Índice para 2024-03-25 em Mercury

THIS SHOULD be an obvious concept for all, yet on a daily basis we witness, as Cosatu, workers denied their most basic human and labour rights by employers. If we are to advance as a society, then we need to ensure all South Africans, including workers, and in particular our most vulnerable, enjoy their full constitutional rights. Cosatu was formed not only to improve the working conditions of workers, but also the lives of the working class. We were created by workers not only to defeat apartheid and to replace it with a non-racial, non-sexist constitutional democracy, but also to ensure that the workplace was transformed from where black workers were treated little better than slaves to one where workers could enjoy a rewarding career that would lift their families…

THE eThekwini Municipality is introducing a new automated and streamlined system for the issuing of rates clearance certificates. This comes after local and global institutions flagged the current process as a major concern when doing business in eThekwini. The City revealed its plan for a new system during a council meeting last week. It also announced tariff increases for the processing of rates clearance certificates. The delayed issuing of rates clearance certificates has been a source of frustration for many in the property sector, who said they have had to wait months for the certificates to be issued. The rates clearance certificate is an important document when completing a property transaction and confirms that all debt has been settled by the previous owner so the buyer starts on a clean…

The Port of Richards Bay is set to cement its place as a key energy hub. This was according to the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), which said work on 2.4km of rail infrastructure at the port was set to be completed by the end of May and would cater for the growing demand in the energy sector. Dennis Mqadi, port manager: Port of Richards Bay, said the region was set to become a key hub for energy trade. He said there had been provision of bulk infrastructure to two sites located at the South Dunes precinct. “The infrastructure expansion facilitates seamless cargo movement and optimises logistical operations. Since the commencement of the project in 2021, progress made has significantly improved accessibility and utility provision within the port, operational efficiencies…

The tables are turning against Israel: from the most pitied race in the world to the most hated nation in the world. Even its biggest ally and benefactor, the US, is having second thoughts about its support of the Jewish state. President Biden has warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that though the US remains committed to the Israeli offensive against Hamas, an attack on Rafah would be a “mistake”. When Nazi dictator Hitler sent 6 million Jews to the gas chambers, the entire world was distraught. Now this same nation which suffered the worst genocide in human history has itself become a ruthless conqueror. It’s hell-bent on wiping out the people of Gaza by any means, bombing or starving them to death. Netanyahu is determined…

When receiving texts – except texts of a purely perfunctory nature – do you read between, behind the lines? We offer affirming eye contact during face-to-face conversations. Timing, tone, cadence, clarify meaning in voice calls. Are we listening to texts? You may engage with the person who responds to texts as if anxiously awaiting, even aching for human contact. Prior knowledge may inform your understanding of your quick-to-reply friend. I find it helpful, early in any text exchange, to declare my level of availability. I am unlikely to ignore a verbal approach and I try to acknowledge texts. Apparent indifference can be cruel. Respond in kind: words for words, sentences for sentences, emojis for emojis. One who composes a paragraph deserves a like-response. A thumbs up or a hand…

MINISTER of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola has published guidelines regarding the conferral of Senior Attorney and Senior Counsel honours for eligible legal practitioners. The guidelines made it clear that regard must be given to the racial and gender composition of the legal fraternity in the country. In the past, the granting of silk – senior status to advocates – was viewed as an exercise of the “honours prerogative” based on English law, which was adopted into South African law through the Union Constitution of 1910. The Senior Counsel system evolved from the British tradition of Queen’s Counsel to the present-day Senior Counsel tradition, which has become an integral part of South Africa’s legal heritage. The minister said that it was crucial to streamline and transform the Senior Counsel…

ACCLAIMED pianist, composer and producer Bokani Dyer’s new Radio Sechaba project will set the mood for an uplifting and thought-provoking Cape Town International Jazz Festival. In a departure from his previous work, Dyer will be bringing a seven-piece ensemble, Radio Sechaba, to the festival in May which, in his own words, is less geared to a concert hall or a jazz club but more easily translatable on a bigger stage and outdoor experience. The project draws inspiration from Nina Simone’s famous quote: “An artist’s duty is to reflect the times”, which Dyer has interpreted in Radio Sechaba through his exploration of “what makes a nation in the current moment in South Africa”. Dyer was born in 1986 in Gaborone, Botswana, where many artists from South Africa, including his father, musician…

Parliament has moved one step closer to finalising the Electoral Matters Amendment Bill despite threats by opposition parties to institute legal action if it is passed in its current form. The select committee on security and justice has given the green light to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) to pass the bill. The bill is a sequel to the Electoral Amendment Act that was passed last year to provide for independent candidates to stand for election to Parliament and provincial legislatures. It provides for the regulation of the private and public funding of independent candidates and independent representatives. In terms of its proposed funding formula, the allocation of party funding has been changed from two-thirds proportional and one-third equitable to 90% proportional and 10% equitable. Opposition parties have raised…

