Indice dei contenuti per 2022-01-21 in Mercury

Lisa L. Lewis We already know this pandemic has been horrendous for teens and their mental health. Last month’s mental health advisory from the US surgeon-general underscored the magnitude of the issue, as feelings of hopelessness and even suicidality have been on the rise over the past several years among this age group, with the pandemic only adding to teens’ stress levels. But there is another piece that plays an important factor in teen mental health, especially now: sleep and the role it plays in boosting mental health and emotional resiliency. With children and teens readjusting to the world in the wake of pandemic isolation, sleeping well can be a protective factor, says Lisa Meltzer, a pediatric psychologist at National Jewish Health in Denver. “When you don’t sleep well, emotional…

Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za CRICKET South Africa (CSA) has appointed respected senior counsel advocate Terry Motau to chair the disciplinary hearing into the conduct of Proteas head coach Mark Boucher, who was named in the Social Justice and Nation (SJN) Building report. Boucher, who was handed a charge sheet earlier this week containing allegations made against him, was strongly criticised in the final SJN report for trying to excuse calling his former teammate Paul Adams, “brown sh**”, as part of a team song when the pair were in the SA side in the late 1990s. The Transformation Ombudsman, advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, said in Boucher’s case it appeared – if he had undergone diversity and transformation training – that he was “apathetic” toward diversity and transformation. In addition, CSA said, that Motau’s…

When you’re a single parent, your courage, determination and willingness to live fully, your ability and willingness to employ all of your skills and expedite your wildest ambitions, will go a long way towards compensating for the absence of the other parent. You can have a full life and be a mom or dad. Being debilitated by the absence of a partner, and living as if a successful life is impossible to lead without a partner, will hinder your child and your relationship with your child almost as significantly as the absence of the other parent. You can do this alone. It is possible. Having your own life, pursuing interests and dreams that do not involve your child, is good for you and for your child. The laser focus that…

EBRAHIM ESSA | Durban ARCHBISHOP Emeritus Desmond Tutu said: “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” How many people have you encountered who merely nod their heads without commenting when you address a serious and proven wrongdoing, especially if they have a vested interest in the matter being criticised? No ANC supporter, for instance, dares criticise any proven corrupted colleague. No Muslim makes a hoo-ha about a loud azaan (call to prayer) that disturbs others. No Hindu openly criticises the Bharatiya Janata Party for implementing its own official apartheid policy against minorities. This trait protects the individual from being ostracised from the herd or losing face in society. Always be neutral and always an oppressor! Tutu said this, not…

CLYDE BAWDEN | uMhlanga WELL done, Michael Tarr and John Gardener (The Mercury, January 19), for their letters about arch-conspiracy theorist and Trump acolyte, the Bluff “oracle” Duncan du Bois, he who knows all, or so he seems to think. The Trump-et has never missed an opportunity to glorify his hero, the controversial and often derided former president of the US, and now, scrambling to find a conspiracy to blame for the deportation of his fellow anti-vaxxer Novak Djokovic from Australia, has dredged up ulterior motives involving a mining project in Serbia with the Rio Tinto company as the reason for the tennis star’s unceremonious removal. On the subject of Djokovic and his “immunity“, Du Bois claims that because he had recovered from Covid-19 his body had developed…

Kailene Pillay kailene.pillay@inl.co.za Former Gauteng Health Department official Hannah Jacobus admitted she “did nothing” after she found some NGOs that received patients from Life Esidimeni were understaffed. The cross-examination continued virtually in the Pretoria High Court yesterday. Jacobus, now retired, is the sixth witness to be called in the Life Esidimeni inquest. The inquest, to determine what led to 144 mental health-care users dying after being moved from Life Esidimeni facilities to NGOs in 2016, resumed this week. Jacobus was in charge of checking NGOs’ readiness to receive mental health-care patients. Under cross-examination by advocate Phyllis Vorster, Jacobus told the court she only found out that some staff at NGOs resigned due to non- payment after the transfer of patients took place. Asked what steps she had taken after finding…

