Indholdsfortegnelse for 2022-02-07 i Mercury

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za SOUTH Africa's petroleum giant Sasol, with tentacles in the US, has reportedly engaged the services of consultant pariah Bain as pressure mounts in the UK and the US for its operating licence to be suspended. This while action recommended in the Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo commission of inquiry wags a finger at the global entity for its part in aiding state capture in South Africa. British legislator Lord Peter Hain said on Friday the lobby against Bain has been carried to the US legislator as favourable responses were received last week from Number 10 Downing Street for the consultancy firm to be thoroughly investigated for its role in state capture. “In the meantime, please look into the fact that Sasol has hired Bain in SA. With…

Yogashen Pillay yogashen.pillay@inl.co.za TEACHER unions have raised concerns about the rise in attacks on teachers after a South Coast principal and his wife were shot dead in their home. The principal of Maria Trost Junior Primary School and his wife were killed in the Ugu District Municipality on Friday. The incident comes after Thembisile Ngendane, deputy principal at Phomolong Secondary School in Tembisa, Gauteng, was shot dead in the driveway of the school last month. Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala confirmed Friday’s incident. “It is alleged that on February 4 at 10.10pm, suspects entered the house through the window and shot a 45-year-old woman and a 55-year-old man in St Faiths. They sustained gunshot wounds to the body and were declared dead at the scene.” Gwala added that the motive…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za THE Judicial Service Commission’s (JSC) recommendation that Supreme Court of Appeal Judge President Mandisa Maya be the country’s next chief justice has been widely welcomed by several bodies, despite sustained public attacks on the interview process. The JSC recommended Judge Maya following last week’s interviews, which included Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, Gauteng Judge President Dunstan Mlambo, and Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga. Former public protector Thuli Madonsela welcomed Judge Maya’s recommendation, saying it should be cherished because it was the first time the country’s top judge would be a woman. “I was a member of the panel that advised the president, and we were acutely aware of what our parameters were. The JSC knows what its parameters are,” she said. Madonsela added that she believed the…

DESI HALSE | Durban I AM so tired of all the boasting, posturing and competitive “brouhaha” that goes along with school marks. As if we can’t get enough joy and pleasure from the work itself, from the sheer enterprise of learning and discovering, growing and becoming amazed at the world we live in (never mind the damage done to the poor souls at the bottom of the list). Why the insatiable need to say “I’m the best or better than you”? … The desperation, since we all learn mostly from our ignorance and our mistakes? All along the way our learning has to be based on acknowledging errors and shortfalls. A “mark” is an approximation anyway. Its predictive validity and reliability lies within a range, so arguing about…

PETER SHARLAND | Hillcrest I feel compelled to respond to your front-page story entitled “Plan to fix South Coast water woes” (The Mercury, February 2). The water tanker industry in South Africa started in the early ’90s when very serious drought conditions hit the country generally and KwaZulu-Natal in particular. This, largely unforeseen, dire water shortage was addressed by providing water tankers to those areas most affected to provide a short-term solution to water supply challenges. Over the ensuing years vandalism and sabotage to the existing piped water infrastructure, particularly on the South Coast, escalated to seemingly uncontrollable levels, creating the need for a whole fleet of privately owned tankers paid for by hapless ratepayers. As a retired contractor involved in countrywide pipeline construction, I have to admit…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za In a precedent-setting judgment that may have consequences for several former couples, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has confirmed that maintenance orders only lapse after 30 years, if they’re not altered. The result of the decision is that a husband has to pay maintenance arrears, 29 years after he initially got divorced. The arrears run into more than R3 million. While the man did not dispute being in arrears, he said the maintenance order he agreed to when he and his wife divorced in 1993 had lapsed after three years. Under the agreement, the man had to pay his former wife monthly maintenance until she died or remarried. He also had to pay maintenance towards his two children until they became self-supportive. They had become self…

