Indice dei contenuti per 2022-03-07 in Mercury

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za OIL COMPANIES have no concerns about meeting local demand through import fuel at this stage, in spite of worsening industry risk factors that have included Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, industry representative bodies said on Friday. The South African Petroleum Industry Association (Sapia) said in response to Business Report’s questions that at this stage there were no concerns relating to imported fuels, and there was sufficient storage infrastructure to handle additional volumes from imports as required from the end of this month, following the recent announcement of the “pause” in production and possible sale of Shell and BP’s Sapref refinery, South Africa’s biggest refinery, south of eThekwini. “The only concern would be attri- buted to vessel delays due to weather conditions, however these are managed,” Sapia said. The…

Yogashen Pillay yogashen.pillay@inl.co.za THE rise in fuel prices and increase in toll road tariffs that came into effect last week, along with the looming electricity price hike, will likely have a significant impact on most households. So say economists and a civil society organisation. Petrol, diesel and paraffin prices shot up last week. Both grades of petrol increased by R1.46 per litre, while diesel went up by R1.44 for 500ppm and R1.48 for 50ppm. Illuminating paraffin increased by R1.21 per litre. The SA National Roads Agency’s toll tariff increases for roads also came into effect last week. The toll fees for a single trip between Durban and Joburg is R286.50 for all light vehicles while for heavy vehicles the cost ranges from R520 to R1 050. The National Energy…

The person you share your life with can be the greatest gift you have ever known, or can be short-tempered and cutting when things don’t go your way. It’s all about the lens. The baby crying on the plane on your long-haul flight can be heaven’s music reminding you that all the people you love were once babies, or it can annoy you and upset the comforts you think you deserve. Again, it’s a lens thing. Your child’s teacher or coach could be your greatest asset, helping you understand and guide your child, or a person you make into a target for your unresolved school or childhood issues. Lens, lens, lens. The incompetent helper you have at the post office or anywhere else you require assistance could be a godsend…

GABI MARAIS | Winston Park This week my husband and I received an SMS notification that we were due for our top-up vaccine. We went on Thursday to Watercrest Mall in Waterfall. The service we received was excellent. We barely felt the needle prick. It didn't take five minutes and we received another SMS notification that we had received our booster shot and were also given a reference number. Whoever put the software together for the Department of Health obviously knows what they are doing and are incredibly efficient. Perhaps other government departments that spend millions on investigating irregularities in their systems should consult with the Department of Health. Imagine the money that could be saved if these investigations did not have to take place? That money…

Kevin Govender | Shallcross So today I am going to let my words stand for themselves, the enormity of their meaning left unspoken as I stand in solidarity with the Ukrainian nation as they suffer untold human misery, pain, death, isolation from loved ones and broken dignity. Just put on your television and it is there for all the whole world to see – the accelerated heartbeats, the heightened awareness, the haunted look in the eyes and the hurrying new-found step – woman and children fleeing an impending doom. Husbands have been ordered to stay behind to fight the war against advancing Russian armed forces. To date more than 1 million refugees have fled to neighbouring Slovakia, Romania, Moldova, Hungary and Poland which has taken in a massive…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za A woman has approached the court to have her former husband declared a vexatious litigant because he has been dragging her constantly to court over the years for frivolous reasons – only to annoy her. The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria agreed with the woman, who cannot be identified as most of the litigation pertains to their divorce and children. The court declared the husband a vexatious litigant and ordered he may only institute fresh proceedings against the woman if the court gave him the green light to do so. The court was told the husband ran to court at every possible turn, resulting in his wife having to incur legal costs each time as she had to obtain a lawyer. To make matters worse, the…

Nomonde Zondi nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za A total of 61 suspects who were arrested for various crimes in the eThekwini district policing areas are expected to appear in court today. Provincial police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala said the suspects were arrested for crimes including murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, fraud, car-jacking, robbery, arson, theft, and assault. Gwala said a multidisciplinary operation was conducted in the eThekwini district targeting crime hot spots on Friday night and Saturday morning. She said the operation was carried out by a team of police officers from various stations in the eThekwini District, along with the metro police and Correctional Services officials. “Stop-and-searches operations were conducted and traffic fines issued to those who failed to adhere to the National Traffic Act. Foot patrols were also conducted,” said Gwala. She said…

