Table of contents for 2022-08-31 in Mercury

Ethekwini Municipality has said the R22 million it paid for two bronze statues, of Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo, was a “low price” compared with the other quotes that it had received. The cost, the municipality said, was the cheapest as other quotes were double that amount. The Mercury has also learnt that the artist commissioned to make the statues hails from KwaZulu-Natal. However, the municipality has declined to provide the identity of the artist. “Unfortunately, we cannot divulge the person or the artist because of the legal clause in the service level agreement between the municipality and the artist concerned. “Both statues cost roughly R22m. This was the cheapest figure as compared to others who wanted about the same price for only one statue,” said municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela.…

Following a disruptive start to his question-and-answer session in Parliament yesterday, President Cyril Ramaphosa finally responded to questions from MPs an hour later than initially scheduled. EFF leader Julius Malema and members of the party had initially objected to a virtual session, and called for the postponement of the president’s question-and-answer session. “All we are asking is that let this Parliament be postponed today, and there must be a proper sitting of all members of Parliament under one roof so we can hold the executive accountable,” Malema said. When Ramaphosa started to answer a question relating to illegal immigration, a number of EFF MPs raised points of order, calling him to get to the point and answer questions relating to Phala Phala investigations. The disruptions eventually led to some EFF…

September 1 is Spring Day as we celebrate the coming of the bright and warm season. Spring is a season of excitement as it is associated with rebirth, rejuvenation, renewal and resurrection and brings the blossoming of flowers and plants. Spring is associated with warm weather and springs us out of our corners into action. Over the years, Spring Day has been associated with the habit of playing with and wasting water as a way to welcome the spring season. This is a bad habit as it wastes a lot of precious water, and we must do all we can to discredit and stop this unnecessary wastage. We must always remember that South Africa is a water-scarce country where every drop counts, and therefore we must behave in a responsible…

On the electronic media we read that the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal recently wrapped up their visit to Nkandla to seek “wisdom and guidance” from former president Jacob Zuma. Taking into consideration that Zuma and his cronies put this country into the position we find ourselves in, with corruption so well embedded into our government and the state of capture which has caused the demise of virtually all the SOEs, one just wonders what sensible advice this man can give other than how to continue with the corruption that he so well allowed to happen. It’s also totally mind-blowing that Zuma always wanted his day in court to put matters right, and now he has done everything to stay out of court. The world is so small when it comes to…

The second docket in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, which implicates Kelly Khumalo and those who were present at the crime scene, “has no merit”, according to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in Pretoria. A letter by the DPP, Sibongile Mzinyathi, explains that docket 375 was an internal opinion from a junior State advocate and a final decision regarding the docket would only be made once the trial was concluded. Mzinyathi said: “The decision in Vosloorus Cas 375/1/2019 depends on the credibility findings by the trial court in the current trial involving Vosloorus Cas 636/10/2014. “I have therefore decided that the decision in Vosloorus Cas 375/1/2019 will be made at the conclusion of the current trial.” The docket, opened five years after Meyiwa’s murder in 2014, was revealed by…

More than 2 million households across South Africa have experienced burglaries, according to statistics released by Statistician-General of SA Risenga Maluleke in Pretoria yesterday. “Around 2.2 million households experienced housebreaking or burglary during the past five years. “The experience of housebreaking has increased by 14% from the previous year,” Maluleke said at Statistics SA’s ISIbalo House in Pretoria. “We are looking at the previous five years, we will also look into the (past) 12 months, but it is very critical that we look at what happened in the past five years because there are so many experiences there.” Maluleke was releasing the results of the Victims of Crime report from the Governance, Public Safety and Justice Survey (GPSJS) 2021/22 at a media briefing. The report covers the experience of specific…

Comrades Marathon men’s champion Tete Dijana, who is a security guard, received a R100 000 bonus from his employer, the Mi7 National Group, on Monday. As the men’s champion, Dijana secured the R260 000 prize money and a gold medal with his time of 5:30:38. The Mercury reported on Monday that despite winning this year’s Comrades Marathon, the 34-year-old plans to keep his day job as a security guard. Mi7 National Group director Colin David said Dijana has another reason to celebrate his well-deserved victory, after the Mi7 National Group rewarded him with a R100 000 cash bonus. David said the reward is in recognition of his outstanding first place finish in the world’s largest and oldest ultramarathon. “The bonus consists of a R50 000 cash component immediately payable…

