Tabla de contenidos para 2022-01-31 en Mercury

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za NEARLY seven years after the fact, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), last week issued an unusual public censure to African Equity Empowerment Investments (AEEI) and its then sponsors, the PSG Group. The censure revolves around a 2015 share deal with SAAB Grintek Defence in which AEEI’s then corporate sponsors, PSG, did not advise the company to inform its shareholders or seek their approval, for a R120 million share deal that included a call option. The question, Dr Iqbal Survé, chairperson of Sekunjalo Investment Holdings (SIH), a shareholder in AEEI, has asked, is why now, and why use his name to drive the headlines? Commenting to Business Report, Dr Survé said he believes the JSE’s timing is all to do with the concerted effort by motivated parties…

Helmo Preuss THE $750 MILLION, or R11.68 billion, loan to South Africa approved on January 21 follows many months of negotiations with the multilateral financial institution. It will boost the January foreign reserves by an equivalent amount and reduce the call on the domestic bond market as well. The World Bank loan follows that of the BRICS New Development Bank loan of $0.4bn received on November 15, 2021. That loan only matures in September 2046. In its media release, the Treasury said the World Bank loan would support the government’s efforts of protecting the poor and vulnerable from the adverse socio-economic impacts of the pandemic and supporting a resilient and sustainable economic recovery. In other words, this money will most likely be used to extend the Temporary Employer/Employee…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za OPPOSITION parties in eThekwini Municipality have called for a probe into runaway expenditure on metro police overtime, questioning whether individuals were milking the system. The sentiment was expressed during last Thursday’s full council meeting. In the mid-year budget and performance assessment report for December 31, 2021 before council, a table on anticipated over-expenditure noted that the municipality had already spent R66.5 million on overtime for metro police. The report further forecast that the municipality would have spent R180m in total on overtime for the metro police by the end of the current financial year. The report further noted that the expenditure was being monitored monthly by the departments and the executive management team. Aside from the metro police unit, other municipal divisions, including the fire-fighting division, have…

FAROUK ARAIE | Gauteng THE Special Investigating Unit (SIU) report presented to President Cyril Ramaphosa only reveals the tip of an enormous iceberg of corruption. Corruption has engulfed our nation and has grown so huge that its size defies description. Every single day a new corruption scandal is unearthed, costing the nation millions of rand. The looting of personal protective equipment (PPE) funds defies description, the scope and depth of brazen theft is mind-boggling. People who were trusted became corrupt with power, fame, wealth and influence. The intoxication of power led to the ruin of every state-controlled institution. It is a well-said quote that all luxury corrupts either the morals or the state and to add to this fact, the people who get in touch with such…

GLEN CHRISTIE | Durban North I HAPPENED to listen to SAfm just after 9am with the host harping on about the Eskom saga … the points put across were ill-informed. It was like a Grade 4 pupil discussion – a little pathetic, I would say. Most of what the host and some callers discussed did not touch on the R44 billion owed by various municipalities, and I am sure that this amount is growing daily. This has been brought on by the fact that these guilty municipalities have not been operating efficiently – the proof being that if they were, they would not be in the situation they are in. These same people involved have made sure that they receive big salaries and fancy cars, etc. This…

A 27-year-old man, who told a pregnant North West woman that he needed to perform a ritual on her so she wouldn’t lose her baby, has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for rape. In January 2019, Ratang William Moitshodi met the woman, who was eight months’ pregnant at the time, and told her that he was a prophet. He said that he had had premonitions about her pregnancy and that she might suffer a miscarriage. Having had a previous miscarriage, the woman agreed to Moitshodi performing a ritual on her. National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Henry Mamothame said the two went to Moitshodi’s house and he led her into an outside room where he said he did rituals. “He laid a ‘sangoma’s cloth’ on the ground and instructed the victim…

