Mercury -julkaisun 2021-05-10 -irtonumeron sisällysluettelo

NET1 UEPS TECHNOLOGIES’ share price leapt by more than 12 percent on the JSE on Friday despite the group reporting an operating loss of $14.29 million (about R200.7m) for the third-quarter to end-March, slightly up by 1 percent compared to the same quarter last year. The group is confident about its prospects after a difficult 2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak. However, the South African-focused financial technology company with a presence in Africa and Asia, said the pandemic did not impact its South African operations as severely during the three and nine months to end-March compared to the last four months of the year to end-June 2020. South Africa was moved by the government to adjusted level 1 of the national lockdown after coming out of the second wave of…

Vernon Mchunu vernon.mchunu@inl.co.za AN INTERNAL ANC radical transformation lobby group has called for an urgent review of the step-aside resolution, arguing that the policy was being exploited to destroy former president Jacob Zuma’s perceived allies. The Radical Economic Transformation Champion (RETC) body yesterday said the policy should be reviewed and called for a sitting of the party’s National General Council (NGC) to deal with the issue. The body vowed to lobby “friends from African countries” to form a human shield around the embattled former head of state. The group, comprising 68 of the 111 branches in the province’s biggest region, eThekwini, called on the National Executive Committee (NEC) to lift the suspension of secretary-general Ace Magashule, arguing it was invalid. Supported by interfaith organisations and the ANC Youth League, the…

I WALKED into the supermarket to buy what I still call a pint of milk. Instead of the usual array on the shelf of milk in cardboard cartons here suddenly was an array of milk in plastic bottles. In this day and age when non-biodegradable plastics are polluting our rivers, beaches and oceans, strangling marine life and entering the food chain, could there be anything more gormless? Is it really impossible for us to progress to where we were 50, 60 and 70 years ago – food wrapped in paper or contained in cardboard; liquids contained in cardboard or glass? All of it biodegradable. Feast of rugby Oh, my island in the sun, Sharks and College, they both won … Hey, a rugby double feature last Saturday at the Street…

FAROUK ARAIE | Benoni In RESPONSE to Mr Thillay Naidoo’s comments (The Mercury, May 7), the following are salient facts on the issues that he raised: The partitioning of India for religious reasons was a cardinal and pivotal aspect of the foreign policy of imperial Britain. The cruel aspect of this strategy, and its painful dimensions is today being witnessed in divided Cyprus, partitioned Palestine and the Catholic/Protestant separation in Northern Ireland. While many solely blame Jinnah, the British, the Congress and the Hindu Mahasaba were equally, if not more, complicit. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, India’s Muslims, even those who did not want a separate Muslim state, felt the need to have a greater say in governance. It was one of the reasons why they, almost en…

STAND up men, boys and girls, there’s a woman approaching: Deep within her person, soul, bosom is the power to nurture, inspire, dream and bring beautiful and magnificent dreams and plans to fruition. Listen to her voice. Listen and hear what she is saying and what she is not saying. She has intuition – hindsight, insight, foresight. If you embrace and respect her intuition and allow it to shape and challenge your thinking, you will be wiser for it. You will save yourself considerable conflict, anguish, error, and money. Stand up men, there’s a woman approaching: If you have the guts, backbone, wisdom to offer her unstrained equality, undiluted mutuality, pure respect – all of which God already affords every woman – it is you who will be enriched. It…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za Buffy, the 12-year-old chinchilla cat, not only has a plane named after her, but she also has a “dad” who buys her favourite food in Europe. He even turned to the court to prevent her from spending a few “stressful” days in a cattery. Mark Leathers, a Durban attorney, sees Buffy as the child he and his now former wife never had. So when he got wind that his former wife, Lisa Vissers-Leathers, wanted to take Buffy to a cattery to see how she would cope in the event she had to go away for work, Leathers refused point blank. He turned to the Durban High Court to interdict his former wife from sending the cat to the cattery. But the court struck the matter from the…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za HOUSING projects under construction by the eThekwini Municipality have been flagged for taking too long to complete and for poor workmanship. A recent report by the office of the auditor-general raised concerns about two projects implemented by the city. They were flagged in the A-G’s audit outcome report tabled recently for the 2019-20 financial year. The municipality achieved an unqualified audit opinion with findings. This was a positive audit outcome for the municipality, but it also shows stagnation as the municipality has achieved the same audit outcome for the past three years. In its report, the A-G flagged the housing project at the Kennedy Road Dodoma site where the municipality has built about 45 houses at a cost of R9 million. Also flagged was the Amaoti housing…

