Índex per 2022-08-24 a Mercury

BUSINESS confidence in the economic recovery in South Africa ticked up slightly in June as the government started taking decisive action to deal with the energy crisis and implement wide-ranging structural reforms. This comes as the composite leading business cycle indicator, released by the SA Reserve Bank (SARB), rebounded in June. The SARB said yesterday that the composite leading business cycle indicator rose by 0.4 percent month-over-month in June following a 0.7 percent decline in May. The business cycle in April and May was affected by the floods in Kwa- Zulu-Natal along with the energy crisis, the impact of the Russian/Ukraine war, and economic lockdown in China. But these economic shocks eased in June, and the indicator saw increases in 5 of the 9 available component time series,…

OPPOSITION parties in eThekwini have warned the ANC against monopolising the fight for liberation by honouring only ANC leaders with statues, saying this runs the risk of those monuments being removed when the party is out of power. The warning from opposition parties came during the meeting of the eThekwini Municipality’s executive committee yesterday where it discussed a report detailing the installation of new statues of Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo at the Durban City Hall. The project started a few years ago and the statues have already been made and all that remains is to install them. Political analyst Thabani Khumalo said opposition parties had a point as any party that took over after the ANC would remove the statues. He said the country could not name “everything” after…

Loving yourself in a healthy manner is essential and not at all selfish. Here are a few top reasons to love yourself. It’s your longest relationship. You might as well enjoy it. It makes it easier for others to love you. It offers others a fighting chance if you lead the way. You really are “fearfully and wonderfully made” and if you take a closer look, you’ll see you really are beautifully complex, vastly capable. What’s NOT to love? It will help you see others more clearly, especially your children, parents and siblings. Your family traits will become clearer and you will want to embrace them, not fight them off or reject them. Rejecting yourself takes so much work. It is so draining. It naturally results in rejecting others, which…

Recently our newly elected Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube made an impassioned plea to KwaZulu-Natal people via the printed media saying “we must ensure that corruption is stopped” and the reality is that this message will get to under 30 000 readers. That is not even 1% of our population and makes one wonder whether press conferences are not exercises in futility, other than to put on a spread of food and drink. A few pages later, we read that government departments in KZN have recorded close to R50 billion in irregular expenditure over the past four years and it is fairly obvious that the standing committee on public accounts is about as effective as a rusty bucket in retaining water. As the DA leader Francois Rogers confirms, there is no political…

The DA is deeply saddened by reports confirming the drowning of a teenage boy during a recent school trip to St Lucia. We extend our sincere condolences to the family of this young man, who has been taken far too soon and amid such tragic circumstances. It is imperative that KZN’s Department of Education (DoE) conduct a full probe into this incident. It must be established who was responsible for ensuring the safety of pupils and how such an incident took place on their watch. It is critical that the family and loved ones of this young man receive answers. The DA will ensure that this takes place and that the DoE prioritises this matter.…

Former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and her 21 co-accused will be back in the Durban High Court in March, this after the State concluded the reading of the charges to the accused yesterday. All the accused tendered their pleas of not guilty and the matter was adjourned to March 6, 2023 for the State’s evidence. Bail in respect of all the accused was also extended. Gumede and the others face charges including conspiracy to commit corruption, corruption, fraud, money laundering, racketeering, contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) and contravention of the Municipal Systems Act, amounting to more than R300 million. Yesterday, the State focused on how former city manager Sipho Nzuza had allegedly ignored the MFMA prescripts and supply chain management policies by ensuring only hand-picked service providers…

As Ukraine prepared to mark both its independence from Soviet-rule in 1991 and the six months since Russian troops invaded, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy pledged that any Russian attacks in or around the date would provoke a powerful response. Zelenskiy also said Ukraine would restore its rule over the Crimea region – annexed by Russia in 2014 in a precursor to this year’s invasion. Despite his defiance, there was concern among Ukrainian and allied Western officials that Russia was preparing to attack the capital Kyiv once again. The US urged its citizens to leave Ukraine, saying it believed Russia would target civilian and government infrastructure in the next few days. US citizens should leave Ukraine “now” by their own means if it was safe to do so, the US Embassy said.…

