Mercury的2021-05-19目录

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za TRADE, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel yesterday unveiled South Africa’s policy proposals to accelerate electric vehicle (EV) production. Patel said in his budget vote that the policy would create a strategy to put South Africa at the forefront of advanced vehicle and vehicle component manufacturing. Dr Norman Lamprecht, the execu- tive manager for trade, exports and research at Naamsa, the Automotive Business Council, said the Green Paper was necessary to speed up the creation of the “vast” ecosystem that went with EV production. Lamprecht said this would include charging infrastructure, battery waste facilities, and incentives to stimulate demand for EVs in the local market before local production could ensue because locally-made EVs would have to be 60 percent local content to be able to be…

Vernon Mchunu vernon.mchunu@inl.co.za A WASTEWATER recycling project aimed at alleviating dire water shortages and meeting the high demand in the industrial Richards Bay and surrounding areas is in the pipeline, the City of uMhlathuze has confirmed. The project, to be facilitated through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiative, was expected to help supplement supply from the costly sea-to-drinkable water desalination plant and the drained natural freshwater resources in the region. Assisted by the provincial Treasury Department, the municipality was negotiating with potential consumers, who included various local manufacturing and mining giants and the vast farming community, spokesperson Mduduzi Ncalane said. In terms of the project, wastewater would be refreshed into “white water” for use by the commercial farming community and industrial companies, including Alusaf Aluminium, Foskor, Mondi Paper, Richards Bay Minerals,…

Baldwin Ndaba baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za The cash-strapped ANC has 24 hours to respond to suspended secretary-general Ace Magashule’s claims that factional battles within the ANC prompted his suspension, and not the criminal charges against him. Magashule, in his application in the Gauteng High Court to set aside his suspension, said his removal from office was aimed at ensuring that the CR17 faction that supports President Cyril Ramaphosa can re-elect him as party president during its next elective conference, in December next year. His claims are contained in a 53-page sworn affidavit submitted in the South Gauteng High Court on Thursday asking to set aside his suspension. On Monday, the ANC announced the appointment of top lawyers who will be defending it when the matter appears for a hearing on June 1.…

IAN LLOYD | Durban North A MOST upsetting report from Shannon Ebrahim on the conflict between Israel and Palestine (The Mercury, May 14). It says that the Israeli military attacked worshippers in mosques and Christian churches with nuns and priests being assaulted, which I do not believe for a moment. The information came from the Palestinian Authority which is not noted for its veracity. The Israeli military has always been strong and well-disciplined, which it needs to be, having four Arab nations on its borders, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt. When the State of Israel was formed in 1948, they were given political borders by the UN which were unsuitable, and they had to establish secure borders that could be defended in the numerous wars they have fought…

B CALDERWOOD | Kloof I HAVE been watching the goings-on of the followers of Zuma and Magashule – once again postponements and the same antics of the masses. Why is it so hard for the ANC followers to understand that their heroes have feet of clay? Surely that truth should have penetrated their brains by now? It’s impossible that there are still admirers of those two. New leaders are needed – the old ones need to be locked up, expelled and brought down a peg or two. How much credibility can they have? Is their audience so brainwashed that they cannot see that these old heroes have let the ANC down? Will the party ever recover its self-respect?…

WE ARE quickly approaching the end of an era in this household. In a handful of days, my younger son will graduate from high school. I’m full of anticipation at the idea of having both boys out of school. What a relief! There’s some anxiety and trepidation in me about what the future holds for Nate, and it’s his birthday tomorrow. That’s a day that must’ve been extremely painful for his mother and she will not see him graduate. I so wish she could be part of the celebrations. It’s the end of an era: no more early morning sports practices or five-afternoons-a-week, three-hour sports workouts, no more Saturday morning reviews of the previous week’s games, no more watching the opposition on film before you meet them on the field.…

Nonhlanhla Nozizwe Hlatshwayo nozizwe.hlatshwayo@inl.co.za More teachers have been deployed to Quarry Heights Primary School in Newlands East, after parents shut down the school earlier this week. Parents claimed some classes had been without teachers since February. Khethukuthula Jaca, a member of the school governing body (SGB), said shutting down the school had been the last resort for parents as they had previously used all channels of communication regarding the matter. “We had written letters to the department and requested meetings with the school’s inspector. They kept on saying there will be meetings, until the inspector started to ignore our calls,” he said. “We had spoken to the principal and it was suggested pupils in the classes without teachers should be divided among the classes with teachers. We did not see…

