was the editorial director of Zed Books for 27 years and helped build its reputation as the pre-eminent radical academic publisher concerned with the developing world Robert combined a sharp analysis of current issues with a commitment to scholars from the global south, seeking out authors whose work and ideas were ignored by mainstream publishers. The books he made available in English for the first time included Nawal El Saadawi’s The Hidden Face of Eve: Women in the Arab World (1980) which drew attention to the widespread practice of female genital mutilation Among many important works commissioned by Robert were Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition, by Cedric Robinson (1983), and Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality, by Pervez Hoodbhoy (1991) Born in Cape Town, South Africa Robert was introduced to political activism by his father a human rights lawyer prominent in opposition to the apartheid regime Robert was educated at the Diocesan college in the city and then studied law at the University of Cape Town where he was on the executive of the anti-apartheid National Union of South African Students He graduated in 1965, and the following year married fellow student Marion Marquard, who later became a novelist under the name of Marion Molteno He then undertook a master’s in political science at the University of Manchester (1968) The couple moved to newly independent Zambia, where Robert taught public administration and political science at the University of Zambia. During that time he contributed to Politics in Zambia (1974), edited by William Tordoff, and wrote a textbook on civics for secondary schools. I first met Robert in Zambia in 1972 when writing a book about Africa and we remained in close contact for 50 years In 1976, during a political crisis at the university, Robert was detained on spurious charges for two months without trial, and then deported. He and his young family settled in Clapham, south-west London He then worked at the International African Institute as a founder of the Wandsworth Association of School Parents Robert took a prominent role in campaigns to save the Inner London Education Authority from abolition he became convinced of the potential of community action After his retirement, he became an influential figure, both in Wandsworth and across London, in the Living Streets movement to create healthier Partly as a result of a wide-ranging survey organised by Robert in 2019 Transport for London began reviewing all its pedestrian crossings to make them safer He also pressed Wandsworth council to introduce a trial of protective school street closures in 2020 The City’s Water and Sanitation Directorate recently successfully completed cleaning the Molteno and Newlands reservoirs as part of its annual proactive water maintenance programme This programme was adopted as part of the City’s commitment to ensure the highest quality drinking water is provided to our residents This work helps ensure that Cape Town’s tap water is safe to drink and use ∙       They are among Cape Town’s oldest reservoirs ∙       The Molteno reservoir can store 188,8 million litres of water ∙       Newlands storage reservoir can hold 132,6 million litres ∙       Newlands reservoir supplies water to Wynberg Reservoir Bishopscourt and all the way to Hout Bay and Llandudno The City’s annual maintenance work at Molteno and Newlands reservoirs included concrete repairs to the reservoir structures to ensure they continue to operate safely for decades to come ‘The City is very serious about maintaining our water infrastructure to ensure that our residents have a reliable water supply that is safe for them to use and drink annually maintaining our bulk water infrastructure is a critical part of this process This is in addition to the City monitoring the water quality at the reservoirs throughout the year ‘Cleaning a reservoir is a mammoth task that takes meticulous planning during the operation and once work on site has been completed ‘The City invested about R1,6 million in this latest maintenance work Between 100 and 150 staff were involved in each operation at these sites the reservoirs were allowed to empty and then scoured Teams put in the necessary contingency measures to ensure that there were no supply disruptions to residents supplied by these reservoirs because of this very important annual maintenance The work on site went well so we are ready to continue providing our residents with safe drinking water  ‘Thank you to all the staff who were a part of this annual maintenance programme and who continue to help look after our infrastructure throughout the year,’ said Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Sanitation We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings we will not be able to save your preferences This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again Please check your email and enter your one time pin below:   Open in Gmail Sorry there was an error loading the audio ‘Properly managed, the energy transition will benefit all,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa in his fourth State of the Nation Address Driven by climate change-related imperatives and spluttering South Africa is moving quickly to add hundreds of megawatts of cleaner renewable energy capacity to its energy mix From an industrial-sized laundry machine that has sat idle for years a sports programme that was condemned to failure from the outset to a pigsty that was never to be — these and other projects are unfortunate examples of how small towns and their residents — supposed beneficiaries of South Africa’s broader energy transition — can often be misled and sold false promises Expensive machinery like this industrial washing machine stands idle at the Laundromat in Molteno This is the story of Molteno, Sterkstroom and the Dorper Wind Farm, which might serve as a cautionary tale about the things that could go wrong in far-flung towns during the country’s nascent green energy transition.advertisementDon't want to see this? Remove ads It was just wasted on unsuccessful projects.” This is according to Mamoso May, CEO of the Dorper Wind Farm speaking after residents at a 2021 stakeholder engagement meeting raised the issue of money spent on enterprise development projects This remains wholly unpalatable to many locals who have since told Our Burning Planet that the operations and methods of the Dorper Wind Farm and its subcontractors have left them hundreds of thousands of rands in the red while others note that few of the wind farm’s interventions have ended in success and meaningful impact on the community Mamoso said “a list of projects is available as well as how much has been spent on each project” residents who spoke to Our Burning Planet alleged that the Dorper Wind Farm has been opaque and has operated in a paperless environment so as to obfuscate its financial misconduct Requests by both Our Burning Planet and residents to see this “list of projects” have been met with silence or otherwise ignored by May and Dorper Wind Farm employees The Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (IPPPP) office in the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy describes these requirements as “an important focus” of the IPPPP aimed at ensuring the build programme “secures sustainable value for the country and enables local communities to benefit directly from the investments attracted into the area” “Bid obligations are structured into seven categories enterprise development and socioeconomic development [Independent power producers] are required to contribute towards Enterprise Development and Socioeconomic Development initiatives in their respective communities These contributions are spent in areas such as education social welfare and enterprise development.” According to the Department of Mineral Resources independent power producers had contributed more than R578.8-million and R1.9-billion towards enterprise development and socioeconomic development initiatives It said the economic development commitments are regulated through the implementation agreement between the department and the independent power producers, adding that “the threshold commitment for socioeconomic development spend is 1% of revenue”.advertisementDon't want to see this? Remove ads This has not gone as planned in the case of Molteno and Sterkstroom Our Burning Planet has seen a number of documents related to the Dorper Wind Farm and its engagements with the relevant communities In addition to its official “Information Session Minutes” our engagements with residents and an analysis of a trove of documents raised several red flags in 2020 Dorper Wind Farm CEO May visited Molteno and Sterkstroom where she realised there was a gulf between “what was happening on the ground versus what was reported to Dorper.” As a result Dorper decided to replace LifeCo Unltd – a company hired to implement its enterprise