Iraq’s judiciary suspended its activities yesterday after supporters of the powerful Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr stepped up pressure on it to dissolve parliament, as one of the worst political crises since the US-led invasion dragged on. The populist leader has helped inflame tensions in Iraq in recent weeks by commanding thousands of followers to storm and occupy parliament, preventing the formation of a government nearly 10 months after elections. Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who cut short a trip to Egypt to deal with the crisis, has urged all sides to remain calm and renewed calls for a national dialogue. Sadr’s followers began gathering for protests outside the headquarters of the Supreme Judicial Council and Federal Supreme Court in Baghdad. The followers have sent threats by phone, the judiciary said.…

HELSINKI: Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin yesterday apologised for a picture that emerged from a private party she had thrown at her official residence in July, following a public stir over her partying. This week, a drug test taken by the prime minister, one of the youngest world leaders, came back negative. It was taken to assuage concerns after video footage was published last week showing her singing and dancing with Finnish celebrities at another party. This week, another image circulated showing two well-known female influencers kissing each other, covering their bare breasts with a “Finland” sign from the prime minister’s residence. “That kind of a picture should not have been taken but otherwise, nothing extraordinary happened at the get-together,” Marin, 36, said. “We had sauna, swam and spent…

Beirut: Eight more grain silos at Beirut port toppled yesterday, succumbing to damage from a devastating 2020 explosion in the third such collapse in a month. A cloud of dust rose over the port after the collapse, which brought down the last of the northern block of silos that was more heavily damaged in the blast and where a fire had been burning since last month. The remaining southern block is more stable and not at imminent risk of collapse, said French civil engineer Emmanuel Durand, who has installed sensors on the silos. Only 12 of the original 48 silos are still standing, all of them in the southern block, Durand said. | AFP…

THE probe into the robbery at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm and the alleged cover-up that ensued is still under investigation, as more people have made statements about the alleged incident to the Hawks. This was revealed by Hawks head General Godfrey Lebeya when questioned by the media about his alleged failure to give details about his elite unit’s investigation into the matter, including any decision on whether criminal charges would be laid against Ramaphosa. Lebeya was briefing the media about progress his unit had made since he took office in June 2018. But it was his apparent failure to mention the Phala Phala matter which caught the attention of the media, and he was questioned for not giving details about it despite Arthur Fraser’s public announcement that he…

The eThekwini Municipality has sought to allay fears about tap water quality across the city following complaints from residents in two Durban areas over the contaminated tap water in their areas. Birchwood Park and nearby Mariannhill residents alleged yesterday that a 38-year-old mother died from severe diarrhoea after allegedly consuming contaminated water. However, reports yesterday could not confirm that the death of the woman, Rashnie Baijnath, who died en route to hospital on August 10, was linked to contaminated water. The municipality yesterday admitted that tap water in the Birchwood area did not meet acceptable standards for human consumption. While Mariannhill residents said they were told the water was not safe to drink, the city said Birchwood Park was the only area that was affected. Birchwood residents said yesterday that…

Yuta Tanaka is as surprised as anyone. While the pandemic wrought havoc in a wide range of businesses, the used guitar shop in Tokyo where he works and others like it are singing a happy tune. “The popularity of ‘Japan vintages’ is astonishing,” said Tanaka, referring to the current name for electric guitars domestically produced decades ago as copies of famous US brands. “I believe prices will further go up.” Tanaka is a 41-year-old employee of second-hand guitar store Shimokura Second Hands, located in the Ochanomizu district in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward, famous for its many musical instrument stores. The hottest sellers are the electric guitars produced by Japanese manufacturers in the 1970s and 1980s that were copies of such famous US brands as Fender and Gibson. As their popularity has…

I make no secret of the fact that I am a “COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) patient” and, as such, I’m given to understand that I have a serious “co-morbidity” insofar as Covid-19 is concerned. Well, let it be known that I have been vaccinated with the two Pfizer Comirnaty jabs as well as the booster. I’m still alive and well. So, where’s the peril? On another tangent, has it been demonstrated, scientifically and clinically, that 22 women forming part of a trial group of 50 would not have miscarried had they not received the Pfizer vaccine? In other words, Mr du Bois (The Mercury, August 22), just how “directly connected” is the statistic you have cited?…

