Midlands Cleaning Equipment Services, Established in Howick in the KwaZulu Natal Midlands, Providing experienced and convenient service to all industry between Howick, KZN Midlands, Southern & Central Drakensberg and Estcourt, Ladysmith to New Castle, Kwa-Zulu Natal.
*Accredited Dealer of CEMSA (Cleaning Equipment Manufacturer South Africa)

Owner managed with over 30+ years technical experience in the Specialised Cleaning Equipment industry. We offer local and specialised service to Commercial, Industrial, Agricultural and all sectors in our region. 

Summary of our services available
• Supply of I-Vac, Vacuum, Pressure Cleaning and Specialised Floor Cleaning Equipment – Sweepers and Scrubbers, Spares and Accessories.
• Consumable Cleaning Equipment, Dispensers, Mops & Trolleys, Dust tools and Brushware, Buckets and Window Cleaning Equipment.
• Misting and Sanitation, Pump and Motor Builds and Machine Accessories.
• Repairs and Servicing of all brands of Industrial and Domestic cleaning equipment.
• Field Service and Repairs in the Howick, KZN Midlands, Southern and Central Drakensberg, Ladysmith to New Castle, Kwa-Zulu Natal.
• Advice and Design of Industrial Requirements and/or Installation, including specialized systems – liaisons regarding requirements of customers to architects, builders, electricians and plumbers.
• Training of client operators for High Pressure Cleaners, I-Vacs (Industrial Vacuum) – All Industrial cleaning equipment.
• New Machine Sales and Maintenance/Service contracts.
• Domestic cleaning equipment.

Feel free to contact us for brochures on any products you may be interested in.

Thank you for your time, we look forward to being of service.

*See full our range at CEMSA website https://cemsa.co.za/products/

More about Midlands Cleaning Equipment Services.

Dear Friends,

With last year being difficult to host Open Garden due to Covid, we have decided to open the garden to limited numbers on the basis of arranging to visit in advance by either WhatsApp or email. We would need to know your date of visit and numbers in your party.

We have had a good fall of snow and some early rain, so have decided to open the garden from Saturday 11th September through to the 3rd October.

The clivias are coming into flower and the early azaleas are in full bloom already.

The opening time is 9am daily and we will be open 7 days a week. Picnics are welcome.

The contact details to arrange a visit are:
WhatsApp 082 4433805 or 082 8988206
Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The entry fee remains the same at R50 per adult with children under 12 no charge.

Hoping to see you over the next couple of weeks.

Regards
John and Jenny

Benvie Garden, Karkloof, KZN

If you are thinking about investing in a retirement property, here are some considerations for successful retirement planning:
- Choose the right location. For example, the retirement community in the Midlands area is growing, and retirees enjoy a wonderful social life and lots of support here. These things are important.
- Think about how much space you really need. If you have too much space, you should consider downsizing. If you’re not using your space, you’re wasting the space and the money.
- Consider long-term value for money. You don’t know how long you’ll be around for after you retire so you want to be sure that you are set up for the long-term.

We've got some great properties for retirees on our books at the moment.

Contact Dormehl Phalane Property Group KZN Midlands to take a look!

📞 033-330 8066

The President of UWBC and I, the press reporter, took a sorely needed break and went on a jaunt to see some of the Western Cape’s floral wonders during the past week.

I think my head was already filled with the anticipation of what we were about to see when I wrote of forthcoming events in the last report. Please note correction below.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS FOR SEPTEMBER
Wednesday, 8 Sept: Halfway Toyota Howick Trips. Tabs in by 13h15
Saturday, 11 Sept: Greendale SuperSpar Comp. Tabs in by 13h15
Tuesday, 21 Sept: J Leslie Smith 2-4-2 . Pre-entry. (Date corrected)
Friday, 24 Sept: Woodstone Craft Café 2 Bowl Trips. Pre-entry.

GENERAL
Regular Play: Tuesday and Wednesday (Dress Casual) and Saturday (Dress Whites) play commences at 13h30. Please be at the club by 13h15 at the latest. Play on Tuesdays commences at 09h00. Please be at the club by 08h45 at the latest.

Coaching is available by arrangement – phone 033 239 2251 –evenings preferably after 17h00.

Members are reminded of the 2021 AGM which is due to take place on 18 September as per notice posted on club’s board on 23 August.

Nominations for members to serve on the club committee are now open. Please consider offering your services to your club.

More about Umgeni Waterfall Bowling Club

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Just in case you still have not got that lovely Spring feeling!!! Flowers will help.

