Howzit!

Passport drama, expert help, and a bear in the garden

Author

Carel Van Graan
July 21, 2025

It’s been a good one in the Van Graan household. Angelique passed her driver’s test, which means we’ve now got a very excited teenager out and about on her own. She’s officially an “N” driver and loving every minute of the freedom. I’m still trying to get used to the idea of her driving around without us. Wild.

We also picked up the van we’re going to convert into our mobile tire business. It’s a Ford Transit, high roof, extra-long, and I’m planning to do the conversion myself. Which is equal parts exciting and terrifying. If you’re an engineer and you’re open to a bit of brainstorming, I’d really appreciate some help figuring out how to reinforce the floor. That equipment is heavy and I want to get it right. And if you’re in the tire business or know a tire tech or two, hit me up. I’m trying to learn as much as I can before I go full MacGyver.

Oh, and we seem to have a bear living in our garden now. The kids were outside having a braai on the weekend when it wandered up the path, saw them, and took off. Then last night, when Angelique’s boyfriend was walking to his car, he rounded the corner and came face to face with the bear standing up and peering into the car window. He turned around and sprinted back inside. Can’t blame him.

So yeah, driving licenses, vans, and garden bears. Just your average week.

In This Week’s Newsletter:

  • 🗓 Upcoming Events

  • 💬 Thinking of Hosting Saffa Expert Q&A’s — What Do You Want to Know?

  • 🛂 Travelling to SA? Here’s the Follow-Up

  • 🤖 AI Thought of the Week: ChatGPT Agents Are Flipping Nuts

  • ✅ That’s a Wrap

🗓 Upcoming Events

It’s a massive weekend for South African events across Canada!

From pub nights and potjies to Jo Black and Appel doing the rounds, there’s something happening just about everywhere. So wherever you are—BC, Alberta, Ontario, or even out in the Prairies—this is the weekend to get out the house, find some fellow Saffas, and go have a jol.

If you’re in the Lower Mainland, pull in for the South African Pub Night tonight in North Van, and then come grab a proper wors roll with us on Saturday at Serengeti. Those are our own events, so it’ll be lekker to see some familiar faces there.

Here’s what’s on:

So that’s it—no excuses. Get out there and support something. You’ll definitely bump into someone who sounds like your cousin.

💬 Thinking of Hosting Saffa Expert Q&A’s — What Do You Want to Know?

I had a great chat this week with Auden and Gwen O’Reilly, two of our Platinum founding members. They’re both in the finance and accounting world, and Gwen in particular is super sharp when it comes to things like taxes, Canada Child Benefit, and helping new immigrants figure out what they should be claiming… but often aren’t.

Turns out, there’s a lot of us missing out on benefits or helpful programs simply because we don’t know they exist—or we don’t know who to ask. I always say you can file your tax returns on Wealthsimple (because that’s what I do), but let’s be honest, sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know.

So here’s what I’m thinking:
What if we hosted a few online Zoom sessions with actual experts in our community—Saffas who’ve got the knowledge and are willing to help out?

Topics could include things like:

  • Tax tips for immigrants (and what you can actually claim)

  • Canada Child Benefit and other family support programs

  • Buying property in Canada

  • Mortgages and interest rates (and all the scary bank stuff)

  • Wills, insurance, and protecting your family

  • How to invest wisely (without falling for a crypto scheme on Facebook)

So, over to you:

👉 What do you want to learn more about?
👉 And if you are an expert in something and you’re willing to share your knowledge with the rest of us—let’s make it happen!

Just reply to this email and tell me what you’d love to learn (or teach). Let’s help a cousin out ;-)

🛂 Travelling to SA? Here’s the Follow-Up

So last week’s piece on South African passports stirred up a bit of a hornet’s nest.

Some folks were grateful, some were a bit stressed… and then there were the ones who told me I was talking kak.

Fair enough. The truth is, yeah—plenty of people are still flying in and out of SA on their Canadian or other foreign passports with no issues.

But here’s the thing:

This lovely little sh*t show is still murky. There are no clear guidelines, and it all comes down to how the guy at the airport decides to interpret the rules on the day. That’s just how it works.