Millions of South Africans will head to the polls in May in a historic election that will for the first time see the use of three ballot papers. This will be a new and different experience for many South Africans and the onus is on the Electoral Commission of South Africa to ensure it is a user-friendly experience for voters. The three ballot system lies in the Electoral Amendment Act (EAA), which was signed into law in April last year to amend the 1998 Electoral Act, allowing independent candidates to contest provincial and national elections in terms of a Constitutional Court judgment in June 2020. The judgment ruled that the Electoral Act was unconstitutional as candidates could only contest elections by way of membership of a political party.The crucial point…

Rescuers in boats and aircraft raced against the clock yesterday to help isolated people in Brazil’s mountainous southeast after storms and heavy rains killed at least 20 people. With more rain predicted yesterday, the deluge pounded the states of Rio de Janeiro and Espirito Santo, where authorities described a chaotic situation due to flooding. The death toll rose there from four to 12 yesterday as rescuers advanced. The most affected municipality is Mimoso do Sul, a town of almost 25 000 inhabitants located in the south of Espirito Santo, where at least 10 people died in floods, though officials fear the toll may yet rise. State Governor Renato Casagrande described the situation as “chaotic,” saying that so far it has not been possible to assess the damage in some of…

While the Springbok Women “seemed rusty at times”, coach Louis Koen lauded his team for their fighting spirit in a second-half comeback to beat Spain 15-13 in Valladolid on Saturday. The Women Boks were 13-5 down at one stage, but kept their hopes of a win alive with a penalty try with 10 minutes left to make it 13-12, and then left wing Jakkie Cilliers slotted over a penalty with three minutes to go, for a 15-13 lead. The Spaniards had a last-gasp chance to snatch victory, but missed a penalty. The forwards dominated the physical exchanges, with the likes of No 5 lock Vainah Ubisi and blindside flank Sinazo Mcatshulwa charging forward with ball in hand, while the back three of Cilliers, fullback Chuma Qawe and right wing Macaela…

CROP FARMING in Lesotho has waned drastically, though household vegetable gardening continues unabated. The winter of 1964 is on record as one when Lesotho witnessed the heaviest snow. The summer season that followed that winter had a bumper harvest of wheat. At least in my village, the harvest lasted more than two seasons. The land tenure system allowed the right to use land allocated on a permanent and hereditary basis, on condition of continuous use of such a piece of land. Nominally, six acres was the average allocation per parcel of land and three such parcels were avail- able to each household. A household could access greater acreage through share-cropping. The household with cattle had the advantage of access to share-cropping. In this way, land was not often fallow and…

BEAUTY comes at a price and Pearl Thusi is reaping what she sowed by not doing proper research. The media personality got fulani braids with thick wooden beads, and she may be questioning her choice. While she loves her new hairstyle, she is concerned that she cannot do anything without the braids making a sound. She said in an Instagram video: “I do not have any regrets about this hair, none. But tell me, why do I sound like a walking music instrument?” Her followers were onto something when they said she must go to the studio and see if she can’t cook a song with her new braids. “Need to go to (the) studio and make you shake them,” said local rapper Maglera Doe Boy. Some women, like Pamela…

Parliament has appointed Deputy Speaker Lechesa Tsenoli as acting Speaker after Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula took special leave following an investigation into allegations of corruption. The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, is today expected to set a date to hear Mapisa-Nqakula’s application in which she has sought to interdict her pending arrest related to the corruption allegations. The controversy surrounding the allegations is becoming a public relations disaster for the ANC as it campaigns ahead of the May 29 elections. Mapisa-Nqakula is accused of receiving bribes amounting to R2.3 million from a service provider in the Department of Defence when she was minister of defence. Her home was searched by the Hawks on behalf of the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) Investigating Directorate (ID) last Tuesday. Through her office, Mapisa-Nqakula has declared her…

The media and government seem to have discovered a new phrase recently – infrastructure maintenance. Strange, since professional engineers have known about it forever as a basic necessity. Much like medical doctors instinctively knowing to wash their hands before a medical procedure! There has been a lot of hype on the subject, much of it ill-informed, by people who do not appear to know enough to know what they don’t know on the subject. So let me give some background related to road maintenance. Firstly, the need to budget an appropriate level of funds. From press reports, it appears municipalities have spent some 2% of their budget on maintenance of infrastructure, while the Treasury says the figure should be nearer 8%. This is way out; during the days before the…

