Table of contents for 2022-04-29 in Mercury

MORE than half of the eThekwini Municipality’s 28 000-strong workforce is allegedly claiming monthly overtime pay. The stunning figure was first revealed to councillors who sit in the executive committee in a mayoral lekgotla recently. It was again reiterated by DA councillor Nicole Graham in a statement yesterday. Opposition parties said they were informed by the municipality’s chief financial officer, Sandile Mnguni, that 15 000 workers were claiming overtime pay. He was speaking on the need to reduce overtime. It was not immediately clear over what period this occurred or at what cost to the municipality. But the city has repeatedly been warned over the exorbitant overtime claims. The metro police and the security clusters have been among those units that have raised eyebrows about overtime pay due to the…

The way land resources – soil, water and biodiversity – are currently mismanaged and misused threatens the health and continued survival of many species on the earth, including our own, a stark new report from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) warned this week. It also points decision-makers to hundreds of practical ways to effect local, national and regional land and ecosystem restoration. The UNCCD’s evidence-based flagship Global Land Outlook 2 (GLO2) report, five years in development with 21 partner organisations, and with over 1 000 references, is the most comprehensive consolidation of information on the topic ever assembled. It offers an overview of unprecedented breadth and projects the planetary consequences of three scenarios through to 2050 – business as usual; restoration of 50 million square km of…

In your April 26 issue, Mr Moodley paints a sad picture of the demise of a “once-thriving municipality’’. I agree with his remarks entirely; however, I have tried to examine the reason for this slide in the area of infrastructure provision, maintenance and operations. The poor performance of the municipality in these areas is illustrated by events during the recent floods as well as the atrocious performance in getting the “GO!Durban” BRT system up and running. In seeking an answer to the current poor state of affairs, I examined cities which have sound performance in the areas mentioned. Essentially my conclusion is that these cities have one thing in common – a sufficient number of professionally qualified engineers in their employ and an institutional structure which allows them to perform…

The ANC has decided to hold its policy conference in July this year. This will be five months before the party’s crucial elective conference in December. The ANC had already directed provinces and regions to hold their conferences by July. Gauteng, the North West, Northern Cape, Western Cape and KwaZulu- Natal are due to hold their provincial conferences between May and July. The governing party has said discussion documents for the policy conference will be made public next month. “The policy conference offers the ANC an opportunity to reflect on the extent to which we have implemented our policies and to make proposals for the amendment of existing policy or introduction of new policy. “The National General Council scheduled for 2020 could not be held due to the Covid-19 pandemic.…

A mother’s dying wish has been fulfilled, following a two-year battle to have her 4-year-old daughter live with her sister in South Africa instead of returning to the UK with the father. The Supreme Court of Appeal this week dismissed the father’s application for the return of the child in terms of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, 1980, with costs. Previously the Western Cape High Court had rejected the defences advanced by the mother, prior to her death, and ordered the return of the child to the UK. The mother was diagnosed with colorectal cancer on April 8, 2019 while still living in the UK and decided to come to South Africa to pursue available treatment options. The understanding was that mom and child…

THERE are growing calls for President Cyril Ramaphosa to expand the commitment made for transparency on state procurement regarding the flood relief funds to all facets of government and state-owned enterprises (SOEs). On Tuesday Ramaphosa, while addressing a joint sitting of Parliament, said measures were being taken to strengthen accountability, including National Treasury and the Auditor-General conducting audits on the emergency flood relief funds. “To improve monitoring and ensure greater transparency, the details of all disaster-related procurement by public institutions will be published on the Treasury website to allow public scrutiny of these transactions.” On Freedom Day, Ramaphosa said the vision of a free country had been tarnished by acts of corruption and state capture. “For some in positions of responsibility, the pursuit of self-enrichment was more important than improving…

Relief efforts for those affected by the recent floods in KwaZulu-Natal are continuing, with the Social Protection, Community and Human Development Cluster giving thanks to the community groups that have volunteered and donated goods to the affected families. In a media briefing yesterday led by the Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga and Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu, the departments provided an update on the relief efforts. The ministers in the cluster have at various times this week visited affected areas to assess the damage caused and to assist those in need. The priority, they said, was providing immediate support to women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities. Providing a rundown of the numbers, Phaahla reported that there are 98 shelters where…

Economic power of South Africa remains vested in a minority I have previously argued that the ANC has to be reconstructed into the liberation movement it purports to be, as it cannot be renewed in its current form. Now, I would like to reflect on the revolutionary tasks a reconstructed and rejuvenated ANC should carry out. The World Bank has classified South Africa as the most unequal society in the world. How did this come about, given that South Africa is one of the two richest countries on the continent? The answer lies in the type of colonialism that prevailed in our country until 1994, whereby the coloniser and the colonised were citizens of the same country and sharing the same borders, at least since 1910, when Britain created the…