The International Space Station (ISS) will continue its operations until 2030 and will plunge into the most remote point in the Pacific Ocean in 2031, Nasa confirmed in a new transition plan released this week. According to the space agency’s budget estimates, the ISS, launched in 1998, will be “de-orbited” in January 2031. Once out of orbit the space station will make a dramatic descent before splash-landing in Point Nemo, which is about 2 700km from any land and has become known as the space cemetery – a final resting place for decommissioned space stations, old satellites and other human space debris, the Guardian reported. Also known as the “Oceanic Pole of Inaccessibility” or the “South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area”, the region around the space cemetery is known for…

Karen Singh karen.singh@inl.co.za A 47-year-old security guard was shot dead while responding to a robbery at a shop in Old Main Road in Doonside, eManzimtoti, on Saturday. Provincial police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala said it was alleged that on February 5 at 8.30pm, three men entered a shop and posed as customers. Gwala said they drew firearms and demanded cash. She said a panic button was pressed and security officers responded. The suspects opened fire on the security officers. “A 47-year-old man sustained gunshot wounds to the upper body and was declared dead at the scene,” said Gwala. Emer-G-Med Paramedics spokesperson Kyle van Reenen said paramedics responded to the shooting. He said reports from the scene indicated that a man suffered multiple gunshot wounds and was found in a state…

THE detailed discussion on transformation and the need for gender parity in the judiciary during last week’s interviews for the position of chief justice highlighted the gaps that exist in the quest for diversity in the country. The issues of transformation have not been thoroughly addressed in the private sector, where a bottleneck prevents many from progressing and the boards of companies do not necessarily reflect the demographics of the country. Judge President of the Supreme Court of Appeal, Mandisa Maya, who has been recommended by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to be the next chief justice of the country, stressed during the interview that she should be judged on her credentials as a judge, and not her gender. The fact that she was asked to reassure the commissioners during…

Swiss President Ignazio Cassis wants to thaw frosty ties with the European Union by seeking a new package of bilateral agreements and believes his country must move closer to the bloc, he told the SonntagsZeitung newspaper. Years of talks to bind Switzerland more closely to the EU’s single market collapsed in May last year when the Swiss government ditched a draft 2018 treaty cementing ties with its biggest trading partner. Brussels had been pushing for a decade for a treaty that would sit atop a patchwork of bilateral accords and have the Swiss routinely adopt changes to single market rules. It would also have provided a more effective way to resolve difficult disputes. Cassis, who is also foreign minister, said the Swiss government was now working towards fresh talks with…

LONDON: Britain’s Prince Charles led tributes to his mother, Queen Elizabeth, on the 70-year anniversary of her accession to the throne yesterday, saying it was an opportunity for the country to unite and celebrate her service to the nation. Charles also thanked the queen for her statement on Saturday that she hoped the heir to the throne’s wife, Camilla, would become Queen Consort when he becomes king. “We are deeply conscious of the honour represented by my mother’s wish,” he said. “As we have sought together to serve and support Her Majesty and the people of our communities, my darling wife has been my own steadfast support throughout. “The year of this unprecedented Platinum Jubilee brings an opportunity for us all to come together in celebrating the service of The…

Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za West Indies 174 all out (K Knight 48, D Dottin 36; S Ismail 10-0-44-4, C Tryon 6-2-12-2) South Africa 175/4 (A Steyn 52, S Luus 47; A Mohammed 9-0-31-2) South Africa won by six wickets and win the four match ODI series 2-1 The Proteas gave their confidence a boost ahead of the World Cup completing a come-from-behind series win against the West Indies at the Wanderers yesterday. It wasn’t a triumph without some problems - with the fielding yesterday particularly poor - but having not played for four months, then the news that captain Dane van Niekerk would miss the World Cup with a broke foot and the absence in this series of Lizelle Lee and Marizanne Kapp, it is a win worth celebrating. Sune…

