Indice dei contenuti per 2023-01-06 in Mercury

ESKOM is due to face a legal challenge this year in a bid to stop it from applying targeted load reduction (power cuts) on feeder lines across the country. Sakeliga, in collaboration with Agri North-West, TLU SA and affected businesses, launched an application in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, against Eskom, for the court to review and set aside the power utility’s load reduction policy. The action comes after Msunduzi Municipality in Pietermaritzburg last month became the latest entity where load reduction was to be implemented. At the time, the municipality said it was engaging with Eskom and working to get its account up to date. Tian Alberts, of Sakeliga, said for more than a year Eskom had regularly, and for hours on end, been terminating the power supply of…

ANC members and leaders in KwaZulu- Natal need to remember the importance of working with other provinces, and making compromises when necessary in order to remain an influential bloc in national politics. This was the view expressed by a number of members attending the hybrid ANC national elective conference at the Durban Exhibition Centre yesterday. The conference had to be postponed last month due to delegates being unable to complete the programme. The conference resumed yesterday in a hybrid format – with delegates joining from different provinces. The gathering, which was attended by a number of leaders, including former president Jacob Zuma, Dr Zweli Mkhize, Nathi Mthethwa and Malusi Gigaba, will continue today ahead of the party’s January 8 celebrations at the Petrus Molemela Stadium in the Free State this…

People all over the world welcomed the New Year with joy and hope. They danced, kissed, toasted with champagne and partied till the early hours of 2023. Many cities across the globe lit up the night sky with spectacular displays of fireworks and laser lights. It was so magical. Good luck and all the best for the academic year 2023 to all matric pupils. But Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un thought otherwise. They did not want to join the world in joyous celebration of the New Year. They were not children to play around with fireworks and laser beams but grown-up men who played with the real things like missiles, rockets and killer drones. Ukrainians woke with a fright in the early hours of New…

I am writing on behalf of the elderly, incapacitated people who are having to cope with what my husband and I experienced recently. Five years ago, we renewed our driving licences at Camperdown and found it such smooth going that we thought we could repeat the process this year. We even thought that because of the passage of time, things might have been streamlined. Imagine our dismay on arriving at 9.30am to be told that the facility was closed due to load shedding and would we please return the next day at 6am. We immediately set off for Pinetown, arriving at 10.30am. This time we were told that the quota for the day had been reached so would we please return at 6am the following day. The Minister of Transport…

Will the minister of health please explain to us why on Earth he would say (front page of the January 4 edition of The Mercury) that he would “not be imposing travel restrictions or strict testing requirements on travellers from China”, despite the horrific pandemic that is once again plaguing that country – and the fact that several of the leading countries in the West have at least introduced strict testing of all travellers from China. It seems evident we are paying a heavy price for our membership of BRICS. For example, our government has so far steered clear of any criticism of Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine – or the bombing of Ukraine civilians on a daily basis. Similarly, the ANC government continues to avoid even mentioning China’s persecution…

The South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) in KwaZulu-Natal has welcomed the arrest of three women caught withdrawing money at the ATM at Mangrove Centre in North Beach, Durban. In a statement, the police said the three were nabbed by a new off-duty constable in her first arrest. Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said the vigilant officer was at the Mangrove Centre on Tuesday when she spotted three women withdrawing money at the ATM in a suspicious manner. He said the officer requested back-up from the metro police officers and approached the women. “The three, aged between 24 and 39 years old, were found in possession of suspected fraudulent Sassa cards they were using to withdraw money. “They were also found in possession of more than R60 000 in…

A 26-YEAR-OLD Western Cape father of two has been arrested on a charge of assault with the intent to commit grievous bodily harm and child abuse of his one-year-old son. This comes after a video of him aggressively swinging, grabbing and flinging his terrified infant halfway to the ground went viral on social media. The father was recorded on Christmas Eve by the baby’s mother after he had allegedly harassed her at her parents’ home in Oudtshoorn. In the 39-second clip the father can be heard threatening that he will throw the child. Emile Cupido, from the Forum for Anti-corruption and Service Delivery in Oudtshoorn (Faso), described the incident as “inhuman”. “Faso condemns this abuse very seriously because no child deserves to be dragged into parents’ quarrels.” Police spokesperson Christopher…

