The menu treats you to a diverse range of Asian foods — you will be spoilt for choice. From Korean to Thai flavours, whether it’s sushi or a bowl of your favourite ramen, the restaurant caters to all tastes. 

One thing Origami was not known for was its Korean fried chicken wings — but it was nominated for radio station 947’s “Best Wings” competition in June and won it. 

The Mail & Guardian had to get a taste of these wings and — like the other items on the menu which we tried — they did not disappoint. 

Battered before they are fried, the wings’ crunch makes them a joy to bite into — but the real winner is the sauce. There is a subtle sweetness at first, followed by a spicy tingle, that makes you want to reach and pick up the next wing. 

The restaurant is owned by the Bhamjee family and one of its sons, Ismaeel, said it felt surreal when they found out they had won the competition. It had boosted the number of people coming to the restaurant. 

“Winning got the word out! People who had no idea that we existed, even though they live right around the corner, have been coming in for wings,” Bhamjee said.

“Every restaurant could do with an accolade. We needed it. It gave us the strength to keep putting our best foot forward and reminded us that this pursuit of excellence that we embarked on 17 years ago is seen and appreciated,” he added. 

This 17-year journey goes all the way back to the family’s first food venture, Lazeeza’s Bakery, which was started by his mother, Saleeha, from their home. 

Bhamjee recalls his father’s glass business had hit a speed bump and that’s when his mother started her home industry. 

It was also around the time when the youngest of her five children was born, so the family had no time to waste if they were going to carry their brand forward. 

“A shop became vacant at the local shopping centre. My mum convinced the lawyers to give her the space by having them taste her custard slices  — which is possibly what Lazeeza’s is most famous for.

“For Lazeeza’s, we scraped by and did the best we could, buying equipment as we made the money. 

“We didn’t have a cent of start-up capital,” Bhamjee said.

Initially, the bakery had only some secondhand equipment and an old, discarded oven, which was given a new lease of life. However, the main ingredients the Bhamjee family had were love and age-old family recipes. 

Once the bakery took off, the family ventured into cold sandwiches and then toasted sandwiches. 

Not long after that, they opened Upcycled Café, which offers just about everything from gooey toasted cheeses to sizzling steaks. 

With no formal training, Saleeha Bhamjee and her children had to learn on the job. 

Upcycled Café was a busy place with a good vibe. However, as in any venture, the creators have to evolve to enjoy success. 

The family ventured further, with the children being the taste testers for their mother, and in a way, Origami was born inside Upcycled Café. 

“My mum loves to experiment. She loves sushi. So, she started offering it as a weekend special at Upcycled, just to test the waters and see what the demand was like for Asian food with a twist. 

“The insane numbers of orders that came in convinced her that Asian food should be her next challenge,” Bhamjee said.

The secret to the success of the Bhamjee family is they do not compromise on the quality of their food. 

“We like to do things ourselves so, for both Upcycled and Lazeeza’s, every­thing gets done in-house. Design, decor, the works. 

“We all get our hands dirty. And the end result is a place infused with the personalities of the entire family. This recipe works.

“The biggest challenge in the food industry is maintaining standards. That’s a job you can never delegate. 

“If you believe in your brand, and want to always push the boundaries of excellence, you have to be present, yourself,” Bhamjee said.

They are not planning any new ventures in the near future. They have a set focus on maintaining their standards, no matter how busy they get after winning the award for the best wings in greater Johannesburg. 

They might explore franchising their brands but a concern is it might compromise those high standards. 

For now, the Bhamjee family is taking it one wing at a time.

A longing glance at the front of the vehicle elicits the same reaction we felt with the Audi’s concept RSQ when we first saw it in the 2004 blockbuster I, Robot.  

Because of the amount of technology that new cars have, I always figure it out before I drive the car, and luckily I did with this one. There is a 12.3 inch infotainment system which controls all aspects of the vehicle. It even goes as far as opening the glovebox for you. 

While it can be seen as a positive that everything is in one place, I felt slightly concerned that the lack of buttons might distract me while driving.

Things like turning the AC on and off were a slight inconvenience, particularly as the car scolds you about keeping your eyes on the road every time you glance at the infotainment system. 

But that is where the inconvenience with the car itself stops. Once you are in and driving, you are swept up in a dream.  

The Volvo EX30 is available in three derivatives. First, there is the core single motor, which offers 200 kilowatts of power and 343Nm of torque with a 51 kilowatt-hour battery pack. The range Volvo claims on this model is 344km. 

Then, there is the single motor extended range, which is slightly quicker than the base model, and gives you an additional 130km of range on the car as it carries a 69kWh battery. 

Then we have the twin motor performance model which I was lucky enough to drive. This derivative offers the same 69kWh battery pack but an insane amount of speed. It has 315kW of power and 510Nm of torque. The range claimed on this model is 460km but I only got up to 380km on a full charge. 

But here’s the fun part about the latter model. It goes from 0 to 100km/h in 3.6 seconds. To put that into perspective, that borders on the same acceleration performance as cars such as the Porsche 911 and BMW M3. 

When I tested that, there was no noise, just an amazing kick that pushed your head back and, before I knew it, I was at 120km/h. 