development and socioeconomic development projects because Dorper lacked in-house capacity – with another service provider called KD Strategies Many of the unsuccessful projects had been overseen by LifeCo May is recorded as having said that “due to not having enterprise development agreements in place with those contracted service providers Dorper thought were the experts there is no legal president [sic] to hold them accountable for any of the money spent.” May went on to cite the example of a dry cleaner “who was paid R760,000 for dry-cleaning machinery which has to date not worked due to the lack of a three-phase electricity connection”.advertisementDon't want to see this? Remove ads told this reporter that the notion that May’s contention that she only became aware of the challenges once on the ground was a distortion of the truth In a letter to the chairperson and director of the Dorper Wind Farm Pillai explains that “Dorper/the CEO pre-approved the development plans (projects) and the activity budget – and only upon approval would Dorper transfer the necessary funds” and “any payment exceeding R50 000 was approved by Dorper/the CEO before payment was made” among others but just seven months into a multiyear agreement with Dorper its contract was terminated because the wind farm management wanted to engage with the community directly This is despite some community members saying KD was “doing a good job” The decision to end the contract early is now the subject of an arbitration process through interviews and trawling available documents begun to draw up a list of projects the Dorper Wind Farm has funded Outside a dilapidated building housing the town’s laundromat a sign proudly reads: “Dorper Wind Farm.” From outside the smell of laundry detergent wafts from filled bathtubs and the tell-tale signs of construction are all over the building a large Maestrelli 350-P dry-cleaning machine sits in the middle of the room told Our Burning Planet about her disappointment with the Dorper Wind Farm Expensive machinery like this industrial washing machine stands idle at the laundromat in Molteno “the service provider that was here said we can’t use the machine here because our electricity is two-phased Dorper must buy a transformer for us so that we have our own transformer here And Dorper said they are taking a machine to Pretoria “I went to Komani to buy a small machine and a dryer I am waiting for the machine to go so that I can use my own machine They broke the wall and had to [re]build it and they are going to break it again to take the machine out “Dorper did nothing good in Molteno,” she said Our Burning Planet has seen a letter of intent signed on 23 January 2021 by May which given that the equipment has remained unused since 2016 it is in the best interest of the project that Dorper Wind Farm take possession of the equipment that are currently in your possession We will also be taking possession of the chemicals — in order to safely [dispose] thereof.”  the machine still takes up room in the laundromat you see no millions… here we don’t have what you call… a youth centre Dorper [was] supposed to build a youth centre “So for me as… a man that is doing… a lot of things… because I can even teach children like drama ballroom and Latin America [dancing] and all those things you understand… to bring the youth back [but] where are we going to go here Amos Jikijela has a dream to provide low-cost meat to the residents of Molteno and says while the assistance from Dorper Wind Farm is good it isn’t enough to turn his dream into reality was one of the people who initially thought Dorper’s intervention in the town would be a good thing “Dorper initially came here and painted themselves as good messiahs.” He said he approached the Dorper Wind Farm with a proposal to build a pigsty as his butchery would be able to sell pork Given assurances that he would be supported “It affected my health badly,” said Jikijela explaining that when the Dorper Wind Farm and its subcontractors abruptly withdrew their support he was seen as a liar and purveyor of false hope to a hope-starved community he sits in his office a step away from fridges supplied by the Dorper Wind Farm bare and without much to show despite being promised substantial support Liana van Lill with unused sporting equipment Liana van Lill’s life has been made measurably worse by one of the farm’s “unsuccessful projects” Representatives of the Dorper Wind Farm “approached me last year [2021] to do a movement programme at the primary schools in Molteno and Sterkstroom After the proposal was approved we started implementing the programme at the schools [at the] end of August “Despite the fact that the programme was still in its early stages in December and after various discussions about the holidays even before the programme started and the schools that were very satisfied with the programme and the efforts made Dorper Wind Farm started withholding payments This is the only income for nine rural ladies who worked with me as coaches The contract was for a six-month trial period but they cut it short by not paying from December (after only four months) We can not afford lawyers to approach them,” said Van Lill “Dorper is now trying to discredit us by saying we are in breach and that we owe them money but we have all the hard evidence to prove otherwise Dorper Wind Farm owes Bounce & Move [Van Lill’s company] a total of R260,846.50,” she said Asked to respond to the various allegations and to provide the aforementioned documents that detail the successes and failures of the Dorper Wind Farm’s projects May said she was “somewhat perplexed about the questions raised” referring to the minutes in which she is quoted as saying money had not been stolen addresses most of the questions raised,” said May While the wind farm may have failed in many respects to uplift the community to the degree it had promised The project created 229 jobs for South African citizens during construction offset more than 486,928 tons of CO2 as of March 2016 Ramaphosa, in announcing his “energy action plan” recently, said the government would double the amount of new generation capacity procured through Bid Window 6 for wind and solar power from 2,600MW to 5,200MW. As South Africa accelerates its pivot into a post-fossil fuel epoch, the inhabitants of these communities and their doleful stories can be seen as a warning about how things can go wrong in the remote, sun- and wind-resource-rich corners of the country. OBP/DM Disclosure: This story was amended to reflect the comment received from LifeCo and Pat Pillai. The paragraph “Our Burning Planet sought a response from LifeCo, but is yet to receive one.” has been removed.  It noticeable that not one of the categories in the ‘bid obligations’ include skill, technical competence or track record. No wonder these projects fails. They are but low hanging fruit for shysters and crooks. ' + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.webview_notification_text + ' " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_title + " " + scriptOptions._localizedStrings.redirect_overlay_text + " Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness globally and for decades, Molteno and Ahmed glaucoma implants, operating on different mechanisms, have been used to treat complicated glaucoma with varying success. To assess the safety and efficacy of the Molteno glaucoma implant (MGI) versus the Ahmed glaucoma valve (AGV) in patients with complicated glaucoma. We comprehensively searched PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library and Science Direct) from inception till July 2023 and studies comparing patients with MGI and those with AGV in patients with complicated glaucoma. The primary outcome was intra-ocular pressure reduction at different time intervals. Secondary outcomes included surgical success rate, hypertensive phase, anti-glaucoma medication (AGM) and total complications. No significant difference was observed between the patients with MGI and AGV for the primary outcome. From the secondary outcome, AGV was associated with reduced anti-glaucoma medication use and significantly lowered the number of complications. https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=475539, identifier CRD42023475539. Volume 3 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fopht.2023.1307439 This article is part of the Research TopicInsights in Surgical Ophthalmology: 2023View all 6 articles Background: Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness globally and for decades have been used to treat complicated glaucoma with varying success Objective: To assess the safety and efficacy of the Molteno glaucoma implant (MGI) versus the Ahmed glaucoma valve (AGV) in patients with complicated glaucoma Methods: We comprehensively searched PubMed Cochrane Library and Science Direct) from inception till July 2023 and studies comparing patients with MGI and those