Índex per 2021-11-10 a Star

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za Eskom shifted the buck to misbehaving municipalities, regional system failures, technical mishaps and insufficient funding for the ongoing crippling loadshedding as it tentatively promised blackouts would be sorted by Saturday morning. In a state of the system address yesterday afternoon, Eskom said only the Ethekwini and Buffalo City Municipalities out of the about 160 in the country, had been compliant with loadshedding requirements, and it had written reprimand letters to errant municipalities that had not complied with schedules, which resulted in longer hours of loadshedding. Eskom's CEO Andre de Ruyter, Chief Operating Officer Jan Oberholzer, Monde Bala, the Chief Executive for Transmission as well as Segomoco Scheppers, Executive for Generation said the utility's challenges were laid at the door of defiant municipalities, systems failures in the…

Gerry Cupido geraldine.cupido@inl.co.za I recently bumped into an old school friend who I haven’t seen in 20 years and even though she was wearing a face mask, I could tell she has been taking good care of herself. When I shared my opinion on how well she had aged, I was asked how I could tell when I could hardly see her face. There are a few tell-tale signs that tend to give away one’s age and whether or not you’re taking care of yourself. Some of the most obvious signs would be greying of hair, which many people simply dye away. Then there’s skin pigmentation, which can easily be camouflaged by make-up. Sagging skin, unless you go under the knife or inject a bit of filler here and there,…

CHULUMANCO MAHAMBA chulumanco.mahamba@inl.co.za GAUTENG’s bulk water supplier Rand Water has emphasised that its 54-hour planned shutdown, starting from November 15, will not result in a total cut-off of water supply for residents. Rand Water announced on Monday evening that the entity had scheduled the planned shutdown of its B11 and B19 pipelines on November 15 from 5am for a period of 54 hours. It issued another statement yesterday emphasising that the maintenance did not mean a total cut-off of water supply. “During this period, water will be flowing into the system, although this will be in reduced quantities and pressure. “Rand Water has issued a 21 days’ notice to the affected customers as some areas may experience water supply shortages,” spokesperson Justice Mohale said. The shutdown forms part of the…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za A “WIDOW” who challenged the constitutional validity of sections of the Intestate Succession Act has lost her legal bid to share in her “husband’s” estate. She had challenged the section of the act that excluded the widows in a polygamous marriage from inheriting maintenance following the deaths of their husbands. The Johannesburg High Court found that Pearl Modise was never married in the first place to the late MG Modise. It found that he was already married at the time. Apart from that, there was also a court order issued in 2012 in place which prohibited such a marriage taking place. Modise told the court that in February 2012 she entered into a polygamous religious marriage with the man following the religious rites of the International Pentecostal…

Nhlanhla Mbatha nhlanhla.mbatha@inl.co.za THE ANC will be out of power come 2024, says political analyst Prince Mashele. In a hard-hitting interview with eNCA yesterday, Mashele said the governing party was fast on its way to the opposition benches. Asked if the ANC could salvage itself from the political quagmire it finds itself in following its disastrous performance in the recent local government elections, Mashele said it would not cleanse itself. “The ANC will not do any damage control after these municipal elections. The party has no history of listening or of doing damage control,” Mashele said. “Look at the history of the ANC since 2009. You can see that we are dealing with a party that does not learn from its own past and present mistakes. “In 2009, the ANC…

Lehlohonolo Mashigo lehlohonolo.mashigo@inl.co.za COALITIONS are heating up the political landscape in South Africa, with no party mustering more than 50% of the vote in a number of municipalities in the local government polls. As the bigger parties scramble to get support from smaller parties to govern these municipalities, Weber Wentzel attorney Michael Evans suggests coalitions are not necessary. The legal expert said that the Municipal Structures Act provides for two types of government at a municipal level, and the ultimate decision as to which type of government is utilised is in the hands of the provincial member of the executive council – MEC – responsible for local government. “The first system of government is the one which has been employed by almost all municipalities across the country over the…

DAMAGE to public infrastructure, whether through vandalism or theft, is nothing less than sabotage against the aspirations of South Africans. Since the dawn of democracy in our country, significant progress has been made in the delivery of water and sanitation services to citizens of South Africa, primarily the poor, by municipalities with support from all spheres of government. Damaging infrastructure is a crime against the people of our country because when people get angry and frustrated, there is no reason they should attack public infrastructure and prevent other people from getting service from that public infrastructure. Looking back to 2003, the Strategic Framework for Water Services with the motto – Water is life and Sanitation is dignity – was adopted. These two major approaches were adopted to ensure life and…