In fact, I almost felt like pulling up next to those loud M3s at the traffic lights and accelerating away from them to remind them of the saying “silence is golden”.

That is particularly true when it comes to the Volvo EX30. You don’t hear the car, thanks to the electric motor. The vehicle switches on as soon as you enter it and to the surprise of many, it’s already moving.

The interior was comfortable and spacious in the front, but very tight at the back. Whenever I had passengers in the car, I had to adjust the front seat into an uncomfortable driving position to give passengers enough space to stretch their legs. 

While the vehicle does fit into the crossover category, I was not expecting it to be spacious. Volvo has tagged it as its smallest and quickest car, so I was not too disappointed at the space issues.

The highlight of the interior had to be the panoramic glass roof that gave the cabin a majestic aura. Coupled with the ambient lighting that is nature-themed, it felt simple and futuristic at the same time. 

I took the car on a number of routes from Springs. It was Johannesburg on Friday, Bedfordview on Sunday and then a long trip to Pretoria on Monday. 

This is where I faced my toughest challenge with the car, and in all honesty, it had nothing to do with the car. 

I left Springs on Friday with the car on 70% battery, which meant that I had just over 200km of range. I was not worried about charging, because from the research I had done, there were an abundance of charging stations in Johannesburg. 

I thought that I would grab lunch and charge the car at Melrose Arch, where I first had to drive through the entire underground parking lot and ask about five people where the charger was before I found it. 

Once I found it, I plugged in the charger and nothing happened. City Power had failed me. Melrose Arch had no electricity. 

Still optimistic, I looked for the next charging station. It was not far at all – a Nissan dealership on Corlette drive. When I got there, the charger was not the same type and did not fit into the car. 

Still optimistic, I decided to go to Thrupps Centre in Illovo and grab the next charging station. On arrival, I saw that this charging station required that you bring your own cable, which I had. I plugged in, scanned my card and the car estimated that it would charge from 30% to 100% in 15 hours. 

I’m usually patient, but not that patient. 

The optimism was slowly running out, but I decided that I would try one last place and that was the Sasol garage on Jan Smuts Avenue in Rosebank — the same garage where The Pantry is. 

I got there and saw a hulking Mercedes EQ charger that looked powerful. I was immensely relieved when I plugged it in and the estimated charge time to 100% was under an hour.

That was when I understood that charging your electric vehicle is one thing, but finding the right type of charger is the more important thing. 

Most electric cars now have two charging ports in the same area. The first being a type 2 port, which is slow alternating current charging and the second being a CCS port which is fast direct current charging. 

Luckily, when you search for nearby chargers on Google Maps, you will be told if the charger is a type 2 or CCS charger. 

For every trip I had to do after this, I made sure that I did my research before I left the house. But this also means leaving 45 minutes earlier so that you can charge the car. 

On Sunday, I managed to grab a fast charger in Bedford Centre and on Tuesday on my way to Pretoria, the Highveld Engen in Tembisa on the R21 also had two fast chargers. 

While your car might be faster than a petrol car, it will still take you longer to do trips that are further away from home, so I learnt that with an electric car, you need to leave early, take snacks or buy a coffee while you wait for the car to charge. In other words, you need to have a very easy-going lifestyle. 

But it is still stressful, because if you live away from the city, the country simply does not have enough charging stations. You can get an adapter for the type 2 charger and connect it to a wall socket at home, but then you are looking at a full day of charging before the battery has reached 100%.

Volvo claims that it wants to be fully electric by 2030 and other brands will follow suit very soon. With more electric vehicles like Ora and BYD entering the country and only 400 charging points in South Africa, there is much work to be done if the EV market is going to be successful and if the country wants to encourage consumers to use EVs. 

The United Kingdom has over 60 000 charging points and the United States has over 160 000. 

However, when it came to the car itself, I found myself for the first time developing an attachment to a car that I was reviewing. If this is the beginning of the future, can it please come sooner?

Models and prices

Core Single Motor derivative (R775 900)

Single Motor Extended Range – available in Plus (R865 900) and Ultra (R965 900)

Twin Motor Performance powertrain – also offered in conjunction with the Plus (R935 900) and Ultra (R995 900) trim levels

The Banyana Banyana side looked to be cruising in their Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) final in 2022, but conceded a late goal and kept us on the edge of our seats before they claimed the cup.

The Springboks’ entire Rugby World Cup run last year consisted of closely contested games in which there was just a point between them and their opposition in every single knockout game. 

South Africa’s last sporting success, which came in the form of Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Dricus du Plessis, also won his world title by just a point in a very close split decision. 

Despite the heart palpitations these athletes caused the country, they all got the job done. 

For Bafana Bafana, the expectations at the start of Afcon may have been different to the teams and athletes mentioned above. It may have even been harsh for South Africans to have expectations after they lost their opening game to Mali 2-0. 

But, since then, the team has seen off a Namibia side, which was very confident after beating Tunisia in their opener, World Cup semi-finalists Morocco and a Cape Verde team, which topped a group that included Egypt and Ghana. 

Bafana Bafana have managed to do this by not conceding a single goal since the two they let in against Mali in their tournament opener. 

