Inhaltsverzeichnis für 2022-05-20 in Mercury

WITH the Greater Bhambatha (Greytown) region of the ANC in KwaZulu- Natal expected to hold the final regional elective conference this weekend, the stage is set for the party’s provincial conference in July. Eight of the 10 regions have picked officers-bearers with a leaning towards the radical economic transformation (RET) faction of the party over the faction aligned to President Cyril Ramaphosa. Greater Bhambatha is also expected to elect its leadership along RET lines, although insiders say it is premature to say that this will be the only decisive element at the provincial conference. The deep divisions in the party at a provincial level have made it anaemic, and far from the powerful kingmaker role it once held in ANC party politics. At the provincial conference, all eyes will be…

SPORTS, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa has decided to review his R22 million flag project, amid fierce criticism. Mthethwa said he had noted the public discourse that unfolded and had directed his department to review the project. Artists, ordinary people, political parties and trade unions have questioned the value of the monumental flag project. The department had announced this week that it would be embarking on the project that would employ more than 140 people, saying it would be a “symbol of unity and national pride”. But many poured scorn on the idea, with Cosatu describing it as “embarrassing and ludicrous”. Cosatu spokesperson Sizwa Pamla made it clear that there was no room for such a project during these tough economic times. He said: “You can’t be focusing on…

READERS who also take a squint at the overseas news will no doubt have been as puzzled as I was by the “Wagatha Christie” libel trial in London. What on earth could a libel action involving the wives of two famous footballers have to do with Agatha Christie, the prolific writer of detective novels? Why attach the “W”? Was some other person named Christie somehow involved? You have to grasp the vocabulary and thought processes of especially the tabloid end of Fleet Street. It can be a tortuous process. WAGs are not just witty fellows who make us laugh, they’re the Wives And Girlfriends of professional footballers. Two WAGs are involved in the libel case. Coleen Rooney, wife of former England football captain Wayne Rooney, has brought the libel action…

It is heartbreaking to read that staple foods are fast disappearing from tables. It means that many people are starving as food prices rise, making basic foods unaffordable for many families. There are two main causes of this sad state of affairs. Firstly, the corruption of Jacob Zuma and his band of kleptomaniac cohorts when billions disappeared from the state coffers during his rule. Money that could have been used to build homes, schools and hospitals, to provide jobs and create employment, all went into the pockets of the ANC. In nine years, not a word was said about this monumental theft, leading to the impoverishment of the public in general. Secondly, the problem is overpopulation. If families produced only the children they could house, feed and educate, the problem…

THE continued postponement of the Zuma corruption trial is becoming a laughing stock. Is this the beginning of South Africa confirming its status as a banana republic, with our judiciary also becoming a laughing stock? This type of action does not bode well for any company wishing to invest in South Africa. The billions that have been promised to President Cyril Ramaphosa, via all his investment conferences, will probably result in all of them falling through. Any sane CEO or company would not want to invest in a country where the judiciary cannot even organise a proper trial for a man who allowed the country to be robbed of its assets and involved himself in corruption. He should have been found guilty at the time Schabir Shaik was tried and…

Mbuso Moloi, who faces charges of theft and public violence for allegedly looting a basket of goods from Woolworths during last year’s July unrest, has fired his attorney. Moloi appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Moloi was allegedly caught on camera with a basket of goods he allegedly looted from a Woolworths store, in Glenwood, during the riots in KwaZulu-Natal. In a video, he is then seen jumping into his Mercedes-Benz C300 Coupe. According to Natasha Kara, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority, Moloi had initially indicated he wanted to plead guilty, but he has since terminated the services of his attorney. Kara said he has since applied for Legal Aid and the matter was adjourned to the end of May. Moloi’s bail of R5 000 bail was extended.…

