Indice dei contenuti per 2022-08-17 in Mercury

THE PRICE of meat is likely to remain high after the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD), Thoko Didiza, took the decision to suspend all movement of cattle in South Africa due to foot and mouth disease (FMD). In a statement released yesterday, DALRRD spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo said the minister’s decision was aimed at halting the continued spread of FMD in the country. The ban will be declared in the Government Gazette and any disregard for the movement ban will be a criminal offence. The exception would only be upon veterinary permit for cattle for direct slaughter at registered abattoirs and slaughter for ritual purposes. “It also means that cattle may not be moved from one property to another for any reason for a period of 21…

COUNCILLORS in eThekwini Municipality have had enough of the endless strikes by workers that disrupt the city’s key services and have called for those who are tired of working for the municipality to “ship out”. The councillors expressed their frustration during the executive committee meeting yesterday after it emerged that refuse collection in parts of the city had again been disrupted because workers had downed tools. Councillors said a note had been posted on the city’s website which stated that refuse collection services had been disrupted after the workers downed tools. It emerged that the latest incident might not be a direct labour dispute, but linked to a demand for a new union that is organising in eThekwini, which is seeking for official recognition by the municipality. This incident…

THE wheels of justice turn slowly, but they grind exceeding fine. Lawyer Tungnath Chaturvedi is not one of those fellows you see travelling for free on the roof of the trains in India. In 1999 he bought two tickets from Mathura to Moradabad, in Uttar Pradesh, but the ticket clerk short-changed him by 20 rupees (roughly R4.15 in today’s values) and refused to make up the shortfall. Since then he has made more than 100 appearances in various courts seeking redress and now at last – after 22 years – the railways have been ordered to repay the shortfall, plus interest – also to pay him damages of 15 000 rupees (R1 150). “You can’t put a price on the energy and time I’ve lost fighting this case,” Chaturvedi told…

In continuing to deny that Joe Biden was the beneficiary of electoral fraud in the 2020 US election, Kim Weir’s latest theory is that Biden’s victory was simply the result of a massive anti-Trump vote (The Mercury, August 12). But there is no precedent for a president losing an election despite a successful economic track record. Why would millions vote against a president who had turned the flat Obama economy around by reducing corporate taxes from 35% to 21% and gave Americans the biggest tax cut? Why would many African-Americans and Hispanics reject a president who had reduced their unemployment numbers to the lowest in 50 years? Why would many of the 7 million liberated from their dependence on food stamps reject Donald Trump? Why would entrepreneurs who benefited from…

All over the world, violent confrontations have become the norm to settle political and economic ideology and religious disputes. There are the wars in Ukraine, Yemen, Ethiopia and Afghanistan, mass shootings in America which have become second nature to the American way of life, and gun violence in many parts of the world. In a little country like Montenegro a family dispute ended in a mass shooting of 11 people. And in New York, a crazed man went on to the stage and stabbed Salman Rushdie several times in what could be a revenge attack for his controversial book, The Satanic Verses. Even sport hasn’t been spared from ugly scenes and confrontations. The urge to win at all costs sees sports stars behaving in a very unsporting manner, spoiling many…

Estimates from the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) show that it is tougher for unemployed women to find jobs than it is for unemployed men. The survey data showed that only 4.9% of unemployed women found jobs in Quarter 4 of 2020 compared with Quarter 3 of the same year, while 7.1% of unemployed men found a job when compared to the previous quarter. The survey also found that while people in short-term unemployment were more likely to find employment than those who have been unemployed for a year or longer, the long-term unemployed should not give up looking for work. Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke said: “Being discouraged due to the unavailability of jobs in the area, or the inability to find work requiring…

A woman who orchestrated the killing of her boss to rob him of R150 000 has been handed a life sentence. Lungile Qoza and her accomplice, Ntombikayise Khambule, were sentenced to life imprisonment in the uMlazi Regional Court this week for the murder of Chatsworth resident Mohammed Salajee. The murder took place in Engoyameni, near uMlazi in July 2020. According to Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority in KwaZulu-Natal, Qoza worked for Salajee. “On the day of the incident, the victim, 81, left his Chatsworth home with R150 000, intending to pay for a property he planned to purchase. Qoza knew about this, and she colluded with Khambule and a hit man to rob him of the money,” said Ramkisson-Kara. After robbing him they put him into the…

Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille says she is encouraged by the pace of the reconstruction and repair work done on the public infrastructure damaged during the April floods in KwaZulu-Natal. This follows site visits conducted by the minister and her team in Durban and surrounding areas yesterday to determine the progress made with repairs. Some of the sites visited included the Durban Air Force Base, court facilities, and police and army facilities. The team also inspected some of the bridges that were damaged during the flooding in Ndwedwe and Mzinyathi. “The deputy minister and I were pleased with the progress made over the past few months. However, there are areas where more urgency is needed to complete repair work quicker, especially the installation of the rural bridges,”…

The Health Department has urged people to save lives through organ donation as over 2 700 South Africans are currently on the waiting list for organ donation and transplant. The 2022 organ donation campaign theme is “A life after mine”. “Organ donation is a gift of life, and a single organ donor can save up to seven lives, and at the same time improve the quality of life of many people by removing the emotional and psychological burden,” department spokesperson Foster Mohale. According to the department, South Africa currently has about 2 780 people on a waiting list for organ donation and transplant. These waiting lists are growing while more people are dying almost every day while waiting for organs, the department added. | Mercury Correspondent…

Kenya’s defeated presidential candidate Raila Odinga vowed yesterday to pursue “all constitutional and legal options” after rejecting the outcome of elections that awarded victory to his rival William Ruto. The 77-year-old veteran politician branded the result of the August 9 race a “travesty”. “What we saw yesterday (Monday) was a travesty and a blatant disregard of the consitution and the laws of Kenya,” he said in Nairobi, blaming the head of the commission that oversaw the poll. “We will be pursuing all constitutional and legal options available to us.” Odinga narrowly lost his fifth bid for the top job to Deputy President Ruto, who was proclaimed president-elect after a nail-biting wait for results. His supporters had cried foul over the outcome, which also triggered divisions in the Independent Electoral and…

The World Health Organization, which is looking to rename monkeypox, yesterday called for help from the public in coming up with a less stigmatising designation for the disease. The UN health agency has for weeks voiced concern about the name that emerged onto the global stage in May. Experts say the name can be stigmatising to the primates it was named after, but who play little role in its spread. Monkeypox received its name because the virus was originally identified in monkeys kept for research in Denmark in 1958, but the disease is found in a number of animals, and most frequently in rodents. The disease was first discovered in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In May, cases began spreading rapidly across the world, mainly among…

Kyiv: A UN-chartered vessel laden with grain set off from Ukraine for Africa yesterday following a deal to relieve a global food crisis. The MV Brave Commander left the Black Sea port of Pivdennyi and will sail to Djibouti “for delivery to Ethiopia”, the ministry said. The ship is carrying 23 000 tons of wheat. It is the first ship chartered by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to leave Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in February. The government hopes two or three similar shipments will follow soon. The WFP says a record 345 million people in 82 countries face acute food insecurity and up to 50 million in 45 countries are on the brink of famine without support. | AFP…

There is one thing that the South Africans and English teams agree on: cricket, no matter how it is played, is about bat against ball. If that sounds like a terribly obvious thing to say, both Proteas coach Mark Boucher and England skipper Ben Stokes have felt the need to reiterate that in the days leading up to today’s opening Test at Lord’s (12pm SA time start). “This is England versus South Africa. There is always a lot of hype, lots of things get said. The bottom line is, this game is between bat and ball, and you have to make smart decision at certain parts of the game, and we are focused on doing that from our side,” Boucher said yesterday. Yesterday, Stokes said his team’s aggressive approach wouldn’t…

As the country yesterday marked a decade since the Marikana massacre, hundreds of mineworkers, union and community members gathered at the scene of the tragedy to call for justice for the lives lost during the deadly wage strike. The widows of those who were killed and survivors said yesterday they were still waiting for an apology from President Cyril Ramaphosa while others called for him to be jailed. Thirty-four miners were killed when police opened fire on them during a wildcat strike at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana on August 16 in 2012. One of the survivors, Mzoxolo Magidiwana who was shot nine times, said justice to him would be to see Ramaphosa in jail. “What happened in Marikana 10 years ago should never happen again,” said Magidiwana. Association…

The tiny bones located in the ears of fish can also be used to estimate ancient seawater temperatures, according to researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). These bones, known as otoliths, are a lot like tree rings, and hold clues to the fish’s age, its migration patterns, and the type of water that it lived in. Mapping early seawater temperatures is important to better understand the Earth’s history, the researchers explained. Oceans cover three quarters of the Earth’s surface and host many remarkable life forms. Earth scientists have been attempting to reconstruct the seawater temperature over time, but it is not easy to do so. “When you go back in time, you don’t have any fossilised seawater,” says Ramananda Chakrabarti, Associate Professor at the Centre for Earth Sciences…