So the team being in the Afcon semi-finals is no stroke of luck. And South Africans have noted this. That’s why the nation’s expectation has changed. The expectation now is for Bafana Bafana to bring the cup home. 

But they face their toughest test of the tournament in Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire, on Wednesday at 7pm, when they come up against Nigeria. 

From a statistical point of view, Nigeria are the only team that are better than Bafana Bafana in this tournament. Nigeria have only conceded one goal in the entire tournament. 

Both teams have scored six goals in their five matches, which by no means makes any of these sides free scoring. What it does tell us is the type of match we can expect. 

It should be a chess match where both sides will defend well; the midfield battle will be a physical one and both sides will look for the one goal that might be a checkmate. 

Nigeria has a number of internationally-based players, but Bafana have shown in this tournament that their players can compete with these players. This has also brought to light the strength of the South African league. 

The key battle in this game will come in midfield where Nigeria’s Alex Iwobi and Frank Onyeka will come up against South Africa’s Sphephelo Sithole and Teboho Mokoena. 

Both sides are not possession merchants, so these midfielders will not want to win the battle to control the tempo of the game, but they will want to make sure that their hard work can free up those in front of them. 

For Bafana, if Sithole and Mokoena can stop the pace of the two in midfield for Nigeria, it can allow Themba Zwane to control the game and create opportunities. 

Bafana will also need to be on high alert at the back. Although Mothobi Mvala and Grant Kekana have been excellent at the back, they have yet to face a striker with the attacking prowess of Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen. 

Osimehn was Italian club Napoli’s leading scorer last season, guiding the side to their first league title in 33 years. 

The striker has only scored one goal so far in this Afcon, but the Nigerian star power doesn’t stop with Osimhen. Ademola Lookman’s natural ability to find the back of the net has come to the fore for Nigeria in the knockout rounds; he has scored three goals in the last two matches. 

With Nigeria lining up with three at the back, the South Africans will have to stay disciplined. Both Percy Tau and Thapelo Morena will have to do their defensive duties if they are to stop the effectiveness of Nigeria’s wingbacks. 

Bafana have been good at nullifying opposition threats during the tournament. They did it against both Morocco and Cape Verde. This caused both sides to then lose shape and allowed Bafana Bafana to take advantage in an offensive sense. 

The keyword for coach Hugo Broos and his boys on Wednesday evening will be discipline. Stick to the game plan, maintain composure and nullify the attacking threat Nigeria brings. If Bafana can do this, they may just find themselves in Sunday’s final in Abidjan.

The South African won by a split decision in front of a Canadian crowd that was fiercely behind his opponent.

Du Plessis has been focused this entire week, throughout the UFC’s media day and press conference, barely even offering a smirk to the cameras. He only had one intention for this week and that was to leave Toronto with a belt around his waist. 

However, the buildup to this fight has not been all that smooth for either fighter. At the UFC’s seasonal press conference in December, Strickland threw insults at Du Plessis and his coach. The South African did not take too well to it and commented on Strickland’s childhood trauma, which seemed to remove any respect the athletes might have had for each other.

Strickland has revealed on numerous podcasts in the past that he and his mother suffered constant physical abuse by his father when he was growing up.  

But it didn’t stop there. The verbal jabs eventually turned into a physical altercation at UFC 296 in December, when the fighters were sitting close to each other in the crowd. Strickland jumped over a row of seats to get to Du Plessis, starting a brawl which saw both fighters escorted out of the arena. 

At that point, it seemed as if the animosity between them meant that spectators were in for a grudge match on Sunday, which is always interesting from a fan perspective.

It created the feeling that fans had during the John Jones and Daniel Cormier rivalry or even the one between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor. While it’s not too pretty for the sport, the drama definitely brings more eyes to the fight.

The two fighters have since cleared the air and put their differences aside. 

Strickland and Du Plessis confirmed that the former had reached out to Du Plessis after the fracas in December and they managed to settle their differences and rekindle the respect that they once had for each other. 

Strickland revealed that he sent Du Plessis a message on Instagram and apologised for the comments he had made about him and his coach but warned the South African not to cross the line again by commenting on his childhood or he would “stab him”. 

In response, Du Plessis told the media this week that Strickland had threatened to attack him if he mentioned it again, and he was not going to do so, as he felt he had already won the game of mental warfare.

“He said if there’s anything he shouldn’t say, he’ll lay back, but if I bring up anything with his childhood again, he said, ‘I’ll kill you and ruin your life and mine way before we step into the cage,’ something like that. That’s exactly his words. 

“So, I’m like, okay, this poor guy. This seems serious. I feel bad for him. I just replied and said, ‘Listen, there’s nothing you can say that has any effect on me. Go crazy.’

“The last press conference was winning on the mic. That was winning with Sean Strickland at his own game. Right now, this week, where we’re at, I’m not here to do that. I’m here to be the middleweight champion of the world. My focus is on fighting, not making jokes,” Du Plessis said.

The pair were true to their word at Thursday night’s pre-fight press conference and kept it respectful. They shook hands and agreed to fight to the death inside the cage. 

They absolutely did that as both men drew blood from each other in an absolute war.