Karen Singh and Yogashen Pillay TOP matric achievers from Durban schools were all in agreement that their final year of schooling was extremely stressful. The pupils, who all obtained either nine or eight distinctions, told The Mercury yesterday that they had to come up with strategies to deal with an intense workload due to the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the July unrest. Ria Sewsunker, 18, who achieved eight distinctions from Northlands Girls’ High School, said it was a stressful period but she was glad she was able to overcome the challenges. “The night before the exams I used to get nervous but as soon as I got into the exam room I managed to calm myself and write.” Ria is still undecided as to what she’ll be…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za NEW year, same problems. This is according to medical experts assessing accident victims for the Road Accident Fund (RAF), who say they are still waiting to be paid for their services. Johannesburg neurosurgeon Dr Percy Miller said he was owed millions by the RAF for writing expert reports on road accident victims, which he had submitted over the past few years. “This is no small task and takes up a lot of time. It also often saves the RAF millions,” Miller said. He explained that experts were often tasked by the RAF to assess an accident victim who instituted a claim for compensation. It often happens that the claims instituted are inflated by means of attributing some of the injuries to the accident. The task of experts…

The Cold War mentality is outdated and must be discarded On January 17, Chinese president Xi Jinping attended and addressed the 2022 World Economic Forum (WEF) virtual session. This is the third time that President Xi Jinping has addressed the WEF as head of state. The 2017 speech focused on how China views and promotes globalisation, the trend of the times. The 2021 remarks were mainly about what kind of multilateralism China advocates and practices. The theme for his address this year is how to create a better post-Covid world from the historical and philosophical perspectives. WEF founder Professor Klaus Schwab highly praised President Xi’s speech as an important milestone in promoting global co-operation, and pointed the way forward for a better future of China and the world at large.…

PARIS: Scientists have discovered a pristine, 3km long reef of giant rose-shaped corals off the coast of Tahiti, in waters thought to be deep enough to protect it from the bleaching effects of the warming ocean. The reef lies at depths of more than 30 metres. Some of the rose-shaped corals measure more than 2m in diameter. “It was magical to witness giant, beautiful rose corals which stretch for as far as the eye can see. It was like a work of art,” said French photographer Alexis Rosenfeld, who made the discovery. The reef off Tahiti lies in the “twilight zone” 30m to 120m below the surface where there is still enough light for coral to grow.…

Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak says Houthi attacks against civilian targets in Gulf states will continue as the rebel movement pursues its agenda to destabilise security and stability in the region. On Monday, Houthi drones targeted the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi, including the construction site of a new airport and fuel tankers near depots of oil company Adnoc, killing three people and injuring six. “The Houthis’ bombardment of the Abu Dhabi airport is the ordinary behaviour of rebels not interested in peace. The Houthis’ actions on civilian and economic targets in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, or the United Arab Emirates are not the first and won’t be the last with armed Houthi militia outside the state,” bin Mubarak said. The Abu Dhabi airport attack is in line with…

A Kenyan entrepreneur who began a nutritious instant meal company during the Covid-19 pandemic says she is determined to take her products to the next level and target a mass market. Tei Mukunya Oundo is chief executive and co-founder of NatureLock, a Nairobi-based instant meal company started in 2020. She studied at Cornell University, New York, and has an MBA in Strategic Management from the United States International University. Oundo says her company is looking to address the gap in the market for quick, healthy food at a price point affordable to the mass market. NatureLock processes 100% field-fresh produce into nutritious products. Her company was awarded the Africa Food Industry Excellence Award for best product 2021, Naturelock StewsDay, instant Ndengu stew. After winning, Oundo said: “We want to feed…

