Indholdsfortegnelse for 2023-03-03 i Mercury

National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has advised the EFF that the rules of the national legislature did not permit the establishment of a Section 89 inquiry against a president without a prescribed process. This comes after the red berets wrote to Mapisa-Nqakula on Wednesday to call for the establishment of the impeachment process against President Cyril Ramaphosa. The party’s demand came after the Constitutional Court dashed Ramaphosa’s hopes of reviewing and setting aside the report of the independent panel led by former Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, which found that he has a case to answer on the Phala Phala scandal. The apex court had concluded that Ramaphosa had not made a case for exclusive jurisdiction or direct access to it. Ramaphosa approached the court to review and set aside the…

THE KwaZulu-Natal government is set to fork out millions of rand in compensation for more than 2 000 izinduna from April. The compensation forms part of the backpay which has been a contentious issue between government and traditional leadership for years. KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube- Ncube told a media briefing yesterday that the provincial government had received money from national government, but would not disclose the total budget, indicating that this would be revealed by the finance MEC during the budget presentation next week. She acknowledged that the backpay was a bitter-sweet moment as some of the izinduna who had been instrumental during the discussions had died before witnessing the fruits of their efforts. “We are moved by the fact that we have had a number of izinduna who have…

KwaZulu-Natal’s unemployment crisis has seen a mass exodus of residents from the rural areas to eThekwini in search of work. This is a situation that has regrettably given rise to about 730 informal settlements – almost 80% of the total number in the province. This is a catastrophic state of affairs the effects of which we saw during the devastating floods, when thousands of people living in informal settlements lost everything they possessed. The situation was particularly severe for those who had built on dangerous river banks – this on the ANC’s watch. The challenge when trying to house eThekwini’s flood victims following the disaster was the lack of available, usable land. This was after the ANC-run municipality continually turned a blind eye to those who occupied and built on…

The recent answering sworn affidavit by former Eskom boss André de Ruyter reveals for all and sundry to see for themselves who is actually to blame for the current state of Eskom. Those ultimately responsible are the guilty parties. Anyone wishing to contribute their input on this matter should first read this affidavit. It reveals what many have been saying for years: that the ANC is the problem. With so many callers calling in to the early morning radio sessions on SAfm, with accusations and such-like, it leaves one wondering whether these individuals have any idea of what they are talking about. At times they unfortunately reveal that they don’t know what they’re talking about, have limited knowledge on the matter and at times reveal their ignorance. These individuals, if…

Four people have been convicted and sentenced by the White River Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga for fraud and corruption in connection with the issuing of South African passports to foreign nationals from Bangladesh and Pakistan. Hawks spokesperson in Mpumalanga, Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi, listed the four as Faud Mohammed Ali, 37, Christopher Marillier, 39, Gabriel Samuel van der Merwe, 33, and 31-year-old Sifiso Kheswa. “The accused were arrested by the Middelburg-based Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation after an operation linked the accused to the crimes in terms of the Immigration Act. “During 2021 and 2022, a Department of Home Affairs official allegedly colluded with South African citizens to assist foreign nationals from Pakistan and Bangladesh to obtain South African passports by using their identity documents,” said Sekgotodi. The foreign nationals…

Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele said they would take the lead from the home affairs minister regarding the 22 Afghan nationals seeking asylum in South Africa. Home Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday that it received a letter from a firm of attorneys representing unnamed Afghanistan nationals in February. They had demanded that asylum transit visas be issued to the Afghan nationals at Beitbridge port. The department said thereafter the 22 Afghanistan nationals in the company of US citizens arrived at the Beitbridge port and requested to be issued with asylum transit visas in order for them to enter South Africa to apply for asylum. When the immigration officer refused to do so as they had been issued with tourist visas by Zimbabwe, the lawyers representing them…

