MIESHKA PAUL

Irritation, short temper, loss of appetite, trouble sleeping or sleeping more than usual, and saying things like ‘I am stupid’, are symptoms of depression matriculates often experience during their final examinations, says the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG).

Try not to panic, say experts, stay positive during exams.

Cassey Chambers of SADAG warns suicides increases during matric exams and parents should therefore be on the look out for depression signs in order to seek professional help.

Several school principals gave tips on preventing exam stress: 

Mr. Williams of Heideveld High School said learners should prepare by working through old question papers and should speak to peers to understand their working material.

Study late before exams and not two nights before the time, advises Mr. Boughwan from Cathkin High School. “Stay focused and don’t stay away from class because you are stressed.”

Mr. Jacobs from Bridgetown High School encourages his students to make use of the school to study. Work out a study time table, and instead of coming to school two hours before the time, arrive is an half and hour before you write.  

“Stress kicks in when you discuss with your friends what you have studied.” He added learners need to enter the exam room with a positive mind. “Make the most of your time and do your best.”

SADAG’s toll free number: 0800 567 567.

Your right to sales records

Consumers have the right to demand confirmation of purchases made in the form of receipts or invoices.

Suppliers are required to include, via receipts or invoices the following:

Suppliers full contact information, business names and Value-Added Tax (VAT) registration numbers.

Name and description of goods;

Date/s on which the transaction/s took place;

Unit price of goods purchased;

Quantity of goods purchased;

Total price of transaction/s including any applicable taxes; and

Full contact information, business names and addresses.

Your right to disclosure by intermediaries

Intermediaries, such as brokers, sales representatives and estate agents, are required to disclosure their affiliations with the entities / persons they represent/

Your right to identification of deliveries, installers and others

Deliveries, installers and others are required to visibly display name badges or similar identification, to the satisfaction of consumers, when delivering or installing goods/ products.

Consumers have the right to demand identification from the deliverers, installers and others, prior to allowing delivery or installation of goods/products.  

Next month: Consumer Right No.5 – Right to fair and responsible Marketing

A protection order becomes valid only when the perpetrator receives a copy of the protection order. The victim does not personally deliver the Protection Order to the perpetrator.

The victim must take the protection order to the nearest sheriff of the court or the nearest police station where the perpetrator resides or works.

It is recommended that the victim elects the police to deliver the protection order as there is no cost involved.

94% reported that receiving the PO made them feel safe.

MELISSA NEL

“You are only disabled once your environment disables you,” said Ghalieb Essop of the National Youth Development Association (NYDA). He raised this as the Disability Workshop Development Enterprise’s (DWDE) Youth with Disabilities Career Fair will be hosted on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 18-19.

Most people with disabilities get training for jobs but have trouble being employed because of employers not being "knowledgeable".

The event is to focus on young people with disabilities and how they can engage with business service providers across the province.

Essop says that employers out there are willing to employ disabled people, but they are not knowledgeable to make the workplace accessible. “The necessary resources such as your equipment and the accessibility to public transport should be in place.”

According to him South Africa is one of the countries that support the equality  of disabled people best. “The way for it to benefit you is to know your rights.”

He feels there should be a monitoring body which would see to employers go the extra mile to employ people with disabilities. Essop added we have a Minister of Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities (Ms Lulama Xingwana) who is not even a person with disabilities. “Who would know the needs of a disabled person better than a person with disabilities?”

Karina Fischer, programme manager of DWDE, says there are often graduates who come back after their training to complain about not finding jobs. “It’s like immediately after employers see a person has a disability, they (the employer) puts the CV aside.” She added the career fair is to create a platform for employers to see people with disabilities have the capability to do a job.

MELISSA NEL

If you think you can send an anonymous email, you are wrong, because you will be tracked down by your location, warns Bobby Sorano.

“Whenever you are on the internet, information is being transferred.” He also said that the content of any message can be accessed by anyone. To create internet security, one has to make use of “HTTPs”.

“We are trusting social networks like Facebook or Twitter to provide us security, but they don’t.” Sorano says you must know how to use HTTPs, bookmark it and try to configure to the full HTTPs. “This will make your account less accessible.”  It is accessed when you go to the network’s settings. “Don’t log into a Gmail account if you are researching, because this causes insecurity. The Gmail (yellow line) will be tied out to the search facility.”