A WEATHER warning for widespread rain and cold weather has been issued for KwaZulu-Natal from last night going into the weekend. The inclement weather is expected to affect almost the entire country. KZN residents have been specifically warned to take extra precautions ahead of the expected rainy conditions. The South African Weather Service said a cut-off low pressure system could bring light snowfall, freezing temperatures and severe thunderstorms in parts of the country, including KZN, going into the weekend. It said due to the pre-existing conditions of water-saturated soils in parts of KZN, rainfall amounts exceeding 20mm were likely to lead to localised flooding. It said it was therefore important for communities to take the necessary precautions to prepare for such conditions. The weather service said it would monitor the…

THREE months after residents, including pupils, had to be treated in Richards Bay due to a suspected gas leak, questions remain on what was the source of the leak. In February, at least 37 children from Richards Bay Hoërskool had to be treated for symptoms after the suspected gas leak. Henning de Wet, DA chief whip and councillor in Richards Bay, said he had written a letter to City of uMhlathuze acting municipal manager Nkosenye Zulu this week with questions about the investigation. Sandy Camminga, of the Richards Bay Clean Air Association, said they had conducted their own report into the suspected gas leak. “One of the things we wish to make clear is that it was not only Richards Bay Hoërskool that was affected by the suspected gas leak.…

National carrier is being sold for a song, but government still liable for its debts The withdrawn letter from the National Treasury indicating the 51% stake of SAA sold to the Takatso Consortium is worth a meagre R51 has opened a Pandora’s box of a corrupt and unlawful transaction playing out under our noses. Fifty one rand! That is what we are expected to accept – hook, line and sinker – to be the value of more than half of a prized asset that has been hitherto our national pride, and a flagship carrier voted as the best African airline, its current financial and other woes notwithstanding. Scandalous! The infamous letter to the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) indicates that the government will still be saddled with the contingent…

A 21-year-old Russian soldier asked a Ukrainian widow to forgive him for the murder of her husband, as a court in Kyiv met for a second hearing yesterday in the first war crimes trial arising from Russia’s invasion. Vadim Shishimarin, a tank commander, pleaded guilty to killing an unarmed 62-year-old civilian, Oleksandr Shelipov, in the north-east Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka. “I acknowledge my blame ... I ask you to forgive me,” he told the widow, Kateryna Shelipova, yesterday. The Kremlin has said it has no information about the trial and that the absence of a diplomatic mission in Ukraine limits its ability to provide legal assistance. The widow told the court she had heard distant shots fired from their yard and she had called out to her husband the day…

LOS ANGELES: Tom Cruise found it a “daunting task” making Top Gun: Maverick. The 59-year-old star reprises his role as Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell in the sequel to Top Gun but Tom was uncertain about revisiting the movie that made him a superstar. He said: “Fans all over the world for decades have been saying please do another one, and I was like, I don’t know how to do that. And I would go home and think about how to approach it, so to hear about how audiences feel about it … I’m so excited for them.” He said that releasing the movie on a streaming service was “never an option” despite delays caused by Covid-19. | Bang Showbiz…

NEW YORK: The US Food and Drug Administration authorised booster doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for children this week as Covid-19 cases are on the rise again in the US. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices could recommend making boosters available for some portion of that age group, but may stop short of saying all children should get the extra shot, experts said. The companies submitted data to the FDA that showed a third dose of their vaccine generated a strong immune response against the Omicron variant in healthy children aged 5-11. Severe disease is quite rare in the age group, especially for those who have received two shots. | Reuters…

Teacher unions have slammed the recent decision by Basic Education Minister Dr Angie Motshekga to discontinue the rural allowance for teachers, saying the move amounted to condemnation of pupils in these areas. This follows the minister’s decision which was published in the Government Gazette last week. The rural allowance was established to attract teachers to work in rural schools, which were often ignored because of the many challenges, including lack of adequate infrastructure and the great distances to urban centres. The withdrawal of the incentive is likely to have a greater impact in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Limpopo provinces, which have more rural schools compared to other provinces. KZN has more than 6 000 schools, with a good number of them located in rural areas. Teacher unions in KZN…

