Mercury -julkaisun 2022-04-04 -irtonumeron sisällysluettelo

A MODERNISATION programme, administration improvements and efficiency gains boost tax revenue by 25 percent, buoyed by personal income tax, VAT and company tax. The SA Revenue Service (Sars) has vowed to further strengthen tax administration after preventing nearly R210 billion revenue leakage in the 2021/22 financial year. Sars Commissioner Edward Kieswetter said on Friday the efficacy of the taxman’s administrative efforts had resulted in additional tax revenues being collected which prevented revenue leakages from impermissible transactions. Kieswetter said that these efforts contributed R209.7bn for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2022, including R137.5bn of additional revenue and preventing impermissible refunds and leakages worth R72.2bn from leaving the National Revenue Fund. “Our increased focus on revenue collection efforts is yielding pleasing results. This year I can report that just…

INFORMAL traders are calling on easing of red tape in government programmes as the Auditor-General on Friday told Par- liament there had only been a 10 percent uptake of a R175 million fund meant to provide relief to spaza shop owners. Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Small Business Development were told by Senior Manager for Small Business Aphendule Mantinyane that only about R17m of the fund meant to provide relief to spaza shop owners had been taken up while another development fund was farmed out to Nedbank as informal traders showed lacklustre interest. “We need to increase the footprint for these funds because there is very low uptake. The debt relief programme could not assist all applicants and it was then transferred to Nedbank for management purposes,” Mantinyane…

THERE was a “noticeable” increase in optimism about the future strengthening in sales activity in all three property classes, industrial, offices and retail, during the first three months of 2022, the latest FNB Property Broker Survey showed. “The respondents are most optimistic about industrial property market activity’s direction in the near term, returning a positive reading to the tune of +38.46 points,” FNB Commercial Property Finance Property Sector strategist John Loos said on Friday. Commercial property brokers in and around the six major metros were surveyed – the broker respondents all deal in owner-serviced properties and some in the developer or investor markets as well and in the listed sector. Loos said the improvement in optimism in all three property classes was in spite of interest rate hiking…

Residents urged to have their say as water and electricity bills set to go up ETHEKWINI residents can expect to pay more for water and electricity in the coming financial year, based on the metro’s new draft budget tabled last week. The draft budget for the 2022/23 financial year is estimated to be R54 billion. It is now available for public comment and is set to come into effect in July, once it has been approved. In drafting the budget, the metro said it had considered that many residents are struggling financially, thus its increases are less than in previous years. It said some of the increases are less than what it was charged by suppliers, such as Eskom. It said the 2022/23 consolidated draft budget is geared to drive…

A batch of dome-shaped ice volcanoes that look unlike anything else known in our solar system and may still be active have been identified on Pluto using data from Nasa’s New Horizons spacecraft, showing that this remote frigid world is more dynamic than previously known. Scientists said these cryovolcanoes – numbering perhaps 10 or more – stand anywhere from six-tenths of a 1km to 7km tall. Unlike Earth volcanoes that spew gases and molten rock, this dwarf planet’s cryovolcanoes extrude large amounts of ice – apparently frozen water rather than some other frozen material – that may have the consistency of toothpaste. “Finding these features indicates that Pluto is more active, or geologically alive, than previously thought,” said planetary scientist Kelsi Singer of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado,…

It’s pathetic and disheartening what is happening in Zimbabwe – the way it is being led by the Zanu PF government. It is high time that the government understands that casting a vote is an individual’s choice and liberty, which is influenced by the candidate's empathy, identity, ideology, performance, ethnicity, and how responsible and accountable they are. Zimbabwean citizens require leaders who do not encourage and promote a divide and rule attitude among the citizens, inciting physical violence, all types of human rights abuses and violations. They deserve leaders who will embrace everyone and respect their choices by truly understanding exactly what prompts a voter to cast his/her ballot in favour of a particular candidate. Some desperate leaders are busy attempting to influence the voting choices of the deserted and…