THE work ethic of some of the councillors in eThekwini has come under scrutiny following revelations that many do not hold community meetings. Councillors are expected to hold monthly community meetings, as well as ward committee meetings, but often neither take place. Council Speaker Thabani Nyawose said he was concerned that it appeared that most councillors were not holding these engagements, and therefore residents were not being informed about developments in their area, and the council was not being updated about the issues affecting the community. He took the councillors to task over this issue, warning that such behaviour would attract sanctions and a referral for investigation to the municipal ethics committee. He said the municipality could not afford to have councillors who failed to meet with residents. “On community…

INNOVATORS with ideas and emerging businesses in Durban could soon be in the “pound seats” following the announcement by eThekwini Municipality that it is setting up a fund to assist these businesses with capital. Durban mayor Mxolisi Kaunda made the announcement yesterday while addressing delegates attending the City’s Energy Transformation Summit held at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Conference Centre. The two-day summit is aimed at helping the municipality chart a way forward towards a more energy secure future. The municipality wants to engage with independent power producers who can supply it with 400MW by 2025 and supply it with enough power to be energy independent by 2035. Kaunda said the fund would not be managed by the City, and would have an independent board. Its intention was to make capital…

FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron yesterday said the era of French interference in Africa was “well over” as he began a four-nation tour of the continent to renew frayed ties. Anti-French sentiment runs high in some former African colonies as the continent becomes a renewed diplomatic battleground, with Russian and Chinese influence growing. Macron said France harboured no desire to return to past policies of interfering in Africa ahead of an environment summit in Gabon, the first leg of his trip. “The age of Francafrique is well over,” Macron said in remarks to the French community in the capital Libreville, referring to France’s post-colonisation approach of supporting authoritarian leaders to defend its interests. “Sometimes I get the feeling that mindsets haven’t moved along as much as we have, when I read,…

The death toll from Greece’s deadliest train crash was set to rise even higher, with 46 confirmed dead but 10 people still missing, authorities said yesterday. Anger grew across the country over how two trains could smash head-on and the government said it would do all it could to make sure such a crash never happened again. Carriages were thrown off the tracks, with two crushed and several engulfed in flames when a high-speed passenger train with more than 350 people on board and a freight train collided near the city of Larissa late on Tuesday. As many in Greece demanded answers, rescuers continued to comb through charred and buckled rail carriages to try to find more victims. To identify some of the victims, relatives had to give DNA samples…

LONDON: Boris Johnson said yesterday he would find it very difficult to vote for a new deal on post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland, suggesting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had let the EU retain too much power. In a speech to the Global Soft Power Summit 2023, Johnson broke his silence on the new deal. Johnson said he could understand that people wanted to move on, but said Brexit was only worth doing if Britain radically changed its economy, and a compromise deal on trade in Northern Ireland would leave the EU with too much control. “This is not about the UK taking back control ... This is the EU graciously unbending to allow us to do what we want in our own country. Not by our laws, but by theirs,”…

Rome: New data released by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has revealed that while billions of people around the world cannot afford a healthy diet, the cost of such a diet varies between regions. The report shows that a healthy diet cost the most in Latin America and the Caribbean at $3.89 a person a day in 2020, with Asia a close second at $3.72. In Africa, the cost of a healthy diet was lower at $3.46 a person a day, followed by North America and Europe at $3.19 and Oceania at $3.07. In the year leading up to the findings, Asia saw the biggest increase of 4% in the cost of a healthy diet. In Africa, the increase was the smallest, only 2.5%. | IANS…

THE pressure on the Sharks and the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship (URC) will strike a new level this weekend as the race for play-off spots moves up a few notches with just four rounds left to the knockout stages. Going into this weekend’s South African derbies, the Stormers are in second place on the log and are home and dry for a quarter-final while the 12th-placed Lions dropped out of the race long ago. But in between are the Sharks in seventh place on 40 points and the Bulls just above them on 41 points, and it is these two teams that will be fighting for their lives when they visit the Stormers and host the Lions, respectively. The Lions can do the Sharks a huge favour by…

