Table of contents for 2021-08-12 in Mercury

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za THE matric class of 2021 that has battled disruptions and lockdowns due to Covid-19 are undergoing a rigorous preparation regime that includes holiday boot camps, extra classes and weekend learning programmes. This is according to the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education which said the preparation for Grade 12 pupils was designed to ensure they were ready for their trial exams next month. According to the KZN Education Department, this year’s trials will start on September 1, with the final exams to start on November 1. Department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said they had the same package as the previous year to ensure that pupils were fully prepared. Mahlambi said this included Saturday classes, which were already under way in many schools in KZN. “We have also started with morning…

Powerful axioms: Define yourself before someone else does. There is always someone willing to have that pleasure. We are all to be treasured, honoured and valued. Our worth has nothing to do with economic or educational status. Bitterness and cynicism always poison the bearer and are never helpful. Few things distort a future as powerfully as holding on to past disappointments. Truth and vulnerability expressed in mutual and respectful relationships are always helpful. Not everyone you meet deserves your vulnerability. Some people really are out to get you. Know what you want, even if there is no chance or little chance of getting it. Knowing what you want will somewhat steer you from unwise choices, although nothing is foolproof. Watch your words, make them sweet, in the event you have…

PAM LENTIN | Glenmore The human race can learn so much from the animal and bird world. They all coexist peacefully, side by side, sharing the same space, breathing the same air and drinking from the same water source, killing only to protect and feed themselves and their young. They have their own natural ways of controlling their numbers. Why is it that when the population issues are brought up, they are either sidestepped or swept under the carpet? One only has to look at the poverty-stricken nations of the world to realise that their problems all stem from overpopulation. There are just too many people in the world today, which planet Earth simply cannot sustain.…

In a bid to provide a safer online experience for kids, Google has announced that in the coming weeks anyone under the age of 18 or their parent or guardian can request the removal of their images from Google Image results. Removing an image from Search doesn’t remove it from the web but “we believe this change will help give young people more control of their images online,” Google said. Google will also no longer allow ad targeting of children based on their age, gender or interests. “We’ll be expanding safeguards to prevent age-sensitive ad categories from being shown to teens and we will block ad targeting based on the age, gender or interests of people under 18,” the tech giant announced. YouTube uploads from children will also gradually default…

Jolene Marriah-Maharaj jolene.marriah@inl.co.za A PRETORIA man who bagged the R17 million Powerball Plus plans to have the wedding of his dreams in December. National lottery operator Ithuba said the winning ticket for the July 27 draw was purchased just hours before the draw at the Super Spar, in the Silver Oaks Crossing Centre, Pretoria. The winner spent R105 on the winning ticket, using the Quick Pick selection method to select the winning numbers 1, 12, 36, 38, 41, and PowerBall 7. The 47-year-old electrician said: “A couple of days after the draw, I decided to check my PowerBall ticket. “When I realised I had matched all six numbers, I immediately checked on the national lottery website to see how many other players had won the jackpot. “To my surprise,…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za A SENIOR advocate who from time to time also acted as a judge, as well as another man, briefly appeared in the South Gauteng High Court in Joburg this week on an array of sexual charges. The charges include the rape of at least two young boys aged 15 and 16. The pair have not yet pleaded, and may thus not be identified. Their case was postponed until October 8 and they are out on bail. According to the charge sheet, many of the alleged offences occurred last year. The accused allegedly targeted minor boys on Facebook and other social media platforms. They would request images and videos from them and sometimes pay them for such images and videos. “The accused made travel arrangements and payments for…

Mxolisi Kaunda The recent incidents of civil unrest that have plagued our city were unfortunate and regrettable. They have left a trail of damage in excess of R15 billion. Over 100 000 jobs are at risk while other businesses are likely not to be able to open doors again. This is a horrible state of affairs. It must indeed be a cause for concern that must spur all of us into action. Speedily, we need to come up with tangible solutions, that will assist us in fast-tracking the process of rebuilding. Under these circumstances, we have no choice but to be steadfast in our mission to ensure that we rebuild our infrastructure so that we regain trust. We need to renew confidence from both business; and ordinary citizens of…