THE Department of Basic Education Education (DBE) should do more to protect vulnerable pupils from the perverts, bullies and other potential criminal elements within its ranks. In recent months, disturbing stories have emerged about the physical, emotional and sexual assault of pupils at various schools, allegedly by pupils and teachers. This week alone, we reported that a former pupil from Mbilwi High School in Limpopo had laid criminal charges against her 50-year-old former teacher for allegedly molesting her repeatedly in 2018 when she was 17. The teacher had allegedly lured the teenager to a nearby lodge under the pretence of offering her private lessons. The young woman, now 20, charged him last week, three years after she matriculated from the school. Recently, another Mbilwi pupil, Lufuno Mavhunga, committed suicide…

The United Nations said yesterday it was alarmed by reports that Tanzania has been forcibly returning people fleeing unrest in neighbouring Mozambique. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, upheld the right to cross borders to seek asylum and said conditions at the frontier village of Negomano in Mozambique were “dire”. “UNHCR and partners have received worrying reports - including direct testimonies - that several thousand Mozambicans have been pushed back from Tanzania into northern Mozambique since last year,” spokesperson Boris Cheshirkov told reporters in Geneva. “This includes reports of over 1 500 returned this month.” He said an April mission to Negomano found that most Mozambicans sheltering there had hoped to find refuge in Tanzania after fleeing deadly attacks by non-state armed groups in Palma in March. Those without proof of…

LOS ANGELES: SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk has lost the world’s second-richest ranking to France’s Bernard Arnault, chief executive of LVMH Moet Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, after shares of his electric vehicle company fell 2.2%. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Musk, who held the top spot in March, lost $3.16 billion (R 44.30bn) over the past day, resulting in a fortune of $160.6bn (24% less than in January). Arnault’s wealth grew by $285 million to $161.2bn. The drop in Tesla shares came after Musk’s tweet saying his company was no longer accepting digital currency as payment.…

LUANDA: At least 110 cases of human trafficking were recorded in Angola from January 2021 to date, Secretary of State for Human Rights and Citizenship, Ana Celeste Januario has said. The official revealed this at the two-day workshop on “National Reference Mechanism for Protection and Assistance to Victims of Human Trafficking in Angola”. Most cases were registered in the province of Luanda, the capital, and in northern Zaire province, she said, stressing that since 2014, Angola has been improving the national system for prevention, protection and assistance to victims of human trafficking, as well as bringing to court the perpetrators.…

MIHLALI BALEKA SAFA president Danny Jordaan has lauded the decision taken by Hollywoodbets to become the first sponsor to back women’s football after establishing the Hollywoodbets Super League. Two years back, Safa formed the National Women’s League which was an upgrade from the Sasol League. But they failed to find a sponsor as they had to fork out the winnings of R500 000 to champions Mamelodi Sundowns from their own pocket. But this week, Safa announced a historic partnership with Hollywoodbets who changed the National Women’s League to the Hollywoodbets Super League. The partnership is for a period of one year, while Hollywoodbets will invest over R17-million into the league. From the R17m, the champions will pocket a cool R2m, the runners-up will bag R1m, while the rest…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za THE DEPARTMENT of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) said the government was scaling up the country’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) potential as part of pursuing a diversified energy mix that moves away from fossil fuels. Speaking during the department’s virtual budget vote, Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe said the government had undertaken an environmental impact assessment study for three gas-to-power plants of 1 000 megawatts (MW) each to enable gas-to-power projects in special economic zones. “The request for proposals will be issued in the third quarter of the 2021/22 financial year,” said Mantashe. He said an estimated total capital investment for 15 projects currently under construction, as licensed by the National Energy Regulator of South Africa, was R8.9bn. “From these projects, at least four…

