Tabla de contenidos para 2021-06-22 en Star

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za DENEL has told its staff it would be unable once again to pay their salaries, this time for June, as its liquidity position remained dire on competing priorities and declining sales. The state-owned arms manufacturer told its workers last weekend that it did not have sufficient cash with various plans that had been undertaken slowly taking shape but yet to improve sales and the cash inflows. It said it anticipated positive results in the next three to six months. ”However, at this stage, we do not have sufficient cash in our coffers and we do not foresee being able to honour our financial obligations for the month of June,“ Denel said. ”Unfortunately, this includes employee salaries, related statutory and third party payments.” Various divisions of the SOE…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za SOUTH Africa’s vaccine roll-out programme yesterday received a boost as the country moved to take control of the local production of Covid-19 vaccines. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the country would establish the first messenger RNA (mRNA) technology transfer hub for Covid-19 vaccines. Ramaphosa said the hub would be established in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the government of France. mRNA vaccines represent a promising alternative to conventional vaccine because of their high potency, their capacity for rapid development, and their potential for low-cost manufacture and safe administration. However, the local technology hub could take up to nine months before it could produce its first doses of the life-saving vaccines. Ramaphosa said the ability to manufacture vaccines, medicines and other health-related commodities would help…

Chrissy Teigen has broken her silence on the allegations of bullying made by fashion designer Michael Costello, as her representatives insist she “will not stand for anyone spreading false accusations” about her. Costello recently claimed that Teigen tried to blacklist him from the fashion community, and shared screenshots of DMs that he alleged were from her, although her team have insisted they were photoshopped. And on Friday, Teigen took to Twitter to address the allegations, as well as share a lengthy statement from her representatives. Her tweet read: “No idea what the f*** michael costello is doing. He just released a statement where he didn’t at ALL acknowledge how fake the dm’s were, & now claims to have emails that don’t exist. So while he conjures those up (hopefully with…

DIE BYL S3 KYKNET, DSTV CHANNEL 144, 8PM Detective Piet van der Bijl – aka Byl – thinks he is 1 step ahead of his arch enemy, Adriaan, only for his worst nightmare to come true when 1 of his team members is kidnapped. Captain Juan Stuurman proposes to his forensic scientist girlfriend, Shani van Rooi, when he is finally cleared from murder charges, and Byl realise that the little girl he rescued from child abuse is also in danger from Adriaan, who keeps injecting himself in Byl’s life LAW OF THE HEART TELEMUNDO, DSTV CHANNEL 118, 9PM Julia ends her relationship with Camilo, much to Camilo’s shock. Meanwhile, Pilar and Elias talk about their clients’ divorce process.…

Court dismisses bid for stay of prosecution Bongani Nkosi bongani.nkosi@inl.co.za RETIRED policeman João Roderigues has failed to convince the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) that the political interference that put the brakes on the prosecution of apartheid-era crimes amounted to an amnesty. In his major judgment yesterday, Judge Aubrey Ledwaba made some scathing remarks against the government’s earlier policy position not to prosecute apartheid culprits who did not apply for amnesty at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). But there was not enough evidence to prove that the interference, which happened during former president Thabo Mbeki’s tenure, amounted to a lawful pardon, found Judge Ledwaba. Roderigues, charged over the 1971 death of anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Timol, made a startling claim in his SCA application that he had actually been…

Tarryn-Leigh Solomons tarryn-leigh.solomons@iinl.co.za MORE details on the 51% SAA sale to the Takatso consortium will released once the due diligence process had been finalised, says the Department of Public Enterprises. Two weeks ago Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan announced that the consortium would acquire a 51% stake in SAA while government would keep a 49% shareholding. Gordhan said Takatso would inject more than R3 billion into the deal. This came after SAA has been in rescue since December 2019 and business rescue practitioners ended the process two months ago. Independent Media attempted to glean more information about the finalisation process, but department spokesperson Richard Mantu said: “We are still in the due diligence process. Once that process is finalised we will communicate to the public.” He was unable to provide…