India is facing its worst electricity shortage in more than six years just as scorching temperatures force early closures of schools and send people indoors. Extreme heat parched large swathes of South Asia this week after India’s hottest March on record, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to warn of rising fire risks as the country heats up too much too soon. Local authorities in the worst-hit states are struggling to juggle power cuts and growing pressure on health services. In the capital New Delhi, temperatures have soared past 40°C for several days and are forecast to linger around 44°C until Sunday, with peak summer heat still to come before cooling monsoon rains arrive in June. Maximum temperatures recorded in six districts in West Bengal were at least 5°C above normal,…

ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday he hopes his visit to Jeddah will herald a new era in ties with “brotherly” Saudi Arabia, as the regional rivals hold the first high-level visit in years after intense efforts to repair strained ties. Erdogan’s visit, at the invitation of Saudi King Salman, is part of a drive to mend ties that included dropping a trial over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018. Turkey’s economy has been ailing for years and a lira crisis last year due to an unorthodox monetary policy backed by Erdogan sent inflation soaring above 60%. This was worsened by the war between Ukraine and Russia. | Reuters…

LONDON: Britain has delayed imposing its full post-Brexit import controls on goods from the EU again, pushing it back until the end of next year, saying it did not want to add to fast-rising inflation. Britain left the EU’s single market in January 2021 and has delayed full implementation of border controls due to worries about port disruption and Covid-19. The government said yesterday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the leap in global energy costs were hitting supply chains still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. British port operators said they had built border control posts, and wanted to know if they could start to bulldozer the facilities. | Reuters…

When you don’t know what to do, or you think you don’t, you probably do. Dig a little deeper. However new a circumstance might feel, it’s probably not. You, or someone you know, have been through this or something very similar before. When you don’t know where to go, you probably do. Seek old and trusted paths. Summon the courage. You’ve achieved the almost-impossible before. Get thinking. Plan. Inertia will get you nowhere, fast. When you don’t know what to say, it’s better to be quiet. There’s a lot of value in the axiom “least said soonest mended”. Speaking can seem a lot like committing. Hold onto yourself. When you don’t know what to think, it’s time to step aside and look for the big picture. The big picture usually…

WHILE KwaZulu-Natal suffers in the aftermath of the recent floods, the patience of some residents who do not have access to water is dwindling. Since the floods, certain municipalities have been working around the clock with no success, leaving some communities abandoned and scrambling for water. This has resulted in violence as people waged a war to secure the dwindling drops of water. Even the water tankers were giving preferential treatment to some residents. This has exposed our dependency on municipalities that cannot meet the basic needs of our society. The shortage of water has exposed how much more resourceful we need to become. It has been a hard lesson to learn but it taught us that for the future we need to save. The dilemma for most of us…

ON A hike this past weekend through the Valley of 1 000 Hills it was heartbreaking to see the extent of washaways and destroyed simple dwellings that were built on what is effectively just a step or ledge into a hillside. The cutaway earth bank or wall had no form of any sand retention, eg, retaining walls, Loffelstein bricks or vegetation to bind the earth. Simply put, the poor souls living there had no chance of escaping the torrents of water. It is accepted practice that landlords are responsible for the repair and maintenance of the properties they lease out to tenants, so I am puzzled why the various chiefs who extract money from their subjects to occupy the land are not held responsible for ensuring that the areas are…

The Border Management Agency (BMA), which was formed last year as a single authority to man the country’s borders, will be operational at 18 ports of entry next year. This was announced by the Department of Home Affairs when it tabled its annual performance plan to the portfolio committee this week. Director-general Tommy Makhode said the department would ensure that the BMA was operational by the 2023/24 financial year at 18 ports of entry, six segments of the land border law enforcement areas and one community crossing area. Makhode said selected ports of entry would be equipped with biometric functionality by March 2024 and an automated biometric information system would be implemented in the 2022/23 financial year. The agency was in the process of filling critical management positions. The BMA…

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said yesterday that there would be no more extension periods for the renewal of driving licence cards. Mbalula was speaking during the release of the Easter period road statistics. The minister said only a week remained before the deadline for the extended period for renewing cards that expired between March 26, 2020 and August 31, 2021. He said South Africa had a backlog of 1.3 million expired driving licence cards. Motorists between the ages of 25 and 50 make up 68% of the backlog, about 880 000 people. In light of the backlog, Mbalula said the department had created a plan, which was already operational in all nine provinces, to address it. These measures include extending operating hours of licensing centres by two hours. Until May…