BRENDON McCullum has promised that England will keep faith with their attacking game during the Ashes despite Tuesday’s extraordinary one-run loss to New Zealand in Wellington. The hosts levelled a two-match series by becoming just the fourth side in 146 years of Test cricket to win after following-on. The Basin Reserve contest will go down as an all-time classic, with England asking New Zealand to follow on 226 runs behind, only to struggle in pursuit of a target of 258. England, despite being denied a seventh successive victory, have won 10 out of 12 Tests since captain Ben Stokes and coach McCullum, himself a former New Zealand skipper, joined forces last year following a woeful run of one win in 17 matches at this level. McCullum, while disliking the ‘Bazball’…

FORMER Australia captain Ricky Ponting feels that David Warner missed the chance to end his Test career on his own terms after scoring a double century against the Proteas in Melbourne last year and says that he should have retired after the Sydney Test, which was his 101st match in the longest format of the game. Warner registered scores of 1, 10 and 15 in India in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy before being sent home to recover from a fractured elbow. He has passed 50 just twice in his past 20 Test innings and doubts are being cast on his place in the Australian team for the Ashes in England. The seasoned opener struggled in the 2019 series in England, averaging just 9.50 across five Tests with three ducks. “For…

Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rhulani Mokwena has stated that he expects the winner of the coveted Footballer of the Season award to emerge from his group of players. When quizzed about where he thought the Footballer of the Season award would land, Mokwena refused to pick out any of his outstanding individuals but expressed his confidence in that person emerging from the Sundowns dressing room. “If it was up to me, I would give them (the Sundowns players) all Player of the Year,” he said. “I think the players have been magnificent and I’ve said it in every press conference, the game of football belongs to the players. “Whoever is (Footballer of the Season), I’m sure they will come from the Sundowns squad because I think there hasn’t…

PRIVATE renewable energy projects currently under development will go a long way to alleviate power shortages, Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) CEO Emrie Brown said yesterday. She said RMB at present had a pipeline of more than 5 000MW. In the six months, RMB’s sustainability finance and ESG advisory teams facilitated deals worth R17.3 billion, adding to the R26.41bn facilitated over the previous financial year. “This enables clients to have access to reliable power supply to ensure they positively contribute to our economy,” she said at the release of the bank’s interim results for the six months to December 31. She said RMB, the corporate and investment banking arm of FirstRand had ramped up its transition and infrastructure financing and continued to grow its broader Africa business in the…

ADVOCACY bodies, including teachers’ unions and a national school governing bodies’ organisation, have called for better monitoring mechanisms in schools after revelations that corporal punishment is still widely practised in South Africa. A Statistics SA report on Children Exposed to Maltreatment, which was released this week, showed that of the million children who experienced violence at school in 2019, close to 84% experienced corporal punishment by teachers, followed by verbal abuse (13.7%). The report further indicated that about six in 10 children who experienced corporal punishment by teachers at school in 2019 lived in rural areas, but seven in 10 children who experienced physical violence by teachers in 2019 were residents of urban areas. The report made a distinction between corporal punishment and other types of violence at the…

The Mercury (February 28) reported that “the Mahatma Gandhi Pump Station – the largest sewage pump station in the eThekwini Municipality – pumps millions of litres of untreated sewage into the ocean each time it breaks down”. Gandhi’s contribution to the welfare of mankind is acknowledged across countries and societies. His role in political reform and in environmental sustainability are a “manifestation of his legacy”. His role as a social reformer defending the underprivileged class of society, as a lawyer and freedom fighter and a moral authority, has received global recognition and he has been honoured for his contribution to the betterment of society. Gandhi pioneered the concept of non-violence (Satyagraha) as an instrument for political reform that has its origin in eThekwini. However, here in eThekwini, the…

Moral outrage is justifiable anger, disgust, or frustration directed toward others who violate ethical values or standards. It usually surges when our moral identity and integrity have been compromised. Racial and ethnic hatred remains widespread today. Oddly, many discriminate without thinking, as most people do not think much to begin with. For example, when the US, Britain, Canada and their allies bomb the life out of Somalia, Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Iran and so many other dark-skin nations, few white people care. Nobody hangs a flag in solidarity with the suffering of the oppressed “darkies”. Usually, when the US and its allies kill dark-skin people, it is considered okay. However, when white folk are killed, such as in Ukraine, other white people are globally outraged and just expect dark-skin folk to…

