Tabla de contenidos para 2021-06-17 en Mercury

Sihle Makhowana sihle.makhowana@inl.co.za THE DIRECTORS of Africrypt investment company are alleged to have made off with about $3.6 billion (R49.6bn) of unsuspecting South Africans’ crypto investments, according to papers seen by Independent Media’s investigations unit. The directors, Ameer Cajee and his brother Raees Cajee, allegedly transferred Africrypt’s pooled funds from its South African account(s) through Bitcoin on the blockchain in April 2021 after claiming that there was a breach in the company’s system, compromising client accounts, wallets and nodes. Notably, FNB, which banked Afri- crypt according to documents seen by Independent Media’s investigations unit, allegedly enabled the investment company’s transactions, although the bank has vehemently denied this. FNB risk spokesperson Nadiah Maharaj adamantly refused to acknowledge any relationship with the fraud-accused company. And when probed further FNB opted to…

DUNCAN DU BOIS Bluff WITH local government elections due in four months’ time, the sudden intervention of the national Cabinet in the crisis-ridden state of several municipalities is motivated more by concern for the potential loss of votes than by a sense of altruism for ratepayers and residents (The Mercury, June 11). This is obvious from the solution Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo offers. The remedy Masondo prescribes for ailing municipalities is to “fix the political and administrative leadership”. Of course, that is where part of the problem lies which has resulted from cadre deployment, affirmative action, the “jobs for pals” policy of the ANC and the dictates of ANC labour unions. More of the same is not going to make an iota of difference. Since 1994 it has been…

A MAN said to be the head of the world's largest family has died in north-eastern India. Zion Chana had 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren. All of them lived in a pink four-storey house with about 100 rooms in Baktawng, Mizoram state, according to Sky News. Wow, that’s quite some tally, it’s an average of three kids per wife. Chana was leader of a Christian sect founded by his father in 1942, which apparently has nothing against polygamy. He married his first wife when he was 17 and once married 10 women in a year. They shared a dorm near his private bed-room and he liked to always have seven or eight of them by his sides. Whee! But what does it do for the world over-population crisis?…

Farouk Cassim, COPe Cape Town I WAS on Twitter when I heard the surprise announcement by President (Cyril) Ramaphosa, giving businesses the green light to generate up to 100MW of electricity. Eskom, we know, has been flouting environmental laws. Its ageing coal-powered stations are spewing carbon and pollutants into the air. With COP 26 scheduled to discuss massive carbon reduction at its meeting in Glasgow, in November, South Africa will need to lift the bar to protect our exports. Eskom chief executive André de Ruyter believes it will cost Eskom R60 billion over 10 years to make its power fleet environmentally compliant. He admits: “This is money which we frankly just don’t have.” Indeed, that is the case. Furthermore, why should we throw good money after bad? So what can…

Nonhlanhla Nozizwe Hlatshwayo nozizwe.hlatshwayo@inl.co.za The lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans- gender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) community in KwaMakhutha marched to the local police station yesterday. The march came after the murder of Anele Bhengu earlier this week. Bhengu’s body was found dumped after she was allegedly raped and stabbed several times. A case was opened at the KwaMakhutha police station. The LGBTQI community marched to hand over their memorandum. “The march is in honour of Anele, and most of all, to raise awareness in the community, to say that we’re here and we exist in numbers and to condemn the hate crime. “The memorandum states that the police must do their job. We want Anele’s case to be prioritised. We want them to stop victimising the community. People have also…

LAST Tuesday, June 8, 2021, IOL broke the story of Gauteng mother Gosiame Thamara Sithole giving birth to a world record set of decuplets at a Pretoria hospital on Monday, June 7. This was followed on Wednesday, June 9, with a lead story in the Pretoria News, written and published by the editor Piet Rampedi. The story reverberated across the world. Instead of being a cause for celebration, however, it resulted in an orchestrated campaign to discredit the story, the mother of the decuplets Ms Sithole, the Pretoria News’ editor, Piet Rampedi, as well as Independent Media and its chairperson, Dr Iqbal Survé, with claims that the story is “fake news”. It is not and we stand by our story. Mr Rampedi had been following this story for…