In the aftermath of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, then president John F Kennedy threatened to dismantle the CIA. The high-profile search of former president Trump’s residence will have ramifications if he wins the elections in 2024. He will probably dismantle or defang the FBI and the Justice Department. The puzzling aspect of the search-and-seizure operation is indeed baffling: Donald Trump was the only president who refused to read and digest the daily global, top-secret, intelligence reports the CIA gave to him every morning. Why would he take top-secret nuclear reports when he left the White House, when he never read them as president? The American military industrial complex (MIC) is afraid of his return in 2024. He has on many occasions stated that the US should withdraw from…

As a year was marked yesterday after Gauteng Department of Health official and whistle-blower Babita Deokaran was brutally murdered at the entrance to her home in Joburg, her family says her death was not in vain. Deokaran, 53, was the chief director of financial accounting at the Gauteng Department of Health and was assisting with investigations into personal protective equipment (PPE) tender scandals which rocked the provincial department. During a memorial event held at the spot where Deokaran took her last breath amid a hail of bullets, her brother-in-law Pastor Tony Haripersadh made a renewed call for justice. “Our prayer as a family is that justice must prevail. Those that were responsible for her assassination, those that ordered her assassination, the perpetrators must be brought to book. We have faith…

The Hungarian government has fired the head of the national weather service and her deputy, two days after a fireworks display to celebrate Hungary’s national holiday was delayed for fear of storms. Technology Minister Lazlo Palkovics, under whose remit the National Meteorological Service (NMS) falls, relieved president Kornelia Radics and her deputy Gyula Horvath of their duties. It came a day after pro-government media criticised the NMS for its forecast of thunderstorms and gusts of wind which prompted the cancellation of the fireworks on Saturday. Online newspaper Origo said the agency had given “misleading information”. The NMS apologised, citing “a factor of uncertainty”. On Facebook, liberal Andras Fekete-Gyor joked: “They couldn’t produce the desired weather, they were fired.” The fireworks – billed “the biggest in Europe” – will be…

Issues of escaping animals and fence maintenance at the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park (HIP) have become a top priority for the KwaZulu-Natal legislature portfolio committee on conservation and environmental affairs. The portfolio committee sat yesterday to discuss among other issues the relationship between the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park and the Nhlungwane, Enqulwane and Okhukho communities of Ulundi after recent protests over the repeated escape of dangerous wild animals from the park. Inadequate fencing was one of the reasons raised by the community after rhinos and lions escaped recently. Portfolio committee chairperson Sthembiso Mshengu said Ezemvelo presented a detailed report on how they will deal with the ongoing issues of escaping wildlife. He said Ezemvelo had future plans to erect a new fence to better secure the park and stop the wildlife…

THE daily developments resolutely advancing within South Africa’s immigration cycles, with Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi at the epicentre of all forms of vengeful attacks by various groupings, requires our patriotic attention. Unfortunately, these attacks are being carried out through platforms such as social networks, newspapers, television and radio interviews within our borders, mainly in Gauteng province, where most of the attackers live. It is becoming evident that Dr Motsoaledi has taken the bull by the horns as he spearheads the full implementation of the Immigration Act. When the Immigration Act No13 of 2003 was approved, the intention was to preserve the country’s national interests. As the act’s preamble says, it aims “to provide for the regulation of admission of persons to their residence in, and their departure from,…

Malaysia’s highest court yesterday upheld former prime minister Najib Razak’s 12-year jail sentence for corruption in the 1MDB financial scandal, a decision analysts said could slam the door to a political comeback. Najib’s daughter-in-law, Nur Sharmila Shaheen, said the family were told he was sent to Kajang Prison, south of the capital, Kuala Lumpur. Federal Court chief justice Maimun Tuan Mat, speaking on behalf of a five-judge panel, said the tribunal found Najib’s “complaints as contained in the petition of appeal devoid of any merit. On the totality of the evidence, we find the conviction of the appellant on all seven charges safe. We also find that the sentence imposed is not manifestly excessive,” she added. The appeals are “unanimously dismissed and the conviction and sentence are affirmed”, Maimun said.…