The Nelspruit Specialised Commercial Crimes Court has sentenced 46-year-old Penelope Hlengiwe Khumalo to 10 years’ imprisonment after she was convicted on charges of fraud and corruption. Hawks spokesperson in Mpumalanga, Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi, said Khumalo, 46, was a former employee of the South African Revenue Service (Sars). She was found guilty and sentenced this week. “In March 2010, the accused assisted VAT vendors to complete and submit fraudulent returns with the aim to receive undue refunds from Sars.” The Hawks said Sars suffered a loss of R550 000. “The accused was sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment on four counts of fraud. She was further sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment on two counts of corruption,” said Sekgotodi. “Khumalo will effectively serve 10 years’ imprisonment without the option of a…

The question of whether it is a dismissible offence not to work overtime when requested to do so if there is no agreement in place, recently came under the spotlight in the Labour Court, sitting in Johannesburg. The court concluded that if there was no agreement to work overtime, the instruction to do so was unlawful as it was against the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. The issue was brought by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) on behalf of four of its members working for the Andru group. On the day in question, the four employees’ normal working hours were from 6am to 4pm. Their site manager instructed them to work overtime to meet production targets, but they refused. According to the mine, this conduct resulted in…

The Bryanston, Joburg house that was built for award-winning actress Moitheri “Terry” Pheto allegedly using funds linked to the siphoning of a National Lottery Commission (NLC) grant was put on auction yesterday. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) announced yesterday that the auction comes after a preservation order was granted by the Pretoria High Court to the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) and the SIU on November 4, 2022, to place Pheto’s Bryanston home under restraint. The three-bedroom, two-bathroom home was put on auction with a starting price of R3 million. “The SIU investigations have found that the money used for the purchase of the land and construction of the home came from non-profit organisations that received NLC funding meant for the roll-out of a public campaign and culturally sensitive medical…

Nongoma Local Municipality Speaker, Bhekinkosi Zulu, said a fire that burned down three businesses at Nongoma Plaza early on Wednesday was caused by load shedding. Zulu said the incident happened just as the power came back on after load shedding. He added that stores and a bank were affected. Nongoma mayor Albert Mncwango said the damage the fire caused was extensive, and a full investigation was under way by the municipality. Mncwango rubbished reports that they had to wait for firefighters from Ulundi, which is 40 minutes away from Nongoma. “Zululand District Municipality is based in Ulundi and their disaster management teams are more advanced than ours. “Our firefighters immediately attended to the scene, but because of the extent of the fire and because we did not have enough firefighters…

The concept of a learning academy to train and upskill members of the Department of Correctional Services and those seeking to build careers in the public service should be realised in three years. Much like the Department of Defence trains its staff as well as young recruits for various careers in their wings, like the SA Air Force, Military Health and the Navy, the department is set to integrate its available facilities, institutions, and those of its partners, like universities, to establish a Corrections Academy. Yesterday, talks on the goal attracted commitment from universities including Unisa, Tshwane University of Technology, National School of Government, and others outside Tshwane. They met at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre to discuss the academy.…

WITH the worldview crisis in Russia’s relations with the West entering a hot phase after the beginning of the special military operation in February 2022, the future of the world order and principles of international relations are again among the issues making media headlines around the world, and featuring widely in discussions held by political pundits. Let’s take a look at it through the prism of foreign policy planning. For starters, some basic quotes. Reflecting on the prospects for the development of international relations at a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club in October 2022, President Vladimir Putin pointed out that a common future for all will require a dialogue between the West and “new centres of a multipolar international order”. More specifically, he made it clear that…