with AGV in patients with complicated glaucoma The primary outcome was intra-ocular pressure reduction at different time intervals Secondary outcomes included surgical success rate anti-glaucoma medication (AGM) and total complications four studies were included with a patient population of 257 with refractory neovascular or advanced uncontrolled glaucoma Postoperative intra-ocular pressure reduction did not show significant difference between the two groups (MD: -1.34 Postoperative anti-glaucoma medication (MD: -0.07 Conclusion: No significant difference was observed between the patients with MGI and AGV for the primary outcome AGV was associated with reduced anti-glaucoma medication use and significantly lowered the number of complications Systematic review registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=475539 There are now several studies being conducted that compare these two types of glaucoma drainage implants for the treatment of refractory glaucoma As each implant has a unique set of advantages and disadvantages it is impossible to draw firm conclusions about differences in the findings of objective tests comparisons of the effectiveness and safety of these two techniques have not been systematically evaluated and published We therefore performed a literature-based meta-analysis to compare the efficacy and safety of the MGI with the AGV in the treatment of complex glaucoma and to determine the best course of action for complex glaucoma This meta-analysis examines the two glaucoma implants made by Molteno and Ahmed providing answers to important clinical queries and enhancing patient outcomes This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines (14) All articles retrieved from the databases were transferred to the EndNote X9 (Clarivate™ and H.A.U.R.) screened the remaining articles The studies were selected based on the following inclusion criteria: (a) the article was an original study and (c) outcomes of interest were reported and the reduction in antiglaucoma medication The exclusion criteria consisted of (a) studies without a valid comparison group a type of glaucoma drainage implant other than MGI and AGV and (c) outcomes of interest not being reported Despite employing standardized tools for quality assessment the inherent subjectivity in interpretation or potential disagreements among reviewers were mitigated by consulting another researcher These deliberations were aimed at fostering consensus among the investigators ensuring a unified understanding and application of the assessment criteria A p-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant A leave-one-out analysis was performed for the outcomes with severe heterogeneity Table 1 General characteristics of the included studies A meta-analysis of four studies (8, 18–20) showed that no significant difference was observed between the MGI and AGV groups in the outcome of postoperative IOP (MD −1.34, 95% CI −2.78 to 0.09; p = 0.07; I2 = 68%). However, IOP at 2 years showed a significant difference in the MGI group (MD −2.12, 95% CI −4.23 to −0.01; p = 0.05; I2 = 54%) (Figure 2) Figure 2 Forest plot of intraocular pressure at different time intervals Surgical success was defined as an IOP < 22 mmHg and > 5 mmHg without additional glaucoma surgery and without loss of light perception (18). A random-effects meta-analysis of four studies (8, 18–20) showed no significant association between the MGI group and the AGV group (RR 0.88, 95% CI 0.51 to 1.53; p = 0.65; I2 = 72%) (Figure 3) Figure 3 Forest plot of surgical success rate For the outcome hypertensive phase, no significant association between the MGI and AGV groups was found (RR 0.74; 95% CI 0.39 to 1.40; p = 0.35; I2 = 62%) (Figure 4) Figure 4 Forest plot of hypertensive phase Three studies (18–20) were included in the random-effects meta-analysis of postoperative antiglaucoma medication. The pooled result showed that there was no significant difference between the MGI and AGV groups (MD −0.07; 95% CI −0.79 to −0.65; p = 0.84; I2 = 80%) (Figure 5) Figure 5 Forest plot of postoperative antiglaucoma medication Four studies (8, 18–20) reported postoperative complications, and pooled results showed that patients in the MGI group experienced more complications than those in the AGV group. The results were statistically significant, and no significant heterogeneity was observed (RR 1.36, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.72; p = 0.01; I2 = 0) (Figure 6) Figure 6 Forest plot of total complications In a recent meta-analysis, the overall postoperative complication rates were similar between the two implants, the Aurolab aqueous drainage implant and the AGV. However, in our analysis, postoperative complications were fewer in the AGV group than in the MGI group (24) The Ahmed implant’s increased safety may be attributable to the restrictiveness of its valve, because, although non-valved devices may be associated with better IOP control, the lack of a restrictive valve that limits the flow amplifies the risk of hypotony and its associated complications (24) the success rates for both types of implants are comparable This study possesses several notable strengths it conducted a direct comparative analysis between the MGI and the AGV our meta-analysis segregated the studies based on the duration of the follow-up period the meta-analysis encompassed studies involving participants afflicted with diverse forms of glaucoma limiting insights into potential baseline factors influencing outcomes A comprehensive understanding of these aspects is crucial for refining future research in this field this meta-analysis assesses the safety and effectiveness of Molteno and Ahmed glaucoma implants and it indicates that the Molteno implants demonstrate greater success in sustaining low IOP the Ahmed valve exhibits fewer overall complications further randomized clinical trials with longer follow-up periods are necessary to validate and refine these conclusions These trials would not only confirm the existing findings but also enhance our comprehension of the safety profiles of these devices The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/Supplementary Material Further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fopht.2023.1307439/full#supplementary-material 1. Dietze J, Blair K, Havens SJ. Glaucoma. Available at: https://europepmc.org/article/nbk/nbk568748 Google Scholar Causes of blindness and vision impairment in 2020 and trends over 30 years and prevalence of avoidable blindness in relation to VISION 2020: The Right to Sight: An analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study Lancet Glob Health (2021) 9(2):e144–60 Utilization of various glaucoma surgeries and procedures in Medicare beneficiaries from 1995 to 2004 CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Local effects of previous conjunctival incisional surgery and the subsequent outcome of filtration surgery Am J Ophthalmol (1998) 125(6):805–18 PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Evidenced-based comparison of aqueous shunts Curr Opin Ophthalmol (2013) 24(2):87–95 PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Aqueous shunts in glaucoma: A report by the American Academy of Ophthalmology CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Comparison of double-plate Molteno and Ahmed glaucoma valve in patients with advanced uncontrolled glaucoma Ophthalmic Surg Lasers (2002) 33(2):94–101 A review of the ahmed glaucoma valve implant and comparison with other surgical operations Evaluation of the hypertensive phase after insertion of the Ahmed Glaucoma Valve Am J Ophthalmol (2003) 136(6):1001–8 A clinical study of the Ahmed glaucoma valve implant in advanced glaucoma Google Scholar Comparison of the double-plate Molteno drainage implant with the schocket procedure The PRISMA statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies that evaluate healthcare interventions: explanation and elaboration RoB 2: A revised tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar 16. Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Available at: https://www.ohri.ca/programs/clinical_epidemiology/oxford.asp Google Scholar PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Long-term results of Ahmed glaucoma valve and Molteno implant in neovascular glaucoma Ahmed glaucoma valve and single-plate Molteno implants in treatment of refractory glaucoma: A comparative study Am J Ophthalmol (2010) 149(6):893–902 A review on glaucoma drainage devices and its complications PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Five-year pooled data analysis of the Ahmed Baerveldt comparison study and the Ahmed versus Baerveldt study Evaluation of postoperative IOP control and complications with a modified surgical procedure] - PubMed Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12610405/ Google Scholar Comparison of Aurolab aqueous drainage implant with Ahmed glaucoma valve for refractory glaucoma: A meta-analysis CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Etiology and management of the hypertensive phase in glaucoma drainage-device surgery Molteno tube implantation for neovascular glaucoma Long-term results and factors influencing the outcome - PubMed Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8510903/ Google Scholar Antiglaucoma medications: a review of safety and tolerability issues related to their use PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar 29. Bartlett JD. Adverse effects of antiglaucoma medications. (1991). Available at: https://europepmc.org/article/med/1686842 Google Scholar Feroze A and Ahmed M (2023) Meta-analysis of Molteno glaucoma implants and Ahmed glaucoma valves: insights into efficacy and safety for complex glaucoma Received: 04 October 2023; Accepted: 16 November 2023;Published: 11 December 2023 Copyright © 2023 Raja, Bhimani, Alim Ur Rahman, Salman, Saeed Shaikh, Raja, Zafar Sayeed, Feroze and Ahmed. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Adarsh Raja, YWRhcnNoYnVkaHdhbmkwMUBnbWFpbC5jb20= Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish United States of America (28 October 2022) – Siphokazi Molteno debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York playing the role of Flora in Verdi’s La Traviata Her performance has received high praise from critics and she says her dreams have come true She graduated with degrees in music from Nelson Mandela University and the University of Cape Town She went on to win the Fleur Du Cap’s Best Performance in an Opera (Female) Award in both 2020 and 2022 for the role Siphokazi also received the 2020 Rising Star Encouragement Award in the Glyndebourne Opera Cup and received both the Ana María Martínez Encouragement Award and the Audience Choice Award at Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition in 2017 “I’m still in disbelief and words cannot express how grateful I am I waited for this moment since I was a little girl and little did I know that this dream will come true so early in my career.” – Siphokazi Molteno gave high praise for her debut performance “There were two house debuts of note a member of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program Flora often comes off as frivolous and flighty yet Molteno’s take on her was just the opposite.” Her season at the Metropolitan Opera will include her role as Flora in La Traviata and Sister Mathilde in Dialogues des Carmélites Take a look at her first performance shared in the reel below A post shared by Nomampondomise (@siphokazimolteno) Tyler Leigh Vivier is a writer for Good Things Guy Her passion is to spread good news across South Africa with a big focus on environmental issues Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id" "a6d0b6773c01eb84863371564e4deee8" );document.getElementById("d2d9e305b5").setAttribute( "id" and website in this browser for the next time I comment Would you like to receive truly phenomenal inspirational and good thing stories right to your inbox Then subscribe to our weekly GoodThingsGuy newsletter today I accept GTG’s Privacy Policy GoodThingsGuy is the home of everything good and those are the things that really matter We believe that there is good news all around us and over 1 million readers a month agree with us GoodThingsGuy was officially launched on the 1 August 2015 in order to only promote good news inspirational stories and promote only positive multi-platform media company that distills unique content across multiple media platforms We consider individual and corporate contributions through the website or mail us directly here. Be sure you have your GPS enabled and try again Subscribe to daily business and company news across 19 industries Molteno has an unforgiving climate and scant opportunities for local residents most of who are supported directly or indirectly by the factory The factory had previously been plagued by inconsistent electricity supply and poor quality municipality-sourced water which was insufficient for food manufacturing The company had to rely on borehole water to keep the factory going but this had come under increased pressure in recent months due to its proximity to the town's cemetery Legislation stipulates a separation of at least 1.5 km To compound these operational challenges further access roads into Molteno are riddled with potholes and frequently snowed under in winter There had previously been no proper grading facilities available resulting in major disruptions to the factory production line during annual snowfalls To avoid disrupting production over the several months it would take to repair the company needed to erect a new building adjacent to the old one The disadvantages of running the factory from Molteno soon began to outweigh the advantages "Moving the factory to Randfontein would have made more financial sense for the business but we knew it would have a devastating impact on the local community We felt a strong social obligation to remain in Molteno We have always been highly cognisant of the vital role that the factory plays in creating employment in the region but we could no longer carry on alone We needed to get local government on board in order to continue operating from the town." After lengthy negotiations spanning several months an extraordinary partnership between the Eastern Cape government and Foodcorp has subsequently been born Years of work were achieved in mere months as government set to work convincing the necessary stakeholders to invest in a water purification plant in the area Government eventually agreed to negotiate with Eskom to supply electricity directly to the factory the connection costs of which will be covered by the local municipality A tender has been put out by the Amatola Water Board for the construction of a water purification plant in the area worth R2 million and the Department of Public Roads has agreed to station a grader at the Molteno municipality during the harsh winter months to deal with heavy snowfalls The result of the PPP is the investment into the construction of an 8000 m2 factory adjacent to the existing site projected to increase daily production capacity from 16 to 23 tonnes The project is expected to last ten months with fulltime production in the new factory tipped to start from March 2013 building contractors have employed an additional 15 local labourers on-site during the construction period The old factory will be used as a warehouse to store raw materials and finished products A few of the many benefits associated with the new factory will include better working conditions for employees thanks to better insulation The new production facility will also enable the factory to achieve HACCP in ISO standard mayor of Inkwanca municipality (comprising Molteno and Sterkstroom) is pleased at the company's decision to continue its operations in the area "There is no way that government alone can employ people We need the private sector to come and create employment opportunities Government must also make conditions conducive for the private sector to be able to employ people so cooperation between the private sector and government is a good idea because they are now able to assist each other to deal with unemployment This project is a beautiful case study of the local community and government working together with the private sector to achieve a positive outcome." A new chapter seems to be on the horizon for Molteno with further investment tipped for the region Local government is now exploring the agriculturally rich district which provides mutton stock for the broader province as a possible destination for wind and solar energy generation A new guesthouse is being built (no small feat for a town with only three guesthouses) and there is a palpable feeling of excitement across the small local community Proud local residents are eagerly anticipating the completion of the new factory which many believe will "put the town back on the map." Led by company's renewed confidence and investment in Molteno the Eastern Cape's sleepy town of dreams may yet awaken to its full potential Choose a topic below and thereafter view all articles on the topic using the "Next >" button or swiping left Choose a topic below and thereafter view all articles on the topic using the "Next >" button or the keyboard right arrow key “ECD is the fundamental education which prepares children from birth to age nine with a solid foundation for future learning by developing them physically cognitively and socially,” explains Masennya Dikotla the CEO of the Molteno Institute for Language and Literacy This particular course focuses on acquiring knowledge and skills to work with children from birth to age five in Pre-Grade R Available in all South Africa’s official languages the course builds on the prior knowledge of practitioners This qualification enables one to facilitate the all-round development of young children in a manner that is