I refer to the ongoing controversy and debate about the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill. Concerns have been raised about the lack of detailed information provided to the public and opponents of the bill also criticise its potential impact on minority languages. They argue that the proposed language policies could marginalise linguistic minorities. While South Africa has a ridiculous number of official languages, there is no doubt of the wisdom of Madiba when he declared that English would be the Lingua Franca in South Africa. There is also no doubt that English is the Lingua Franca of the world. The same applies to local and international academia, where most authoritative scientific journals and textbooks are printed in English. Thus, while one may well sympathise with those whose home…

A FURIOUS row is sweeping England, according to Sky News. Sportswear giant Nike has designed a new football shirt for England where the traditional St George’s Cross – all in red – now has blue and purple strips horizontally. What’s more, the Football Association refuses to withdraw the shirt in spite of widespread anger and dismay, which includes Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: “When it comes to our national flags don’t mess with them” and leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer: “Nike should reconsider.” An online petition collecting thousands of signatures calls for the reinstatement of the traditional red St George’s Cross. Labour’s shadow attorney-general Emily Thornberry has branded the new badge “peculiar”. People would not expect the heraldic Welsh dragon to be swapped “to a pussycat” or for the…

EDUCATION experts, the national association of school governing bodies and a teachers’ union have called for the Department of Education to have better monitoring and policies in place to put a stop to teacher misconduct cases. This comes after a recent round-table discussion by the South African Council for Educators (SACE) regarding an increase in the number of reported misconduct cases against teachers. SACE CEO Ella Makgalane said: “Top of the list is corporal punishment, and second are sexual misconduct cases.” Makgalane said SACE was developing programmes in order for educators to understand the implications of teacher misconduct. “Teachers should not retaliate when struck by pupils, but rather follow correct protocol to address the situation. “We are doing our part as we don’t want to see teachers being dismissed due…

SAPS need training in use of non-lethal weapons and de-escalating conflict situations WHEN South Africa became a constitutional democracy in 1994, it inherited, inter alia, the SA Police Force, commonly known as the SA Police (SAP), one of the most powerful instruments of oppression of the former apartheid government. In principle, the SAP was expected to maintain law and order. In practice, however, the police symbolised an evil that constantly undermined and brutalised the majority of citizens in defence of the apartheid state. Opposition to the unjust laws of apartheid was routinely met with unimaginable force and violence. Most were subjected to extreme violence and unfair treatment by police under the pretence of maintaining law and order. With the advent of democracy in South Africa in 1994, the SAP was…

Israeli forces besieged two more Gaza hospitals yesterday, pinning down medical teams under heavy gunfire, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, and Israel said it had captured 480 militants in continued clashes at Gaza’s main Al Shifa hospital. Israeli forces say hospitals in the Palestinian enclave where war has been raging for over five months have frequently been used as strongholds of Hamas militants harbouring bases and weapons. Hamas and medical staff deny this. The Palestinian Red Crescent said one of its staff was killed when Israeli tanks suddenly pushed back into areas around Al-Amal and Nasser hospitals in the southern city of Khan Younis, amid heavy bombardment and gunfire. Israeli armoured forces sealed off Al-Amal Hospital and carried out extensive bulldozing operations in its vicinity, the Red Crescent said in…

KYIV: The Ukrainian military said it hit two large Russian landing ships in attacks on the annexed Crimean peninsula early yesterday, as well as a communications centre and other infrastructure used by the Russian navy in the Black Sea. The statement did not say how it hit the targets, but a Moscow-installed official in the region reported a major Ukrainian air attack and said air defences had shot down more than 10 missiles over the Crimean port of Sevastopol. Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, said transport infrastructure including passenger boats was partially damaged. | Reuters…

The ADAGE high risk, high rewards aptly describe the African market. And pace setting South African companies that bet their risk on markets to the north of our boarders are reaping their rewards. While the majority have been successful, there is a caution to this experience – which is that not all South African companies that ventured into the continent have had a rosy experience. Some have had to abandon their respective markets with bloodied noses. Business extortion, civil strife and low intensity conflict are characteristic of some of these markets. Africa is not for the faint-hearted so goes a popular refrain. Just how an entity mitigates these challenges ultimately determines its success as can be seen by some of the more successful companies trading in this market. After all,…

While a 2022/2023 Home Affairs survey showed generally high satisfaction scores from clients for the service they received at the department’s offices, opposition parties have said the statistics are misleading. Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi outlined the customer satisfaction statistics in his response to a recent parliamentary question from Cope president Mosiuoa Lekota regarding the progress made in resolving the myriad issues faced by clients. “Customer satisfaction score for each service channel was generally high with scores above 70%. However, harbours and airports had the highest satisfaction score of over 90% whereas refugee centres had the lowest score of 73%,” the minister said. Motsoaledi said when all systems are working and the offices do not experience load shedding, which now affects network coverage in the offices, “the average waiting period…

