Índex per 2022-05-26 a Star

THE Kazakhstan mining giant, ERG, formerly ENRC, under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the UK for more than a decade for alleged corruption in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has scored a landmark victory against the SFO and law firm Dechert in the Commercial Court in London. In a 400-page judgment handed down by Justice David Waksman on May 16, Waksman made unprecedented findings of “extraordinary and almost unimaginable misconduct” by ENRC’s former solicitor and Dechert partner at the time, Neil Gerrard, and “bad faith opportunism” by three former SFO officers, including then director Richard Alderman. ENRC brought proceedings against Dechert, Gerrard, and the SFO and alleged that Gerrard worked with the SFO and had a series of secret and clandestine meetings and communications…

THERE has been a multinational outbreak of monkeypox reported in several European countries: the United States, Canada, and Australia this month. However, there are no suspected or confirmed cases of monkeypox in South Africa as of yesterday. “We don’t expect large numbers of cases, but it’s important that we remain vigilant and identify cases earlier and disrupt the chain of transmission, should the virus come to South Africa,” said the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) executive director Professor Adrian Puren. The NICD hosted another technical briefing today, where Dr Jacqueline Weyer from the Centre for Emerging, Zoonotic and Parasitic Diseases shared insights on the outbreak. Weyer said the multinational outbreak was linked to international travel with a community-based spread, no fatalities have yet been reported and the source and…

Two women and a man who lured their victim under the pretence of a threesome but instead assaulted him with a hammer and robbed him, pleaded guilty in the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court yesterday. They are also accused of stealing the victim’s car, phone, and his firearm with ammunition in Newlands West, Durban in 2019. Rekha Singh and common-law husband and wife Syed Arif Kazmi and Gwendolene Leonara MacKenzie are charged with robbery with aggravating circumstances. They are accused of hitting the victim on the head and arms with a hammer, and throwing glass plates and other objects at him. All three had their defence read out with their plea statements in court. In her statement, Singh said she had met the complainant (victim) in 2018 at her place of employment…

MRS South Africa 2020 finalist, Chandré Goosen-Joubert, said her advocacy will always be for charity after the Western Cape High Court awarded her access to financial records of NPO, Women4Women (W4W). Goosen-Joubert said she was elated the court ruled in her favour after she had, through a Promotion of Access to Information Act (Paia) application in terms of the NPO Act, demanded the right to financial documents for 2019, 2020, and 2021, that she had requested and initially been denied by W4W. She said: “I am very happy for the fact that during my reign in Mrs SA, I had women approaching me and talking to me about how they felt silenced around issues and I was being their voice. I am very much for women empowerment and will always…

WE CAN only hope that the black South Africans who think that black racism through intense xenophobic hatred is harmless, can now understand the pain of tribalism and xenophobia. And we also hope that the white South Africans, who think that racism is not that bad and that black people deserve it and must accept it, will also know the pain of being invaded and having their sovereignty violated. This does not mean that racism against black people by white people is condoned. The good thing about racism from white people is the fact that it proves, without a doubt that God is not white but spirit and that whiteness on Earth, does not mean the colour of God in heaven and Earth. For these reasons, I would never see…

Though Africa was the cradle of civilisation, it did not shine as a leading continent. It was known as the dark continent. Steeped in tradition, culture and patriarchy, the people led a laid-back life of contentment, counting their wealth in cattle, a little subsistence farming and hunting. When the white settlers arrived, they went about “civilising” the blacks by imposing their religion and Western lifestyle and culture on them. When the ANC came to power, euphoria gripped the country. At last, the people were free. Surely, a black government ought to be better than the apartheid government? The ANC embarked on a grand policy of change. But the changes were not bread and butter issues; they were mainly cosmetic. The ANC felt it had capable men and women in its…

THE scourge of gender-based violence, rape, sexual violence, kidnapping and assault has forced many people to come up with different viable solutions in efforts to combat them. While these grave ills are still prevalent in many communities, the emergence of the Eyerus mobile application is set to keep people safe at all times. Founder of the application Sibusiso Mbhele shared where the idea of Eyerus stemmed from. “In 2014, we all woke up to the sad news of the kidnapping of more than 270 Chibok girls in Nigeria. So we were very worried, as fathers and brothers, as to what we would do if this were to happen on our shores.” He highlighted that the Eyerus application is designed as protection for all, especially women and members of the LGBTIQ+…