Political parties in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature have welcomed the news of the deployment of experts who will keep a close watch on the spending of the flood relief funds. Auditor-General (A-G) Tsakani Maluleke made the announcement yesterday indicating that a team of experts would oversee the use of funds in KZN and conduct real-time audits to prevent corruption in the allocation of the funds. This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government wanted to close the tap on corruption during the national state of disaster and would deploy the A-G to curb any form of corruption. Maluleke said yesterday they would be sending a team to focus on the flood-relief efforts as they did during the allocation of R500 billion for Covid-19 relief. “Our multi-disciplinary teams of forensic, information…

Civil society organisations Black Sash, the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ), Social Policy Initiative and #PayTheGrants said many eligible people had likely missed out on their April social relief of distress (SRD) grant payment after the Department of Social Development (DSD) and the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) halted application processing for April without an explanation. They said this was done despite the fact that they were clearly mandated under transitional measures gazetted on April 4. Sassa said all existing grant beneficiaries had to reapply for the grant this month as the grant had previously been processed under the state of disaster regulations but would not be under the Social Assistance Act. The civil society groups also raised concern about the change in criteria for the grant. It now…

Umgeni Water announced yesterday that a service provider had been appointed to conduct a comprehensive assessment of aqueducts 1 and 2 that were damaged during the recent floods. Umgeni Water’s corporate stakeholder manager, Shami Harichunder, said the assessment was expected to be done over three days. He said after the assessment, detailed costings would be provided to Umgeni Water and a letter of appointment would be issued for work to begin. “The service provider’s assessment report will indicate the extent of damage to these pipes, the cost of restoration to full use and the projected duration of work that will have to be done,” said Harichunder. Aqueducts 1 to 4 convey raw water from Nagle Dam to the Durban Heights Water Works in Reservoir Hills, Durban, for treatment and supply…

The US yesterday accused Russia of planning to stage fake independence votes to justify its conquest of territory in Ukraine, as Russian forces stepped up their assault on the east. More than two months into an invasion that has flattened cities but failed to capture the capital, Kyiv, Russia has mounted a push to seize two eastern provinces in a battle the West views as a decisive turning point in the war. Although Russian troops were pushed out of northern Ukraine last month, they are heavily entrenched in the east, and also still hold a swathe of the south that they seized in March. The US mission to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said the Kremlin might attempt “sham referenda” in southern and eastern areas it had…

The Chinese megacity of Guangzhou yesterday cancelled hundreds of flights and began testing 5.6 million people over one suspected Covid-19 case, part of an escalating battle across the country to extinguish the virus. China is facing its worst outbreak since the peak of the first wave in early 2020, with eastern Shanghai recording dozens of daily deaths and the capital Beijing sealing off whole areas where handfuls of cases have been detected. Under its zero-Covid policy, China has used lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions to stamp out infections. The strategy is under strain, with the highly transmissible Omicron variant punching through health controls. Rolling virus restrictions, including a weeks-long lockdown of virtually all of Shanghai’s 25 million residents, have damaged the economy, causing backlogs at the world’s busiest container…

York: Britain’s Prince Andrew was this week stripped of his status as a freeman of the city of York because of his associations with convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. At an extraordinary meeting of York City Council in northern England, councillors voted unanimously to withdraw the honour that was conferred on him in 1987. Sexual abuse allegations levelled against Queen Elizabeth II’s second son, which he settled out of court in the US earlier this year, and his associations with Epstein and Maxwell were “incredibly serious and cannot be ignored”, Liberal Democrat councillor Darryl Smalley told the meeting. He said the prince should also have his official title, the Duke of York, removed. References to “Freemen of the City of York” date back to Anglo-Saxon times…

Washington: The fossils of three ichthyosaurs, giant marine reptiles that patrolled primordial oceans, have been discovered high up in the Swiss Alps, and include the largest ever tooth found for the species, a study said yesterday. With elongated bodies and small heads, the prehistoric leviathans weighed up to 80 metric tons and grew to 20m, making them among the largest animals to have lived. They first appeared 250 million years ago in the early Triassic, and a smaller, dolphin-like subtype survived until 90 million years ago. But the gigantic ichthyosaurs, which comprised most of the species, died out 200 million years ago. | AFP…

