Inhaltsverzeichnis für 2022-09-09 in Mercury

A bright young lass named Mari Was going for her PhD; For better or worse She wrote it in verse And succeeded spectacularly. THE arts soiree at St Clement’s broke new ground this week as Dr Mari Pete, of Durban University of Technology (DUT), read to punters from her PhD thesis, which was written in verse. This is pretty revolutionary, especially when you consider that technology – computers and that kind of stuff – is generally considered to be pretty far removed from poetry. But, as Mari explained, the two can be complementary, technology being the practical future, poetry being an involuntary functioning of the human brain. The two are actually closely interlinked. Fascinating stuff, and the audience gave her a big ovation at the close. Yes, new ground. Poetry…

David Cartwright of Hillcrest is right. Comrades is not about money; it’s about personal glory. (“More to Comrades than prize money”, The Mercury, September 2). In fact, when I wrote about the Comrades, agreeing with The Mercury editor, that the Comrades Association should consider upping the prize money, I was in two minds. Is the Comrades about money or self-achievement, glory and the spirit of camaraderie so lacking in the world? Comrades runners will testify that they do not take part in the Comrades for the money but for personal accomplishment and the satisfaction of telling the world that they took part in the greatest ultra-marathon in the world. There is nothing greater than striking your chest with pride and proclaiming to the world, “I am a Comrades runner.” A…

It can’t be that the ratepayers who contribute towards the salaries of municipal officials, especially DSW (Durban Solid Waste) employees, are held ransom to their demands while our community is waist-high in uncollected refuse bags. It is blatantly obvious that management has failed to discipline its employees for a long time, and therefore these employees are taking advantage of the situation. In order to find a solution, the present DSW management must be immediately removed and a capable management with proper skills, including HR and labour-law experience, be employed by following the correct HR recruitment process, not cadre deployment. The SAPS and Crime Intelligence must also be brought in to counteract any form of intimidation and violent behaviour from these employees. Those employees that are prepared to work normal shifts,…

The South African National Roads Agency said the multimillion-rand construction work on the N3 between Sanctuary Interchange and Link Road at Pietermaritzburg could be completed by December. Tsepo Matekane, the N3 programme manager for Sanral, said the reconstruction on the slow lanes at the Peter Brown Bridge was forging ahead and would be completed later this year. Apart from resolving chronic traffic congestion by creating better mobility through construction of extra traffic lanes, the upgrade of the N3 would result in increased safety, he said: “Dangerous curves will be ironed out. Unsafe intersections will be redesigned.” Speaking about recent accidents that have taken place in the vicinity of Peter Brown/Townhill, Matekane said it had employed safety measures that went far beyond just legal or contractual compliance. He said there was…

OPPOSITION parties have urged the KwaZulu-Natal government and eThekwini Municipality to provide time frames on when flood victims will be moved to earmarked buildings in the city. The DA and the IFP said yesterday they were thrilled that the government entities had finally listened to their recommendation to refurbish existing buildings to house the victims. The municipality revealed that about 10 private and government-owned buildings were currently being assessed for feasibility of being converted for residential use, including the Transnet lodge in Montclair that was recently taken over by the government on a lease arrangement. “We are glad that they are finally listening to opposition parties,” said the IFP. Displaced flood victims were initially moved into mass care centres while the building of temporary residential units (TRUs) was taking place,…

Photographs, to-do lists, airplane tickets and quirky drawings by children are part of thousands of lost and forgotten items in library books carefully collected for years by a librarian in California. The items are now part of a collection called “Found in a Library Book” at the Oakland Public Library, whose main downtown branch display cases feature post-it notes, cards, drawings and bookmarks. Among the items are a ticket to an Oakland Athletics baseball game on April 25, 2013 and a ticket to a Heineken beer-related event dated November 19, 2002. Any item found in a returned book throughout the library system gets sent to librarian Sharon McKellar, who began collecting the items 10 years ago. “I like imagining where these came from,” said McKellar, who has been with the…

A man who has lived in South Africa for 40 years after he fled here in the early 1980s following the political assassination of his father is one step closer to officially calling the country his home. He had been rendered stateless, both here and in his country of birth, Lesotho. This meant that he could not work lawfully here or open a bank account. Identified only as Mr K, as he asked The Mercury’s sister newspaper Pretoria News not to divulge his identity, he said he had been unsuccessful in his struggle with Home Affairs to provide him with an identity for several years. The department ignored his pleas, and he turned to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria this week in a bid to be heard. The…

