procedure was done at The Rhino and Lion Park on the West-rand in Gauteng.

A vet puts an injection into the Rhino's ear.

A hole being drilled into the rhino's horn.

The dye and insecticidal being injected into the horn.

The Rhino being turned around halfway through the procedure.

The rhino being darted before the procedure.

The rhino after the procedure with vets trying to revive him.


It was a sad day on Thursday the 9th of February 2012 when a Rhino from the Rhino and Lion Park on the West-Rand died after an anti-poaching procedure was performed on him. 


The procedure includes the injection of a dye and insecticide into the rhino's horn's to make it unappealing for poachers. A tracking device also gets inserted into the Rhino horns. 


The reason for this procedure is not to poison people who consume the rhino horn but to rather make the consumption of the horn in its powder form undesirable. 


A record number of 448 rhinos were poached in South Africa last year. The demand for rhino horn among some Asians who believe a rhino horn has medicinal properties, though science does not support that is believed to be the reason for the growing number of Rhinos being poached in South Africa as well as the rest of Africa.


"It's sad for us; it's the loss of another animal. It's a death that I still chalk up to poaching," said Lorinda Hern, spokeswoman for the Rhino & Lion Nature Reserve, saying extreme measures are necessary because of a poaching crisis in South Africa.


"There is always a potential risk" that a sedated animal will die, Okori said. But "the whole issue is, we are facing a serious rhino poaching crisis. This is a war. The desperation is quite high for rhino owners, to do whatever it takes to protect their rhinos." ( Joseph Okori is a wildlife veterinarian and a World Wildlife Fund rhino expert he was an independent observer on the procedure that was done on Thursday as part of WWF's research into anti-poaching techniques. ) 
   
Die Afrikaanse artikel wat in Beeld verskyn het kan gelees word by : http://www.beeld.com/Suid-Afrika/Nuus/Renoster-plan-eindig-tragies-20120209