CONFIRMATION by the Health Department of the presence in South Africa of new variants from India and the UK is further vindication that the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic is far from over. A statement by the department said that the country had 11 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant discovered in the UK, and four cases of the B.1.617.2 variant found in India. This should not come as a surprise, as the rapid spread of the virus last year was a result of globalisation and the ease of travel. As countries ease their restrictions and travel becomes easier, the virus and its new variants will continue to spread. This will remain a challenge for governments for some time to come and will be compounded if citizens disregard their own safety…

Tensions ran high yesterday in annexed east Jerusalem after hundreds of Palestinians were wounded in a weekend of clashes between protesters and Israeli security forces, sparking global concern that the unrest could spread further. The violence around Jerusalem’s revered Al-Aqsa mosque compound and the Old City, mostly at night, is the worst since 2017, fuelled by a years-long bid by Jewish settlers to take over Palestinian homes in east Jerusalem. The unrest swept parts of the occupied West Bank and a rocket was fired early Sunday from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, with the Israeli army saying it responded with an air strike that struck a Hamas military post. Tunisia’s foreign ministry said it had called for a meeting of the UN Security Council today to discuss the escalating violence…

The head of Ethiopia’s Orthodox Church has said that atrocities amounting to genocide are being committed in Tigray, in his first comments on the conflict in the region that broke out in November and has killed thousands. Abune Mathias, who has been head of the church since 2013, did not say who was responsible for this. He spoke in a video message that was posted on Twitter on Friday by an American religious charity worker. Dennis Wadley, who heads a US-based church group called Bridge of Hope International, said Abune Mathias had asked him to post the video. “He wanted the world to know the truth regarding what was happening in Tigray,” Wadley told Reuters. Fighting erupted in early November in Tigray between federal forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation…

WASHINGTON: The USS Monterey has intercepted a massive shipment of illicit weapons that were being transited through the North Arabian Sea, the Fifth Fleet of the US Navy said. “Thousands of illicit weapons interdicted by guided-missile cruiser @USSMonterey (CG 61) from a stateless dhow in international waters of the North Arabian Sea on May 6-7,” the Fifth Fleet tweeted on Saturday, posting a video showing the weaponry. According to the US Navy, the shipment included Russian-made anti-tank missiles, thousands of Chinese Type 56 assault rifles, PKM machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers.…

Eshlin Vedan eshlin.vedan@inl.co.za A thrilled Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila coach Dylan Kerr hailed his troops for their organized and polished display in their 1-0 Nedbank Cup final win over Chippa United at the Free State Stadium on Saturday night. Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo’s long-range shot in the 27th minute proved to be the only goal of the game as TTM secured their first ever major trophy, which also earns them the right to play in the CAF Confederation Cup next season. “We did make mistakes in the second half which gave them a chance but we defended like heroes. Credit to Mpho Maleka and David Mathebula as they have been brilliant. We’ve got our reward.” The win would have been a relief and confidence booster for TTM who have had a roller-coaster…

Top Olympic official John Coates said on Saturday that while Japanese sentiment turning against the Tokyo Games was a “concern”, he could foresee no scenario under which the sporting showpiece would not go ahead. Questions have been raised about the viability of staging the Games in July and August, with Tokyo in a state of emergency as Japan continues to struggle to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. Coates, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) point man for the Games as chair of the co-ordination commission, said he had no doubt that the Games, already postponed by a year because of the pandemic, would proceed as planned. “Absolutely, it’s going ahead,” Coates told reporters after hosting the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) annual general meeting in Sydney. “The Prime Minister of Japan said that…

NONHLANHLA HLATSHWAYO nozizwe.hlatshwayo@inl.co.za AS THE first woman to be employed as an artisan at the SAPS Eshowe mechanical services department, Constable Thulile Gwala believes women can tackle any career if they work at it. After matric, Gwala enrolled to study electrical engineering. Once qualified she was hired by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa, where she worked on trains, tracing faults and installing cables. When the contract ended, she moved to eThekwini Municipality where she was introduced to the world of mechanics. “I was part of an apprenticeship programme. At that time I knew nothing about mechanics, but as the course progressed I topped the class and was helping others who were supposed to have an advantage due to having studied mechanical engineering. “During my time at eThekwini Municipality…