Emily Edlynn As a mother, I know why parents yell at their kids, and why they feel guilty about it. As a child psychologist, I know that they shouldn’t feel so bad. I am not advocating a “go forth and yell” parenting approach. The calmer and less reactive we are, the more effective our parenting. In the worthy pursuit of yelling less, it may help us reach that goal if we feel less guilt and shame when we inevitably yell. We feel guilty because we don’t use it as an intentional discipline strategy; it probably represents frustration. “In my clinical and personal experience, yelling goes hand in hand with being overwhelmed,” says Rebecca Schrag Hershberg, clinical psychologist and author of The Tantrum Survival Guide. “Something about the situation is…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za Load shedding during peak night-time hours throughout winter would deal a major blow to the economy, especially for the transport and restaurant sectors. This is according to economists who were commenting yesterday after the power utility released a statement on the system’s constraints. Eskom had initially begun with the implementation of stage 2 of load shedding, scheduled from 5pm on Sunday. However, the power utility announced yesterday that it had suspended load shedding from 4am yesterday but the rotational power cuts would resume from 5pm until 10pm last night. It said the system remained vulnerable and that teams had returned seven generation units to service. Eskom spokesperson Sikhonathi Mantshantsha said the power utility was experiencing high evening peaks of demand, which was typical of winter. He said…

Foamy slime bubbles on to Damien Desrocher’s hand as he lightly rubs one of the thousands of snails he keeps in an enclosure in his backyard. The French artisan, 28, began using the gastropod fluid to make soap bars, which he sells in local markets, in December. “It’s all in the dexterity of how you tickle,” Desrocher said as he extracted the slime, noting that the process does not kill the animals. A former air force computer technician, Desrocher decided to start farming snails in the northern French town of Wahagnies as a form of “returning to nature”. “Once you observe and see how snails behave, they’re actually very endearing,” he said. “It’s really an animal that I love.” He has raised a total of 60 000 snails. As they…

MALCOLM MITCHELL | Hillcrest I HAVE read the letter by Peter Sharland in the edition of May 17. He discusses traffic-related problems consequent to the necessary and long-delayed upgrading of parts of the N3. He asks for comments. I am sure we all are aware of the economic importance of the N3 route, the most important road in South Africa, and perhaps Africa, towards the economic development of our country and the southern African continent. As a person who was responsible for all national roads in South Africa for a decade or more and also having just published a book on the importance of the N3 for our country’s development, I am acutely aware of the problems experienced in upgrading heavily trafficked roads. Mr Sharland is correct in…

THYAGARAJ MARKANDAN | Kloof THE Pietermaritzburg High Court was abuzz with Zuma supporters. From far and near they came in their hundreds. ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, a staunch ally who is in the same boat as Zuma; KwaZulu-Na tal Premier Sihle Zikalala, who was accused of being a sellout and booed by the crowd; Tony Yengeni; MK vets who formed a guard of honour for Zuma; and many more carrying ANC banners and placards were there. It was just like the rest of Africa where the political landscape flourishes amid tribalism, patriarchy and cronyism. After “ducking and diving” the law for some 20 years, Zuma was, at last, in the dock, facing 16 counts of fraud, corruption, money-laundering and racketeering. We eagerly awaited the State to call its…

Mapaseka Mogotsi Mapaseka.Mogotsi@inl.co.za THE National Union of Metal Workers of SA has approached the Constitutional Court to compel Parliament to save South Africa’s ailing State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) from liquidation. The union has accused the ministers of Finance Tito Mboweni and Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan of trying to force the SOEs into liquidation. The unions said nearly 3 000 jobs had been lost at South African Airways (SAA), while at Denel at least 3 137 jobs were on the line if the government refused to intervene to save it. “The National Assembly must decide whether Denel or SA Express or any other major State-Owned Company (SOC) should be wound up or liquidated. Parliament’s portfolio committee on public enterprises and/or Scopa and ultimately the National Assembly itself, should be the ones…