Families can be confusing networks, routinely placing its members into double binds. If your family says: • They want you to discover and use your talents but when these gifts lead you into uncharted territory you are met with raised eyebrows and unexpected resistance. • You can think for yourself and express your uniqueness but when you do you are met with powerful, often unspoken, pressures to conform. • You are free to be friends with whomever you choose and you can fall in love with whomever you choose but when you bring significant friends home they seem subject to close examination. • They want you to be free and to explore the world, but when you book your tickets things seem to change. Celebrate if any of this is…

The issue of the relocation of Parliament will require a political decision and cannot be taken simply because there was a fire that gutted the national legislature. This is according to Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who said engineers were still busy assessing the buildings. Coega Development Corporation has been appointed to assess the extent of the damage. Christo Beukes, the project manager, said they began their assessment in February. They presented a report to the joint standing committee on the financial management of Parliament on Friday. Beukes said this was the first phase of the report. The damage in the National Assembly was significant, he said. “If you look at our overall assessment findings and recommendations coming from this first phase and to make a pronouncement on the structure, we did…

TOP performing students in South Africa are encouraged to consider studying abroad as local universities can only admit less than half of those who applied. This is according to Rebecca Pretorius, manager at Crimson Education, a global mentoring company, who said international universities looked for students with academic potential, who are intellectually curious, passionate and enthusiastic. Pretorius said for students to increase their chances of acceptance abroad they needed to start working on their applications as early as possible. Most importantly, they needed to understand the differences between applying at home and overseas and what the requirements were, she said. “One of the main barriers to entry for local students looking to study at top universities abroad is meeting the application criteria, which differs from South African universities in many…

THE World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) strategy around the different scenarios that could take place regarding Covid-19 this year reveals the unpredictable nature of the virus, and how mild to severe cases need to be factored in. It also reveals that while research and vaccination take place, there is significant room for uncertainty as the world battles a virus that has far too many unknowns for anyone to confidently predict when it will be over. The updated “Strategic Preparedness, Readiness and Response Plan” around Covid-19 reveals three possible scenarios for how Covid-19 could evolve this year. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general for WHO, the UN agency responsible for international public health, last week expressed hope that this plan could, and should, be the last. “It lays out three possible scenarios for…

Police fired tear gas at hundreds of protesting students in central Sri Lanka yesterday, a federal lawmaker said, as soldiers manned checkpoints in the capital to enforce a curfew imposed to curb public outrage triggered by an economic crisis. Lakshman Kiriella, MP from the second-largest city, Kandy, said police used tear gas to scatter students protesting against the government near the University of Peradeniya. “These students have come out in defiance of the curfew and police have fired tear gas to disperse them,” said Kiriella, from the opposition Samagi Jana Balawegaya party. The university is on the outskirts of Kandy, where the students had been held back by police, he said. Police officials in Kandy did not respond to calls from Reuters seeking comment. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa declared a state…

Sky-high fuel prices are sparking waves of anger and frustration throughout the ranks of truckers and food delivery drivers in Asia, causing concerns over potential disruptions that could add to supply-chain risks. South Korea’s average diesel price last week jumped 44% from a year earlier to the highest since 2008, while petrol surged more than 30%, according to data from Korea National Oil Corp. The fuel costs are rising at a time when freight rates and delivery fees have remained unchanged, directly impacting workers’ wages, union groups that represent the drivers said. “The spike in petrol prices is a huge burden on us,” Gu Gyo-hyeon, a director at Rider Union, which represents 1 000 food delivery drivers in South Korea, said by phone. “Unlike other industries, we get zero subsidies…

TRIPOLI: An activist of the Libyan Red Crescent abducted nearly a year ago has finally been released, the Libyan Al-Wasat newspaper reports. Mansour Atti al-Maghrabi, the head of the Red Crescent office in the town of Ajdabiya in Libya’s northeastern Al Wahat District, was kidnapped in June, 2021. According to the Red Crescent, an armed individual attacked Atti’s car and abducted him. According to Al-Wasat, Atti has been finally released after 10 months of disappearance. The newspaper said on Saturday that a photo has been circulating online, which shows the activist standing next to the head of his tribe.…