Vernon Mchunu vernon.mchunu@inl.co.za PRINCE Mangosuthu Buthelezi has dismissed as a “knee-jerk reaction” the KwaZulu-Natal ANC’s suggestion that he, as the traditional prime minister to the Zulu Monarchy, had acted without information when he expressed concerns around the security of newly appointed King Misuzulu kaZwelithini. “(The ANC) have accused me of acting without information, and even suggest a political agenda. This is an extraordinary accusation, creating a political confrontation where none existed,” said Buthelezi, who had earlier raised concerns at what he described as the imminent withdrawal of an SAPS VIP security detail from the KwaKhangelamankengane Palace. Buthelezi said his statement (on security concerns) was made in accordance with his responsibility to His Majesty the King, adding it would have been a grave dereliction of duty had he not raised this…

MOHAMED SAEED | Pietermaritzburg THE brutal, inhuman, illegal and unacceptable crimes against humanity that is currently being waged against Palestinians, the indigenous people of the land, need to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. The disgusting scenes of settler and police violence in Sheikh Jarrah and other parts of Palestine are nothing new. The Palestinians have been subjected to this brutal violence of displacement and dominance, even before Israel declared its illegal independence on the Palestinian homeland. And, evidently, it still continues, relentless to this day. The Palestinian good fight for freedom, human dignity and human rights against a brutal regime is a just and moral right. Global leaders need to stop using hollow language such as “clashes” or “deep concern”, or “evictions” or “de-escalate tensions” to…

JEAN MICHEL BOUVIER | Bryanston GERMANY has started to vaccinate just over 1 million people per day, and we have managed to vaccinate after four months just over 300 000 people. Even Zimbabwe and Sierra Leone have done better and we are the number 34 country in Africa. And although a new batch of vaccines arrived on May 3 we have to wait up to May 17 to start vaccination. Why? Are we so incompetent? And why does the government want to be the only authority for the purchasing and distribution of vaccines? I guess for their connected cadres to score millions again. Why don’t they give their cadres the task of plugging the potholes and begging the private sector to help them? I guess there is no…

TONY CLUCAS | Howick I READ the article (The Mercury, May 6) with a sense of disbelief. Mr Thando Mgaga said that “although the municipality was committed to repairing the roads, they were hamstrung by financial constraints”. My wife purchased a property in Howick and we took occupation on May 30, 2019. From that day on, I wrote to the uMngeni Municipality every month asking for a rates assessment. In May, 2020 I received a reply which stated, “I have forwarded your complaint to my bosses and await their reply”. In June I received a copy of an email signed by the rates officer which read, inter alia, “Kindly add on the next batch”. This reflected a great sense of urgency! I continued to write to the…

Avian flu cases have been identified in Gauteng, and in the North West and Western Cape this past week. Department of Agriculture spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo said the outbreaks seemed to have been caused by non-identical strains. “Everyone across the country is urged to treat any increase in mortalities (deaths) of poultry and other bird species as potential avian flu until proven otherwise. “All increases in mortality rates must be reported to the state veterinarian in that area or the relevant provincial director immediately.” In the Western Cape, poultry farmers in Worcester have been urged to be vigilant after the identification of HPAI H5N1 or avian influenza, on a broiler breeder farm in the area. Western Cape Agriculture MEC Ivan Meyer said the affected farm was under quarantine, and culling of…

Chulumanco Mahamba chulumanco.mahamba@inl.co.za THE family of the Gauteng pupil who was allegedly hit, sprayed with sanitiser and called the k-word by a teacher have vowed to get justice. The Afrikaans teacher at Northriding Secondary School was suspended on Thursday following an alleged racist incident in which she allegedly hit a Grade 8 pupil and called other pupils “baboons, drug dealers and k*****s”. Education Department spokesperson Steve Mabona told the media at the school on Friday that initial investigations indicated that an altercation over noise occurred on Thursday morning between a Grade 8 pupil and a teacher. “The educator is alleged to have sprayed the learner with sanitiser after he left the classroom to report the matter to another teacher in the neighbouring class. It is alleged that the accused educator…

| Chevon Booysen THIRTEEN Struisbaai, Western Cape families are set to return to their homes this week after being evacuated because of flooding in the Cape Agulhas Municipality. The region suffered devastating floods after torrential rains last week, resulting in about 57 families being sheltered in community halls and chalets, or at municipal caravan parks. Municipal manager Eben Phillips said they were grateful for the goodwill of Samaritans who had donated food and other emergency supplies. “In some instances, especially at informal settlements, we had issues where people would not leave their homes as they were scared they’d lose their belongings. In those instances, we aided with relief efforts, issuing blankets, mattresses and food parcels. “At the weekend, a number of families who had been evacuated from their…

