Índex per 2021-10-06 a Mercury

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za PIETERMARITZBURG residents are fuming after an alleged strike by the Msunduzi Municipality waste management workers that has seen rubbish piling up on the city’s streets for the past few days. Some residents took to social media to complain about the state of the city, with others questioning whether Pietermaritzburg was still the capital city of the province due to its shocking state. The staff reportedly went on strike over job grading and a lack of uniforms. The Mercury understands this started on Monday. Councillors said these issues had been simmering for some time. The South African Municipal Workers union (Samwu) said their members in the waste management unit denied that they were on strike. But the union said the members had not gone to work because they…

A TURKISH fellow had a few tipples too many while on an excursion to a forest with friends, according to Sky News. Beyhan Mutlu wandered off on his own then lost contact with the party. Eventually, he encountered another group and fell in with them. Then he noticed they kept calling: “Beyhan Mutlu! Beyhan Mutlu!” – his own name. He’d joined the search party that had been sent out to find him. Sounds like a great picnic. Fuel convoy NEWS from the petrol crisis in Britain, where there’s no shortage of fuel but a shortage of drivers to deliver it. A convoy of cars followed a tanker more than 100km in hope that it was going to offload fuel somewhere, according to the London Daily Mail, but it turned out…

GABI MARAIS | Winston Park So once again the advice given by medical experts will be ignored. We all know what happened after the Rage last year. While one does realise that the economy needs to keep going, surely it would make more sense to focus on the bigger picture. The Rage is in a certain area and it is very difficult to control young people. Surely it would make more sense to cancel it, so that families are able to come to Durban for the Christmas holidays. Why go ahead with the Rage for a few days and endanger the Christmas season, which lasts longer and brings more people? Over and above that, that sort of visit is easier to control than a bunch of adolescents as…

Sonri Naidoo The trial of the police officers charged with the murder of teenager Nathaniel Julies began in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court this week. Constable Caylene Whiteboy, Sergeant Simon Ndyalvane and Sergeant Voster Netshiongolo face charges of defeating the ends of justice, while Netshiongolo is facing a count of perjury. Whiteboy and Ndyalvane each face a count of murder and being in possession of unlawful ammunition. When Judge Ramarumo Monama asked the accused how they pleaded to the charges, they all responded by saying “not guilty”. Nathaniel, 16, who had Down syndrome, was buying biscuits at a tuck shop when officers opened fire on him in late August last year. His death sparked days of protests in the Eldorado Park community. A witness, Tasneem Kaldine, took the stand and…

Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za THE Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) will delay submitting its audited finances and annual report to Parliament because it needs to sort out issues related to reporting on its financial matters. This was revealed by Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza in a letter to the parliamentary presiding officers. State institutions are expected, in terms of legislation, to submit their audited annual reports to the national legislature at the end of September after they submitted their financial statements for audit purposes to the Office of the Auditor-General (A-G)in May. In her letter, Didiza said the Public Finance Management Act required her to table the annual report with the Assembly, financial statements and the audit report on statements within a month after the accounting authority for…

US scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian yesterday won the Nobel Medicine Prize for discoveries on receptors for temperature and touch, the jury said. “The groundbreaking discoveries ... by this year’s Nobel Prize laureates have allowed us to understand how heat, cold and mechanical force can initiate the nerve impulses that allow us to perceive and adapt to the world,” the Nobel jury said. Their research is being used to develop treatments for a wide range of diseases and conditions, including chronic pain. Julius, 65, was recognised for his research using capsaicin – a compound from chilli peppers that induces a burning sensation – to identify which nerve sensors in the skin respond to heat. Patapoutian’s pioneering discovery was identifying the class of nerve sensors that respond to touch. “These…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za DEVELOPERS of new buildings that comply with the eThekwini Municipality’s new green building policy proposal could receive preferential treatment when putting forward their applications to build in the city. A suggestion has been put forward that such applications should be fast-tracked as an incentive for developers to make their buildings green. The suggestion was made during a virtual meeting yesterday on the eThekwini Municipality’s Draft Green Building Incentive Policy. This policy is still at the proposal phase and no details are available as to how this could potentially affect the way building applications are processed. During the discussions yesterday, the policy was welcomed for its progressiveness by the participants. One participant had asked during a question and answer session whether it was possible for the city to…