Being thrown in a filthy prison cell for no reason is inhumane, but taking a person’s artificial leg away from him while he has to face the harsh prison environment is even worse. This is according to a judge who subsequently ordered the police to pay the victim R525 000 in damages. Daniel Scheepers turned to the North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, following the harrowing ordeal. He was arrested out of the blue and for no reason and kept at various police stations and prisons for three weeks. He was then told he could go home as he was not facing any charges. The police did not give him any explanation as to why he was incarcerated, or an apology. Scheepers told the court his stint behind bars was a…

A FATHER has won in court to stop his ex-wife from relocating to Dubai with their 11-year-old daughter. Judge David Makhoba ruled that evidence placed before him did not favour the mother’s court application. The mother, who divorced the father in 2014, sought to relocate with the child identified as L to Dubai to join her new husband. The daughter lived with her mother based on a primary residency agreement reached after divorce. The father remained involved in her life and took her over as per the joint-parenting plan. It became common cause before Judge Makhoba that L was close to both her parents and the immediate extended family members. Judge Makhoba found the mother did not make a case about how L’s relationship with her father would be protected…

South Africa needs energy as a matter of urgency. At the time of writing, the country has lost 31 days to scheduled power cuts this year – a shameful new record. With Eskom announcing Stage 4 load shedding this past weekend, the impact of this is being felt by South Africans in their day-to-day lives, yet the cost of no electricity will continue to be felt for years. Since 1964, the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (Nafcoc) has existed to promote black entrepreneurship and businesses, and the cumulative impact of load shedding in South Africa has been disastrous to our members, particularly those in the construction industry. Processes that at face value may seem straightforward, such as soldering and welding, are constantly interrupted by power cuts. These hold-ups…

The murder of 19 children and two teachers at a South Texas elementary school has prompted a call to action from US President Joe Biden, who urged Americans to confront the country’s gun lobby and pressure Congress to tighten gun laws. In the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade, Salvador Ramos, 18, began his rampage on Tuesday when he shot his grandmother, then crashed his car while fleeing near Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Officers saw the gunman, clad in body armour, emerge from the crashed vehicle carrying a rifle. He then entered the building and opened fire, authorities said. All told, the teenager fatally shot at least 21 people before police apparently shot and killed him. His grandmother survived. Ramos acted alone, and his motive was unclear,…

Hanoi: Floods and other natural disasters triggered by heavy downpours have killed four people and left four others injured in northern and central Vietnam over the past few days, the country’s Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control said yesterday. Among the victims, two were dead and four injured due to landslides in the northern Tuyen Quang province, one was killed after being swept away by floods in Hoa Binh province, and one from the central Quang Ngai province was struck dead by lightning.…

Davos: India has joined the US-led First Movers Coalition, a flagship public-private partnership to clean up the most carbon-intensive industry sectors, from heavy industry to long-distance transport. The coalition yesterday announced a major expansion to more than 50 corporate members worth $8.5 trillion (about R134 trillion) and nine leading governments, including the US, covering over 40% of global GDP. US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry made the announcement alongside Bill Gates, founder of Breakthrough Energy, at a press briefing hosted by the World Economic Forum. In addition to the US govern-ment, the coalition welcomed India, Japan and Sweden to the steering board, as well as Denmark, Italy, Norway, Singapore and the UK as partners. These government partners will invite companies from their countries to join the coalition and…

MAMELODI Sundowns co-coach Manqoba Mngqithi is sitting on the fence about the Brazilians’ season after missing out on a quadruple. Sundowns’ three wise men – Mngqithi, Rulani Mokwena and Steve Komphela, – tarted life at the helm on a high note last season, winning the the club’s fourth Premiership title in a row and 11th in total. This season, the club broke the bank and bolstered their squad with local and international stalwarts such as Teboho Mokoena. With the arrival of the new blood, Sundowns were expected to return to the pinnacle of African football. But the Brazilians crashed out of the CAF Champions League quarter-finals for a second year running. To their consolation, though, Sundowns are on course to win a domestic treble after winning the MTN8 crown earlier…