Baldwin Ndaba and Zintle Mahlati THE ANC under President Cyril Ramaphosa faces a major backlash for its decision to suspend secretary-general Ace Magashule. Magashule was served with a suspension letter on Monday last week, following charges of fraud and corruption having been laid against him in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court in November last year. In March this year, the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC)urged all those senior members charged with criminal offences or corruption to step aside or face suspension. The party gave all implicated individuals 30 days to step aside, but Magashule and ANC MP and former State Security Minister Bongani Bongo failed to comply with the order. The two were served with suspension letters on Monday last week. Two days later, Magashule also served ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa…

Mushtak Parker IT IS just as well President Cyril Ramaphosa did not issue the customary May Day message marking International Labour Day on May 1 – a day when workers of the world unite and commemorate the world of work! Instead, he left it to his Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi to roll call the “meaningful changes to the lives of workers” in employment conditions, protections and rights during the ANC’s 27-year rule. Never mind that his Troika of Ministers – Tito Mboweni at the Treasury, Senzo Mchunu at Public Service and Administration and Nxesi – are collectively embroiled in a battle of nerves in the latest negotiations with unions representing over 1.2 million state employees. The Treasury proposed a three-year wage freeze. Unions want an inflation-proof 7.1%…

British and Scottish politicians yesterday played down the risk of a legal battle over whether Scotland can hold an independence referendum, but provided little clarity as to how London and Edinburgh would resolve their differences on the issue. Pro-independence parties won a majority in the Scottish parliament in elections held on Thursday, and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said this gave her a mandate to push ahead with plans for a new vote on independence once the Covid-19 pandemic is over. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Conservative Party, which is in opposition in Scotland, strongly oppose a referendum, saying the issue was settled in 2014. With speculation mounting that the British government would go to court to stop a referendum, senior minister Michael Gove was asked during TV interviews…

WASHINGTON: Former US President Barack Obama’s family dog Bo, a male Portuguese Water Dog with a mop of blackband white fur who became a familiar playful sight around the White House, has died. Obama announced the death late on Saturday, saying the dog had been “a constant, gentle presence in our lives – happy to see us on our good days, our bad days and everyday in between”. “We will miss him dearly,” he said on Twitter. His wife Michelle said in a tweet that Bo, 12, had been suffering from cancer.…

Riyadh: The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Saudi Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque has recently released pictures of the Islamic relic known as the Black Stone, The Times of Israel reported. Set in a corner of the Kaaba, the ancient building located within the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the Black Stone is usually accessible to Muslim worshippers during the annual pilgrimage known as the Hajj. With only those vaccinated against Covid-19 being allowed to perform prayers at the Kaaba, the General Presidency has released the Black Stone’s photos “as part of a series showing a number of holy artefacts that play a role in the Hajj”, the newspaper added.…

Mike Greenaway At the end of Saturday’s Rainbow Cup South Africa match between the Sharks and Lions at Jonsson Kings Park, the home team were unbeaten after two rounds of the competition and the visitors winless, yet the 34-26 margin between the sides was not massive. It was why Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen said he was “hurt” by the loss while his opposite number, Sean Everitt, was not sure whether to laugh or cry. The last time these two teams had met in Durban, a few months back in the Currie Cup, the scenario was very similar — the Sharks rattled up an imposing early lead, with the signs there of a big hiding looming for the Lions, only for the Sharks to lose their way and the Lions…

Manchester United recovered to beat Aston Villa 3-1 away in the Premier League yesterday as Bruno Fernandes, Mason Greenwood and Edinson Cavani scored in the second half to put on hold the title celebrations of champions-elect Manchester City. The result left United second on 70 points from 34 games, 10 behind City who have played a game more and missed a chance to secure the title on Saturday after they suffered a 2-1 home defeat by Chelsea. It also stretched United's unbeaten away league run to 25 games but came at a cost as manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer revealed captain Harry Maguire may be ruled out of the Europa League final against Spanish side Villarreal on 26 May. "It might be a few weeks or a month, we don't know,"…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za JSE-listed Orion Minerals has obtained an urgent interdict from the Northern Cape High Court in Kimberley to prevent disruption at its Prieska copper-zinc mine following several violent protests, the company said on Friday. Orion approached the court after gun-wielding protesters demanded that the company appoint a specific contractor, which failed to win a competitive bid for a construction management contract adjudicated by Orion in a fair and commercial manner. Chief executive Errol Smart said on Friday that the company respected the constitutional right to protest but this did not extend to armed threats and the possibility of behaviour that would put lives as well as livelihoods at risk. “These protests are ill-conceived and self-defeating: they will not create more local jobs or opportunities, rather the protesters will…