Two suspects have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping a Reservoir Hills businessman from his business premises on Friday. Provincial police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala said in a statement that it was alleged by the complainant that on March 4 at 10.30pm, her husband did not arrive home, and when she phoned him she sensed that he was in trouble. “Suddenly, the phone was taken from him by an unknown male who demanded a ransom of R1 million to release the victim. Charges of kidnapping and extortion were opened for investigation at Westville SAPS.” Gwala said that a task team was activated to search for the victim and the suspects. She said police were later informed that the victim had managed to escape and found his way to the Taylors…

Implementation may take years, and enforcement is weak THE Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment published the Climate Change Bill in October last year, but it has not yet been tabled in Parliament, which is the next formal step in the bill’s passage to becoming the Climate Change Act. The bill will go through various public participation processes, and it is important for activists and concerned people to understand the bill and some of the concerns about it. What is the intention of the bill? The bill is intended to ensure that South Africa is empowered to respond adequately and safely to climate change and its risks and impacts. It regulates climate change mitigation – that is, reducing greenhouse gas emissions to slow down and stop global warming – as…

Russia presented a new condition for a revival of the Iran nuclear deal at the weekend: A US guarantee that the sanctions that have been imposed on Moscow for invading Ukraine won’t be applied to Russian trade and investment with Iran. The demand, made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, threatens to derail talks to restore the 2015 deal just as diplomats in Vienna hoped to finalise an agreement by early next week. Lavrov told a news conference that Russia was ready to accept a draft document restoring the deal. But he said there were “problems that have appeared recently from the point of view of Russia’s interests.” Under the new agreement, the Biden administration is expected to lift sanctions on Iran imposed by then president Donald Trump…

A boat carrying more than one hundred Rohingya refugees, including dozens of children, landed on the coast of Indonesia’s westernmost province Aceh early yesterday, police said. The vessel, which sailed from a Rohingya camp in Bangladesh, arrived shortly after 3am on a beach in Bireun district. It was carrying 114 people, including 58 men, 21 women and 35 children aged under 15 years old, police said. “We will conduct a general health check up and Covid-19 rapid antigen tests for these foreigners,” local police chief Mike Hardy Wirapraja told AFP. He said they would later be transferred to neighbouring Lhokseumawe district which has a shelter for refugees. Police found out about the arrival after some local fishermen reported that a boat filled with Rohingya people had landed on the…

Sydney: Australian towns devastated by deadly flooding over the past week prepared for further intense weather yesterday, with expected downpours halting volunteer recovery and clean-up efforts. The national weather bureau warned of severe thunderstorms and major flooding in the state of Queensland, where 11 people died in the past week’s floods. Flash flooding is forecast for the major city of Brisbane, home to 2.6 million people. Heavy rains, large hailstones and damaging winds were also expected to hit further south in the state of New South Wales, including the town of Lismore.…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za ESKOM’S deferral of the project to replace steam generators at Koeberg’s Unit 2 will save the economy billions of rands as loadshedding and outages in the high demand winter season would have been catastrophic, both pro and anti-nuclear supporters said yesterday as the utility bears the cost of postponing the refurbishments to August next year. Eskom on Friday announced Eskom will defer the replacement of three steam generators at Unit 2 of Koeberg nuclear power station so that the unit can return to service in June as scheduled. The unit, which was shut down on January 18 for refuelling and extension of life which includes the replacement of three steam generators, was scheduled to return to service. What is concerning is Framatome (French company) had…

IT’S with great sadness that I bring news of the death of Pat Smythe – aka Spyker Koekemoer – Durban’s gifted raconteur, after-dinner speaker, comic and livewire of the St Clement’s arts soiree. Pat would occasionally adopt the illuminating persona of Spyker Koekemoer, drawing on the writings of Herman Charles Bosman, which he so much admired. He enlivened such decorous gatherings as the Duikers Rugby Club annual dinner and was the jovial life and soul of informal cultural gatherings at the Street Shelter for the Over-Forties. He will be sadly missed. Military puzzle HAS the Ukraine war somehow spread to South Africa? A curious report comes this way, headed “Russian invasion of South Africa grinds to a halt”. After three days of chaos in Port Elizabeth harbour, a crane collapsed…