sensitive to culture and individual needs (including special needs) and enables one to provide quality early childhood development services for children in a variety of contexts The course outline on this early childhood development qualification includes modules on the following: Introduction to the early childhood development sector theories and perspectives of childhood development planning and programme development in early childhood settings facilitation and mediation of active learning as well as observation and assessment in early childhood development “A key aspect of the course is learning through play,” explains Masennya “Playing is critical to a child’s healthy development and learning Molteno has focused mainly on promoting literacy among children in Grades 1 to 3 but we made the decision to run this course because research has shown that children – especially those living in rural areas – who don’t attend preschool are put at a huge disadvantage when they reach Grade 1 and as they transition to higher grades.” The course will be led by experienced Molteno trainers and take place at the Funda Community College in Soweto if practitioners can’t travel to the college tutorials can be arranged in their provinces participants will receive an Occupational Certificate: Early Childhood Development NQF Level 4 SAQA ID 97542 They will be qualified to teach children in Pre-Grade R and will receive 131 credits which enable them to register for an ECD diploma Registrations for this course are now open and close on 31 January 2019. For more information or to register, visit: www.molteno.co.za Wales (19 June 2023) – Nombulelo Yende and Siphokazi Molteno flew the South African flag in Cardiff The talented pair performed and competed at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition going up against some of the world’s most talented performers The BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition takes place every two years with this being its 40th anniversary The show is credited with launching the careers of some of the most acclaimed opera singers in the world A total of 16 performers are invited from all around the world The 16 performers are chosen for this competition after undergoing three virtual rounds Hundreds of opera performers apply but only the 16 best make it Considering that two South African opera singers got to perform both made it all the way through to the finals Nombulelo Yende (31), sister to famed opera singer Pretty Yende has been building a career in her own light She travelled to Cape Town after high school where she attended the University of Cape Town studying Opera with Professor Virginia Davids she set off to make her way in the world of Opera “Upon completing my studies I joined Oper Frankfurt’s Opera Studio in the 2021/22 season during which time I made my European debut singing Der Huter der Schwelle des Tempels and Falke Die Frau ohne Schatten Lover Il tabarro and Suor Dolcina Suor Angelica My second season roles included Polya in Tchaikovsky’s Charodeyka Sandmännchen Hänsel und Gretel and my role debut as Tatyana in Eugene Onegin.” Audience Prize and several special prizes at the Stanisław Moniuszko Vocal Competition in Warsaw She has also earned the Audience Prize at Neue Stimmen 2019 and the Grand Prize and Audience Prize at Vincenzo Bellini International Belcanto Competition 2018 Nombulelo Yende shared her joy in being able to perform via her Instagram “Being part of the 16 singers that sang in the live rounds and sharing the stage with my amazingly talented colleagues was a true honour on its own and I will forever be grateful that I have no doubt that we will be seeing more of each other on the World stages.” In October 2022, she debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in New York playing the role of Flora in Verdi’s La Traviata Their performances have not yet been placed online for public viewing, but you can watch them via the BBC’s website here "a1673f1f3146b95deeaf7aa0283fc18c" );document.getElementById("d2d9e305b5").setAttribute( "id" two Eastern Cape towns 165 kilometres apart on the R56 the alternative route between Durban and the Western Cape have significance for having produced two well-known Springbok cousins who both happened to debut against England at the beginning of the period featured in Battle with the Roses (SuperSport 2 and 13 while he was not a relative of the two Andrews cousins it should perhaps be pointed out that there was a third well-known post-isolation Bok forward Du Randt and Mark Andrews did not school together but they were both reared in the farming community of Elliot which has the impressive Eastern Cape Drakensberg mountain range as a backdrop “It is why I have cholesterol problems now I was brought up in a hotel environment,” he joked when I did a book interview with him last year The Andrews cousins made their Bok debuts 18 months apart but at vastly different stages of their respective careers And their experiences were both very different too Keith made his debut in the first post-isolation test at Twickenham in November 1992 while Mark made his two years later in the second test of the 1994 series in Cape Town For Keith it was a case of becoming a Bok in the nick of time: He was already 32 when he first wore the green and gold and his tour appearances for the Boks in Argentina at the end of 1993 that preceded his international debut came when he was still in his first season of top rugby For both of them the games were a first for the Boks Keith played in the first post-isolation game against England Mark played in the first victory against England “I was part of the first post-isolation tour which included a two-test series against France but it wasn’t until the last test of that two-month tour that I made my international debut,” recalls Keith “What I most vividly remember was standing there for the anthems and I got so caught up in the occasion that I had to stop myself from joining in with ‘God Save the Queen’ I remember thinking to myself 'What is the matter with you You’re not even from this country!’ The atmosphere was just so great and I can remember seeing my footmarks on the grass and thinking to myself that maybe I am from this bloody country after all “The first half gave me a taste of what it must have been like to play for Northern Transvaal with Naas Botha in the team I had spent my entire career playing against him for Western Province on what turned out to be the last day of his top-class career Naas put over a drop goal and I remember thinking that he was underlining what a great player he was “We led at halftime but the second half was very different from the first With the rain starting to come down they put the ball in behind us and won quite comfortably My stand-out moment in the test was trying to tackle Rory Underwood There was a picture of me in the papers the next day diving in the air If there had been a TMO in those days the try would never have stood Keith was in the South African Invitation team that played the Bulls in the curtain-raiser to the next test against England and Mark remembers the mood at the Loftus cocktail party afterwards “What I distinctly remember is Keith coming into the room and saying to me that was a good game to miss’,” recalls Mark captained by Francois Pienaar and coached by Ian McIntosh to put it right at Newlands seven days later and Mark was one of the new players selected for the task Mark remembers a typical McIntosh ploy to get the players up for the game “When we arrived in our hotel rooms there was a newspaper article pinned on the walls and mirrors and the headline read ‘Is this team a joke?’ There were pictures of all the guys who had just been brought into the team Mac had arranged for the articles to be placed there “I always found I lifted a few gears when people wrote me off and that test against England was my coming of age… With my first hit I just tried to kill someone and I think I partly dislocated my shoulder in the process physical - and I cannot emphasise that word enough - as I could possibly be exactly the same margin as the Pretoria game and a great way for my international career to start.” The documentary on South Africa’s rugby rivalry with England which of course came to a head in last year’s World Cup final in Japan 'The Battle with the Roses' will be screened on SuperSport 2 and 13 at 9:45am on Friday and again from 7:50am on SuperSport 2 on Saturday Metrics details To evaluate the surgical success results of Ahmed glaucoma valve (AGV) and Molteno single-plate implant (MSPI) in cases of neovascular glaucoma (NVG) 38 of 38 NVG patients that underwent implantation of AGV and 27 eyes of 27 NVG patients that underwent MSPI (a total 65 eyes of 65 patients) included to the study The cumulative probabilities of success were 63.2% at 1 year and 25.2% at 5 years in AGV group whereas the cumulative probabilities of success were 37.0% at 1 year and 29.6% at 5 years in MSPI group (P=0.141) Preoperative visual acuity <2/200 (P=0.003) and preoperative IOP≥35 mmHg (P=0.038) were found to be poor prognostic factors for surgical success Both AGV and single plate MSPI were successful for early and intermediate-term of IOP control but in long term both implants were failed to achieve control of IOP in patients with NVG we evaluated 5-year efficacy and safety of Molteno single-plate implant (MSPI) without pressure ridge and Ahmed glaucoma valve (AGV) in eyes with NVG and examined the factors that influence the outcome A total of 37 (94.7%) patients in AGV group and 25 patients (92.6%) in MSPI group had undergone retinal photocoagulation or postequatorial cryoablation before surgical intervention Only the first eye of patients who had bilateral surgery was considered in the analysis of surgical outcomes All tube implantation procedures were performed by three experienced glaucoma surgeons (ISY We randomly selected the type of the implant for our patients A fornix-based conjunctival flap was created between two adjacent recti muscles and extended 90° Before placement of the tube implant body to the sclera tube was irrigated with saline solution to open the valve mechanism The implant's polypropylene body was sutured to sclera with 6.0 polyester suture tube was tied off with an absorbable 6.0 vicryl suture The tube then trimmed and the anterior chamber was entered from 1 mm posterior to corneoscleral limbus with 23-gauge needle A human donor pericardium was placed over the tube and sutured to the sclera with 10.0 nylon suture The following information was documented for each patient preoperatively; age and intraocular pressure (IOP) before tube implant surgery Postoperative visual acuity and IOP was recorded at each visit after tube implant surgery The number of postoperative glaucoma medications early (0–3 months) and late postoperative complications were also recorded ‘Hypertensive phase’ has been defined as IOP greater than 21 mmHg in the first 6 postoperative months Surgical success was defined as IOP <22 mmHg and >5 mmHg without additional glaucoma surgery and without loss of light perception Postoperative use of antiglaucoma medications was not accepted as a criterion of success or failure The definition of hypotony in this study was IOP of 5 mmHg or less in two consecutive visits we compared the cumulative probablity of success rates in the patients according to age WinSTAT for Microsoft Excel Version 2001.1 program was used for statistical analysis The paired t-tests and Mann–Whitney U tests were used to assess differences in continiously scaled variables before and after surgery Mantel–Haenszel χ2 test was used for comparision of the qualitative data between the two groups The cumulative probability of success was analysed by Kaplan–Meier life-table analysis and intercurve analysis was performed using the log-rank test A statistically significant difference was defined as a P-value <0.05 A total of 38 patients in AGV group and 27 in MSPI group and a total of 65 patients were included in the study (Table 1) As shown in Table 2 and Figure 1 the mean preoperative IOP was 39.5±4.5 mmHg (31–56 mmHg) in AGV group, 39.3±3.9 mmHg (30–45 mmHg) in MSPI group (P=0.882). Mean Intraocular Pressure changes from baseline to 60 months follow-up between the groups The AGV group showed a greater decline in IOP at each visit postoperatively and it was statistically significant at 3 (P=0.009) and 6 months (P=0.040) postoperatively The percentage of reduction in IOP was 52.6% in AGV group and 57.7% in MSPI group at last visit Hypertensive phase was present by 7/38 (18.4%) patients in AGV group whereas 8/27 (29.6%) patients in MSPI group This period was controlled with antiglaucoma medications in all patients in both groups The Kaplan–Meier life-table analysis of the total 65 patients were 52.3% at 1 year, 44.8% at 2 years, 37.8% at 3 years, 34.6% at 4 years, 26% at 5 years in all implant groups. Mean survival time of the all patients by Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was 29 months (Figure 2). Cumulative probability of success of the all implant patients over a 5-year period The overall success rates of the AGV were 63.2% at 1 year, 56.1% at 2 years, 43.2% at 3 years, 37.8% at 4 years, and 25.2% at 5 years. Mean survival time of the AGV patients by Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was 34 months (Figure 3). Cumulative probability of success of the Ahmed Glaucoma Valve group and Molteno Single Plate Implant group over a 5-year period in NVG patients The success rates of MSPI were 37, 29.6, 29.6, 29.6, 29.6%, respectively. Mean survival time of the MSPI patients by Kaplan–Meier survival analysis was 22 months (Figure 3) Although the success rates always higher in AGV group in all periods of time the log-rank test indicated no significant difference between the two groups (P=0.141) Patients older than 50 years of age were more likely to have a successful results (Age<50 years 21.43% vs Age⩾50 years 41.18%) in all groups but it was not statistically significant (P=0.925) We also compared surgical success rates between AGV and MSPI groups in 50 years older and younger NVG patients but it was not statistically significant (P=0.144) The success rate of male gender was 41.03% and female gender was 30.77% in all groups and it was not statistically significant (P=0.267) There was also no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of gender (P=0.074) We compared all patients according to their preoperative visual acuities better than 2/200 or worse The patients with preoperative visual acuity better than 2/200 achieved statistically significant surgical success than visual acuity<2/200 (P=0.003) Patients with CRVO had a better surgical outcome than DM and this was statistically significant (P=0.050 Success rate of CRVO was 48.15% 50 vs 23.53% in DM group in all patients CRVO patients was more successful than DM patients in both groups (48.15 and 52.94% in AGV group vs 23.53 and 26.32% in MSPI group) (P=0.083) The success rate of the patients with preoperative IOP≥35 mmHg in all group was not statistically significant (P=0.106 log-rank test) but AGV patients were more successful than MSPI patients according to preoperative IOP≥35 mmHg (P=0.038) The mean number of glaucoma medications was reduced from 3.4±0.5 in the preoperative period to 1.7±1.6 in last postoperative visit in AGV group (P=0.000) and from 3.4±0.5 to 1.8±1.2 (P=0.000) respectively The most common complication in the early postoperative period (0–3 months) was hyphema in both groups (Table 4) All the hyphemas were reabsorbed without any surgical intervention Tube occlusion occurred in three (7.9%) eyes in AGV group and four (14%) eyes in MSPI group and treated with tube irrigation (five eyes 18.5%) and argon laser photocoagulation to iris around the tube (two eyes 5.3%) Choroidal effusion was developed in two (5.3%) eyes in AGV group and five (18.5%) eyes in MSPI group All the eyes had peripheral serous choroidal detachments and none of these was drained One (3.7%) patient in MSPI group had a suprachoroidal haemorrhage and it was drained surgically Hypotonia occurred in two eyes (5.3 and 7.4% Two eyes (5.3%) in AGV group and four eyes (14.8%) in MSPI group developed shallow anterior chambers The anterior chamber of the two eyes in MSPI group was reformed during the first postoperative week because of lens-corneal touch The main late postoperative complication of the both groups was phthisis bulbi in three eyes (7.9%) in AGV group and four eyes (14.8%) in MSPI group. (Table 5) Phthisis bulbi was secondary to progression of the proliferative retinopathy in all cases two underwent needling+Mitomycin-C injection in AGV group and three eyes (11.1%) of all underwent same procedure in MSPI group The low rate of this phase could be related to medications that we used in this period or ciliary ischaemia in NVG both AGV and MSPI are effective for lowering IOP in NVG patients both implants were poor for maintaining clinical success survival because underlying retinal disease progression diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and preoperative high IOP levels were main bad prognostic factors for tube implantation in NVG 5-Fluorouracil filtering surgery and neovascular glaucoma Long-term follow-up of the original pilot study Ophthalmic laser microendoscope ciliary process ablation in management of neovascular glaucoma Tube-shunt surgery vs neodymium:YAG cyclophatocoaculation in the management of neovascular glaucoma Filtering valve implant surgery for eyes with neovascular glaucoma Long-term results and factors influencing the outcome Experience with the Baerveldt glaucoma implant in treating neovascular glaucoma Evidence-based recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of neovascular glaucoma Comparision of Double-plate Molteno and Ahmed glaucoma valve in patients with advanced uncontrolled glaucoma Randomized