A small Australian news website has made an unusual request to be sued by Fox News boss Lachlan Murdoch, taking on one of the world’s most influential media figures. The news website, Crikey, yesterday published legal threats from Murdoch’s lawyers over commentary it published about Fox News’ role in the US Capitol attacks. Murdoch is the eldest son of billionaire media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox News, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. His lawyers claimed a June article – headlined “Trump is a confirmed unhinged traitor. And Murdoch is his unindicted co-conspirator”– had defamed the media scion 22 times. The article mostly focused on former US president Donald Trump and did not name Lachlan Murdoch but the “Murdochs and their slew of poisonous string of…

LONDON: The number of migrants arriving in Britain in small boats hit a record for a single day yesterday, as the rise in dangerous journeys across the English Channel continues despite UK government plans to deport those arriving illegally to Rwanda. Britain’s Ministry of Defence said 1 295 people in 27 boats were intercepted after making the crossing from the European mainland on Monday. The figure surpasses the previous daily record of 1 185 set last November. The rate of arrivals in the first eight months of this year is almost double that during the same period last year. | Reuters…

Recently crowned Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini is expected to meet with members of the royal family today to discuss the Ingonyama Trust. The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal this week said there were no plans to seize the land under the trust, after media reports that the ANC’s Integrity Commission had ordered the governing party to use its powers in government to urgently repeal the Ingonyama Trust Act. Since the death of King Goodwill Zwelithini, some traditional leaders had raised concerns that the state would intensify its efforts to disband the trust and take over the 2.8 million hectares of land it owns. Zulu royal family spokesperson Prince Thulani Zulu said the issue would be one of the matters discussed by the king and the family today. “We can reveal more information…

A CHILLING account comes this way of an Aussie sheila’s encounter with a gigantic crocodile. A Darwin woman, Beverly Thompson, 38, stopped a crocodile attack using a small .22 calibre pistol. This is a story of self-control and marksmanship by a brave, cool-headed woman with a small pistol against a fierce predator. Her story in her own words: “While walking along the edge of a lake near my house in the Zuccoli Village Estate near Darwin, discussing a property settlement with my soon-to-be ex-husband, and other divorce issues, we were surprised by a huge 3.5m crocodile which suddenly emerged from the murky water. “It began charging us with its jaws wide open. She must have been protecting her nest because she was extremely aggressive. “If I had not had…

Our esteemed Defence Minister Thandi Modise’s trip to Russia leaves one wondering whether she has any sense of what she should be doing at the current time. Her Department of Defence is in such a financial mess, with many unaccounted-for expenses, that one would have thought that she would be behind her desk getting this corrected and new control systems being implemented. One can only assume this is another waste of taxpayers’ money; perhaps she should have gone on a course to learn more about the Department of Defence. Her qualifications do not qualify her for such a posting; it’s like trying to put a square block in a round hole. The post of minister of defence should have been filled by someone with a military background. This government has…

The latest statistics create the impression that crime appears to be comparable to the infectiousness of a pandemic like Covid-19. For all practical purposes, lack of crime control has become rampant. There are on average more than 70 murders per day. In just about every category, there has been an increase. Crime is being committed because the criminals know that the chances of apprehension are minimal and if apprehended and after a delayed court action, the punishment is hardly convincing. While unemployment might contribute to the “out-of-control situation” it does not justify the impunity with which the murders are committed. Intra-political party murders, including the killings of chiefs, taxi murders, the murders of lovers and children and the murders of potential incriminating witnesses, all paint a dark picture of South…

President Cyril Ramaphosa tells us (The Mercury, August 23) that cadre deployment in state institutions “reflected the demographics of the country”. Well, now we know. The widespread “deployment” of incompetent and corrupt individuals is a reflection of the “demographics” of this benighted country. Mr President, why not forget about so-called “transformational goals” and employ competent and appropriately qualified individuals of whatever race, colour, creed or gender? You may just discover that in this way you will achieve, in due course, the “transformation” that you claim to desire, which will benefit the entire country – and will certainly improve the well-being of the majority in this country who suffer the hardship of a poor education and lack of training, not to mention abysmal “service delivery”. This country has had enough of…

