Índex per 2021-06-15 a Star

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za THE FNB/BER Building Confidence Index increased in the second quarter to its highest level since the first quarter of 2018, but contractors remained dissatisfied with business conditions and some even resorted to “suicide pricing”. FNB said the index rose after slipping to 27 points in the first quarter. FNB senior economist Siphamandla Mkhwanazi said yesterday that more than 60 percent of respondents, however, were still dissatisfied with current business conditions. Mkhwanazi said the overall profitability in the second quarter remained weak, even relative to the second quarter of 2020. “Internationally we’ve seen building input prices rise dramatically over the past few months as global demand far outstrips supply,” he said. “Domestic building demand remains too weak for contractors to fully pass these prices on to…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za THE COMPETITION Tribunal has given Sasol the go-ahead to sell its 16 air separation units in Secunda, Mpumalanga, to Air Liquide Large Industries South Africa, paving the way for the conclusion of the R5.525 billion transaction. Approval from the Competition Tribunal was the final hurdle for the transaction. Sasol said the transaction would close within 10 business days with the total proceeds of the aggregate of R5.525bn and ¤148.75 million (to be settled in US dollars) settled at closing. Thereafter, Air Liquide will officially own and operate the 16 air separation units, which are located in Secunda, Mpumalanga. Sasol chief executive Fleetwood Grobler said the group was pleased to officially welcome Air Liquide as one of Sasol’s partners in Sasol’s decarbonisation journey. “This transaction is…

True privatisation requires that the major shareholder is independent politically and ideologically of Government. The SAA deal announced by minister Pravin Gordhan falls 100 percent short of those criteria. The Takatso Consortium which is to have a 51% holding in SAA comprises two groups: Harith General Partners and Global Aviation. The chairman of Harith, Jabu Moleketi, was deputy Finance minister in Thabo Mbeki’s cabinet. His wife, Geraldine Fraser was also a Cabinet minister. So, not only is half the Takatso Consortium ANC-aligned, but the chairman of Takatso Consortium, Tshepo Mahloele, is similarly aligned having previously headed the corporate finance and Isibaya division of the state-owned Public Investment Corporation (PIC). The main shareholder in Harith is the PIC. So the R3 billion that Harith is putting into the Consortium is actually…

SONRI NAIDOO A NEWLY-WED Joburg couple were electrocuted in their home on Sunday as a result of what is thought to have been a faulty electrical connection. Nabeelah and Zaheer Sarang are believed to have made several reports to City Power about electrical faults at their home in Crosby, near Mayfair, in Joburg. Their last visit to the power utility is believed to have been 10 days before the tragedy occurred. It is believed that Nabeelah collapsed in the shower after turning on the tap, and her husband, Zaheer, was then electrocuted while trying to save her. “I knew something terrible had happened when I heard cries coming from their home. It is devastating what happened to Zaheer and his bride, especially after they have just returned from their…

Jean Michel Bouvier | Bryanston COMBATING climate change was top of the agenda for the G7 leaders last weekend. But it is laughable that China, which is the world’s biggest polluter due to its carbon intensive industries and its heavily dependence/reliance on coal-fired power generation, with 30% of the world’s pollution, has been excluded. The same with Russia, at 5%. The exclusion is purely on political grounds. Do the idiots of the G7 talk shop/club think that any agreement/resolution taken by them will be successful without the participation and commitment of the two countries which count for more than 35% of the world’s pollution? Especially when all the ones participating don’t even come up to 35%. What do they really try to achieve except their photo…

Chulumanco Mahamba THE Walter Sisulu and the North-West universities have announced “very promising first results” from the preclinical trials on a new Covid-19 vaccine. The universities announced earlier this month that trials for a DNA vaccine candidate, developed by Germany-based Professor Markus Depfenhart, are well advanced and promising. Depfenhart holds appointments as a professor at both institutions. “We express our special appreciation to Professor Depfenhart, who has had to lead this project from Hamburg, Germany, because of the extended Covid travel restrictions. He has a big impact on our two universities. He is a driving force in bringing together a new Pan-African, multi-national platform around vaccines and epidemic responses in Africa, by Africa, for Africa,” the executive dean of the faculty of Health Sciences at NWU, Professor Awie Kotzé, said.…

THABO NDABENI I was 19 at the time of my first arrest in October 1976 over distribution of pamphlets in Mohlakeng, West Rand, resulting in a one-night stay at Langlaagte police station. I was a year older when I was detained again along with Khotso Lengane in April 1977, at the government-created Urban Bantu Council, carrying out the Soweto Students Representative Council’s (SSRC) decision to force councillors to resign. The detention of the entire executive of the SSRC on June 10, 1977, was one that led to us being charged with sedition and terrorism in 1978, with 10 others. This is what came to be known as Soweto 11 marathon trial. For my “sins” I was found guilty of sedition and sentenced to five years suspended for five years.…

