Índex per 2022-03-23 a Mercury

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE GOVERNMENT has called for calm and dispelled fears of possible food shortages in the country due to supply constraints as a result of Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine. Minister of Agriculture Thoko Dididza yesterday said there was no need to panic over the possibility of an impending food crisis as prices also continue to escalate. Didiza last week met with food processors, leaders in the fruit and grains industry, agricultural trading groups, and farmer associations to discuss availability of food supplies and farming inputs amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The engagement evaluated the availability of the food supplies and farming input supplies for the coming months. Didiza said that South Africa had sufficient supplies for the foreseeable future after benefiting from good harvests, and has already imported…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za STOR-AGE, South Africa’s largest self storage property fund, has acquired a four-property portfolio in England, its third acquisition there in 12 months, for £59 million (R1.16 billion) as part of a joint venture with the Moorfield Group. The portfolio, comprising modern, purpose-built properties in the south of England and the West Midlands, will add significant financial and operational scale to Stor-Age’s UK operations, Storage King, a statement said yesterday. Stor-Age chief executive Gavin Lucas said they made a strategic entry into the UK self-storage market a little more than four years ago, in November 2017. “Since then, we’ve seen Storage King deliver not only superb operating results year after year, but we have also seen it grow significantly, from 13 properties to 30, with a…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za DURBAN needs to prepare adequately for an increase in heavy trucks from the current size to more than 21 000 owing to the expansion of the port by Transnet. The city’s chief strategy officer, Adrian Peters, told senior councillors that it was important for the city to be an active participant in the port expansion process. Peters also told executive committee members yesterday that the port expansion process would impact immensely on the city’s infrastructure. “The new port plans will have a significant impact on the eThekwini Municipality, its residents, businesses and transportation corridors. Further, the new port plans will require significant strategic planning, infrastructural and operational support from the eThekwini Municipality if they are to succeed,” said Peters. Because of this, he added, it was imperative…

EBRAHIM ESSA | Durban Mr Allan Wolman’s letter: “Why is SA ignoring violations in Saudi Arabia?” (The Mercury, March 18) refers. I agree. All the rich Arab states have this religious affiliation to a new religion that their wealth has custom-hatch-plotted. It’s not called hypocrisy because they practise it most openly. It has nothing to do with Islam, as most of their personal practices are not part of that religion. Their arrogant and intimidating attitude towards anybody, including poorer Arabs in their own country (yes, there is such a thing!) is very consistent and most common with most people who have introduced yet another idol to worship with ever focused intensity. This virulent tumour without any cure present, past or future has no link to the…

THYAGARAJ MARKANDAN | Kloof Russian President Vladimir Putin staged a massive rally in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium to mark the eighth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea. Thousands of state employees and students were bused in to attend the celebrations. In his address to the packed stadium Putin said that the Russian army had gone into Ukraine on a humanitarian mission to save the Russian people from genocide. What a consummate liar he is. He believes he has a religious obligation to the Ukrainian people. Ukraine had become a morally decadent society breeding Neo-Nazis and drug addicts, and like the angry God in the Old Testament who rained down fire and brimstone on the Biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, he must do the same – reduce Kyiv and…

Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za TRANSPORT Minister Fikile Mbalula yesterday said a forensic investigation was under way to determine who the 3 000 ghost workers are who were found to be drawing salaries at the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa). Mbalula announced this but could not confirm if the ghost employees uncovered by an internal campaign called Operation Ziveze (meaning “show yourself”) were part of Prasa’s current staff complement. “I can’t confirm that the 3 000 are part of the 17 000 employees as more detailed verification of who got paid to which bank account is being undertaken. The forensic work, which is in the second phase, would determine that, including how this grand scam has been implemented at Prasa,” he said. He made the statement when he was briefing the…

THE South African Civil Aviation Authority’s (SACAA) soft spot for Comair poses a serious threat to the safety of the country’s skies. So does the regulatory body’s lacklustre attitude to passenger safety. In recent weeks, SACAA has allowed Comair to get away with very little accountability. Comair is a company that operates two domestic airlines – British Airways and Kulula. Over the past few weeks, Comair-operated airlines almost caused two air crashes, in Gqeberha and Cape Town. This was due to technical failures stemming from maintenance issues. In February, a BA flight from East London to Joburg was forced to make an emergency landing due to “faulty landing gear”. The incident threatened the lives of 111 people on board. Earlier this month, a Cape Town-bound Kulula flight from Lanseria airport…