Some networks do not provide HTTPs, he added. Mobile phones are more insecure than the normal internet usage. Even cellphone towers will reject you, because they have your cellphone number automatically.   

Furthermore, he says, the internet has a long memory (even if you try to erase information from it). The “cached” will expose the information even if you cannot access that.

MARION LE FLEUR

After twelve years in the vehicle hire industry in a job that took her away from her teenage daughter most of the time, Denise Nordquist decided to start her own business.

This woman from Grassy Park held a responsible position at a well known vehicle hiring company for many years. Her job required her to travel regularly, leaving her with very little time to spend with her daughter.

To many women, not having enough quality time with their families due to work pressures can place huge strain on strengthening relationships. Denise saw this coming and with her extensive experience and acquired skills, she established her own vehicle hiring company.

Denise Nordquist

In 2008, Dandilion Mobility Solutions (DMS) was founded. It is run from Denise’s home.

The essence of the business world is your name and reputation, says Denise. “Dishonesty and the lack of integrity often lead many companies down a path of bad business decisions and a tarnished reputation.”

She feels strongly of businesses’ roles in the community:

“It would seem that many businesses just use the communities to ‘facelift’ their own image, thereby losing sight of the real needs of the community,” she said. “As businesses we should revisit the reasons for our existence as well as our values and base corporate social responsibility on this. In this way, we as businesses will take up the responsibility to build into communities and not just live off them.

When asked what her advice would be to young aspiring business women, Denise says: “When women have a solid business vision and want to start their own business, they should not focus on the lack of finances or the negative things that people might be saying, as these things are all temporary.”

MELISSA NEL

She is known as the woman who fought her way to the top in a workplace where males dominated. And for 11 years of her career there was no promotion available to her.

Alderman JP Smith, Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, told this story of Marilyn Holding of Belhar. “She’s a real street fighter. You can press her buttons at any time, because she is always there willing to help,” said Smith at a Women’s Day celebration in Bellville earlier this week.

“Every time I was in a new position I had to strategise how I would work along with my superiors, because they were way older than me. And we were only two females within law enforcement,” Holding explained.

“I was also inexperienced in the work I do – I only had matric (when I started as a patrol officer)!”

She knew with promotions coming up in a few years so she got ready to prove herself:

“I was young in the force, so I almost didn’t qualify. I had to get referrals from my former supervisors. The problem was they were out of the force, so it was not easy to get hold of them.”

She started studying when her son was ten years old at the time. “I started empowering myself and applied for a bursary. I had to pay for my studies out of my own expenses in the first year, because I didn’t get the bursary.” The year thereafter she got a bursary. She now has a National Diploma in Policing and is still studying to empower herself.

Her son is now 20 years old and Holding recently got promotion as a regional inspector.

Starfair Business Consulting (SBC) and Haedons Training Academy have joined forces to tackle the social and economic ills of the Cape Flats where many people still live below the poverty line and the unemployment rate is still very high. SBC’s 2 Managing Members, Bruce Bouwers and Ezzad Fakier have more than 20 years business management and business development experience. Haedons Training Academy’s Managing Member, John Prinsloo, has more than 30 years experience in tender training and advice.

These two organizations will be spearheading these social and economic  issues through a number of programs such as, Information Workshops, Training on How to Do Business with the City of Cape Town, Skills and Development Training, Assistance with Social Entrepreneurship (specifically targeting NPO’s to become more sustainable), Business Development Support Services and Access to Finance, just to name a few.

If you are interested in any of these services or if you would like to find out when we will be in your community, please feel free to call us on the contact numbers below.

SBC (021) 828-4296 or 083 320 8228 or 071 243 3212 or email us on Info@starfairbusinessconsulting.com

Haedons Training Academy 082 958 7865 or email us on tenderspecialist@gmail.com 

MELISSA NEL

Members of the Principals Educare Forum of Bonteheuwel got their certificates for fire safety training last month.

This is part of their attempt to finalise their registration which the MEC of Social Development requires all child care facilitators to partake in. All child care principals must be registered by July 31.

According to Evelyn Court of Kiddies Joy Educare Centre and spokeswoman for the forum the registration package includes a police clearance.

Court says their members work together to understand the information of the registration package which wording can be intimidating. “We would rather all struggle together and figure things out together. We get questions answered like ‘what does it mean to have your facility re-zoned.’”