Índex per 2022-10-14 a Star

A benefit concert for 110-year-old Kenaope Mosidi has been confirmed for the Disofeng Pub and Restaurant in Meadowlands, Soweto, on Saturday, October 22. The concert, organised by Act Now, seeks to raise funds for Mosidi, who was chased away from her home in Meadowlands last week after one of her grandchildren sold the family home for R350 000. The new homeowner, Joel Moalusi, is alleged to have brought his bodyguards to the home and together chased Mosidi and her granddaughter Patricia and her children out of the house. The community, which came in numbers to protect Mosidi, staged a night vigil outside her home last week as they vowed to protect the family from unscrupulous people who had bought the home from one of gogo’s grandchildren, identified as Kedibone.…

BREAST Cancer Awareness Month has prompted a trio of Joburg residents and activists to shave their hair in support of the fight against the disease. The owner of Curves Strubens Valley in Roodepoort, Nickey Seger, 49, her partner Grant Clack, 60, and Leilani Kuter, 48, the founder of gender-based violence organisation Yellow For Survivors, are trying to raise R50 000 to support Reach for Recovery, an autonomous non-profit organisation launched in the 1960s that focuses on providing breast cancer support nationwide. “Our organisation is built on a simple yet universal principle: of one woman who has experienced breast cancer giving freely of her time and experience to assist and support another woman with breast cancer. And well-selected and trained volunteers who each have experienced the breast cancer journey rendering emotional…

POLICE have confirmed the recent arrest of a former female police officer in connection with the gang rape of eight women at West Village, Krugersdorp, in July. According to the police, Dolphina Truter was found in possession of stolen items believed to belong to some of the victims of the gang rape that shocked the country after eight young women were gang-raped by illegal miners who included a 15-year-old minor. The illegal miners were rounded up in a joint operation between the police and other law-enforcement agencies following the gruesome ordeal. The suspects subsequently appeared before the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court in August and September and their case was postponed to November 28. According to a police report, Truter was part of the film crew that organised a music video that…

NEWS24’s so-called exclusive report on a leaked document detailing Independent Media’s plan on how the organisation is going to cover the upcoming ANC elections, is a sensational piece of misdirection. News24 has presented a piece of mischievous fiction. The headline, “Exclusive | Inside ‘Operation Hlanza’: Independent Media’s plan to topple Ramaphosa”, is pure conjecture on your part. It is also divisive, and deliberately misleads the public and the country’s executive. Nowhere in the leaked document does it state, or even infer, that Independent Media is looking to “topple President Ramaphosa”. To suggest otherwise, as you have done with this headline and article, is gross misrepresentation. Further, this is not a “secret” plan, since it has been shared widely within the Independent Media Group as a proposal inviting input – back…

A local government advocacy organisation has called on municipalities to increase spending on infrastructure budgets, warning that failure to do this may result in communities getting frustrated, leading to civil unrest. SA Cities Network observes developments in the country’s eight metros and Msunduzi Municipality, and has been monitoring the spending patterns by municipalities over the years. The organisation presented a snapshot on the patterns at the Chartered Institute of Government Finance, Audit & Risk Officers (Cigfaro) conference yesterday, which showed municipal spending for the previous five-year term had slowed towards the term end. SA Cities’ Danga Mughogho told Cigfaro delegates that one of the observations they had made was that over the years municipalities had increased their spending on human resources. In the same breath, however, there had been a…

An unputdownable mystery following a woman on the search for answers a decade after her friend’s murder. April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends – Will, Hugh, Ryan and Emily – during their first term. By the end of the year, April was dead. Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville might have…

MR PRESIDENT, why did we establish the Zondo Commission? Was it not to unravel all the wrongs that were not stopped by various parties involved in government entities? This is a relevant question, especially now when one would assume the recommendations in that report are fully implementable. Why is there a greater need to ensure those recommendations are tested? We are coming from a period in which the board members of various entities had a political relationship that significantly impacted the functioning of those structures. In the Zondo report, there is a specific reference to the board chairperson of Denel, who, according to the report, was not qualified to be a board member and the chairperson. Another contentious point is the appointment of board members by respective ministers, especially if…

