Indice dei contenuti per 2022-11-11 in Mercury

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. YES, at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month much of the world falls silent in memory of those who fell in the horror of two world wars. Poppies are worn by people, most of whom never experienced those wars but recognise their tragedy and the debt they owe for 77 years of peace in Europe; also that it should never again be allowed to happen. Yet today there is again war in Europe. The Free World is throwing its weight behind Ukraine in its existential struggle with Russia. Let’s not even talk about…

High command’s plan to keep our democracy in complete balance by awarding German automobiles with blue lights to themselves – while organising donkey carts for poor farmers in remote villages – is in full keeping with the motto of “use South African”, as both the carts and the donkeys are manufactured locally. Just imagine if the horseshoe was on the other foot and all ministers had to trek through the dusty, desert remains of the ravaged diamond fields of Kimberley as they horse-whipped their single-horsepower, oops, donkey-power engines all the long way to the Union Buildings. Once more that famous line from the musical Oklahoma could come to the rescue: “The trail is long, difficult and stony … The minister has only the donkey for a friend … I am…

If you have been wondering what our highly paid councillors are getting up to during these hard times, it’s not too hard to see. They are doing dirty dancing on the council floor. Yes folks, they are having a time of their lives, doing the ANC jive all day long. Dancing, swinging, clapping and singing, they are having a jolly time, crossing the floor, from one party to another, to whichever party offers them a tantalising morsel to fill their bellies. You don’t have to buy expensive tickets and travel long distances to go to a show. In nearly every local council across the country there are free shows throughout the year. And these are not amateurs but accomplished dancers, who have learnt the art of double-dealing, underhand dealing and…

ETHEKWINI mayor Mxolisi Kaunda is facing criticism from some city councillors who accuse him of “overstepping”. This after he led a public briefing yesterday detailing action by the city to relocate the remaining flood victims still in mass care centres. Some councillors on the Human Settlement and Infrastructure Services (HSI) portfolio committee felt this was overstepping and argued it should have been led by his deputy, Philani Mavundla, who is the chair of the committee, as the matter falls under the purview of the HSI committee. The concerns by councillors underline the tension between the two men who have been at loggerheads over presiding over city events, with Kaunda preferring to take the lead as the mayor. A councillor in the committee, who spoke on the issue, said some…

Young supporters of the latest coup attacked the French embassy and waved Russian flags The West African sub-region at the southern edge of the Sahara Desert has recently attracted significant attention. The main reasons have been an increase in violent extremism and what appear to be manifestations of democratic backsliding. Events in Mali and Guinea offer examples. In both countries, democratic governance was truncated. Political power was seized by military force, and constitutionalism was suspended. Unfolding events in Burkina Faso also have consequences for peace, stability and security in a keenly contested region characterised by state fragility and decay. The latest coup in Burkina Faso on September 30 was the second in only nine months. In the second coup, 34-year-old Captain Ibrahim Traore removed Lieutenant-Colonel Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba from office.…

South Africa must be careful what it wishes for in connection with the much-vaunted panacea that after the 2024 elections, the ANC will get less than 50% of the vote, making a coalition government desirable. The warning is fast becoming a cliché, but it must be repeated as such a scenario portends a looming disaster. This is not a concern about the ANC losing power but the myopic view that opposition parties should concentrate on making sure the ANC loses power. What they each should be focusing on is their strengths and winning the elections on their own, so they can govern alone. It does not matter whether it is the DA, EFF or whatever party. For coalition governments, on the empirical evidence locally and regionally, are a mess. We…

Iran has built a hypersonic ballistic missile, the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted the Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace commander as saying, in remarks likely to heighten concerns about Iranian missile capabilities. “This missile has a high speed and can manoeuvre in and out of the atmosphere. It will target the enemy’s advanced anti-missile systems and is a big generational leap in the field of missiles,” commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh was quoted as saying. Hypersonic missiles can fly at least five times faster than the speed of sound and on a complex trajectory, which makes them difficult to intercept. However, there have been no reports of such a missile being tested by Iran and, while the Islamic Republic has developed a large domestic arms industry in the face of international sanctions and…