Five stars is usually the most luxurious a hotel can get, but one in Cape Town gives its canine guests such a pampering, its owners say it deserves six. The city’s Superwoof Dog Hotel provides the pooches of well-to-do residents with high-class treatment. “We’ve really tried to make sure that we offer a six-star service,” said Watson Mpala, a dog handler at Superwoof. “With 24-hour supervision and the luxuries of our splash pool, the giant lounges, all of that jazz, we really want to provide a luxury experience for the doggos,” Mpala said. The experience includes long walks in the sumptuous countryside of the nearby Franschhoek valley, in the Western Cape’s wine-growing region. Among the hotel’s highlights is dog champagne – “champaws” – basically water with herbs in a champagne…

Mashudu Sadike TWO Beitbridge border post security officers have been arrested for alleged corruption. Tshilidzi Samuel Masutha, 35, and Ronewa Makhovha, 31, appeared in the Musina Magistrate’s Court last week. The case was adjourned to Wednesday for a formal bail application and the men were remanded in custody. According to the Hawks’ provincial spokesperson, Captain Matimba Maluleke, the pair were arrested on January 26 by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation members. They are facing charges of corruption, theft of a motor vehicle, contravention of Section 88 of the Customs and Excise Act 91 of 1974, and defeating the ends of justice. He said that on December 18 last year, a truck driver, Kholisani Nkomo, was allegedly stopped by SA Revenue Service (Sars) officials at the Beitbridge border post for a…

Yogashen Pillay yogashen.pillay@inl.co.za Detectives from the Political Violence Task Team are investigating the murder of the speaker of the Amajuba District Municipality, Reginald Bhekumndeni Ndima. Ndima, 58, was shot dead on Saturday night while arriving at his home in Newcastle. Police spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker said: “A family member saw an unknown vehicle fleeing the scene after the shooting. The victim was conveyed to a local hospital immediately after the incident; however he was declared dead on arrival.” Naicker added that the police were appealing to anyone with information that could aid the investigation to come forward. “Detectives from the Political Violence Task Team will be probing the incident. We appeal to anyone who may have information to call Crime Stop at 08600 10111 or report anonymously on the MySAPS…

THERE are two forms of the “war of position”; literal and figurative. An IsiXhosa idiom goes “ungabokhwaza ungekaphumi ehlathini”, which translates as “don’t make a noise if you are not yet out of the woods”. Maybe it is wise for people to undergo a certain metamorphosis for their sake, and for the sake of our communities. It is within this context that you should learn that you do not form a party or any other formation out of anger or revenge, or for yourself, but for the benefit of the people. From its inception ActionSA has been talking about deploying qualified people for service delivery. Isn’t that cadre deployment? One concern with its cadre development has been the fact that it is centred on educated people, engineers etc, and that…

Mexico’s national guard, army, and general prosecution officers seized over six tons of methamphetamine including 2 408 kilograms in liquid form at a collection centre in the town of Carboneras, in the state of Sinaloa, the defence ministry said. The operation was carried out last week as part of the National Strategy for Public Security. During the search, the law enforcement officers found “3 907 kilograms of methamphetamine and 2 408 kilograms of methamphetamine in liquid state, an amount that is taken into account to estimate its volume, which when crystallised would have a weight of 1 926 kilograms,” according to a statement released at the weekend. Before the raid, army units set up a security fence around the building and after that, the officers conducted the search and seized…

Baby jaguars and an intricately coloured endemic boa known as the “maja” are among the exotic animals at Cuba’s national zoo that parents and teachers say provide unusually effective therapy to children with special needs. Children pet the jaguars and play with their paws, stroke the cool, moist skin of snakes and give milk to a zebu cow as part of a programme aimed at helping those with special needs overcome fears, zookeepers said. “In the Americas we are pioneers in working with these exotic species,” said zoo development director and animal therapy specialist Yaima Pueblas. “Apart from breaking barriers of fear … it also encourages them to care for and protect the environment.” The programme has so far seen children with Down syndrome, autism and other special needs participate,…

Colin Burger | Assagay I HAVE lived in Durban for the past 35 years and have watched the steady decline of KwaZulu-Natal since 1994 with both dismay and horror. Out of all the provinces in the country, KZN is by far the worst for political violence, farm murders, fraud, corruption and misappropria tion of funds. What was once one of the wealthiest municipalities in the country is now in a state of financial disaster. Durban was renowned for its cleanliness and magnificent beachfronts. Today, the city ranks among the dirtiest. What has happened to this beautiful part of the world? It can only be the politicians and the ANC government – nothing else. What is it with the people of this province who have allowed it to go…