Thousands of fighters, including former rebels from rival camps in South Sudan’s civil war, were integrated into the country’s army in a long-overdue graduation ceremony yesterday. The unification of forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and his rival, Vice- President Riek Machar, was a key condition of the 2018 peace deal that ended the brutal five-year conflict in which nearly 400 000 people died. Since achieving independence in 2011 from Sudan, the world’s youngest nation has lurched from crisis to crisis, battling flooding, hunger, ethnic violence and political turmoil. Earlier this month, South Sudan’s leaders – appointed to run a transitional government – announced that they would remain in power two years beyond an agreed deadline, sparking international concern. The transition period was meant to conclude with elections in December…

A Twitter user in apparent distress turned to the social media platform earlier this month to mull their next steps: “might just let my Razors win tonight” the user said in a tweet that racked up more than 1 500 likes, 20 comments and 250 retweets. The post was an example of what researchers from Network Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers University say is a dramatic rise in recent months of tweets related to self-harm. In a new report, the researchers said they have detected a Twitter community that is increasingly posting graphic photos, with hashtags, that reveal bloody self-injury practices. The tweets are garnering unusually high engagement given the small number of followers of the accounts, the report found. Among the disturbing statistics in the report is that since…

EDUCATION stakeholders said that while celebrating the new Zulu king was a worthy gesture, instructing teachers and pupils to wear traditional gear could be regarded as divisive. This follows a circular last week by Education MEC Mbali Frazer in which she called on pupils and teachers to wear traditional garb as a sign of respect for King Misuzulu kaZwelithini yesterday. In a statement yesterday, Frazer hailed the day as a success. She said they were encouraged by the support the programme received from the Zulu royal family, noting that Prince Thulani Zulu attended the celebratory programme at Nqabakazulu High School in KwaMashu yesterday. “We thank everyone who participated as we paid tribute to His Majesty, King Misuzulu kaZwelithini. We will continue to show pride in our culture and tradition,” she…

WHO remembers the days when milk was delivered to the doorstep? When some milkmen also delivered eggs and other stuff? A collection comes this way of notes left by householders inside the empty bottles by the front door: Dear milkman: I’ve just had a baby, please leave another one. Please leave an extra pint of paralysed milk. Cancel one pint after the day after today. From now on please leave two pints every other day and one pint on the days in between, except Wednesdays and Saturdays when I don’t want any milk. Sorry about yesterday’s note, I didn’t mean one egg and a dozen pints but the other way round. Please leave no milk today. When I say today, I mean tomorrow, for I wrote the note yesterday. Please…

It is a great pity that the outcome of AfriForum’s case against the EFF for its “Kill the Boer” chant was not based on the letter and spirit of the Constitution. AfriForum’s case was doomed by Judge Edwin Molahlehi’s incredible finding that the lyrics of the chant did not constitute hate and incitement. After that, the essence of the case became irrelevant. Instead the focus shifted when the status of AfriForum’s witnesses was questioned and found wanting in terms of the precedent set in Stock v Stock. It should not take a court case to adjudicate whether the EFF’s chant violated sections 9 (4) and 16 (2) (b and c) of the Constitution when it is obvious that they do, given the EFF’s advocacy of land seizure without compensation which…

I can only hazard a guess that the clean-up operations that were undertaken by the city over the past few weeks piqued the interest of many people. It was really pleasing to see that most streets, pavements and arterial routes were cleaned, encroaching trees were pruned, and even faulty street lights were repaired. However, let us not buy into what some may consider a ruse and be fooled into thinking that this might be the result of years and years of efforts made by ward councillors and community chat groups which are spearheaded by activists who used their clout to move mountains. Nay, this was done in the build-up to the ultimate human race, the Comrades Marathon, that alternates between the cities of Pietermaritzburg and Durban once every year. This…

Transnet says it is committed to wage negotiations with the workers’ unions SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) and the United National Transport Union (Untu). This comes after both unions rejected a 1.5% wage increase. They are asking for a 13.5% increase. The bargaining council has granted both unions a certificate of dispute. The unions say a protected strike action is on the cards if an amicable solution is not reached with Transnet. Satawu said among the challenges workers faced were the high cost of living, high medical aid expenses and fuel hikes. The union has asked for: a night-shift allowance to increase to R15 per hour; standby allowance to increase to R10 per hour; 13.5% across the board increase to salaries; capping of the overtime to be removed;…