Helmo Preuss South African investors may perceive that the Chinese government is unfairly treating Chinese technology companies in their recent regulatory moves, but the reality is that many governments around the world worry about the monopolistic and anti-competitive behaviour of large technology companies such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft. Anti-monopoly legislation in fact goes back to the 19th century in the US, and most countries have some form of anti-competitive legislation in place. The 1890 Sherman Act was aimed at being a “comprehensive charter of economic liberty aimed at preserving free and unfettered competition as the rule of trade”. One of the act’s main provisions outlaws all combinations that restrain trade between states, while a second key provision makes it illegal for attempts to monopolise any part of trade…

Twelve-year-old Sander Magnus Vang from Inderøy in Trøndelag County in Sweden has managed to find a 1 500-year-old ring from Roman times while searching for his grandfather’s missing wedding ring with a metal detector. He said the detector went off and started beeping when he stumbled upon the golden ring. “I got a very loud sound,” he told national broadcaster NRK. His grandfather Tomas Vang said he’d been looking forward to having back his wedding ring that he lost this winter, but said he was happy with the “great find”. “At first I didn’t react strongly, because I thought it might be something from a discount store or something like that. “But when we started looking at it, it was very interesting,” Tomas Vang said. Archaeologist Hanne Haugen of…

Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za THE South African domestic season will kick off in Kimberley in September with a CSA provincial T20 knockout competition featuring all 15 provincial teams and the SA Under-19 side. The 16 teams will be split into four groups, and face each other in three-day cycles, with the competition culminating in a playoff series with quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final. The teams in Pool A will start the competition on 24 September, with the Pool D matches taking place between 8 and 10 October. The final will take place on 22 October. Bloemfontein will also host two of the pools in the competition. It’s the first competition to incorporate Cricket SA’s new domestic structure, of 15 provincial teams. Last season was the final one for the six-team franchise…

WYNONA LOUW wynona.louw@inl.co.za THE Bulls overcame two yellow cards in an entertaining display to secure a 56-33 win over Griquas at Loftus last night. Griquas got the first points early on when George Whitehead slotted over two penalties, but the hosts responded with a three-pointer to get on the scoreboard and followed it up with some easy points after a charge down, which was intercepted by Johan Goosen, who bolted to the tryline and then converted his own try. Schalk Erasmus then went over for an unconverted score. Kurt-Lee Arendse went over for the Bulls’ third try in the corner. Whitehead added his third penalty, and on the stroke of halftime, Stefan Ungerer helped them close in on the Bulls with a converted try to go into the break only…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za Another showdown between the government and public sector unions is looming over the exclusion of public servants from early access to a portion of their retirement funds. The government announced yesterday that it would allow financially-struggling workers to dip into their pension funds from next year in a bid to mitigate against the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on household incomes. However, public servants whose savings are under the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) will be excluded from the withdrawal process. The National Treasury yesterday gave more details about the approach and planned timelines concerning the proposal to allow for pre-retirement withdrawals from the retirement funds. Treasury said any consideration for early access would require legislative and fund-rule amendments as the current law and policy prohibits any…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za Organised labour say they plan to appeal the South Gauteng High Court judgment from Tuesday that placed struggling low-cost carrier Mango into voluntary business rescue, effective from July, and dismissed their case. Labour’s application was opposed by Mango, whose board wanted to appoint its own administrator in the business rescue process. The Mango Pilots Association, the South African Cabin Crew Association and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa said yesterday that they had noted the order which was handed down by Judge Michael Antonie, which granted the Mango board’s application for it to be placed under voluntary business rescue. Delivering his decision, Antonie said it was clear that both parties agreed that the airline should urgently be placed in administration. Numsa General Secretary Irvin…

Zintle Mahlati and Kailene Pillay President Cyril Ramaphosa contemplated resigning as deputy president when evidence of state capture became increasingly clear. He said many of these corrupt activities had taken place while he was unaware of them. Ramaphosa yesterday faced tough questions, when he appeared before the Zondo Commission of Inquiry, including on matters concerning state-owned entities and the ruling party. Regarding Eskom, he was grilled on allegations made by former Eskom executives Brian Molefe and Matshela Koko. Previous testimony heard at the inquiry had implicated Ramaphosa. The president revealed that he had recommended Molefe as chief executive of Eskom but said he had “no idea” that Molefe was close friends with the Gupta family and their associates. He said he and others in the government had grappled with how…