Staff Reporter LIVING with diabetes means you need to be extra aware of everything you consume and how it can affect your blood sugar levels. This is according to a review of several studies by Harvard University which found that those who regularly drink sugary drinks, one or more cans a day, have a 26% increased risk of Type 2 diabetes. SA Medical Research Council chief specialist scientist, Professor Christo Muller, said diabetics should avoid or limit such beverages as they can easily get more than a meal’s worth of sugar from one drink without even realising it. As part of Diabetics Month, herbal infusions such as rooibos have been listed as healthy beverage options for everyone, including diabetics. “Consuming too many sweetened drinks also results in weight gain,…

Alex van den Heever, Ivor Chipkin and Jelena Vidojevic THERE has been a furious response from several research and lobbying organisations to rumours of a reform of the welfare system in South Africa. Apparently, the South African government is considering a local version of the Bolsa Familia, the Brazilian family grant introduced to much fanfare in 2003. The Black Sash, the Institute for Economic Justice, the Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute (SPII), #PayTheGrants and Amandla have protested that such an intervention is probably unconstitutional, anti-poor and unfeasible. Something other than doubts about the workability or fairness of the scheme is at play here, however. The real worry is that a household grant will be used as a substitute for a Universal Basic Income Grant (UBIG). The purpose of…

France’s public health authority has recommended people under 30 be given Pfizer’s Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine instead of Moderna Inc’s Spikevax jab, which carried comparatively higher risks of heart-related problems. The Haute Autorite de Sante (HAS), which acts as an advisor to the French health sector, cited “very rare” risks linked to Myocarditis, a heart disease, that had shown up in recent data on the Moderna vaccine. For persons over 30, it said Moderna’s vaccine was more effective. | AFP…

Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za PROTEAS coach Mark Boucher has had no engagement with Cricket South Africa’s board of directors, and says his focus remains entirely on the players in the national team. Amid all the drama that unfolded with the Proteas at the T20 World Cup regarding Quinton de Kock kneeling, and then narrowly missing out on a spot in the semi-finals, the issue around Boucher and his name being raised at the Social Justice and Nation Building (SJN) hearings took a back seat. “It was tough, for myself as an individual and also on the team,” Boucher said yesterday after the squad returned from the United Arab Emirates. “I addressed the issue with them, and I’d like to believe I had the backing of them after the honest chats that…

Philippa Larkin philippa.larkin@inl.co.za PROFESSOR Raymond Parsons NWU Business School Economist: “We must not underestimate the extent to which the current Eskom load shedding now poses an increasing risk to South Africa’s (SA) economic recovery, to growth prospects and to job creation. The ongoing lack of energy security and predictability in SA is causing widespread disruption to business, especially small business. Business costs are rising as power ‘blackouts’ go to the next level in this country.” It now also puts a serious question mark over the key growth forecasts that must form part of the forthcoming Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement due this week. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana needs to have confidence that his best forecasts of future economic growth in SA will not be weakened by uncertain extensive load shedding. There…

IANS Kim Sherwood is set to pen a trilogy of "contemporary thriller" books that will be set in the world of James Bond and has called it a dream come true to have been given the brief by Ian Fleming Publications almost 70 years after the first story of the suave spy, Casino Royale, was published in 1953. The first instalment in the saga, which is expected in September 2022, will be set at a time when Bond is "missing, presumed captured or even killed", prompting a new swathe of agents, with one being a plant, reports femalefirst.co.uk. Sherwood, a 2018 finalist of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year award for her novel Testament, said in a statement: "It's rare that dreams come true, and I am grateful…

Bongani Nkosi bongani.nkosi@inl.co.za THE Services Sector Education and Training Authority’s (SSeta’s) reasons for refusing to disclose records of a R162 million contract that it allegedly awarded irregularly were flimsy and not good enough for a public institution. Judge Marcus Senyatsi made this scathing finding against SSeta in its legal square off against the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) in the South Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg. SSeta is one of the country’s 21 Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas) which are statutory bodies mandated to skill up citizens. The Setas have previously been accused of squandering millions of rand that can address the plight of the 3.4 million 18- to 24-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training. Outa, an NGO, dragged SSeta to court for an order compelling it…

