Indice dei contenuti per 2021-06-07 in Star

MULTICHOICE Group said on Friday that it expects core headline earnings a share for the year to March 31 to be between 32 percent (182 cents) and 37 percent (211c) higher than the prior year’s 569c. Trading profit was expected to be between 25 percent (R2 billion) and 30 percent (R2.4bn) higher than the R8bn reported the prior year, the group said in a trading update. On a constant currency basis and excluding mergers and acquisitions, trading profit was expected to be between 40 percent (R3.2bn) and 45 percent (R3.6bn) higher than the prior year’s reported R8bn. The improved financial performance was achieved despite macro-economic and Covid-19 challenges across the continent. “Resilient revenue growth, strong cost control, shifts in content costs and the…

IT IS very depressing to realise society has been so desensitised to madness and violence that the recent brutal murder of eight alleged criminals in Zandspruit is taken as “normal”. That eight young men were rounded up by what are called community members, assaulted, undressed and set on fire with petrol and tyres underlines the extent to which South Africa is a broken society, especially in black communities residing in townships and so-called squatter camps. Apparently this is just “normal” because there is no sense of outrage within society that such atrocities can happen in our midst with no introspection of what kind of society we are. What is most troubling is that the government, that unit of the state which can do more about this issue, is just as…

The pan-Africanists are a divided lot, throwing colonial rhetoric at each other, inappropriate behaviour from representatives, across the African continent. Punches were thrown, resembling a cage-fighting extravaganza. The protagonists did not give a fig, as men kicked women. An extraordinary fiasco, tainting the image of what should be an important organisation, promoting unity and strength. The racial divisions created by the European colonisers still exist as PAP chairmanship has been hijacked by the former French colonies in west Africa. Rotation of this important position should be non-negotiable, yet it has created so much humiliating tension. Our own Malema … a thoroughbred hothead, threatened to “kill” someone. PAP must be brought to order immediately, because right now it resembles a bowl of watery, tasteless pap. |…

WHEN coach Pitso Mosimane, SA football’s most decorated coach of all time, resigned from Mamelodi Sundowns last September, billionaire club owner Patrice Motsepe took a calculated gamble by handing over the baton to a coaching triumvirate. During his eight-year tenure, Mosimane had scaled the heights of success by lifting 11 trophies, including five league titles and Africa’s most prized club accolade, the CAF’s Champions League crown. Against this background, many thought that Motsepe should have opted for an experienced coach, an achiever, and perhaps one who had been internationally acclaimed. Instead, Motsepe named Manqoba Mngqithi and Rulani Mokwena to fill the vacancy as co-coaches. Formerly, Mngqithi and Mokwena were Mosimane’s assistants. A week later, Motsepe reinforced the technical staff by adding former Bafana Bafana captain Steve Komphela as the senior…

Israeli police yesterday arrested a prominent activist at the centre of the movement to publicise the threatened eviction of Palestinians from their homes in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, her family told AFP. The father of Mona el-Kurd, 23, said police apprehended his daughter and took her to a police station for questioning, leaving a summons for her twin brother, Muhammad. In footage widely shared on social media, Mona el-Kurd was shown handcuffed and taken by officers out of her family’s home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood, whose struggle has crystalized Palestinian anger over Israel’s settlement movement. The duo, whose family is currently under threat of losing their home, have gained more than 180,000 Twitter followers and more than half a million on Instagram for their activism, under the hashtags #SheikhJarrah and…

ROME: Italy’s co-ruling 5-Star Movement has resolved a long-running internal legal battle, paving the way for former prime minister Giuseppe Conte to take over as leader of the divided party. Conte agreed to take the reins of 5-Star after his coalition government collapsed in February, but his plans to relaunch the struggling group have been delayed by a bitter dispute with the firm that provided its internet platform. “…We have finally obtained the data of our members and reached an agreement with the firm,” he said on Saturday. |…

DAMASCUS: The mayor of the southern Syrian settlement of Atman has died after a group of armed men opened fire, the state news agency Sana reported yesterday, citing a police source. According to the source, the murder occurred at the weekend. The people who killed mayor Fayssal Awwad Ellou were alleged terrorists, the source noted. The incident follows the assassination of Adnan Masri, a member of the Syrian regional branch of the Arab socialist Ba’ath Party at the hands of militants in the southern town of Al-Shajara in late May. The situation in the country remains tense as multiple jihadist groups continue to be active, targeting government officials and attacking military forces.…