Power utility Eskom announced yesterday that it would be implementing Stage 4 load shedding. In a statement released by its media desk, it said Stage 4 would be implemented until 5am this morning, thereafter Stage 3 load shedding would be implemented. The increase in stage was due to delays in returning seven generating units to service. “Stage 4 load shedding will be implemented from 4pm this afternoon (yesterday) until 5am on Friday morning. Thereafter Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented until 4pm on Friday. This pattern will be repeated until Sunday morning,” the power utility said. It said further delays in returning to service a generating unit each at Arnot, Camden, Kendal, Kriel, Matla and two units at the Majuba power station had contributed to the capacity constraints.…

Pope Francis led the funeral of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, yesterday in front of tens of thousands of mourners in St Peter’s Square, an event unprecedented in modern times. Scarlet-clad cardinals, dignitaries and thousands of priests and nuns from around the world gathered to say goodbye to the German theologian, who stunned the Catholic church in 2013 by becoming the first pontiff in six centuries to resign. For the first time in modern history, the papal funeral was led by a sitting pope, Francis, who delivered the homily in Italian as part of a multi- lingual service with a Latin mass. “Benedict ... may your joy be complete as you hear His (God’s) voice, now and forever!” the pontiff said in tribute to his predecessor, who died on Saturday aged…

The race to overthrow Vladimir Putin is under way, said Russian war analyst and former loyalist Igor Strelkov, according to a media report. “The fight for the political Olympus has begun between the groupings that surround Putin,” Strelkov said. Strelkov, a former FSB colonel key to Putin’s annexation of Crimea and subjugation of the Donetsk region of Ukraine in 2014, is now a staunch critic of the Kremlin’s war strategy. An immediate mass mobilisation of 500 000 men is the only way for Putin to avoid defeat and ignominy in the war in Ukraine, he claimed. He spoke amid claims that Putin has approved in principle a new mobilisation drive. The fight at the top of the Kremlin focuses on insurgent Putin crony Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private…

LONDON: Robbie Williams is building a hotel in Dubai to host his gigs. The singer, 48, said the construction has come about because he doesn’t want to return to Las Vegas to put on shows and is part of him “dreaming big”. “I have achieved everything I have achieved without even dreaming big,” he said. “I have an accessibility to people because of my name and if I have a good idea they will back me … there are loads of things that are taking my fancy now, to see if I can pull off something remarkable – and the hotel idea is one of them.” | Bang Showbiz…

ARA: One of Israel’s longest-serving Palestinian prisoners was freed yesterday after completing a 40-year sentence, as members of the new right-wing government called for him to be stripped of his citizenship. Karim Younis, 60, was convicted of kidnapping and killing Israeli soldier Avraham Bromberg in 1983 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. He served the longest continuous sentence of any Palestinian, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Association. In his hometown, the Israeli Arab village of Ara, Kounis received a hero’s welcome. On Tuesday, Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri called for Younis to be stripped of his Israeli citizenship. | Reuters…

The Sharks have built up a healthy head of steam in recent weeks – a run of form that could be hampered by the terminal reliance on an increasingly unwieldy United Rugby Championship (URC) sponsorship deal. Last year, the URC CEO Martin Anayi waxed lyrical when he announced that Qatar Airways would partner with the tournament to fly the SA franchises between Europe and their homeland. It was a deal, he said then, that would make the South African teams’ lives so much easier as they need not worry about the financial or logistical aspects of booking flights to compete in the competition. In the present, and the partnership is reportedly not bearing the yield as promised and might even be having a negative effect on the SA sides who…

There will be nobody smiling more about the new SA20 League than the England management team with the tournament providing the perfect platform for a couple of injured seamers to work their way back into form. World Cup-winner Jofra Archer is, of course, the headline act and will be making his comeback from a long-term elbow injury for MI Cape Town. Archer will most likely share the new ball with Proteas star Kagiso Rabada in the tournament opener at Newlands on Tuesday. But it won’t only be Archer that England white-ball coach Matthew Mott will be monitoring over the next couple of weeks ahead of the three-match ODI series against the Proteas in Bloemfontein later this month. Reece Topley will also be making a much-anticipated return after suffering a freak…