Two articles – “Lions on the loose” and “Artwork Displayed” – both on the front page of The Mercury (August 15) have much in common. The piece concerning wild animals escaping from Hluhluwe-Imfolozi and causing much danger and hardship for the adjacent community highlights the need to fund Ezemvelo, allowing the urgent reinstatement of the boundary fence to protect both animals and humans. However, the burning of a gate structure and the damage and theft of conservation equipment is inexcusable and inexplicable. The residents of the surrounding communities derive much income directly and indirectly from the world-famous park, so why would some people jeopardise this with such wanton acts of criminality? The second article concerning the art installation and marking the 10th anniversary of the Marikana massacre also raises some…

YOU (we) are powerful over much. You (we) are powerless over much more. Knowing when, where and how you are powerful, and when, where and how you are powerless will save you energy, money and grief, and may add years to your life. You have power over: How much you allow others to influence you. The depths of forgiveness to operate as currency in your life. Whom you trust and mistrust, despite what others may do with your trust. How much risk and adventure you are willing to embrace, how much you say “yes” and “let’s” or “no” and “let’s not”. The quality and effectiveness of your personal boundaries. You are powerless over: The choices other adults make, even if you have been permitted to express your opinions over their…

The man alleged to be behind a spate of attacks on Intercape long-distance buses in the Western Cape appeared in the Bishop Lavis Magistrate’s Court this week where he was charged with murder. Unathi Sitsili, 28, has been charged with one count of murder and three counts of attempted murder relating to incidents between March and April this year: 35-year-old Intercape bus driver Bangikhaya Machana was killed. Machana was shot outside the firm’s Cape Town depot in April and died from his injuries in hospital three days later. Several other drivers were also shot and wounded in recent weeks, according to the bus company. While it was alleged the incidents could be linked to the taxi industry, Sitsili has not yet been linked to the industry. He is set to…

Toyota South Africa Motors (TSAM) has forecast that its Prospecton plant in Durban will return to its pre-floods level by December this year. The plant, which was extensively damaged in the April floods, was officially reopened yesterday in a ceremony attended by the media, TSAM top brass as well as KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube and Siboniso Duma, MEC of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs. TSAM said before the floods it had enjoyed a healthy market share of 30%, but this shrunk to 17%, 18.1% and 16.3% in the months of May, June and July respectively, due to the plant having to be repaired. TSAM also noted that while there were more than 4 000 vehicles damaged on site during the floods, the costliest damage was to the plant infrastructure…

Politician or professor of law? Will the real former public protector please rise? IN LAW school you first learn that a lawyer cannot know all the law. So, they teach you where to find the law. This seems to have been lost on Professor Thuli Madonsela of Stellenbosch University, Chair of Social Justice. The other day she was on national radio postulating that it was curious for Sibongile Mani to have been convicted for spending a portion of the R14.1 million NSFAS money that was mistakenly deposited into her account. Her legal opinion was that it was not theft. And that it was only a civil matter. That is very strange if she passed the subject called Criminal Law at university. It is a settled case law of theft,…

Moscow denounced sabotage and Ukraine hinted at responsibility for new explosions yesterday at a military base in the Russian-annexed Crimea region that is an important war supply line. The blasts engulfed an ammunition depot at a Russian military base in the north of the peninsula, disrupting trains and forcing 2 000 people to be evacuated from a nearby village, according to Russian officials. Plumes of smoke were later seen at a second Russian military base in central Crimea, Russia’s Kommersant newspaper said, while blasts hit another facility in the west last week. The explosions raised the prospect of new dynamics in the six-month war if Ukraine now has capability to strike deeper into Russian territory or pro-Kyiv groups are having success with guerrilla-style attacks. Russia has used Crimea, which it…

WASHINGTON: The passports of former US President Donald Trump, taken during the recent FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago home, have been returned to him, the Justice Department said. Trump claimed that FBI agents “stole my three passports, along with everything else”. The FBI said: “The FBI follows search and seizure procedures ordered by courts, then returns items that do not need to be retained for law enforcement purposes.” On August 8, the FBI seized 11 sets of documents from Trump’s home, some labelled “Top Secret”. Trump called the raid a weaponisation of the US justice system against him. | Sputnik…