Kyle Sinckler has been added to the British & Irish Lions squad for their tour of South Africa beginning early next month after tighthead prop Andrew Porter was ruled out with a toe injury, head coach Warren Gatland said. Ireland international Porter, 25, picked up the injury in Leinster’s PRO14 Rainbow Cup loss to Glasgow Warriors on Friday. Sinckler was in the Lions squad for the 2017 Tour of New Zealand but was among the notable absentees when the squad was announced last month. “It’s really bad luck for Andrew and we send him our very best wishes for a quick and successful rehab,” New Zealander Gatland explained. “Andrew is a young man with a big future ahead of him and I’m sure he’ll be in contention again in four…

Mike Greenaway mike.greenaway@inl.co.za SIYA Kolisi will captain the Springboks against the British & Irish Lions, even if he is still building towards his best form in his comeback for the Sharks. That much was made clear by Bok coach Jacques Nienaber when he addressed the media on Saturday, after his unveiling of the 46 players to do duty against the Lions. When asked if Kolisi will lead the Boks, Nienaber said: “Nothing has changed – yes, 100%. We didn’t officially announce Siya as captain, but nothing has changed.” The Bok captain has been the first to admit that he has been off the pace since the 2019 World Cup final, while battling injuries in the post-lockdown landscape. But after his highly publicised move to the Sharks, the 29-year-old has undergone…

GERMANY-based instant grocery delivery company Flink on Friday announced a $240 million (R3.22 billion) Series A funding round lead by Prosus and other investors. Flink has more than 50 hubs in 18 cities after four months of operations, reaching more than three million custom- ers directly. At the same time, a partner- ship had been agreed with REWE Group, one of the largest supermarket chains across Germany. Friday’s announcement followed other recent investments by Prosus in the European food delivery and grocery sector. In April, Prosus co-led a €223m (R3.64bn) investment round in Norwegian e-grocery business, Oda. While the food delivery companies within the Prosus portfolio have all rolled out online grocery delivery, this represented Prosus’s first direct investment in an online grocery business, a market expected…

The RAND’S explosive run against major currencies is likely to begin to lose momentum. My analysis indicates that the rolling 12-month momentum of an equity market weighted currency index of emerging markets excluding Asia (based on the MSCI Emerging Markets ex Asia Index) against the US dollar is highly correlated to the momentum of the S&P Goldman Sachs Commodity Index (S&P GSCI). The S&P GSCI cover physical commodities spanning five sectors: energy, industrial metals, precious metals, agriculture, and livestock, weighted in relation to their global production levels. South Africa’s weight in the MSCI Emerging Markets ex-Asia Index is currently 18.45 percent. The S&P GSCI’s momentum in April hit an all-time high (since 2004) of nearly 97 percent. Although the S&P GSCI is still rising it is rapidly losing…

ITUMELENG MAFISA itumeleng.mafisa@inl.co.za THE leader of the African People’s Convention, Themba Godi, has called for a probe into the role of auditing firm Deloitte in the Steinhoff corruption scandal. Godi said Deloitte must come clean about its role in the Steinhoff affair. The APC believed that the Hawks and NPA, in their criminal investigations, should view Deloitte as an institution “of interest”. Godi said he was worried that, with the Hawks and NPA “privatising” the investigations, some companies who were complicit in the Steinhoff looting could get away scot-free. Deloitte was Steinhoff’s official auditing firm. “We have discovered that the long-standing auditors of Steinhoff, Deloitte, were never the subject of any investigation into this massive corruption. “This is despite the fact that PWC had allegedly been given an unlimited mandate…

bongani.nkosi@inl.co.za THE Gauteng provincial government has said its official, who died in a hail of bullets in Vosloorus on the East Rand on Friday night, was involved in efforts to address the illegal occupation of RDP houses. Teboho Makhoa, a 52-year-old senior official at the Gauteng Department of Human Settlements, was apparently attacked while in his car. Police found Makhoa’s lifeless body during a patrol in the early hours on Saturday. Captain Mavela Masondo said police had noticed a car parked in the middle of the road, and on inspection found Makhoa. Paramedics had certified him dead. According to Makhoa’s employer, at least 28 bullets were fired into his vehicle. Photos of the bullet-riddled black SUV were a talking point on social media at the weekend. Human Settlements MEC Lebogang…

Total global military expenditure in 2020 was roughly $2 trillion. The immense destructive power of these 21st century weapons has the capacity to kill every living being on this planet four times over, yet this entire arsenal was rendered impotent by a biological intruder measuring 65-125 nm in diameter. Since the dawn of civilisation man has caused the loss of 83% of all the wild mammals and half of all plants, 80% of marine mammals and 15% of fish. The living world is disappearing before our eyes. As we relentlessly exploit and decimate the ecosystem, we fail to realise that we are heading for a catastrophic showdown with nature. We use 54 000 ships to conduct unrestricted global trade and in the process, we have dumped waste estimated at 1.9…

