Índex per 2021-08-13 a Star

ARE YOU MORE optimistic about South Africa’s prospects today than you were at the start of the year? Given the events of the past month, it’s understandable that many of us may be feeling more despondent. But even after accounting for last month’s riots, most professional forecasters have upgraded their economic growth numbers compared to the start of the year. And many local asset managers are still sticking with their South African overweight equity and bond positions. Admittedly, these upward revisions are coming off a low base. At the start of this year the International Monetary Fund expected the country’s economy to grow by just 2.8 percent in 2021 and 1.4 percent in 2022. Subsequently, it upgraded South Africa’s growth outlook by a cumulative 2 percent over…

Justin Bieber is the most nominated artist for the upcoming Video Music Awards (VMAs) with nods in three of the top categories including Video of the Year, Artist of the Year and Best Pop. Bieber features on the music video for the DJ Khaled and Drake’s Popstar, which is nominated for Video of the Year and Best Direction, while Bieber’s track Peaches – which features Daniel Caesar and Giveon – is up for Best Collaboration, Best Pop, and Best Editing of the year. His final nomination comes in the Best Cinematography category, with Holy, featuring Chance The Rapper. Megan Thee Stallion is the next most-nominated with six nods, many of which come from her and Cardi B’s hit track WAP, which is up for Video of the Year, Song of…

Itumeleng Mafisa AS SOUTH Africa marks the ninth anniversary of the Marikana killings on Monday, some have called for August 16 to become a national holiday as sign of respect to the miners who died in the country’s first post-apartheid massacre. The Socio-Economic Rights Institute’s executive director, Nomzamo Zondo, said the enabling of this as a holiday would be a sign of remorse from the state and would offer some comfort to the families of the 34 miners who died at the hands of the police in 2012. The institute has been representing some of the miners’ families in court. “Marikana cannot stop being a sore wound until the current government recognises that it was a post-apartheid massacre and responds in a way that acknowledges their culpability in the…

OWN Correspondent WITH three bestselling books, Khaya Dlanga is one of South Africa’s favourite authors. His ability to write candidly and authentically about himself and his world has resonated with readers from all walks of life. In March last year, Khaya found himself bereaved, alone and facing an indefinite lockdown as a result of Covid-19. Like most of us, he turned to social media to maintain some human connection, and his followers came through and kept him going. It’s The Answers For Me is the result of Khaya’s ongoing Q&A interactions with his followers on Instagram. It’s evidence of the genuine communities that are formed on social media: intensely human, at times strange and shocking, sometimes touching and often really funny. And it’s a record of a nation going through…

The moving eulogy that was delivered by Connie Ferguson at the funeral of her late “Angel”, Shona Ferguson, revealed the state of our national affairs. She sent the following unwritten public message to all South Africans: serve your country as if you will die tomorrow, and love your family as if you will live forever. When one eulogises, the state of national affairs is mirrored in the eulogy. For example, if society is seething with GBV, the eulogy will depict the scourge of GVB in that society. Connie’s eulogy compelled me to think about the widows of famous men such as Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, and Kwame Nkrumah after their departure from this world. It must be different from having just a man removed. It must be like a planet…

Thabo Makwakwa MULTITALENTED singer and actress Simphiwe Dana says she is not the “usual celebrity” who turns a blind eye to issues affecting the country. Speaking to The Star’s sister paper, the Daily News, on Wednesday, Dana said she had the utmost respect for the older generation of musicians and performing artists who used their craft to speak against injustices that people were subjected to. “What made mama Miriam Makeba and her generation so amazing was the fact that they used art to fight. Hence, some of them ended up in exile but continued to fight for the people in the country,” she said. Dana said many people appeared to have been convinced in 1994 that the country’s struggles were over and expected that artists would stop raising questioning social…

Zelda Venter THE courts have once again warned that those who do not pay maintenance will feel the long arm of the law. A judge yesterday ordered a father and well-known businessman to report to jail within five days to start serving a jail sentence. The man, only identified as Mr P as it is a maintenance matter and involves his two children, tried everything to stay out of jail, but to no avail. The Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court earlier convicted him on two charges of contravening the Maintenance Act for failure to pay maintenance towards his former wife and their child. The man, in his 50s, was sentenced to three years on each of the counts, but the court ordered he had to serve four-and-a-half years in total. He petitioned…

