Springboks vs England, 2nd Test, Ellispark Johannesburg

JP Pietersen going over for his try and celebrating afterwards.

My pics of the second test between South Africa and engeland from Ellispark, Johannesburg. The Springboks vs England. The Boks won the game 36-27.

Leon Schuster

Die meer ernstige kant van Leon Schuster. .

Die foto was geneem vir 'n artikel wat in Beeld verskyn het net voor die vrystelling van sy nuwe fliek "Mad Buddies"

Zandspruit Service Delivery Protest

Fellow Photographer, Cornel Van Heerden ducking behind a wall while a protesters prepares to chuck a rock at the Nyala Police vehicle that rolled past.

Fellow photographers Leon Sadiki (City Press), Cornel Van Heerden (Beeld), Chris Collingridge and Daniel Born (The Times) kneeling behind a fire to get their shots.

ZANDSPRUIT SERVIVE DELIVERY PROTEST

The people of Zandspruit that lies west of Johannesburg took to the streets again after their demands for basic services and houses, that they asked for in previous protests, were not met.

The protest started out very peaceful and organised, well as organised and peacefull as a protest can be in South Africa. The residents blocked the roads with burning tyres and rocks to prevent the traffic from moving past the squatter camp that sits on the edge of Beyers Naude Ave. 

The protesters were marching up and down the road singing and waving their posters. Everything was going fine with the cops keeping their distance and not provoking the crowd. The trouble started when groups of protesters started setting tyres alight again and started kicking and pushing them into the intersections. This off course made for some dramatic images so we didn't really mind. The only problem is that this forced the cops to play their hand and they started shooting rubber bullets at the crowd that was starting to lean to the "could get out of control side". The only problem with this was that we were right in front of the crowd and obscured by smoke so we had no idea where these shots were being fired from.  

So the crowd dispersed running in all directions and we followed. Running battles ensued between the cops and residents, with Nyala's rolling up and down the street, cops shooting rubber bullets and protesters throwing rocks. This continued for a while before everything settled down again. 

We left the protest to go and file and do some other stories, but kept an eye on the situation and apparently the violence flared up again later in the day when the MEC came to speak to the protesters. Some of the protesters also looted some shops in the night and broke down palisade fences and parts of a wall of a nearby shopping mall. They used this to block parts of the road that runs parallel with squatter camp. 

Klein Edouard kry nuwe Kornea

Storie deur Lourensa Eckard wat Maandag 11 Junie 2012 in Beeld verskyn het.


Daar is groot hoop dat klein Edouard Stander (4) van Witbank binnekort ’n bietjie sal kan sien nadat hy feitlik blind met katarakte op albei oë gebore is.

’n Kornea is onlangs teen groot onkoste uit Amerika ingevoer en op hom oorgeplant. 

En hoewel hy vir ’n hele paar maande met ’n oogklap sal moet loop en die steke baie lank gaan inbly, is die eerste tekens daar dat dit suksesvol kan wees.

Santie Stander, sy ma, vertel hy is al baie sensitief vir lig en nou is sy eers vol vertroue dat haar seun eendag sal sien.

“Met sy geboorte het die dokters nie besef Edouard is so te sê blind nie. Dit was eers toe my man die melkerige vlekke op Edouard se oë sien, dat ons besef het iets is verkeerd,” vertel Santie.

Byna vier jaar later kon ’n kornea-oorplanting gedoen word. Dokters het uit Amerika vir Edouard ’n kornea bestel wat op 28 Mei vanjaar oorgeplant wou word.

Die Standers se mediese fonds wou nie vir die kornea betaal nie omdat dit van oorsee ingebring is en hulle het toe self daarvoor betaal.

“Ons moes dit eenvoudig betaal, want in Suid-Afrika wag ’n mens soms langer as vier jaar vir ’n kornea.”

Op die dag wat die operasie veronderstel was om plaas te vind, was daar ’n oponthoud by doeane by die O.R Tambo-lughawe. 

“Ek was vreesbevange omdat ek geweet het hoe fyn alles beplan is en dat daar net soveel tyd was vir die operasie,” het sy bygevoeg.

Die kornea is die volgende dag oorgeplant en klein Edouard is al weer op die been en net so bedrywig soos altyd.

Orange Farm Service Delivery Protest

Just another day in paradise! Early morning seeking the smoke on the wind.. I received a tip-off on Monday morning (4th June 2012) that there was a service delivery protest in Orange Farm about 40km from Johannesburg. As it was about 7:30 I feared that i might be to late because these things normally happen early in the mornings and when the cops arrive it gets dispersed very quickly, although that's not always the case, some times it continues for days with running battles between cops and unhappy residents flaring up all over the place. But on this occasion I was to late indeed.

 

On my arrival i found that a big section of the road was blockaded but there were no protesters in sight, the only thing I found were these two kids cleaning the road in front of their house, where protesters burned tyres.

So me and the journalist who joined me a couple of minutes later got a call that we had to return to Johannesburg for another story so we made our way back and last found the protesters a couple of kilometres down the road  in front of a municipal building.

I took this photograph of a man while I was driving back, he obviously made the best of the protest and gathered some of the materials they used to block the roads.

So as we got to the municipal building we parked our cars and I started photographing the protesters, I got this picture of youths blocking the road whilst a Police Nyala drove by.

Angry protesters were singing and dancing in front of the building.

A protester standing on a cart giving voice to his unhappiness.

The best part of the protest was when a woman, one of the residents, walked up to us and told us that the Councillor of the area, was as skinny as her and now his fat, gesturing with her hands. Not big like you, she said, but fat like a pig. He sits and eats bacon all day, while we don't have houses and basic services she said. The best part was that she would cut his testicles out and eat them if the situation doesn't change very soon in Orange Farm. Her words not mine.

Emergency Services being put through their paces

The Johannesburg Emergency Management Services held a live Simulation exercise to prepare their members for a real natural disaster, the participants consisted of emergency personal from City of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni; City of Tshwane and Sedibeng Emergency Services.

The simulation was put together to resemble a real disaster zone and give the personal a real live working environment where they could be put through their paces. Everything was real, they even had people dressed up in traditional clothing walking around with guns trying to distract the emergency workers from doing their jobs. They had to formulate a plan before hand, on what supplies they needed to take along, what equipment ext. Instructors were also observing the simulation giving advice were it was needed and where the participants were going to far of track.

The biggest thing I noticed was the amount of planning that needs to go into a operation like this, a real disaster zone that is, and also the amount of work these men and woman need to do. This was just a small scale simulation where a real disaster zone would be much bigger. I really respect the work that our men and woman from the emergency services do, where they are willing to risk their own lives to save the lives of others.