But decisive leadership can lead to better policing and change the public’s opinion CRIME has become a bane of South African existence. Just like the reality of the Covid-19 crisis that is all around us, no single day passes without there being a victim of crime in our society. The condition of living under heightened insecurity has resulted in many communities losing faith in the police. When people lose trust in the police, it is in part a manifestation of the fact that police are not doing enough to prevent crimes before they happen or failing to deal effectively with them once they have occurred. The latter is probably true in the case of Olievenhoutbosch, near Centurion, in Gauteng. During a crime-prevention imbizo held in the area on May 31,…

CHINA’s new policy of allowing couples to have three children (replacing the previous limit of two) is an attempt to respond to ageing population concerns and a slowing birth rate. But the policy’s implications for working women mean few will welcome the change with open arms. Population ageing is a significant concern in China – its November 2020 census showed people aged 60 and above have reached 260 million – or 18.7% of the population. By 2050, this number is expected to increase to 500 million. Societies are ageing around the world, but the challenges are more acute in China (nearly 20% of the global population), due their relatively low income level, and the country’s stage of economic development. While improved living standards have increased life expectancy, the state’s…

Italian researchers have identified a new coronavirus mutation, whose scientific name is T478K, that has been spreading mostly in Mexico over the past few weeks and has also been found in Europe. The team, from the Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology of the University of Bologna, found the variant after analysing more than one million SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences from the open-access database GISAID (Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data) until April 27. T478K was detected in 11 435 samples. “We show that T478K has appeared and risen in frequency since January 2021, predominantly in Mexico and the US, but we could also detect it in several European countries,” the researchers wrote in the Journal of Medical Virology. An analysis of more than 820 000 SARS-CoV-2 genomic…

Brasilia: The Rio Negro river in Brazil’s Amazon region has reached its highest level since records began in 1902, rising to 30m in the city of Manaus, a news portal said. More than 24 000 families were affected by the river’s flooding, dpa news agency quoted the portal as saying on Saturday. The Rio Negro flows into the Amazon River near Manaus and is subject to strong fluctuations during the rainy and dry season. It recorded its lowest level, 13.63m, in 2010. The entire state of Amazonas recently experienced severe flooding, and a state of emergency was declared in 48 out of 62 cities. In rural communities, the floods destroyed much of the harvest. In other parts of Brazil, however, there is a severe drought.…

Managua: Police in Nicaragua detained another opposition politician who could have run for presidency in the upcoming November election. “The Prosecutor’s General Office informs the population that on Saturday June 5 2021, the National Police detained citizen Arturo Jose Cruz Sequeira, who is under investigation because of strong indications that he … infringed people’s rights,” the official statement read. Cruz will appear before judicial authorities. It is believed that Cruz was detained right after he returned to Nicaragua from the US on Saturday less than a week after Nicaraguan police detained another opposition presidential hopeful, Cristiana Chamorro.…

Eshlin Vedan eshlin.vedan@inl.co.za Despite a frustrating season, Kaizer Chiefs did finish their campaign with some pride as they recorded two successive wins that earned them an eighth-place finish. After a season of calamities, Chiefs ended by showing mental resolve as they beat a high-flying Golden Arrows before concluding the season with victory against TS Galaxy in a do-or-die battle which determined which of the duo would finish in the top eight. Speaking after Saturday’s game against Galaxy, caretaker co-coach Arthur Zwane conceded that his team should never have been just targeting a top-eight finish. “We were aware that it would be a tough season and we could not bring in new players while we had to contend with injuries and suspensions,” Zwane said. “Even when results were good at the…

Stefanos Tsitsipas held off a late challenge from Spanish 12th seed Pablo Carreno Busta to advance into the quarter-finals of the French Open with a 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 victory yesterday. The Greek, who won two titles on clay in the lead-up to Roland Garros, was barely troubled in the first two sets, often charging to the net and easily reading his opponent’s serve. But a lack of precision in key moments allowed Carreno Busta to threaten a comeback in the third set, only for the fifth seed to tighten his grip again and make sure he wasted little time on court Philippe Chatrier. “The fans love it, I love it, I love playing with people, I love attention,” Tsitsipas, who played his previous match in an empty stadium because of…