A cocktail of synthetic antibodies reduces deaths among severe Covid-19 patients who are unable to mount a strong immune response, results from a major clinical trial showed yesterday. The therapy, developed by the US biotech firm Regeneron and given to former US president Donald Trump during his brush with the virus, was previously only used to treat patients in the early stages of the disease. But the Recovery trial based in Britain has found the drug is effective in treating some patients with more acute cases of the virus. The treatment, called REGN-CoV2, “reduces the risk of death when given to patients hospitalised with severe Covid-19 who have not mounted a natural antibody response of their own”, the researchers said in a press release. The drug uses two synthetic antibodies…

Gaborone: Botswanan diamond firm Debswana said yesterday it had unearthed a 1 098-carat stone that it described as the third largest of its kind in the world. The stone, found on June 1, was shown to President Mokgweetsi Masisi in the capital. The “rare and extraordinary stone... means so much in the context of diamonds and Botswana,” said Debswana managing director Lynette Armstrong. The biggest diamond in the world was the 3 106-carat Cullinan, found in South Africa in 1905. The second largest, the 1 109-carat Lesedi La Rona, was discovered at Karowe, north-east Botswana, in 2015. | AFP…

HERMAN GIBBS THE mighty PSL have been driven into a corner by lower-tier club Royal AM whose daring legal ploy has sent shock waves through national football's corridors of power. Royal AM have proved that they are no small fries and have defiantly brought the PSL relegation/promotion playoffs to a screeching halt. Numerous social media posts show that Royal AM co-owner Shauwn Mkhize, a wealthy Durban businesswoman, has vowed to stop the playoffs unless her team were declared GladAfrica Championship winners. Royal AM, a NFD outfit playing in the GladAfrica Championship, have now managed to stop the playoffs, which were scheduled to start on Tuesday. Royal AM approached the Gauteng Supreme Court after a recent arbitration ruling that resulted in them being declared NFD runners-up. On Monday, acting judge…

MANCHESTER City will begin their Premier League title defence on August 14 when they travel to Tottenham Hotspur, according to the fixture list for the 2021-22 season released yesterday. Manchester United host Leeds United on the opening day while Liverpool play away to newly-promoted Norwich City in their opener. Chelsea, who won the Champions League last season, begin their season at home to Crystal Palace before trips to Arsenal and Liverpool. Arsenal kick off their campaign at Brentford, who will play in the top flight of English football for the first time in 74 years. Watford, returning to the Premier League after a year-long absence, host Aston Villa in their first game.…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za ANALYSTS have warned that South Africa’s delayed vaccine roll-out could halt the country’s economic recovery in spite of the government imposing stricter restrictions to curb further spread of Covid-19 infections. Investec chief economist Annabel Bishop said the slow roll-out had reduced the positive sentiment towards the economic outlook and vaccine roll-out that had been growing this year. Bishop said while this and the last month had seen a quickening in the roll-out, the pace was still too slow and South Africa risked substantially more Covid-19 deaths. “The extremely slow roll-out of vaccines means that the country will most likely not reach two-thirds immunity by year end as originally planned,” Bishop said. “Globally, economic recovery remains strong, as are vaccine roll-outs in key economies. (But) South Africa’s weak…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za ARROWHEAD Properties’ independent board has deemed the proposed merger between the company and Fairvest Property Holdings in the best interest of its shareholders. Arrowhead said in a statement on Tuesday that the independent board was strongly of the view that the benefits of a deal between Fairvest and Arrowhead would best be unlocked through a merger that creates a single, larger, more liquid Reit. The board considered a merger preferable to a transaction that would result in Arrowhead becoming a listed subsidiary of Fairvest, where neither company would fully enjoy the benefits of increased size or liquidity and where there was less ability to take advantage of the synergies or operational efficiencies that may be unlocked through a merger. Engagements had begun with Fairvest, and it was…

Estate duty is a material death tax that few people take cognisance of. Luckily, in terms of section 4(q) of the Estate Duty Act, but subject to its strict requirements, relief is provided to surviving “spouses” who may have contributed to the accumulation of their assets, by allowing a deduction of the value of all property that accrues to the surviving spouse from the gross estate of the deceased. No estate duty is therefore payable on qualifying assets. This provides some relief for surviving “spouses” who may end up having to part with assets they used to share with their spouses, just to pay the tax bill to the South African Revenue Service (Sars). The definition of “spouse” for this purpose includes a permanent life partner and not only a…