Mike Greenaway mike.greenaway@inl.co.za IT is two years now since blockbusting centre Andre Esterhuizen left the Sharks for the green grass of England and he has been missed ever since at Kings Park, with the search to replace him producing only lukewarm success. Marius Louw and Jeremy Ward duelled for the No 12 jersey, with Louw making the better fist of it but still the search went on and tomorrow at Ellis Park there will be a new pretender to Esterhuizen’s throne in former Wallaby Ben Tapuai who will be making his debut in the Sharks’ United Rugby Championship match against the Lions. Perhaps it is a good omen that Tapuai comes to the Sharks via Harlequins, the English club where Esterhuizen is blazing a trail across the Premiership, recently winning…

| Sports Reporter The Proteas left the 2022 Quad Series in London without a single win, but will be comforted by their gutsy performance against world champions New Zealand on Wednesday. New Zealand beat South Africa by a solitary goal (51-50) to finish third in the four-nation tournament. The Proteas and Silver Ferns met for the second time in 24 hours, and this time around it was for the bronze medal. SA finished the stronger team of the two, but could not grab victory. It was the Proteas that took an early lead in the game, they led the first quarter for the most part and from there it was pound-for-pound right until the last second when New Zealand finished the quarter 14 -13 ahead. Wing defence Monique Reyneke…

THE year 2021 has joined the list of the seven warmest years on record, the UN weather agency has said. It is also the seventh consecutive year when the global temperature has been more than 1°C above pre-industrial levels; edging closer to the limit laid out under the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. According to the UN agency, although average global temperatures have been temporarily cooled by the 2020-2022 La Niña events, 2021 is one of the seven warmest years on record, according to international datasets by the World Meteorological Organisation. Global warming and other climate change trends are expected to continue as a result of record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. The average global temperature in 2021 was about 1.11 (± 0.13) °C above the pre-industrial era levels.|…

| Mitch Hedberg ARE people becoming enslaved by computer games? They’ve even crept into American policing, according to Sky News. Two Los Angeles cops were too busy with a game of Pokemon Go to respond to a call of a robbery in progresss at Macy’s department store. Their digital in-car video system recorded Louis Lozano and Eris Mitchell “wilfully abdicating their duty to assist a commanding officer’s response to a robbery in progress and playing a Pokemon mobile phone game while on duty”, according to court papers. They actually backed their car into an alleyway near Macy’s to continue their game of Pokemon. They were fired and the court has upheld their dismissal, against which they’d appealed. Pokemon Go (or maybe Pokemon Don’t Go) – could this have any…

DUNCAN DU BOIS | Bluff CONTROL of the information narrative is the greatest weapon because of its ability to condition thinking. The views of Messrs Tarr and Gardener on the subject of Covid-19 vaccines (The Mercury, January 19) appear to reflect the conversation of that controlled narrative. Its power is based on the integrated finance and influence of and between the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Big Pharma and the media. CNN ridiculed Trump’s announcement of a vaccine late in 2020, remarking that without the standard period of three years and more of testing, Trump’s vaccine was suspect. As recently as December 16, the FDA’S acting chief scientist, Dr Jacqueline A O’Shaughnessy, in a lengthy statement addressed to Pfizer…

The heavy rains that soaked California late last year were welcomed by farmers, urban planners – and the endangered coho salmon. “We’ve seen fish in places that they haven’t been for almost 25 years,” said Preston Brown, director of watershed conservation for Salmon Protection And Watershed Network. California received more precipitation from October to December than in the previous 12 months, according to the National Weather Service. The abundance of rain and snow arrived in time for the November-to-January spawning season in the resource-rich Tomales Bay watershed north of San Francisco, enabling some fish to reach tributaries to the Lagunitas Creek. Some fish have been spotted a mile upstream from where the San Geronimo Creek had been dammed until little more than a year ago. The rain could easily be…