Report found that there were 782 fossil fuel projects in operation or under construction in Africa between 2016 and 2021 DEVELOPMENT Finance Institutions (DFIs) in southern Africa are pouring significant amounts of money into fossil fuels exploration more than they are financing renewable energy. This goes against the Paris Agreement as climate change requires financial institutions to stop funding fossil fuels and to fund a swift, just transition to renewable energy. These are the findings contained in a report released by the Fair Finance Coalition of Southern Africa (FFCSA) yesterday on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference, or COP27, in Egypt. COP27 has already been marred by controversy as activists said that there were more fossil fuel lobbyists at the gathering than representatives of the 10 countries most…

The ANC Youth League in KwaZulu-Natal says the league no longer enjoys the influential status of being a kingmaker in the ruling party’s politics, as it has been reduced to a rubber-stamping entity by old leaders. This is according to ANC Youth League spokesperson in KZN, Sibonelo Nomvalo, who conceded yesterday that the youth league’s stature had declined, resulting in the body making little impact in driving key policy positions in the mother body. Nomvalo pointed out that the decline in the league had started following the expulsion of the then ANC Youth League president Julius Malema during former president Jacob Zuma’s term. “That move sent a signal that anyone that dared to challenge the mother body would face a similar fate. Since then, the league has not been as…

Love can be expressed in a vast variety of ways but it never hides behind some things: Jealousy. Some think authentic love naturally involves elements of jealousy. Quite the contrary. Love celebrates freedom and encourages the loved one to explore and enjoy many diverse relationships. Control. Perhaps this is jealousy’s first cousin. Love and control cannot live within the same relationship and it is never an indication of love. Some claim they control others for their own good. This is nonsense. Healthy adults exercise no control over other healthy adults and when they do it is no indication of love. Swearing, cruelty, and temper tantrums. These are never an indication of love. Some say screaming and the harshness show how much a person cares. Nonsense. Love always behaves like love.…

The ANC Youth League believes that a second term for President Ramaphosa as president of the ANC will tarnish the reputation of the party. So they now throw their support for the presidency to Zweli Mkhize, a former minister who seems to have a number of corruption charges against him as well as the issues with Digital Vibes during Covid. Other seemingly tainted big-wigs are also up for the position of ANC president, simply being recycled and reappearing despite the blights on their reputations involving millions of rand. A recent meeting regarding the election of an ANC president saw people stabbed and one killed in fighting at the meeting. What kind of people are pushing to be leaders? It seems that the ANC wants to be led by those who…

The Russian Secret Service (FSB), hacked into then British prime minister Liz Truss’s cellphone and obtained vital information that the Royal Navy sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines on behalf of the USA. The code-words “it’s done”, were sent to Anthony Blinken, US Secretary of State, minutes after the explosions, which were 2.2 on the Richter scale and registered at as many as 30 measuring stations in Sweden. The software that was used to hack her phone was the Israeli engineered Pegasus. It is a cyber weapon of terrifying proportions. Pegasus is considered by the world’s secret services, as the most powerful cyber-surveillance tool available, giving the operator the ability to take full control of a target’s phone, download all data from the device, or activate it’s camera or microphone without…

The chairperson of Parliament’s committee for Section 194 inquiry into suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office has put his foot down with regard to interruptions that cause delays in the testimony by witnesses. Chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi (ANC) was reacting to requests to “put certain matters on the record” from both inquiry evidence leader advocate Nasreen Bawa SC and Mkhwebane’s senior counsel Dali Mpofu. The latter finally returned to the hearings, albeit virtually, after a two-and-a-half week absence. In an unprecedented move, Dyantyi, who ordinarily immediately accommodates such requests from the counsel on either side, told both lawyers they would have to wait until after the day’s witness had been cross-examined. Bawa had asked for 10 minutes and Mpofu had asked for an hour and a half. The…