DAVID CARTWRIGHT | Hillcrest THE hugely controversial issue surrounding Virginia Airport has reared its head once again and I feel compelled to add my own comment, notwithstanding that it is by no means a specialist opinion. Incidentally, also a former chairperson of the Durban Wings Club, I fully support all the points raised by Pete Graham (the founder and chief executive of Singakwazi Aid community upliftment and former chairperson of Durban Wings Club), but I believe the letter from Thyagaraj Markandan (The Mercury, January 7) is fair game to challenge. In particular, he refers to an airport so close to the city as a “hindrance” to the urban sprawl. That may be so, but there are plenty of other sites for such sprawl and, like it or not,…

Three suspects – two men and a woman – have been arrested for fraud and corruption at City Deep after they were found with 27 000 kg of poultry meat, Gauteng police said. The K9 unit and Organised Crime Narcotics members followed up on information about people diverting goods to avoid paying customs duties and VAT. The suspects allegedly tried to bribe police with R800 000 when they were caught. “The information led police to a storage facility in City Deep where a consignment of poultry meat weighing 27 000kg was found loaded in a truck. “The two men were arrested for contravention of the Customs and Excise Act, fraud and corruption. One suspect tried to offer an R800 000 bribe to members to evade arrest. The woman who brought…

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za The ANC has promised to deal with the issue of disputes over candidates who were elected to serve as councillors after the November polls. This comes as the Ray Nkonyeni Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal was locked in a bitter dispute, with the ANC failing to elect a mayor because of internal fighting. For the past three months the ANC in the municipality had not been able to put a mayor in place. On Friday, the municipality finally elected Isaac Skhumbuzo Mqadi as mayor. In a statement on Saturday, the ANC said its National Executive Committee (NEC) had called for action in areas where there had been disputes. In the run-up to the elections, a number of communities told President Cyril Ramaphosa that their councillor candidates were being imposed…

Itumeleng Mafisa COSATU said it was concerned about the precedent that could be set by a Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) ruling that upheld the dismissal of a worker who refused to get vaccinated. Several companies have made Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for employers and the latest CCMA ruling has sparked a debate about the rights of workers to bodily integrity and to choose not to vaccinate because of certain medical reasons. There were also religious debates over the vaccine. Cosatu’s Parliamentary co-ordinator Matthew Parks said employers should try to protect jobs at all times. Parks said the debate on mandatory vaccines was complicated and likely to be tested in the Constitutional Court. “If a worker is not happy, they can appeal the CCMA ruling and we encourage any…

Zama Ngcoya zama.ngcoya@inl.co.za THE South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) has called for peace following the recent spate of killings of taxi owners. Santaco spokesperson Sifiso Shangase it was alarmed by the rise in the number of murders. “As an association, we are shocked and saddened by the recent killings of our colleagues, particularly here in KwaZulu-Natal where it has become a norm. Not a week goes by now without hearing of the murder of one of our colleagues,” said Shangase. He said that while the motives for the murders were still unclear, the incidents were being investigated, and the council wanted to encourage its members to use conflict-resolution methods. “Our plan for now is to work hand-in-hand with law-enforcement agencies and to urge all those who have information to…

CHILDREN should be able to go to school with the understanding that it is a place of safety where the focus is on education, with the outcome being that they can further their studies and contribute to society at large. The South African education system has numerous challenges, including inadequate infrastructure at schools in rural and peri-urban areas. A constant threat at some schools is their vulnerability to crime. Horrific crimes leave long, lingering psychological effects on teachers and pupils, yet many schools are ravaged by criminal elements. This despite there being fencing around schools, and even when there are security guards present. At Dassenhoek High School in Durban last week, four pupils were stabbed by robbers who had been targeting pupils and teachers at the school. “The learners stood…