MaryAnne Isaac maryanne.isaac@inl.co.za AFTER having to experience two years of complete chaos and uncertainty in the education sector, this week’s release of the matric results will be a cause for celebration for matriculants. For those undecided about what to do this year, Sean Sharp, executive head of sales at EduPower Skills Academy, said that entering today’s highly competitive job market would be daunting for first-time job-seekers. “The chances that all our matriculants will find a job are slim. They are competing in a labour market where unemployment is sitting at nearly 35%, making the competition for every job fierce. The fact is that two out of every three young people (under 35 years) cannot find work and this rises to three out of four for under-25s.” Sharp said matriculants should…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za IT is second time lucky for a mother who had abducted her 4-year-old daughter from Europe, where she and the child’s father lived, and brought her to South Africa. The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, last year ordered that she immediately had to return her daughter to Luxembourg, Europe. The mother, however, won her case on appeal before the High Court. The father turned to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) as he wants his child to be returned. However, he also lost this round. While the court said it was not disputed that the removal of E – as the child is identified – from Luxembourg was unlawful, it was in her best interests to stay with the mother in South Africa. Experts expressed the opinion to…

Yogashen Pillay yogashen.pillay@inl.co.za THE Automobile Association (AA) says urgent interventions need to be made to address the high road crash fatalities during the 2021/2022 festive season after a 14% increase was recorded compared to last year. The announcement of the road fatalities was made by Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula during the release of the 2021 festive season fatality statistics on Monday. Mbalula said that a total of 1 685 fatalities were recorded over this festive period. “It is disturbing to note that the Northern Cape recorded the highest increase of 97%, moving from 33 fatalities in the previous period to 65 in this period. The Western Cape equally recorded a massive 55.6% increase in the percentage of fatalities, moving from 133 fatalities in the previous period to 207…

Doctors Without Borders sounded the alarm this week about the escalating conflict in the eastern Congo – just one MSF field hospital in Ituri is attending to 65 000 people. But the real story behind this crisis is that the conflict in Ituri province is being fuelled by the race to exploit the region’s rich oil reserves. The suspicion being that violence is a cheap way to rid the land of its inhabitants without paying to relocate them. At least that is what many local inhabitants believe, as well as several archbishops in the region who constantly refer to the “invisible hands” that help organise attacks and provide money and communications equipment. In a statement issued by the archbishops, they warn of powerful forces trying to “pit ethnic communities…

Bogota: A Colombian court has ruled the government cannot conduct anti-drug fumigation without the consent of rural communities, a blow to plans to resume aerial assault on coca. The Constitutional Court ruled in favour of rural, black and indigenous communities who sought judicial relief against government plans to renew spraying with the controversial glyphosate herbicide. They claim the chemical causes disease, destroys traditional crops and pollutes the water. The court, in an order obtained Wednesday, ordered authorities to consult residents before doing so.…

Washington: The Supreme Court has rejected a bid by former president Donald Trump to block the release, to a congressional committee, of documents related to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. Trump, citing executive privilege, had sought to prevent the documents held by the National Archives from being given to the committee investigating the assault on Congress by Trump supporters. Trump has been accused of fomenting the assault on the Capitol. The Supreme Court, in an 8-1 vote, refused to issue a stay.…

A 57-year-old Tongan man who said he swam around 27 hours after getting swept out to sea during Saturday’s devastating tsunami has been hailed a ‘real life Aquaman’. The eruption of the Hunga Tonga- Hunga Ha’apai volcano on Saturday killed at least three people, sent tsunami waves rolling across the archipelago, damaging villages, resorts and many buildings and knocked out communications for the nation of about 105 000 people. Lisala Folau, who lived on the small, isolated island of Atata which has a population of about 60 people, was swept out to sea when the waves hit land at about 7pm on Saturday, he said in a radio interview to Tongan media agency Broadcom Broadcasting. Folau said he was painting his home when he was alerted about the tsunami by…