GABI MARAIS | Gillitts Congratulations to Dr Imtiaz Sooliman and his organisation, the Gift of the Givers, on their 29th anniversary. How does one nominate someone for a Nobel Peace Prize? If anyone deserves to be put forward, it is Dr Sooliman and his organisation. If one goes back and looks at the response that has always been there when a crisis has come to the fore, Dr Sooliman is always heading the pack when it comes to assistance, regardless of the situation. True altruism is embodied by him and his helpers. He is a wonderful example of how human beings should behave, let us learn from him. We need more people of his calibre.…

FAROUK ARAIE | Gauteng South Africa has been a de facto one-party state since democracy was inaugurated over 25 years ago, resulting in the cancerous spread of endemic corruption that has engulfed and overwhelmed the country in a deadly trajectory that cannot be contained. It was French economist and author Frédéric Bastiat who once offered these profound words: “When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorises it and a moral code that glorifies it.” Sadly, during 27 years in power, the elite and those in the corridors of power, and their progeny, have used their political positions to embezzle economic and financial resources, a process which involved…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za THE Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) has asked the Constitutional Court to ensure that its decision on whether local government elections will be held this year is made by the end of August. The IEC has applied to the apex court to postpone the municipal polls scheduled for October 27 until February next year due to the threats posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Medical experts have told the IEC that when taking into account excess mortality, it appears the actual figures of Covid-19 mortality are about three times higher than the official reports of deaths, reaching as high as 180 000. Elections were due to be held on October 27, but after retired Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke’s recommendations to postpone the polls until at least February,…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za THE eThekwini Municipality is facing complaints over using land meant for recreational and outdoor activity for children in Phoenix for infill housing. The DA has accused the municipality of seizing plots of land that was maintained and used by residents, without informing them, and developing it for houses. But the municipality said the plots of land were not official recreational areas and had been underutilised. Infill houses are housing projects that take place within an established township. These homes cater for low- to middle-income earners and can be brought through loans or other financial instruments. The municipality said 380 of these projects were completed last year. There are currently 12 projects taking place in Phoenix which are at different stages of construction. The municipality said there were…

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa’s first Cabinet reshuffle leaves much to be desired and flies in the face of almost every commitment he has made about fighting corruption and incompetence in the government. It signals a president who has long run out of ideas on how to tackle persistent youth unemployment, poverty and inequality. Just look at the “new” faces occupying his Cabinet. If anything, the reshuffle points to a worrying culture in the ruling ANC – overlooking young people. The Cabinet reshuffle appears to be all about rewarding those loyal to Ramaphosa, to boost his chances of securing a second term, and nothing about improving the capacity of the government to rebuild the economy and provide relief to those most vulnerable, as he claimed in his statement. How could that be…

WashingtonUS President Joe Biden hailed the Senate passage on Tuesday of a “historic” $1.2 trillion (about R17 trillion) infrastructure package, celebrating a major bipartisan win on a plan he vowed would “transform America.” By funding work on roads, bridges and ports, as well as clean water and high-speed internet, Biden said the bill – which still needs House approval – would create thousands of high-paying jobs for people without college degrees. “This historic investment infrastructure is what I believe you, the American people, want,” Biden said in a White House address. “This bill shows that we can work together.” Some seven weeks after the Democratic leader stood with senators from both parties hailing a preliminary agreement, the bill received rare bipartisan support in Washington’s highly-polarised political atmosphere. Needing just a…

JAKARTA: The Indonesian army has ended a controversial practice of virginity tests on women who apply to become cadets, according to its chief of staff, a move welcomed by activists who have long campaigned against it. “Two-finger tests”, where doctors check the hymen of female recruits to try to determine their virginity, was systematic, abusive and cruel, according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, which conducted investigations in 2014 into the practice and in 2017 renewed calls for it to end. The military previously said the tests were important in determining recruits’ morality.…