Samir Nurkovic is in a good state physically and mentally as he finally ended his goal drought for Kaizer Chiefs this season when he scored in their 3-1 win over Chippa United in the Premiership at Nelson Mandela Stadium on Saturday. Three seasons ago, the Serbian striker enjoyed a fruitful start to life at Amakhosi. He scored 14 goals and registered six assists in 31 matches, but a change of coach and a long-term injury suffered in pre-season saw his numbers decline. He only managed six goals and four assists last term. But following another long injury lay-off, the Serbian’s form dropped this season before he finally scored for Chiefs in Saturday’s win. “We have to be realistic, I was going through a lot of challenges after my surgery,” Nurkovic…

THE PUBLIC Investment Corporation (PIC) has requested an urgent meeting with the Absa Group board following the appointment of a white man, Arrie Rautenbach, as its new chief executive. On Friday, the PIC voiced its disappointment with the appointment, saying that the appointment of a black person could have promoted transformation in the group. The PIC said in its correspondence with the board, that the appointment was a missed opportunity for the board to publicly demonstrate its commitment to “purposefully transform the banking group and advance diversity, inclusivity, and racial and gender equity, at the most senior levels of organisation”. “As a significant shareholder, the PIC had previously recorded its disappointment to the board about the apparent instability at the executive level following the departure of its former chief executive…

AN INTERNATIONAL study has suggested the government’s plans to develop an extensive gas-to-power sector could likely negatively impact the economy and climate. A study by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), entitled Gas Pressure: Exploring the case for gas-fired power in South Africa, said that developing an extensive gas-to-power sector in South Africa from scratch would involve significant investment in both gas supply infrastructure and power plants. The institute said that to introduce the first 3 000 megawatts of gas capacity and gas supply by 2030 could cost at least R47 billion – money that could ultimately be wasted, as gas was likely to be squeezed out of the market by cheaper, low-carbon alternatives. To artificially stimulate local demand for gas, South Africa’s Department of Mineral…

CREDIT bureaus are governed by the provisions of the National Credit Act, 34 of 2005 (NCA), and the regulations pursuant thereto, and are regulated by the National Credit Regulator (NCR). They gather and amass information around the credit and spending habits of consumers/companies on behalf of third parties (banks and financing institutions) to help them determine whether to lend credit or not to the person/company concerned. That’s a lot of information and control over us mere mortals, and in the wrong hands can be a potential disaster, blackmail, and a weapon of note. TransUnion, a US-based global consumer credit-checking agency, was alerted on Friday by a group calling itself, N4ughtySec – bad actors (hackers) apparently based in Brazil – claiming to be responsible for breaching cybersecurity at TransUnion South Africa,…

SEVERAL parts of KwaZulu-Natal, including Durban, Pietermaritzburg and Bulwer, experienced severe thunderstorms on Saturday that caused massive damage to houses and public infrastructure and left three children dead. This prompted the KZN Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Department (Cogta) to issue an alert to the province’s residents, warning of inclement weather that poses danger. The department said that in the Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma Local Municipality (Bulwer), a 10-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl were swept away while trying to cross a river in Ward 12 in an area called Bethlehem. Ward councillor Vusi Mthembu said several houses had also been damaged by heavy rains. “So far we have over 600 houses that have been damaged, with either roofs that were blown away or some that just collapsed. It came very…

The term “SmackDown” is usually associated with the world of wrestling but now you can also identify it with the ever-famous Will Smith and the prestigious Oscar Awards. The lanky American actor was full of gristle and bone as he let loose a whopper on Chris Rock on stage, followed by a barrage of invective-laden babble. Rock had apparently picked on his wife’s hairstyle which has something to do with her medical condition. But such despicable behaviour in front of a global audience was an unacceptable social gauche and faux pas. Whether it was the normal persiflage that comedians and hosts showcase on stage or personally intentional – only Rock knows? But a shell-shocked Rock was caught off-guard and stranded with a face as empty as an abandoned parking lot.…

WHAT’S going on in the administration of cricket? The start of the First Test between South Africa and Bangladesh last week was delayed 35 minutes due to a malfunctioning sightscreen at Kingsmead The match eventually got under way after ground staff patched up the sightscreen with strips of white cloth. Such embarrassment! Did nobody check a day or two before? You can bet it wouldn’t happen in Bangladesh. Whatever next? Late starts while they mow the outfield and chase away the mambas and pythons? It’s enough that, at Kingsmead, shark fins appear in the outfield at high tide; fiddler crabs painfully molest crouching slip fielders. But nothing can be done about it – this is part of the tradition and charm of Kingsmead anyway. The cricket administrators need…