Former world No 1 Andy Murray said yesterday that he intends to skip the French Open and the rest of the clay-court season in order to prevent injury and prolong his career following multiple hip surgeries. The 34-year-old Murray will be in action at the ATP 500 event in Rotterdam starting today after accepting a wildcard to enter the main draw. “The past couple of years, the clay has made issues worse,” the three-times major winner said. “Last year I had some issues at the beginning of the year, the clay didn’t help. I’ve spoken to my team about that and this year, while I feel good and healthy, I don’t want to take that risk." Murray, who made the final at Roland Garros in 2016, added that he could…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za FLANAGAN & Gerard Property Group’s portfolio recorded strong December trade with seven of its 10 malls recording double-digit turnover growth, managing director Paul Gerard said. The portfolio’s turnover grew by 12 percent from December 2020 to December last year, while this December’s turnover was also up nearly 9 percent on pre-pandemic figures of December 2019. Regional malls such as Mall of the North in Polokwane, Limpopo, and Ballito Junction on the Dolphin Coast of KwaZulu-Natal, reported record turnovers this December, both topping R350 million, Gerard said on Friday. Shopper numbers across the portfolio grew 7 percent in December, although this was slightly short of footfall levels in December 2019. However, the size of shoppers’ baskets had grown considerably, so it was still driving…

Nomonde Zondi nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za More than 100 people were left homeless after their homes were damaged in flooding due to heavy rain in KwaZulu-Natal since Friday. The KZN Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Sipho Hlomuka said disaster management teams in partnership with the department of social development and non-governmental organisations had provided immediate relief to the 138 people. He added that disaster management teams were continuing with assessments to provide a full picture of the extent of the damage experienced by municipalities in the province. Cogta said that on Friday, teams responded to incidents in wards 1, 2, 3 and 5 in the eMadlangeni Local Municipality (Utrecht), where 16 people had to be evacuated as a result of flooding. He said the torrential rains experienced by the municipality led…

I AM sure you have heard about the woman who left a town because people were unfriendly. When pushed, she said the place was full of angry and judgemental people, just like the multiple churches she’d also left. She left the next town and church, and this time the book club, too. Same reasons. The woman got a return on her resentments. She got back what she put out. Nothing wrong here. It works without fail. You and I don’t get to escape this. We get what we look for, find what our eyes are trained to find. Our lenses are shaped by what’s locked in our heads, hearts, souls. You may have noticed that our beings (brains, hearts, souls) are wired to provide a rather complex backdrop of experiences…

THE world holds its breath as Russia appears poised to invade Ukraine; as Russia and China sign a joint declaration that Taiwan is an integral part of mainland China; and as a Russian bomber is escorted away from British airspace by the RAF. Tense times indeed. But at least the international tension over Colin the Caterpillar Cake has eased. It seems it won’t be taken to the UN Security Council after all. Colin the Caterpillar Cake is a British/German confection bearing at one end the face of Colin the Caterpillar and sliced in a particular way for the enjoyment of cake enthusiasts. But a copyright dispute erupted between British supermarket giant Marks and Spencer (M&S) and their German counterpart Aldi over the design of their respective Caterpillar cakes. M&S accused…

GE WALKER | Kloof Over several years, at the cost of hundreds of millions in ratepayers’ money, our erstwhile municipality under ANC guidance developed the much needed GO!Durban bus service, only for a bunch of self-seeking taxi owners, interested only in their own financial benefit, to hold the city to ransom. They have no legal or moral reason to benefit from what should be a municipal service run and managed by the city council for the benefit of all residents and ratepayers, as happens in virtually every city in the world – including Cape Town. Their assertion that their entitlement stems from the fact (or non-fact) that they “established” the need and the market for public transport is absolutely untrue. The need for viable public transport has always…

A couple who ran a fake holiday scam have been sentenced in the Durban Regional Court. The police said the court had sentenced Megasen Roland Chetty, 38, and Sarasvathi Belinda Pillay, 47, to 10 years’ direct imprisonment on 18 charges of fraud. “The accused defrauded people of their money amounting to a total of R1.2 million. They had promised to secure them discounted holidays abroad and locally,” said KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala. The crimes were committed between February 2018 and October 2019. She said the pair were positively linked to 14 counts of fraud that they had committed in Chatsworth, Phoenix, Malvern, Town Hill, oThongathi and other areas. Following their arrest, The Mercury’s sister newspaper, The Post, interviewed a couple who had fallen victim to the holiday scam.…

| Reuters Tlalamba, a four-year-old leopard, has achieved much in her short life. She’s queen of her mother’s old territory, has given birth to two cubs and, so far, is the most sought-after animal on her reserve among buyers of a new project selling non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to raise money for conservation. NFTs are a form of crypto asset which exploded in popularity last year. All kinds of digital objects – from art to videos and even tweets – can be bought and sold as NFTs, which use unique digital signatures to ensure they are one-of-a-kind. Now, WildEarth, a wildlife streaming service, is minting NFTs linked to 25 prominent animals like Tlalamba on the Djuma Game Reserve, which is part of the Sabi Sand private Game Reserve in Mpumalanga.…