TOMORROW marks 45 years since the youth of Soweto, and later South Africa, took to the streets and said “enough is enough”. With bare hands, stones and dustbin lids, they bravely confronted the might of the apartheid security forces and changed the path of history. While the jury is out on who liberated South Africa, it cannot be disputed that the June 16, 1976 student uprisings took the Struggle for liberation to another level. The youth of 1976, who fled the security clampdown to exile, are the ones who swelled the ranks of the long-exiled ANC and PAC. On arrival in exile, they found moribund liberation organisations and reignited the fire that had dimmed in them. We can argue this until the cows come home, but the fact of…

HERMAN GIBBS Royal AM’s sense of entitlement knows no bounds in their relentless pursuit of automatic promotion to the Premiership. Even though the ruling by Gauteng deputy judge president Roland Sutherland dismissed their application to review the arbitration ruling, Royal AM were still in the running for promotion by their inclusion in the PSL promotion/relegation play-offs. The arbitration ruling was that Sekhukhune United be awarded three points from a fixture against Polokwane City, who fell foul of the rules of the GladAfrica Championship. Polokwane were content with the initial penalty of a monetary fine and points deduction after they defaulted in their match against Sekhukhune. However, the gloves came off when Sekhukhune won the appeal for the match points. Sutherland’s ruling meant Sekhukhune would end up Championship winners and…

THE DEPARTMENT of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) said yesterday it was aware of stories in the media, including images and videos that are circulating on social media, about the purported discovery of diamonds in KwaHlathi outside Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal. The DMRE said it would dispatch a task team comprising geological and mining experts to the area to determine the veracity of the stories and to conduct a proper inspection of the site and of what had been discovered in the area. The teams would form today and would include the department’s enforcement and compliance unit, to conduct an inspection of the site, experts from Mintek (the Council for Mineral Technology) and the Council for Geoscience, who could provide an opinion on the mineral composition of rocks and analyse an area’s…

Aspen said it was “extremely disappointed” to learn over the past weekend that specific batches of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Covid-19 vaccine made at its Gqeberha production site, and destined for the South African market, had to be destroyed. This was because of the risk of isolated material in the drug substance supplied to Aspen by J&J from their contract manufacturing partner in the US, Emergent, Aspen said in a statement yesterday. The batches had been retained in storage awaiting the outcome of the US Food and Drug Administration’s assessment of Emergent. “This is not only a setback to both the Aspen and J&J teams who have worked tirelessly to ensure the manufacture of these batches, but, more importantly, has the potential to negatively impact the vaccine roll-out across…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za YESTERDAY marked the official launch of Access Bank South Africa, and another step in furthering Access Bank Plc’s footprint across the continent. Access Bank chief executive Herbert Wigwe said in a statement that the Southern African Development Community represented the strongest economy in Africa. Nigeria-listed Access Bank is a leading full-service commercial bank operating through a network of more than 600 branches and service outlets, spanning three continents, 12 countries and 31 million customers. It employs 28 000 people in its operations in Nigeria and has subsidiaries in sub-Saharan Africa and the UK, with a branch in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and representative offices in China, Lebanon and India. Following a merger with Diamond Bank in March 2019, Access Bank, with more than 900 000 shareholders, became…

Kedibone Modise kedibone.modise@inl.co.za Multifaceted artist Toya Delazy will be dropping her new album Afrorave Vol 1 soon. What’s interesting about the album is that it is recorded in isiZulu and features Young Mbazo, a local band that’s made up of the sons and grandsons of the Grammy award-winning Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Delazy admits that while her sound has evolved over the years, her music still has elements of JEHP (fusion of jazz, electro, hip hop, and punk). This time around, she added Afrorave to the mix. “As I grew, I found an even better way to express and connect and that is through Afrorave, where I can celebrate my culture while also communicating and connecting with others. It is the meeting of my traditional and modern world in harmony,” says…

LOSE A STONE IN 21 DAYS WITH MICHAEL MOSLEY BBC EARTH, DSTV CHANNEL 184, 7PM Five volunteers undertake a diet and lifestyle plan devised by Dr. Michael Mosley, in a bid to get their health back on track post lockdown. Michael talks to each volunteer about how lockdown has affected them – before setting each a bespoke plan to help them make better informed eating choices, and to learn how to use exercise to aid their lifestyle goals. CASE CLOSED 14 TELEMUNDO, DSTV CHANNEL 118, 8PM Laura has terminal cancer and wants her parents to look after her daughter when she passes away. But the biological father wants full custody.…