THE DA and eThekwini Municipality are embroiled in a war of words after the party accused the municipality of being “childish and myopic” for making a public statement “wishing” the City of Cape Town well following sewage leaks at its beaches. The statement posted on eThekwini’s website has also drawn fire from Durban residents who viewed it as sarcastic and petty. EThekwini has come under severe criticism for failing to deal with its own sewage pollution that led to the closure of some beaches. A statement issued by the municipality on behalf of councillor Nkosenhle Madlala said: “We wish our colleagues in Cape Town well as they battle sewer spillages in some of their beaches. Running a metro is a complex task fraught with many challenges, even if you have…

September is a long way off, but that is when the Royal Show in Maritzburg will stage its last hurrah at the Showgrounds either side of the Dorp Spruit, which it has occupied since 1855. Its slightly more distant origins were the “Maritzburg Funfair”, which was held on the Market Square beside the city hall. The “Royal” will next year move to Hilton. It seems there will be changes. The “Maritzburg Funfair” element that transferred itself from the Market Square to the Showgrounds, and operated alongside agriculture and associated industry, is apparently to disappear. There will be no funfairs or concerts. The Show at Hilton will display serious agriculture and associated innovation and technologies, according to the Royal Agricultural Society. The emphasis will change entirely. Fair enough. But is this…

Why is money being spent on the dead when the living are suffering? So according to Lennox Mabaso, only R320 000 was spent on the funeral for Mampintsha, not the R50 million that is being thrown about. But even that is excessive. How many children could have been supplied with school uniforms? Books could have been purchased. While it is on the one hand understandable that one wants to commemorate the dead, why do so at the cost of the living? After the flooding in April, there is still major work to be done. Why was this money not used to repair the infrastructure? Politicians, put two and two together and figure out that one cannot just print money and one has to prioritise. Put the living first.…

History is repeating itself. In December 2019, a deadly virus emerged in Wuhan, China, dubbed Covid-19. The World Health Organization (WHO) and China downplayed the outbreak, which cost the world $114 trillion and killed 7 million people. Today, China is in trepidation, as a rampaging new wave sweeps across all of its major cities and threatens to engulf Asia in a viral tsunami that has become unstoppable. Harrowing scenes of death and misery accompanied by sadness and helplessness flashed across the global media in real time, as a global community watched in anguish and despair. The scenes emerging from China are a flashback to the 1918 Spanish flu that decimated a portion of mankind in a three-year tsunami. The entire world could be enveloped in a global health emergency that…

A former Durbanite spent part of New Year’s Day at a hospital after being bitten by a seal at the Golden Mile beach between Brittania Bay and Shelley Point in the Western Cape. Robert Spaull, who lives in Bonn, Germany, was on holiday with his family at St Helena Bay. He said he and his 8-year-old daughter had been swimming at the Golden Mile beach up the West Coast on New Year’s Day when they were suddenly attacked from behind by an adult seal. “I managed to lift my daughter out of the water, but I was bitten.” This week, at least three people were bitten by seals at Clifton’s 4th beach. A video of a child being attacked by a baby seal in shallow water has gone viral. In…

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has confirmed that five more people injured in the Boksburg tanker explosion have died. This has brought the death toll to 37, for the Christmas Eve incident. On December 24, a truck carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) got stuck under a railway bridge in Boksburg, resulting in a leak and subsequent blast that instantly killed 10 people. Since then, the number of victims and fatalities has risen. The blast tore the roof off the emergency department at the Tambo Memorial Hospital, while also injuring scores of bystanders, destroying houses and several cars. The severe nature of the burns inflicted by the blast was expected to result in an increase in the number of deaths, authorities had earlier said. A joint memorial service organised by the national…

THE SA Policing Union (Sapu) has slammed senior police officials for the “abuse” of the SAPS’s already scant funds. The Mercury’s sister newspaper Cape Argus reported this week that the SAPS spent R8.2m to transport Police Minister Bheki Cele, Deputy Minister Cassel Mathale, senior police officials and spokespeople Brigadier Athlenda Mathe and Lirandzu Themba, since 2018. In response to a parliamentary question, SAPS national commissioner Fannie Masemola said during the period, Cele had been on 85 flights to attend to crime scenes, slain cops’ funerals, imbizos, “monitoring visits” for police recruits, a presidential imbizo in Mpumalanga, a presidential meeting in KwaZulu-Natal and a military veterans’ meeting, among a litany of other events. SAPU spokesperson Lesiba Thobakgale said they were against “any abuse of the limited funds... by the minister and…