However, more reform and greater transparency are needed Kenya’s Supreme Court has confirmed William Ruto’s election as president in a unanimous ruling following the submission of eight petitions seeking to annul the result. The court dismissed all the petitions, including that submitted by the losing candidate, Raila Odinga. It found some of the claims “were based on forged documents and ‘sensational information’”. Odinga responded by saying that he had “respect for the opinion of the court”. But he “vehemently disagreed with the decision” and “would be communicating in the near future on our plans to continue our struggle for transparency, accountability and democracy”. The court ruling followed weeks of uncertainty that began with a six-day wait for the presidential outcome after a close race. On August 15, four Independent Elections…

THE rock and surf fishing is starting to pick up with more summer species making their way on to the reports. The north coast points have been the most effective spots along the coast to target the snoek on spoon. Small but heavy spoons that can be retrieved very fast without losing stability are essential. You also need tackle that can throw said spoon a long way and retrieve it rapidly. This means long rods and fast reels. The north coast has seen some decent scratching along the ledges and in the gullies. Pink prawn has been the best bait all around. In the south coast area, Trafalgar is still producing fish. The area around there holds a bigger sea so it can be fished in even the biggest…

Former KwaZulu-Natal treasurer Dumisani Sipho Derrick Shabalala was yesterday sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Pietermaritzburg High Court for corruption, fraud, money laundering and contravening the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). Shabalala’s bail was extended and he will reappear in court on Tuesday where he will apply for leave to appeal the sentence. The former treasurer had been found guilty in June for his role in the “amigos case” involving the award of a contract for the supply of water purification plants in return for kickbacks. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in a statement yesterday said Shabalala’s conviction related to his receipt of R1.5 million from Intaka Investments, for the acquisition of “Wataka” water purification plants valued at R44 million. Shabalala’s lawyer, advocate Khumbu Shazi, speaking after the…

This is a theme I am hearing a lot: I am having an “emotional affair” with someone who I have never met in person. We only speak online and on the phone. There is nothing sexual but we are getting closer and closer. My wife/husband has no idea. It is actually helping our marriage. This person hears me and validates me in ways my wife/husband cannot. I cannot understand how this is damaging to my marriage. I am not being unfaithful. We have not even met face to face. A problem is the emotional energy that can be directed at the spouse, and the investment of time and energy that could be directed toward the spouse, is now channelled elsewhere into what is, at first, a pseudo-relationship. As the attachment…

A recent oversight visit by the DA to the Vikela Baby drop box in Glenwood has raised several concerns, not only around the risk to the lives of abandoned or unwanted babies, but also the plight of mothers of unwanted babies. According to StatsSA, KwaZulu- Natal has the highest number of teenage pregnancies recorded in South Africa. Then there are the many cases that do not make the headlines, with the full extent of how many infants and children are abandoned and left for dead unknown. It is clear that KZN’s Department of Social Development (DSD) has a duty to apply more resources to this sad problem. Instead of being left in bins, bushes, toilets and river banks, babies can be left in baby drop-off boxes, which are provided by…

Your sister paper “Post” had a front-page article on the racism allegedly shown by a racehorse trainer to an Indian horse owner when he allegedly sent him a voice note via WhatsApp which says: “Ya, it was a f*** ing Muslim. “Plenty of money but they are just bragkat f***in try to show off all the time.” This was after the owner questioned the trainer about the form and chances of one of his horses winning. This news was on the front page of your sister paper, which has a readership of mainly Indians. Don’t you think that this act of racism should reach a wider readership and the full article as it appears in Post should be published in The Mercury as it is not only racialism but derogatory…

The Msunduzi Municipality has increased its cash reserves after collecting more than R50 million in one week from defaulting businesses and organisations. The collection comes after the municipality embarked on an aggressive drive of disconnecting services of businesses and organisations that were in arrears. The municipality had to resort to hardball tactics that included cutting services and naming and shaming businesses and organisations that were owing in order to extract the payments. Some debts, the municipality said, had accumulated over years and many of those targeted had ignored demands for payment. It disconnected more businesses yesterday and among them was a government parastatal Transnet. However, the tactics have drawn criticism, with some entities claiming to have been unfairly disconnected as their accounts were in order. There have also been concerns…

Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) KwaZulu-Natal port expansion plans have received the green light from the state entity’s board. TNPA said this week that the approval process set in motion subsequent governance processes to be undertaken, which include the promulgation process, as stipulated by the National Ports Act of 2005. It said the expansion plans formed part of the more than R100 billion KZN Logistics Hub Programme, which seeks to position the Durban Port as an international container hub that will boast an increased container capacity of 11.4 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) and automotive capacity exceeding 900 000 units. The Richards Bay Port is being positioned as a dry bulk hub port and the plans are also aligned to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s strategic plan, which…

