Table of contents for 2022-06-02 in Mercury

THE province of KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa at large could be on the brink of experiencing food riots with the alarming rise in the price of staple items. The latest food basket data released by the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group (PMBEJD) this week showed a notable increase in the prices of essentials such as flour, cooking oil and other important items. This comes as June fuel price increases kicked in yesterday. Despite the extension of the reduction of the General Fuel Levy of R1.50, the price of different grades of petrol (93 and 95 unleaded) increased by R2.43 a litre and R2.33 a litre respectively, and all grades of diesel increased by between R1.07 and R1.10 a litre. The advocacy group and an economist have said the Russia/Ukraine…

THE process to appoint a new municipal manager for the eThekwini Municipality is back on track as the city has appointed a new interview panel to lead the process. Members of opposition parties have now been included in the panel, following demands for the process to be transparent. Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda and ANC councillor Nkosenhle Madlala, who led the first attempt, have been replaced on the panel by deputy mayor Philani Mavundla, ANC councillor Zama Sokhabase, DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa and EFF councillor Thabane Miya, and an external expert. It was not immediately clear when the process was going to start. The first attempt to appoint a city manager a few weeks ago collapsed at the last hurdle amid allegations of political interference, which was vehemently denied by the ANC.…

RESPONSIVE people can function within life’s many tensions without becoming quickly overwhelmed. They can see possibilities in the problems they face. They pace themselves when facing a crisis. They are flexible, resilient and playful and are not usually concerned when others disagree with them. It’s something they expect. They don’t have to be right and regard being loving as more important. They shape the emotional environment they are in, bringing calm and creativity to their context, rather than taking on the anxieties of those around them. Responsive people will: • Initiate creatively rather than react defensively. • Be objective and consider implications for everybody involved – seeing the immediate and the long-term effects of a decision. • Hold a legitimate confidence. • See the “whole” and how the whole moves…

Reading about the horrific death toll in KwaZulu-Natal this past weekend is great cause for concern – 16 killed and many injured on the N3 in Pieter- maritzburg, where a taxi was involved. The public have been complaining about the behaviour of the taxi drivers ad nauseam. Speeding is probably the most frequent cause of accidents involving taxis. The government turns a blind eye to their misdemeanours with the result that many lives are needlessly lost. Tamper-proof speed-limiting devices should be fitted to all taxis. The police should also monitor their behaviour closely and apply the law. Some of the annoying and dangerous practices are stopping anywhere they see a potential passenger, be it on a bend in the road, on a blind rise or on a single lane road…

EVERY day in my 80-plus years on this planet I see more and more that human beings are their own worst enemies. We are all born with bad genes, and even before we can walk we show bad behaviour which increases with every step we take. Demands of all sorts are becoming normal, fed by parents and advertising. Worst of all, human beings are never satisfied with what they have, and advertising is making sure of this. Advertising does not stop at anything to make your mouth water for more. All this is quite true, but still mild compared with the much bigger problems. Too many people are walking this Earth in need of food and comfort. This has not prompted the elite right at the top to say, stop,…

The Independent Policing Union of South Africa (Ipusa) said it was concerned about allegations that prospective police recruits were paying bribes to be admitted to the police training college in Pretoria. The allegation came to light at the weekend in a report on news channel eNCA. In a statement, the policing union said it wasn’t shocked by allegations of corruption. It said SAPS had a flawed recruitment process which left room for irregularities. The union said the ministry’s en masse recruitment makes it more difficult for SAPS to recruit only the most suitable candidates, as rigorous standards were compromised due to pressure to fill the gaps. Ipusa president Bethuel Nephtal Nkuna said SAPS Human Resources and Training Components disclosed to Parliament in 2019 that there was a need to focus…

The 7-year-old sole survivor of the N3 accident that claimed the lives of 16 people near Pietermaritzburg on Saturday has been discharged from Northdale Hospital where he was being treated for internal injuries after the horrific crash. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport said the boy was doing well and had been reunited with his father in Johannesburg. Sixteen occupants of a Toyota Quantum, including the boy’s mother, were burnt beyond recognition after the minibus crashed into an overturned stationary truck and then caught alight. The boy’s mother managed to squeeze him through the window and handed him to a road traffic inspectorate officer who was at the scene attending to the overturned truck. The Department of Transport said it was grateful to the officer who helped save the boy. “We…