But the GBV-F fight is left to advocacy and lobby groups, and communities SOUTH Africa is considered to be the rape capital of the world, with a woman getting raped, according to women’s rights advocacy groups, every twenty-six seconds. This should be appalling enough for all levels of government to be hands on deck in fighting the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide (GBV-F), but instead this has been left to advocacy and lobby groups and communities struggling on their own. In 2018, under the banner of #TheTotalShutdown, femme and queer bodies and allies in the country took to the streets petitioning government, particularly at national level to do something about GBV-F regarding policymaking and called for change with 24 demands. These included a demand to the…

VELD fires that have been ravaging some parts of the country for the past two weeks have destroyed over 143 000 hectares of land, killing 210 animals in the process. The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism yesterday said that the fires continued to be a big challenge in Namibia, with reports being received on a daily basis. A total of 27 veld fires have been recorded countrywide, burning 59 farms in the areas of Outjo, Otjiwarongo, Steinhausen district in Windhoek, Okahandja, Tsumeb, Tsintsabis and some areas in the Zambezi region. “A massive total of 135 livestock and 75 wild animals were killed in the fires, which also led to the destruction of infrastructure like fences and water pipes,” said Muyunda. The ministry, he added, was busy with a…

Berlin: A 96-year-old former secretary at a Nazi death camp who tried to flee before her trial has been released from custody in Germany ahead of the next hearing, a court spokesperson said yesterday. Irmgard Furchner had been due in court last Thursday for the opening of her trial on charges of complicity in the murder of more than 10 000 people at Stutthof camp in occupied Poland. But she failed to turn up after leaving her retirement home near Hamburg in a taxi, which took her to a subway station. Police detained her several hours later and she was remanded in custody before the resumption of her trial on October 19.…

Group A: Riyad Mahrez-captained reigning African champions Algeria have an impressive home record against Niger in World Cup qualifying, scoring 10 unanswered goals in two matches. Another convincing home win is on the cards for a team boasting an African record 29-match unbeaten run, but second-place Burkina Faso are likely to remain level on points with Algeria by defeating Djibouti. Group B: Table-toppers Tunisia have won all four previous World Cup qualifiers against Mauritania and there is nothing to suggest they will not extend that perfect record in Rades. A Tunisian side captained by Saint-Etienne's Wahbi Khazri and coached by Mondher Kebaier enter the match boosted by two impressive victories while the Mauritanians have disappointed when losing twice. Group C: It is difficult to imagine any result in…

A Russian crew of two cosmonauts, a movie director and an actress blasted off for the International Space Station (ISS) yesterday to shoot the first movie in space, the latest twist in decades of Russia-US space rivalry. Russian state media provided coverage in the run-up to the launch of the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft, with a countdown clock running on Channel One and news anchors framing the development as a significant breakthrough by Russia that the rest of the world is watching closely. The fanfare contrasted with the mixed fortunes of Russia’s own space industry which has in recent years been dogged by delays, accidents and corruption scandals as US-based private firms backed by rich businessmen have developed new spaceships. The 12-day Russian mission follows the launch of the first all-civilian…

FAROUK ARAIE | Johannesburg Is the ANC sliding towards extinction? For most of the country’s history since 1994, such a question verged on the preposterous. In the past, the party was led by giants whose integrity and sincerity was unquestionable. Today it is led by pygmies and, worse still, the party has not moved with the times but is living on its past glory. It was Doug Larson who once said: “Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.” The party of Nelson Mandela is today the party of carnage and elitists’ control, collusion of scams, masters of fabrication and weapons-grade contempt for the rule of law. Today’s rulers have gutted the old ANC and stuffed its empty…

EBRAHIM ESSA | Durban Once again, the turning point is upon us, municipal elections. “Fires will be put out timeously because there will now be enough water and fuel in the fire brigades. Potholes will vanish overnight. There shall be no errors in municipal service bills. There shall be no more water and electricity outages. Traffic will now move smoothly because metro police will be on the ball. Gutters will also be cleared of blockages and the dangerous old tree cut and removed well before anybody complains. Councillors will suddenly become very visible to answer to people’s problems.” Such is nostalgia. A yearning for the “good old days” and wishing they would return. There was a superficial law and order when white people ruled. Except that the order…