Londonderry: The Northern Irish city of Londonderry began commemorations yesterday of one of the darkest days in modern UK history when, 50 years ago, British troops without provocation killed 13 unarmed civil rights protesters. The anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” comes with Northern Ireland’s fragile peace destabilised by Brexit, and with families of the victims despondent over whether the soldiers involved will ever face trial. Charlie Nash saw his 19-year-old cousin William Nash killed as members of the British Parachute Regiment fired more than 100 high- velocity rounds on January 30, 1972, at the demonstrators in Londonderry, known as Derry to pro-Irish nationalists. “We thought there might be rioting, but nothing, nothing like what happened. We thought at first they were rubber bullets,” Nash, now 73, told AFP. “But then we…

SEOUL: The maximum speed of the intermediate-range ballistic missile that North Korea tested yesterday was estimated as Mach 16, or 16 times the speed of sound at take-off, the South Korean Yonhap news agency reported. Intelligence services of the US and South Korea assume that the rocket is similar to the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile that North fired in November 2017, the source added. Earlier in the day, the South Korean joint chiefs of staff said that Pyongyang had launched an unidentified projectile toward the East Sea from North Korea’s Jagang Province area.…

AFP, HERMAN GIBBS Gianni Infantino’s far-fetched comment that a World Cup every two years will help prevent African migrants from dying at sea, has attracted criticism and support from the football international community. The Fifa president Infantino has been campaigning for a World Cup every two years, rather than four years, as is the current cycle. On Wednesday, Infantino was addressing the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace) in France and spoke about the value of a World Cup every two years. Several FA presidents of CAF affiliates have come out in support, and this has been in keeping with their stance at an extraordinary meeting just over seven months ago. CAF affiliates voted overwhelmingly in favour of a World Cup every two years. They felt that there…

Kailene Pillay kailene.pillay@inl.co.za The Assembly of the Unemployed and other civic organisations have continued to urge President Cyril Ramaphosa to implement a permanent basic income grant, and said it was “disheartening” that experts advised against it. A report of the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (Peac) presented to Ramaphosa on January 13 was leaked to the media. It issued a strong warning to Ramaphosa not to implement a permanent basic income grant due to the risks it holds for the country and the damage it would do to economic growth and job creation. According to news reports, the council criticised the expert report commissioned by the Department of Social Development that concluded a basic income support grant was sustainable for the economy. That panel was chaired by University of the Witwatersrand…

Country roads, take me home To the place I belong West Virginia, mountain mama Take me home, country roads … AT LAST, old-world courtliness is beginning to show itself again in American political discourse. In West Virginia, Governor Jim Justice (Democrat) last Friday concluded his televised State of the State address by lifting up his pet bulldog, named Babydog, aiming her backside toward the TV cameras and ordering actress Bette Midler to “kiss her hiney!”. A “hiney” is apparently West Virginian argot for a dog’s bottom. The reason why an actress should have been honoured in this way in the address is that Bette Midler had described the people of West Virginia in a tweet as “poor, illiterate and strung out”. According to Sky News, she had been criticising Democratic…

BENNY PILLAY | Chatsworth HOW will small businesses thrive in such unfavourable times? The odds have been heavily stacked against small business entrepreneurs, and this looks set to continue. These businesses, which provide more employment than the state and contribute more to the economy than most of our state-owned enterprises, are being targeted for bankruptcy and closure. Most small businesses barely survived the Covid-19 lockdowns, and then had to contend with a week-long riot. To those who did get through this, what does the future hold? Taxes continue to increase, and the fuel price is constantly going up. Increased crime leads to increased insurance premiums. These are just a few challenges being faced by small businesses. Our leaders are forever talking about providing economic relief and creating employment,…

“I’VE had worse partings, but none still so gnaws my mind,” writes Irish poet Cecil Day-Lewis in Walking Away. Observing from a distance, Day-Lewis sees his young son disappear into a throng of boys each beginning a new phase of life at boarding school. “… like a satellite Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away, Behind a scatter of boys.” Day-Lewis knows the inevitable separation that is necessary for his son’s selfhood, independence, then interdependence. It nonetheless “gnaws” despite his acknowledgement of “nature’s give and take”. “Self-hood begins with walking away and love is proved in letting go,” concludes Day-Lewis. Thanks to Mr Morey, who taught me English at Northlands Boys’ High, I have treasured this poem for decades. It helped me to know my own walking away was indeed…