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has agreed to release two Rwandan soldiers detained amid soaring tensions between the two neighbours, Angolan President Joao Lourenco said this week. The announcement came after Lourenco held talks with DRC President Felix Tshisekedi. “At the request of his Angolan counterpart, (Tshisekedi) agreed to release two Rwandan soldiers recently captured on DRC territory,” Lourenco’s office said. “This step is intended to help reduce the tension in the relationship between the two countries”. Lourenco later held a video conference with Rwandan leader Paul Kagame, Luanda said. Following separate interactions with Lourenco, the Rwandan and DRC leaders reached “an understanding” to meet face-to-face in Luanda, at a date to be announced. A diplomatic feud between Kigali and Kinshasa has escalated in recent days with both sides…

LONDON: Britain aims to send a first group of asylum seekers to Rwanda in two weeks’ time as part of a policy which the government says is designed to break people-smuggling networks and stem the flow of migrants across the Channel. In April, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government announced the plan that drew criticism from within and outside Johnson’s Conservative Party as well as from many charities. The Home Office said that an initial group of migrants have started to receive letters telling them they are being sent to Rwanda to “rebuild their lives in safety”. It did not say how many asylum seekers would be on the first flight to Rwanda. | Reuters…

IF anybody is wondering how the Sharks will approach their United Rugby Championship quarter-final against the Bulls, here is a statistic that says it all — they have kicked more metres than any other side in the 16-team competition (13 962) and have also retained more kicks than anyone else (93). In other words the Sharks gain plenty of reward from their kicking game and they are not going to change anything at Loftus on Saturday, especially given that is an all-or-nothing knockout encounter and a risky, running approach would be foolhardy given the high stakes. Much is correctly made of the Sharks’ lethal backline attackers — Makazole Mapimpi, Lukhanyo Am and Aphelele Fassi — but they come into the game mostly from broken play or when counter-attacking from opposition…

THE 7-YEAR-OLD legal battle by Marikana mineworkers to sue President Cyril Ramaphosa, Sibanye Stillwater and the government for almost R1 billion is set to begin in the Gauteng High Court sitting in Joburg today. The civil suit was put on hold in September last year after nearly 330 victims of the Marikana massacre successfully lodged an application for the recusal of Judge Colin Lamont. The mineworkers lodged a recusal application after learning that the judge had, a few days before the hearings, owned shares worth more than R200 000 at Sibanye Stillwater. The judge agreed to withdraw. The mineworkers accuse Ramaphosa of actively inciting violence, exerting pressure and characterising their strike as unlawful, which led to the use of force by police with fatal consequences when he sent an email…

About a fifth of reptile species – from the Galapagos tortoises to the Komodo dragon of the Indonesian islands, from West Africa's rhinoceros viper to India's gharial – are threatened with extinction, researchers said in the first comprehensive global status assessment for reptiles. The study examined 10 196 reptile species including turtles, crocodilians, lizards, snakes and the tuatara, the only surviving member of a lineage dating back more than 200 million years. They found that 21% of species are critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable to extinction as defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the global authority on the status of species. They also identified 31 species that are already extinct. Many reptiles are being pushed to the brink, the researchers said, by factors similarly imperilling the…

INVESTMENT analyst Dr James Greener notes in his latest grumpy newsletter that corruption arrests have been made at last. “Those of us who complain that no one has yet been called to account for the numerous corruption cases of the past few years should note that arrests were made. They included a senior civil servant from the Ministry of Mineral Resources and two Gupta side-kicks. Allegedly they nicked about R1.75 billion of mine trust funds. “That’s a goodly sum and paying it back before lengthy prison spells is a splendid idea.” He says the lawyers for this unsavoury crew are in full cry and trying to delay the trial “until we all grow weary and old”. “Talking of which the assurances have gone quiet, that the paperwork necessary for extraditing…

WE ARE witnessing a tsunami of lethal violence, as violent criminals and murderers engulf the country in an orgy of mindless killings that has numbed our nation into a state of paralysis. Sixty innocent people are murdered every day in crime-infested South Africa, of these 10 are innocent women. The grim reality is that femicide is grossly under-reported in the media, and police reports often strip victims of their identity, turning them into statistics. According to the Centre for Constitutional Rights, the femicide rate in South Africa is five times the global average. We have one of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world. Recorded sexual offences average around 146 a day, 116 of which are cases of rape. These brutal statistics should keep us awake at night.…