LAHORE: A speeding bus collided with an oil tanker in Pakistan, killing 20 people in a fiery crash overnight, police said yesterday. “Three buses were racing. One of them rammed into an oil tanker,” police said of the incident on a motorway near the central city of Multan. The crash triggered a fire that engulfed both the tanker and the bus. The oil tanker was beyond identification to determine what company it belonged to. The tanker’s driver fled the scene. Officials said the bus was bound for the southern port city of Karachi. At least 20 passengers had died, some of them burnt completely. The driver was also among the dead. Six passengers survived. | Reuters…

Orlando Pirates will still have their defeat to Chippa United on Sunday fresh in their minds when they travel down to KwaZulu-Natal for tonight’s enticing Premiership clash against Royal AM at the Moses Mabhida Stadium (7.30pm kick-off). The Buccaneers will look to make amends and get back to winning ways when they visit a formidable Thwihli Thwahla side. There’s little doubt that new Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has had an instant impact and influence in the playing style and structure of the Soweto giants. However, their goal returns have been disappointing, and that issue was laid bare once more when Chippa scored late to steal the victory at Orlando Stadium. Riveiro, although still full of optimism, revealed his astonishment at his side’s lack of decisiveness in front of goal,…

LG ELECTRONICS, in a vote of confidence in the South African economy, yesterday launched its first Premium Service Centre in Johannesburg. The multi-million rand centre will ensure that LG provides quality aftersales and repair services, giving customers a quick and convenient option to have their appliances fixed directly with LG. LG has been one of the foreign direct investors supporting President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ambitious R1.2 trillion investment drive by providing a much-needed boost for the country’s declining manufacturing sector that has been pummelled by power outages. This comes more than a year after the Korean electronics group lost millions of rand when its R21 million factory and distribution centre was looted and set alight during the July 2021 social unrest. The LG factory was fairly new, having been…

Hopefully, the dense dark Covid cloud that swept over our country like a biblical swarm of vile, viral locusts, has “passed over”. And there is peace in the land. Except, no more sanitiser provided by supermarkets. Not mandatory. Not compulsory. Wasteful. Expensive. Not necessary. Not necessary? Really? Since the “unveiling” of the mask, the colossal reduction in physical distancing and overcrowding, the rate of normal ’flu and other winter woes has spiralled upwards. Many patients are returning to doctors’ rooms, repeatedly, impatient for some relief from grossly blocked nasal cavities, gruesomely irksome, embarrassingly loud coughs, and bronchitis, accompanied by a painfully tight chest. But none of these people wear masks. Don’t dare touch that awful derivative of alcohol. Don’t mind shaking hands. Hugging for “Africa”, to make up for hugs…

Comrade Gordon Webster, a staunch defender of equality and freedom, passed away. His death is a monumental loss for the whole of humanity. He was a patriot who fearlessly tackled racial prejudice and bigotry. There are many who are overwhelmed by grief that this devoted friend of humanity has left our earthly shores. Gordon was a man who believed with all of his might that the pursuit of prejudice was ethically and morally wrong, and that Almighty God and the moral weight of the universe are against it. He died striving for harmony. Moral courage was one of his noblest virtues. He now belongs to posterity. We must thank Comrade Gordon Webster for being a shining light of hope in our fragmented lives. We as a nation must bow down…

TRANSPORT Minister Fikile Mbalula and the Road Accident Fund (RAF) are expected to be hauled before court over a Government Gazette notice issued last month on new directives for foreign nationals who want to lodge a claim if they are in a vehicle accident. It was announced last month that road accident victims who lodged a claim must issue proof that they were legally in the country at the time of the accident. In terms of the notice, foreigners who lodge claims must provide documentary evidence that they are legally in the country, together with their RAF claim forms. If not, their claims will not be considered. Zimbabwean national Adama Mudawo is expected to approach the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, on September 7 to ask that the notice be reviewed…

A mother and son have been found guilty of giving false statements following a vehicle accident four years ago, the Hawks said. Ralph Mohlala, 23, and his mother, Silvia Mohlala, 55, were sentenced in in court this month. They were found guilty of manipulation of information regarding an accident on August 5, 2018, between Hlabekisa and Matibidi. The Hawks in Mpumalanga said it was found that during the accident Ralph Mohlala was driving without a driver’s licence. The investigating officer allegedly colluded with Silvia Mohlala to use an another person to pose as the driver and give a statement. She was sentenced to 24 months’ correctional supervision for conspiracy to commit fraud, and Ralph Mohlala to a R3 000 fine or six months in jail suspended for three years,…