Roses and gloriously fresh flowers, service excellence and value for money is what The Antique Rose Florist is famed for, with daily deliveries to the KZN Midlands area, stretching from Nottingham Road to Pietermaritzburg, including Howick.

For flower orders, deliveries AND weddings, chat to Lorrain or visit Shop 11a St John's Lifestyle Centre, Karkloof Road, Howick, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Cell:+27 (0)79 526 3940

More about The Antique Rose Florist at St Johns Village, Howick, KZN Midlands.

Our ladies at Angels Care Centre were spoilt rotten by an amazing SPAR owner who recognized us all for the work we do. It was a truly special day that created much excitement, laughter and a deep appreciation for what we get to do everyday as well as remembering just how remarkable each and every lady is on our team.

We love supporting each other and making sure we remember what makes us all special. Thank you again to our anonymous donor for the treat.

At Fern Hill Hotel, the deck and attached play area is a great space to hold a function or family gathering. Lots of fresh air and open space. To book your next get together, call us on 033 330 5071.

Scarves are an essential snuggle item which can instantly upgrade a favourite outfit, especially useful during our wet Spring season ahead in the KZN, Midlands.

'Just a taste of what’s arrived in our store today. Beautiful scarves R140 each.'shared Mushka.

Five iconic European and American dance companies will be showcased in the 23rd JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, presented by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts online from 24 August to 5 September 2021.

The historic New York based Limón Dance Company, UK’s ACE music and dance, Germany’s Hannah Ma, Sweden’s Cullberg, and Spain’s Aïda Colmenero Dïaz will feature in the JOMBA! European and American Crossings Platform.

The UK, Birmingham based ACE music and dance, which celebrates a long history of connections with South Africa, have come to JOMBA! presenting one of their signature works TEN directed by Gail and Ian Parmel and choreographed by José Agudo. Full of intense physical power and human fragility, TEN explores the concepts of moving away and leaving, looking at how and why people choose imagined destinies over the lives they always thought they'd live. Inspired by global migration, TEN is a visceral and exhilarating dance production combining contemporary dance with an essence of Flamenco, Kathak, Martial Arts and ACE's inimitable Afro-fusion style. (Wednesday, 25 August at 7pm)

The historic New York based Limón Dance Company who will showcase two dances by José Limón which are considered among the 20th Century’s greatest works of modern choreography presented, alongside a contemporary new piece Suite Donuts by emerging choreographer, Chafin Seymour. Artistic director to this historic American company, Dante Puleio, says that “the pairing of these works now seems fortuitous. Recent political events which have further raised awareness of social consciousness and racial justice make this group of dances all the more important today”. The company presents: Suite Donuts (2020) by Chafin Seymour, The Moor’s Pavane (1949), and There is a Time (1956), both by José Limón. (Friday, 27 August at 7pm)

Sweden’s Cullberg - in collaboration with Norrlandsoperan – will present a remarkable screen dance film On Earth I’m Done choreographed by Jefta van Dinther and performed by Suelem de Oliveira da Silva. In the archaic-futuristic diptych On Earth I’m Done, the audience is transported to a place torn out of the conventional space-time continuum. The first part of the diptych (which JOMBA! audience will be watching) Mountains, is a solo and is directed for film by Simon Flack.

Choreographer van Dinther says, “I try and tackle the question of how to be and stay in love with our ever-changing world. Through an expulsion of words, both familiar and foreign, the performer on stage acts as a conduit, lamenting on behalf of others. Her being unravels in the connection between the physical, biological and anthropological; between and desire - it is a race for survival!” (Wednesday, 1 September at 7pm)

Hannah Ma (hannahmadance), a German-Chinese choreographer born in Berchtesgaden, Bavaria with her award-winning dance focus that lies on contemporary rituals and the translation of archaic roots within our society also features on this platform. She presents ONDA - into the unknown, a collaboration with Sebastian M. Purfürst from LEM-studios in Berlin. ONDA is magnificent research type performance and art space production, curiously discussing the relationship of humans and nature against the background of anthropocentrism. Ma explains that her work is a “visual dance engagement with how do we define the ‘non- reproducible magical soul’, the aura, the prehistoric part in every individual, the meaning of love in this modern, digitalised and globalised society”. Her work, which crosses the divide between live and digital dance installations, has won numerous European dance awards. (Friday, 3 September at 7pm)

She Poems (Spain) is set to be the illustrious closing night film of the festival. The festival hosts Spanish dancer/choreographer Aïda Colemenero Dïaz who has made a series of beautiful short screen dance films called She Poems made during her on-going travels in Africa.