ORLANDO Pirates co-coach Mandla Ncikazi was left frustrated after his troops spurned a chance to move closer to second place after playing out to a 0-0 draw against Chippa United at Orlando Stadium on Wednesday. Had the Sea Robbers won the game, they would have been just two points adrift of second-placed Royal AM. Second place in the Premiership grants a club the right to play in next season’s Caf Champions League. “It was a match we should have won. We dropped two points. It was valuable points that we needed, but when you miss chances like we did, you won’t win matches,” said Ncikazi. Pirates’ lack of consistency is a problem that has haunted them for more than a decade, so much so that they have not won the…

KAROOOOO, which provides on- ground data analytics and business intelligence reports for businesses, in its first year as a Nasdaq listed company lifted revenue 20 percent, the result mainly of 16 percent subscription revenue growth. The group, which owns 100 percent of Cartrack, 100 percent of Carzuka and 70.1 percent of Picup, said yesterday that the number of subscribers was up 17 percent to 1 525 972, bolstered by the revenue from Carzuka (R67 million) and Picup (R42m). A 60 US cents dividend was declared. “Our decade-plus track record of growth, sustained profitability and a highly cash-generative business model, coupled with consistent innovation and strong customer acquisition, continues. “At the end of 2022 we had more than 88 000 commercial…

If current price trends persist, the price of petrol could come down by about 20 cents a litre, while diesel would increase by 80 cents or more next week. This is based on the latest data released by the Central Energy Fund which shows an over-recovery for the petrol price, but a fairly steep under- recovery for diesel. Experts predict that there will be a minor decrease in the petrol price, however, it will bring little relief for struggling consumers and businesses as a steep increase in the price of diesel is expected in May. Professor Bonke Dumisa, an independent economic analyst, said that an increase in the diesel price was possible. “We have to attribute this to the rocketing international price of Brent crude oil and the weakened…

WAS Vladimir Putin wearing his underpants too tight? Sky News had the Russian president speaking at length in a high-pitched falsetto as he addressed his people on the topic of sport and the despicable action the West had taken against Russian and Belarusian athletes. But no, this was of course simultaneous translation, the practitioner in this case being a woman who was no slouch at all in converting Russian to English and pronto, as the words are delivered. But it would be better, surely, if a man’s speech were translated by another man and a woman’s speech by another woman? Otherwise it’s confusing and disturbing, and this applies to both sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Yet I suppose it’s also amusing – not least the instance mentioned above – and…

FREEDOM Day should be an occasion to reflect upon the road South Africa has travelled since 1994. But applying even the most analytical detachment, not only is it difficult to find anything to applaud, it is equally difficult to embrace the future with anything less than scepticism. That outlook is also expressed by Tony Leon in his elegantly articulate book published last year, entitled Future Tense: Reflections on My Troubled Land. Beyond his catalogue of the country’s descent into kakistocracy, his reference to historical precedents is helpful in fathoming the end run of the ANC. Despite the appalling failure and malfeasance of the ANC, its electoral dominance has been sustained by voter gratitude for its role in liberation. But, as Leon points out, history shows that the “liberation dividend” or…

Too many “noble” people who were awarded the Nobel Prize turned out later to be belonging to some rogue gallery. Alfred Noble himself invented dynamite for mining purposes but it, soon enough, began to be used for undermining life and for land mines. Albert Einstein was a master of E=mc2 but Putin wants to put in his ruble’s worth now and use that equation to haul all of us to that chocolate factory in the sky. Painlessly. (Most euthanaisic-nuclear explosions instantly destroy braincells and all ill feelings at the speed of light.) Poor Willem de Klerk, after giving in to outside armed forces, and inside disarming ones, still gets hauled through hectic mudslides even after death. The evil just cannot be wiped off, as complained by Lady Macbeth. Obama’s premature…

Parliament has asked the Constitutional Court to grant it a six-month extension to allow it to finalise a law that would allow independent candidates to stand as MPs and MPLs in the national and provincial elections. The request by Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and National Council of Provinces chairperson Amos Masondo to the highest court in the land comes as the deadline, set by the Constitutional Court two years ago for the lawmakers to conclude the Electoral Laws, is set as June this year. The New Nation Movement had gone to the apex court to ask that independent candidates be allowed to stand as lawmakers in the National Assembly and provincial legislatures. The law currently allows independent candidates to stand only as councillors in municipal polls. Only political parties can send…

A 77-year-old Limpopo farmer has been arrested for attempted murder after he allegedly fired shots in the direction of a couple who were fishing along the Mogol River, in Lephalale, Limpopo. A police spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Mamphaswa Seabi, said the incident happened on Tuesday. She said the 38-year-old woman sustained an injury. “Her partner managed to hide and he immediately informed the police and emergency services,” said Seabi. “The arrested suspect alleged that he was shooting at the hippopotamus.” Police seized two rifles, one revolver, one pistol and two airguns when they arrested the 77-year-old. Meanwhile, Limpopo SAPS commissioner Lieutenant-General Thembi Hadebe has called upon community members to be responsible when handling firearms. | Mercury Correspondent…