Sonri Naidoo THE Nathaniel Julies trial was delayed yesterday as the court could not proceed owing to load shedding. The Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court was interrupted yesterday by the escalated stage 4 load shedding, forcing the court to run on a generator. The court patiently waited for the generator to start up but instead it caused constant power trips, requiring contractors to be called out to assist. The court then adjourned the matter to tomorrow. A defence witness managed to take to the stand before load shedding started. Claudiene Whiteboy, the older sister of accused number one, Cayleen Whiteboy, testified yesterday that after Julies was shot on August 26, 2020, her family received threats, forcing them to flee their home in Eldorado Park.…

Cometh Dube-Makholwa | Midrand I WISH all political parties could forget about their individual selfish agendas and focus on saving our country which is, by all accounts, on the brink of total collapse. Those in the ANC who still dream about grabbing power from President Cyril Ramaphosa, conspiring about the best and quickest way to get rid of his presidency deserve our sympathy, because they clearly are wearing blinkers that prevent them from admitting the time for the ANC as they knew it is gone for good and can never be recaptured. It is time to move on; getting fixated on something that will never happen is like chasing shadows. I appeal to all South Africans to put our country first: we owe it to ourselves and future…

ANITA NKONKI anita.nkonki@inl.co.za AS THE time nears for the highly anticipated telenovela The Wife to premiere, so excitement mounts from viewers across all social platforms. Fans of the best-selling Hlomu novels series are counting the hours before Showmax’s first original telenovela graces South African screens tomorrow. The star-studded The Wife has caused uproar across platforms after Showmax revealed the cast, including Mbalentle Mavimbela, and alongside her, Kwenzo Ngcobo, Abdul Khoza and Mondli Makhoba. The Wife’s storyline follows an ambitious journalist who falls for a charming taxi driver. His secret draws her into a dark underworld. The making of this series was inspired by Dudu Busani-Dube’s best-selling novel, Hlomu the Wife. As a result of her best-selling books, the Johannesburg Review of Books called Busani-Dube “a publishing phenomenon”. Many readers have…

A Covid-19-hit Chinese city is offering thousands of dollars for anyone giving clues in tracing the source of its latest outbreak, as part of a “people’s war” to stamp out one of the country’s largest resurgences in months. China reported 43 local cases yesterday in a Delta-driven surge that has spread to 20 provinces and regions. Officials said smuggling, illegal hunting and cross-border fishing should be reported, and that those who bought imported goods online ought to sterilise them and send them for tests. | AFP…

Poland and Belarus squared off yesterday over thousands of migrants aiming to enter EU member Poland, with Warsaw saying the wave threatened the security of the entire bloc. Minsk warned against “provocations” on the border, where armed troops from both countries are deployed amid escalating tensions. Trapped between the rhetoric are thousands of people, many escaping war and poverty in the Middle East, trying to survive outdoors in squalid conditions as temperatures dip toward freezing. The EU accuses Belarus strongman President Alexander Lukashenko of engineering a migrant crisis as a political tool to amp up pressure on Europe as his country faces sanctions following the forced diversion of a Ryanair flight to arrest an opposition journalist in May. Lukashenko has denied the allegations. The EU is considering a fresh…

Springboks Morgan Bolton morgan.bolton@inl.co.za THOSE expecting even a minor shake-up of the Springbok squad to face Scotland on Saturday (3pm SA time kick-off) will be bitterly disappointed in coach Jacques Nienaber’s selection. The Bok coach has made only two outright changes to the starting XV. The first sees the return of Willie le Roux at fullback. The veteran has not enjoyed the adulation of the masses this season – perhaps unfairly – and found himself a target of abuse due to a perceived loss of form. Many will wonder if it is even necessary to call on the fullback after the impressive Man of the Match performance of Frans Steyn at No 15 against Wales last weekend. But, as pointed out by Nienaber, if there was any player you pin…

Despite the huge amount of commitment and effort that goes into running a business, there is a fundamental distinction between entrepreneurs and small business owners – from the personality of the business owner to the type of enterprise they run. Most start-ups are born out of an individual’s desire to be able to manage their time and attain some degree of personal and creative independence. But unlike entrepreneurs, not all small business owners are necessarily pioneers who are driven by the need to make a great deal of money. As such, small companies tend to focus on refining an existing and established product or service rather than offering something unique. These types of companies are not necessarily innovative by nature and focus on perfecting/improving existing processes to address the needs…