The 1932 Pablo Picasso painting Femme nue couchée sold for $67.5 million (over R1 billion) this week at its auction debut at Sotheby’s in New York, the most recent large sale at auction for blue-chip art. The eight-digit sale price comes a week after Andy Warhol’s 1964 silk-screen portrait of Marilyn Monroe fetched $195m at Christie’s, setting a record for a work by an American artist sold at auction. Auction house Sotheby’s had predicted the Picasso painting, a surrealistic depiction of his muse Marie-Thérèse Walter, to sell in excess of $60m. This week’s price falls short of other portraits of Marie-Thérèse, one of which fetched $103.4m at Christie’s last year. Femme nue couchée, which translates from French to Nude Reclining Woman, shows Marie-Thérèse as a many-limbed sea creature with her…

In a recent interview that was aired on YouTube, the leader of one of the two groups objecting to the development at the River Club in Observatory, Cape Town, Tauriq Jenkins of the Gauringhaicono Khoi Khoin Traditional Indigenous Council, saw it fit to point out in his concluding remarks that the developer, the Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust, has an all white board, is owned/funded by one of South Africa’s largest white-owned construction companies, Zenprop, and is doing the bidding of a company that is owned and run by a white male, Jeff Bezos of Amazon. Consequently, one could almost certainly be forgiven for concluding that Judge Patricia Goliath of the Western Cape High Court might have ruled differently and refused permission to challenge the authorisations granted by the City of…

I watched some of the High Court proceedings in Pietermaritzburg the other day and was again struck by the impeccable decorum displayed by all parties involved. There was no argy-bargy, just good manners and mutual respect. It was, needless to say, merely the latest episode in the on-again, off-again Jacob Zuma saga. The parties involved weighed up the pros and cons and Judge Piet Koen displayed the forbearance required of his position. When all was said and done, a new trial date was agreed upon as being suitable to all and the matter adjourned for the umpteenth time. I was struck by the large numbers of legal practitioners milling about, all of whom will be richly rewarded for this latest unproductive appearance. The advocates and attorneys, like a flock of…

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s life story – from comedian to war-time leader – has been given the graphic novel treatment in TidalWave Comics’ latest biography, Political Power: Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The 22-page glossy, released this week, tells the story of how Zelenskyy, who once played a fictional president in a TV show, swept to power in 2019 promising to end a war with Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. He had no political experience when he took office as the country’s sixth president. “Who is he? What makes him tick? Why is he the right leader for Ukraine at this moment? Those are the things I was curious about when I started the research,” said writer Michael Frizell. The artist, Pablo Martinena, has also drawn biographies on David Beckham, Nelson Mandela and…

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said the South African National Roads Agency has been allocated R76.4 billion and R45.3bn was budgeted to upgrade, strengthen and refurbish the national non-toll roads network. DA MP Chris Hunsinger said this year’s budget was no different to any from previous years’, resembling a copy-and-paste edition. EFF MP Noluthando Nolutshungu said the department should build its internal capacity in order to prevent wastage on use of consultants. She said the use of millions of rand in the past financial year was an unnecessary waste of public funds. ANC MP Mosebenzi Zwane said it was critical that the department fill vacant posts and build its internal capacity. “It’s critical that the department monitors implementation of programmes by entities. This budget should bring relief to our poor state…

When Nozipho Sithole closes her eyes to sleep, she still hears the screams of her neighbour’s two young children as they were swept away by the floodwaters that killed hundreds of people in KwaZulu-Natal last month. Like Sithole, many of those living in a community halls across the province are haunted by what they saw, and what they lost. Muffled sobs echo through the shelter at night, she said. “The night the floods started, the sand looked like it was boiling from the water, the whole house was moving,” said the 35-year-old, who gave up her care job at an old-age home to look after flood survivors. “The sand and the river swallowed up the little ones,” she said, cradling the baby of a fellow resident at the shelter in…