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has welcomed the sentencing of former Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) employee Sphiwe Mngadi to a 12-year jail term for cable theft. Mngadi was convicted on Tuesday at the Scottburgh Court for tampering with and destroying essential infrastructure in 2018. “We are intensifying our efforts within the Justice Crime Prevention and Security Cluster to ensure that we eliminate syndicates hellbent on destroying public infrastructure. It is promising to see Prasa’s commitment to rid itself of corrupt officials who work to collapse this important agency bearing fruits. The sentencing of this former Prasa employee will serve as a deterrent to many who might have similar corrupt intentions,” Mbalula said. Delivering this year’s Budget Vote speech of the Department, Mbalula reiterated his call for the ban…

Police have confirmed that a 26-year-old KwaZulu-Natal mother is in hospital under police guard after she allegedly killed both her children and then drank a poisonous substance. The incident took place in the Bunganeni area in the uMhlabuyalingana Municipality (Manguzi) in northern KwaZulu-Natal. It is alleged the mother forced her 9-year-old son to drink a poisonous substance, while the 1-year-old son was strangled to death with a fence wire. It is further alleged that the mother attempted to kill herself by drinking a poisonous substance but was found alive. According to police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala, she was taken to hospital, where she remains under police guard. KZN MEC for Social Development Nonhlanhla Khoza extended her heartfelt condolences to the family and said she had dispatched a team of social…

Lessons for South Africa as it navigates public demands for service delivery If there is one area where the People’s Republic of China (PRC) can inarguably impart the best lessons, for both developed and developing countries in the Global South and North, it is in the area of public governance. It is in the sphere of governance systems and capabilities that the PRC has thrived and provided the institutional ammunition, revolutionary in all of human history, to drive its opening up and reform processes. What are the necessary strategic conditions that have enabled this to take place? Which lessons can be imparted to the Republic of South Africa (RSA) as it navigates challenges in balancing growing public demands for effective service delivery and strengthening public governance systems to realise these…

Celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee will be on a truly royal scale, featuring millions of partici- pants around Britain and climaxing in a TV spectacle expected to be watched by a billion people worldwide. The four days of festivities start today to commemorate the 70-year reign of Britain’s longest-ruling monarch. Around 1 500 soldiers, 400 army musicians and 250 horses will take part in the “Trooping the Colour” parade today. About 200 soldiers from the Coldstream Guards will line The Mall, leading from Trafalgar Square to Buckingham Palace in London. At noon today, 42-gun salutes will be fired across the country to mark the queen’s “official birthday” on June 11. Selected Royal Navy ships at sea will also fire their guns, along with the Grand Battery in Gibraltar…

China has insisted it has “no intention to compete” for influence in the South Pacific as Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Australian counterpart Penny Wong again jetted around the region yesterday on diplomatic charm offensives. Beijing said it “does not seek exclusive rights” in the region. The claim comes as Wang nears the end of a contentious 10-day visit to Pacific Island nations that has seen China pitch an increased role in regional security, to the concern of the US and Australia. “China respects Australia’s historical and traditional ties in the region and there is enough space in the vast Pacific Ocean for China, Australia and all island countries to share peace, development and prosperity,” the statement said. Although Wang failed to secure support for a regional security deal,…

IT certainly looks like new Kaizer Chiefs coach Arthur Zwane is intent on a major squad overhaul as he looks to rebuild the club into a giant of South African football. Amakhosi confirmed the departures of Daniel Akpeyi, Leonardo Castro, Kearyn Baccus, Samir Nurkovic, Lazarous Kambole, Lebogang Manyama, Daniel Cardoso and goalkeeper coach Lee Baxter yesterday. The club also announced that defensive midfielder Anthony Agay is available for transfer. Serbian international Nurkovic ended a three-year spell with Chiefs. At the height of his time with the club, he was regarded as one of the best finishers domestically and ended his debut campaign in South Africa with 14 goals. Nurkovic struggled last season as he scored just one goal in the Premiership. He has since been linked with a…

ETHEKWINI Municipality is looking to engage with the Ingonyama Trust to get residents living on its land to pay “something” for the services they receive. The municipality revealed its willingness to consider charging a flat rate of R100 for some of its services. While tabling his budget on Tuesday, mayor Mxolisi Kaunda expressed concern that residents living on Ingonyama Trust land, many of whom can afford to pay for water and other services based on the size and quality of the houses they have built there, are not paying anything to the municipality. Opposition party councillors welcomed the initiative, while others cautioned that the engagement should be thorough to avoid potential problems down the road. Kaunda has previously raised the issue of residents living on Ingonyama Trust land, saying…