MOHAMED Salah has confirmed that he will see out his contract at Liverpool next season, but the Egypt forward remains non-committal on his future at Anfield beyond 2023. Salah’s contract expires at the end of next season and talks over a new deal have dragged on for months without a resolution. However, ahead of Saturday’s Uefa Champions League final against Real Madrid, Salah said his full focus is on winning the biggest prize in European football for the second time. “I don’t want to talk about the contract. I’m staying next season for sure, let’s see after that,” said Salah at Liverpool’s pre-match media day yesterday. “In my mind I don’t focus about the contract. I don’t want to be selfish, it’s about the team. “It’s a really important week…

Federation split over suspension of four THE future of the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) hangs in the balance as the second elective congress of the federation presents a possible split. The federation’s largest union, the National Union of Metal Workers SA (Numsa), threatened to leave the congress yesterday after tensions over the suspension of four national office bearers that Numsa claimed had been unfair. The federation is in a constitutional crisis with no clear indication of how to deal with the matter of the four suspended officials. Numsa’s general secretary Irvin Jim has also threatened to take the federation to court if the suspension of the four is not lifted. The union had made several attempts to try to ensure that the four leaders were recognised by the…

THE police are hot on the heels of jailed notorious killer ex-cop Rosemary Ndlovu’s co-accused in her fresh charges. The co-accused has failed for over a month to hand himself over to authorities to stand trial alongside Ndlovu on conspiracy to kill charges. Ndlovu gained notoriety during her serial murders trial last year, which culminated in her imprisonment after she received six life sentences. The allegedly on the run co-accused was charged with Ndlovu on one of two conspiracy to murder cases she faced. Prosecutor Riana Williams asked for a postponement yesterday to give the police a chance to execute a warrant of arrest against Ndlovu’s “on the run” co-accused. Ndlovu appeared briefly in the dock yesterday with Nomsa Mudau, her co-accused in one case. Mudau is accused of conspiring…

A WOMAN was in such a hurry to divorce her husband of 23 years and join her new lover, she wanted nothing except to get out of her marriage. However, she now has second thoughts about being left with nothing. Nearly three years after signing a settlement agreement during her divorce stating she wanted nothing from her now former husband, she has now demanded to share in his R10 million estate. She asked the Eastern Cape High Court, which dealt with her divorce, to overturn the settlement, stating she wanted no money or assets from her husband. The parties were married out of community of property with the inclusion of the accrual system during 1996. They were divorced in 2019, and entered into a settlement agreement which was made…

In 2017, around October, I lodged a complaint with the Office of Health Standards Compliance about my sister-in-law who was diabetic and hypertensive, an elderly patient, on old age pension at the time. She passed away in December 2020. She attended a clinic in Rustenburg. The story about patients on chronic medication having to go on for months without medication, and sometimes being advised by nurses to buy medication from private pharmacies has been an ongoing problem and was the reason I brought the matter to the attention of the OHSC. I learnt in the City Press this past Sunday patients are still unable to get their chronic medication both from clinics and hospitals, but it seems now the health officials are aware this is due to insufficient budget allocation.…

AT TIMES, labour legislation is onerous. Sometimes certain categories of “employees” are exempt from some of the legislation. For instance, from time to time, employees earning in excess of the threshold determined by the minister of employment and labour are exempt from overtime claims and certain other sections of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act. Extended Public Works employees have a lower rate of a minimum wage than that set out by the National Minimum Wage Legislation. Another category of “employee” needs to be targeted and discussed – those working in protective workshops for the various disability sectors. Many of those in the disability sector argue that the clients of the workshops should be reclassified from employees to beneficiaries of social services in law. I have been helping the Western…

Understanding and tackling corruption at the city scale is crucial because cities are increasingly becoming home to much of the global population. Corruption is commonly defined as the abuse of entrusted power for personal gain. According to the UN, more than two-thirds of the world’s population will be living in cities by 2050. The fastest urban growth is happening in Africa and Asia. In our Cities of Integrity project, we worked with urban planners and their respective professional bodies in South Africa and Zambia. The aim was to understand how they experience and deal with corruption in their daily practice. We also sought to imagine creative ways in which their professional community could play a role in strengthening transparency and collective accountability. Corruption in urban development can lead to dysfunctional…

