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05 September 2018
Excellent start for Kovsies and Mamburu
Khomotso Mamburu (right on photo) has been the star for the Kovsies in their first two matches of the Varsity Netball Series.

The Kovsie netball team – Khomotso Mamburu in particular – has had an excellent start to Varsity Netball 2018. Mamburu, who plays goal defence and wing defence, became the first Kovsie player in the history of the series to bag two Player of the Match awards consecutively.

The Kovsies won both their opening matches with ease. Their big win over the defending champions, Tuks, by 68-43 in August, was the biggest defeat the Pretoria students have ever suffered in the competition. 

The Kovsie netball team, who are the two-time champions of 2013 and 2014, also earned a bonus-point victory in August when they drubbed the University of Johannesburg by 69-29. The Kovsies are now joint first on the log.

They faced the Vaal University of Technology in the Callie Human Centre this past Sunday, followed by a meeting against the University of the Western Cape on Monday afternoon.

Khomotso, an LLB Law student who was voted Player of the Varsity Series last year, has received three Player of the Match awards, which is just one less than the Kovsie record of four held by Karla Pretorius, playing for the team from 2013 to 2015. 

Meanwhile Karla, a postgraduate student, is making huge strides overseas. Her club, Sunshine Coast Lightning, won the Australian league for a second consecutive year on Sunday. She was named in the Team of the Tournament as goal defence. Karla finished the tournament with 50 incepts, which were the most in the tournament. 

News Archive

Census 2011 overshadowed by vuvuzela announcements
2012-11-20

Mike Schüssler, economist
Photo: Hannes Pieterse
15 November 2012

Census 2011 contains good statistics but these are overshadowed by vuvuzela announcements and a selective approach, economist Mike Schüssler said at a presentation at the UFS.

“Why highlight one inequality and not another success factor? Is Government that negative about itself?” Mr Schüssler, owner of Economist.co.za, asked.

“Why is all the good news such as home ownership, water, lights, cars, cellphones, etc. put on the back burner? For example, we have more rooms than people in our primary residence. Data shows that a third of Africans have a second home. Why are some statistics that are racially based not made available, e.g. orphans? So are “bad” statistics not always presented?”

He highlighted statistics that did not get the necessary attention in the media. One such statistic is that black South Africans earn 46% of all income compared to 39% of whites. The census also showed that black South Africans fully own nearly ten times the amount of houses that whites do. Another statistic is that black South Africans are the only population group to have a younger median age. “This is against worldwide trends and in all likelihood has to do with AIDS. It is killing black South Africans more than other race groups.”

Mr Schüssler also gave insight into education. He said education does count when earnings are taken into account. “I could easily say that the average degree earns nearly five times more than a matric and the average matric earns twice the pay of a grade 11.”

He also mentioned that people lie in surveys. On the expenditure side he said, “People apparently do not admit that they gamble or drink or smoke when asked. They also do not eat out but when looking at industry and sector sales, this is exposed and the CPI is, for example, reweighted. They forget their food expenditure and brag about their cars. They seemingly spend massively on houses but little on maintenance. They spend more than they earn.”

“On income, the lie is that people forget or do not know the difference between gross and net salaries. People forget garnishee orders, loan repayments and certainly do not have an idea what companies pay on their behalf to pensions and medical aid. People want to keep getting social grants so they are more motivated to forget income. People are scared of taxes too so they lower income when asked. They spend more than they earn in many categories.”

On household assets Mr Schüssler said South Africans are asset rich but income poor. Over 8,3 million black African families stay in brick or concrete houses out of a total of 11,2 million total. About 4,9 million black families own their own home fully while only 502 000 whites do (fully paid off or nearly ten times more black families own their own homes fully). Just over 880 000 black South Africans are paying off their homes while 518 000 white families are.

Other interesting statistics are that 13,2 million people work, 22,5 million have bank accounts, 19,6 million have credit records. Thirty percent of households have cars, 90% of households have cellphones and 80% of households have TVs.
 

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