Ibrahim Cook, an ex-Idols hopeful, was this week sentenced to 10 years behind bars for dealing in drugs. Hawks spokesperson Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo said Cook was arrested at King Shaka International Airport in Durban on December 10, 2014. The Mercury reported that shortly after his arrest, Cook appeared in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court and told the court that he wanted to apologise. It was reported that Cook had auditioned twice for Idols that year and had won a “golden ticket”. He did not make it to the later stages of the competition, but was described as the “most cheerful contestant”. Mhlongo said Cook was travelling from Sao Paulo in Brazil when he was found in possession of 1kg of cocaine powder with a street value of about R300 000. He…

Facebook whistle blower Frances Haugen was set to appear before the US Congress yesterday, where she is set to sharply criticise her former employer as “one of the most urgent threats” facing the country, and to demand transparency about its operations in order to better regulate it. Haugen, a former product manager on Facebook’s civic misinformation team, said the social media giant kept its algorithms and operations a secret. “The core of the issue is that no one can understand Facebook’s destructive choices better than Facebook, because only Facebook gets to look under the hood,” she said in written testimony prepared for the hearing. “A critical starting point for effective regulation is transparency,” she said in testimony to be delivered to a Senate Commerce subcommittee. “On this foundation, we can…

After Hunter Connell’s California hometown of Santa Rosa was partially incinerated in a 2017 wildfire, she vowed to find a way to predict – and ideally prevent – similar climate change-linked disasters. “We needed a way to account for the complexity and interdependence of the environment and climate conditions that lead up to an event like this,” said Connell, an environmental engineer turned venture capitalist. “A human brain alone cannot understand all these forces,”she said. Connell is now the chief executive of Terrafuse AI, one of a constellation of climate analytics start-ups that aim to predict how climate change will impact certain industries, communities, zip codes and even individual properties. The firms are building complex models to look at flooding, wind, wildfire, and other climate-related threats, fusing known climate science…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za “UNREPENTANT” wife-killer Jason Rohde has failed in his attempt to be freed after he took his conviction and sentence for the murder of his wife Susan on appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA). While the SCA upheld the murder conviction handed down by the Western Cape High Court, the former property mogul was successful in having his sentence reduced and will now serve an effective 15 years behind bars, after SCA judge Halima Saldulker said there were no compelling and substantial circumstances to depart from the prescribed minimum sentence of 15 years. The appeal set aside the 20-year prison sentence ordered by the Western Cape High Court, after Rohde was convicted on a charge of murder and a charge of defeating the ends of justice,…

VACCINATING against Covid-19 is starting to bear fruit for football fans in South Africa. For the first time in more than a year, fans will be allowed at the Bafana Bafana game, as well as the Soweto Derby. However, entry to both games will be free for those who have taken the jab. South Africa banned fans from games when the country went into lockdown in March last year following the outbreak of Covid-19. But on October 12, Bafana Bafana will play before their fans during the Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifier against Ethiopia at FNB Stadium. Then, on November 6, the DStv Premiership clash between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates – one of the greatest football matches in the world – will be played in front of fans…

A DELHI hospital performed a rare surgery in which an artificial heart in a 56-year-old patient from Iraq was removed through a complex procedure, after his ailing heart was found to have recovered completely, hospital authorities said yesterday. Dr Ajay Kaul, chairperson of Fortis Hospital’s Heart and Vascular Institute, and his team of medical experts performed the surgery, removing a left ventricular assist device from the Iraqi national. The device was inserted in the patient in 2018. So far, only a few such cases have been reported worldwide. Fortis Hospital has created a record by successfully performing the first surgery of this kind in India and saving the patient’s life. The hospital said when the patient was first admitted he had “terminal heart failure. Since no surgical procedure was possible,…

WASHINGTON: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen yesterday said it was “utterly essential” for Congress to lift the federal debt limit ahead of an October 18 deadline to avoid US default, but added that she opposes using a loophole in US currency law to resolve the crisis. The idea comes from a legal loophole that allows the Treasury to mint platinum coins in any denomination it chooses. Some have suggested minting $1 trillion coins to break an impasse in which Republicans have refused to back an increase in the $28.4 trillion debt ceiling. October 18 is when Treasury will exhaust its extraordinary borrowing capacity, putting the dollar’s reserve status at risk.…