BANJUL: The Gambian government said yesterday it is willing to prosecute former dictator Yahya Jammeh for a “myriad crimes” committed by the regime during his more than 20-year rule. The Ministry of Justice said it accepted all but two of the 265 recommendations made by the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission. The former dictator is living in exile in Equatorial Guinea, which has no extradition treaty with The Gambia. Justice Minister Dawda Jallow said he would create a special prosecutor’s office and a special court inside The Gambia with the option of holding sittings elsewhere. | AFP…

OUAGADOUGOU: The dead bodies of four out of eight missing miners have been found at a zinc mine owned by Trevali Mining Corp in Burkina Faso which flooded on April 16, the government said yesterday. Rescue workers on May 17 found no survivors in a chamber in the mine, 570m below ground, where there had been hope during a search that the men might have found refuge. Relatives have continued to gather at the site in Sanguie province. The mine managers had been banned from leaving the country. | Reuters…

A return of Formula One to South Africa is being talked about as the sport looks to potentially return to the African continent. While it will be music to the ears of South African motor racing fanatics, South Africa still has more important issues to overcome before it can think of hosting another major sporting event. Right now, there are other viable candidates in Africa such as Morocco which F1 can consider if they wish to return to Africa. F1 is regarded as a “rich sport” for valid reasons. Not only do the vast majority of its talent come from wealthy households, but it is not affordable to attend a Grand Prix for many people. In a country with high inequality rates such as South Africa, the reality is that…

THE board of the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) says it has been subjected to “public vilification, intense emotional blackmail and veiled intimidation” after cancelling R17 billion-worth of tenders due to irregularities. Without mentioning individuals, the board, chaired by Themba Mhambi, said its detractors name-dropped President Cyril Ramaphosa by accusing it of having cancelled “presidential projects”. In a statement released on Monday, the agency’s board said it was told that the projects should have been referred to the National Treasury and its political head, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, after it found matters of concern with procurement processes. At the centre of the saga is infrastructure company Raubex Group Ltd, one of the bidders which allegedly stood to benefit from the irregular contracts. The company has threatened to take…

TRANSPORT Minister Fikile Mbalula and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan allegedly fell out over R17 billion contracts which the SA National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral) recently cancelled at the behest of Mbalula, citing irregularities. The five critical road infrastructure projects were canned due to irregularities in the tender processes, according to Sanral and government sources, as well as a statement released by the agency’s board this week. The sources claimed that the tender specifications had been tailored to benefit big and mostly white-owned infrastructure company Raubex Group and to systematically exclude black-owned firms. The specifications were allegedly manipulated by some Sanral officials for the benefit of the identified companies. In a statement this week, the Sanral board, led by chairperson Themba Mhambi, said it had been “vilified”, “emotionally blackmailed” and…

The entire area from Ballito to Umkomaas, encompassing the geographical heartland of that area, is in trepidation as a rampaging, indescribable tsunami of water sweeps across KZN, the second in two months. The furious pace of the watery inferno threatens to engulf afflicted areas, turning them into islands of desolation and despair as hunger and immense tragedy stalk the area in a sea of mud. Graphic scenes are emerging depicting apocalypse on a biblical scale. Sadness and helplessness are flashed across the global media in real time, as a devastated community watches in horror at the scale of destruction. Scenes emerging from most areas are a flashback to the carnage in April that decimated parts of KZN. The entire province is enveloped in a global health emergency that is exacting…

Sports journalists operate in a privileged position at times, far removed from the socio-economic or political considerations that our peers in news must endure. It’s cosy here, but sometimes there are moments outside our ambit that we cannot ignored. That is how Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, a victim of gun violence himself, saw it after another horrific mass shooting at a Texas school in the early hours of yesterday. Twenty-one people were confirmed dead, 19 of them children between the ages of 7 and 10. Kerr, during his pre-match media briefing, was visibly shaking; almost apoplectic with rage, as the emotion of the massacre flowed out of him before Warriors’ playoff loss to Dallas Mavericks. “When are we going to do something,” Kerr raged. “I’m tired. I…