LVIV: Ukraine appealed to Russia yesterday to allow humanitarian supplies into Mariupol and let desperate civilians out of the besieged city, which President Volodymyr Zelensky said had been devastated by Russian bombardment. Officials in Mariupol say the port city on the Sea of Azov, which had a peacetime population of 400 000, has no food, medicine, power or running water. Mariupol’s plight highlights what an international aid official in Ukraine said was the breakdown of the country’s humanitarian system. “There is nothing left there,” Zelensky said of Mariupol in a video address to the Italian parliament. As he was speaking, the city council said Russian forces had dropped two large bombs on Mariupol but gave no details of casualties or damage. Reporters could not independently verify the report. Russia did…

SYDNEY: Shane Warne’s life is being turned into a new miniseries. The cricket legend died suddenly aged 52 earlier this month while on holiday in Thailand, and now his life and career is set to be dramatised for an upcoming TV show. Australia’s Nine Entertainment Co is in the early stages of landing a production company, with the programme expected to air in 2023. The broadcaster’s head of drama, Andy Ryan said: “Warnie’s life was so full of drama, like the man himself. “This miniseries will be larger than life – entertaining, confronting, thought-provoking. We want to explore what made Warnie so special, and why he had such a powerful effect on people. “He was a sporting legend, a national treasure, international kind of icon, but he was also a…

MADRID: Three Spanish truckers unions yesterday dismissed a government aid package and joined a one-week strike against rising fuel prices that is likely to aggravate a shortage of food products in supermarkets across the country. The three truckers unions opted to join the strike after they decided a E500 million (roughly R8 billion) government support package offered on Monday was vague and not enough to compensate for the soaring price of diesel. High energy costs have compounded general price increases, threatening to slow the post-pandemic economic recovery and generating social discontent in many countries.…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za RISING oil prices are expected to exert pressure on prices after all types of oil rose for the fourth consecutive day yesterday as the EU countries considered banning Russian oil imports in response to the war in Ukraine. The price of Brent crude oil climbed 3.7 percent to above $119.31 (R1 783) a barrel early yesterday before softening to $114.22 a barrel. The move followed a 7 percent jump on Monday as the potential for more supply disruptions weighed on the volatile markets. European foreign ministers yesterday were debating whether to join the US in sanctioning Russian oil, with some countries, including Germany, arguing that the bloc was too dependent on Russian energy. Oil prices were also pushed higher by reports that Houthi rebels…

Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za All is seemingly on track for King Misuzulu KaZwelithini to finally settle on the throne as the king of the Zulu nation after the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government was directed to start paying him his monthly salary and benefits. The official directive followed the recognition of King Misuzulu by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week. The directive was given in a letter last Thursday by Mashwahle Diphofa, the director-general of the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), to Dr Nonhlanhla Mkhize, the director-general of the provincial government. “This letter serves to notify the Office of the Premier that the President has signed the Certificate and Government Notice for the legal recognition of His Majesty King Misuzulu Sinqobile Zulu as the King of AmaZulu Kingship on March 16…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za FORMER ActionSA leader Makhosi Khoza’s alleged collusion with individuals planning to oust party leader Herman Mashaba was one of the reasons that prompted her axing from the party. This was revealed yesterday when the party officially announced her sacking. Khoza, a former ANC MP, who joined ActionSA as an eThekwini Municipality councillor, had not been seen at council meetings for a while. She was also the chairperson of the Municipal Accounts Committee, but had been absent at its weekly meetings. ActionSA said the decision to terminate her membership was taken at a meeting on Monday following the recommendations of its ethics and disciplinary committee. The committee said that following a series of public outbursts in January, the leadership instituted a disciplinary inquiry into her conduct. The charges…