Access to the dump site is not restricted. Waste pickers can go in and look for recyclable materials that can be resold. In most Nigerian cities, waste picking represents a vital survival strategy for the poor. It’s not only adults who operate as waste pickers – children are also working at Olusosun. We surveyed 150 of these child waste pickers; most were boys aged between 13 and 17. More than half (58.7%) of the children were not attending school. They worked at the dump site daily for social and economic reasons and their labour was physically taxing. They reported being bitten by insects and snakes. They slipped and sometimes fell. Many suffered from headaches. For this, they earned between N500 ($1.20) and N1600 a day. The use of a child…

US President Joe Biden started a week-long trip to Egypt and Asia yesterday to grapple with some of the US’s thorniest foreign policy issues, boosted by a better-than-expected showing by Democrats in the midterm elections. Biden hops from an international climate summit in Egypt today to an Asean meeting and the East Asia Summit in Cambodia tomorrow and on Sunday to the annual gathering of the G20, or Group of 20 industrialised nations, in Indonesia from November 14-16. He’ll hold his first face-to-face meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G20, where he hopes to explore Xi’s “red lines”, talk to allies about punishing Russia for its Ukraine invasion and discuss containing North Korea after a barrage of missile tests. Biden said this week that his goal was to…

SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter owner Elon Musk yesterday launched a survey about changes in the content of the social network. Musk asked his followers on Twitter to answer “yes” or “no” to the question “Are you seeing far fewer bots/scams/spam?” According to the poll, 52.1% of respondents said yes, while 47.9% said no. The poll has already surveyed more than 700 000 people. Musk said in an email to employees that remote work would be expected to be in office for at least 40 hours a week. | Sputnik…

IT’S two Springboks chasing an All Black as Branden Grace and Justin Walters led the South African challenge after the first round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge at the Gary Player Country Club yesterday, and with New Zealand’s Ryan Fox top of the leaderboard. Grace and Walters opened with rounds of two-under-par 70. At the top of the leaderboard, Fox signed for a sublime eight-under-par 64 to lead the field by one stroke. His nearest challenger is European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald who shot a 65. Grace was delighted to be contending after a difficult start on the front nine where he was two over through the first three holes. “I don’t know what it is with that front nine. “I’m always a little on the back foot and…

ENGLAND have included in-form Leicester City midfielder James Maddison in their squad for the World Cup in Qatar, with forwards Callum Wilson and Marcus Rashford also selected. Maddison and Newcastle United striker Wilson have not played for England since 2019, but have been rewarded for fine starts to the domestic season in the run-up to this month’s tournament. Whether to include Maddison was the major talking point in recent months, but the 25-year-old has since the start of last season been directly involved in 30 Premier League goals - 18 goals and 12 assists - with only England captain Harry Kane (38) having a higher total among English players in this period. “He (Maddison) is playing really well,” England coach Gareth Southgate said. “We’ve always said he’s a good player.…

Government’s decision to accept billions of rand in international loans for the energy transition investment plan have raised fears that it will push the country to the edge of a debt cliff. This week, the International Partners Group (IPG), which includes the UK, US, Germany, France and the EU, at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt, pledged $8.5 billion (R148.3bn) to assist South Africa shift from coal to renewable energy and there are also plans to make an additional R10 billion available. The IPG loan comes on the back of multibillion-rand loans taken in the past two-and-a-half years to respond to the socio-economic crisis created by the Covid-19 pandemic. These include a January World Bank R11.4bn low-interest development policy loan to South Africa to help the government widen…

About 11.5 billion years ago, a distant star roughly 530 times larger than our sun died in a cataclysmic explosion that blew its outer layers of gas into the surrounding cosmos, a supernova documented by astronomers in blow-by-blow detail. Researchers said this week that Nasa’s Hubble Space Telescope managed to capture three separate images spanning a period of eight days starting just hours after the detonation – an achievement even more noteworthy considering how long ago and far away it occurred. The images were discovered in a review of Hubble observation archival data from 2010, according to astronomer Wenlei Chen, a University of Minnesota post-doctoral researcher and lead author of the study published in the journal Nature. They offered the first glimpse of a supernova cooling rapidly after the initial…

