The Year Of The Choppies Juggernaut
Monday, December 21, 2015
Mohamed Osman. PIC:KENNEDY RAMOKONE
Reflecting on the year, Choppies director Ram Ottapathu singled out the listing in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange as a milestone moment for Choppies, although the process also required him and fellow directors to shed off significant chunk of their shareholding to meet the minimum required to float in the JSE. “It’s not that I wanted to, I was forced to sell, but I’m still the biggest shareholder and I have got no intention to step down”, says the man famously known as Ram.
South Africa became Choppies’ target for market expansion in the same period as the Botswana company took their tally of stores in the country to 40, adding 12 new stores in the Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Free State, and the North West Provinces.
The rise in defilement and missing persons cases, particularly over the recent festive period, points not merely to a failure of policing, but to a profound and widespread societal crisis. Whilst the Police chief’s plea is rightly directed at parents, the root of this emergency runs deeper, demanding a collective response from every corner of our community. Marathe’s observations paint a picture of neglect with children left alone for...