Controversial legal reforms being debated in Israel’s parliament have sparked fears in the hi-tech and financial sectors that foreign investors will be scared off in a blow to growth prospects. The new legislation has been spearheaded by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which took office in December and is regarded as the most right-wing in Israeli history. It aims to curtail the powers of the Supreme Court and give politicians greater powers over the selection of judges. The proposals could deal a “severe blow to the economy”, former Bank of Israel governors have warned in the country that dubs itself the “start-up nation”. Writing recently in the Yediot Aharonot newspaper, former governors Karnit Flug and Jacob Frenkel acknowledged the situation “is still far from that of countries like…

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off yesterday to the International Space Station carrying two Nasa astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut and the second Emirati to voyage to space. The SpaceX Dragon Crew-6 launch had been scrubbed on Monday because of a clog in a filter that supplies ignition fluid to start the rocket engines. “Congratulations to the Nasa and SpaceX teams for another history-making mission to the International Space Station!” Nasa administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement. The Dragon crew capsule, dubbed Endeavour, is scheduled to dock with the ISS today after a 24-hour voyage. Nasa’s Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg, Russia’s Andrey Fedyaev and Sultan al-Neyadi of the United Arab Emirates are to spend six months on the orbiting station. While aboard the ISS, the Crew-6 members will…

Manila: Clean-up efforts were under way on the blackened coasts of a central Philippine island yesterday after spillage from a sunken oil tanker washed ashore, the country’s environment minister said, as fears of economic and environmental harm grew. The oil spill off Naujan town on Mindoro island reached the shores of the next four municipalities on the island’s east coast yesterday, and appeared to be flowing further south. On Tuesday, the Princess Empress sank with its cargo of 800 000 litres of industrial fuel oil. Another vessel rescued the 20 crew members, but some of the cargo leaked into the sea along with the diesel which fuelled the ship, the coast guard said. | AFP…

Tehran: Iranian authorities arrested four people yesterday in connection with an assault on a woman outside a girls’ school targeted in a wave of poisoning attacks, a news agency said. Hundreds of cases of respiratory distress have been reported in the past three months among schoolgirls in what one government official said could be an attempt to force the closure of girls’ schools in the Islamic republic. In the aftermath of one of the latest attacks, a video that went viral appeared to show a man assaulting a woman outside a school in Tehran. On Wednesday, at least 10 girls’ schools were targeted with poisoning attacks. | AFP…

SOUTH African stock markets snapped the three-day gains yesterday as investors continued to fret about the prospect of further monetary tightening from major central banks. This comes as the local bourse had closed in the green on Wednesday, as stronger Chinese factory data revived hopes for a global economic rebound. The JSE All Share Index fell more than 1.5% to around 77 415 points after consecutive sessions of advances due to the prevailing fear of higher for longer interest rates, after hawkish comments from US Federal Reserve officials. Barloworld, Naspers, and Investec led the losses with 5.86%, 4.29% and 5.05% to R90.60, R3 272.71 and R110.37per share, respectively. South Africa was not the only one to be affected as emerging market stocks edged lower. In the US, Atlanta…

AS Eskom announced that load shedding would be between Stage 5 and Stage 4 today, it also confirmed it had requested an update to a document on power-cut stages for higher levels. The NRS 048-9 code of practice document currently describes load shedding Stage 1 to Stage 8. When asked about the document yesterday, Eskom said: “The Eskom system operator requested the Nersa (National Energy Regulator of SA) document known as the NRS 048-9 to be updated to higher stages purely because at the time of development of the previous version Stage 8 was used, as we did not foresee getting there at the time. “Lately, there have been a lot of enquiries around what happens if we get to Stage 8, and hence we opted to expand the document…

I like to think of every Friday as a good one, no matter how trying the week might have been. Fridays declare the rest-stop, the opportunity for the breather that’s just around the corner. Fridays are for letting things go, the cumulative stresses of all that’s come at me from Monday. I hope it’ll be the same for you. Fridays are for a few handwritten notes in the mail, notes of affirmation and thanks, not necessarily for what’s occurred in the past few days, but an expression of thanks to those who’ve got me to this point. Consider joining me; it’s amazing how good it feels to write without a screen. Fridays are for re-envisioning the shape of the future, not only next week and six months ahead, but my…