I am so pleased this letter, Dangerous driving in “red light” districts, The Mercury, May 31, was published. I've been intending to write about the exact thing. Red light running has become so common; it happens at every traffic light in Berea, Musgrave, Morningside, Glenwood, every hour – areas I drive through on a daily basis. There are times when I catch up to those culprits and give them a piece of my mind, which is received with confusion as if they don’t understand what they did wrong. Could it be that there are thousands of drivers on our roads who have “bought” their drivers licences and never passed a driving test? When to go, when to slow down and when to stop are shown in green, amber and red…

THE response of the Amish community in Ohio, the US, to Covid-19 substantiates the stance of many scientists and doctors who opposed the narrative of draconian restrictions imposed by the World Health Organization and its political servants. When Covid first became apparent in the Amish community of 38 000 in Holmes County, the only response of those who were employed outside the settlement or visited public places, was to wear masks. Their schools and religious services continued, with none of the protocols that were enforced on the rest of Americans. A few of the elderly Amish passed on, earlier than they might have, according to spokesperson Marvin Wengerd but, as sudden as the onset of Covid had been, it left. And that was all months before any so-called vaccine was…

The DA in KwaZulu-Natal recently attended the 2022 Children’s Sectoral Parliament in eDumbe Municipality, where learners from various high schools in our province were able to debate on social issues plaguing them, including teenage pregnancy, bullying and substance abuse. It was an honour to see and hear our young people discuss these topical issues on a platform where they were being listened to. This is particularly relevant given that most of the time, children’s social issues are discussed by adults who don’t have first-hand experience. Sadly, many of the issues highlighted are still endemic in KZN. It was, however, refreshing to hear the views of our young people on how these challenges can be tackled. In order to begin to adequately address them, the government needs to not only listen,…

The winner of the R126 million Power- Ball jackpot has claimed their prize. The national lottery operator, Ithuba, said the Florida, Johannesburg resident claimed their prize from the May 20 draw. “I believe the spirit of gratitude and giving is what has landed me here at this point in my life,” the winner told Ithuba. “I am yet to digest the news, I need time to re-evaluate the situation and apply my mind. When I found out that I had won, I was in complete disbelief, and I felt elated. “Reality is only sinking in now that I am here at the Ithuba offices,” the woman told Ithuba. The winner said that as an active sports person, it was a fellow running partner who had mentioned to her that someone…

A POLICE officer who admitted to arresting a pastor for violating a protection order without ascertaining the veracity of the matter has cost the taxpayer. Benjamin Maganyele, a pastor in Soshanguve, spent three days in cells after his arrest in April 2018. He was arrested on allegations that he violated a protection order that had been obtained against him by his ex-wife. But he said he knew nothing about the existence of this protection order. He sued the Minister of Police at the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, on the basis that police arrested him without confirming the existence of the protection order. Maganyele also gave evidence that he was arrested without a warrant of arrest despite the Domestic Violence Act stipulating that a warrant of arrest must be obtained before…

Exactly what is the Dutch role in a country that is still battling from colonial repercussions, I ask myself as a Dutch government representative. We carry a burdened past here, one that brought the East India Company (VOC) to these shores in 1652 and enslaved thousands of people. How should I relate to this? One answer comes from a Cape- tonian movie-maker: “You need to shut up and listen, and do not come to me with your white guilt. The implications of the slavery past are for us to deal and grapple with. They are not yours. We do not need you to tell us how to process. We do not need your interpretations. “However, you need to be present in the room. Not to talk or to debate, not…

Jerusalem: Israeli Defence Force (IDF) troops shot dead a Palestinian woman after she approached a soldier with a knife in the southern West Bank, the army said yesterday, with Palestinian officials pronouncing her dead. The army said the “attempted stabbing” took place near Al Aroub camp, north of the city of Hebron. “An assailant armed with a knife advanced toward an IDF soldier who was conducting routine security activity on Route 60. The soldiers responded with live fire,” the army said. “No IDF injuries were reported.” The Palestinian health ministry said the woman died from a bullet to her torso, identifying her as Ghofran Warasnah, 31. | AFP…

BAFANA Bafana coach Hugo Broos is frustrated following a failed attempt to meet with local coaches. The national team mentor believes that a meeting with the local tacticians could help in ironing out flaws which not only exist in the DStv Premiership but which also extend to the men’s national team. “I always have time to meet the coaches and have tried. It’s not my fault that we haven’t met. Every time I am refused the opportunity to meet with the coaches. What can I do?” said the Belgian. Broos pointed out that flaws with the league may have led to problems that his squad faces ahead of their upcoming 2023 African Cup of Nations qualifier against Morocco in Rabat next week. Three players with injury issues at…