She Poems is Dïaz’s project, inspired by poems written by women, created and produced on the African continent by a new generation of female performing arts creators. Begun in 2013, and still on-going She Poems has produced 20 dance short films, 6 contemporary dance pieces and a photographic series of visual beauty and power. The creators of She Poems are unique and pioneering artists who, from their particular and varied African geographical, cultural and personal context, engage in intimate creative processes to transform a poetic score into body and audiovisual language, using performative codes that originate from their immediate daily environment, their heritage and their own creative impulse.

Aïda Colmenero Dïaz is an artist, actress, choreographer, dancer, filmmaker and a performing arts curator born in Madrid of Galician descent. Aïda is a leading artist in Spain thanks to her avant-garde career, which has led her to explore unusual regions of the world and to embark on unique creative processes, crossing borders and providing a complex and alternative reflection on identity and cultural heritage. Through her work, marked by her multidisciplinary creative capacity, she aims to connect minds, build geographical and cultural bridges, and recover historical memory. (Sunday, 5 September at 7pm)

The festival can be access FREE online here: https://bit.ly/WatchJomba

Full programme available here: https://bit.ly/JOMBAProg

News supplied.

'On the Wildcoast of South Africa's Eastern Cape, we are a small outreach NPO improving the lives of rural animals.

The Transkei Animal Welfare Initiative (TAWI) was set up in 2008 by Richard Norton who recognised a problem and set about working towards a solution. Since then, TAWI have been operating a Primary Animal Health Care (PAHC) service, primarily for domestic dogs, to 16 rural communities surrounding the TAWI Bush Camp.

During this time, a strategy particularly suited to indigent rural villages has evolved and proven both acceptable and successful.

In 2009 Isaac, a young local man, joined the team and worked very hard to become a qualified Animal Welfare Assistant (AWA). Isaac does everything! He translates, visits the villages, administers medication, worming tablets, immunisations, bathing and dipping, distributes supplies, fund raises and guides volunteers, not to mention fixes everything and helps improve the Bush Camp, making steps, hammocks and building things. Having lived in the area all his life, Isaac knows the communities in the local villages very well and has helped TAWI to foster strong relationships built on trust. Over the last couple of years, we have also been lucky enough to bring a couple of vets on board who donate their time and energies to travel to the region and help us sterilise dogs at a fraction of the normal cost.

The basic medication, education and support we have provided in these 16 villages has resulted in real improvements in the communities' ability to manage the size of their dog populations and ensure that the dogs they have are healthy and well nourished. Fewer and healthier dogs has improved the health of families in the villages too.

It has become increasingly evident that there is a considerable need and desire for PAHC services in other communities as we are being continuously approached to extend our outreach and operate in villages farther afield. TAWI therefore wish to both expand and remain a self-sustaining NPO in order to garner, supplement and compliment government and municipal health related services in working towards filling this gap by combating diseases most common in rural pastoral areas of the Eastern Cape, most especially in the O.R. Tambo region.' About TAWI - Transkei Animal Welfare.

Local Howick based vet. Dr Lee Pachonik of Midmar Vet Clinic (pictured below at a TAWI mobile clinic), considers it a privilege to be able to assist with these outreach clinics.

Please note this article covers the process for small scale retrenchments, large scale retrenchments (Section 189A) where an employer employs more than 50 employees incorporate many more complexities, the process is far more onerous, there are many more stakeholders, steps, remedies, and prescriptive timeframes.

Considering the backdrop of ongoing COVID as well as the recent unrest in KZN and Gauteng retrenchment has become a hot topic in the HR and labour law sphere once more.

Before considering retrenchments and employer needs to look at alternatives, these could include short-time or reduced working time, temporary lay-offs where these have been considered or already implemented and are not yielding the desired outcomes the employer can consider retrenchments.

What is a retrenchment as defined by the law? Retrenchment is a dismissal for operational requirements meaning it is a dismissal based on factors that are not linked to an employee but rather the employer’s business. Reasons for embarking on a retrenchment process in terms of the law would be financial and economic factors that affect the sustainability of a business, structural changes when you may be restructuring your workforce or technical reasons which may be a result of technological changes and certain previous positions may become redundant.

The Labour Relations Act requires an employer to consult with employees as soon as the employer contemplates that retrenchment is to take place.

As is the case with any dismissal there are very specific procedures required for retrenchment as well. Section 189 is very prescriptive in terms of the process that needs to be followed which covers the aspects of procedural fairness. Substantive fairness covers the reasons behind the dismissal and as mentioned above these are financial, technical and structural reasons. In many instances, I receive many requests to retrench a poor performer as the employer is at their wit's end and has not followed the incapacity (poor work performance route) and has drawn a line in the sand that enough is enough and wants a retrenchment this would immediately be an unfair dismissal and cost employer at the CCMA as the wrong reason and wrong procedure would have been used.