THE ability to create a digital representation of a building, neighbourhood or infrastructure network is becoming a powerful method in transforming the way cities are designed globally. The technology, which involves creating a digital clone of a real-world object or system, dubbed a “digital twin”, has a profound impact on architecture and urbanism across sectors. The Joburg Development Agency and the Department of Development Planning: City Transformation have launched a project that entails the development and piloting of the city of Joburg’s first Inner City Spatial Model. The initiative aims to collect, capture, share, test and analyse relevant data of the inner-city area defined by the Urban Development Zone. It involves conducting an urban quality assessment and building a 3D model of the pilot area, with the goal of…

Victor Ongoma THE Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a body of the UN tasked with providing scientific information on climate change, has released a major new report, pulling together evidence from a wide range of current and ancient climate observations. It’s the most up-to-date understanding of climate change, bringing together the latest advances in climate science. It is crucial that we have a good understanding of the findings as they give an indication of what our future could look like. According to the report, global warming is evident, with each of the past four decades being successively warmer than any decade that preceded it since 1850. Average precipitation on land has also increased since the mid-20th century. In addition, there is high confidence that mean sea level increased…

Hundreds of firefighters battled yesterday to contain new flare-ups in wildfire-ravaged areas of Greece, where summer infernos have caused what the prime minister described as the country’s “greatest ecological disaster in decades”. However, rain overnight in some areas and falling temperatures appeared to have eased the situation after two weeks of devastating blazes, and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said “we can be more optimistic today” than previous days. Greece’s most severe heatwave in decades has fanned blazes that have destroyed more than 100 000 hectares of forests and farmland, the country’s worst wildfire damage since 2007, the European Forest Fire Information System said yesterday. The fires have left three dead, hundreds homeless, forced thousands to flee, and caused economic and environmental devastation. Greece is just one of a number of…

LUSAKA: Zambians were voting for a new leader yesterday, with long queues pointing to a high turnout in an election showdown between President Edgar Lungu and main opposition rival Hakainde Hichilema that looks too tight to call. The two rivals, who voted at different stations hours apart, were both confident of winning the vote and the close contest raised the possibility of a run-off. At a polling station in an affluent suburb in Lusaka, crowds cheered “we want change” as Hichilema arrived to vote. Opposition leader blew kisses to the crowd. Zambia owes in excess of $12 billion (R177bn) to external creditors and spends 30%-40% of its revenues on interest payments on its debt, credit rating firm S&P Global estimates. | Reuters…

LONDON: Hackers behind one of the biggest digital coin heists have now returned over half of the $610 million-plus they stole, the cryptocurrency platform targeted by the hack said yesterday. Poly Network, a platform that facilitates peer-to-peer transactions, said on Twitter that hackers had returned $342m (about R12.4bn) of the currencies stolen. Some $268m worth of tokens are still outstanding. Poly Network, which allows users to transfer or swop tokens across different blockchains, said on Tuesday it had been hit by the cyberheists, urging the culprits to return the stolen funds. The theft illustrated the risks of the mostly unregulated decentralised finance (DeFi) sector. DeFi platforms allow users to conduct transactions, usually in cryptocurrency. | Reuters…

WYNONA LOUW wynona.louw@inl.co.za “WE are ready for whatever Springbok team we play.” So says Argentina captain Julian Montoya when asked during their team announcement press conference whether they find it “disrespectful” that the South Africans have made so many changes for their Rugby Championship opener. Bok coach Jacques Nienaber on Tuesday named 10 changes to the starting team from the one that beat the British & Irish Lions 19-16 in the series decider a week ago. The side features a new backline and front row, with two changes on the replacements bench. Los Pumas hooker Julian Montoya will lead a strong outfit when they meet the Springboks at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium tomorrow (5pm kick-off). The visitors’ matchday 23 features Pablo Matera, Facundo Isa and flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez. When asked…

THE new Premier Soccer League (PSL) season begins behind closed doors this weekend, resulting in deafening silence at the stadiums. But if the hype around the preparations of the “big three” during the off-season is anything to go by, then we are in for a blockbuster campaign. Well, this is not only a gut feeling. In fact, far from it. It’s been a while since Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns spoke with one voice: “We have what it takes to challenge for all the top honours compared to the previous seasons.” Each team, one way or the other, had an excuse. Chiefs recently complained about a one-year transfer ban. Pirates bemoaned how they were still in a building process. Sundowns lamented the struggles of juggling between pre-season and…

Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za THE Central Gauteng Lions believe the new structure for domestic cricket will have benefits for the sport both on and off the field. While there is still concern in some quarters about a dilution of playing standards and that the financial implications could yet leave some provinces struggling, the CGL has an optimistic outlook. “What the franchise system did was confuse the buyer,” said the CGL, chief executive, Jono-Leaf Wright, about trying to source commercial partnerships during the franchise era. “We sat with two hats; I was the CEO of the Central Gauteng Lions, trying to sell an amateur product. I also had the hat of being the Lions CEO, where I was trying to sell a professional product. “Now what we are selling is an aligned…

LAST season, Premiership debutants Swallows FC punched above their weight and at one stage were mentioned as title contenders. Incredibly, Swallows managed a record 20 draws and lost only two games in the 30-match season. Only champions Mamelodi Sundowns had fewer defeats with one loss, and Swallows ended up with the third-best defensive record. Swallows coach Brandon Truter has created an image of a hell-raiser, and this week referred to the arrogance in the ranks of his players and coaching staff. Truter spoke ahead of tomorrow’s MTN8 quarter-final against defending champions Orlando Pirates in Soweto. “We have a certain amount of arrogance in our playing style, and it does not follow that we want to change that,” said Truter. “We have our style, and we have a mindset. It is…

Liam Karabo Joyce liam.joyce@inl.co.za After a week of making headlines for all the wrong reasons, Mohale Motaung had some good news to share with his fans. The actor and businessman has been nominated for the Africa Choice Awards in the male personality of the year category. He is nominated alongside Mzansi’s Oros Mampofu, Ghana’s Bismark Nii Odoi and Mawuli Gavor and Nigeria’s Kidd Waya and Ozoemena Chukwu. Motaung spent Wednesday morning thanking social media users who sent him their good wishes following the news of his nomination. While the young star might not be as famous as those nominated alongside him, he has endeavoured to forge his own path following his “famous by default” status, thanks to a very publicised relationship with popular media personality Somizi Mhlongo. Over the…

John M France | Benoni EVERY educated, informed person on this planet knows that Covid-19 vaccinations are safe and effective. This is not an opinion or a belief; it is a simple fact borne out by hundreds of million examples of vaccinated people around the world. So where do the anti-vaxxers fit into this scenario? Are they the misguided laughing stocks they are generally thought to be? In many cases they probably are, but what about the clever instigators? The ones with the skill to manipulate, manufacture and propagate “facts” to persuade the laughing-stock brigade to follow them. These are not idiots, these are evil people. They are deliberately, for some perverted reason, encouraging their followers to risk death to themselves and to others. If you know one…

Kudzai Chikowore | Human Rights Activist London AT THE heart of Zimbabwe’s troubles is the Zimbabwe Africa National Union-Patriotic Front, a long-time anti-apartheid party that came to power in 1980. Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of Africa and is now the beggar. The government has a duty to uphold the rule of law to show foreign investors that their businesses will be safe, so that they help smaller companies raise the capital needed to scale up the country. People across Zimbabwe are facing many problems such as abject poverty and dilapidated infrastructure. South Africa is surveying the damage after the economic impact of riots and looting and wider emerging problems. In Zimbabwe there is also massive corruption in government institutions, massive divestment and companies are closing down. (President Emmerson)…

Staff Reporter THE DEPUTY director of finance in the Group Corporate and Shared Services department, Petra Smit, has obtained an outstanding achievement in her academic career – a doctoral degree in business administration from the University of the Free State Business School. A karate and self-defence instructor, Smit manages the department’s procurement, assets, and financial compliance. “I am so excited. I cannot thank my family and supervisors enough for their support during these past five years. It was hard and I had to put a lot of effort and dedication into my studies,” she says. The 58-year-old Smit believes everyone can reach their full potential if they allow people in their space to help and support them when they are faced with obstacles along the way. She says Covid-19 did…

Global warming represents an existential threat to civilisation THOSE emigrating to distant shores in the wake of recent unrest in the country might want to think twice, given the latest UN report from the Intergovernmental panel on climate change. Those who perceive that the grass is greener on the other side might want to consider the warnings of extreme weather patterns in the next decade or two. Scientists are predicting extreme cold conditions in Europe and North America, as well as much wetter conditions in the North, which is not good news for those who find rainy Britain dreary. It is hard to imagine Northern US and Canada being much colder than they are, when current temperatures can reach -40ºCs with the wind chill in mid-winter. For the sake…