The Mercury carried a letter on sex education in our schools (April 1), which is very contentious at present. The idea seems to be to familiarise children with the reproductive system and safe sex. But no provision has been made for guidance in terms of gender identity, moral issues, religious implications or relationships. We live in an age where there is homosexuality, bisexuality and in which masochistic sex practices have become the norm. If American TV is anything to go by, programmes like Two and a Half Men portray bed-hopping as the norm. Scoring is the aim, a date is not successful unless it ends with sex. Women seem to feel obliged to reward the suitor for dating them, giving new meaning to the phrase “singing for one’s supper”.…

A KWAZULU-NATAL youngster is on track to compete in the 2026 Commonwealth Games following a stunning display of raw talent in the National Athletics Championships last month. Mholi Phili, a Grade 6 pupil from Clifton school in Durban, stunned his school, parents and other young athletes with his performances in the sprint races at the provincial championships in February, and went on to replicate his performance a month later at the national level. He has since garnered attention from athletic bigwigs who are now eyeing him to compete in the 2026 Commonwealth Games. His school, which had put him in the competition to compete in the Under-12 category, posted a message on its Facebook page congratulating him after his accomplishments at the national championships last month. “Well done to Mholi…

CALLS have been made for an overhaul of the Department of Home Affairs after a cable breakage shut down services across the country. The breakage, which connects to the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), caused the department’s services to come to a standstill on Friday. It managed to restore its online service only yesterday afternoon. Home Affairs Ministry spokesperson Siya Qoza said the department will be extending operating hours today to compensate for the time lost. Due to the network outage, Qoza said the department had run limited services which included passport collections, and handwritten death certificates for burial purposes. Computerised certificates would be issued from today, it said. “The Department of Home Affairs and the State Information Technology Agency have been able to fix the cable breakage that impacted…

Kyiv: Explosions rocked the strategic Ukrainian port city of Odessa yesterday, as a top UN official headed to Moscow to try to secure a “humanitarian ceasefire” after evidence emerged of possible civilian killings around Kyiv. Smoke rose from several areas of the historic Black Sea port, after air strikes shook the city at about 6am. The Ukrainian army said no one was killed.Russia’s defence ministry confirmed the attack, saying “high-precision sea and air-based missiles destroyed an oil refinery and three storage facilities for fuel and lubricants”. The ministry claimed the targets were supplying fuel to Ukrainian troops. Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, said: “Some of the missiles were shot down by air defence.” The strikes came with Greece’s Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias expected in the city…

LOSS ANGELES: Jane Seymour has “no inclination” to retire. The 71-year-old actress is busy with various acting and producing ventures, as well as her work as an artist, sculptor and jewellery designer, and she’s still passionate about her career. She said: “I’m working more now than I ever have in my life. I’ve no inclination to retire. Why would I do less of something I love?” The actress insisted she has never undergone any cosmetic procedures because she loves the fact she is able to play people who are younger or older than her years.…

Morocco’s village of Inzerki is proud to claim it has the world’s oldest and largest collective beehive, but instead of buzzing with springtime activity, the colonies have collapsed amid crippling drought. Beekeeper Brahim Chatoui says he has lost almost a third of his hives in just two months – and he is not alone. “At this time of year, this area would normally be buzzing with bees,” said Chatoui, sweating under a blazing springtime sun. “Today, they’re dying at a terrifying rate.” The North African kingdom has seen a dramatic spike in mass die-offs of the critical pollinators, a phenomenon called “colony collapse disorder”. Worldwide, experts say such sudden mass deaths of bees are often linked to the destruction of nature and the rampant use of pesticides. But authorities say…