MIHLALI BALEKA mihlali.baleka@inl.co.za KAIZER Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter is optimistic about his team’s chances of chasing for top honours in the upcoming campaign, saying they’ll work tirelessly to ensure that they knock Mamelodi Sundowns off their perch. For almost a decade, Sundowns have been the team to beat in domestic football, having amassed 12 trophies, including four titles in the last four seasons. Chiefs, meanwhile, have failed to win a single title for the last six seasons. As a result, at the end of last season, they rehired the last coach who won them silverware in 2015: Baxter. The Brit has, already, sat on the bench for his first match in charge since he’s return, coaching the team in the final of the Champions League. Chiefs lost that match to…

MIKE GREENAWAY mike.greenaway@inl.co.za THIS time last year Argentina produced one of the greatest upsets in rugby history when they came out of months of isolation to beat the mighty All Blacks in the opening round of the Tri Nations. The Tri Nations had replaced the Rugby Championship because the Springboks could not make the party and the Pumas only just made the tournament — which was staged in Australia — and went into the game having played no Test rugby that year. Thus nobody saw the 25-15 victory coming, certainly not the New Zealanders and the Pumas then went on to prove it was no fluke by drawing their two matches against the Wallabies, 15-15 and 16-16. The very easy conclusion to reach is that the Pumas are no…

Applications open for government civil unrest funding support Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za COMPANIES can start applying for funding under the R3.75 billion economic recovery package aimed at supporting the restoration of businesses adversely affected by the civil unrest in July. The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) announced yesterday that the economic recovery support interventions were open for affected businesses to apply. The R3.75bn package is for businesses adversely affected during the violent looting and unrest that took place in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng last month. At least 161 shopping malls, 11 warehouses and eight factories were looted and vandalised, leaving R50bn damage that severely affected the supply-chain of goods and economic activity. The current estimated cost of damage to property and equipment in eThekwini alone is R15bn, constituting about…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za SUSPENDED ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule will challenge the status of his former personal assistant who is expected to be the prosecution’s star witness in his fraud, corruption and money-laundering trial. Magashule and his 10 co-accused, including controversial businessman Edwin Sodi and five companies, are expected back at the Free State High Court on October 19. The former Free State premier wants the court to decide whether his former personal assistant, Moroadi Cholota, will be his defence witness or will testify as a State witness in the case relating to the R255 million project to eradicate asbestos roofing in the province. Magashule’s advocate, Laurence Hodes SC, yesterday told Free State Judge President Cagney Musi that they already had a statement from Cholota as a defence witness, and…

| George Bernard Shaw JUST what is going on with Nasa? For months – no, years now – it has been putting out photographs of the Griquas rugby field in Kimberley, claiming that the arid, flinty wastes, not a blade of grass, are the surface of Mars, as captured by robotic machines landed there by spacecraft. Yet those vast, flinty wastes were obviously the Griquas rugby field. One presumed the long-running hoax was a ruse to fool the Russians. But now, according to Sky News, Nasa says it’s looking for applicants to spend a year pretending they are isolated on Mars. The space agency wants people to apply, so that it can prepare for eventually sending astronauts to the Red Planet. Will it send the successful applicants to the…

S MALAN | Durban Apparently no one knows how much public money has been spent on legal matters involving Jacob Zuma in his private capacity. It is known that after Thabo Mbeki, Zuma had access to State resources for more than a decade to fight his private legal battles. Since 2009, the State was theoretically paying Zuma’s legal fees up until April this year. Since Zuma was first implicated in corruption by prosecutors in 2005, charges have been dropped on the grounds of “technicalities” and “inquiries” and then reinstated. In October 2017, the High Court ruled that 18 counts of corruption from the arms deal be reinstated. Since then, Jacob Zuma and his accomplices and legal team have typically continued to use delaying tactics. All the payments made…

EBRAHIM ESSA | Durban There was once unity between Indians in this country in spite of religious differences. Most unfortunately, a number of factors have intruded and spoilt this bond. The division between so-called Sunni and Shia Muslims is one of them. This is a totally unnecessary dislike for one another, when basic beliefs are the same. Another factor is Muslims, once proudly proclaiming themselves to be Indians now being deviated to refer to themselves as only “Muslims”, forgetting that these two are completely different concepts. The one is religion, the other country of origin. They also like to refer to non-Muslim Indians as “Indians”. This mainly refers to Hindus. It also accidentally refers to Christians. Another serious episode is the drastic changes in India itself – the “friendly” government…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za POLITICAL analysts described President Cyril Ramaphosa’s retention of Deputy Minister of State Security Zizi Kodwa as a missed opportunity by the head of state to demonstrate his commitment to a corruption-free administration. According to analysts, by retaining Kodwa, Ramaphosa has created a perception that he values loyalty over the principle of clean governance. University of Zululand academic Professor Sipho Seepe said last week’s Cabinet reshuffle should have been used to remove people whose conduct had become questionable. “President Ramaphosa was given a chance to walk the talk – that he runs a corruption-free administration. And in politics, perception is everything. Ramaphosa has also invested heavily in creating this perception. Retaining Kodwa is seen as a failure. Kodwa’s testimony left people with an impression that he is an…