clinical trial of the 350-mm2vs the 500-mm2 Baerveldt implant: Longer term results Survival analysis for success of Molteno tube implants Long-term results of Neodymium:Yttrium-Aluminum-Garnet cyclophotocoagulation in neovascular glaucoma Intermediate-term clinical experience with the Ahmed Glaucoma valve implant Initial clinical experience with Ahmed glaucoma valve implant Intermediate-term outcomes of 350-mm2 Baerveldt Glaucoma Implants the Krupin eye valve with disk and the Double-plate Molteno Implant Krupin eye valve with disk for filtration surgery The Krupin Eye Valve Filtering Surgery Study Group Clinical experience with the single-plate Molteno implant in complicated glaucomas: update of a pilot study Follow-up of the original cohort with the Ahmed glaucoma valve implant Long-term survival of Molteno glaucoma drainage devices Download references We thank to Mr Oktay Özdemir and OMEGA Group for statistical consultations The authors have no proprietary interest in any device or technique described in this study Partly presented at the Turkish Satellite Meeting 5th International Glaucoma Symposium (IGS) Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.eye.6702125 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Soccer Laduma (@soccer_laduma) Local International Off The Pitch Podcasts & Videos CardiffAdolfo Corrado’s dramatic bass took the honours but over the week’s competition there was plenty of excellent stylish singing – and unexpected coloratura fireworks Italian bass Adolfo Corrado was the surprise winner of the main prize in the final round of this biennial singfest emerging to beat two mezzos and two sopranos having trained as an actor before discovering his singing voice – by now a formidable sound – Corrado has already been fast-tracked to the stage of La Scala Milan but the prediction of the vocal cognoscenti here that he would become a very fine Verdi baritone may give him pause for thought It was indeed in his Verdi aria from I Lombardi that Corrado’s dramatic vigour came through most convincingly, with his acting skills also in play as Figaro and Dr Bartolo in the more conventional arias by Mozart and Rossini. All Italian, and all the better for exemplary diction, but arguably too narrow a focus. Yende’s aria from Moniuszko’s Halka was deeply emotional but so controlled as to seem effortless when soaring high Reining in some of her power for Tatyana’s Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin personality and fire were nevertheless evident For many – and I include myself among them – Molteno’s glorious mezzo was the most memorable voice and she showed an unusually wide choice of repertoire the richness right through her considerable vocal range in Octavian’s aria Wie du warst from Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier An intensity of demeanour disappeared when Rossini’s Una Voce Poco Fa – more usually a soprano lollipop – she was relaxed comfortably comic and showing herself to be a mezzo with knockout coloratura Conductors Ryan Bancroft and Michael Christie gave sympathetic support with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales You are not permitted to download, save or email this image. Visit image gallery to purchase the image earned an international reputation for his research is used to control the progression of glaucoma caused by damage to the optic nerve; it has been implanted in thousands of patients worldwide Prof Molteno established the Otago Glaucoma Surgery Outcome Study a long-term follow-up study into glaucoma surgery It followed more than 1000 eyes with a Molteno implant and more than 1000 eyes that had a trabeculectomy at Dunedin Hospital since 1977 to determine their long-term outcomes Prof Molteno published nearly 100 articles and seven book chapters His work received many international and national honours and awards He became an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2006 New Year’s Honours and received the Goldmann Medal from the International Glaucoma Association in 1998 for his significant contribution to the understanding and treatment of glaucoma I am the leader of the Tart open-source radio telescope project that started here at Otago and now is being deployed in various nations in Africa and Europe I keep pinching myself because it is hard to believe that people halfway around the world would appreciate a Kiwi project that I started a decade ago without any grand designs I love to see people using technology and understanding that technology we are no longer slaves to that technology I love to create open-source projects that involve groups developing technology together What is your earliest memory of doing something that now relates to your career I remember trying to write a computer program to predict how stars would move when I was a teenager Now I know that my approach was completely wrong Both of them were fascinated by how things worked My dad helped hugely by making things with me when I was young for a computer hacking incident in the United States It took over a decade to straighten out with United States authorities he admitted hacking into the computer system of his former US-based employer a now-defunct internet music business started by his former neighbour The case was tried in New Zealand on behalf of the US and he was convicted on two charges of unlawfully interfering with data in the BuyMusicHere database and one of deleting data from the system without authority It seems the results of his court case did not get through to Interpol.] Who would play you in the film of your life I hope that there won’t be a film of my life I pinch myself every day — I think I have a dream job already I feel incredibly lucky that my day job involves building cool gadgets I’d like the job of running New Zealand’s Science and Technology programme I’d love to try something different to get the best out of our nation’s researchers Who would you invite to your dream dinner party and listen to them solve the world’s problems I love to hear serious discussion between passionate people who disagree on something important Guests would have to be chosen carefully because people who are willing to tolerate alternative points of view are as rare as hen’s teeth What single thing would improve the quality of your life This is a difficult thing to balance with work but perhaps I need to be a bit more extravagant and travel more what’s the most extravagant thing you’ve bought I bought a secondhand trailer-sailer yacht My dream holiday is to take it up to the Marlborough Sounds Lonely Day and Aerials are current favourites Worrying about the state of technical education in New Zealand I would love to be able to make meaningful change A little-known Dunedin medical company celebrated the 50th anniversary of the invention of the Molteno glaucoma drainage implant this month an implant which has changed thousands of lives worldwide since the mid-1960s ODT former health reporter and now senior business reporter Simon Hartley profiles the family company Molteno Ophthalmic Ltd Glaucoma is commonly known as "the thief of sight'' a buildup of pressure in the fluid of the eyeball which if left unchecked leads to blindness For some sufferers the pain can be excruciating To say that Emeritus Prof Anthony Molteno has "flown under the radar'' for the past half-century is a huge understatement unless you are a follower of the art of ophthalmology or a Molteno implant has saved your eyesight Much of this has been going on from a Dunedin address during the past 39 years refined and marketed their implant to save eyes from the devastating effects of glaucoma by draining off the excess fluid Nina Molteno (52) who has just taken up the reins who graduated from University of Otago and was until recently practising in Auckland credits her father's thirst for knowledge in general with enabling him to develop the drainage device with a lot of collaboration which has included physicists biologists and even zoologists,'' she said Prof Molteno took an early interest in ophthalmology working around the poorer areas of Cape Town as a student where he first came across severe cases of glaucoma "Africans have a naturally high incidence of glaucoma Conventional operations of the day were not always successful It just seemed ridiculous they couldn't be fixed,'' Prof Molteno said he become acting supervisor in a 64-bed eye hospital with 30,000 outpatients annually There was plenty of scope to help older patients but initially helping youngsters was not as successful starting then to develop an implant,'' he said While tubes of various materials had been trialled since the 1900s they often failed by forming a tough cap of scar tissue over the tube's outflow end Prof Molteno decided to design a new implant in an era where the starting point was using plastic tubes from inside a ballpoint pen heated and stretched to make the ultra-fine drainage tube required His breakthrough