SABER AHMED JAZBHAY | Newlands West IT MAKES commercial sense to drop the price of electricity. Here’s why. During the latest bout of load shedding, dogs in my area barked incessantly warning of criminal activity. Which brings me to the point. The government must introduce a business model that looks at making cheap electricity as a honey drip that gets commerce busy as bees and buzzing. That’s my view. The yield is far more extensive and profitable in taxation terms than squeezing people out of business. So I urge the government – de-commercialise electricity supply and delivery. Don’t subsidise. Simply drop the price per KW and watch how the overall economy improves and security issues resolve themselves. Everyone – the government and citizens, civilians – wins.…

MMABATHO TEMBE | DA KZN Spokesperson on Social Development The DA in KwaZulu-Natal has called on Social Development MEC Nonhlanhla Khoza to take urgent steps to assist as numerous non-profit organisations (NPOs) in the province face closure. The move comes after several media reports highlighting the situation and after the DA recently engaged with NPOs in the province. The bottom line is that our NPOs have increasingly been left to fight for survival with few resources. This is a result of various factors, the most important of which is the severe lack of financial assistance from KZN’s Department of Social Development. In some instances, critical NPOs have not had a subsidy increase for as long as six years. Then there is the economic impact of Covid-19, which has…

Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za THE National Department of Health has made stunning revelations that thousands of health-care posts including nurses and doctors at state hospitals are vacant. KwaZulu-Natal leads in the number of vacancies with more than 3 000 post vacant. Public hospitals have more than 10 000 vacant positions for nurses and at least 1 339 unfilled posts for doctors. This was revealed by Health Minister Joe Phaahla when he responded in writing to parliamentary questions from Freedom Front Plus MP Philip van Staden, who asked about vacancies for doctors and nurses at state hospitals. Van Staden also enquired about efforts being made to fill the vacancies. Phaahla said there was a total of 10 831 vacant posts for nurses in state hospitals. Among provinces, KwaZulu-Natal has the highest number…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za CIVIL rights organisation AfriForum won a first-round victory when it successfully obtained an urgent interdict preventing the government from making a R50 million donation to Cuba. The interdict, issued yesterday by the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, represented the first part of AfriForum’s legal action against the donation, in which the Department of International Relations and Co-operation said it would provide the funds to Cuba. The second part, to be heard at a later date still to be determined, will involve submitting a review application to overturn the government’s decision to donate the funds. In addition to granting the interdict, the court ordered the respondents to pay the costs of the application. According to Judge Brenda Neukircher, AfriForum represents the broader interests of the public and there is…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za THE Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is taking on the NGOs which scored big from the “massacre” of mental healthcare patients in Gauteng during their transfer from Life Esidimeni facilities. Details of the investigations emerged at the Special Tribunal on Friday and SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago also confirmed to Independent Media that the unit was not only focusing on Santa Kamogelo, which is based in Atteridgeville in Tshwane. The Special Tribunal’s Judge Lebogang Modiba upheld an exception by Santa Kamogelo to the SIU’s particulars of claim against the facility and its representatives, Busi Carrina Morale and GTZ Kambane. In its papers, it is claiming about R230 000 from the NGO. According to the SIU, the agreement curbed the number of residential mental health-care users that Santa Kamogelo would…

By most measures, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has been successful in its concerted fight against pollution, building a green and harmonious homeland for its citizens. In the memorable expression of President Xi Jinping, delivered at the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), “going green is gold”. Why is the promotion of coexistence between humanity and nature important in the PRC? What informs President Xi’s emphasis on a “sound ecology and environment as not just a natural asset, but also an economic asset”? Which are the lessons that can possibly be learnt by South Africa from the China experience aimed at protection and preservation of nature and its ecosystems? Unchecked industrialisation has produced disastrous consequences in the form of deforestation,…

WUZHOU: Rescuers combed heavily forested mountain slopes yesterday, using shovels and torches in their hunt for victims and flight recorders from a China Eastern Airlines jet that crashed with 132 people on board. Over 2 000 people have been sent to the site as part of rescue efforts. Soldiers, firefighters and police marched to the crash site, a patch of about 1km2 in a location hemmed in by mountains on three sides, after excavators cleared a path, state television said. It added that the search for the recorders, or “black boxes”, of the Boeing 737-800 involved in China’s first crash of a commercial jetliner since 2010, would be carried out in grid-by-grid fashion, probably through the night. Flight MU5735 was headed on Monday for the port city of Guangzhou from…