MPs are complaining about experiencing problems with connectivity as they battle to log on to the virtual sittings of Parliament amid the ongoing increased levels of load shedding. Yesterday both the DA and the ANC members highlighted the problem as power utility Eskom has been consistently load shedding at 5pm, just when there are hybrid sittings of the National Assembly. The national legislature is currently busy debating budget votes of the various departments. Speaking in the programme committee, DA deputy chief whip Siviwe Gwarube said she wanted to flag that load shedding was causing massive disruptions for their virtual sittings. “We have a number of them that are still to go. I am very concerned about the quality of those (meetings)and the ability of our members to be able participate,”…

On April 21, China’s President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Security Initiative (GSI) when delivering a keynote speech via video at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022. The initiative champions commitments in six areas, emphasising that we are living in an indivisible security community and that security is a prerequisite for development. The GSI advocates commitments in six areas for the effective maintenance of peace and stability in the world as follows: u It is important that we stay committed to the vision of common, comprehensive, co-operative and sustainable security, and work together to maintain world peace and security. u Stay committed to respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, uphold non-interference in internal affairs, and respect the independent choices of development…

Nigerian police said they arrested two suspects behind the kidnapping of students from a Nigerian college last year, one of the most high-profile cases in a recent string of abductions of pupils. Gunmen killed a member of staff as they stormed Greenfield University in north-western state of Kaduna on April 20, 2021, before seizing around 20 students. Five of the hostages were killed a few days later to force families and the government to pay a ransom. Fourteen were released after 40 days in captivity. The Nigerian police said that they had detained two suspects, Aminu Lawal, also known as Kano, and Murtala Dawu, otherwise known as Mugala, who were implicated in several abduction cases. “They equally confessed to the kidnap of students from the Greenfield University, and the mindless…

Baghdad: An embarrassing slip of the tongue by former US president George W Bush may have drawn laughter from his American audience, but it raised the ire of Iraqis. In a speech this week in Dallas about Russia’s war on Ukraine, Bush said: “The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq, I mean of Ukraine,” he said in a speech, drawing laughter from the audience. “Anyway, 75,” he added, referring to his own age, to more laughter. Between 2003 and 2011, when the US withdrew its troops after leading an invasion of Iraq that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, more than 100 000 civilians were killed. The invasion cost the lives of nearly 4 500 Americans. Video footage of the gaffe has since gone…

JOHANNESBURG: Several outbreaks of monkey pox in Africa have been contained during the Covid-19 pandemic, and outbreaks in Europe and the US are a concern, Africa’s top public health agency said yesterday. A handful of cases of the virus, which causes fever symptoms and a bumpy rash, have been reported in Britain, Portugal, Spain and the US. The disease, which spreads through close contact and was first found in monkeys, mostly occurs in west and central Africa. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said outbreaks had been contained in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic since 2020. | Reuters…

THE winter chill is in the air and the edible fish are on the bite. With some amazing fishing happening all around, now is the time to get to the water and catch some fish. Wintertime is a great time to put away the heavier tackle and fish for the finer edibles that we are blessed with on the KZN coast. This means more finesse and a bit more focus on bait presentation. This means taking a little more time in making the bait and using more tricks in your arsenal to try and tempt the more discerning edibles to bite. Things like using thinner cotton when tying up your baits can make a huge difference. Adding foam to your bait to add some movement and body can also really…

Non-profit organisations have weighed in on the debate about what the government should be doing with the R22 million earmarked for the Monumental Flag project. The project will see a massive flag 80 to 120 metres high erected at Freedom Park Heritage site in Pretoria. After widespread outrage, Arts and Culture Minister announced yesterday that it would be reviewed. Asked what R22m could be used for, Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman said prioritising spending in the best interest of the country’s citizens during times of economic crisis was what was expected of any responsible government. “To spend R22m on a flag right now which has no impact on the well-being of the masses who are in a state of severe economic and emotional distress is illogical, irresponsible…