Du Plessis told the Mail & Guardian in October that his goal for 2023 was to be the UFC middleweight champion but that did not pan out due to matchmaking issues. 

“The goal for 2023 has just been postponed. I’m not going to sit around and wait for six months or a year. I’m not taking a break from the sport. I need to get that belt. I have goals, dreams and a legacy to build,” Du Plessis said during that interview.

Du Plessis called out former middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in his post-fight interview as he now aims to beat all top contenders in the division.

Now the attention turns to the very unpredictable Bafana Bafana. Having failed to qualify for the last three Fifa World Cups, Bafana Bafana begin their qualification campaign for the 2026 edition against Benin on Saturday in Durban followed by a trip to Rwanda on Tuesday. 

The rest of the group is made up of Nigeria, Lesotho and Zimbabwe. 

Bafana Bafana come into these qualifiers on a good run of form. Unbeaten in their last five games, which includes a victory over World Cup semi-finalists Morocco and a draw against African heavyweights Côte d’Ivoire, have their former captain Aaron Mokoena believing that they are on an upward trajectory. 

“The boys should be aware that Banyana have done well, the Springboks have done well and the Proteas have also done well. It’s supposed to be a motivation in a way,” Mokoena says. “But all I can say is that the fact that the boys have qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations next year and they haven’t lost in the past five games, I strongly believe that they have turned a corner. 

“But obviously, next year, going to Afcon and doing well there is the aim. But for me, having watched them play, I believe that the team Hugo Broos has assembled and the style they play, there’s a lot of belief from myself that they will go out there and do well for the country.” 

Mokoena’s former teammate Matthew Booth understands that a direct comparison between the national sides is unrealistic and unfair to Bafana Bafana, but he voiced his concerns over the development of football in South Africa.

“I do think that we must qualify for the next World Cup given the format,” he says. “But also, let’s not compare apples with pears. There’s over 200 countries trying to qualify for the football World Cup, unlike Rugby and Cricket. It’s very tough, so we must not say we expect Bafana to win a World Cup anytime soon.

“It’s important to understand that this begins at the grassroots level. The amount of investment that is put into rugby and cricket at schools compared to football means that they can extract from their talent pool correctly. With football, it is not like that at the moment,” Booth adds. 

The talent on the field for South Africa does not seem to be an issue recently though. Broos has assembled a consistent 11 recently, which may be exactly why the team has performed consistently well over the past five international matches. 

In particular, the attack, which is inspired by Percy Tau off the right, has been thriving and linking up to cause much difficulty to opponents. 

Tau was instrumental in Bafana Bafana’s qualification for Afcon and both Mokoena and Booth believe that he will also be vital if Bafana Bafana want to qualify for the 2026 World Cup. 

Not judging him based on stats, but just by the influence he has on the South African team every time the ball goes out to the right, he has opposing defenders worried and the crowd on their feet. 

Both Booth and Mokoena agree that his time in Europe and his current stint with Al Ahly have allowed him to grow in experience and this is why he is vital to Bafana Bafana’s hopes of reaching a first World Cup since 2010. 

Coupled with the likes of Themba Zwane and Bongokuhle Hlongwane, the South African front four looks exciting even without Lyle Foster. 

This is not to discredit the work the defenders have done in Bafana Bafana’s fine run of form. The defence has conceded just two goals in the last five games and have looked very comfortable on the ball as well. 

Mokoena attributes the stunning display of defence down to Broos for continuously selecting the same back four. He has given much applause to the coach for the cohesion he has managed to create between the back four. 

Bafana will most likely see most of the ball when they play Benin and Rwanda, which means they will mostly play on the front foot — but that means defenders will have to maintain their focus for the entire 90 minutes to avoid being caught out on counter attacks. 

“As a defender, you have to feel responsible once you concede goals. It might not be your fault, but the fact that you have conceded the goal, you have to feel horrible. When I used to play, that’s how I used to feel,” Mokoena says.

“I used to try and demand from my colleagues. I used to love defending and I used to enjoy defending. I used to be happy when we won and we conceded nothing. Now as a coach, you start building your team from defence and it’s exactly what Hugo Broos has done. You make sure that there’s cohesion between the back four and your holding midfielders and the goalkeeper,” he adds.

But even with all the chips seemingly in Bafana Bafana’s favour, the country must avoid their past experiences when attempting to qualify for World Cups. 

This time however, they will be given a boost as Fifa have introduced a new format for the 2026 World Cup, increasing the number of participants from 32 to 48. This means the African continent will now be given nine spots instead of just four. 

The former captain demands that the team qualify with this new format and says that South Africans have the right to place their expectations to be in the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2026. 

“It’s a must that we qualify for this upcoming 2026 World Cup. Before, we had four African teams that were given spots in the World Cup, but now we have nine and that’s an advantage for Bafana Bafana. This time around, we absolutely need to qualify. We can’t not qualify. It’s there to be taken”

“But before we get there, Afcon is vital. They need to lay a foundation in this Afcon. It won’t be easy, but this Afcon will set the bar for the national team.”

It won’t be an easy experience for South Africans if Bafana Bafana fail in their quest to qualify given the recent success our national teams have enjoyed. 