The State Council executive meeting chaired by Premier Li Keqiang on August 24 announced various stimulus packages to boost economic recovery from the 2022 low point of April. Although the Chinese economic growth rate slowed to only 0.4% year-on-year (y/y) in the second quarter from 4.8% y/y in the first quarter 2022, policy measures instituted in May are already showing a discernible upward trend in the June data before easing in July. Chinese industrial production grew by 3.8% y/y in July after a 3.9% y/y gain in June, a 0.7% y/y rise in May, falling by 2.9% y/y in April and a 5.0% y/y jump in March. Chinese retail sales followed a similar trend as they rose by 2.7% y/y in July from a 3.1% y/y gain in June…

INCIDENTS of violence at KwaZulu-Natal schools have left teachers fearing for their lives as pupils engage in violent and life-threatening behaviour. Teachers attending a three-day conference of the National Teachers Union (Natu) this week spoke of helplessness and worry that their lives were at the mercy of criminals from outside, and pupils within, school premises. Yesterday a high school principal was shot dead, allegedly by the husband of a teacher who worked at the school, in Pietermaritzburg. The fatal shooting came just a day after a Northbury High School pupil set the deputy principal’s car alight over a disagreement about carrying a cellphone. Last Thursday, pupils at a KwaNdengezi-based school set their institution on fire in an apparent protest against a random SAPS search. Teachers attending the conference said the…

At first glance, the series of warped clown faces in a collision of primary colours appears to be the work of a painter – with oily brush strokes and smudged backgrounds the typical hallmarks. Yet the images displayed by Scotland-based artist Perry Jonsson, 31, on his tablet were in fact created through artificial intelligence (AI) – reflecting a growing trend in the art world. He used a machine learning programme, whereby algorithms take a text prompt and analyse data to produced thousands of images, before selecting and refining his favourite ones. “They’re a bit creepy,” he said. “But what I loved was the humanity that shone through, and that’s what I was looking for, something that felt like an actual artist might paint.” A film-maker by trade, Jonsson began dabbling…

With working from home brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, little gratitude has been given to restaurants that surround our places of residence, including in rural Hluhluwe. One particular establishment, which is on the R22 (on your way to Mbazwana) in Hluhluwe, is Delishh. This gem has saved me from load shedding, unplanned power cuts, the works. They have a generator and don’t lose power during load shedding. The staff, down to the owners of the restaurant, all deserve a pat on the back for the meticulous service and allowing work-from-homers to create a mini office at the restaurant. Their food (I usually indulge in sushi) is top tier. This is not a marketing letter, but a show of gratitude from a regular patron.…

ONE of the many problems facing us is the fact that far too many South Africans believe that they are entitled to get away with being lawless. Unless we as a society become responsible and behave within an orderly and legal way there is little chance of improvement. One of the latest events is the strike by Putco workers who have now been given notice of dismissal by their employer because of their strike affecting tens of thousands of innocent commuters. There is now an outcry by workers’ representatives, blaming Putco of being unreasonable. It is not Putco that is unreasonable. It is the workers who acted outside of the legal opportunity available to them in terms of labour law to address their case with Putco. The burning of trucks…

A man and a woman appeared in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court for luring a woman to a house in Durban, holding her against her will and forcing her to have sex with other people. National Prosecuting Authority provincial spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said the accused appeared on charges of human trafficking, kidnapping, rape, keeping a brothel and contravention of the Immigration Act. Ramkisson-Kara said the charges related to the luring and alleged kidnapping of a woman who was taken to a house in Durban. “She was held captive, raped and forced to have sexual intercourse with other people,” she said. Hawks provincial spokesperson Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo said officers arrested the suspects, aged 31 and 37, at a house in Malvern. “Police received information from a female who alleged that she was…

AGRICULTURAL bodies have welcomed the decision to lift the ban on the movement of cattle but urged farmers to exercise caution when moving cattle as the foot-and-mouth-disease outbreak had not ended. The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development announced yesterday that the nationwide 21-day ban on the movement of cattle that was announced on August 18 would be lifted, except for certain areas in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Free State where the ban would remain. Minister Thoko Didiza said that the decision was based on work done by the state veterinary services, private vets and animal health technicians over the past 21 days. “The co-operation of traditional leaders, communities and the police assisted in limiting the spread. It is encouraging that the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Northern…