Pandemic remains generally controllable, economy in various regions recovering rapidly AT THE end of last year, the Chinese government announced it would relax entry and exit restrictions from January 8 and cancel most of the restrictions, such as health code application and quarantine measures. After the optimisation of the epidemic prevention policy, the economic and social order will be restored at an accelerated pace. The international community, overseas Chinese, investors and others generally welcome this policy, and all believe that it will play a positive role in boosting the global economy. However, some Western media said that China’s adjustment of epidemic prevention policies showed that China’s anti-epidemic concept had changed and no longer attached importance to people’s life safety. In this regard, Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Ministry of…

China yesterday defended its handling of its raging Covid-19 outbreak after US president Joe Biden voiced concern and the World Health Organization (WHO) said Beijing was under-reporting virus deaths. The WHO’s emergencies director, Mike Ryan, said that Chinese officials were under-representing data on several fronts, some of the UN agency’s most critical remarks to date. China relaxed Covid-19 controls last month after protests against them, abandoning a policy that had shielded its 1.4 billion population from the virus for three years. China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular media briefing in Beijing that China had transparently and quickly shared Covid-19 data with the WHO and said China’s “epidemic situation is controllable”. China reported one new Covid-19 death in the mainland for Wednesday, compared with five a day…

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is to set out details this week of a planned law to curb strikes, and ministers want to make industrial action illegal if minimum service levels are not met. The legislation would enforce minimum service levels in six sectors, including the health service, rail, education, fire and border security, which would require a proportion of union members to continue working. Britain has had a wave of industrial action over the last few months, with strikes crippling various sectors including the rail network, which are set to continue as surging inflation follows 10 years of stagnant wage growth. The strikes would be deemed illegal if unions refused to provide the minimum level of service, a government source said. Employers would be able to sue unions and…

LONDON: Britain experienced its hottest year on record in 2022, the national weather service confirmed yesterday, saying human-induced climate change had made what would normally be a once-in-500-year event likely to happen every three or four years. The Met Office said the average annual temperature was 10.03°C, topping 10°C for the first time and the highest in records dating back to 1884. The 2022 average was 0.15°C above the previous hottest year, set in 2014. The findings came as record-high winter temperatures swept across parts of Europe over the new year. | Reuters…

SAN FRANCISCO: The e-retail giant Amazon, which has a workforce of more than 1.5 million people all over the world, is to axe 17 000 jobs. It cited the “uncertain economy” as the reason for the layoffs in its consumer retail and human resources departments. CEO Andy Jassey, who replaced founder Jeff Bezos, said he was alerting everyone of the plans due to an unapproved leak as he gave himself a deadline of January 18 to iron out all the details of the layoffs. The news follows the trend of other tech companies that have seen a dip in sales revenues and a weakening of consumer demand due to the increasing cost of living. | Bang Showbiz…

THE summer season is going very well and we have seen some phenomenal sandies and other inedibles caught. The north coast has seen a large majority of the bigger inedibles. The sandsharks have been the most sought after of the summer fish with most anglers trying for the magic 2m mark fish. Some anglers avoided this and went well past … The sandy is a tricky fish to keep hooked but once hooked he is a fantastic fighter. Mackerel, redeye and shad are the baits of choice. The central coast has been quiet, other than the basin area. This section of beach is fishable in most water conditions and does not stop producing fish. The diamonds and grey sharks have been the main species coming out but the odd sandy…

Concern has been raised about the shortage of staff to operate the 10111 emergency number as 7 million calls were dropped over the past three financial years across the country. This is according to statistics released by Police Minister Bheki Cele in response to questions from the DA’s spokesperson on police, Andrew Whitfield. The statistics didn’t include data from the Free State, Limpopo and Northern Cape as they couldn’t provide the information. KwaZulu-Natal recorded more than 600 000 dropped calls over the three financial years – 2020/21, 2021/22 and since April 1, 2022, until the present. The response from the police said dropped calls included calls that couldn’t be answered; callers ending the call while waiting for a call-taker and calls abandoned after being transferred to a call-taker. It was…