The talent seems to be there, the experience in the camp is also present and there’s a ton of players who bring international experience into the national team. What they may need is a touch of motivation which both Mokoena and Booth offered through the Mail & Guardian: 

“I would use the Springboks as an example for the Bafana Bafana players. I’d tell them that they need to look at the Springboks, look at the battering they took, but look at how they just kept going and how they left everything on the line for their nation. That’s what they need to do if they want to play in the next World Cup,” Booth says.

“If I were to get a chance to get into that dressing room and motivate the boys, I would say that you get to be judged out there by playing in the World Cup and if you want to be the best, you have to rub shoulders with the best and you find the best in the World Cup. To play in the World Cup is the highest achievement and it’s either you want it or you don’t,” Mokoena says.

On the 19th of October, the Mail & Guardian visited the CIT Performance Institute and spoke to UFC star Dricus du Plessis ahead of UFC294. WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE:

In July 2021, on the Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) card, a South African fighter debuted on pay-per-view with a vicious knockout win over Trevin Giles. 

He then took the mic and said to UFC commentator Joe Rogan, “Dricus du Plessis. Remember the name. It will be a household name in the top 10 very soon.”

Since then, Du Plessis has made a phenomenal rise to the top of the middleweight division by winning four fights and pillaging any competition the company has put in front of him. He was rewarded with the number one middleweight ranking in July after he beat former champion Robert Whittaker. 

Where the magic happens

The Mail & Guardian visited the CIT Performance Institute — the place where Du Plessis trains — and, from 8:30am, there were fighters on the training mats embodying the cliché “blood, sweat and tears”.

But, when Du Plessis walked into the gym at 10am, the energy in the place shifted into a new gear. The fighters followed his lead as he took to the mat for a light warm-up and then began a striking session. 

Du Plessis, who is now the team captain at CIT, said it’s not easy to train every day, but it’s something he demands from his teammates and he tries to lead by example. 

“We always try to keep a certain level of culture in this gym. We try to keep the excitement,” Du Plessis said.

“I expect the best from all of my teammates and they expect the same from me. I believe that in order to bring the best out of them, I need to be an example. At the end of the day, we do fight for this team and we do fight for each other.”

As advertised on TV, Du Plessis provided a striking clinic, showing how his years in the UFC have helped him become a much more calculated striker. But that’s not to discredit the work that has been done by the CIT to help the fighter reach this level. 

Du Plessis is proud of this gym and is glad that it is finally getting recognition on the global stage in mixed martial arts. 

‘Inspiration’

Du Plessis has now become the inspiration for young fighters. He is the first South African mixed martial artist to make it big in the UFC. 

Jiu-jitsu coach Wayne Harrison said there are two youngsters at the gym who have dropped out of school to focus on careers in mixed martial arts. They have seen the fruits of the hard work Du Plessis and Cameron Saaiman — another UFC fighter from South Africa — have enjoyed and thus dedicated their lives to the sport. 

When Du Plessis was coming up, there were no South African fighters gunning for gold in the UFC. But he still found his inspiration in local fighters. 

“There were so many guys [that inspired me]. I wouldn’t say there was one specific person that made me fall in love with the sport as a little boy. But once I started getting into it at 14 or 15, guys like my former teammate Leon Mynhardt and Michiel Opperman, who were both EFC champions, inspired me.”

He also attributes a large part of his success to his coach, Morné Visser, who also coached Mynhardt and Opperman.

Du Plessis eventually shared the mat with both athletes, who he considers mentors.

Signed to the UFC

You would have only know about Du Plessis, or “Stillknocks” as he is known when he fights, if you followed the South African promotion Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) or the Polish promotion Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki (KSW). 

Du Plessis was a two-division champion in South Africa and the Welterweight champion in KSW. 

But it all changed in 2018 when he got a call to go to the United States to help UFC fighters prepare for their fights. At this point, he was still trying to climb the ladder in the mixed martial arts world and reach the pinnacle, which is the UFC.

Du Plessis enjoyed that experience, because it helped him understand that being the best fighter in the world was no longer a dream he was chasing.

“You see these guys fight on TV, they look huge and then you realise that they’re not bigger than me and they are not that much better. Yes, there are certain areas where they are better than me and things I need to work on, but then again there are certain areas where I’m better.

“I started gaining that self-belief. That experience was a massive learning curve for me. I stayed there for a month or six weeks and my confidence just grew. I would say about two years after my first visit to the US, I got signed to the UFC.”

But Du Plessis still had to wait for the call to get a fight and it could not have come at a worse time.

During the Covid hard lockdown in 2020, he got a call to fight on 10 days notice. Fighters usually have a six to eight-week training camp to prepare for a fight. But it was not an opportunity that he could let slip by. 

“I was not in great shape, because it was Covid. We were in a hard lockdown, but I was still training. We took equipment to my house and trained there,” Du Plessis said.

Du Plessis won the fight by knockout in the first round and added, “it was not an ideal situation, but you can’t say no to an opportunity like that and today, I’m the number one ranked middleweight in the world”.

Favourite fight since joining the UFC

Du Plessis has made light work of many opponents in the UFC. From ranked opponents like Derek Brunson to former champion Robert Whittaker, he has rarely let his fights go the distance. 

