Mercuryの 2024-04-26 の目次

THE deployment of administrators to rescue embattled municipalities is proving to be a fruitless and expensive exercise as these municipalities are not improving, while millions in salaries and benefits continue to be paid every month to those who occupy these plum positions. The South African Local Government Association (Salga) and opposition parties in KwaZulu-Natal decried the situation and equated it to “finding employment for cadres”. Salga held a media briefing yesterday to provide an update on the state of municipalities and the work being done to improve them. It said the cost of placing ailing municipalities under administration amounted to close to R1 billion. However, calculations by the DA based on information released by the provincial department of Cogta showed that the salary and security benefits alone were costing Cogta…

It’s election season and spring cleaning in winter has begun in earnest. Like the World Cup in 2010, when the country went into overdrive getting ready for soccer’s showpiece, a hive of activity has gripped the nation. Politicians are up to their old tricks again, buzzing around the country, trying to win over the voters. They walk the cleaned-up streets in the townships, smile and shake hands with the gullible masses, spread goodwill and cheer among the electorate, and hand out goodies and promises to the poor. Faced with the looming threat of Zuma’s MKP, the ANC is asking its leadership to batten down the hatches and go on an all-out drive to win over the electorate, many of whom have drifted away from the ANC. How could the mighty…

I KEEP coming across discount pundits taking aim at the Cape Town and Western Cape governments for “failing” to deal with the housing needs of low-income residents. But when you start poking at the arguments put forward by yapping opposition parties, they turn out to be nothing but fluff. As I have it, DA mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis tabled the largest infrastructure budget in the history of the City, rubbishing Durban and Johannesburg. In fact, the mayor will invest more in city infrastructure over the next three years than his two colleagues combined. And that’s not all – of this year’s R11 billion infrastructure allocation, 73% will be spent on lower-income areas and informal settlements. Numbers don’t lie but people do, and it is easy to entice the gullible to jump…

THE province is thrumming with anticipation of today’s Challenge Cup rugby match against the Scarlets in Llanelli, Wales. As ever, the damsels of the Pub With No Name are strumming at their knickers in anticipation of a fashioning of catapults for the time-honoured celebratory feu de joie in which the street lights are shot out. ’Erewego, ’erewego, ’erewego! Girl next door It’s sad when the girl next door dies. In my case, I’d been at kindergarten with this girl many, many years ago. Jenny Hudson, née McDonald, had been a wonderful and entertaining friend, well known in Maritzburg and, later, Durban. But to me she was still the girl next door. Her brother phoned with the sad news. Her kids had arrived from various parts of the world. They would…

CRIME experts believe that KwaZulu-Natal is increasingly becoming a target for drug smugglers who are using the province’s ports as entry points for illegal substances into the country. This follows media reports that the SAPS national commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, revealed that R1.5 billion worth of drugs has been intercepted in KZN from October 2023 to April 2024. The latest bust saw R15 million worth of cocaine recovered from a vessel travelling from Columbia to the Port of Richards Bay on Monday. Chad Thomas, an organised and financial crime investigator from IRS Forensic Investigations, said although this was concerning, it was good news to see drug busts taking place. “For far too long, international organised crime syndicates have treated South Africa as their playground and as a springboard to other…

DEAR grandchildren, I send various letters to you in this year of celebrating three decades of democracy and freedom in South Africa. On April 27, 1994 we participated, for the first time, in democratic elections. On Freedom Day, we commemorate the momentous occasion in our country’s history. Many people have made a lot of sacrifices so that we can have an inclusive, participatory and constitutional democracy. South Africa is a constitutional democracy. This means that our Constitution provides the vision, basic law and guardrails for our journey towards inalienable dignity for all; the healing of political, economic, ecological, societal, physical, psychological, moral, spiritual and historical wounds; reconciling justice and responsible freedom; and equality of worth and dignity and of access to the necessities of life. Our democracy is a participatory…