The original source code for the world wide web that was written by its inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, is up for sale at Sotheby’s as part of a non-fungible token, with bids starting at just $1 000 (R13 758). Berners-Lee, a London-born computer scientist, invented the world wide web in 1989, revolutionising the sharing and creation of information in what is seen as one of the most significant inventions since the printing press appeared in Europe in 15th century Germany. The digitally signed Ethereum blockchain non-fungible token (NFT), a one-of-a-kind digital asset which records ownership, includes the original source code, an animated visualisation, a letter written by Berners-Lee and a digital poster of the full code from the original files. NFTs have exploded in popularity, including at auction. A digital-only artwork…

EBRAHIM ESSA Durban AFTER the Covid-19 virus has devastated life as we once knew it, investigations as to the source of this infernal termite from Hades, is now under way. Depending on whether you are pro-European (which includes the UK and the US) or pro Asian (China,Turkey, Russia, Japan and India), you will be bound to choose a side. “Must be the capitalist punks in New York. Wall Street converted into germ labs. How to make disease make easy dollars, in 12 easy lessons.” Or, “these Chinese communists go looking for bats in caves, like Bruce Wan, the local Batman and get bitten by those rats with wings. They then get smitten by a strange malady called desire for Wuan. And decide to release millions of bats out into the…

Richard Herbert KLOOF SHOULD more severe lockdowns be enforced, our economy (the nation’s lifeblood) will dip into a downward spiral that everyone will regret, from the president to the man in the street. I suggest only slight changes to the existing status quo. Even so, why do we not start living with this pandemic – it’s not going away quickly by any means. The government should seriously contemplate the effects of frequent severe lockdowns, which have no end. And why is vaccination so slow? That’s our best defence.…

Se-Anne Rall se-anne.koopman@inl.co.za New video footage has emerged in the Lindani Myeni murder probe in the US. It shows Myeni apologising to the couple at the Hawaii home he was accused of robbing, and how police tased and shot him before identifying themselves. Myeni’s legal team believe that the footage released correlate with claims that he was looking for a temple – which is near the house he entered. Myeni family lawyer, Jim Bickerton, said a court had ordered officials to hand over the unedited police body camera footage. The police have also been ordered to hand over the 911 calls. Newly released footage shows Myeni entering a home in Honolulu in April, behind a man and a woman. He stops to take off his shoes and then enters. He…

Sibusiso Mboto and Sabelo Nsele A Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe into the awarding of a multi- million rand tender for the construction of a concrete barrier in uMkhanyakude District has been widely welcomed by opposition parties in the KZN legislature. The tender was awarded in 2018 for the construction of a concrete barrier wall between the uMkhanyakude Municipality and Mozambique and there are allegations that although more than half of the R85 million has been paid to the contractor, less than a kilometre of the barrier had been constructed by the end of 2020. The SIU has been given the go-ahead to investigate the matter through the proclamation signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa. The SIU said it had received allegations from an unnamed whistle-blower claiming the transport department has…

On 5 June 2021, the G7 Nations comprising of the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, and Japan reached an agreement on global tax reforms. For many years multinational companies (“MNCs”) have been setting up branches in countries with low corporate tax rates and declaring profits in those countries thus reducing the amount of tax they pay. The G7 agreement looks to end this practice by making MNCs pay more tax in the country where they sell their products and services rather than in the country where they declare their profits. The reforms are set out in two Pillars of the agreement. Pillar 1 applies to MNCs with at least a 10% profit margin and provides for 20% of any profit above that margin to be reallocated and…

Israel carried out air strikes on the Gaza Strip early yesterday after militants in the Palestinian territory sent incendiary balloons into the south of the country, in the first flare-up between the two sides since a major conflict killed hundreds last month. Tension spilled over to the occupied West Bank, where the Israeli army said they shot a Palestinian woman after she attempted to attack soldiers. The Gaza strikes were the first under the new coalition government headed by Naftali Bennett, who took over on Sunday after ousting long-time prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The uptick in violence came after more than a thousand Jewish ultra- nationalist demonstrators bearing Israeli flags poured into Jerusalem’s flashpoint Old City on Tuesday, with scores of police deployed and international monitors urging calm. According to…

Astronauts blasting off today for China’s first crewed mission to its new space station will have a choice of 120 different types of food and “space treadmills” for exercise, China’s space agency said. The mission will be China’s longest crewed space mission to date and the first in nearly five years, as Beijing pushes forward with its ambitious programme to establish itself as a space power. The astronauts will spend three months on the Tiangong station, which has separate living modules for each of them as well as a shared bathroom, dining area, and a communication centre to send emails and allow video calls with ground control. The trio will be able to work off their range of dinner options -- which officials assured reporters were all nutritious and tasty…