But the one fight that did need the judges to make a decision was the fight that gained a lot of attention thanks to the sheer brutality of it. 

It was his third fight in the UFC, and his opponent was American fighter Brad Tavares. The fight went the full three rounds and although Stillknocks edged out a decision, the UFC commentary team applauded the fight calling it a war. 

Du Plessis recalls losing the first of three rounds in this fight. He said that after winning the second round, the final round came down to a test of will. He said that till now, this is his favourite fight that he has seen “as a fan”.

“Brad Tavares was one of the toughest people I fought. In terms of being tired and in terms of taking damage, I wouldn’t call it my toughest fight. I hit that guy and the next day, my hands were swollen. I normally hit guys with 16 ounce gloves with half the power that I hit that guy with and they go down, but he just wouldn’t go down. It was an incredible experience.

“It was definitely one of those fights where I had to go and work for it. I would die in there, but I wouldn’t lose that fight.”

Du Plessis said he would not like to get into too many of those kinds of fights because it’s not good for a fighter’s longevity, but every now and again it’s what he lives for.

This fight gave Du Plessis a platform to flourish. Finishing an opponent in mixed martial arts is the most decisive way to close a fight, but it always leaves room for critics to question whether a fighter has it in themselves to grind out a decision against tougher opponents. 

Frustrations and future goals

After a six-fight winning streak in the UFC for Stillknocks, UFC president Dana White announced a fight between Du Plessis and Robert Whittaker earlier this year. It was classed as a number one contender fight and the winner would fight for the middleweight title against then champion Israel Adesanya. 

What made it more interesting is that when Du Plessis finished Whittaker in convincing fashion, Adesanya stepped into the Octagon and got into a heated confrontation with the South African.

It seemed as if it was all in place for Du Plessis to contend for his first world title in the UFC, but rumours of an injured foot meant he could not make the turnaround to fight Adesanya in September. 

Adesanya ended up losing the title to Sean Strickland — Du Plessis’ replacement.

This did not sit well with White, who then ousted Du Plessis from the title picture. To add insult to injury, the UFC president then promised a title fight to the winner of the fight between Kamaru Usman and Khamzat Chimaev, both of whom are originally from the welterweight division. 

Du Plessis admitted that the situation frustrated him for the first two weeks because he believes he has been a great company man and done everything the UFC has asked of him. 

“It was the first time in the UFC’s history where a guy not only wins but destroys the number one contender [Whittaker] who’s been undoubtedly the number one contender for over a decade. But then you don’t get a title shot,“ he said.

“I’m not a matchmaker, I’m a fighter and if they want to give two welterweights a shot at the middleweight title, I believe they are only discrediting that title.” 

However, on Monday, the UFC announced that du Plessis will fight for the title in January against Strickland.

This means that the goals he has set for 2024 are not well within sight.

“The goal for 2023 has just been postponed.I’m not going to sit around and wait for six months or a year. I’m not taking a break from the sport. I need to get that belt. I have goals, dreams and a legacy to build. I’m definitely not going to fight in 2023 again because the cards are full. So maybe February or March next year. 

“I really was hoping to be champion by the end of this year, but situations change and there’s nothing I can do about that. I can only focus on being the best fighter in the world.”

Du Plessis wants to finish 2024 as the middleweight champion and then dominate the division. His intention is to then move up to light heavyweight and try to become a two division world champion — a feat only achieved by four fighters in the UFC’s history.

*This article has been updated after UFC president Dana White’s announcement that Dricus du Plessis will now fight for the UFC middleweight title against Sean Strickland in January

Imagine the Springboks walking out for their Rugby World Cup quarter final, but not being able to fly the South African flag or sing the national anthem.

This might be the case after the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) said South Africa had failed to fully comply with its latest anti-doping code. The Proteas could face the same fate at the Cricket World Cup if the country does not comply with the revised code by 13 October. 

Wada said 700 countries had accepted the revised anti-doping code, with only South Africa and Bermuda as the outliers. 

“The two National Anti-Doping Organizations (NADOs) in question are Bermuda and South Africa; and the major event organisation (MEO) in question is the Pan American Sports Organization (Panam Sports),” the 23 September statement read.

“In the cases of the Bermuda and South Africa NADOs, the non-compliance is a result of legislation not in line with the 2021 Code.”

If South Africa fails to comply within the next 9 days, then Wada’s whip will fall on the  national teams and the consequences will be that the country will not be awarded the right to host regional, continental and world championships and events organised by MEOs. South Africa’s flag will also not be flown at such events.

Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Zizi Kodwa noted Wada’s statement and expressed his disappointment, but assured South Africans that his department was doing its best to comply with Wada’s latest code. 

“We have worked tirelessly to amend legislation as recommended by Wada. There has also been input by Wada in working with us to draft Saids’ (South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport) amendment bill, which will now be taken through the South African Constitutional process of finalising a bill,” Kodwa said.

“It is disappointing that South Africa has been found to be non-compliant despite this undertaking to pass legislation which meets the world anti-doping code. I officially communicated with Wada president Witold Bańka on South Africa’s position, and have requested to meet with him urgently.”

