Issuu

INTERIOR PAINT WATERPROOFING SOLAR SYSTEMS

MAGICALLY LOWERING YOUR ENERGY BILLS

BATTERY STORAGE

Let’s bring colour to your world!

INSTALLATION & MAINTENANCE

068 148 0000

info@solarwizards.co.za

EXTERIOR PAINTING ROOF PAINTING

0681480000

www.solarwizards.co.za

info@wepainthermanus.co.za www.wepainthermanus.co.za NM10071725-HL020926

087 551 1010 www.hermanus-shuttle.co.za shuttle@hermanus.co.za NM10071749-HL020926

She conquered the channel Amber-Rose Berry become the youngest SA woman to swim the English Channel. Photo: Facebook

It is seen as the Mount Everest of open-water swimming and an 18-year-old local girl from Pringle Bay has done it. On Sunday 23 August Amber-Rose Berry plunged into the cold, dark waters off Shakespeare Beach in Dover, England, at 05:27, only to become the youngest South African woman to make the 33 km English Channel crossing, to Cap Gris-Nez, between Calais and Boulogne on the French coast. The swim, still subject to official ratification by the Channel Swimming Associa-

tion, placed her well ahead of the average completion window of 12 to 14 hours. Amber-Rose’s time was 10 hours and 27 minutes. “It was bloody tough,” the young distance swimmer declared afterwards. This was not the first time she had made history. At just 16 years and 77 days old in 2023, Amber-Rose became the youngest person to complete a solo swim across False Bay, the 33 km stretch from Miller’s Point to Rooiels, finishing in nine hours and 40 minutes. That achievement earned her

a Guinness World Record. She also completed the Cape-to-Robben Island crossing twice, the first time at age 13. Amber-Rose’s English Channel swim was her longest challenge to date. Her channel crossing was never just about personal glory. Her “Believe in What You Can Achieve” campaign raised more than R112 000 for the Ukukhula Institute in Makhanda, which provides scholarships and living-expense support to disadvantaged student athletes from the Eastern Cape

to study at Rhodes University. “Raising opportunities for fellow student athletes helped motivate me through the ordeal,” she said. Her crossing came exactly 100 years after Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the English Channel in 1926, and in South Africa’s Women’s Month, Amber-Rose follows in the footsteps of another local record holder, Otto Thaning, the oldest person to complete the channel crossing, at age 73 in 2014.

Zwelihle playpark ‘not safe’ Ishmael Mabena

municipal project to refurbish a children’s playpark in Zwelihle has been marked as “completed”. But the space remains unsafe for children and in poor condition. Now residents have raised questions about what was delivered with the money allocated to the project. “It has not even been four months since this park was built here,” one resident told

Hermanus Times. The Zwelihle playpark formed part of Overstrand Municipality’s Ward 5 Ward Specific Projects for the 2025’26 financial year after being identified as a priority through the Ward Committee and Integrated Development Plan (IDP) process. According to the municipality, a site visit and communication with Ward 5 councillor Bongiwe Nombula took place on 14 May ahead of the project's implementation. “After which the relevant line department [would be] responsible for the planning, design, implementation and technical execution of the

approved project”, according to the municipality. The municipality’s project schedule records an allocation of R100 000 for the refurbishment of the playpark. It records expenditure of R57 907, or roughly 58% of the allocated amount, while the project’s status is listed as “completed”. This apparent discrepancy has raised questions about what work was included in the project, what was spent and how the municipality determined that the project had been completed. “A week after the park was built, we had to

replace some of the chains on the swings because they broke and children were still playing with broken swings,” said one resident. Nombula was asked to provide a detailed breakdown of the work carried out, explain the difference between the R100 000 allocation and the R57 907 expenditure and clarify when and by whom the completed project was inspected and signed off. She was also asked whether the municipality considers the park safe for children in its current condition and whether further remedial work is planned. To page 2.