An amount of R133 million has been “set aside” by the eThekwini Municipality for the purchase of its own new water tankers that could alleviate the water shortages that has besieged residents of the municipality. The city plans to acquire about 50 water tankers on an urgent basis. The city had originally planned to acquire water tankers over a two-year financial period but now said that it had become essential to procure its own tankers quicker in light of the water challenges and the cost of hiring tankers. The municipality is spending millions of rand to hire the water tankers. It revealed recently that it had spent about R15m in a month on water tankers to supply water to the oThongathi area. The area was left without water after…

KwaZulu-Natal Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Sihle Zikalala yesterday unpacked the KwaZulu-Natal comprehensive water master plan which would include the expansion of dams and drilling of more boreholes. Zikalala was speaking yesterday at the second day of the South African Human Rights Commission provincial inquiry into access to water, being held in Durban. Zikalala said 78% of people in KZN had access to potable water and in terms of the master plan they aimed to increase this to 100% by 2030. He said currently the demand for water was more than the supply. “The largest water supplier in KwaZulu-Natal is Umgeni Water as they service both eThekwini and Pieter- maritzburg. One of the ways to increase access to water is through the expansion of dams. We will be…

The EU said yesterday it was studying Iran’s response to a “final” draft agreement on reviving a 2015 nuclear accord with major powers it presented at talks in Vienna. The US had already said that it was informing EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell of its response to the text he submitted on August 8. The possibility of a deal which might lead to the lifting of US sanctions on Iran’s oil output of 2.5 million barrels a day has already helped trigger a fall in prices on world markets, with US oil futures dropping nearly 3% to finish below $90 (R1 480) a barrel. A spokesperson for Borrell, who co-ordinated talks to bring Iran and the US back into the deal, said the Iranian response was received late…

Co-ordinated international research is vital to boost understanding of the link between brain injuries in people playing sport and the development of dementia, a report said yesterday. It comes after a group of former rugby players decided to sue governing bodies World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union for allegedly failing to protect them from permanent injury. The claimants include ex-Wales captain Ryan Jones and England’s 2003 World Cup-winning hooker Steve Thompson, with many of the ex-players diagnosed with early-onset dementia and other irreversible neurological impairments. Multiple studies have shown a link between brain injuries and an increased risk of developing neurodegenerative disease, and that ex-professional athletes are at an increased risk of developing such conditions. Previous research from Glasgow consultant neuropathologist Willie Stewart showed ex-professional…

Los Angeles: Hollywood star and humanitarian Angelina Jolie wants the world to take cognisance of what’s happening with women in the theocratic state under Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. It’s been a year since the Biden administration, acting on Donald Trump’s order, withdrew US troops from Afghanistan, resulting in the Taliban’s takeover of the country. Jolie wrote: “One year ago, Afghan women worked as doctors, teachers, artists, police officers, journalists, judges, lawyers, and elected politicians. Afghan children braved repeated suicide attacks on their schools.” She opined that the progress witnessed by Afghan women “has been overturned with unimaginable speed”. She laid out the treatment of Afghan women including public beatings, political imprisonment, kidnapping and forced marriages to Taliban leaders. “Yet despite the dangers, the greatest resistance to the reversal of women’s rights in…

Wellington: New Zealand’s resident population provisionally grew by 12 700 or 0.2% over the year to reach 5.12 million on June 30, the lowest annual growth rate since June 1986, the country’s statistics department said yesterday. New Zealand’s population change is a combination of natural increase (births minus deaths) and net migration (migrant arrivals minus migrant departures) Stats NZ said. “The net migration loss combined with a lower natural increase resulted in this low level of population growth,” said official Rebekah Hennessey. In the year ended June, births remained around 61 000 while deaths grew by 10.1% to 36 900. | Reuters…

herman.gibbs@inl.co.za The Premiership is at an embryonic stage, but newly promoted Richards Bay – aka The Natal Rich Boys – are the surprise pacesetters and unbeaten after three rounds. The KwaZulu-Natal side beat Golden Arrows 2-0 in their season-opener derby, and then drew 0-0 with Marumo Gallants. Last weekend they held off Sekhukhune United 1-0. In contrast, Cape Town City – last season’s runners-up and CAF Champions League contenders – are rock-bottom with defeats in their opening three matches. City also have the worst defensive record despite having had the services of Hugo Marques, the Portugal-born goalie who has requested to be released by the club, citing a pressing family matter. It’s a blow for City, who traded heavily on his services last season when he kept 15 clean sheets…