Uganda’s government must stop using illegal detention centres as a weapon against dissidents and close the facilities, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said yesterday in a report documenting the prevalence of torture at the clandestine sites. The report featured interviews with 51 people, including 34 former detainees and eyewitnesses to abductions, who described a litany of abuse at the hands of police, army officials and Uganda’s domestic intelligence agency, the Internal Security Organisation (ISO), between April 2019 and November 2021. The crackdown reached fever pitch during the two months leading up to and following Uganda’s January 2021 general elections, which saw government critics, opposition politicians and protesters unlawfully detained and forcibly “disappeared”. In many cases, the whereabouts of those detained remain unknown, HRW said, more than a year after the re-election…

Belfast: Northern Ireland’s terror threat level has been lowered to “substantial” from “severe” for the first time in 12 years, the UK government announced yesterday. The move by the domestic intelligence agency MI5 follows “significant progress” the province has made towards peace, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said. “It is a testament to the ongoing commitment to protecting the peace process and tackling Northern Ireland-related terrorism, and the tremendous efforts of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and MI5,” he added. Northern Ireland was plagued by sectarian violence over British rule from the late 1960s into the 1990s.…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za ATTACQ, known for the success of its Waterfall City precinct, lifted distri- butable income 34.1 percent to 28.2 cents a share for the six months to December 31, putting it on track to meet its full-year guidance. The interim distributable income excluded profit earned from the sale of residential units of 9.35c. Management forecast distributable income of between 46c and 48.1c a share for the year ending June 30, 2022, barring any unforeseen circumstances, much in line with the 2021 result. The growth in the past six months was mainly driven by the dividend from its investment in central and eastern Europe (CEE) focused MAS Real Estate (MAS) of R46.1 million. Chief financial officer Raj Nana said in a telephone interview that there…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za AS ANOTHER hefty petrol price hike creeps on for possibly next week, by up to R2 a litre, industry observers have questioned the actual 90-day crude reserves theory, and the true capacity of crude oil reserves. The government is reconsidering the petroleum price model that compels consumers to pay for long-term storage assets and over-protection of a lucrative industry. The existence of the 90-day reserves of crude oil, petrol, diesel and kerosene was exposed by industry insiders as having been legislatively expunged in 2013 when it was changed to 21 days, because the government, which holds the only six submerged tanks with 7 million barrels capacity each in Saldanah Bay, could not cope with the expense of keeping products in reserve for that long. “There is no…

| Johann Wolfgang von Goethe THE schoolboys of Wales suddenly have free rein. No longer can they be caned for doing things like playfully widdling in the girls’ inkwells. Yes, Wales has outlawed physical punishment of children, according to Sky News. Any type of corporal punishment – including smacking, hitting, slapping and shaking – is illegal under the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) Act. They don’t mention scragging – pulling the individual around – or tackling on the rugby field. This is just as well because scragging and other rough stuff are fundamental to the gentlemen’s game of rugby and have to be learnt at an early age and developed as a fine art. Wales have been having a bit of a thin time in this year’s…

VA VOLKER | Pietermaritzburg SOUTH AFRICA celebrated Human Rights Day on Monday, and as is the custom, politicians, including President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed public meetings to list a variety of human right violations. Listening to the voice clip on radio of part of the speech by the president, it struck me that he referred to several inhuman events, but only one-sided violations. Whereas the ANC is to hold its elective conference – to elect or re-elect their president – in December, one can possibly understand that he would radicalise his speech to convince the radical elements of the ANC that he is worthy of their support. South Africa is a multiracial country, not by choice, but by colonial history. We have a chequered history, but also a delicate…

A reader asks why I so often write “stay out of control”. Am I endorsing chaos? I am heartily amused. Chaos is the last thing I want. I have spent a career listening to women (mostly) and men (often) describe how they have confused trust and love with manipulation and submission. “I trusted him because he said he loved me and he said a man is the ‘spiritual leader’ of the woman.” Such statements usually precede horrific stories of stalking, jealousy and determining how she should dress, who she cannot spend time with, and which of her family members she may not see. That is the kind of control I want people to “stay out of”. While my illustration is extreme (although not unusual) my suggestion is that all reasonably…