HACKS SHOWMAX Centres on legendary Las Vegas comedian Deborah Vance, who takes on an entitled, down-on-her-luck Gen Z comedy writer in a bid to find fresh material and remain relevant as her performance dates start to dwindle. MURDERTOWN S3 LIFETIME, DSTV CHANNEL 131, 9PM Explore some of Britain’s darkest murder locations. This seaso, host Anita Rani visits Milton Keynes, Wakefield, Wigan, Wishaw, Southampton, Oxford, Lichfield, Leicester, Bath and Whitby on the trail of cases like the murders of Rachel Manning, Wendy Speakes, Zoe Nelson and Louise Sellers. Find out how their killers were eventually found and tried. TWO STEPS HOME HGTV, DSTV CHANNEL 177, 9PM Jon and Mary help homeowners who’re looking to sell to make the best use of their fix-up budgets. They’ll take their clients house…

The initial bombshell revelation in Huma Abedin's new memoir, Both/And: A Life in Many Worlds, is that an unnamed US senator allegedly made an unwanted sexual advance toward her when she was in her 20s. At the time, Abedin was an aide to then-Senator Hillary Clinton, her longtime boss and confidante. The particulars Abedin relates matter-of-factly: Following a large dinner attended by senators and staff, Abedin found herself outside the unnamed senator's office building. “He invited me in for coffee,” she writes. “Once inside, he told me to make myself comfortable on the couch.” “He plopped down to my right, put his left arm around my shoulder, and kissed me, pushing his tongue into my mouth, pressing me back on the sofa. I was so utterly shocked, I pushed him…

Chulumanco Mahamba chulumanco.mahamba@inl.co.za THE National Shelter Movement of South Africa (NSMSA) 2021 Shelter Indaba is set to unpack South Africa’s hits and misses in response to gender-based violence (GBV). In the run-up to this year’s 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children Campaign, NSMSA is hosting its 2021 Shelter Indaba today and tomorrow. The NSMSA is an umbrella body representing 100 shelters for victims of abuse, throughout the country. “It is our experience, corroborated by the evidence, that there are not enough shelters for victims of GBV, and those available are severely under-funded and under-supported. This is especially disturbing when one considers violence against women and children remains one of the most pervasive human rights abuses in South Africa,” said the organisation. Dr Zubeda Dangor, head…

RIKESH ISHWARLALL | Pietermaritzburg THE election has raised two critical points as far as the ANC and DA voters go. The governing party and the official opposition should be concerned at their overall drop in support and scrutinise the 2021 elections. First, a vast number of ANC supporters chose to abstain from voting rather than voting for a different party – meaning they believe in the ANC policy and values but have no faith in the people in charge. So government failure in service delivery and the rampant and unabated corruption within the ANC government cannot be ignored any longer. The clarion call from the electorate was loud and clear – carry on on this path and you will pay dearly. The other point regarding DA support was…

SAMAOEN OSMAN | Cape Town THE coronavirus crisis is causing a fundamental shift in the global power balance. In an influential essay published by Spanish newspaper El Pais, South Korean philosopher Byung-Chul Han argued “Asian states like Japan, Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan or Singapore, that have an authoritarian mentality which comes from their cultural tradition” have weathered the crisis far better than the “democratic” nations of the West. China will display the superiority of its system even more proudly. It remains to be seen how the worldwide mentality could be altered in the aftermath of this pandemic. The question also remains whether or not any change in mindset, especially in the West, will have a lasting effect on international politics. The feeling of Western supremacism and European…

At least 11 000 people have crossed into Uganda to escape clashes in eastern DR Congo that flared at the weekend, the UN Refugee Agency said yesterday. The fighting between militia groups and Congo’s armed forces is taking place in North Kivu’s Rutshuru Territory. About 8 000 asylum-seekers crossed at Bunagana town and another 3 000 at the Kibaya border point, 500km south-west of Kampala. The Congolese military blames a group called M23, one of more than 120 armed groups who roam the area. | AFP…

Batter of the week Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za IN any other week, the Free State Knights would be getting all the plaudits for a thumping innings victory like the one they achieved in Potchefstroom against the North West Dragons. It was set up by a big first innings featuring centuries from skipper Pite van Biljon – his second in as many weeks – and Patrick Kruger, who smashed a career-best 192 not out. The bowlers backed that up with some disciplined work, including Mbulelo Budaza, who continues to impress this season after picking up 4/64 in the Dragons’ first innings, with Kruger adding 3/12 for good measure, and then Gerald Coetzee taking 4/47 when North West followed on. However, the Central Gauteng Lions delivered another awesome display against the Eastern Province…