Publisher

The best part of winter is spending time indoors, curled up on the couch with a good book or a movie. It’s even better accompanied with some delicious comfort food. We have some ideas that will take your “me time” to another tasty level.  

Beef Stew

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1Kg beef stew meat, (fat removed)

½ Stick butter

2 Cups water

1 Teaspoon dried thyme

2 Teaspoons salt

Union Buildings

Saving is not necessarily dependent on income; it is largely dependent on willpower and discipline, according to the South African Savings Institute CEO Gerald Mwandiambira.

With July being Savings Month Mwandiambira said the reality is that willpower can be difficult and hiccups in commitment to save can lead to failure.

“The way to overcome failure in saving is to find ways that will strengthen and help you to become more disciplined.”

Mwandiambira gave the following tips:

Young inventor Tumelo Photolo is set to take charge of his financial independence, thanks to the Free State Department of Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (Destea).

The young man from Qwa Qwa has developed a solar cellphone charger – with the battery neatly tucked into a cellphone cover.

Government has eased the burden for another 42 Western Cape residents by providing them with their own home.

Cassidy September (10) finally has her own bedroom and backyard to play in, thanks to the Western Cape Department of Human Settlements that has given her mother, September (44), a two bedroom-house.

An initiative between Eastern Cape state entities and Potato SA is set to turn former subsistence farmers into commercial potato farmers.

The farmers in the OR Tambo (ORT) District, which includes Mthatha, Mqanduli and Ngqeleni, have multiplied their production volumes since the start of the mentorship and development programme three years ago.

Villagers who revived disused pineapple farms in Bingqala near Ngqushwa have built a growing agricultural enterprise.

The Bingqala Pineapple Co-operative was started in 2014 by community members who were employees of the Ciskei Agricultural Corporation (Ulimocor) Farms, which were previously run by a parastatal of the Ciskei government.

The rural West Coast community of Wolwerivier is the latest to benefit from the City of Cape Town’s efforts to expand access to early childhood development (ECD) facilities.

The Wolwerivier community has struggled with access to proper services, including education, since 2016 when its only ECD centre was closed because it was  operating on agricultural land.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said the department will work hard to address the lack of support staff to reduce the amount of time teachers spend on clerical tasks.

Minister Motshekga was responding to the findings from the Teaching and Learning International (TALIS) research survey released by the Basic Education Department recently.

Parents, communities and traditional authorities need to play a stronger educational role if circumcision-related deaths are to be curbed.

With winter being the start of circumcision East London-based traditional surgeon Andile Siko (39), who has been circumcising boys for the past 20 years believes that parents have a big role to play in the process of initiation.