THE summer inedibles are the main targets at the moment and they have been around in good numbers along most of the KZN coast. Most of the deeper points along the north coast have seen good numbers of both flatfish and sharks. Mackerel has been the pick of the baits for everything in the last few weeks so make sure you have some good-quality mackerel. Tinley Manor, Blythedale and Zinkwazi have been the top-performing spots along the north coast. The mornings have produced most of the action with the bites slowing down as the day goes on. The beaches along the north coast have also seen some edible action with a couple good stumpies and kob being caught. The kob have favoured chokka and sardine while the stumpies have fallen…

Sibusiso Mboto and Zama Ngcoya sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za KWAZULU-NATAL top achievers in the 2021 matric exams believe that early preparations, hard work and strong family support are some of the key ingredients for a Grade 12 pupil to do well in the exams. The eight pupils were invited, along with their counterparts from other provinces, to an exclusive breakfast hosted by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, in Joburg yesterday. In an interview with The Mercury, they spoke of how they attended extra classes which went on through the weekend and used previous exam papers to prepare themselves for the most important exam of their lives. The pupils alluded to the difficulties they endured under Covid-19, as well as the challenge of internet access. Mhlengi Shange,17, of Menzi High School in uMlazi who…

Zodidi Dano and Nomonde Zondi THE 2021 matric pass rate has increased to 76.4%, a slight increase from the previous year’s 76.2%. This was announced by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga yesterday. She said: “The class of 2021 must be commended due to the astronomical challenges they faced. The pass rate stands at 76.4% an improvement of 0.2%. This includes the results from the progressed learners. This represents a record of 537 687 candidates, who passed the 2021 NSC examinations – an improvement of 21.9% for passes from 2020. Without the progressed learners, the overall pass rate stands at 79.8% – just 0.2% below the 80% pass rate.” A total of 897 163 full-time candidates registered to write the 2021 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination, which started on October 27…

NETHRAJ RAMPERSAD | Chatsworth WITH reference to the letter “Clandestine war being waged in SA”. (The Mercury, January 18) Visvin Reddy, are you pulling the wool over the Indian community’s eyes? We Indians are trying to rectify and work with our black brothers and sisters to put the focus of Phoenix past us. If you as a community representative keep bringing this issue up, how are we to forget what happened? Secondly, you, similar to the late Mr Amichand Rajbansi, took the Indian votes and sold them to the ANC. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all of the time. Visvin, you voted with the ANC, so the status quo remains. Don’t complain about what’s happening…

MAVA B SCOTT | Spokesperson for the State Security Agency Reading the editorial opinion of The Mercury, “Concerns over state security agency”, on Wednesday, I could not but remember the words of the Polish aphorist and poet Stanislaw Jerzy Lec when he said: “Believers believe in resurrection, atheists only in comebacks!” Several others, including some in the opposition benches, have also cast aspersions on the decision of the president to assume political responsibility for the control and direction of civilian intelligence services. Some have far-fetched suspicions that the president may be on a mission to “turn (the agency) into a private army to serve the interests of a few, while the country is left vulnerable”. One is then left to wonder, is this a case of the proverbial…

KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Social Development, Nonhlanhla Khoza, has issued a warning to the public to be vigilant and avoid falling victim to scam artists who claimed they could arrange government jobs for a fee. The department said in a statement that there was a group of people who were calling desperate and unsuspecting job seekers, promising them jobs in the department in exchange for payments of R9 000. It was further revealed that the scam artists were operating in the Ugu, Harry Gwala and uMgungundlovu districts. The department said contacting parents of job seekers and enticing them to pay in order to secure jobs for their children was one of the tactics included in their modus operandi. Khoza urged people to be wary of criminals who promised them jobs. “Government…

AXED Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) chief executive Kgosie Matthews’s urgent Labour Court application to interdict the entity from terminating his contract will be heard next week. The matter was due to be heard by the Labour Court in Braamfontein, Joburg on Wednesday but it was removed from the roll. Matthews’s lawyer, Peter Harris said that the date was moved after an agreement with all parties. He said the matter was not removed from the roll as a result of a settlement between his client and the agency. Matthews was fired by the Prasa board in December for failing to disclose his dual citizenship and not obtaining a top secret security clearance from the State Security Agency. In court, Matthews raised his suspicions about the way the matter of…

