Last week it was time to renew Connor’s Vehicle insurance, and for once I actually sat down and read the fine print. Belinda insisted I double-check that he was properly covered…probably because she knows I normally don’t bother.

Anyway, after five years in Canada, I’ve been cruising around thinking I was all sorted. I mean, I had comprehensive insurance, right? Back in South Africa, that meant you were covered for pretty much everything. Accidents, theft, falling trees, probably even a UFO or two.

Turns out, in BC, “comprehensive” doesn’t quite mean what I thought. It covers things like theft and fire and animals running into the road, but not the actual accident if you cause it. If you crash your own car and you don’t have optional collision coverage, you’re not covered. And if someone hits your parked car and drives off? That’s a separate add-on too…

What really got me was realising that when we hit that deer last year, if I’d swerved and crashed into a ditch, I wouldn’t have been covered. I only had comprehensive. And if I had collision but not comprehensive, I wouldn’t have been covered for hitting the deer. So the only reason we got paid out is because I hit it straight on. No wonder the insurance wanted the video evidence.

Anyway, lesson learned. Go read your small print. Make sure you know what you’re actually covered for and what you’re not…

In This Week’s Newsletter:

• 🗓 Upcoming Events

• 🛂 Travelling to SA? Your Passport Might Be a Problem

• 🎓 Are You a Skilled Saffa Living in Canada? Marlize Wants to Hear From You

• 🤖 AI Thought of the Week

• ✅ That’s a Wrap

🗓 Upcoming Events

• Hemingway’s SAFFA Pub Night – July 16, Toronto, ON

• South African Pub Night in North Vancouver – July 21, North Vancouver, BC

• Saffella 2025 – July 25, Oakville, ON

• Afrikaans is Lekker Toronto 2025 – July 25, Oakville, ON

• Afrikaans is Lekker – Saskatoon 2025 – July 26, Saskatoon, SK

• South African Market – July 26, Saskatoon, SK

• Potjiekos Competition Alert! – July 26, Oakville, ON

• Afrikaans is Lekker – Calgary 2025 – July 27, Calgary, AB

• Boerewors Roll Day at Serengeti – July 26, Langley, BC

🛂 Travelling to SA? Your Passport Might Be a Problem

There’s been a lot of noise on social media lately about South Africans getting into trouble for travelling to SA with their Canadian or US passports. So let’s break it down properly.

The law has always said that if you’re a South African citizen, you’re supposed to enter and exit South Africa using your South African passport. That’s not new.

What has changed recently is a Constitutional Court case that the DA won. For years, if you didn’t officially apply to keep your South African citizenship when taking on another one, you automatically lost it. That meant loads of people were no longer considered SA citizens, so they just travelled on their new passports and carried on with life.

But now, thanks to that court case, everyone who lost their citizenship this way is considered a South African citizen again. Just like that.

So suddenly, a whole bunch of people are now dual citizens again — even if they haven’t been for years — and a lot of them don’t even know it. And if you’re a dual citizen, the law says you have to use your South African passport when you go in and out of SA.

So, what’s the risk?

This is where things get murky. A lot of people have still gone in and out using their Canadian or US passports without any issues. But it kind of depends on who you get at the airport.

I actually know someone personally — Michael, one of our founding members — who got stuck in SA for a month because of this. He moved to Canada when he was young and lost his SA citizenship. So when he travelled back to SA on his Canadian passport, the immigration officer saw he was born in Benoni and told him he had to enter as a South African citizen. Which meant using a South African passport… that he didn’t have.

So what followed? First he had to get his birth certificate. Then he had to get a South African ID. And then he could finally apply for a passport. It took him just over a month to sort it all out. Not exactly the holiday he was planning.

Others have had similar stories. Some people get stopped on the way out of SA and told they can’t leave until they’ve sorted out a passport.

Should you panic?

You’re probably okay. But should you take this seriously? Absolutely. While you might hear stories of most people getting through without a problem, the risk of being stopped is very real, and it's a massive headache if it happens to you.

Technically, if you’re a South African citizen and you enter or leave the country on a foreign passport, you’re breaking the law. I haven’t heard of anyone being locked up, but I have heard of people being stopped, delayed, or told they can’t leave the country until they get a South African passport sorted.

So no, don’t panic, but do take it seriously. If you’re planning a trip to SA and you’re not 100% sure where you stand, take the time to double check. If you still qualify as a citizen, rather sort out a South African passport now than deal with drama at the airport. And if you’d prefer not to keep your citizenship, you’ll need to officially renounce it — and that process can take up to six months, so plan ahead.

🎓 Are You a Skilled Saffa Living in Canada? Marlize Wants to Hear From You

Marlize Underhay (one of us) is doing her Master’s research at Royal Roads University, and she’s looking for South Africans who’ve been in Canada for at least a year to share a bit about their work journey here.

If you’ve been navigating the ups and downs of finding decent work, being told you need “Canadian experience,” or just figuring out how to get your foot in the door — this is for you.

The survey is short, anonymous, and takes about 15 minutes. It’s all about helping her understand what’s really going on for skilled South Africans in Canada, and how we can make things better.

👉 Click here to take the survey

Seriously, go fill it in. It’s for a good cause and it helps one of our own.

🤖 AI Thought of the Week

Last week, Elon Musk launched GROK 4 — apparently the smartest AI in the world right now. Well, for now. ChatGPT-5 is just around the corner, and it’s going to be even better.

These models are getting smarter by the day. Literally.

And that’s the thing I want you to really think about this week:

Whatever AI you’re looking at today — this is the dumbest it will ever be.

Tomorrow it will be smarter. The day after that, smarter still…

It’s not like us humans. Hey, look at me. I forget where I left my keys. I walk into rooms and forget why I’m there. I’ve had entire conversations I don’t remember at all. Let’s just say I’m not getting smarter or faster by the day…

But AI? It doesn’t get tired. It doesn’t get distracted. And it just keeps getting smarter, better, and faster. And it’s not going anywhere.

So seriously, take 10 minutes and think about the job you do.

Ask yourself honestly:

How much of what I do today can already be done by AI?

And what’s stopping it from doing the rest?

When Grok 4 launched, Elon said it’s already smarter than most people on Earth. It’s like having a PhD expert in every subject, all rolled into one. Sure, it still struggles a bit with common sense, and no — it can’t move your mouse and type your password just yet. But that gap is closing faster than you think.

When people say things like “AI can’t do this” or “AI makes stuff up,” all I can say is: yet.

It can’t do it yet. But it’s coming.

It’s like looking at a baby and saying it’s useless because it can’t walk. Yes, it can’t walk yet. But give it time.

Also, yes — AI sometimes hallucinates. But have you met people? People hallucinate facts all the time. Just turn on the news and hear what all the “experts” there have to say...

So like I keep saying — AI isn’t a maybe. It’s not a someday.

It’s already here, and it’s only getting better.

Start thinking about it.

Because the people who figure out how to work with AI — how to partner with this new intelligence instead of ignoring it — are the ones who are going to build the future. And they’re the ones who are going to get ahead.

✅ That’s a Wrap

Thanks for reading this week’s newsletter. Hope it gave you something to think about, smile about, or at the very least made you double-check your insurance policy.

Oh, and P.S. — remember that Bitcoin thing I mentioned last week? When I wrote about it, Bitcoin was sitting at around $108,000 USD. As I write this now, it’s sitting at just over $120,000 USD.

So ja… maybe go give that one a second look.

👉 Why I Think Every Saffa Should Learn About Bitcoin

As always, hit reply if you’ve got thoughts, ideas, or just want to say howzit. I read every message — even the ones that chirp me.

Cheers,
Callie