ZELDA VENTER zelda.venter@inl.co.za IT HAS become fashionable for legal practitioners to take off their velvet gloves and unashamedly attack judicial officers or the judiciary when they are not happy with the judgments. This is according to Mpumalanga Judge President Frans Legodi, who has had enough of lawyers disrespecting the courts. The judge did not take kindly to remarks by attorney Lufuno Ramarumo and her advocate, only named as Zwane, accusing him of being on a “mere joy-ride on an ego-trip”. The pair were trying to appeal against an order the judge had made against Ramarumo. They called his judgment “irritational” and said he should personally pay the legal costs for her leave to appeal application. It all started when Judge Legodi ordered Ramarumo to personally foot the legal bill for…

The year 2021 marks the centenary of the Communist Party of China (CPC). In 1921, at a time when the Chinese Nation was confronted with an unprecedented social crisis, grave domestic turmoil and foreign aggression, the CPC came into being. The rise of the CPC was an epoch-making event that reshaped the course of the history of the Chinese Nation, the fate and future of the Chinese people. Since its birth, the CPC has been relying closely on the people, conquered all difficulties, and striven forward in a relentless pursuit of happiness for the Chinese people, rejuvenation for the Chinese nation, and the common good for the world. As a result, the Chinese nation has achieved a great transformation from standing up to growing rich, and to becoming stronger, and…

Israeli jets kept up a barrage of air strikes against the Palestinian enclave of Gaza on Monday evening as a week of violence that has killed more than 200 people pushed world leaders to step up mediation. Air strikes sent dust clouds billowing into the skyline, while the Hamas militant group that controls the besieged and densely populated coastal strip threatened more rocket strikes on Tel Aviv if bombing of residential areas did not stop. In a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday night, US President Joe Biden said he backed a ceasefire, shortly after diplomats said Washington had blocked a third draft of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to the violence. Gaza resident Roba Abu al-Awf, 20, said she was bracing for…

Moroccan security forces intervened yesterday after a record 6 000 migrants crossed largely unimpeded into a Spanish North African enclave amid diplomatic tension between Rabat and Madrid. Reinforcements were deployed at Morocco’s Fnideq border crossing with the enclave of Ceuta and fired tear gas to disperse a large crowd of would-be migrants who had gathered in the hope of seizing a rare opportunity to slip across, an AFP correspondent reported. The surge in numbers came after some migrants were able to cross into the tiny Spanish territory of some 84 000 people virtually unimpeded by Moroccan border guards. The Moroccan government has been angered by Spain’s decision to provide medical treatment for the leader of the Western Sahara independence movement who has been seriously ill with Covid-19. Spanish Prime Minister…

TOKYO: Japanese billionaire entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa is fielding ideas on what he can do in zero gravity once he arrives at the International Space Station (ISS) in December. “From all things serious to silly, questions that you were too afraid to ask astronauts, any questions are welcome! I will choose 100 and film myself trying them out for my YouTube channel,” he wrote. Maezawa made his fortune in online fashion retail and is now worth $2 billion (R28bn). The space enthusiast would travel to the ISS on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur cosmodrome on December 8. Training begins in June. The 45-year-old will fly to the orbital outpost with his production assistant, Yozo Hirano. Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin will be in charge of the mission. The space tourists…

BERLIN: German police has detained a man on suspicion of involvement in a 2019 jewel heist at a museum housing one of Europe’s greatest collections of treasures, the Dresden public prosecutor’s office said. The 22-year-old man, identified as Abdul Majed R. under reporting rules, is the fifth and final suspect accused of stealing at least three sets of early 18th century jewellery from Dresden’s Gruenes Gewoelbe or Green Vault Museum, the prosecutor’s office said yesterday. The other four suspects were arrested last year, it said, adding that police were still looking for the stolen items.…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za PUBLIC Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu has slammed the conduct of the Public Servants Association (PSA) during crucial wage negotiations between the government and public sector unions. PSA acting deputy manager for members’ affairs Reuben Maleka on Monday went on a media roadshow alleging that the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) had excluded them from the facilitation process. Maleka said the decision to exclude them from the current public service wage negotiations was childish and displayed a lack of vision by the PSCBC while Cosatu-affiliated unions remained at negotiations. “It is ridiculous and short of any sense to exclude a union in the process to find a solution and which is salaries,” Maleka said. “We are unhappy about the exclusion from the facilitation, but we…