Having been eager recipients of foreign funding during their “Struggle” years, it is not surprising that Cyril Ramaphosa is intent on indebting South Africa to international funders to the tune of R1.5 trillion in the name of the bogus energy renewal plan (The Mercury, November 10). As Western states in the Northern Hemisphere are already experiencing, wind and solar energy sources are no substitute for fossil fuel sources. For South Africa, with its rich coal reserves, to contemplate abandoning coal as the key driver of energy production is nonsensical. Furthermore, given the already staggering unemployment reality, to eliminate coal production would exacerbate unemployment to catastrophic levels. The other issues that have not been given the attention are de-industrialisation, dramatic decline in food production, absence of the means to generate heat,…

A church treasurer has been jailed for taking money from the church. Memory Mutsika, 43, who is originally from Zimbabwe, has been sentenced to three years in jail for stealing R800 000 from the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Pretoria where she was a treasurer. Mutsika appeared before the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, where she was sentenced to three years direct imprisonment for 128 counts of theft between 2012 and 2015. Mutsika was the church treasurer of the Pretoria City Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Her church responsibilities included transferring tithes and offerings deposited in the church account to the Northern Conference of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Mutsika reportedly transferred more than R800 000 of the church money received from the tithes and offerings to her bank account, for her personal…

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube says it is concerning that schools, which are meant to be centres of knowledge and learning, are now degenerating into “dens of crime”. She was speaking during a visit to the Mandlenkosi Secondary School in Ntuzuma yesterday after a matric pupil was alleged killed by a Grade 10 pupil on Tuesday on the school’s premises. Dube-Ncube condemned violence in schools and urged pupils to solve problems peacefully through dialogue and not through violence. “We came here to give support to the teachers and learners following a very unfortunate and sad incident where one of the learners lost his life at school,” said the premier. She said the government was saddened by the incident that happened at a time when pupils should be focusing on their…

SOUTH African cricket needs to simplify its goals and settle on getting one thing right – ensuring one or all of the national teams wins a World Cup. There are actually several chances to do so over the next eight years, thanks to the International Cricket Council slotting a limited overs tournament into the calendar every year until 2031. There’s the 50-over World Cup next year in India – although the Proteas are in a tricky position of their own doing and will most likely need to play a qualifying event to reach that tournament. In 2025 there’s the Champions Trophy, in 2026 the next T20 World Cup, in 2027 the 50-over World Cup will be hosted in South Africa, the year after that another T20 World Cup, in 2029…

The family of Egypt’s jailed dissident Alaa Abdel Fattah, who has been refusing food and water, said yesterday that prison authorities had told them he is “under medical intervention”. The family have demanded information on the health of the British- Egyptian activist amid what they said were “rumours of force-feeding”. His mother Laila Soueif, at the Wadi al-Natroun prison north of Cairo, was informed that “medical intervention was taken” with Abdel Fattah “with the knowledge of judicial entities”, his sister Mona Seif wrote on Twitter. International concern has mounted since Abdel Fattah, 40, escalated his months-long hunger strike by also declining liquids since Sunday, the start of the UN climate summit COP27 hosted by Egypt. Abdel Fattah, a veteran pro-democracy and rights campaigner, is serving a five-year prison sentence for…

MALE: At least 10 people were killed when a fire swept through cramped lodgings of foreign workers in Male, the capital city of Maldives, yesterday, local media reported. The bodies were recovered from the upper floor of a building that houses migrant workers. It said that the fire appears to have originated from a garage on the ground floor of the burned structure. Police said the workers were from Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. Fire and Rescue Services said 28 people were evacuated. | Xinhua…

THE fishing has been fantastic in the weather gaps. The summer rains have come so the sea has plenty of colour. Predatory fish like to hunt along edges. This is mainly because it is easier to attack their prey. Edges include colour lines, current lines and structures like rocks. Try to fish along these edges to make the most of your fishing time and to keep your bait or lure in the strike zone. Most of the North Coast has seen good fishing with the garrick keeping people busy. The section from Salmon Bay to Tongaat river mouth has been the most productive. With the recent rains, there is plenty of dirty water being pumped into the sea. Try to fish along the edges for the best results. The…