Seoul: Disgraced former K-pop star Seungri was convicted of arranging prostitution and other charges stemming from a sex and drugs scandal and jailed for three years yesterday by a military court. The 30-year-old singer from popular boyband BIGBANG, who retired from showbusiness as the scandal mounted and later enlisted in the military, was found guilty on all nine counts against him. Seungri was convicted of arranging sex services for potential investors in his business, and overseas gambling in Las Vegas involving illicit foreign exchange transactions. | AFP…

Phnom Penh: The last surviving senior Khmer Rouge leader will next week begin an appeal against his life imprisonment for his role in the genocide committed by the regime in Cambodia more than four decades ago. The Khmer Rouge, led by “Brother Number 1” Pol Pot, left 2 million Cambodians dead from overwork, starvation and mass executions from 1975-79. The regime’s former head of state Khieu Samphan, 90, will on Monday challenge his 2018 conviction for genocide against ethnic minority Vietnamese. He was convicted alongside “Brother Number 2” Nuon Chea and jailed for life for genocide and a litany of other crimes, including forced marriages and rapes. | AFP…

Turkish police detained dozens of people after a mob of angry men smashed up shops and cars believed to belong to Syrian migrants in the capital Ankara. The unrest broke out late Wednesday in response to a fight between locals and migrants in which one Turkish national was stabbed to death. Images on social media showed dozens of shouting men breaking through police cordons and then attacking cars and shops believed to be owned by Syrian families. They smashed windows with stones and crowbars and tore down the metal grill of one store before breaking in and ransacking its shelves. Images showed police firing tear gas to dispurse the crowds as the violence raged late into the night. One showed a young man trying to break into the flat of…

Morgan Bolton morgan.bolton@inl.co.za IT was all attack and very little defence on Wednesday night when the Free State Cheetahs and Sigma Lions duked it out in their Currie Cup encounter. Scoring six tries apiece, the match ended in a 44-44 draw and although it was a feast of try-scoring action, both teams will have massive concerns surrounding their defensive systems. In all, 197 tackles were attempted by both sides but only 155 were effected. Moreover, the teams combined to make 990 metres, beat 43 defenders and made 151 gainline carriers, revealing just how much each team was allowed to attack the gainline without consequence. The Lions were arguably, man-on-man, the better defensive team and during a prolonged period in the second stanza of the first half managed to drive back…

Morgan Bolton morgan.bolton@inl.co.za THE Great War that rumbled in the trenches of Europe and in the colonies of their dominion had postponed the birth of one of sport’s great rivalries, but when it finally came, it would kick off a century long struggle on world rugby’s sprawling fields. On this day, 100 years ago, South Africa and New Zealand contested the first Test match between the nations, and even after all those years it is still considered the blue riband match-up, the encounter that both Springboks and All Blacks must play to enter the pantheon of greatness. The tour of New Zealand in 1921, however, would be no easy feat. Three years later, the All Blacks would be heralded as ‘The Invincibles’, sweeping aside all and sundry when they travelled…

Lender Investec commits to greater environmental transparency Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za INVESTEC yesterday committed to being more transparent with regard to its lending and investment decisions in relation to climate change. This comes as shareholders are slowly pulling away from environmentally unsustainable investment practices such as fossil fuels. The group’s climate risk-related disclosure has received 99.9 percent shareholder approval, the most significant climate-change shareholder resolution for a JSE-listed company to date. The financial services company’s resolution, tabled ahead of its annual general meeting last week, explicitly required the company to take action to address greenhouse gas emissions associated with its lending and investment portfolio. Disclosed in the integrated annual report released yesterday, Investec committed to comply with the goals of the Paris Agreement within its annual report and financial statements…

Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za SUPPORTERS of former President Jacob Zuma have revealed that his senior wife, Sizakele Khumalo (MaKhumalo), pleaded with the arresting SAPS officers to at least bring him back home alive. This was revealed yesterday in Nkandla by Bishop Vusi Dube of eThekwini community church while addressing a prayer service that was organised to pray for Zuma to get well and to be freed from prison. Zuma is serving a 15-month sentence at the Estcourt prison in the KwaZulu-Natal. In the midst of the sentence he has fallen ill and was taken to Gauteng to undergo medical care under the military health services. Dube lamented that while Zuma submitted a sick note to the Pietermaritzburg High Court, it was questioned by the State. He shared what they discussed with…