David Beckham has joked his 18-year-old son, Romeo copied his iconic bleached buzzcut look from 2008. The 18-year-old model took to Instagram to show off his new platinum blonde buzzcut on Monday but David Beckham couldn’t help but notice his new style resembles his iconic hairdo from 2008. Romeo shared a snap of his new style alongside hairdresser, Josh Wood, on which David commented: “Nice hair @romeobeckham. I wonder where u got that idea from (sic)” The former footballer – who also has Brooklyn, 22, Cruz, 16, and Harper, 7, with Victoria Beckham – was not the only one to spot the resemblance as a number of fans also commented on the picture. One wrote: "@davidbeckham, I can tell he has surely copied this hair from you. Beckham you had…

Viwe Ndongeni-Ntlebi viwe.ndongeni@inl.co.za Breastfeeding in public continues to be a hot topic among new mothers and those who frown upon it. New mom and actress Zikhona Sodlaka has called out all those who think mothers should not breastfeed in public. In an Instagram post with a sign saying, “people want to see your boobs until you’re feeding a baby – then it’s considered indecent”, the star shared her thoughts on the subject: “Here’s what’s not going to happen, my baby and everybody else’s baby who feeds from the breast is not going to go hungry because of the strange comments made when a woman decides to feed her child.” To those who felt uncomfortable about nursing mothers, Sodlaka said: “If it is uncomfortable for you to look at a…

Karen Singh karen.singh@inl.co.za Phase 2 of the vaccination roll-out ran smoothly in Durban yesterday, according to residents over the age of 60, health-care workers and eThekwini Municipality officials. Yesterday, eThekwini Municipality speaker, Weziwe Thusi, and the deputy city manager for Community and Emergency Services, Dr Musa Gumede, inspected the Moses Mabhida vaccination centre at People’s Park. Other vaccination sites in Durban include Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in uMlazi, Clairwood Field Hospital, Pinetown Civic Centre, Amanzimtoti Civic Centre, KwaMashu Indoor Sports Centre and the Stonebridge Community Hall in Phoenix. Gumede said vaccination sites had been identified in every area and the number of sites that were open would gradually increase. “In uMlazi we’ve got one site right now, Prince Mshiyeni, but uMlazi is big so we are going to add other…

JEAN MICHEL BOUVIER | Bryanston What is happening and what we are seeing in Gaza is not the result of a tragic conflict that nobody knows how to resolve. It is not the result of an unfortunate situation where both sides fail to empathise with the other. It is an assault on an open-air concentration camp, created by a brutal and savage apartheid regime, namely Israel. You cannot possibly grind the inhabitants of Gaza into the dirt for generations and then claim self-defence and try to bombard them and erase them every time they retaliate. Shame on you, Israel.…

| Daniel J Boorstin AN ASTONISHING advert comes this way, undated but obviously from the 1950s or even earlier. It’s for a product called the K&A Mop Bucket. It features a sketch of the face of a good-looking, well-groomed woman. Headline: “A Gift Mother will appreciate 365 days of the year!” Then some text: “See Mother’s eyes gleam at this labour-saving gift. She’ll thank you every day of the year. “The K&A is better because it CAN’T SCRATCH, CAN’T TIP OVER, or leave HEAT MARKS. And it’s built to LAST A LIFETIME. Add years to Mother’s life – give her the WORLD’S BEST mop bucket – the K&A MOP BUCKET. 5 YEARS’ GUARANTEE.” In the bottom right-hand corner is a sketch of the famous bucket, a mop placed in…

EBRAHIM “EBKOYBIE” ESSA | Durban INTERNATIONAL relations commentator Mr Abbey Makoe’s article in Tuesday’s Mercury refers. Mr Makoe makes a comparison between former president De Klerk’s approach of finally throwing in the towel, and avoiding the blood-bath to come if apartheid was not dismantled forthwith, and Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu’s never-say-die approach that continues, with impunity, the seven decades of maiming Palestine morale, limb by limb. Makoe suggests that Israel take a leaf out of our own former apartheid regime, bury the hatchet, save the situation and prevent further bloodshed and learn to live side by side. And what about retribution? Hitler, after successfully machining a most orderly extermination of millions of Jews, disappeared, some say into the Andes. Good for him. His cronies were hunted one…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za THE eThekwini Municipality has unveiled a “hope for the future” development plan that aims to improve service delivery, stimulate economic growth and produce a prosperous future for its citizens. The plan, called eThekwini One Plan, Pathway to an Envisaged Future, was tabled before members of the executive committee yesterday. The development blueprint, described by opposition parties as ambitious and a “pie in the sky” plan, spells out in detail what it hopes Durban will be like in the next 50 years. For instance, it hopes that by 2030, the poverty levels in eThekwini would have been halved, and by 2050, the millions of residents living in the city would be prosperous. The plan is part of the district development model initiative that was launched by President…

Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za THE Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) said yesterday it was in the dark on how Covid-19 would impact the municipal elections in October. The commission said this when it was responding to questions from members of the Home Affairs portfolio committee when it revealed that it recorded a decline in voter turn-out in the 2019 general elections. Chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said the commission had targeted 70% voter turn-out, but realised this had to be reduced to 66% despite their intensive campaign on the ground. Responding to MPs, he said the decline had not been applicable to municipal elections since 2011, when it improved from 48% to 58% and retained it in 2016. “As I sit here now, I don’t know what the impact of…

Zoheb Khan SOCIAL impact bonds are a financing model for social welfare services based on “payment by results”. In social impact bonds, investors provide working capital upfront to NGOs to deliver services. If the NGO successfully meets predefined targets – like placing a certain number of work-seekers in jobs – outcome funders repay investors with interest. If NGOs miss the targets, outcome funders reduce their payments to investors in proportion to the performance gap, thus diminishing their returns. If targets are missed by a wide margin, investors could also lose their capital. In most cases, philanthropists (typically charitable or corporate foundations) provide investment capital, rather than grants. The investments give philanthropists the chance to earn returns and recycle social expenditure, ensuring the money goes a bit further. Performance against…

THE bodies of eight men and one woman with bullet wounds were found in a truck in the western Mexican state of Michoacan, local prosecutors said. None of the victims were identified, they said. The vehicle in which they were found was parked in a central area of the city of Zitacuaro and the matter was reported to authorities by neighbours. Officials opened an investigation and the bodies were transported to the medical examiner. Michoacan, located along the Pacific coast, is facing a wave of violence linked to ongoing clashes between criminal gangs fighting over drug trafficking routes. Last month, eight decapitated bodies were found in a mountainous area of the Aguililla region, where attacks by the Jalisco New Generation cartel have been reported. More than 300 000 people…

The number of people from Myanmar seeking shelter in India has swelled to more than 15 000, with more likely to cross over as fighting intensifies in parts Myanmar following a coup, an Indian government official said on Tuesday. The influx into the small, northeast Indian state of Mizoram, which shares a porous, mountainous border with Myanmar, began in late February as policemen fled to avoid having to take orders from a junta trying to suppress opposition to the February 1 coup. By April, about 1 800 people from Myanmar - including several lawmakers - had crossed the border but the number has recently grown to more than 15 400, according to the vice chairman of Mizoram’s State Planning Board, H. Rammawi. “It is increasing day by day,” Rammawi told…

Dhaka: The arrest of a top Bangladesh reporter, who wrote scathing stories on the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, sparked protests by hundreds of reporters yesterday. Rozina Islam, an investigative journalist for Prothom Alo newspaper, was detained late Monday under the Official Secrets Act, police said. She appeared in court yesterday charged with stealing health ministry documents under the same act. A new hearing was set for Thursday. Rights groups say a crackdown on the media has grown during the coronavirus crisis.…

Zaahier Adams The Proteas have committed to a fresh group of players for the tours of West Indies and Ireland after AB de Villiers decided “once and for all that his retirement will remain final”. De Villiers retired from all forms of international cricket in May 2018, but continued freelancing in the various T20 leagues around the world. The 37-year-old was, however, set to make an international comeback with the ICC T20 World Cup looming, particularly after admitting during the recent Indian Premier League that he had been in talks with Proteas coach Mark Boucher about a possible return to the South African national team. “Last year, he (Boucher) asked me if I would be interested. And I said, ‘absolutely’. And come the end of the IPL, we will…