BELGRADE: Voters cast ballots in polling stations in Serbia for presidential, parliamentary and local elections yesterday. About 6.5 million registered voters cast ballots at 8 255 polling stations in Serbia and abroad, choosing from eight presidential candidates and 19 political parties or coalitions for the parliament. Additionally, people are voting to choose the leadership of the capital of Belgrade, the City of Bor, and 12 more municipalities. The winner of the presidential elections needs to gather more than 50% of the votes, or otherwise defeat the second-ranked candidate in the second round of voting.…

MOODY’s Investors Service has changed SA’s credit ratings outlook to stable from negative, which has been welcomed by the government as affirmation of its structural reforms programme. Moody’s on Friday affirmed South Africa’s Ba2 long-term local and foreign currency issuer, and senior unsecured-debt ratings. SA’s ratings status was downgraded to Ba2 with a negative outlook by Moody’s in November, 2020 after the economy entered a deep recession as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, and lockdown restrictions. Moody’s lead analyst for South Africa, Lucie Villa, said the government had shown it was able to re-prioritise its spending over the past two fiscal years while staying committed to fiscal consolidation. Villa said the decision to affirm South Africa’s ratings at Ba2 reflected the country’s long-standing credit strengths, including a sound financial…

THE relief in the fuel price has been welcomed as a much-needed step to help hard-hit consumers keep their heads above water. The government last week announced a reduction in the basic fuel levy by R1.50 for two months, while pursuing a more permanent and sustainable restructuring measure of the fuel price. The R1.50 adjustment should reduce the general levy for petrol from R3.85 a litre to R2.35 a litre, and reduce the levy on diesel from R3.70 a litre to R2.20 a litre, until the end of May. Spokesperson for trade union Uasa, Abigail Moyo, on Friday said they were pleased with the government’s fuel price intervention and welcomed the possibility of added interventions once the two-month period has lapsed. “The temporary decrease of R1.50 per litre in the…

Experts have welcomed the reduction in the fuel levy, but say fuel prices might still go up this month, due to the ongoing Russia/Ukraine conflict and the high price of Brent crude oil. In a statement issued by the National Treasury on Friday, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe announced a temporary reduction in the general fuel levy. The reduction is to be funded by a liquidation of a portion of the government’s strategic crude oil reserves. The general fuel levy for petrol and diesel is to be reduced by R1.50 per litre from April 6 to May 31, 2022, the statement said. Layton Beard, of the Automobile Association (AA), said they welcomed the decrease of the fuel levy announced by the National Treasury.…

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has warned his party that it will lose the 2024 general elections if members continued to fight over power and access to resources to serve their personal interests. Insisting that the governing party was “a house on fire”, the president implored members to focus on “putting out fires of corruption” and the “fire of everything that is going wrong” in the ANC, rather than on squabbles for public resources. Ramaphosa issued the warning while delivering his closing address at the ANC’s 13th Mpumalanga provincial elective conference, which concluded at Witbank Dam, Emalahleni, yesterday. Ramaphosa also took issue with delegates for electing murder-accused Mandla Msibi as provincial treasurer, saying they needed to “reflect” on the impact of their choices on ANC renewal efforts. In a speech filled with…

There is a great deal of truth in the quip that this year’s April Fool’s Day was cancelled because it really was not possible to spin a yarn that could supersede some of the current outrageous happenings. One arena that is drawing egregious comments concerns Covid protocols. Last month, US First Lady Jill Biden invited Congressional representatives and their spouses to a soiree at the White House. But what should have been a relaxed and informal occasion, was marred by the terms and conditions of the invitation: those who were unvaxxed had to wear a mask, maintain a strict social distance at all times and refrain from eating. The latest Covid regulations gazetted by South Africa’s ruling Command Council provide a further case in point (The Mercury, April 1). The…

The recent publication of the findings of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, by the Zondo Commission, has exposed startling and obscene disclosures of wholesale looting of public money by high-ranking politicians and their cadre appointees. Unfortunately, the South African major banks' complicity, in abetting such obvious pillaging of ill-gotten money flowing through bank accounts showed that the safeguards that financial institutions are obliged to police seemed to have been ignored. The Financial Intelligence Centre Act governs the control of money laundering and suspicious banking transactions, yet when huge sums of money are transacted through shell companies, no red flags are raised. These exposures must give rise to speculation on the recent clamping down and closing of accounts by major Western banks of the Russian oligarchs identified as financial…

Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and National Council of Provinces chairperson Amos Masondo have approved the new policy for former MPs that will allow them 12 free flights a year. The presiding officers of Parliament approved the travel policy at the end of March and it came into effect on Friday. The policy states that a member of Parliament who finishes a term of office of five years or more is entitled to 12 free flights a year after they have left the national legislature. The free tickets are for the former MPs and their partners. But if the tickets, which are allocated at the start of the year, are not used they are forfeited. Mapisa-Nqakula and Masondo signed off on the policy on March 28. “Any member who has served in…

THE North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, will this week deliver its judgment on whether Vodacom should be granted leave to appeal against the recent judgment in favour of “Please Call Me” (PCM) inventor, Nkosana Makate, that he was short changed by the cellphone giant. Vodacom turned to the court on Friday, setting out a long list of objections against the ruling by Judge Wendy Hughes, in which she ordered Vodacom back to the drawing board to determine how much Makate is in fact owed for his invention. The judge gave Vodacom some direction on what to take into account when it made its new determination and gave Vodacom’s CEO Shameel Joosub two weeks to come up with a new amount. But Vodacom filed papers in its bid for leave to…

A counterfeit washing powder manufacturing facility was uncovered in Springs, Ekurhuleni, the Hawks said. Gauteng spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Philani Nkwalase said the Hawks and brand protectors from Spoor & Fisher Attorneys, assisted by the Springs SAPS public order policing unit, executed a search-and-seizure operation in Selection Park, Springs, on Friday. “The search operation was preceded by in-depth investigations into the manufacturing of counterfeit washing powder at the premises.” The team found the premises was a large-scale manufacturing and distribution facility. “Huge amounts of raw materials, machinery, unbranded washing powder along with counterfeit labels bearing well-known trademarks, were seized. Criminal and civil processes were under way against a suspect, 42,” he said. | Mercury Correspondent…

A BRAVE shop assistant foiled a robbery in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape police said. Police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge said the incident occurred last Thursday, when two men, one armed with a firearm, entered an electrical business. They demanded cash and vehicle keys. “The brave shop assistant engaged in a struggle with the suspect with the firearm and managed to subdue him and take his firearm. The other suspect grabbed the vehicle keys and fled the scene in a white Ford Icon that he stole from the premises.”. | Mercury Correspondent…

At least six people were killed and 10 wounded in a shooting in the California state capital of Sacramento early yesterday, police said. A video posted online showed people scuffling in the street, then starting to run as gunfire is heard. AFP could not verify the footage. Police said no arrests had been made and the scene remained active. “It was just horrific,” said community activist Barry Accius, who arrived minutes after the shooting. “Just as soon as I walked up you saw a chaotic scene, police all over the place, victims with blood all over their bodies, folks screaming, folks crying, people going, ‘Where is my brother?’ Mothers crying and trying to identify who their child was,” he told local broadcaster KXTV. The shooting happened at 2am local time…

Sydney: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison yesterday rejected claims he launched his political career by vilifying a rival over his Lebanese heritage and stoking rumours he was a Muslim. Two members of Morrison’s party signed legal declarations stating that he told them in 2007 that his competitor in a local election, Michael Towke, was too risky for the Liberals to back as their candidate. This was due to his ethnic background, the pair claimed, and “a strong rumour” the Lebanese Christian was actually Muslim, according to local media reports. “I could not reject this more fundamentally,” Morrison told reporters yesterday, adding that close to an election people “make all sorts of things up, because they have other motivations”. Morrison is expected to call an election within days, seeking to capitalise…

Tehran: More than 250 women working in Iran’s film industry have signed a statement condemning what they call “systematic” sexual harassment, demanding that a committee address the issue. People in power in Iranian cinema are known to exploit their positions “to bully, threaten, insult, humiliate and assault women”, they charged. “Acts of violence are systematic,” said the statement signed by some of Iran’s most prominent actresses, film directors and producers. “We condemn any violence and sexual harassment in the workplace, and to end it, we call for serious legal consequences for the violators.”…