Sifiso Mahlangu sifiso.mahlangu@inl.co.za WELL-KNOWN Limpopo businessman Collen Mashawana, who recently made the news by building and giving away houses in his home province, has laid fraud and theft charges against two of his business partners, David Madisha and Themba Rikhotso. The two were ordered to present themselves to the Hawks on June 7. The three are members of Mokgolokwane Civils CC, which in turn has an agreement with the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements (GDHS) to build 4 000 houses in Palm Ridge. The housing backlog in Gauteng is in the range of 200 000 houses. The Star has sent questions to the Minister of Human Settlements Lindiwe Sisulu over the matter. Although the building of the houses in terms of Mashawana’s commitment to the GDHS is going according to…

ANNA COX THE City of Joburg, home to about 5 million people, has suspended its last remaining 40 ambulance services, citing lack of vehicle insurance and pharmaceutical supplies. The Emergency Management Services (EMS) staff were told to stop driving the vehicles from Friday. The city was running its own ambulance service with a fleet of 100 vehicles until 2018, when it was informed that the Gauteng province would take over the service, which it had done for many years. This reduced the number of ambulances operated by the city to 40, which have now been withdrawn. The provincial ambulances are stretched between Joburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane, but, according to Gauteng Health Department spokesperson Kwara Kekana, they are coping. The municipalities are required to renew their licences annually and so…

NO ONE seems to care about unemployment except, of course, the many millions who are unemployed. The expanded unemployment rate, including those who have given up looking for jobs that do not exist, is 43.2%. The youth unemployment figure, according to the Sunday Times, is 75%. Just think of the implications for a moment. This means that three-quarters of our young people are not working or studying and many or most of them may never work because there are not jobs available. Our economy does not grow sufficiently to increase employment opportunities. Can you imagine the appalling effect on all these young lives? Do you appreciate the danger to our country from hopelessness and helplessness? If people do not have a stake in society, what incentive is there for them…

SONRI NAIDOO WE CAN judge the level of civilisation in a society from the way it treats its prisoners – this was said by Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. The SA Prisoners’ Organisation for Human Rights (Sapohr) has raised concern about the quality of food served to prisoners at Leeuwkop Prison. Leeuwkop is a large correctional facility in Sandton. This comes after images circulated on social media of the “deteriorating” standard of food. Seen in the images is what seems to be pieces of cooked maize meal floating in sauce with a vegetable salad and pieces of meat sprinkled all over. The food is seen served on ice-cream tubs lids, while the bread is served on a dishcloth. Sapohr president Golden Miles Bhudu says this kind of food was believed…

IT is 45 years after June 1976 and the children of Soweto are growing more aware that the fiery, prophetic fire and spirit of that much vaunted revolution has faded. The ANC has been in power for 27 years with its weakening hands on all the levers of state power since 1994. Looking back at the past 45 years, the angry, defiant and self-sacrificing youths who were willing to confront the mightiest military state in the African continent have grown soft. It comes with age. When you over 50 you become soft around the waist and the frontal part of the brain. The privileged with cushy government and private sector jobs are now the first to advise their angry, go-for-broke offspring to “cool it”. They are impatient and dismissive…

Raphael E Rogers Nervous. Concerned. Worried. Wary. Unprepared. This is how middle and high school teachers have told me they have felt over the past few years when it comes to teaching the troublesome topic of slavery. Fortunately, in recent years there have been a growing number of individuals who have weighed in with useful advice. Four things that are mandatory for any teacher who plans to deal with slavery. 1. Explore actual records Few things shine the light on the harsh realities of slavery like historical documents. I’m talking about things such as plantation records, slave diaries and letters penned by plantation owners and their mistresses. It also pays to examine wanted advertisements for runaway slaves. The ads provided details about those who managed to escape slavery. In…

The agent of Christian Eriksen says the Danish player is “in good spirits” but anxious to find out the cause of his cardiac arrest during his country’s opening Euro 2020 game in Copenhagen. “We spoke this morning (Sunday). He was joking, and in good spirits, I found him well,” Martin Schoots told Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport. “We all want to find out what happened, him included. The doctors are conducting detailed tests, it’ll take time.” Denmark’s team doctor on Sunday confirmed the 29-year-old Inter Milan midfielder had suffered a cardiac arrest. “He was gone, and we did cardiac resuscitation,” doctor Morten Boesen said. “How close were we? I don’t know ...” Schoots said Eriksen had been lifted by “all the love around him”. “Messages have arrived from all over…