With reference to the letter dated March 6, 2024 in The Mercury Ebrahim Essa’s diatribe against “Bharat called India” is replete with distortions of history and fabrications. Probably, the only truth in Essa’s letter was the last word, Bharat, to describe India, albeit tongue-in-cheek! Essa refers to “indigenous Palestinians, who were incidentally mostly Muslim, a small percentage belonging to Judaism, as well as a handful of Christians”. As per the UN document: The Palestine Question: Palestine was inhabited by Semitic peoples, the earliest being the Canaanites during the 2nd millennium BC or even earlier. How does one reconcile the presence of Muslims in the 3000-year-old Canaan region when Islam is roughly 1 400 years old? The Islamist conquest of “India” – described as an “era of darkness” by Will Durant…

I will not stand by or remain silent while one of our elders from Shallcross, Chatsworth was mercilessly killed for a mere R100. As a society we should all stand together and take drastic action against criminals. There has been widespread condemnation and it was most talked about on social media. It is definitely the most uncertain time of our lives. How many more elders must live with this constant fear of being attacked. We have a right to feel safe. The elder’s life being cut short during a robbery, left his family and community shaken. The tragic event underscores the urgent need for decisive action against what plagues our communities. We have been held to ransom by the vermin that roam our streets and if we fail in our…

The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, has slammed directives that make it difficult for some road accident victims to lodge claims by having to adhere to a long list of requirements before the fund will accept lodgement. In what was hailed as a victory for these victims, a full bench (three judges) declared unlawful the new Road Accident Fund (RAF) 1 claim form published by the minister of transport in July 2022, as well as a similar board notice published in the Government Gazette in May that year. This followed an application, by several legal bodies, which maintained that the directives made it near-impossible for road accident victims to lodge their claims. Nicolette de Witt of the Pretoria Attorneys Association, which joined the proceedings as a friend of the court, explained…

Political parties have called for an overhaul of the country’s immigration system after 69 undocumented foreign nationals escaped from the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Gauteng last week. IFP spokesperson on Home Affairs, Liezl van der Merwe, said the IFP was shocked but not surprised by the escape of the migrants. “For some time, we have had concerns regarding the management and operations at the centre. However, the escape points to a bigger crisis: a complete collapse of South Africa’s immigration system.” Van der Merwe added that the IFP had dedicated a section in its 2024 election manifesto to the crisis around illegal immigration. “It is clear that too many undocumented migrants are within our borders, which poses a serious safety and security risk to the state, and the citizens of…

WATER, or rather the mismanagement thereof, has escalated to such levels that it has made news headlines daily over the past weeks. Burst pipes gushing potable water into the streets across the City of Johannesburg and raw sewage running down the streets of Munsieville, Krugersdorp and many others across the country, have become the norm. One of the symptoms of failure to manage and govern in an informed manner is the current sewage crisis. One of many dysfunctional wastewater treatment works is the Percy Stewart wastewater treatment works in Mogale City, which has been polluting the Blougat Spruit and Blougat River, flowing through the Unesco Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. The sewage-contaminated river disappears under the surface and into the water table, threatening the dolomitic karst system with sinkholes…

The Nigerian army yesterday rescued students and staff who were abducted by gunmen from a school in the country’s north earlier this month, the military said, days before a deadline to pay a $690 000 (about R13m) ransom. The kidnapping of 287 students on March 7 in Kuriga, a dusty town in the northwestern state of Kaduna, was the first mass abduction in Africa’s most populous nation since 2021 when more than 150 students were taken from a high school in Kaduna. Military spokesperson Major General Edward Buba said 137 hostages – 76 females and 61 males – were rescued in the early hours of yesterday in neighbouring state of Zamfara. A security source said earlier the students had been freed in a forest and were being escorted to Kaduna’s…

Colombo: McDonald’s stores across Sri Lanka shut yesterday after the US fast-food giant launched a legal battle with its local franchise holder over allegations of poor hygiene, court officials said. The Commercial High Court of Colombo ordered the closures until April 4, after the parent company accused the local franchise holder of failing to meet international hygiene standards. Lawyers for McDonald’s told the court that they had terminated a franchise agreement with local company Abans last week. | AFP…

The 17th edition of the Indian Premier League got under way last Friday, and it hasn’t taken long for the world’s biggest T20 tournament to catch fire. At the centre of it was big-hitting South African Heinrich Klaasen who lived up to his reputation as one of the world’s best T20 batters with his knock of 63 off 29 balls for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, with eight sixes at a strike rate of 217. But it was in vain as the Sunrisers went down by four wickets to the Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday. Needing 64 runs to win with 20 balls remaining, KKR would have been quietly confident about their chances of getting their season off to a good start. But Klaasen let loose from…