Zama Ngcoya zama.ngcoya@inl.co.za THE KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport has urged parents to be vigilant about the safety of the vehicles used to transport pupils. Kwanele Ncalane, spokesperson for the department, said: “We appeal to parents to play their role because they are the ones who commission these drivers in their localities or areas of residence, therefore they know these vehicles and these drivers. So we are calling on them as well to assist us by making sure that learners are transported in reliable, roadworthy, legal and safe vehicles,” said Ncalane. Ncalane was speaking after an accident claimed two children’s lives when a taxi carrying pupils and a truck collided on the R103, near Rosetta, on Friday afternoon. Midlands EMS said on Friday that reports from the scene indicated that the…

The AU has condemned a recent “wave” of coups that has seen an unprecedented number of member states suspended from the bloc, a senior official said yesterday. The putsches were among the main issues expected to be discussed at the weekend summit, along with the AU’s ties to Israel and its response to a grinding war in the north of host country Ethiopia. “Every African leader has condemned unequivocally … the wave,” Bankole Adeoye, head of the AU’s Peace and Security Council, told a press conference. Four member states have been suspended by the council since mid-2021 because of coups. The most recent occurred in Burkina Faso, following those in Mali, Guinea and Sudan. But the AU has been accused of an inconsistent response by not suspending Chad after…

ISRAEL yesterday said it could halt Israeli airlines’ flights to Dubai in the next days amid a security arrangement dispute, but is looking at rerouting them to Abu Dhabi. An Israeli official said current security arrangements for three Israeli airlines that fly to Dubai International Airport – El Al, Israir and Arkia – were due to expire today, leaving negotiators 48 hours to find a solution. Direct flights from Israel to the United Arab Emirates began after the two countries’ formalised ties in 2020. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have since visited the Gulf state. Israeli airlines are under the authority of Israel’s Shin Bet security service, which said it had encountered differences with its Dubai counterparts that could halt flights. “Should the Israeli carriers’ flights on this line be…

EDWARD WEST and Philippa Larkin edward.west@inl.co.za and philippa.larkin@inl.co.za LISTERIOSIS survivors in a class action against Tiger Brands will be heartened by a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling on Friday that overturned a Gauteng High Court decision to force other companies to hand over epidemiological and other information relating to the listeriosis outbreak. “Tiger Brands has not sought to lay a basis as to (a) the relevance of the documents to the issues in the class action or (b) whether the NICD (National Institute for Communicable Diseases) has in its possession or control the requested documents. I therefore conclude the amended subpoena against the NICD lacks the necessary specificity. “In sum, there is no merit in Tiger Brands’s assertion that there is a need to obtain evidence to establish whether…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za ETHEKWINI Municipality is counting the cost of load shedding after it revealed that it is losing more than a R1 million each time there are rolling blackouts. The losses come in two forms: through the loss of sales and through the damage to the network that occurs as a result of the power switching on and off. While the loss through sales is estimated at R1m, the loss through damage was unclear. In an interview with The Mercury, deputy city manager for Trading Service, Sibusiso Makhanya, and head of Electricity, Maxwell Mthembu, spoke about the toll that load shedding was having on the city’s coffers and infrastructure. They were speaking following a complaint by the DA about the state of the city’s electricity infrastructure, the outages that…

A French brewer has started using algae with a naturally-occurring pigment to turn their beer blue. The beer, with the brand name “Line”, is the result of a tie-up between a firm that wants to popularise the algae as a dietary supplement, and a nearby craft brewery that was looking for a way to make its beverages more distinctive. The beer is selling well, said Sebastien Verbeke, an employee of Hoppy Urban Brew, which makes the drink. “It’s getting an enormous amount of interest and curiosity on the part of the public,” he said. The blue tint comes from spirulina, an algae that is grown in basins by a company called Etika Spirulina in northern France. The component of the spirulina that gives the blue colour, called phycocyanin, is then…