The minister said the sports department would continue its efforts to get the amendment bill adopted expeditiously.

But in the meantime, critics will ask; where was the urgency to comply with Wada before the consequences were revealed?

The number, which includes the accused in the Estina dairy farm and asbestos cases in the Free State, refers to 43 people and 22 companies, Lamola said on Thursday amid criticism that the state is doing too little, too slowly to prosecute those involved in grand corruption. 

The first state capture case to go to trial, the Nulane Investments matter, ended in humiliation for the state in April when acting Bloemfontein high court Judge Nompumelelo Gusha granted section 174 discharges to seven accused and acquitted the eighth.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has termed the outcome a grave miscarriage of justice in an application for leave to appeal to the supreme court of appeal (SCA). It argues that the judge made nine errors of law and failed to meet the ethical and legal standards demanded of the bench.

Because the fraud alleged in the Nulane case paved the way for the dairy farm scam, the list of the accused in the two cases overlap in part. Gupta associate Ronica Ragavan, the self-described treasurer of the family’s business operations, was discharged in the first case but features as an accused in the Estina matter. 

So do the family’s Islandsite Investments and former Free State provincial government official Peter Thabethe, likewise discharged in the Nulane case.

Salim Essa, memorably described in the commission’s hearings as the Guptas’ “money-laundering lieutenant”, is among the 18 accused in the Transnet Transaction Advisory Contract case, along with former chief executives Brian Molefe and Siyabonga Gama and former chief financial officer Anoj Singh.

He left the country for Dubai years ago, and the state has yet to request his extradition. Though the state has based its ongoing efforts to secure the extradition of Atul and Rajesh Gupta on the fraud and money-laundering charges set out in the Nulane and Estina cases, they do not feature among the accused at this stage.

The R398 million Transnet matter deals with rent-seeking consultancy contracts with McKinsey, Trillian and Regiments Capital that accompanied the parastatal’s procurement of 1 064 locomotives from Chinese suppliers at grossly inflated prices.

The Zondo commission found that Molefe, Gama and Singh gave Essa “free reign” during the process and that he collected R7.32 billion in kickbacks from the China South Rail Corporation and the China North Rail Corporation. It said Essa got 15% of the bribes paid by the service providers to shell companies while the Guptas got the rest.

Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, in volume two of his report, described how the family secured a hold over Transnet by systematically taking over its board and senior management. The process was later replicated at Eskom, following Molefe and Singh secondment to the power utility.

In remarks to parliament on Thursday, Lamola noted that following the Special Investigating Unit’s inquiry into companies that overcharged Eskom, McKinsey was ordered to pay back R1.1 billion and Deloitte was ordered to pay back R150 million. 

Trillian was served with a court order for the sum of R600 million, the minister added. This court order was, in fact, granted in the NPA’s favour in October 2019, but efforts to recover the money have been hindered by Trillian’s insolvency and, according to the prosecuting authority’s submissions to court, blatant disregard of the company’s sole director, Eric Wood, a co-accused in the Transnet case, of the order.

Lamola also noted that the Criminal Asset Recovery Fund had been boosted by R2.5 billion thanks to the recovery of punitive reparations by the Investigating Directorate (ID) from Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) for serious crimes committed during the state capture period at Eskom. This in addition to the R1.6 billion that ABB paid to Eskom in 2020.

The ID’s investigations related to corruption that ensued after the company won a R2.2 billion contract in 2015 to provide the control and implementation system for the Kusile power station. Two of its former employees — Mohammed Mooidheen and Vernon Pillay — and their wives have been arrested on charges of fraud, corruption and money-laundering stemming from contracts awarded to Impulse International for lucrative work at the plant.

According to the justice minister, the ID has so far declared 99 investigations into state capture crimes, and enrolled 34 cases, involving 205 suspects. 

But, to date, only two people fingered by the commission have been convicted. The first is the former head of the Free State department of human settlements, Moses Mokoena, who was handed a prison sentence for breach of the Public Finance Management Act and the Combating of Corrupt Activities Act for his role in the housing scandal in that province. It saw R1 billion allocated to a project that yielded no houses.

The second is former SAA chairwoman Dudu Myeli, who was fined R120 000 last year for obstructing the course of justice for revealing the name of a protected witness in a hearing of the Zondo inquiry. The commission has recommended that she be charged with fraud for knowingly making misrepresentations to the public enterprises ministry that caused SAA to suffer crippling financial losses. 

Lamola claimed that his department has, a year after receiving the final volumes of the state capture report, “responded to most of the recommendations which fall within the sphere of the justice department”. This included tabling the NPA Amendment Bill which will turn the ID into a permanent body with the ability to hire its own investigators.

We started planning weeks ahead: probing the teams, looking at key players and delving into the Springboks, who we didn’t give much of a chance to win.

Luke Feltham, now the M&G’s opinions editor, was feeding me tips on how to go about producing compelling stories for the World Cup when he wasn’t writing them himself. 

We were also wiping sweat and tears from our faces given the amount of work we had to do prior to publishing the articles. 

It was truly an electric atmosphere. 