In terms of procedural fairness there are very specific requirements that need to be followed:
1. Once the employer has contemplated that retrenchments are a possibility the employer needs to consult with employees. A notice of an intention to consult must be issued to employees in writing, the contents of this document are very specific and if not done properly would backfire on an employer.

2. The consultation process itself aims to facilitate joint consensus-seeking between the parties and will cover the following: reasons for retrenchment, selection criteria, severance pay, proposed timing of the retrenchment, notice pay, alternatives to consider amongst others. A key aspect of the consultation is to hear any proposals from employees where they may have alternatives as to the retrenchment, can avoid the retrenchment, minimise the number of affected employees or delay or change the timing of the retrenchment. The employer is obliged to obtain these proposals and consider them properly and respond back to employees. Retrenchment is not to be a rushed process where the outcome is predetermined by an employer. The employer must allow time for proper consultations and hence the law requiring an employer to initiate the process as soon as they contemplate retrenchments. There may be additional considerations if your business is unionised or if your are member of a bargaining council.

After the conclusion of the consultation process if alternatives have been agreed upon these would need to be signed off, these may include new terms and conditions of employment and new employment contracts may need to be signed. If the employer could not implement the employee’s proposed alternatives a written notice of retrenchment needs to be issued to the affected employees and settlement agreements need to be drafted for the retrenched employees.

It must be noted that although the employees were consulted, this is still a dismissal and the employee has every right to refer the matter to the CCMA for Section 189 retrenchments and should the employer fail to meet the necessary requirements they may be liable to pay up to 12 months salary to the employee in compensation which would be a very expensive mistake for a company who has retrenched multiple employees and are on their knees financially. Even if you have followed the correct process the likelihood of employees taking the employer to the CCMA is very high as it’s their last bite at the ‘proverbial cherry’, they were not at fault in the dismissal and they have nothing to lose.

It is important to note that if a business is closing down this does not automatically mean that employees no longer have a job, to terminate the employment contract retrenchments need to be effected.

Retrenchments are a complex legal process that should be facilitated by a professional. If you are in the unfortunate position where you need to contemplate retrenchments please get in touch so I can assist.

Call Infinity HR Consulting on 087 073 6940 or 083 305 6219.

Modern electric fencing is perhaps the most versatile and cost-effective tool available for containing domestic animals or protecting plantings, poultry and livestock. It also has revolutionized sustainable agriculture by making rotational grazing (aka management-intensive grazing) easy and flexible.

Contact FenceWorks for more details.

Getting married? Fern Hill Hotel on the R103 just outside Howick, KZN Midlands is a beautiful choice.

More about Fern Hill Hotel

Meet Boesman (black) and Trompie (brown). These brothers are only 8 months old, and full of boundless energy!

They were surrendered to the SPCA as they aren't good with livestock. However, they are very good with children and other dogs. As the owner did not have cats, they are not sure whether or not they are good with cats.
Please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to give one or both of these loveable brothers a chance.

More about uMngeni SPCA

'It definitely didn't feel like Spring a few days ago!!

Our area is renowned for having 4 seasons in a day, but last weekend pushed this to the extreme!

Shorts, sundresses, sandals and slops on Friday 🌞👗👡

Scarves and snow jackets on Saturday!❄🧤🧣🧥

Knowing that our tyres were fit for purpose we headed out along the Boston Road which had been transformed into a magical winter wonderland!'

More about Hi-Q Howick

When it's not a braai day in the Midlands, it is a fireplace day or indoor braai day if you are really organised!

This is a fireplace weekend, something we know how to handle in the KZN Midlands. Thanks to Fires and Braais at Piggly Wiggly, days of drizzle, snow or sleet can be enjoyed at the fireside.

For all the wood or coal burning options you can imagine - call 083 653 7393.

More about Fires and Braais.

Discover quality Fine Art, Ceramics & Sculpture from top South African makers in ZULU LULU ART HOUSE Gallery. Bring the whole family for some creative fun - we have ceramic painting and a variety of other art activities in our Art Bar.

More about ZULU LULU, Piggly Wiggly Midlands, R103, Howick, KZN.

Come support by buying a sweet treat from our cake sale or enjoy a cup of coffee or tea and a piece of cake with a friend while supporting Hospice

Covid protocols apply.

More about Howick Hospice.