PUBLIC Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan showed his true colours in his interview on Newzroom Afrika. As a seasoned politician, you would have expected more from him. But he has been well groomed by the ANC on how to be evasive and non-committal when confronted with searching questions and not to say anything that could incriminate him or ruffle the feathers of his beloved party which has been his home all these years. As a public enterprises minister under whose department Eskom falls, his replies to the questions on the looting at Eskom were disappointing. He seemed indifferent, disinterested and lackadaisical in his attitude at such a critical time when the country is facing an unprecedented power crisis. You would have expected him to show more interest and concern and say…

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says it has a R2.2 billion budget for 2023/24 which will be used for the preparation of the 2024 national and provincial elections. Briefing the home affairs portfolio committee this week, chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said the IEC planned to hold two national voter registration weekends – one later this year and another next year. A presentation to the committee showed that R1.2bn had been allocated for electoral matters, R258 million for outreach programmes, R113m for salaries, R144m for goods and services and R25m for party funding of political parties. He also said the funds would be spent on information and communications technology (ICT) applications, which were necessary to enhance the security of their IT network. “It also provides materials to be…

Night falls over Ynys Enlli. The remote Welsh island’s sky turns impossibly black. Planets rise and shooting stars streak overhead, while the Northern Lights send flares of green and red across the sea. The rugged outcrop has become Europe’s first “Dark Skies Sanctuary”, one of just 17 places around the world to achieve international recognition for their ultra-low light pollution and peerless stargazing. The award puts Enlli on a par with atolls in the South Pacific and the isolated Gabriela Mistral observatory site in Chile. The island is 3km off the Welsh coast. A mountain blocks glare from the mainland, so the only artificial light is the faint glow of Dublin across the Irish Sea. Enlli’s newfound fame has thrilled the surrounding community. The island itself has just two permanent…

A couple will spend the next 14 years behind bars after severely assaulting their 6-month-old daughter, the Pretoria High Court has ordered. The child was left with broken ribs, a broken collar bone and broken legs. The sentence comes after AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit assisted doctors in opening a criminal case after the first reported case was closed due to a lack of evidence. The parents, who denied all allegations against them in court, were convicted of assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm and child neglect. Charges against the couple, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child, were filed on July 24, 2020, and they were sentenced last week. According to information before the court, the child was first admitted to a hospital…

A SPANISH high court has ruled in favour of a man who was fined for walking naked through the streets of a town near Valencia and later tried to attend a court hearing in the nude. In a statement, the region’s high court said it had struck down an appeal against a lower court decision to annul fines handed out to the man for being naked in the streets of Aldaia, a town on the outskirts of the regional capital. The court, however, acknowledged a “legal vacuum” in Spanish law regarding public nudity. Alejandro Colomar, 29, was filmed arriving at court wearing just a pair of hiking boots before being ordered to put on more clothes to enter the building. He argued that the fines infringed on his right to…

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has condemned and slammed a “disturbing” advertising stunt by an establishment in Pretoria. The business was offering discounted prices on alcoholic beverages to students, using the tagline “NSFAS INGENILE”, meaning “the money is in”. “This reckless behaviour not only perpetuates undue use of the NSFAS allowance by its beneficiaries … it also counters the efforts by the scheme to instil financial responsibility in its beneficiaries,” it said. NSFAS board chairperson Ernest Khosa, accompanied by the scheme board members, SA Union of Students leadership, as well as police officials, visited the establishment to address their advertising stunt. Khosa said they met with the owners of the lounge and told them that their poster was illegal, utterly immoral and couldn’t be tolerated. “We have also…

Opposition parties have called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to provide greater detail on the role of the minister of electricity when he announces his reshuffled Cabinet. During last month’s State of the Nation Address, Ramaphosa announced that a new portfolio would be created to deal with Eskom and the country’s rolling blackout crisis. However, there was scant detail provided other than that the new minister would assume full responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the electricity crisis response, including the work of the National Energy Crisis Committee. Ramaphosa said the minister would focus full-time and work with the Eskom board and management on ending load shedding and ensuring that the Energy Action Plan was implemented. However, opposition parties say the biggest dilemma for the new minister will be how they…