The interesting part? For every person throwing shade, there were others messaging me saying, “Hey, this actually happened to me,” or “Someone I know got stuck.” Some were delayed, some were stopped, some had to sort out documents mid-holiday. So no—it’s not just drama. It’s happening, and it’s happening more often.

So, what’s new?

📅 First things first — Pre-1995? You’re in the clear
If you lost your SA citizenship before 1995, this whole issue doesn’t apply to you. The recent court ruling only affects people who lost their citizenship after 1995.

🧾 DHA launched a new citizenship verification system
On July 6, the Department of Home Affairs rolled out a fancy new portal to help check whether you’re still considered a South African citizen. The catch? It’s only available to government departments and a few private sector folks. You and I can’t use it yet, so we’re stuck guessing—at least for now.

🤖 New electronic tracking system coming September 21
Here’s where it gets interesting. From September 21, SA is rolling out new AI-driven border control tech. It scans your face, pulls up your info, and checks it against whatever databases it’s plugged into.

Now, they’re not saying it’s specifically aimed at catching dual citizens travelling on foreign passports. But let’s be honest—if it links up with the verification portal and spots that you’re on the system as a South African citizen, and you’re trying to enter on a Canadian passport, things might not go the way you hoped.

No one knows for sure—but it’s definitely not something to take lightly.

Bottom line?

I don’t have the magic answer. Wish I did. What I do know is that this whole thing is messy, inconsistent, and still unfolding.

You’ve basically got two options:

  • You can renounce your South African citizenship, but good luck—it’s a 12 to 18 month wait, and the government says not to even follow up before the 12-month mark.

  • You can try to get your SA passport sorted, but that’s also not exactly a quick and easy process, especially from overseas.

If you’ve got more info, or if you’ve recently been through this circus yourself, please hit reply and let me know. The more we know, the better we can help each other.

And for the record—yeah, I’ve had a few people come at me with,

“I’m a Canadian citizen. They can’t touch me at the border. They’ve got no leg to stand on.”

Look, maybe you’ve forgotten how things work when you’re dealing with authority in Africa. If the guy behind the desk decides you’re not getting on the plane, you can be the King of Canada and have the paperwork to prove it for all they care. It’s not going to make a difference.

You’ll likely have a better chance with a $20 donation than with your Canadian citizenship.

🤖 AI Thought of the Week: ChatGPT Agents Are Flipping Nuts

Okay, so this week I tested out OpenAI’s new ChatGPT Agent thing… and holy crap, it’s wild.

Basically, this new feature lets ChatGPT spin up its own little virtual computer—like, an actual screen—and then it goes out and uses the internet like a real person. It doesn’t just spit out text or ideas. It literally opens a browser, clicks around, scrolls, reads the screen, presses buttons… the works.

So I gave it a real-world task that’s been bugging me for ages.

See, I’m on LinkedIn. But because of the publishing stuff I do, I get flooded with sales spam. People trying to sell me software, websites, AI tools, VA services—you name it. And with LinkedIn’s terrible inbox setup, it just becomes this giant pile of messages I don’t want to deal with. I log in, see the mess, and go “Nope” and log out again. So I end up missing actual messages from real people I care about.

Enter ChatGPT Agent.

I logged it into my LinkedIn and told it:
“Please go through all my messages, find anything that’s just a cold sales pitch, reply with a polite ‘No thank you’, and archive the thing.”

And it did. All of it. It read each message, decided whether it was spammy or not, clicked the reply button, sent the message, and archived the chat—like a little virtual version of me just clearing house.

And here’s the crazy part: LinkedIn had no idea it wasn’t me. No API, no special plugin. Just the Agent sitting there quietly doing the work, like a digital intern that never sleeps.

Now my inbox is clean. I can actually see real messages again. And I might even start replying to people like a grown-up.

So yeah. This isn’t just ChatGPT giving you ideas anymore. It’s doing actual tasks for you online. Watch this space—it’s going to change everything.

✅ That’s a Wrap

That’s it for this week.

As always, hit reply if there’s anything you want to share, ask, rant about, or just chat. I read every single reply—even the ones that call me out. Let me know how I did, what you liked, what you didn’t, or if there’s something you’d like to see in the next one.

Cheers for being here. Catch you next week.