Gift of the Givers will once again be extending a helping hand to another country, this time Pakistan, where mon- soon rains caused devastating floods. Director Imtiaz Sooliman described the situation as a tragedy, with a million homes destroyed and 33 million people displaced. “The official death toll is 1 000, but it could be four to five times more.” Sooliman said Gift of the Givers, as a rule, did not intervene in any international disaster situation unless a request was made by the head of state of the affected country. “The Pakistani Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, has now made that call,” said Sooliman. His team immediately began its work. “We have immediately opened dialogue with the Surgeon-General’s office in the Pakistani military and Alkhidmat, a civil society body. We…

Two men were arrested after they were seen by an eThekwini Municipality official stealing the copper cables from a light pole on Margaret Mncadi Avenue (Victoria Embankment) in the Durban CBD yesterday. The municipality said the two cable thieves were nabbed within 10 minutes by the metro police. “The police intercepted the pair after a municipal official raised the alarm when he saw the brazen suspects stealing cables in broad daylight on Margaret Mncadi Avenue,” said the city. The city said a police van was dispatched and the suspects were caught red-handed. Commenting on the city’s Facebook page where the pictures of the suspects were posted, one resident said the suspects were wrong for stealing cables. “They do deserve criminal action being taken against them, but from the images, they…

THE director-general in the KwaZulu-Natal premier’s office, Nonhlanhla Mkhize, appeared briefly in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court yesterday, along with five other accused, for a bail application. She was arrested on Monday by the Directorate of Priority Crimes Investigation (Hawks). Mkhize, Siphiwe Mabaso, Sthembelo Mhlanga, suspended Mhlathuze Water CEO Mthokozisi Duze, suspended Mhlathuze CFO Babongile Mnyandu and Thabiso Khumalo appeared in court on corruption charges relating to a Mhlatuze Water procurement project in 2018. The accused were represented by advocate Griffiths Madonsela SC, advocate Jay Naidoo and attorneys Zandile Mshololo and Jimmy Howse, among others. Bail was not opposed for Mnyandu and Khumalo. The other four accused were remanded in custody at the Durban Central police station until today for a bail application. Bail for Mnyandu was set at…

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka’s president announced further tax hikes and sweeping reforms yesterday, saying that bailout talks with the International Monetary Fund were in the “final stage”. The country of 22 million people has suffered months of dire shortages and protests culminating in the ouster of Gotabaya Rajapaksa last month. Presenting a new budget, his successor Ranil Wickremesinghe said that VAT would rise from 12 to 15% for all goods and services from tomorrow. He said a dedicated debt management agency was being set up to restructure borrowings. In April, Colombo defaulted on its $51 billion external debt. “Discussions on debt restructuring will be held with the main countries that provide loan assistance to our country,” Wickremesinghe said, referring to China, Japan and India, the top three creditors of the…

LAGOS: Every section of Nigerian society is complicit in the theft of millions of barrels of oil, the head of state oil company NNPC Ltd said yesterday, adding that makeshift pipelines and stolen fuel had even been found in churches and mosques. Theft from the nation’s pipelines has throttled exports, forced some companies to shut production and crippled the country’s finances. NNPC chief Mele Kyari said individuals were siphoning off around 200 000 barrels per day (bpd) from Africa’s largest exporter. The impact on exports was a reduction of 700 000 bpd, because theft had forced at least 700 “lock-ins” of oil production. | Reuters…

EMERGING farmers and nearby landowners are demanding government intervention after land invaders illegally built informal houses on Buildfontein farm in Kokstad. The invaders allegedly started building informal structures in July on the land which is owned by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and has been leased to emerging farmers since 2017. Lucky Majola, manager at Buildfontein farm and a member of the family that has been leased the farm by the department, said they had suffered major losses following the land invasion. “We have recorded a large number of incidents of theft of our livestock since the invaders built housing structures on the farm. There also has been a massive theft of grain since the invaders started living on the farm. Our grain harvest is extremely…