Baldwin Ndaba baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) in Joburg has instructed its lawyers to interdict the City of Joburg against its decision to terminate the “illegal permanent contracts” given to former ANC political staff members. Earlier this month, City of Joburg mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse argued that the process to illegally convert the fixed-term contracts initially began on February 21 last year while the late Geoff Makhubo was mayor and ANC chairperson in Joburg. Dr Phalatse said the second conversion happened on October 19 last year during the short-term tenure of Mpho Moerane following the death of his predecessor, Jolidee Matongo. She also said Moerane approved the conversions despite an instruction from the South African Local Government Association, which was circulated on the same day, which gave…

Nomonde Zondi nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za THE CEO of Trade and Investment KwaZulu-Natal (TIKZN), Neville Matjie, has urged businesses people to take advantage of the variety of investment possibilities presented by the halaal sector. He was addressing the three-day KwaZulu-Natal Trade and Investment Indaba on World Halaal Day. Speaking at the opening of the global event yesterday, which was held at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre (ICC), Matjie said the term “halaal” was no longer a concept confined or restricted to the slaughtering of animals for consumption by Muslims. He said it encompassed products and services of the highest quality to meet the ever-increasing awareness and needs of consumers in a demanding global market. Matjie said the halaal sector offered a new horizon of investment opportunity as it was a fast-growing sector.…

We hope for, but probably won’t get, the scrutinising Parliament we deserve In the current state of advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s impeachment politics as public protector, I belong to the smallest, saddest, most pessimistic faction. I’m a denialist. With almost a year to go before she finishes her seven-year term of office, I’m still shaking my head in disbelief – not a useful political act. I don’t accept this near mystical, emotionally charged path she is walking to an impeachment, largely defined by scathing court judgments that invalidated her most politically explosive reports. She claims her investigations into the Estina dairy farm scam, SA Reserve Bank, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 campaign, and the so-called SA Revenue Service (Sars) rogue unit – among others – were driven by a genuine desire to…

Washington must stop escalating tensions if it wishes to normalise ties with Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said yesterday. “They need to stop their escalation, both verbally and in terms of pumping the Kiev regime with weapons,” Ryabkov said, adding that the US must also stop threatening Russia, according to Russian media reports. “In the meantime, we are seeing a downward trend in relations,” said Ryabkov, who faults the US for the state of ties. “We regret this. However, this doesn’t have any effect on our determination to work towards achieving the goals of the special military operation and adapt to the circumstances resulting from US sanctions,” he said. The Kremlin also said it would like the ongoing negotiations with Kyiv aimed at ending Russia’s military action in…

IN AN unprecedented and extremely rare surgery in India, doctors at a Mumbai hospital removed cucumber-sized stones from a 70-year-old man’s right knee and made him mobile again. The patient – Laxmikant Madhekar, a labourer from Amravati – had been sufferingfrom severe pain in the right knee for a year, preceded by swellings for the past decade or so. “It affected his overall mobility, difficulties in walking, climbing stairs, or even getting up after sitting,” said S.L. Raheja Hospital, Mahim’s consultant orthopedic and joint replacement surgeon Dr Siddharth M Shah. After the patient was admitted to the hospital, Shah conducted tests, diagnosed the problem as an extremely rare condition called “Multiple Giant Synovial Chondromatosis” of the knee joint, and prepared a suitable treatment plan for Madhekar. He explained that this…

Dili (East Timor): Nobel laureate Jose Ramos-Horta has taken a dominant lead in East Timor’s presidential election held over the weekend but failed to secure a majority, officials said, leaving Southeast Asia’s youngest country on course for a second round of voting. The 72-year-old revolutionary hero won 46.58% of the vote against 22.16% for incumbent president and former guerrilla fighter Francisco “Lu-Olo” Guterres, a preliminary ballot count showed Monday. With all votes counted, they must now be verified and validated by the country’s election commission before the final results are announced.…