Mexican Sergio Perez won a dramatic Azerbaijan Grand Prix for Red Bull yesterday after a tyre blowout denied championship-leading teammate Max Verstappen certain victory and Lewis Hamilton failed to score. The race was red-flagged when Verstappen crashed five laps from the end, the Dutch driver clambering out of the wrecked car and kicking the rear left tyre in fury with his hopes in tatters. Baku’s street circuit then provided another crazy twist at the standing re-start when Mercedes’ seven-time world champion Hamilton lined up second, with two laps remaining, and looked set to take back the overall lead. Instead the Briton got it all wrong - his prospective points haul disappearing as he locked up and ran down the escape road in the sprint to the first corner. He finished…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za Volaris on Friday increased its cash offer for Adapt IT to R7 from R6.50 per share as the Canada-based group upped the ante in a takeover battle that has already seen Huge Group significantly up its earlier share-swop offer for Adapt IT. The increased offer represents a 68 percent premium to the price of Adapt IT shares of R4.16 on April 1, 2021, which was the last trading date prior to the date on which Volaris and Adapt IT had entered into the “Volaris Offer Agreement”. Adapt IT’s shares traded 2.3 percent lower at R6.84 on Friday. “As a result of the increased offer, the Independent Board engaged the Independent Expert, Nodus Capital, to provide an opinion on the increase in view of their fair…

Johann van Tonder ALL COUNTRIES have their own laws, regulations and policies, and this to a very large extent determines the environment within which jobs can be created. Should such an environment not be “job creation friendly”, a country will not be able to create as many jobs as it otherwise could have. Job creation becomes even more difficult when a pandemic such as Covid-19 causes regular restrictions on an economy’s ability to grow and create jobs. South Africa’s labour market numbers for the first quarter should be interpreted within this context. Statistics SA (StatsSA) estimated South Africa’s official unemployment rate at 32.6 percent in the first quarter of 2021, marginally higher than the 32.5 percent estimated in the fourth quarter of 2020. However, context is needed…

Baldwin Ndaba baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za THE Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is adamant that their investigators are working hard to probe the Health Department’s decision to award a R150 million tender to Digital Vibes, which is owned by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize’s close allies. Yesterday, SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago reiterated that the matter was still under investigation but said “we are fast-tracking the investigation”. “We promised to complete our investigation by the end of this month, but we have to brief the president first, especially about the Digital Vibes probe. If our investigation finds any wrongdoing in the award of the tender, we will then approach the Tribunal Court for the cancellation of the contract and the recovery of the money. If there is any criminality, we will refer the matter to…

CHULUMANCO MAHAMBA GAUTENG water utility Rand Water intends to lay criminal charges against frustrated members of the public for using abusive language and insults to its employees during the water crisis. Several areas Gauteng are experiencing a severe water shortage crisis engulfing areas around Johannesburg, including public hospitals. The water crisis has affected Fairland, Northcliff, Hursthill, Crosby, Coronationville, Montclare, Sophiatown and Brixton. The water shortages also affected healthcare facilities such as Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital in Coronationville and Helen Joseph Hospital in Auckland Park where water tankers were brought in to ensure patients and staff members had access to water. The water outages in Gauteng started around May 19 and several communities have had little or no water for weeks, enraging residents. As a result, Rand Water…

SOCIAL justice is not furthered if the education system does not advance equal access, opportunities and privileges. These were the sentiments expressed during the Conference on Education and Social Justice hosted by the Law Trust Chair in Social Justice at Stellenbosch University (SU), Professor Thuli Madonsela, and the university. The university said the objective of the conference was to show how education is a solution for equalising opportunities and optimising social justice outcomes. The keynote address was delivered by Professor Fernando M Reimers, the Ford Foundation professor of the practice in international education and director of the Global Education Innovation Initiative and the International Education Policy programme at Harvard University. During his address, Reimers highlighted the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on education and said it was…

In South Africa June is Youth Month. On June 16, we will observe Youth Day, one of our most significant and celebrated public holidays. On this day, our country pays tribute to the courageous young students of 1976 who lost their lives after they had united towards a common cause: to fight for a better education system. Indisputably, Youth Day is not only a day of reflecting on the past, but also an opportunity for all South Africans to shift their focus to contemporary issues faced by the youth. Today, the youth, within the age group 15 to 34, comprise 34.7% - more than a third of the population - in this country (2020 Statistics South Africa Mid-term Population Survey). Young people continue to face serious…