THERE are a number of ways to improve your family relationships. But, before you know what needs improving, I’d suggest you do your research. At least for a few weeks, watch for family patterns. You may think you know all about all the patterns but I would suggest you probably do not. Watch who is lazy (under-performs, is apparently helpless) when it comes to relationships and who works too hard (over-performs). You may also notice that such people tend to find each other and can dance this way for years. Notice where and how you over- and under-perform. There is no need to comment. Watch, learn, and think. Assess how you can more pointedly show up for yourself, self-advocate, shape your own behaviour within all your many contexts (home, work,…

I have many regrets in my life. One of them is not running the Comrades Marathon. Every year during Comrades time, I am filled with a deep sense of regret. I keep asking myself why I didn’t do this ultimate human race. I know I could have done it. From an early age I was an adventurous sort. I paddled the length and breadth of the bay in my leaking tin boat, and later my canoe with my friends and my dog Turpy sitting at the front of the boat like a captain. Once I walked alone without a penny in my pocket from Greytown to Muden because my friends dared me to do it. Then they dared me again to go to the graveyard at the witching hour of…

Scientists in Spain have unlocked the genetic code of the immortal jellyfish – a creature capable of repeatedly reverting to a juvenile state – in the hope of unearthing the secret to their longevity, and find new clues to understand human ageing. In their study, Maria Pascual-Tornerand colleagues at the University of Oviedo mapped the genetic sequence of Turritopsis dohrnii, the only known species of jellyfish able to repeatedly revert back into a larval stage after sexual reproduction. Like other types of jellyfish, the T dohrnii has a two-part life cycle, living on the sea floor during an asexual phase, where its chief role is to stay alive. When conditions are right, jellyfish reproduce sexually. Many types of jellyfish have some capacity to reverse ageing and revert to a larval…

Concern over rampant abuse of overtime in eThekwini Municipality’s Durban Solid Waste (DSW) unit have deepened following revelations that one employee claimed R50 000 in overtime pay after working 317 hours of overtime. The unnamed employee, who is listed as a supervisor driver in the unit, is among 70 employees who have been listed as having claimed more than 200 hours of overtime in any single month. The revelations are contained in a spreadsheet tabled in response to questions posed about widespread abuse of overtime pay in the unit. The spreadsheet gave details of employees “working” abnormal overtime hours exceeding 200 hours a month. It was tabled during a Q&A session in eThekwini Municipality’s full council meeting last week. Councillors submit questions before the meeting and receive responses at…

Five members of the SAPS were killed when their aircraft crashed at the Rand Airport, Germiston yesterday afternoon. The pilot was critically injured and taken to a hospital. “On board were five passengers and a pilot. All five passengers have sadly lost their lives. The pilot is critically injured and has been taken to a nearby hospital for further medical care,” said national police spokesperson Colonel Athlenda Mathe. Mathe said authorities went to the scene and an investigation would be conducted to establish the cause of the accident. “The details of the deceased and injured pilot will be released once their next of kin have been informed,” Mathe added. A source in the emergency services said the SAPS PC-6 Turbo Porter aircraft crashed shortly after taking off at Rand…

NOTHING ever lasts forever. Yet, as the conflict between Russia and the West, where the Kiev regime acts merely as the latter’s proxy, unfolds, we reaffirm the view that the US and EU are forgetting this simple wisdom. The West evidently placed its bid on Russia’s military defeat in Ukraine. Here are some quotes to illustrate what we are saying. Lloyd Austin, the US Secretary of Defence, said: “We believe that they (the Kiev regime) can win if they have the right equipment, the right support. And we’re going to continue to do everything we can to ensure that it gets there.” John Kirby, the then-press secretary of the Pentagon, added: “We want to see Mr (Vladimir) Putin and the Russian army lose this fight inside Ukraine.” Some of the…

It is possible to eliminate the monkeypox outbreak in Europe, World Health Organization officials said yesterday, highlighting evidence that case counts are slowing in a handful of countries. There were encouraging signs of a sustained week-on-week decline in cases in France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and Britain, as well as a slowdown in some parts of the US, despite scarce vaccine supplies, the WHO said. The rollout of Bavarian Nordic’s monkeypox vaccine has been affected by limited supply of the shot, also used to prevent smallpox. In addition, given the time it takes to deploy the vaccine and for it to take effect, significant factors behind the slowdown appear to be earlier detection, patients isolating themselves sooner, and behavioural changes, the WHO said. More than 47 600 confirmed cases in 90…