The European Tour yesterday added the Aviv Dubai Championship to its 2021 schedule, with the $1.5million (about R22.5m) event returning for a second straight season and replacing the cancelled Nedbank Golf Challenge hosted by Gary Player in South Africa. The event will be played on the Fire course at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 1-14, and forms a November Dubai double-header with the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, which will take place from November 18-21 on the neighbouring Earth course. The event, called the “Golf in Dubai Championship” last year and won by Frenchman Antoine Rozner, follows the Mallorca Golf Open (October 21-24) and the Portugal Masters (November 4-7) in being added to this year’s schedule. Players in the two Iberian swing events and the penultimate round in Dubai will…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za A NEWCASTLE-based company has been accused by the local municipality of polluting the environment by allegedly contaminating Amcor Dam and Ncandu River. The contamination, which allegedly took place last week, has raised environmental concerns after thick foam and dead fish were seen floating in the water. The municipality said it had linked the chemical pollutant to a local laundry shop, which was owned by Faizel Cassim, who is a mayoral candidate for ActionSA in the local government elections. However, Cassim has denied any wrongdoing and claimed the allegations were politically motivated. The municipality said it was made aware of the incident after it was shown a video of foam flowing through Amcor Dam’s waterfall. It said the municipality’s environmental unit instituted an investigation into the cause. Municipal…

THERE are several expressions of anxiety and some which I am sure you will recognise. Your bank app is showing a depleting balance. Pay day is a stretch away. You feel a sweep of worry run through you. Your mind hovers over a few possibilities. You recall another source of income. Anxious feelings dissipate. This situational anxiety is “normal”. You haven’t heard from your adult daughter for a few days. She usually is in constant contact. She texts. She calls. You know things are not going well for her at work. There are a few unusual pressures on her marriage even though she has not told you or shared any details. Worrying about her is starting to get in your way. You can’t think about too much without thoughts of…

DR BOB CLARK | Southbroom I REFER to Colin Butcher’s letter in The Mercury on October 1. The letter should have been published on April 1. His statistics are incorrect, irresponsible, cause fear and attempt to influence others falsely. This is peddling erroneous information and he is guilty of encouraging viral spread, causing death and misery. Besides the medical aspect, we must protect our social and economic health as well. Vaccinate or we will not get out of lockdown by stopping onward infection to others. Stop considering yourself for whatever misinformed dubious reason and do what is right for all of us. What about people who need non-Covid-19 health care and have been put on the back burner because of lack of hospital space stemming from your selfishness?…

BEVERLEY MUTANDIRO | Zimbabwean human rights activist I am disappointed that Zimbabwe’s elderly , who helped the country to gain independence, are living in extreme poverty. As people acknowledge issues around the aged in the world, it is important to also reflect on the miserable state that Zimbabwean old people are experiencing. Their meagre pension, if any, has been eroded by economic turmoil and the mismanagement of the country. The Zimbabwean government has turned a blind eye and neglected old people. These old people are only remembered during the presidential election campaigns. They cannot navigate their way to live a decent life. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has completely ignored the plight of the old people in Zimbabwe. Hard-hit by the pandemic and the economic ravages of Covid-19, most families…

| Mercury Correspondent Dr Amos Wallace Mgoqi, chairman of AYO Technology solutions, who was nominated for the post of Chief Justice of South Africa, announced yesterday that he would be withdrawing from the process. Mgoqi said in a statement that receiving a nomination for the post came as a great surprise to him. “Honoured by this acknowledgement, I would of course be pleased to serve our country in this capacity. While I know I have the requisite intellect, integrity and experience to fulfil such an august post, having had time to reflect, it occurs to me that at times, we can best serve our people and country by stepping aside to let others who may be a little more energetic and agile take the baton. “And so, having…