The US Supreme Court was hearing arguments yesterday on whether Donald Trump, as a former president, should be immune from criminal prosecution for acts taken while in office. The ruling by the nation’s highest court could have far-reaching implications for the extent of executive power – and Trump’s multiple legal issues as he seeks the White House again. And while most constitutional law experts expect Trump to suffer a legal defeat, he may already have scored a political victory. By taking the case, the court’s nine justices delayed, perhaps indefinitely, the start of Trump’s trial on charges of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden. John Sauer, representing Trump, told the court that “without presidential immunity from criminal prosecution there can be no…

Berlin: Former German tennis star Boris Becker has been discharged from bankruptcy by a London court following a deal with his debtors, the 56-year-old’s German lawyer said yesterday. Becker’s lawyer said the former tennis player had come to an agreement with insolvency administrators. The three-time Wimbledon winner was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison in April 2022 for concealing £2.5 million (R59m)in assets and loans to avoid paying debts. Becker was released in December of the same year under a UK regulation for foreign prisoners and subsequently deported to Germany. He had been declared bankrupt in June 2017, owing creditors £50m over an unpaid loan of more than £3m on his estate on the Spanish island of Majorca. | AFP…

THE offshore fishing has been a good combo of bottom fish and game fish, keeping everyone happy. We are coming to the end of the fourth month of 2024, and the cold mornings of winter are starting to make getting up early a chore. That being said, there have been plenty of summer fish caught this past week. The North Coast has been snoek central with plenty of fish in the early mornings. The fishing ski anglers have been making the most of it, with uMdloti being a hub of activity. Trolling smaller lipped lures has been very effective, allowing anglers to cover a lot of water. Spinning with spoons on the backline has also been deadly just after launching. The Durban charters have been packed due to the run…

IN THIS WEEK’S Personal Finance Saturday Page, we look at how the Pension Funds Adjudicator can help with unpaid pension contributions. Muvhango Lukhaimane, the Pension Funds Adjudicator, has recourse and can order employers to pay benefits that are due, and this order can be executed by a sheriff of the court. ■ On investing offshore, we answer whether an investor should wait for the rand to strengthen before taking their money offshore. ■ We also look at the world of cryptocurrency, and why there are fewer Bitcoin billionaires than you think. ■ South African learning institutions have been plagued with corruption for years. In this week’s edition, we look at how corruption at these learning institutions is much worse than anyone anticipated. ■ If you have…

Pregnancy is in the air as more celebrities are expanding their families. Actress Azwi Rambuda Litelu and her husband are having another child. Rambuda Litelu, who plays Mpho on Muvhango, took to Instagram to share a video of herself showing her baby bump. “A beautiful testimony. God’s perfect gift and expression of His love,” she wrote in the caption. In February this year, she also shared a video of her son, who was excited to be turning 6 and will soon be a big brother. “Oh, how time flies! Lesedi turns 6. ‘I’m not a little brother anymore. I’m a big boy now. Can’t you see how tall I am? Call me big bro’,” she wrote. Her followers sent her heart-warming messages, congratulating her on the pregnancy. “Oooooh honey ……

The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has dismissed reports that former president Jacob Zuma is unwell as they await a decision by the Constitutional Court on a request for an extension to file an answering affidavit to the application for leave to appeal by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). This as the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac) filed an application to be admitted as a friend of the court in the matter. The Constitutional Court on Tuesday issued directions to the party and Zuma or any other parties opposing the IEC’s urgent bid to appeal against the Electoral Court order that allowed Zuma to stand for Parliament, to file answering affidavits by yesterday. The directions said “further directions may be issued”. Zungu Incorporated sent…