WHEN you have a special bakkie with a V6 petrol 3.0-litre engine capable of 292kW and 583Nm, the Namib dunes will be hollering loudly in your ears. Which is precisely what Ford heard when they invited us to finally drive the new Raptor over two days followed by a road trip back to Johannesburg. We’ve covered the new generation Ranger and the Raptor extensively over the last few months but our eye was constantly on those dates in Namibia which would tell us all. We saw it in the metal last year in Thailand in a clinically clean workshop, but 14 of them lined up outside Walvis Bay international airport is a different prospect. The Ford Truck DNA shouts from the large grille with the big F-O-R-D letters, C-clamp Matrix…

An estimated 43.5 million South Africans are using the internet, some 72% of the population, according to datareportal.com. By January 2023, 34.6% of that 72% is made up of people of school- going age. Most schools in South Africa have access to wi-fi. This has sparked debate in many staff meetings about whether to allow pupils to use their smartphones in class to access the internet. In most township schools, the debate swings to the objection side, while it swings in the opposite direction in urban schools, and the year-end results give us an idea about who should win the debate. In our schools, especially township schools, there is a need for a policy to regulate the use of the internet on school premises and in classrooms during lessons. The…

The US and its European allies sparred with Russia over the war in Ukraine at a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in New Delhi yesterday, with the rival sides each accusing the other of destabilising the world. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had a brief encounter on the meeting’s sidelines during which Blinken urged Russia to reverse its decision on the New START nuclear treaty, a senior US official said. Blinken also told Lavrov that Washington was prepared to support Ukraine to defend itself for as long as it takes, the official said. The Russian foreign ministry said Lavrov and Blinken spoke “on the move” but did not hold negotiations or a meeting. News of the exchange came at the end of the…

New York: Even though US President Joe Biden has accidentally referred to Kamala Harris as president at least six times, a majority of voters are unenthusiastic about his vice-president’s potential presidential run in 2024, according to a latest poll. Harris has struggled to gain traction among Democrats nationwide amid her poor public approval ratings. The majority are from California, a Democrat bastion and Harris’s home state. A poll found that 59% of registered voters were hesitant about her seeking the presidency. Some Democrats also think that Biden, 80, is too old to run for a second term. | IANS…

Brazzaville: Cholera cases were falling across Africa, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday, but the number of deaths remained stable and heavy flooding was increasing the risk of the disease spreading. The UN agency said that 2 880 cases of cholera were recorded across the continent in the week ending on February 26 – a 37% decline compared to the previous week. But 81 cholera deaths were recorded during week ending on February 26, compared to 82 recorded the week before. Several countries are battling cholera outbreaks, with Malawi suffering its worst epidemic. Heavy rain in Malawi, South Africa and Zambia was helping the disease spread, the WHO said. | AFP…

CAIRO: A hidden corridor 9m long has been discovered close to the main entrance of the 4 500-year-old Great Pyramid of Giza, and this could lead to further findings, Egyptian antiquities officials said yesterday. The discovery within the pyramid, the last of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still standing, was made under the Scan Pyramids project that since 2015 has been using non-invasive technology including infrared thermography, 3D simulations and cosmic-ray imaging to peer inside the structure. The pyramid was constructed as a monumental tomb around 2560BC during the reign of the Pharaoh Khufu, or Cheops. | Reuters…

THE summer heat has made rock and surf fishing up north uncomfortable but this is where most of the better fish have come from. The north coast has seen some good summer action already. There have been some proper fish caught already. The blackfins have been around most of the river mouths of the north coast. Mackerel and live baits have been the most productive. The beachfront section of Durban has seen some decent fishing. It is one of the few areas that can be fished in the rough seas. Sardine and redeye sardine have been the most successful baits for the smaller flatfish with brown skates and blue rays making up the bulk of the catches. The edibles have been a little scarce other than the shad. The stumpies…