HARRY SEWLALL | Sandton Duncan du Bois’s letter, “What is the real purpose of the vax narrative” (The Mercury, February 3), presents a fallacious argument for the anti-vaxxing brigade, for whom Du Bois seems to be the standard bearer. Predictably, his argument fails the rudimentary test of logic. Not only is it specious and pseudo-scientific, it is more than that. For a highly literate South African – judging by his avowed credentials – it is perverse and an insult to the memory of those who have succumbed to this insidious, devastating pathogen. It is an insult, too, to the families of health workers who have lost their lives in the line of duty. Du Bois begins by appealing to the authority of Johns Hopkins University where some…

Bulelwa Payi bulelwa.payi@inl.co.za The Higher Education and Training Department says it no longer faces a R10 billion student funding shortfall for the current academic year. This follows concerns raised by the SA Union of Students (Saus), which had called on National Treasury to cover the projected R10bn shortfall for funding of poor students. Higher Education department spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi said the shortfall was no longer an issue as it had been covered “through state resources”. The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) announced that it had received over 906 429 applications for funding this year. Saus president Yandisa Ndzoyiya had earlier appealed to National Treasury to reverse the “regressive, anti-poor and anti-working class posture” and meet the shortfall. The 2022 budget for NSFAS was expected to be announced after the…

Karen Singh karen.singh@inl.co.za The Department of Employment and Labour’s Inspection and Enforcement Services (IES) in KwaZulu-Natal is to embark on blitz inspections targeting the wholesale and retail sectors. The inspections are set to take place from today until Friday. Provincial department spokesperson Nhlanhla Khumalo said while the national roving team would focus on eThekwini Metro, Pietermaritzburg, Newcastle, Kokstad, and Ulundi regions, local inspectors would conduct the same inspections in all other regions. Examples of retailers in the sectors include large distribution centres, chain stores, SMMEs, informal, township and rural-based outlets, including spaza shops, supermarkets, general dealers, food and beverage outlets, pharmaceutical businesses and businesses that specialise in textiles, clothing, footwear, home furnishings, appliances, equipment, hardware, paint, and glass, as well as car dealers and repair shops. Khumalo said the inspectorate…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za UMNGENI Local Municipality has come out guns blazing accusing the Msunduzi Municipality of cheap politicking, disrespect and showing poor intergovernmental relations after the capital city’s council released a statement announcing it was disconnecting uMngeni’s electricity due to an unpaid bill. UMngeni said it found the public statement to be in poor taste. Msundusi released a statement on Friday stating that it would be disconnecting uMngeni due to a R3.5 million unpaid electricity bill. The statement comes just a few days after uMngeni revealed that it was laying the groundwork to regain control of supply of electricity to the Hilton suburbs. Hilton falls under uMngeni but its electricity is supplied by Msunduzi. This area, councillors in both municipalities confirmed, had a high collection rate and contributed significantly to…

Mahanoro: At least six people have died and nearly 48 000 displaced in Madagascar after cyclone Batsirai struck the Indian ocean island overnight, the disaster management agency said yesterday. The director of risk management in the national disaster agency, Paolo Emilio Raholinarivo, listed the numbers of dead and their location in a text message, but gave no further details. An official updated list of numbers of people impacted by the storm which brought strong winds, showed a total of 47 888 people had been displaced. The cyclone brought heavy rains that will cause flooding across parts of the island. Batsirai made landfall in the eastern district of Mananjary on Saturday night as an “intense tropical cyclone”, Faly Aritiana Fabien of the country’s disaster management agency said. Just an hour and…

LONDON: A former leader of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party has told potential challengers to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to “temper” their ambition, saying the government needs to focus on supporting the country through a cost-of-living crisis. Iain Duncan Smith said he was not “particularly in favour of a mess of votes of confidence, followed by leadership elections”. “This at a time when I think the British public has a right to (say): we elected you two years ago but we did not elect you to sit there while our incomes are not enough to pay for the cost of our living.” | Reuters…