THE conduct of an investigating officer in a rape and abduction case will cost the taxpayer dearly. The officer failed to tell the court that the alleged victim had a change of heart on the day of the man’s arrest and told the police he did not rape her. The man, who is not being identified because of being accused of rape, turned to the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg to claim R6 million in damages from the police for unlawful arrest and unlawful incarceration. He was locked up for 90 days before the prosecutor discovered what the alleged victim had told the officer. The officer never mentioned it in the case docket. He also did not arrive for court on numerous occasions when the accused appeared in court.…

THE Judicial Service Commission’s (JSC) interviews nowadays are sadly not on distinct and proven legal merit per se, but on whether these judicial candidates fit the bill of race and are politically acceptable and towing the political correctness line. Even those judges and the legal professionals who sit in these JSC interviews seem to get their cue from the politically obsessed JSC panelists. Politics is dominant in JSC judicial appointments and no one is standing up to the overtly political and race biased interviews. Sadly no one has come back to inform the rest of South Africa of any qualitative informed research that the current JSC format and deliberations are indeed delivering on the substance of judicial transformation, as opposed to window dressing. Are we getting quality judges upholding the…

London: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson presided over a culture of lockdown-breaking parties that featured drunken vomiting and fighting among staff, according to an inquiry yesterday that prompted renewed calls for his resignation. Johnson is among dozens of people in Downing Street who have received police fines for breaching Covid regulations since 2020. “I take full responsibility for everything that took place on my watch,” he said. The report showed photographs of Johnson toasting staff with wine, and recounted revelling into the early hours with karaoke music. | AFP…

Caen: The appearance of a killer whale miles up France’s Seine River has sparked amazement, but also concern for the well-being of the animal, whose life appears in danger, conservationists said yesterday. The whale, also known as an orca and usually found in open salt water, was swimming between the port city of Le Havre at the mouth of the Seine and the inland city of Rouen, down river from the French capital Paris. “The more it stays in fresh water, the more this will accelerate the degradation of its state of health,” said Gerard Mauger, vice-president of the GECC regional cetacean protection group. | AFP…

STELLENBOSCH FC are fast becoming victims of their own success with Kaizer Chiefs set to complete the signing of Ashley du Preez shortly. Chiefs have already secured the services of Stellies captain Zitha Kwinika for next season, and according to a SABC Sport report the two clubs have now agreed to “a straight cash deal” for Du Preez. Both Kwinika and Du Preez were an integral part of the Winelands’ club’s march to third on the DStv Premiership table this past season. Kwinika was recently named the Players’ Player of the season and Player of the Season at the club’s awards ceremony, while Du Preez walked away with the top goalscorer award for his nine goals. Equally, Stellies, who were only in their third season in the top flight, completed…

WITH the United Rugby Championship (URC) reaching its conclusion in the coming weeks, now is arguably as good a time as ever to reflect on the regular season that was completed last weekend. The quarter-finals are set in stone for next weekend – Ulster take on Munster in a huge Irish derby; the Bulls host the Sharks in a power encounter; the irrepressible Leinster face under-dogs Glasgow; and the Scottish Shield Winners Edinburgh visit Cape Town to battle the SA Shield winners, the Stormers. In all, three SA sides have qualified for the play-offs and at least one will progress to the semi-finals of the tournament. It was with this in mind that Ireland international and Munster centre Chris Farrell revealed on Tuesday night, in a roundtable discussion, what the…

ORLANDO Pirates’ dominant display against Maritzburg United in their catch-up league match on Tuesday night doesn’t guarantee a second-place finish nor the safety of coaching duo Mandla Ncikazi and Fadlu Davids. After winning the MTN8 and finishing third on the log last term, Pirates were expected to carry that momentum into the new season. But things didn’t go according to plan, with German coach Josef Zinnbauer resigning after they crashed out of the MTN8 this term. Ncikazi and Fadlu were handed the ropes as co-coaches. But they’ve failed to deliver, although they did finish as CAF Confederation Cup runners-up after losing to RS Berkane of Morocco last Friday. The 5-4 penalty shoot-out loss to Berkane after the 1-1 draw over 120 minutes stung the Sea Robbers and their faithful. But…