It was also the first time I had managed to contact former Springboks such as Akona Ndugane and Andre Pretorius. We weren’t too far from a chat with Victor Matfield either. 

The Boks took on New Zealand in their first match while I was in the Kruger National Park for the World Wildlife Summit. Before any speakers mentioned animals, a laptop was connected to a projector and the first thing we saw was our national team. 

The Boks ended up losing that game, narrowly, leaving me in a room full of screaming conservationists — not for the first time, but for different reasons. 

Everybody watching the matches saw coach Rassie Erasmus’s plan, and unified South Africans’ enthusiasm amplified over the next month.

Each Springbok game elicited excitement with a hint of nervousness, and each time the Springboks passed the test during what was a tough period for the country. 

I was extremely proud to wear a Springbok jersey, along with other South Africans. 

For me, the entire experience was not so much about our team winning the World Cup as it was about the fight to conquer every challenge with unity. 

The Boks’ triumph at the 2019 Rugby World Cup crafted a path for the renewed hope of a nation in gloomy times, and South Africans embraced it.

When the Springboks returned from Japan, I was sent to the airport to get a sense of what South Africans were feeling. I ended up writing in that article that “the energy the public displayed at OR Tambo International Airport was enough to help Eskom out for a few days”.

I stand by that. In true South African fashion — and only in a way that South Africans can — the celebrations were beautiful.

And so was the rest of 2019. It felt hopeful. It felt cheerful. And although we knew that we had a lot of problems as South Africans, that victory ignited a feeling in our collective bellies that we were not completely hollowed out as a nation because of state capture. 

In the months that followed, however, the pandemic set us back. Lives and livelihoods were lost, and mental health was tested. 

Lockdowns stopped gatherings. It was necessary, but it affected our enthusiasm, made us lose interest in things we once loved and tied us up in cocoons of discomfort that, as in Stockholm syndrome, we were unwilling to leave. 

I saw this when I was at the FNB Stadium a couple of months ago for Bafana Bafana’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against World Cup semi-finalists Morocco. 

There were so many attractions for this particular game, but just not enough attention was given to it by the public.

Tickets were sold for as little as R20, and yet there was still a sea of empty seats. Pre-Covid, this type of match would have been packed to capacity.

More than social events, things have not improved for South Africans since then: rising interest rates, a cost of living crisis that cuts through the poor and the middle class, an energy crisis with no end in sight, and a fuel price so high that we are all looking around for smaller cars — which we can’t afford either. 

And so here we are, at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, searching for more than ourselves as a nation. Seeking the enthusiasm and vibrancy that the pandemic stole from us.

This time, I am not chasing former Springboks for stories and I don’t plan on going to the airport when the Boks return. But I will be wearing the same Springbok jersey from 2019 for every game and screaming the national anthem at the top of my lungs. 

All I ask for in return is renewed hope and enthusiasm. I pray that the Springboks can give me that.

The usual two hour load-shedding schedules turned into 14 hour outages, thanks to the unstable power supply in some areas on the East Rand. It gets worse in Springs, where I reside — an internal dispute about overtime pay at the energy department means that, if the power goes out after working hours, it isn’t coming back till the next morning. 

I have a toddler who is addicted to the TV and it is difficult to explain to him that there’s load-shedding without experiencing a small tantrum. 

Luckily, I had a 150 watt portable power station from ACDC Dynamics that kept my devices going through this tough spell. 

150W is not a lot of power but it will charge your phone and laptop, keep your wi-fi running and, if you have a TV smaller than 55 inches, it will run it with no problems. 

Of course, you only have two plug points, so you have to prioritise the devices you need to keep alive at the time.

Powered by a 45 000mAh lithium-ion battery, the power station will not even drop below 75% if you charge your phone through the night. In fact, an iPhone 14 uses about 20W to charge its battery, which means that you could get up to eight charges. 

However, bigger appliances, such as TVs, which generally use up to 90W depending on the size, might only give you just over an hour and a half while plugged into the portable power station. 

You might want to save the luxury of watching TV for a more suitable time, such as when load-shedding has ended, but to keep your work essentials running, it’s a great product. 

The best part about small inverters or power stations with built-in batteries is that you avoid the hassle of recharging an external battery. When the power comes back on, you just take the entire portable power station and plug it into a socket. 

This one from ACDC Dynamics also comes with a car charger which helps if the power is out for longer than expected. It can also be charged using a solar panel. 

This portable power station is very light and easy to carry around. It can be thrown into a backpack and it might even feel lighter than carrying a lunchbox. That may be a slight exaggeration but it’s so light that you can take it with you if you are out and about at the weekend. And, because this is South Africa, you are going to meet load-shedding wherever you are. 

Thanks to this small device, I managed to stay online during working hours, write this review and even squeeze in a song or two from Moana for my toddler. 

Overall, it is a small and subtle gadget that can be very convenient in our dark times. However, 150W means that it is just for your work essentials and it will not be able to run luxury appliances for the entirety of load-shedding, so you will have to use your discretion. 

Possibly, the only fault of this product is the price. The ACDC Dynamics portable power station can be found nationwide and its recommended retail price is R4 332. Competitors offer 150W portable power stations around the R2 000 mark.