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za NATIONAL Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has launched an independent investigation into the fire that caused extensive damage to Parliament a few weeks ago. Mapisa-Nqakula told MPs that a team of external experts would be appointed to lead the investigation. She said this investigation would not overtake the one conducted by the police. Zandile Mafe was arrested after the fire engulfed Parliament on January 2, damaging the National Assembly. The cost of the damage is yet to be finalised, but it is believed to run into millions of rand. Mapisa-Nqakula said this independent investigation would shed light on what happened on the night of the fire. “The investigation will not be conducted by a multi-party entity. Rather, we will have an independent investigation and we’ll have a discussion…

Yasmine Jacobs yasmine.jacobs@inl.co.za Young South Africans spend an average of R1 293.82 per month looking for work. This is according to a survey by Open Dialogue. A total of 2 200 participants took part in the survey. The R1 293.82 is split between transport costs (R478.41), internet costs (R464.73) and other expenses (R350.38) such as printing, application fees and food. Of those who took part in the survey, 27.3% spent six hours a week looking for work, 26.5% spent 24 hours a week, 18.8% spent 10 hours a week, 15.6% spent up to 3 hours a week and 11.9% spent an average of 16 hours a week job hunting. Of the respondents, 74.9% had been looking for work in the past three months, and 84% felt forced to choose between…

Nokwanda Ncwane nokwanda.ncwane@inl.co.za President Cyril Ramaphosa has finally signed into law legislation that strengthens the fight against gender-based violence (GBV). On Friday, Ramaphosa assented to the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act Amendment Bill. The bill’s prime goal is to improve the country’s prevention of sex crimes, particularly of paedophilia. It also proposes to expand the ambit of the crime of incest and introduces a new offence of sexual intimidation. Ramaphosa also approved the Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Bill. It aims to address GBV and offences committed against vulnerable persons, and provides for additional procedures to reduce secondary victimisation of vulnerable persons in court proceedings. The third bill that was signed into law is the Domestic Violence Amendment Bill, which amends the Domestic Violence Act…

Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za In a continuation of his many legal battles, former president Jacob Zuma will today return to the Pietermaritzburg High Court to argue why he should be granted leave to approach the Supreme Court of Appeal over Billy Downer’s recusal case. Late last year, Zuma and his legal team put a spanner in the works of his arms deal corruption trial when they applied to have Downer, a senior prosecutor in the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), removed as the prosecutor in charge of the high-profile case. Zuma argued that Downer did not have the title to prosecute him, and he further alleged that from as early as 2001, Downer had contaminated the case by leaking critical information to the media and CIA spies. Zuma alleged that the leaking…

Fight against graft cannot be entrusted to political leaders alone CLIMATE action and the resurgent Covid-19 variant, Omicron, may be the defining challenges confronting humanity, potentially for years to come. Judging by Transparency International’s just-released Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2021, an equally entrenched blight that continues to affect the world is corruption. And the signs are that it is getting worse. Love it or hate it, the CPI has become the moral compass of the annual state of integrity in global governance and public affairs. Corruption’s political and socio-economic impacts are so pervasive that it directly affects the daily lives of millions of ordinary citizens through the diversion of scarce resources, thus undermining delivery of essential services primarily through non-transparency, state capture, cronyism and public procurement profiteering involving the private…

India’s capital is shivering through an unusually harsh bout of winter cold, blamed for killing scores of homeless people and leaving other hard-up residents struggling to keep warm. The sprawling megacity’s 20 million inhabitants are accustomed to year-round weather extremes, from blistering summer heat to torrential downpours and thick, toxic smog at the end of autumn. Still, the bracing chill and blustery rains this month have been an ordeal for many, with Delhi on Tuesday recording its coldest January day in nearly a decade. “There’s no denying that it’s very cold,” 30-year-old Mukesh said from his bed at a homeless shelter on the weekend. He and a small group of the shelter’s residents have taken to huddling around an improvised wood fire, a scene repeated around the city’s kerbsides each…