Axioms I am continuing to learn at great personal cost: “It’s never a kitten, it’s usually a lion.” Things are usually more complicated than they may first appear. Be wide-eyed before you say yes or no to requests. “Way leads to way.” You cannot know what’s up ahead unless you take the next step forward. Taking the next steps opens new possibilities and closes others. “The only things that disappear if you ignore them are your teeth.” Deal with things as immediately and efficiently as possible. “If you don’t define yourself, somebody else will. You might not like the outcome.” Clarity from you about you will garner respect for you, especially from those who get their shape from others. “If you aim at nothing you’ll get it every time.” Develop…

It is shameful and saddening that Zimbabwe is sitting in a mess, yet its mining sector is highly diversified, with close to 40 minerals. The predominant minerals include platinum group metals, chrome, gold, coal and diamonds. There are 22 minerals mined in South Africa. It is painful when we look at Zimbabweans living in South Africa without documents; four out of five of the almost 1 million Zimbabweans officially outside the country live in South Africa. Botswana has the second highest number of emigrants from the country, with just above 40 000. Reasons for this include limited economic opportunities, political instability, poor environment and natural resource quality, unfavourable socio-cultural settings and poor socio-economic resource distribution. In South Africa, Zimbabweans are facing painful problems like rampant poverty, unemployment, overcrowding, inequality and…

There is a bounce of excitement in every step as the final year of your schooling career approaches, and you touch down on perhaps the longest runway yet. Whatever your aspiration may be, it has to come with sacrifice, commitment and perseverance, but most importantly, it must come with the zest and zeal to succeed because the next project in your life lands you in the harsh realities of a cruel and, at times, unsympathetic world. Remember, education is the key to opportunity. It does not necessarily mean you have to go to a university or college to be successful, but this year can open doors that you may never have imagined, and your performance can match your dreams if you give it your best shot. Life is a journey.…

In what has been described as an embarrassment to the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), one of their own was caught red-handed allegedly packaging drugs. The woman, 41, was allegedly found with mandrax and tik worth about R1.2m. The Western Cape DCS official was expected to appear in court this week along with her co-accused, who is her 20-year-old daughter. “One of our officials working at Vanrhynsdorp Correctional Centre was caught at her place of residence packaging drugs, being assisted by her 20-year-old daughter. She has been charged for possession and dealing with drugs,” the department said. Police spokesperson Andrè Traut said: “This office can confirm the arrest of a female DCS official, 41, and her daughter, 20, last night in Vanrhynsdorp for the possession of a substantial quantity…

Mpumalanga police have recovered a white Toyota Etios, valued at about R85 000, which was stolen in Centurion, Pretoria, five years ago. Police said officers acting on a tip-off traced the location of the vehicle. “The police crime intelligence unit in Standerton gathered information and employed the services of Standerton K9 to conduct an operation,” Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said. The investigation led police to a house in Meyerville, in Standerton, where the vehicle was spotted. Mohlala said when police officers arrived at the house, a “possible suspect” fled. An investigation on the vehicle, which had no registration plates, revealed that it was stolen in Centurion, in Pretoria in May 2018, said Mohlala. The vehicle was confiscated by police and taken to the Standerton police station. “Police are…

A KWAZULU-NATAL family are mourning the loss of 5-year-old Mvelo Gumede, who was found dead in a neighbour’s swimming pool in Verulam yesterday. Mvelo went missing on Wednesday after he was last seen playing outside his father’s Verulam home. Security company Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa) began a search for him that yielded no results until a neighbour contacted them yesterday to report that a child had been found floating in a pool. Paternal grandmother Nomusa Gumede said the family were struggling to come to terms with his death. “This was unexpected. The whole family is shattered, I can’t explain how I feel,” said Gumede. Gumede, who also stays with her son, said her grandson lived with his mother but had come to visit his father for the holidays. “Mvelo…

A Gauteng man who grew up in a mud house pocketed R32 million from the Lotto jackpot draw on New Year’s Eve. The winner, who was raised in Limpopo, is in his fifties, and has been working in the security sector for 34 years. He said he was excited and humbled to have won the jackpot and has vowed to go back and help those who stood by him during the difficult times of his life. “I have eight siblings and we were very poor while growing up. I attended evening classes while trying to further my education and later relocated to Johannesburg to start serving in the security cluster. It was a very violent time back then. “I will assist my family and my mother-in-law who supported me when…