DUNCAN DU BOIS | Bluff IF there is a Pulitzer Prize for conflated nonsense, then the worthy recipients of it would have to be Murray Leibrandt and Anda David of UCT for their article claiming that socio-economic inequality is hindering action on global warming (The Mercury, March 3). Their theory that global warming is man-made is wrong in two respects. First, global warming is not taking place. This is attested to by science and history. First, as noted in a previous letter, Dr Steven Koonin, among hundreds of eminent scientists, has pointed out that there has been no change in the warmest temperatures over the past 60 years. Ice accumulation in Antarctica is not shrinking. Second, warming periods have occurred when the carbon dioxide levels were much lower…

GLEN CHRISTIE | Durban North MY letter published on March 3 referred to the budget that allowed for R80 million in bonuses for municipality staff coupled with proposed borrowings of R1 billion. It just boggles the mind that we now read of fraudulent transactions of R45 million that have taken place (The Mercury, March 4). The bottom line is that there are no suitably qualified people employed in this municipality. Those who allowed these transactions to pass through them should be fired – but then on the other hand, we all know that the ANC does not fire its own people. This functioning of the municipality with such delinquent people employed, is a total disgrace and it just highlights that there is no management in charge; if there…

A KWAZULU-Natal man, 25, has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for the 2020 murder of a Newcastle businessman. Mtholozisi George Mlotshwa was sentenced in the Madadeni High Court last week. Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala said that on August 16, 2020, police responded to a business robbery in Stephenson Street, Newcastle. “A vehicle and cash were taken. The owner, Lu Xiaojun, 50, was stabbed and died in hospital.” On December 4, 2020, police arrested Mlotshwa. Meanwhile, the Free State High Court sentenced Tshediso Andries Motsoele, 45, to life plus 15 years in prison for killing a 73-year-old woman on her farm just outside Smithfield, south-east of Bloemfontein. Johanne Andriette Bisset was robbed of her earrings, stabbed twice in the neck and found dead by her husband on…

Zelda Venter and ntombi nkosi The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says it is giving serious attention to the investigation and prosecution of those behind the murder of anti-apartheid activist Dr Neil Aggett. This comes after Friday’s judgment which set aside the 1982 inquest finding that Aggett had committed suicide. In Friday’s judgment, the Johannesburg High Court found that Aggett was killed by members of the security police. Judge Motsamai Makume, in no uncertain terms, said that the 1982 inquest, during which it was found that Aggett had hanged himself in cell 209 at the then John Vorster Square, was a massive cover-up for what really happened. The judge found that all evidence led during the reopened inquest, pointed to the fact that Aggett, a medical doctor and trade unionist who…

Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za THE ANC’s target of having all regional and provincial conferences countrywide concluded by this month is in doubt following a staff strike that affected its ability to audit branches and allocate delegates accordingly. In January, Treasurer-General (TG) Paul Mashatile in his capacity as acting secretary-general in the absence of Ace Magashule (who is suspended) and Jessie Duarte (who is on sick leave), wrote to the ANC in Gauteng and told it not to host its conference in June. That was after the provincial secretary, Jacob Khawe, wrote to Luthuli House asking to convene an elective conference in June this year. Writing back, Mashatile told the province that the ANC had set a deadline of the end of March for all outstanding regional and provincial conferences. “This matter…

AFRICA, like other emerging markets, has generally had a bad press in the global media. Covering Africa is still dominated by a cornucopia of centuries-old stereotypes – some still based on colonial and racial metrics – relating to conflict, coups, terrorism, poor governance, corruption, poverty and natural disasters. Africa’s compelling stories and successes are often lost in translation because they do not fit the narrative. Could changing the news narrative on Africa, for instance, attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) into the continent as Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the president of the African Development Bank, maintains? The Business in Africa Narrative Report published in February underpinned “research that there is a correlation between increased media visibility and higher investment flows”, and concludes that “there is an overemphasis on the role of…

GENEVA: The number of people fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has topped 1.5 million, making it Europe’s fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II, the UN said yesterday. “More than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine have crossed into neighbouring countries in 10 days,” the UN High Commissioner for Refugees tweeted. The UN described the outflow as “the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II”, having reported on Saturday that nearly 1.37 million refugees had fled. UN officials said they expected the wave to intensify further as the Russian army pressed its offensive, particularly toward the capital Kyiv. Hungary, Moldova, Romanian and Slovakia have all seen Ukrainian refugees arrive. Record numbers of refugees headed into Poland from Ukraine with the total number expected to…