| African News Agency (ANA) The body of a 50-year-old correctional services officer was discovered lying on the floor in a pool of blood at the Leeuwkop correctional centre in Johannesburg on Tuesday night. “The department of correctional services (DCS) is utterly saddened and broken by the death of a female official at Leeuwkop Correctional Centre last night. The department is in the process of establishing the circumstances that led to her death,” said spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo. Nxumalo said the investigation into the woman’s death would be prioritised “to move with speed so as to ascertain the cause of death” and bring the perpetrators to book. Last year, an inmate was killed after a scuffle broke out at Leeuwkop’s Medium A correctional centre.…

Sisonke Mlamla sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za FRUSTRATED students from Unisa have lashed out at the university over its failure to release their graduation certificates. The students have launched an online petition demanding the institution give them their certificates, some claiming that despite passing their courses months ago, they were yet to receive word on whether there will be a certificate handover of any sort. Odette Jones, who started the petition, said there was a lack of transparency, mistreatment, disregard for their mental well-being, and the infringement of their human rights in the university’s “decision (or lack thereof)” regarding certificates. Jones said students were unable to get requisite registrations with industry bodies or to apply for work locally, in a job market ravaged by Covid-19 and unemployment, or to source employment abroad.…

WHAT is common to Microsoft, IBM and Alphabet (the parent company of Google)? The answer is that the chief executives are people of Indian origin who have graduated from India's higher education system. From ancient times, Indian civilisation and culture has placed a social premium on education. The concept of zero was developed by the Indian mathematician Aryabhata who lived in the fifth century. The word “guru” comes from Sanskrit and literally means the dispeller of darkness. India has always valued its teachers and in the “gurukul” system of education, the relation between the teacher and their learners was held as sacred. As India steps into the 75th year of its independence and we count the joys and sorrows of this momentous journey, we should also reflect on the…

Six Iraqi security members were killed and 11 others wounded yesterday in a huge explosion in the province of Salahudin, north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, provincial police said. The explosion took place in a truck carrying explosives and weapons found by the security forces in the west of the town of Baiji, about 200km north of Baghdad, said Mohammed al-Bazi told Xinhua. The blast occurred while a joint force from the Iraqi army, police, and paramilitary Hashd Shaabi, was transporting the explosives and weapons in trucks, al-Bazi said. The explosion resulted in the killing of six members of the army, police and Hashd Shaabi, and the wounding of 11 others, al-Bazi said, adding that provincial operations command launched an investigation into the incident. The Iraqi security forces often…

MOSCOW: Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny faces a new criminal charge of establishing an organisation that incited Russians to break the law, the Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said yesterday. Navalny, President Putin’s fiercest domestic critic, is serving a 30-month sentence for parole violations. He was arrested in January after he returned from Germany where he’d been recovering from a nerve agent poisoning. The new crime is punishable by up to three years in jail. A court in Russia declared Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation and regional campaign groups “extremist” in June.…

MIKE GREENAWAY mike.greenaway@inl.co.za THE Sharks’ chances of finishing top of the Currie Cup log have been dealt a blow by the cancellation of their match against the Pumas which was scheduled for yesterday in Nelspruit. The Sharks have suffered a Covid-19 outbreak in their ranks and they informed SA Rugby that they could not fulfil the fixture. This means they get zero points for the match while the Pumas get four points, in accordance with the competition rules. In a statement, SA Rugby said that they had been told by the Sharks that they could not field a team “without putting player welfare at risk”. This would mean that in certain “safety-first” positions such as the front row, the Sharks do not have sufficient numbers unaffected by the Covid outbreak.…