IT IS inappropriate for any lay person or entity to simply approach a court to have the name of a legal practitioner removed from the roll. The applicant must first approach one of the legal profession’s watchdogs in this regard, according to the high court sitting in Joburg. This followed an application by two accused in a tax fraud trial, in which they asked that the prosecutor leading their case be removed for being guilty of misconduct. They, however, did not succeed in their application as Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, Deputy Judge President Roland Sutherland dismissed it. He said a complaint of misconduct against a legal practitioner must be lodged with the Legal Practice Council or any one of the voluntary regulatory bodies of legal practitioners. According to the judge,…

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) arrested more than 12 000 people with close to 5 000 convictions in the period between the 2018/19 and 2021/22 financial years. Hawks head Lieutenant-General Godfrey Lebeya yesterday briefed the media on the unit’s operations since his appointment. Lebeya said the Hawks were investigating 22 477 cases, with more than half a million charges. “The monetary value is more than R1.5 trillion (R1 574 874 806 355.57). These cases involve about 23 519 suspects of which 12 360 have already been secured at court, while 11 159 are still pending to be approached. “Of the cases under investigation, 1 998 have reached decision stage where the National Prosecuting Authority is applying its mind.” He said a range of cases being investigated included cash-in-transit…

KWAZULU-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube has given an assurance that search and rescue teams are continuing to search for those people who went missing during the floods. She said this was important as, at the very least, locating the remains of the deceased would give their families closure. Dube-Ncube was addressing a meeting attended by members of the parliamentary ad hoc Joint Committee on Flood Disaster Relief and Recovery that is visiting the province. She said many families were still dealing with the anguish of having not found their loved ones. “It’s a very painful situation,” she said. The floods in April caused extensive damage and left hundreds of people dead, and thousands destitute as their homes were destroyed. To date, hundreds if not thousands of people are still living in…

THE preservation of the Optimum Coal Mine assets resulting from an application by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) while other parties that benefited from the transaction are not pursued exposes the prevalent duplicity of those at the head of that organisation. Earlier this year, the North Gauteng High Court handed down a judgment in favour of the NPA that preserved the assets of Optimum Coal Mine. This order came on the back of an application by the National Director of Public Prosecution (NDPP), advocate Shamila Batohi, that made several averments including that the Optimum Coal Mine was “the fruit of a poisoned tree as it was reportedly purchased with dirty money”. In court papers, Batohi stated that the action was part of the NPA’s ongoing fight against corruption, money laundering…

Angolan presidential candidates have wrapped up a month-long campaign before today’s election which is set to be a tense stand-off between a ruling party in power for decades and an opposition with growing appeal among the youth. The MPLA, led by João Lourenço since 2017, has governed Africa’s second- biggest oil producer since independence from Portugal in 1975. But long-time opposition party Unita is stronger than ever, as anger grows at the government’s failures to convert vast oil wealth into better living conditions for all. More than 14 million Angolans are eligible to vote and will elect the president and 220 members of parliament simultaneously, with a single mark on the ballot paper. An Afrobarometer survey in May showed that the number of Angolans favouring Unita, led by the charismatic…

London: Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios is facing potential legal action for defamation from a woman he accused of being drunk and disruptive at this year’s Wimbledon final. During his four-set defeat to Novak Djokovic in July, Kyrgios called on the umpire to eject the spectator. The woman was briefly removed but later returned. Anna Palus accused Kyrgios of making a “reckless and entirely baseless allegation” against her. The player’s claim that she “looks like she’s had about 700 drinks” caused her and her family “damage and distress”. Kyrgios is also facing court in Canberra for allegedly assaulting a former partner. | AFP…

Ottawa: Canada’s population may nearly double to reach up to 74 million in 2068, according to the national statistical agency. Statistics Canada announced this week that the country’s population may increase from 38.2 million last year to between 42.9 and 52.5 million in 2043, and between 44.9 and 74 million in 2068. In one medium-growth scenario, Canada’s population would reach 47.8 million in 2043 and 56.5 million in 2068. Immigration is expected to drive population growth while natural growth is set to decrease, Statistics Canada said. It added in 2020, the number of children per woman reached a low at 1.4. | IANS…