Peter Bachtis | Benoni Minister Mbalula needs to apply his mind to relieving the congestion at licensing departments. He should morph into a doctor who needs to give his patient an enema to relieve the unhealthy pressure build-up. Long queues and insufficient staff are making the process unpleasant. It takes eight weeks to renew, which proves that the system is bottlenecked. What happens when the extension expires at the end of August? Are those who are not able to renew by the end of August, to be fined for contravening the licensing requirements? This requires the minister’s urgent attention, and urgent communication to South Africans.…

Chulumanco Mahamba THE VODACOM Foundation, in partnership with the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the Department of Social Development (DSD), has launched a new ecosystem aimed at using public schools as platforms to tackle Gender Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) in society. The foundation announced yesterday that it had partnered with the DBE and DSD for a new private public partnership initiative. Social workers trained at Stellenbosch University would do group and individual intervention sessions with learners, teachers, school governing bodies (SGBs), youths and women formations. “These are focused on specific modules that cover GBV, bullying, self-esteem and violence. Those who have gone through the programme have a responsibility to share knowledge with family, friends and other community members. Thus, over time, every learner carries the light and inspires…

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa’s final testimony at the State Capture commission yesterday amplified an issue that is often a gigantic elephant in the room – the relationship between a president and his deputy. According to the presidential guidebook, the president assumes the role of the head of state and government, while the deputy president is the leader of government business and assists the president in executing government functions. However, instead of a mutual relationship between the president and his second in charge, over the past couple of years South Africans have existed under the biblical principle that the “left hand must not know what the right hand does”. This certainly rings true for charity work, but not where governance is involved. Since the state capture era, deputy presidents in the country…

Gilbert Mosena ACCESS to food, water and electricity are basic human rights. While many may have been shocked by the recent violent protests, whether instigated or otherwise, the situation was a tinder box waiting to explode at the slightest spark. The fact is that we are acutely aware of many socio-economic challenges that the majority of South Africans, and black people in particular, face daily, and the access to basic foods and services are a struggle for most. Underpinning this structural injustice are two core crises that the state must address head-on to ensure a return to the period of economic growth it enjoyed two decades ago, namely energy security and employment creation. It is well established that these two are indelibly linked. Africa’s population is among the fastest…

London: Britain’s most senior police officer yesterday said detectives will re-examine allegations against Prince Andrew due to the US civil suit against him for alleged sexual abuse. London’s Metropolitan Police said they would review the claims, after previously opting not to open an investigation. Virginia Giuffre on Monday filed a claim in New York, alleging the late US financier Jeffrey Epstein regularly abused her and lent her out to “powerful men” for sex. She alleged the Duke of York sexually abused her when she was under 18 over 20 years ago. | AFP…

Geneva: Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned yesterday it might have to close its operations in Madagascar in three weeks as staff are being denied visas. MSF said that since March, it had provided critical medical care to 6 000 malnourished children across 20 localities during the severe food and nutrition crisis in southern Madagascar. Five straight years of low rainfall have wiped out harvests and cut off access to food for many in the region, and the situation is expected to worsen. MSF said that during the Covid-19 pandemic, its international staff had been granted non-renewable three-month visas – but since July, due to the threat of the Delta variant, Madagascar was no longer granting MSF such access for aid workers. | AFP…

Israel is to approve 2 000 new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, defence sources said yesterday, despite opposition from dovish members of the governing coalition. Palestinians condemned the latest settlement expansion plans, the first of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s administration. A security source said the permits for Jewish settlements would come alongside approvals for hundreds of Palestinian homes in the large swathe of the West Bank known as Area C, where Israel exercises military and planning control. The office of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas expressed its “strong rejection and condemnation” of the new settler homes, saying they contradicted “the clear American position” US President Joe Biden expressed in a call with Abbas. Bennett, a former director of the Yesha Council settler lobby, faced criticism from dovish…

MIHLALI BALEKA @Mihlalibaleka IF there is a time for Mamelodi Sundowns to stamp their authority in the MTN8, it is now. That is the belief of coach Manqoba Mngqithi who’s had to watch the Wafa Wafa cup slip through their fingers in the last seven years. Sundowns have dominated domestic football for the last eight years, winning multiple trophies, including championships. The MTN8 is a low-hanging fruit with only four wins needed to walk away with the R8 million prize money. However, this first and most rewarding domestic trophy of the season has eluded them, their last triumph dating back to 2007. That wasn’t because they didn’t care about it or embrace the ‘slow starters’ tag. Instead, there were contributing factors to their shortcomings, such as having a short pre-season…