TODAY’S world is full of rapid changes. Also, things are not yet where we want them to be, but if we as youth of 2021 understand that we are today, tomorrow and the future, we will learn from those in 1976, specially their courage to fight for change. As young people, we need the right mix of skills to succeed. Access to information is increasing, and memorising facts is less important today than in the past. Although academic skills remain important, they are not sufficient to foster thoughtful, productive and engaged citizens. Young people everywhere need to develop a greater breadth of skills to evaluate and apply knowledge in ways that meet the new demands of our changing social and economic landscape. Education is the most important asset we acquire.…

KEDIBONE MODISE CHART-topping, platinum-selling vocalist Amanda Black is gearing up for the release of her most anticipated third album, Mnyama. Despite the challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic presented, she said the period gave her an opportunity to reflect on her craft, which led to the production of her latest offering. “The album is an account of my thought process and state of mind during 2020, going through a break-up and a pandemic at the same time. “I really was feeling confused and helpless, the song is me allowing myself the vulnerability to accept I’m not okay and that’s okay,” said the multi award-winning singer. “I’m hoping people will relate and be kinder to themselves, and allow themselves to be honest and vulnerable, it’s a tough time for everybody and…

Alice Muller THE public sector accountability value chain includes many assurance providers and oversight structures that are well placed to realise the benefits of combined assurance. In the public sector, the focus of combined assurance is the co-ordination of the assurance activities of all assurance providers by those charged with governance. The role-players in combined assurance and oversight include mayors, municipal councils, municipal managers, municipal public accounts committees, public accounts committees, portfolio committees, audit committees, internal audit and external audit. The role of accounting officers and authorities in combined assurance is critical, as it establishes an appropriate control environment and then supports the combined assurance model where assurance activities can be co-ordinated. The responsibilities of accounting officers and authorities are outlined in the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), the…

In 1992, Australia and New Zealand played the Springboks in their first two post-isolation Tests and both the Aussies and Kiwis were incredulous at how arrogant South Africans were prior to the matches. Despite the fact that this country had been in isolation for a long time, South Africans thought the Boks were incapable of losing rugby matches, and this was based on the strength of the Currie Cup. Our fans were rendered speechless when the Boks were humiliated 26-3 by the Wallabies at Newlands, and that year the Boks would be outclassed in four of the five Tests they played. It was evident in 1992 that the South African rugby had fallen behind the rest of the world while in the wilderness and we were not nearly as good…

HERMAN GIBBS The South African football fraternity can brace itself for the mother of all stand-offs! After an uneventful start to the contentious PSL promotion/relegation play-offs on Saturday, mutinous GladAfrica Championship club Royal AM are scheduled to open their four-match programme when they go up against Premiership outfit Chippa United at Chatsworth Stadium in Durban today. However, numerous media reports yesterday informed that Royal AM official Sinky Mnisi has said in no uncertain terms that his team will not honour the fixture. Last week Royal AM obtained a court interdict to halt the play-offs, which finally, after two attempts, started on Saturday when Chippa hosted Richards Bay in the opener at Nelson Bay Stadium. Royal AM were highly infuriated that the PSL ignored the interdict and proceeded with the…

Georginio Wijnaldum scored a second-half double as the Netherlands beat North Macedonia 3-0 to keep their perfect record on their way to the Euro 2020 knockout stages yesterday. The Netherlands had already sealed top spot in Group C after beating the Ukraine and Austria, and they will play their last-16 game in Budapest on Sunday against one of the best third-placed finishers from Groups D, E or F. North Macedonia, who were out of contention for the last 16 after back-to-back defeats, made a much-improved start as Ivan Trickovski's early strike was ruled out for offside before Aleksandar Trajkovski smacked the post from 20 yards. But Igor Angelovski's side were soon caught out by a stunning Dutch counterattack when PSV Eindhoven forward Donyell Malen charged upfield to set up Memphis…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za NASPERS’S profits surged during the year ended March 2021 despite the economic fallout due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The JSE-listed company said group revenue grew 32 percent to $29.6 billion (R424bn) and was driven by e-commerce revenues and Chinese tech giant, Tencent, which grew 28 percent year on year. Group trading profit increased to $5.6bn. The group said aggregated trading losses in its e-commerce segments reduced by 49 percent or $384million to $439m. Trading profit of the profitable e-commerce businesses grew by 49 percent to $450m. Tencent’s contribution to the group’s trading profit improved 29 percent. Core headline earnings were $3.5bn, up 15 percent, driven by improved profitability from the e-commerce units and the growing contribution from Tencent. Group…