Hands are critical in our lives as they help us in many different aspects of our lives. Hands are important for survival in our lives, but they can also be deadly if not taken care of. We need to take care of our hands and ensure they are always clean to prevent the spread of diseases. That is the main reason we must regularly wash our hands with soap and water. The regular and proper washing of hands is so important to save lives that in 2008, the United Nations proclaimed October 15 as Global Handwashing Day. This year, Global Hand-washing Day is celebrated under the theme “Unite for Universal Hand Hygiene”. It is important to wash hands regularly with soap, especially after using the toilet, changing baby’s nappies, touching…

CASH amounting to R150m siphoned off the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) to front companies and to pay executives for luxury holidays, shopping sprees and buying cars (Sunday Times, Oct 2). In addition, Parliament was briefed by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) on more than R1.4 billion in fraudulent grants made by the National Lotteries Commission during the period 2015 to 2021. Investigations by journalists Ray Joseph and Anton van Zyl (Weekend Argus, Oct 2) regularly reported on criminality and mismanagement at the NLC. Apparently, R6m was spent on a Rolls-Royce for the NLC chairperson. During 2018, large sums, in excess of R20m and R10m, were paid out to fraudulent entities. Funds earmarked for orphans and the elderly, were channelled to buy houses for certain board members. During 2019, R16m earmarked…

KYIV: Power has largely been restored across Ukraine following this week’s attacks by Russia on Ukrainian energy facilities, the head of the Ukrainian grid operator said yesterday. Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, CEO of Ukrenergo, told national television some repair work was continuing on damaged infrastructure but supplies had been widely restored. “We have essentially restored power supply 100% to all our regions, as of last night. This is the biggest joy energy workers can have right now,” he said. Kudrytskyi said Monday’s attacks across Ukraine could be “the biggest attack on an energy system... in the history of the world”. | Reuters…

Algiers: Divided Palestinian factions met in Algiers yesterday amid efforts to persuade them to sign a reconciliation deal to lay out timelines to hold elections within a year, officials said. “The Palestinians have been divided for more than 15 years, which has hugely weakened our cause,” said Azzam al-Ahmed, the head of the Fatah delegation in the Algerian capital. Ismael Haniyeh, chief of the Islamist movement Hamas, said the Algerian-mediated talks which began Tuesday had been “positive and calm”. | AFP…

Calls are growing for Parliament to be in charge of oversight of the Ministerial Handbook and for transparency after “secret changes” were made, meaning taxpayers must pay for all the power and water bills for ministers and their deputies at official residences. This week it emerged that President Cyril Ramaphosa had made changes to the handbook, which had removed the R5 000 cap on utilities for members of the executive. The cap had meant that only bills up to R5 000 had to be footed by the taxpayers and the excess was to be paid by the ministers and deputies,but this had fallen away. Civil society and opposition parties have slammed the move, saying millions of South Africans struggle to eke out a living while ministers earn in excess of…

Tired of losing power in municipalities through motions of no confidence, the DA now wants to petition Parliament to minimise calls for these in the National Assembly, provincial legislatures and municipalities across the country. The party also wants Parliament to implement an electoral support threshold in these Houses to avoid small parties being able to table motions of no confidence and succeed. This was expressed by party leader John Steenhuisen yesterday when he tabled his party’s five-point plan to establish a strong coalition government after the 2024 general election. According to Steenhuisen, setting a limit on the frequency of motions of no confidence would give the governing coalition an opportunity to govern without the constant distraction and threat of being removed. The move came as a surprise, as the DA…

The government still spends millions on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Presidential Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) Commission, according to a government annual report, despite the 2020 expiry of the commission’s mandate. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya confirmed to The Star’s sister paper, the Cape Argus, the commission’s mandate ended in 2020, but the Communications and Digital Technologies (CDT) annual report shows the department paid R16.4 million for the commission in 2020/21 and R5.7m in 2021/22. Titled “Presidential Commission 4IR”, the reference to the commission in the annual report doesn’t explain what or who the money was spent on. DA MP Dianne Kohler-Barnard said she would be writing to department minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni to detail the expenditure on the commission. “Why are we still spending on the commission when it is no longer in…

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi hosted his Russian and Turkish counterparts on Tuesday in Tehran for the 7th Trilateral Astana Summit Meeting to discuss the latest developments in Syria. This week’s summit received more attention than previous gatherings as this was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s second foreign trip beyond the former Soviet Union since having launched the Ukraine invasion in February. Putin’s visit came days after US President Joe Biden’s four-day trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia. Putin took the opportunity to discuss Tehran’s drone sales to Russia with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He also discussed Ukraine’s grain exports through the Black Sea with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who made his long-awaited official visit to Tehran, meeting Putin there. The three states continue to organise Astana talks for…