TOKYO: Lawyers for former Nissan Motor Co executive Greg Kelly, handed a suspended sentence over the carmaker’s then chairman Carlos Ghosn’s pay, appealed against the ruling in the High Court on Friday. The previous day, the Tokyo District Court sentenced Kelly, 65, to six months in prison, suspended for three years, for under-reporting Ghosn’s executive remuneration in financial reports. Prosecutors had sought a two-year jail term for Kelly. Nissan announced on Friday it will not appeal against the court’s ruling fining the company 200 million yen (R26 billion).…

The UN has officially warned of rising seas in the Gulf Coast of the US due to melting polar ice caps, collapsing fisheries and toxic tides. The coming years are predicted to ravage the environmental treasure which has fallen victim to human-led wreckage and political mismanagement. The UN has released its Climate Change report for 2022, detailing the human-caused climate crisis and its damaging effects on the environment, and human health and wellbeing. The Gulf is responsible for a majority of the US nation’s offshore oil and gas. The Gulf of Mexico has lined the pockets of oil and gas tycoons with more than $1 trillion since 2017. The Gulf’s economic boom in the oil and gas industry, combined with the conservative political majority in surrounding states, hasn’t done much…

OUAGADOUGOU: Burkina Faso’s interim president Paul-Henri Damiba has approved a new government that includes the same defence minister who served under former president Roch Kabore before he was ousted in a military coup, an official decree showed at the weekend. Damiba was inaugurated days ago as transitional president for three years, after leading a group of officers to oust Kabore in January. They said they were motivated by frustration about mounting violence by Islamist militants. The new government of 25 ministers includes Defence Minister General Barthelemy Simpore, who has retained the position he held under Kabore, according to the decree.…

Kailene Pillay kailene.pillay@inl.co.za The Competition Tribunal will begin its proceedings this week following the Sekunjalo Group’s urgent bid to prove that South African banks are abusing their dominance in the sector. The tribunal is set down from today to Wednesday and will be held virtually. Sekunjalo and its chairman, Dr Iqbal Survé, have embarked on a number of legal actions against the country’s biggest banks, most of which have severed ties with the group. The group is asking the tribunal to issue interim orders to the effect that those banks that closed the company’s bank accounts must restore them. Sekunjalo and Dr Survé asked the Competition Tribunal to investigate the conduct of the banks. The group is challenging the banks’ decision to systematically close the accounts of Sekunjalo Investment Holdings…

Nomonde Zondi nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za SOUTH African citizens, who are originally from Ukraine, have urged the South African government to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying the government’s stance on the matter was disappointing. The Ukrainians held a peaceful march yesterday from Durban’s North Beach to Ushaka Marine World. The march, which was organised by the Ukrainian Association of South Africa, was attended by about 200 people. The protesters demanded that the government publicly and without reservation condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. They also demanded that South Africa allow visa free entrance to Ukranians whose family members were temporarily or permanently living in South Africa and to tell Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop the invasion of their homeland. “We are ashamed that on March 2, SA abstained from…

MOHAMED SAEED | Pietermaritzburg I REMAIN deeply concerned about the growing violence between Ukraine and Russia. What is even more disturbing is the racist media coverage by some Western journalists. It seems parts of the media feel it is fine to use bigotry language and statements to cover Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The narrative that is being manufactured by these racist individuals is that wars belong to “uncivilised” places like Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East or Africa and not in civilised places like Europe and North America. What kind of reporting or analysis is this where European or Western life is considered more important? Similarly, Palestinians defending their homes and land from the Zionist occupiers are labelled as terrorists and Ukrainians defending their country are called heroes.…

COLIN BURGER | Assagay Every day the front page of The Mercury is adorned with stories of theft, fraud and corruption in this country, mostly committed by ANC cadres and government department employees. On Friday, March 4, there were two such cases linked to the National Lotteries Commission and the eThekwini Municipality. Both cases “have been reported to the police”. What a waste of time. Because these are both government departments, absolutely nothing will come out of SAPS “investigations”. South Africa has been robbed of billions of rand over the past 27 years by ANC government departments and their employees, with no or very few consequences. A once rich and prosperous nation has been reduced to a bankrupt, Third World haven for thieves and crooks. It’s a country…