Kedibone Modise kedibone.modise@inl.co.za SOUTH African actress Thuso Mbedu’s performance in The Underground Railroad has earned her the Best TV Performance nomination at this year’s Dorian Awards. The KwaZulu-Natal born star has also been nominated for Outstanding Actress in a TV Movie or Limited Series for Black Reel TV Awards. She will be going head to head with Nicole Beharie, Michaela Coel, Cynthia Erivo and Tessa Thompson. The Underground Railroad, with Mbedu as the lead, Corah Randall, is also nominated for Outstanding TV Movie or Limited Series in this year’s Black Reel TV Awards. The winners for the Black Reel Awards will be announced on August 15; the winners of the Dorian awards will be revealed on August 29. Directed by Academy Award-winner Barry Jenkins, The Underground Railroad is a fictional…

Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za THE Department of Health has defended the R83 million a year spend on Cuban medical brigades that have been in the country since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic last year. In a written response to Parliamentary questions, acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said the 119-strong brigade has specialised expertise that was limited in the country. DA MPs asked various ministers whether their departments had concluded any work exchange and or employment agreements with Cuba from 2010-11 to date. They requested details on the work that each of the Cuban nationals performed and the total cost of employment, among other things. Kubayi-Ngubane said the department signed a government-to-government agreement that included work exchange and/or employment agreements with Cuba. She said the group of Cuban medical doctors was…

Zintle Mahlati zintle.mahlati@inl.co.za ACTIONSA says it plans to take the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to court over possible unconstitutional fund-raising of donor funding towards the Multi-Party Democracy Fund – which falls under the newly enacted Political Funding Act. The party said it would possibly launch a court application before the local government elections in October. The Political Funding Act came into effect in April. It allows for the creation of two funds that will see monies donated being disbursed to represented parties. One of them is the Multi-Party Democracy Fund (MPDF) which ActionSA is contesting. The party, because it is yet to hold any legislative seat, will not benefit from any of the funding disbursed by the IEC. The IEC said the MPDF was meant to attract donors…

Gabriel Crouse | Head of campaigns at the Institute of Race Relations POLLING shows that most South Africans do not believe that soft, apartheid-style, race-based policy such as BEE is the best way to improve their lives. Most people believe that more jobs and better education rather than more BEE – best described as “blatant elite enrichment” – is the answer. If South Africa is to address widespread poverty and deficiencies in critical areas such as education – which deepen rather than relieve disadvantage in society – it must jettison BEE and scrap race as a proxy for disadvantage, and adopt more effective measures that address the actual problems holding millions of South Africans back. Polling conducted show racism is not the problem and most South Africans have…

ETHIOPIA is holding parliamentary elections at a time of immense domestic turmoil and foreign pressure. This is due to the Tigray conflict, the Covid-19 pandemic and other ethnic-based violence. Ethiopia has always been a complex and volatile country, but the confluence of the pressures this year is unique, and dangerous. It also raises the question about whether the elections can be productive or, to use the standard phrase, “free and fair”. The elections, originally scheduled for May last year, were delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which, according to the government, made it necessary to declare a state of emergency. The issue of whether to hold elections was confounded by the Tigray conflict, which erupted in November last year. In addition, there were ethnic-based killings elsewhere. While there are major…

Alyssa Scott has marked Father’s Day by confirming she’s expecting a baby with Nick Cannon. The model recently sparked speculation the Masked Singer host was the father of her unborn child with a now-deleted pregnancy photo, saying she planned to name her son Zen S. Cannon and Scott marked Father’s Day by sharing a photo of them together, with the topless presenter cradling her bump at the beach. Nick, 40, was facing away from the camera, but his identity was clear from his tattoos. The baby will be Nick’s fourth in just six months – he and Brittany Bell welcomed daughter Powerful Queen in December, and Abby De La Rosa gave birth to his twins Zyon and Zillion on June 14. Nick also has son Golden, 4, with Brittany, and…