Three women were gunned down in their uMlazi home on Wednesday night. Provincial police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala said they were declared dead at the scene. “It is alleged that at 8.30pm, at uMlazi L Section informal settlement, a suspect entered the premises and allegedly fired shots at three females, who were believed to be in their thirties and forties.” Gwala added that a 5-year-old and 6-month-old were injured. She said charges of murder and attempted murder had been opened at Bhekithemba SAPS. KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC Nonhlanhla Khoza expressed shock and disgust at the murders. Khoza urged the police to ensure that the perpetrator was found and faced the full might of law. She also extended her condolences to the family of the women and the community of uMlazi.…

An Eastern Cape lawyer who was convicted of fraud and money laundering was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment. NPA spokesperson in the Eastern Cape, Luxolo Tyali, said Yandisa Babalwa Mjikelo, 36, was sentenced in the Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court. “Mjikelo, an attorney responsible for the administration of estates at Mthatha-based law firm Vapi Incorporated Attorneys, pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud and four counts of money laundering.” He said between June 2017 and October 2019, Mjikelo defrauded four late estate accounts of amounts ranging between R128 000 and R1.4 million. The amounts were due to beneficiaries of the deceased persons. He said when family members of the late estates became suspicious, they approached the law firm’s director, Sifundo Vapi, who opened a case with the police. |…

The Chinese economy expanded by 4.8% year-on-year (y/y) in the first quarter of 2022. This was well above the consensus forecast of a 4.2% gain and the fourth quarter’s 4.0% rise and resulted in 2.85 million new urban jobs being created. The first quarter growth performance was achieved despite an increasingly complex international geopolitical environment after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, and there was a resurgence of Covid-19 cases in China. The National Bureau of Statistics said the value added of the primary sector rose by 6.0% y/y, that of the secondary sector increased by 5.8% y/y, and that of the tertiary sector, the sector most impacted by restrictions on mobility, grew by 4.0% y/y. The value added of agriculture (crop farming) managed a 4.8% y/y gain due to…

Millions of workers staged a crippling strike in Sri Lanka yesterday, adding to pressure on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his ruling family to quit over the country’s worst economic crisis. The island nation of 22 million people has been hit by months of acute shortages of food, fuel and medicines, prompting widespread protests. But yesterday’s nationwide strike was the first time the entire country had been brought to a standstill since the demonstrations began, with both state and private sector employees taking part. Public transport was stopped and teachers quit school while shops and offices closed, police and regional officials said. Rajapaksa invited leaders of his party to discuss the crisis today, but former coalition partner the Sri Lanka Freedom Party said they would not attend and told him to…

Moderna has asked US regulators to authorise its Covid-19 vaccine for children under the age of 6, which would make it the first shot against the coronavirus available for under 5s. The Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech is authorised for children 5 and older. But their trial results for 2- to 4-year-olds showed a weaker immune response than in adults, forcing the study to be extended to test a third dose. Moderna recently released data showing its vaccine was safe and generated a similar immune response in young children as for adults, which was the goal of the study. The Omicron variant, which has been shown to be more likely to evade vaccine immunity than earlier versions, was predominant during the paediatric trial. The drugmaker said two doses were…

The Hague: The use of deepfake technology is gaining ground in the criminal underworld and should be targeted as a priority, Europe’s policing agency warned yesterday. The ability to coerce people online, or to create entirely new personas, could be used to devastating effect in the wrong hands, Europol said. It released a 23-page report looking at how artificial intelligence and deepfake technology could be used to erode trust in authority and official facts. “Experts fear this may lead to a situation where citizens no longer have a shared reality, or could create societal confusion about which information sources are reliable,” it said. Businesses too were at risk. | AFP…

THE fish are starting to bite along the KZN coast with the offshore and rock and surf fishing beginning to pick up. Kob are the flavour at the moment with a lot of fish landed. Please remember to stick to the regulations. Kob love both chokka and sardine baits. The bigger specimens love a live bait as well. Make sure your bait has plenty of movement by adding floatation and long tentacles. For an added bonus you can push a glass rattle into the foam to give you the edge. The north has seen good edible catches with the reef areas of Sodwana and Vidal producing spectacular specimens. These areas are best fished with circle hooks and bigger baits for the speckled snapper and rockcod species. These are hard-fighting…