Mercury Reporter The KwaZulu-Natal provincial executive has resolved to make a request to the national government to declare the province a disaster area. This is according to a statement from KwaZulu-Natal Co-operative Governance MEC Sipho Hlomuka yesterday. This comes after the province was hit by storms and heavy rains since late December which caused widespread damage and led to the loss of lives. In Ladysmith and Msinga, residents had to be evacuated from their homes this week due to severe flooding. Hlomuka said a report on the weather-related incidents and damage was tabled with the provincial executive, which then resolved to request the national government to declare the province a disaster area. He said this declaration would allow the provincial government to access funding to deal with the damage caused…

OTHER than for its monetary benefits, sport is largely valued for the entertainment it provides, bringing together friend and foe and uniting fragmented communities. But sport can also be a divisive tool between people. It was, therefore, a welcome relief to finally have some tennis being played at the Melbourne Park courts following a chaotic and controversial build-up dominated by the visa saga that engulfed world men’s No 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic. The unvaccinated Serbian is not at this year’s Major to defend his title after his last-gasp court bid to stay in the country failed on the eve of the first Grand Slam of the year. There is no doubt that Djokovic will continue to cast a dark shadow over the tournament even though the players were…

MOSCOW: The 2018 murder of three Russian journalists in the Central African Republic (CAR) was likely committed by the 3R illegal armed unit, new Russian ambassador Alexander Bikantov to the CAR said. The ambassador stressed that the journalists were moving on the Dekoa-Sibut road without guards. “According to preliminary data they were stopped and killed by militants of the 3R illegal armed unit,” Bikantov said. Kirill Radchenko, Alexander Rastorguev and Orkhan Dzhemal were found dead in July 2018. They were sent to the CAR by the Investigations Management Center of Russian opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky.…

WASHINGTON: The University of Michigan said it had agreed to pay $490 million (R7.48 billion) to settle claims from more than 1 000 people who said a long-time sports doctor on its staff sexually abused them over many years. The development punctuates a series of scandals that have sent the prestigious school reeling. The settlement will resolve claims and lawsuits from about 1 050 people, including former football players, who say Robert Anderson molested them during physical exams. The complaints of fondling and unnecessary rectal and genital exams span decades. The announcement comes as the state flagship university of 47 000 students, regarded as one of the top public schools in the country, is also confronting additional accusations that have taken down its top leaders. On…

TEHRAN: An 87-year-old man in Iran has left scientists and researchers amused as they found him healthy despite not having taken a bath for over 67 years and eating roadkill. According to media reports published yesterday, Amou Jaji, a resident of Dejgah Village in Iran’s Kermanshah Province, gave up bathing more than six decades ago due to a fear of water. He believes he may fall sick if he takes a bath. Reports of “the world’s dirtiest man” also said that he doesn’t take regular meals and his diet consists of roadkill such as porcupines and rabbits, and water from puddles. Jaji also loves smoking. But not tobacco. He rather prefers to smoke animal faeces out of a rusty pipe. During his youth, the octogenarian had suffered some emotional setbacks…

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was left upbeat by the prospect of a peaceful settlement of the armed conflict in northern Ethiopia. In a statement, Guterres said he held a telephone conversation with Olusegun Obasanjo, the AU high representative for the Horn of Africa, to exchange views on the conflict in Ethiopia following the latter’s latest visit to Addis Ababa and Mekelle, the capital of the regional state of Tigray, Xinhua news agency reported. Obasanjo briefed him on the efforts being made by the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front to move toward a resolution of the violent conflict ravaging the region. Obasanjo expressed optimism that there is now a real opportunity for a political and diplomatic resolution of the conflict, said Guterres. “I am delighted…