Major and minor military powers have embarked on a military rearmament programme that is truly staggering. An arms race that could destabilise the geopolitics of the decades ahead. Indeed, evidence is steadily building that growth and the perverse deadly capabilities lie at the core, threatening to produce a serious imbalance in the projection of power. Many of the participants are already so affluent, powerful and technologically advanced in global terms. Coupled with these persisting images are stark new spectres of the future. Drone warfare linked to artificial intelligence is changing the balance of power on land, at sea, and in the air. The brutal conflict in Ukraine has witnessed drone and missile warfare unprecedented in a modern conflict.The infusion of these weapons in every sphere of attack and defence has…

Britain’s Prince Harry says brother and heir to the throne Prince William knocked him to the floor during a 2019 argument over Harry’s wife Meghan in his much-awaited memoir which went on sale in Spain. The altercation between the sons of King Charles is detailed in Harry’s book Spare which was due to be published on January 10, but media have been able to obtain copies in Spain. Details of its contents also come as ITV released a clip of an interview with Harry in which he said he could not commit to attending his father’s coronation in May. In the book, Harry says the brawl with William took place at Harry’s London home. William had called Meghan “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”. “He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my…

Islamabad: Pakistan senate chairperson Sadiq Sanjrani has written to the Norwegian Nobel Committee backing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the next Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to resolve the Ukrainian crisis. “The Russia-Ukraine war had quickly turned into a nuclear flashpoint that could have ended in catastrophe for the whole world. “Due to his untiring efforts, effective interventions with both sides, he single-handedly averted a global disaster,” Sanjrani wrote. He said that Erdogan was a true statesman and a leader, who always strived for the betterment and prosperity of not just his country, but the region and the world. The Senate chief underlined that the Turkish president carried the true message of the Prophet Muhammad and his teachings of peace, tolerance and love for all humanity, as he…

PARIS: France continues to back its envoy in Burkina Faso despite a request by the Burkinabe government to replace him amid growing anti-French sentiment likely fuelled by Russian mercenaries, Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said yesterday. The government requested the departure of France’s ambassador last month – a move the French described as “not standard practice.” Relations between France and the former French colony in West Africa have deteriorated after repeated military coups. A French diplomatic source said the request was being assessed, and there was no plan to withdraw its envoy at this stage. | Reuters…

London: Extinction Rebellion climate campaigners have announced a temporary halt to public disruption in the UK as they seek broader support, even as other activist groups vow to maintain radical tactics. XR, as it is also known, has spawned more radical groups such as Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil, whose recent stunts include throwing soup at the glass covering Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in London’s National Gallery. But in a surprise twist on New Year’s Eve, Extinction Rebellion announced in a post: “We quit”. It said it was trying a different approach and would “temporarily shift away from public disruption as a primary tactic”. | AFP…

Arthur Zwane has stood by his decision to steadily introduce youngsters into the Kaizer Chiefs senior team, explaining that it’s in line with the club's vision. Chiefs are one of the most successful clubs in the land but after chopping and changing coaching personnel in the last few seasons, the club hasn’t been consistent in promoting youngsters. Enter Zwane. The club legend, who cut his coaching teeth in the development set-up, is determined to change that narrative by blending the old and the new. The 49-year-old’s decision to throw youngsters into the deep end, however, has divided supporters. “For the past five years, our development structures have produced quality players. When they were given the opportunity, they did well,” Zwane said. “It’s just a matter of being consistent from that…

Jurie Roux has stepped down as SA Rugby CEO “in the best interests of the game and the organisation”, president Mark Alexander has told Independent Media. Roux completed a 12-year stint at the local rugby governing body on December 31, and has been rumoured to be on the move to sport investors CVC Capital Partners, who are believed to be in discussions with SA Rugby on a private equity deal. The 52-year-old Roux’s departure from SA Rugby comes on the back of the controversy around his corruption case with previous employers Stellenbosch University. He was ordered by an arbitrator to repay R37-million to the university for misappropriating funds while working at their finance department between 2002 and 2010 – while he was also the chairman of the university’s Maties rugby…