World champions France open their Euro 2020 campaign today against an embattled Germany team eager to rediscover their best form in the first clash of two traditional European heavyweights in this year’s tournament. Didier Deschamps’ France head to Munich for the Group F game with a feud brewing between forwards Kylian Mbappe and Olivier Giroud but are still the title favourites, while the Germans are struggling and under pressure. After 15 years in charge, their coach Joachim Loew will step down after the European Championship and wants to forge a mentality “like 2014” when his squad “pulled together” to win the World Cup. The French need no reminding of Brazil, where they bowed out in the quarter-finals when a Mats Hummels header sealed victory for Germany at the Maracana Stadium…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za 4AX-LISTED Heartwood Properties lifted net asset growth per share of 25 percent for the year to end-February 2021, the company said in a statement yesterday. Since listing on the stock exchange in March 2018, it has grown net assets by 93 percent. Commercial property has been under the most pressure in the sector over the past year, but “the fact that we know all our tenants well and have a hands-on approach to the management of our portfolio assisted us immensely in navigating the past year,” said Heartwood chief executive John Whall. “We have had to endure a lot this past year. We offered rental relief of R2.5 million, but are now back on track with tenants all paying rent as per their lease…

Jamal Grootboom jamald.grootboom@inl.co.za DJ Lamiez Holworthy celebrated her 29th birthday at the weekend and her husband rapper, Khuli Chana, went all out. The One Source rapper surprised Lamiez on her birthday and whisked her away on a trip to a destination she “always dreamt of going to”. A chauffeur picked her up after work at Metro FM in a Rolls Royce. Khuli gave her 29 gifts to commemorate the occasion, including items from Thula Sindi, MaXhosa, Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Dom Pérignon. Lamiez shared the joy she felt being treated like a queen by her husband. In a social media post she said: “Not my husband sending a chauffeur 2pick me up from Metro Fm in a Rolls Royce with more gifts @KhuliChana “How you live and…

T. Garner | SAIPPA Chairman THE SA Independent Power Producers’ Association (Saippa) welcomes the announcement by the Presidency on energy reforms, specifically the raising of the threshold for generator licensing from 1 to 100MW – as contained in schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act. Saippa has been proposing changes to schedule 2 for the past four years as we are convinced that relaxing the restrictive requirements for licensing of independent power producers’ generators will go a long way in improving the climate for generation investments. This has been borne out recently by a survey of Saippa members, where at least 18 projects have been developed, and are ready for finalisation and execution. We are encouraged by the President’s recognition of the need for “… bold and…

BUYILE MATIWANE Waking up in Beijing today is very different to waking up in Beijing 72 years ago. Today the capital of the “middle country” is bustling with activity of human development. Seventy-two years ago, when the People’s Republic of China was founded, poverty, deprivation and inequality were hallmarks of Chinese society. Today those hallmarks are history. Waking up in China today, poverty has been declared a thing of the past. In the face of natural catastrophes and Covid-19, the country was still able to manage to stick to its poverty alleviation goals. According to reports from the central government, China has spent over R3 trillion across all three spheres of government in the past eight years alone, on reducing poverty. By the end of 2020, nearly 20 million…

Kingdom of Morocco’s New Development Model offers a pan-African leap into the future MOROCCO has adopted a New Development Model (NDM) that reshapes the way our nation is conceiving and planning its own future. The Kingdom of Morocco has a reputation for knowing how to focus on the progress of its nation and the well-being of its people. As a reflection of this unwavering commitment, Morocco has never failed to reassess the path of its destiny to keep on track with the requirements of the development and prosperity in an ever-changing world. As such, the NDM, adopted two weeks ago, stands as a testimony to Morocco’s forward-looking approach and paves the way for a promising, inclusive and bright future for all Moroccans, regardless of their gender, wealth and political or…

HERMAN GIBBS South Africa’s Under-23 football side succumbed to back-to-back defeats in friendlies in Egypt and that does not inspire confidence ahead of the Olympic Games in Tokyo next month. The strong Egyptian line-up included a few players who ply their trade in Europe, and they are the reigning Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations champions. The SA team was depleted after some players were prevented from travelling by their European clubs and there was a raft of further withdrawals because of Covid-19. Coach David Notoane said the results served as a wake-up call for the players. As champions of Africa, Egypt will be a force to be reckoned with in Japan, and South Africa will come away wiser, knowing what to expect at international level. The team returned to…