Karen Singh karen.singh@inl.co.za | Additional reporting AFP EXPERTS have warned that the increase in Covid-19 cases in the country is a concern and if the spread is not contained, a third wave – worse than the last one – is likely to occur. The experts, however, said the new variants detected in South Africa were not driving the surge. This comes after Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize confirmed that Covid-19 variants dominant in India and the UK had been detected in South Africa. Mkhize said of the 11 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant first detected in the UK, eight were detected in the Western Cape, with two having a history of travel from Bahrain, one was detected in KwaZulu-Natal and two in Gauteng. He said of the four cases of…

Live concerts are on the menu for home delivery, as musicians and audiences seek to satisfy their appetite for human interaction. As the sun set in Piedmont, California, about 20 masked revellers gathered on the back porch of a home. Lit up by a few stage lights, a nearby fire and hanging garden bulbs, singer-songwriter Steve Poltz strolled in, guitar in hand, happy to be performing live again. “Just being able to interact with folks feels so good again, because I know I needed it and I know other people needed it after being quarantined so long,” said the musician. With concert venues largely shuttered over the past year, San Francisco-based concert promoter KC Turner and musician friend Megan Slankard came up with a way to bring live music directly…

EBRAHIM ‘EBKOYBIE’ ESSA | Durban IS TECHNOLOGY – the internet, cellphones, computers and social media – actually destroying individualism in today’s children? When none of these modern devices were around, our kids came from different families, different backgrounds, different areas. Most of these households were interconnected to a small degree, depending on whether they were apartments, sets of economic houses or separate cottages. The main meeting point for children was school. And since pupils were coming from, quite often, completely different backgrounds, they learnt a little to copy words, mannerisms, even some skills from their peers. They obviously must have learnt also to mimic and emulate their parents. Otherwise, they had no other recourse to fire up their imaginations, except by reading and listening to stories that mommy…

PAKS PAKIRIY | Durban North THE ANC’s new step-aside rule is causing some waves in its membership. Ace Magashule, the suspended secretary-general, is also causing all kinds of machinations. Magashule’s reputation has far exceeded him. The once mighty premier of the Free State allegedly doled out largesse to all his family and friends when he ran the province. Now that he is facing corruption charges, he is lashing out at all and sundry. Magashule is also believed to have been the frontman for the Guptas … after all the Guptas found a loyal friend in him. The Free State was the Guptas’ launching pad for greater things to come. Magashule should see his day in court as it will allow him to answer to the fraud charges. His…

| Reuters A pair of boxing gloves worn by Nelson Mandela at the height of the anti-apartheid Struggle lie under a thick layer of dust in a darkened room, the silence broken only by the thud of moths nose-diving on to the glass display case. The gloves were once one of the most popular exhibits at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, one of dozens of heritage attractions and art galleries around the country forced to close their doors due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. “We had to let go of all of the staff. About 30 people. There’s no one here to turn the lights on and off,” said the museum’s director, Christopher Till. He used his cellphone as a torch to show some of the hundreds of…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za THE Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) is heading to court to apply for an interdict to prevent students from conducting violent protests. In a statement yesterday, the institution said this was being done to protect the university’s property. The application comes after students allegedly locked the university gates, preventing staff from entering the premises. It is alleged that a group of dissatisfied students from the Students’ Representatives Council (SRC), led by the EFF Student Command, locked the gates on Friday morning and demanded an urgent resolution regarding the issues affecting students. On Thursday, the SRC proposed that students be allowed to acquire laptops through the MUT-managed scheme meant for cash-paying students, said the university. This scheme uses a special Covid-19 Responsiveness Grant (CRG) made available by the…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo and Vernon Mchunu ANELE “Nelli” Tembe’s father, Moses Tembe, says last month was the most difficult time of his life after the death of his daughter, who allegedly jumped to her death off a Cape Town hotel’s 10th floor. Moses Tembe was commenting yesterday after his daughter’s fiancé AKA, whose real name is Kiernan Jarryd Forbes, broke his silence in a statement issued at the weekend in which he denied being investigated by the police in connection with her death. Tembe said he had decided not to get involved in the ongoing “investigations and legal issues”, but was aware there had been many “issues between my daughter and this guy”. “As a father, who is also a traditionalist, I would refrain from getting involved in issues involving a…