I watched, and it was in the middle of the night, a 90-year-old woman as she approached the bedside of her brother who had just died. He was 80. Having come from her home a block or two away from where her brother and his family had lived for many years, she sat next to him. She reached for his hands, held his hands close to her face, and wept. And, wept. She moved his hair on his forehead as if to be sure he looked his best to hear what she had to say and she began to tell the handful of people present – including her brother’s wife of many years – of how excited she was to become a big sister when the baby came home more…

Given his extensive specialisation in and exposure to life in China, Paul Tembe’s opinion piece in which he asserts that China’s “people-centred” policies “benefit everyone” (The Mercury, May 19) strays far from reality. Among China’s policies which Tembe hails with approbation, are: delivering material public goods in an ethical fashion; promoting harmony between nature and humanity and promoting peaceful international relations. Amnesty International’s report for 2021 records a very different picture of human rights in China, in which dissent is outlawed and treated as subversion of the Communist Party (CCP). In pursuing what it calls the “three evils” – ethnic separatism, religious extremism and terrorism – the CCP applies draconian restrictions and measures. Minority groups like the Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Muslims are subjected to arbitrary mass detentions, forced labour and…

I suggest the residents of Ladysmith and other municipalities not wait for officials to give the go-ahead to maintain roads or verges. We can teach our municipalities a lesson on how to get things done, and the residents of Shallcross demonstrated this spirit by working together. A bridge which was completely damaged, was repaired by the residents within five days. If this was left to the municipality, it would have taken more than three months to have it repaired. This demonstrates the power of the human spirit. The teachings and principles of our forefathers are bearing fruit. It has taken a flood for us to remember what is meant to be a community again. This type of initiative must be rolled out throughout KwaZulu-Natal. I would like to end with…

While the Covid-19 pandemic has paved the way for virtual proceedings, the issue of whether a court should allow affidavits deposed to virtually and signed by means of an electronic signature came under the spotlight in an Eastern Cape court. As things stood before the outbreak of the pandemic, deponents of an affidavit, in terms of legal regulations, signed the documents manually before a commissioner of oaths or by way of affirmation before the commissioner. During lockdown and even after the easing of government’s Covid-19 regulations and restrictions, the practice of remote commissioning of affidavits has become prevalent and is still continuing. Judge GG Goosen, sitting in the Gqeberha High Court, was confronted with an application by a bank against a client who fell in arrears with his mortgage payments.…

The Constitutional Court has directed parties involved in the Electoral Act matter, which seeks to amend the law to allow independent candidates to contest for seats in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures, to make submissions to it. This was after Parliament had applied for an extension to the deadline that had been issued by the court to amend the Act. If the extension is not granted, the lawmakers have until June 10 to conclude the process to amend the law. This followed a decision by the court in 2020 that Parliament had two years to correct the defects in the law after it ruled in favour of the New Nation Movement to allow independent candidates to contest national and provincial elections. The law currently allows independent candidates to stand…

While people tend to follow new diets to get fit and reduce their weight, research has shown that in addition to weight loss, intermittent fasting may have benefits like slowing down ageing, and be capable of fighting cancer and diabetes. Intermittent fasting diets fall into two categories: daily time-restricted feeding, which narrows eating times to 6-8 hours a day, and so-called 5:2 intermittent fasting, in which people limit themselves to one moderate-sized meal two days each week. “Intermittent fasting could be part of a healthy lifestyle,” said neuroscientist Mark Mattson, Professor of Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who has studied the health impact of intermittent fasting for 25 years, and adopted it himself about 20 years ago. | IANS…