A powerful, heart-rending and insightful novel of a trio of women in Cameroon who dare to rebel against oppressive, long-held cultural traditions, such as polygamy and domestic abuse, that define and limit their lives. Three women, three stories, three linked destinies … In North Cameroon, well-to-do young Ramla is torn from her true love and wed to a manipulative older man. Safira, her co-wife, juggles envy and empathy for the new bride with disappointment in the husband she desperately loves. Like her elder sister, Ramla, Hindou is married off to a man she does not know or want, a distant cousin whose instability and violence terrifies her. From an early age, the women were raised to submit to men, or risk shame and repudiation for themselves and their families. They…

There is never a dull moment in SA. Last week, a weekend newspaper reported Cabinet ministers and their deputies don’t pay for water and electricity in their official residences. According to media reports, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the law quietly without the opposition knowing. Ramaphosa thought that it would remain a secret forever. He thought wrong. Ministers, who are paid R200 000 a month, don’t pay for water and electricity. Yet ordinary and struggling South Africans are expected to cough up. Surely they subscribe to the notion “do as I say, not as I do”? That's Mafia style. Our politicians are living a luxurious life at the expense of poor citizens. That is unacceptable. This shows we (citizens and ministers) are living in different worlds. Ministers in heaven, citizens in…

Booker T Washington in his autobiography published in 1900 narrated a story of human resilience against active racism. Frederick Douglass was travelling in the state of Pennsylvania, and was forced by virtue of his skin colour to ride in the baggage-car. When some white passengers went to console him, he said: “They cannot degrade Frederick Douglass. The soul that is within me no man can degrade. I am not the one that is being degraded on account of this treatment, but those who are inflicting it upon me.” Black executives who are leading organisations that were previously white-led should accept racial prejudice is an important issue to deal with because most blacks sooner or later will encounter a work situations where race will affect the dynamics. Racial prejudice is a…

OCTOBER 1 market the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. On July 1 2022, China reached another milestone with the grand ceremony to mark the 101th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) which has ruled the country since 1949. China has developed from colonial domination, an entirely agriculture-based economy, aggravated poverty and international isolation to become a global power, with rapid economic growth and development. While Western countries have criticised the Chinese home-grown political system, socialism with Chinese characteristics has delivered rapid national development, with remarkable global dividends at home and abroad. Like China, Africa suffered from imperial colonial domination for decades, and continues to grapple with poverty. Home to 17% of the current global population, the dawn of independence…

Kathmandu: Major flooding and landslides caused by monsoon rains in Nepal have killed 48 people in the past two weeks, with 13 others missing after being swept away by a river, officials said yesterday. “There was heavy rainfall during the end of the monsoon which caused landslides and flooding in western parts of the country,” disaster management official Pradip Kumar Koirala told AFP. “We are carrying out rescue and relief-distribution operations in those areas by mobilising security forces and other agencies as the weather has improved there.” In the remote village of Rachulie, 13 people on their way to a funeral were washed away. | AFP…

DA GAUTENG leader Solly Msimanga says he does not regret writing an opinion piece in the media that some have blamed for the collapse of the DA-led coalition in Johannesburg. Msimanga wrote a scathing article published online in which he apparently insulted some coalition partners. The Star understands that the article was published a day before Vasco da Gama was booted out as the municipal council speaker. The removal of Da Gama had a domino effect, leading to the booting out of mayor Mpho Phalatse. Now the DA chief whip of council is next on the list. Msimanga told The Star he wrote that article with full knowledge that the Patriotic Alliance (PA) had been having meetings with other political parties that were not in the DA-led government. The contention…

A PRESCHOOL patient with bone cancer (osteosarcoma) has received a new lease on life after becoming the recipient of South Africa’s first Van Ness rotationplasty procedure. Rotationplasty, also called Van Nes rotationplasty, is a rarely done surgical procedure where the patient’s lower leg is rotated backwards, and the joints are relocated to serve new roles. “The procedure provides patients with more function than a traditional amputation would as the patient’s ankle acts as a substitute for the knee joint. It allows a prosthesis to fit more comfortably, providing better leg mobility and stability than patients who undergo a full high-above-knee amputation,” said Dr Thomas Hilton, orthopaedic oncology and joint replacement surgeon at Life Vincent Pallotti Hospital in Cape Town. A 5-year-old Angolan patient (her parents wish her to remain anonymous)…