Sisonke Mlamla sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za YOU can now be jailed or fined for sending harmful messages on social media, as highlighted in the Cybercrimes Act signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa recently. The act was first proposed by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development in 2015, in a bid to address a lack of legislation in the area, and was introduced in the National Assembly in 2017. Cyber security expert Professor Bruce Watson, head of Information Science at Stellenbosch University, said even though many would agree with what the government was trying to achieve, he thought the act was widly unrealistic. Watson said the notion of harmful messages was very vaguely defined, and it was going to be interesting to see what courts said about that. “Of course, in this…

Ignicious Jabulani Masilela In essence the concept of “ubuntu” speaks to the morality of a person, and their commitment to community values. We are who we are, largely because we have been shaped by our communities and our upbringing. The influence it (the village) has on the youth reflects in workplaces, company culture, schools, other communities and industries around the globe. The African proverb “it takes a village to raise a child” has a simple, yet powerful, message – communities have an essential role to play in the growth and development of young people. A generation of adults who are the product of their errant youthful complications cannot serve as a basis for those who follow. To accentuate the latter, we need a society that contributes to youth development,…

Suspected jihadists have massacred at least 138 civilians in Burkina Faso’s volatile north in the deadliest attacks since Islamist violence erupted in the west African country in 2015, officials said Saturday. President Roch Marc Christian Kabore denounced an attack near the borders with Mali and Niger, where jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda and Islamic State have been targeting civilians and soldiers. “Several injured have succumbed to their wounds and new bodies have been discovered. The still provisional toll is 138 deaths,” one local official said Saturday evening. “The bodies were buried in mass graves,” the official said, adding that “there are dozens of injured” after the overnight attack by armed assailants. “We must remain united and solid against these obscurantist forces,” Kabore said, condemning the massacre in the village of Solhan…

LONDON: Julian Assange’s fiancée, Stella Moris, has bemoaned the fact that although the WikiLeaks founder “won his case against extradition to the US”, he “remains locked up” in the Belmarsh maximum-security prison in London. In January, UK District Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled not to extradite Assange, citing health reasons and the risk of suicide in the US prison system. But she decided he must stay in jail to await an appeal by US prosecutors against the British ruling. “[Assange] is barely hanging on … suicide is a very real fear,” Moris said…

Lagos: Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday said that a state-wide ban on Twitter which prompted international condemnation over the weekend was only a temporary measure in response to misinformation. Many Nigerians, who use mobile networks to access Twitter, found they were unable to access the social media platform on Saturday. The Information Ministry’s announcement it had suspended access to Twitter came days after the platform removed one of the president’s tweets which made a reference to the country’s 30-month civil war in 1967-1970, warning “those who wanted the government to fail” to desist from fomenting trouble. Twitter said the tweet had violated the site’s rules against abusive behaviour. | I…

The draw for the Africa Cup of Nations finals, set for Yaounde, Cameroon, on June 25, has been postponed, the Confederation of African Football said yesterday. It said the postponement was due to “logistical reasons related to the Covid-19 pandemic” and a new date would be announced in due course. Sierra Leone and Benin play their outstanding qualifier this month to determine the last of the 24 teams in the finals in January. The tournament has already been put back a year because of the pandemic. CAF last month postponed the resumption of World Cup qualifiers, which had been scheduled for the opening weeks of June, blaming Covid-19. The group phase of African qualifiers for the Qatar 2022 tournament is now due to start in September.…

Roger Federer said yesterday he was withdrawing from the French Open despite having reached the fourth round, opting to focus on his primary objective of winning a ninth Wimbledon title. “After discussions with my team, I’ve decided I will need to pull out of Roland Garros today,” the 39-year-old said. “After two knee surgeries and over a year of rehabilitation it’s important that I listen to my body and make sure I don’t push myself too quickly on my road to recovery. “I am thrilled to have gotten three matches under my belt. There is no greater feeling than being back on court.” The 20-time Grand Slam winner who will be 40 in two months’ time, battled over three and a half hours until 12.45am yesterday to reach the last…

Eshlin Vedan eshlin.vedan@inl.co.za Mamelodi Sundowns attacker Peter Shalulile dominated the PSL Awards yesterday. The 27-year-old, who scored 15 goals in the season, won the Footballer of the Season award and the DStv Premiership Players’ Player of the Season award. The Namibian was virtually a tank for Masandawana this season as his endless energy supplies were the pillar of strength behind the club’s successful title defence. Shalulile was not the only Sundowns player to pick up an award. He was joined by Dennis Onyango who picked up the Goalkeeper of the Season award for the second time in his career and first since 2016. Evergreen midfielder Themba Zwane won the Midfielder of the Season award as he had yet another impressive campaign, while youngster Siyanda Nyanga of Sundowns took the Diski…