JUDGMENT has been reserved in the Constitutional Court case brought by the South African Human Rights Commission’s (SAHRC) against three major banks regarding their practice to apply for default judgments in high courts against debtors who owe amounts as small as R7 000 on their home loans. The three banks in the case were Standard Bank, Nedbank and FNB and the matter revolved around the issue of the banks avoiding the magistrate’s courts despite these being more accessible than the high courts for impoverished respondents. In an earlier case, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled that there was an obligation on all litigants to consider access to justice when filing actions or applications, and that the courts had a duty to guarantee access to justice by exercising proper…

INDEPENDENT Media is forging ahead with its legal battle against the State Security Agency (SSA) where it is fighting to get a suspiciously classified intelligence report declassified and laid bare for its readers. The report’s content, which cannot be fully disclosed since the matter will be heard in chambers at a Pretoria court next Tuesday, was allegedly compiled by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) spies based at the US embassy in Pretoria. It was later shared with the SSA before concerned sources leaked it to the Daily News. When the Daily News asked questions about it in December last year, the SSA dashed to court and successfully obtained an interim interdict. The case is now heading for a hearing after all parties filed their papers. The report shows how the US…

Mozambique health authorities have confirmed that a child from the north-eastern Tete province has contracted the highly infectious wild poliovirus type 1 disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In a statement, the WHO said this marked the second imported case of wild poliovirus in southern Africa this year, following a case in Malawi in mid-February. The WHO said this was Mozambique’s first case since 1992. It said globally, wild poliovirus is endemic (occurring at the level of a region or community) only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. “Polio is highly infectious and largely affects children younger than 5 years old. There is no cure, and it can only be prevented by immunisation. Children across the world remain at risk of wild polio type 1 as long as the virus…

Sri Lanka fell into default for the first time in its history as the government struggles to halt an economic meltdown that prompted mass protests and a political crisis. Policymakers had flagged to creditors that the nation wouldn’t be able to make payments until the debt is restructured, and is therefore in pre-emptive default, central bank governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said at a briefing yesterday. The coupon payments, originally due April 18, were worth $78 million (about R1.3 billion) combined on notes maturing in 2023 and 2028, with a 30-day grace period that expired on Wednesday. Sri Lanka has been mired in turmoil amid surging inflation – which Weerasinghe sees accelerating to 40% in coming months – a plummeting currency and an economic crisis that has left the country short of…

Israel has arrested one of the pallbearers of slain Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, police said yesterday, but rejected his lawyer’s claim that the detention was linked to his role at the funeral. In a raid that has sparked international outrage, baton-wielding Israeli police beat several pallbearers as they carried the journalist’s coffin out of a hospital in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem. Abu Akleh was shot dead during an Israeli army raid in the West Bank last week. Palestinians and the TV network said Israeli troops killed her, while Israel said she may have been killed by Palestinian gunfire or a stray shot from an Israeli sniper. A lawyer for pallbearer Amro Abu Khudeir said that his client had been arrested and questioned over his role at the funeral. Khaldoun…

Frankfurt: Shots were fired at a secondary school in Germany yesterday, injuring one person in the northern city of Bremerhaven, police said, adding that they had arrested the suspected gunman. The incident happened at the Lloyd Gymnasium in the centre of Bremerhaven. “The armed person has been arrested and is in police custody,” police said. The injured person was not a pupil, they said, and had been taken to hospital. School shootings are relatively rare in Germany, which has some of the strictest gun laws in Europe. But a recent spate has rattled the population. Online paper Nord24 said the person injured was a woman who worked at the school. | AFP…

THE order of the teams on the United Rugby Championship standings suggests that if the Sharks lose to Ulster today in Belfast there is a good chance they will be returning to the Northern Ireland capital on 4 June for the quarter-finals. That is how much is at stake for both teams today — a probable quarter-final between them at Kings Park or the Kingspan Stadium, and Ulster has an ominously record at home. That is why Sharks coach Sean Everitt says his team will throw the kitchen sink at winning at the inhospitable venue today and then have the luxury of a playoff on the green grass of home. To make the challenge just a little sterner today, there is an almost 100% chance of rain in…