The news of uNdlunkulu Sibongile MaDlamini Zulu (the queen) filling an urgent application for her status as the first wife of the departed King Goodwill Zwelithini KaBhekuthulu to be clarified has stimulated a lot of interest. First, some are eager to find out about the status of the uZulu, and second, others are anxious about the status of customary marriages (their own marriages, in particular). For these reasons, it is fitting to provide some opinion on the possible legal outcome in the matter. The queen and then Prince Zweli- thini KaBhekuzulu were married in 1969 – a civil marriage. Such a marriage did not (and does not) permit polygamy – they are monogamous. During this time, customary marriages were looked down on – as “unions” and not marriages. In short,…

Dozens of young girls were buried yesterday on a desolate hilltop cemetery in Kabul, a day after a secondary school was targeted in the bloodiest attack in Afghanistan in over a year. A series of blasts outside the school during a peak holiday shopping period claimed more than 50 people’s lives, mostly female pupils, and wounded more than 100 in Dasht-e-Barchi, a west Kabulsuburb populated mostly by Hazara Shiites. The government blamed the Taliban for the carnage, but the insurgents denied responsibility and issued a statement saying the nation needed to “safeguard and look after educational centres and institutions”. Saturday’s blasts came as the US military continues to pull out its last 2 500 troops from the violence-racked country despite faltering peace efforts between the Taliban and Kabul to…

A leading Iraqi anti-government activist was killed early yesterday, security sources and activists said, sending supporters of a protest movement on to the streets to demand an end to bloodshed. Ihab al-Wazni, a co-ordinator of protests in the Shia shrine city of Karbala, was a vocal opponent of corruption, the stranglehold of Tehran-linked armed groups and Iran’s influence in Iraq. He was shot overnight outside his home by men on motorbikes, in an ambush caught on surveillance cameras. His death was confirmed by security forces and activists. Wazni narrowly escaped death in December 2019, when men on motorbikes used silenced weapons to kill fellow activist Fahem al-Tai as he was dropping him off at home in Karbala, where pro-Tehran armed groups are legion. Both were key figures in a national…

LONDON: Queen Elizabeth’s cousin, Prince Michael of Kent, 78, has been caught offering investors access to the Kremlin in exchange for personal gain, according to a Sunday Times and Channel 4 investigation. The embarassing claims come at a time of disastrous relations between London and Moscow. Prince Michael told undercover reporters posing as investors from South Korea in a virtual meeting that for £10 000 (R196 517) a day he could make “confidential” representations to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s entourage. He could also give the company a royal endorsement in a recorded speech for $200 000, with his Kensington Palace home as a backdrop. In a recorded meeting with the undercover reporters, his business partner Lord Reading called the prince “Her Majesty’s unofficial ambassador to Russia … we wouldn’t…

DAMASCUS: A fire erupted at a major oil refinery in war-torn Syria due to a leak, the country’s state news agency Sana reported yesterday. The blaze took place at a distillation unit as a result of a pump leak in the Homs oil refinery in central Syria, dpa news agency quoted the Sana report as saying. The agency carried images of smoke billowing from the facility as firefighters were trying to put out the blaze. Sana, citing a local firefighting official, reported that the blaze was later brought under control without causing casualties. The cooling process was under way.…

Zaahier Adams TS Galaxy 0 Mamelodi Sundowns 1 (Shalulile 17) Peter Shalulile's 11th goal of the season enabled Mamelodi Sundowns to take one step closer to retaining their league crown yesterday at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit. The defending champions, who are aiming for their fourth straight championship, have stretched their lead to seven points with their 1-0 victory over TS Galaxy. The Brazilians now require just two more victories from the final four games of the season to secure the title. The home side were well aware of the danger Sundowns posed in attack, particularly the central figure of their former teammate Shalulile, who has been in superb form since transferring to Chloorkop at the beginning of the season. Promise Mkhuma delivered a scorching ball into the box…