Tini Kasmawati uses a crude pulley system to raise a bucket of bananas into the canopy of an Indonesian rainforest. Within minutes, a silvery gibbon, a baby clinging to its chest, swings through the trees and grabs a few. For nearly eight years, Tini, 49, has been on a self-funded mission to care for the endangered animals, which are native to the jungles of West Java, spending at least two hours a day with them. Also known as the “Javan gibbon” or “owa jawa” locally, populations of the silver-haired primates are declining because of illegal animal trafficking and deforestation. Only about 4 000 remain in the wild, according to Conservation International, and about 24 in this area, according to a local wildlife conservation group. When Tini met a Dutch student,…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za THE SA Local Government Association (Salga) wants mayors to be paid on the basis of performance. This comes after the organisation held its national congress last week. The organisation’s five-year strategic plan for the period between 2022 and 2027 states that it wants a remuneration regime that is based on performance and accountability. Salga has called for the introduction of performance management and accountability for all councillors, including mayors and speakers. It will lobby for a “responsive regime” based on performance for the allocation of budgets to municipalities by the national government. The association also wants to lobby for responsive remuneration for staff in the country’s 257 municipalities. According to Salga, the new remuneration would be based on performance and would be dependant on the municipality’s allocation…

Yogashen Pillay yogashen.pillay@inl.co.za SOCIAL Development MEC Nonhlanhla Khoza said yesterday that the four women who were rescued from a human trafficking syndicate last week were safe. The police said that the women were lured from Johannesburg to Durban with the promise of a job opportunity. They were told they would be working at a call centre, but instead they were held captive in a luxurious Durban North house when they arrived last week on Tuesday, and told they would be doing sex work. One of the women managed to call for help, and the police, led by provincial commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, led an operation that resulted in the women being rescued on Wednesday. A case docket of human trafficking was opened and handed over to the Hawks for further…

NEW regulations to replace the country’s State of Disaster Act could come into effect in the next few weeks, just more than two years after the first case of coronavirus was detected on South African soil. It has been a trying time for the country with restrictions and limitations put in place to contain the spread of a virus that has claimed lives, led to untold economic upheaval and changed the way humanity views pandemics. The call for vaccination against the pandemic remains as strong as ever, with research showing that the more people vaccinate, the more the country can open up the economy and the more social interaction there can be. Football lovers want the reintroduction of fans into the stadiums, and a weekend protest illustrated this desire –…

Several Ukrainian medical facilities had been subjected to attacks resulting in casualties, World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said yesterday, not specifying the attacker and whether the statistics of casualties included those killed by Ukrainian shelling of Donbas hospitals. “WHO has confirmed several attacks on health care in #Ukraine, causing multiple deaths and injuries. Additional reports are being investigated. Attacks on health-care facilities or workers breach medical neutrality and are violations of international humanitarian law,” Ghebreyesus tweeted. He attached an earlier tweet by the WHO on six “verified reports” of attacks on health-care facilities in Ukraine, resulting in six deaths and 11 people being wounded. Other reports are being verified, the organisation said. Russia launched an operation in Ukraine on February 24 after the breakaway Donbas republics appealed…

LOS ANGELES: Uma Thurman is “fascinated” by Arianna Huffington. The actress, 51, plays the Huffington Post founder in Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber. She said: “I don’t know her well, but I know her enough to like her. I met her back when she was starting the Huff Post with some journalist friends and I had dinner at her house.” The Kill Bill star also revealed how deeply she studied Arianna’s mannerisms, in addition to her accent, to portray her in the show. “I spent many hundreds of hours listening to her being interviewed, listening to her speak in discourse... “She’s been parodied by some of the most brilliant comedians. So it was kind of a matter of wanting to keep her thought process and her sense of humour.…

ADEN: Yemen’s Houthi movement has signed an agreement with the UN to deal with a decaying oil tanker threatening to spill 1.1 million barrels of crude oil off the war-torn country’s coast, a Houthi official said. UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said last month that there was an agreement in principle to shift the oil from the tanker Safer to another ship. He gave no timeline. The Safer has been stranded off Yemen’s Red Sea oil terminal of Ras Issa for more than six years, and UN officials have warned it could spill four times as much oil as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.…