Athens: Greece was hit by strikes yesterday for the second time in a week ahead of street protests over a controversial labour reform expected to be approved by parliament. No ferry services to Greek tourist islands were available and urban transport in the capital was disrupted by the 24-hour walkout. Over 7 000 people according to police demonstrated in Athens against the bill. Communist Party leader Dimitris Koutsoumbas said the new system legalises a workplace “jungle” where employees will be “totally defenceless”. | AFP…

THE draw for the 2021 Cosafa Cup will be held in host city Nelson Mandela Bay today, as preparations for the 20th edition of the regional football showpiece competition begin in earnest. The 12-team tournament is scheduled to take place from July 7-18 and returns after the 2020 edition had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year’s event features the addition of West African powerhouse Senegal as they make a debut guest appearance. The competition will take on a new format for 2021 with the 12 teams split into three groups, each containing four teams. This ensures each side will play a minimum of three matches. The top team in each pool, as well as the best second-placed finisher, will advance to the semi-finals. There will be…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za AGGRIEVED residents in the Northern Cape are planning to approach the court to have the mining right granted to JSE- and Australian-listed Orion Minerals Prieska Copper Zinc revoked amid allegations that the company failed to consult the community on the development of the mine. Ronald Februarie, organiser of the Siyathemba Business and Community Forum, said that Orion failed to lead a thorough consultation process with the community on its plans to develop the mine and how it would uplift Siyathemba. Februarie said the Siyathemba community had not participated in the con- struction of solar energy projects in the Siyathemba Local Municipality and did not want to again be sidelined in the construction of the Copperton mine. “We have now more than 5 000 signatures of…

“MY husband says my boundaries are too strong for him, that I keep him out, and that I should have different boundaries for him than for others. What do you think?” With no background about you, your husband, or your marriage, it’s difficult to offer an opinion about his observation. I am going to also assume his observation was made in love and in a desire to know you better and love you more. I hope his comments were not made in an effort to get anything from you that you are unwilling to give. Your husband is correct. We respond to people according to their importance and the closeness in our lives. He’s your husband. You share history. You presumably share a bed. These factors alone make it obvious…

FAROUK ARAIE Benoni THE Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Amendment Bill (Pepuda), refers. A bill of this nature is just abusive, dictatorial, tyrannical-type leadership. It’s ludicrous, it’s arbitrary and it’s unnecessary. It is an uncanny coincidence that this bill is being introduced at a time when the powers that be are revising the Firearms Control Act. We are inching towards tyranny as our constitutional rights are being eroded using stealth and deception. It has been said on multiple occasions that “the road to tyranny is always paved with good intentions”. Section 15 of the Bill of Rights as enshrined in our Constitution (1996) provides everyone the right to freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion. There must be constant vigilance by “we, the people” to ensure…

DR IMRAN KEEKA DA KZN spokesperson on education LAST week the DA said Teachers’ Lives Matter. We also emphasised the need to vaccinate educators and school staff and called on government to make this happen sooner rather than later. In as much as we note and welcome the recent circular by KwaZulu-Natal’s Department of Health Head of Department (HOD) – informing the public and DoE staff that, by now, vaccinations for the sector should have already started – it seems that only the MEC, Kwazi Mshengu, has been fortunate enough to have the vaccine. The DA has previously raised its concerns around possible delays due to the ongoing confusion about the sectoral rollout of the jab for our educators. At the time, the MEC claimed he was not aware of…

Robin-Lee Francke Police in North West have opened inquest dockets after the bodies of 20 unidentified decomposing bodies were discovered over two days. The bodies, all identified as male, were discovered on Monday and Tuesday at two different locations in Orkney just outside Klerksdorp. Provincial police said that in the first incident, five decomposed bodies were found around 7pm on Monday, outside an old unused mine shaft ventilation in Lawrence Park, Orkney. On Tuesday, a further 15 decomposed bodies were found alongside Ariston Road, near the railway line in Orkney. In a statement released yesterday, police said all the dead are suspected to be illegal miners, commonly known in the area as “zama zamas”, who operate in abandoned mine shafts in the Orkney and Stilfontein areas. Police said the dead…