The board of the Johannesburg Property Company (JPC), has placed the CEO of the municipal entity, Helen Botes, on special leave while investigations into a R27 million transaction with the owners of the building is being investigated. This comes after the DA laid criminal charges at the Hillbrow police station with claims that JPC was being used as an ANC cash cow. According to Botes, the building had been occupied by the city’s finance department since 2017. The staff did not stay long in that space but the contractual agreement demanded that the city should reinstate the place upon vacating the building. This resulted in the city having to pay R27m to the owner of the property. The Star understands that the finance department had left the city before the…

AS a young, soccer-mad boy living in rural KwaZulu-Natal, Robert Marawa listened to the commentary of local football derbies on a small FM radio. As a teenager, he spent hours practising his presenting skills on his family’s home video recorder, reading from newspaper clippings his mother had carefully kept for him while he was at boarding school in Hilton. Marawa’s dream was to be a sportscaster who would be beamed into the homes of South Africa’s footballing fans. Marawa’s career has exceeded his wildest imagination. “Madluphuthu” has become arguably South Africa’s most popular and most recognisable sports broadcaster. With his quick turn of phrase, his baritone voice and his direct, no-nonsense approach, he has earned a loyal following on radio and television over the past two decades. In Gqimm Shelele,…

Stellenbosch: Murder Town Two decades of shocking murders Julian Jansen Tafelberg Stellenbosch – the Boland town, world renowned for its superb wines, scenery and beautiful people. Home to university students, successful businessmen and respected professors. But the town has another side – well publicised crimes that rocked the community, country and beyond our borders. The last two decades have seen the front pages of newspapers splashed with the details of the murders of Inge Lotz, Hannah Cornelius, Susan Rohde, the Van Breda family … Jansen’s book includes lesser-known victims, such as Felicity Cilliers, the farmworker whose murder has been forgotten by all but her family. Victims and murderers described come from all walks of life – bringing home that the harsh reality of crime seeps into all facets of society.…

The Russia-Ukraine war is not going to end any time soon, unless both sides stop their foolish thinking to allow sanity to prevail. A stalemate has been reached and it’s futile to continue concentrating on adopting a righteous stand on who is to blame. The Ukrainians believe they will somehow end up defeating Russia, which is not going to happen. Their misguided view is they just need to draw the West further into the conflict. And the West is foolishly engaging in supportive rhetoric and misleading Ukraine as if this will materialise. This is exemplified by the G7’s statement it will continue to back Ukraine to the hilt. As for Russia, President Putin must acknowledge his ambition to conquer Ukraine has gone up in smoke. What all countries must…

FOR two years, South Africans were urged to be patient and sacrifice. We were told to trust in the government as it implemented unprecedented lockdown measures that stripped ordinary citizens of their freedoms and livelihoods. During the pandemic, people were denied their basic right to go out and earn a living, and put food on their families’ tables. We listened to the president, earnestly addressing the nation in “family meetings”, imploring the public to put lives before livelihoods. The people duly complied. They sacrificed, they endured financial hardship. Some suffered the indignity of unemployment and starvation. Such was the trust in the president and his advisers – public officials who, of course, had no lived experience of the plight of the masses at the time. As employees of the state,…

Baghdad: Despite a rocket attack on Baghdad’s Green Zone, Iraqi lawmakers yesterday elected a new president who swiftly named a prime minister in the hope of ending a year of political gridlock and violence in the war-scarred nation. Abdel Latif Rashid, a 78-year-old Iraqi Kurd, was elected as head of state, replacing Barham Saleh, by the assembly in the capital’s heavily fortified Green Zone government and diplomatic district. Rashid won more than 160 votes against 99 for the incumbent Saleh, an assembly official said. The new president swiftly named Shiite politician Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as prime minister-designate, tasking him with reconciling feuding Shiite factions and forming a government a whole year after Iraq last went to the polls. The 52-year-old Sudani, who has the backing of influential pro-Iran factions, vowed…

BEIRUT: The Lebanese parliament on Thursday failed for the second time in a month to elect a new head of state as President Michel Aoun’s term is about to end in about two weeks. House Speaker Nabih Berri announced the postponement of the election to October 20 after the parliament failed to secure a quorum, according to the Lebanese National News Agency. Only 71 out of 128 members of parliament attended Thursday’s session, while 86, or about two-thirds of the parliament, are needed to meet the quorum. Lebanon suffers from a steep financial crisis, and the country is in dire need of a new president. | Xinhua…