idea was to use a small plate for the fluid to drain on to so that if scar tissue formed it would be spread out over a wider area After the implant was tried successfully in rabbits he inserted the first new-style glaucoma implant into a human patient in July 1966 a toddler in South Africa with bilateralbuphthalmos a congenital glaucoma causing enlargement of the eyes due to high pressure he was able to publish the encouraging results of the first 47 surgeries in 42 patients with very severe glaucoma After a failed attempt to outsource to a manufacturer in 1973 Prof Molteno and his family manufactured all the implants to meet growing demand for the devices from his colleagues During that time he achieved an Ophthalmology Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh then worked at Stellenbosch University for eight years when Prof Molteno took up a position as a consultant ophthalmologist "There were major advances in drugs at that time and new man-made compounds were coming along,'' he said At Dunedin Hospital he was involved in setting up the Otago Glaucoma Surgery Outcomes Study It was to be a combination of emerging drugs new materials and the public-spirited patients in Otago and Southland who participated in the research which led to improvements in the implant design and surgical techniques which in turn continued to improve success rates and reduce complications "We improved the outcomes by using [then new] dissolving sutures to tie off the tube which made it [the glaucoma implant] a very safe operation,'' he said There are now more than 2000 cases in the Otago Glaucoma Surgery Outcomes Study making it one of the largest studies of glaucoma surgery in the world More than 1000 cases with Molteno implants have the longest follow-up data of any glaucoma implant Successful recipients over the years have included a 4-day-old baby with congenital glaucoma through to a woman of 92 Collaborative research between Prof Molteno Southern Community Laboratories and several international centres has helped work out why some surgeries are successful and some fail Prof Molteno is visibly moved when he recounts the generosity of many recipients and their families had since operated or overseen surgeries around the world In 1992 Molteno Ophthalmic custom-built a factory with a Class 350 "cleanroom'' in Dunedin and brought the entire production process in-house where the company still manufactures the implants Molteno exports 85% of the glaucoma implants manufactured each year While a Molteno drainage device can be inserted shortly after diagnosis each device can take four to six weeks to make under strict manufacturing conditions and with multiple checks throughout the process to meet international standards it is virtually invisible and can be expected to last for the rest of the patient's lifetime While in most cases "one size fits all'' some drainage devices have been designed for particularly large adult eyes or for children with abnormally small eyes Dr Molteno said sales at present were "modest'' but she hoped to double that by 2018 When the Molteno technique was understood and had gone global other companies replicated the technology and Molteno subsequently lost some market share Dr Molteno said the company was focusing on spreading the word about the high success rates of Molteno glaucoma implants The company would continue to support glaucoma research while also working on new research and development projects in complementary areas which could also have applications beyond ophthalmology • Glaucoma is a group of blinding conditions where there is a build-up of pressure in the eye • Congenital glaucoma in children may cause enlargement extreme light sensitivity and eventually the eye can turn opaque • Patients with glaucoma can go blind if left untreated • Some populations have higher or more aggressive types of glaucoma Molteno glaucoma drainage implants are made of a polymer plate about the size of a thumbnail and have a fine silicon tube attached Inserted into the front part of the eye near the iris the tube drains excess fluid away to the plate which forms a cavity which naturally disperses the fluid into the body's tissues Emeritus Prof Anthony Molteno began his career by implanting the first effective glaucoma implant into a toddler with buphthalmos (congenital glaucoma) in 1966 He published the results of his first Molteno glaucoma implant surgeries in 47 eyes of 42 patients in September 1969 in the British Journal of Ophthalmology Eye implants are now the most common surgical treatment for severe and complex glaucoma in some countries Prof Molteno manufactured the implants himself then in 1982 he and his wife established Optomat Supplies Ltd in Dunedin (since renamed Molteno Ophthalmic Ltd) Molteno Ophthalmic custom built a factory with a Class 350 ‘‘cleanroom'' in Dunedin and brought the entire production process in-house from where the company still manufactures the implants and trades Molteno exports 85% of the glaucoma implant devices manufactured each year New markets are opening up in South America distributors recently picking up the product in Argentina and Bolivia Molteno Ophthalmic was one of New Zealand's first medical implant exporters ● American Glaucoma Society's innovator of the year award in 2015 • International Society of Glaucoma Surgery's medal for outstanding achievement in 2014 ● Emeritus Membership of the Glaucoma Research Society in 2011 ● Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologist' distinguished service award in 2009 ● Lion Clubs International Foundation's Melvin Jones Fellowship in 2008 ● Awarded an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2006 New Year's Honours ● Received the Goldmann Medal from the International Glaucoma Association in 1998 for his significant contribution to understanding and treatment of glaucoma Retired University of Otago professor Anthony Molteno (77) at his Signal Hill home yesterday A Dunedin professor who invented the first drainage device for glaucoma has been honoured at a function at the Otago Museum Dunedin School of Medicine research fellow Tui Bevin said 85 former students registrars and colleagues of Prof Anthony Molteno travelled from across New Zealand and Australia to share stories at a glaucoma symposium and dinner to honour the ''delightful ''There were a lot of stories to tell,'' Mrs Bevin said Prof Molteno said the symposium was ''great fun and very nice'' ''It was a pleasure to see all my colleagues and the people who trained with me and we had a great time.'' Mrs Bevin said Prof Molteno earned an international reputation for his research most notably into the effects of the Molteno implant the first successful glaucoma drainage device and one still considered to be the ''gold standard'' He established and directs the Otago Glaucoma Surgery Outcome Study the world's longest ongoing follow-up study into glaucoma surgery His work received numerous international and national honours and awards The only high-reach ladder truck in Auckland broke down last night SAPeople.com is a division of Blue Sky Publications Ltd Reproduction without permission prohibited Home » PICTURES: Dogs and horses enjoy play time in the snow Snow blanketed large parts of South Africa this past week with more of the white stuff on the way in the coming weeks as winter hits Snow blanketed large parts of South Africa this past week with more of the white stuff on the way in the coming days – and weeks – as winter hits Mzansi and Lesotho resembled a winter wonderland Temperatures plummeted around Mzansi with no fewer than five provinces recording sub-zero temperatures in recent days It wasn’t just humans hurling snowballs at each other and building snowmen dogs and horses enjoyed (we think) the snow too judging by pictures submitted by Melissa Davel from Molteno in the Eastern Cape Stay warm out there, Mzansi – and glued to the SAPeople website for more pictures of the snow Images below received from Melissa Davel in Molteno in the Eastern Cape: Images below from Semonkong Lodge on the banks of the Maletsunyane River in the town of Semonkong in Lesotho: Images below from Ntata Bashanyana in Botshabelo in the Free State: Following a month filled with public holidays here’s the next date South Africans should note on their calendars Ekurhuleni has issued pre-dismissal letters to 389 metro police officers over their involvement in an illegal March strike The May 2025 SASSA Older Person Grants may face delays this week due to targeted verification procedures currently underway by the agency Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi insists that taking a strong position on illegal immigration should not be misinterpreted or misrepresented South Africans could soon apply for passports and smart ID cards directly through their banking apps Kelly Smith’s mother has publicly criticised her daughter for failing to reveal the whereabouts of her missing granddaughter