Vernon Mchunu and Zintle Mahlati AS opposition parties continue to slate the government for the slow pace of the Covid-19 vaccination roll-out, the IFP and the EFF have reiterated a call for the local government elections to be postponed. A more defiant EFF threatened to forge ahead with mass mobilisation should the elections remain on the stated date of October 27. The parties were reacting to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of level 3 tighter restrictions on the country’s activities once again, due to rising cases of Covid-19 infections. The restrictions announced on Tuesday night included the hours of curfew moving to between 10pm and 4am. The president said “non-essential establishments like restaurants, bars, and fitness centres” must therefore close by 9pm. All gatherings would be limited to a maximum…

Kailene Pillay kailene.pillay@inl.co.za Former Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) boss Robert McBride and former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Major-General Johan Booysen will no longer face cross-examination at the state capture proceedings. Instead, those who applied to cross-examine the duo would make written submissions of their versions of events. The Commission of Inquiry into state capture continued to hear applications for leave to cross-examine witnesses brought forward by implicated parties yesterday. Legal representatives of those implicated by McBride and Booysen, including Advocate Anthony Mosing, Advocate Sello Maema and Advocate Andrew Chauke made a joint submission to request that they be allowed to submit a written summary of their versions. They submitted that issues raised by McBride and Booysen were intertwined with other issues raised by other witnesses and cross-examination of the two…

THE slow vaccination roll-out is by far the biggest threat to the country’s initial response to the pandemic, which earned us global praise. We are reversing the early gains which saw South Africa recording fewer deaths and infections than initially anticipated. The country is now back to alert level 3 as a result of a huge spike in daily infections and deaths. While lives must be saved, the economic implications, especially for the hospitality industry, are severe. Our vaccine roll-out has suffered a third major setback in just a few months, meaning that the country is nowhere near achieving population immunity by the end of the year. However, President Cyril Ramaphosa is optimistic: “The pace of vaccinations has steadily picked up, and we are now vaccinating around 80 000 people…

High inflation driven by soaring food prices has pushed 7 million Nigerians into poverty, the World Bank said. In a new report, it commended Nigeria for buttressing its economy from fallout from the coronavirus pandemic but called for urgent measures to brake inflation and protect livelihoods. A major crude exporter, Africa’s largest and most populous economy again slipped into a recession in late 2020 hurt by lower oil prices and the pandemic, but unexpectedly emerged from the slump in February. In May, year-on-year inflation dipped to 17.93%, just below the four-year high of 18.17% registered in March, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The food price increase in May was at 22.28%. “Food prices accounted for over 60% of the total increase in inflation. Rising prices have pushed an…

US President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed at a “pragmatic” first summit yesterday to resume arms control talks and to return ambassadors to each other’s capitals after they were withdrawn earlier this year. The summit at the lakeside Villa La Grange in Geneva lasted less than four hours – far less than Biden’s advisers had expected. Putin called Biden, 78, a constructive, experienced partner, and said they spoke “the same language”, but added that there had been no friendship, rather a pragmatic dialogue about their two countries’ interests. He said it was “hard to say” if relations with the US would improve, but that there was a “glimpse of hope” regarding mutual trust. Putin also said Russia and the US shared a responsibility for nuclear stability, and…

A goal in first-half stoppage time by Aleksei Miranchuk got Russia's Euro 2020 campaign back on track as they beat Finland 1-0 in Group B yesterday. The Russians, who remain unbeaten against the Finns since their first meeting in 1912, made amends for their opening loss to Belgium as the group remains wide open. The Finns, 1-0 winners over Denmark in their first game that was marked by Christian Eriksen's heart attack on the pitch, almost made the perfect start when Joel Pohjanpalo's third minute header beat the Russian keeper but was ruled offside after a VAR review. It was the hosts, fired up by the home crowd, who took control in the first half, with the Finns sitting back and soaking up the pressure. The visitors waited for the…

CHERYL WATERMAN BOWLS COLUMN YOUR first impression of softly spoken Talia Russon would not be that of a young mother juggling motherhood with her career as a teacher at Durban North College. It is more of a fierce competitor on the bowling green. Although her personal commitments may trim the time she can spend on the green, Russon’s natural talent, energy and desire to succeed make her a formidable opponent in every competition she enters. A family move from Kroonstad to Welkom in 2006 saw 14-year-old Talia join her parents at the local bowling club and start competing when her father purchased her an old set of size 4 Henselite bowls. In 2008 Russon was selected as a lead for the Under-25 Northern Free State side and, under the guidance…