USAIN Bolt and his partner Kasi Bennett have welcomed twins, Saint Leo Bolt and Thunder Bolt, into the world as a sibling for their 13-month-old daughter Olympia Lightning Bolt. The Olympic legend, 34, took to Instagram on Father’s Day to share a picture of his newborns alongside their sister with their names accompanied by lightning bolt emojis. The couple are yet to reveal when their little ones were born, but Kasi, also shared a number of snaps from their photoshoot, and paid tribute to the sprinter as “the rock of this family”. She posted: “Happy Father’s Day to my forever love! @usainbolt” Last month, model Kasi, 31, wished her daughter Olympia a happy first birthday, and shared a montage video of her first pregnancy. Jamaican sprinting icon Bolt still…

TARRYN-LEIGH SOLOMONS THE ANC has dismissed claims that its staff audit is an effort to sniff out ghost workers. The party’s general manager, Fébé Potgieter, yesterday indicated that the party was in the process of completing its fourth audit. The audit process is done every seven to 10 years. ANC staff had until yesterday to submit their job titles to Luthuli House. The process for the submission of the current titles started in 2019 but was disrupted by Covid-19. “We don’t believe we have ghost workers. “The staff audit is done every seven to 10 years because that’s around the time that we tend to look at if there’s a need in adapting our organisational structure. Over the last 27 years, we’ve done three staff audits so this will…

From Page 1 “They arrived at the scene and they saw that a mini-sub burnt. They confirmed that it will take a week to fix, but there was a group that was led by the former councillor that wanted to render the ward ungovernable.” Sesedinyane said his woes were made worse when some community members stormed an ANC meeting where he was re-elected as a candidate for the branch’s leadership. Police had to fire tear gas to disperse an unruly crowd that was baying for the councillor’s blood. “They vandalised my house and they stoned my car, and today they came and disrupted a meeting of the ANC. There was enough security and the majority of them were not members of the ANC, and some people were confusing these elections…

Thabile Mange | Johannesburg IT IS an open secret that the ANC will be in power for the next 10 years or so. The opposition parties pose no threat to the governing party. The threat that the governing party is facing is the ANC itself. It has already started tearing itself apart. That said, the ANC in government handles billions, if not trillions, of the state coffers. It needs excellent financial management skills to manage such a lot of money. Is the governing party managing or mismanaging the financial resource of the country? There is no easy answer. Right now the country is bleeding. The economy is down and unemployment is high. And poverty levels have risen. Additionally, there are also water and electricity challenges throughout the country.…

ILYA ROGACHEV The term “vaccine diplomacy” was introduced by the Western mainstream media last year, when the first Covid-19 vaccines emerged. In the majority of cases, “vaccine diplomacy’ means using the factor of vaccine availability by a country which develops a vaccine to gain certain political advantages while dealing with the countries which do not have their own vaccines. Against this background, one might come to think that “vaccine diplomacy” is some sort of political blackmail. But agreements to purchase the vaccines are no different from the agreements on buying any other goods. Yet there is a whole special term for them – “vaccine diplomacy”. Why? We believe that this term is a reflection of a certain mentality that tends to politicise any global issue and see it as…

THE government’s inclusion of the SANDF in the fight against rising Covid-19 infections was welcomed. Yesterday the Gauteng provincial government welcomed personnel from the SA Military Health Services to help in the vaccination processes under way in the province and country. Last year, there was nationwide military deployment when the lockdown was first implemented in March. Soldiers helped in manning interprovincial roadblocks and patrolled the streets to ensure compliance, but their deployment was marred by violence, with soldiers blamed for their heavy-handedness. The military, which is yet to be vaccinated in a government programme aimed at front-line workers, will assist with mass Covid-19 screening and testing, as well as contact tracing. We implore the government to spare resources at its disposal to deal with the pandemic that has claimed so…

Eshlin Vedan eshlin.vedan@inl.co.za Maritzburg United chairman Farouk Kadodia has indicated that he may be open to selling the club’s Premiership status. “I’m trying to follow a short-term process to see if I can either procure an equity partner or a sponsor. If I fail at that, I will have no option but to become more receptive to a potential buyer,” Kadodia told Independent Media. The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a major financial toll on football clubs throughout the world with the impact being even more severe on mid-table clubs such as Maritzburg United as they do not have the same access to funding and sponsorship compared to the traditional giants of the game. The situation of Maritzburg means it is likely that the club’s star players Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Thabiso…