As world leaders look to reduce their carbon footprints amid climate change concerns, a new report has found that 14% of the world’s coral reefs has been lost since 2009. The “Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2020” report released yesterday by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), which involved more than 300 scientists, warned that climate change combined with overfishing and coastal development had destroyed at least a quarter of all marine animals and plants. In what has been the largest analysis of global coral reef health, the survey spanned 40 years, from 1978 to 2019, with data from 12 000 sites in 73 countries through 2 million individual observations. “There are clearly unsettling trends toward coral loss, and we can expect these to continue as warming…

Baldwin Ndaba baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za COSATU has urged its members and other workers to boycott their workplaces tomorrow in support of strike action to force government and the private sector to stop the “exploitation and abuse of workers”. The national shutdown is in protest against the freezing of wages in the government and private sector. Cosatu’s planned strike day coincides with the Global Day of Decent Work which is observed worldwide. The labour federation said it would stage protest action across the country to express their displeasure at the growing levels of unemployment and unacceptable wage freeze in the public service and private sector. Cosatu general secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali yesterday said: “The federation is issuing a call to all workers and South Africans to join the strike on Thursday. They can either…

Sibusiso Mboto and Karen Singh Teacher deaths due to the novel coronavirus have added further strain to the current crop of educators and adversely affected the quality of education, mainly in KwaZulu-Natal. This means that the government needs to provide meaningful and adequate support to education, the teaching profession and educational support staff, to meet the demands of the changing teaching environment, the IFP said yesterday. As South Africa joined in celebrating World Teachers’ Day, IFP spokesperson on education and member of the provincial legislature (MPL) Thembeni Madlopha-Mthethwa said teachers had also been expected to carry a heavier workload, due to changes caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and changes in the curriculum. World Teachers’ Day is sanctioned by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and is meant…

French Catholic clergy sexually abused some 216 000 minors in the seven decades since 1950, a “massive phenomenon” that was covered up for decades by a “veil of silence,” an independent commission said yesterday. The commission’s two-and-a-half-year investigation was prompted by outrage over a growing number of abuse claims and prosecutions against Church officials worldwide. When claims against lay members of the Church such as teachers at Catholic schools are included, the number of child abuse victims climbs to 330 000 since 1950. “These figures are more than worrying, they are damning and in no way can remain without a response,” commission chief Jean-Marc Sauve told a press conference. “Until the early 2000s, the Catholic Church showed a profound and even cruel indifference towards the victims.” Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort,…

Government forces have rescued abducted children who were forcefully recruited by the al-Shabaab jihadist group in northern Mozambique, the UN said yesterday. The UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) could not give further details on the numbers of youngsters involved, for fear of jeopardising efforts to liberate more children. “Children have been rescued, not released” by the militants, Unicef spokesperson James Elder told reporters in Geneva. They were saved by “government forces”, he said. The Islamic State-linked al-Shabaab has been terrorising the south-east African country’s gas-rich Cabo Delgado region since 2017, raiding villages and towns in a bid to establish a caliphate. The insurgency has grown bolder, with attacks including a co-ordinated raid on Palma in March 2021 that left dozens dead and displaced thousands. Last week Human Rights Watch said al-Shabaab…

LONDON: British firefighters said yesterday a fire at London’s Westminster underground station, next to the Houses of Parliament, was under control after it sent fire engines to tackle an incident. “Six fire engines and around 40 firefighters are at the scene of a fire at Westminster Station on Bridge Street in Westminster,” London Fire Brigade said on Twitter earlier. They later said the incident was under control. A witness saw several hoses being extended into the station, with police vans also in attendance. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is away at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester while parliament is in recess.…

Mihlali Baleka mihlali.baleka@inl.co.za Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos feels that there are “people who do not want to see the national team succeed” after recent incidents in camp ahead of South Africa’s back-to-back 2022 World Cup qualifiers against Ethiopia. On Monday Broos made a sober admission, saying that Orlando Pirates midfielder Goodman Mosele didn’t report for camp and didn’t give an indication of his whereabouts. But as if that was not stressful enough for the former Cameroon coach, yesterday, Broos told the media that Mamelodi Sundowns organised for some of their players to be vaccinate on Monday – something that saw striker Thabiso Kutumela being withdrawn from Bafana’s camp as they didn’t want to complicate his recovery process after the jab. It is not the first time that…