The SAPS has spent more than R42.67 million on petrol and diesel over the past six years, purely for its VIP Protection fleet. According to the minister’s response, the National VIP Protection Centre in Gauteng was the biggest spender in 2023/24, filling its VIP transport fleet with more than R2.2m worth of fuel, more than double that of the second highest spender. The second biggest abuser of public funds is Mpumalanga, clocking in at more than R1.1m for the year. While South Africans are suffering from the crushing cost of living, including higher fuel prices, ANC VIP cadres take the taxpayers for a ride without having to put their hands in their own pockets. Just recently, the ANC increased the SAPS VIP Protection Unit’s allocation in the mid-term Budget by…

When I read about all the promises of considerable increases in social grants and salaries of domestic workers, it is clear the country will be doomed to fail in no time. The same mistake, which has caused serious problems for the ANC, was the assumption government had a lot of money and, therefore, ministers and deputy ministers qualified for salaries of no less than millions. By the time people discovered the shocking truth, it was too late for them to change these unrealistic salary scales and other packages. It seems the reason we have so many political parties is based on this false assumption. They will realise how wrong they are only when service delivery comes to a sudden standstill because the funds have run out. Perhaps those who took…

I HOPE I am not being contradictory and shooting myself in the foot by criticising the head honcho of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), advocate Shamila Batohi, after seeing her interview on Unfiltered on television recently. In an earlier opinion piece, I had heaped undiluted praise on the NPA’s advocate Elaine Moonsamy, with a view that she was not being recognised for her sterling work. Advocate Batohi was trying to explain the challenges faced by the NPA but I thought it was just a case of Milquetoast euphemism – a sombre and boring litany of excuses. The NPA is supposed to be the cornerstone of the South African justice system. But I think not. In my opinion it is a marionette whose strings are pulled by the ANC and it…

TWO PRETORIA lawyers opened their hearts to the plight of the mother of a boy aged 11, who sufferers from severe autism. The child is in a centre which cares for him, and the lawyers approached the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, free of charge to obtain an urgent order, securing the care of the boy at the facility. Shani van Niekerk, an attorney who specialises in family law at the law firm Adams & Adams, read about the mother’s plight on Facebook, where the mother, through BackaBuddy, asked for urgent help for her son. The mother, who is not identified to safeguard the identity of her young son, urgently needed money so that her child, who has severe intellectual disabilities, could remain in the full-time care of the centre which…

The Proteas have a forgettable history when it comes to World Cup cricket. The heartache and pain has been tangible from South Africa’s very first participation in the 50-over competition in Australia and New Zealand in 1992. They haven’t ever gone past the semi-final stage, but have yet another chance to turn the tables in the upcoming T20 World Cup in the US and the West Indies. The event starts on June 2, with South Africa’s first game a day later against Sri Lanka at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in East Meadow, New York. So, with a new venue, perhaps a new broom should sweep clean through the Proteas team as well? Considering all the previous failures, Proteas limited-overs coach Rob Walter may opt to pick a new…

A long-awaited transitional ruling council was sworn in yesterday in violence-wracked Haiti, while the Caribbean nation’s embattled prime minister Ariel Henry submitted his formal resignation. The installation of the nine-member Presidential Transitional Council marks the first step to forming a new government after months of chaos following gang warfare. Images shared on social media showed the council members greeted with fanfare at the presidential palace in Port-au-Prince, and the head of a party represented in the body confirmed that they had taken an oath of office. The council – made up of eight men and one woman – is to attend an official inauguration ceremony, which an official press invitation said would be held at the prime minister’s office, known as the Villa d’Accueil. Meanwhile, Henry – who had promised…

SIMON Sibeko is feeling no pressure as he prepares for the weekend’s Athletics South Africa (ASA) Marathon Championships as the country’s reigning king of the 42.195km distance. Champion last year when he was wearing the distinct ‘Chappies’ colours of Central Gauteng Athletics, Sibeko will toe the start line on Sunday during the Durban International Marathon, which incorporates the national championships, in Eastern Province’s red kit. The move to join the revered Ikhamva Training Group under renowned coach Mike Mbambani was not surprising, given the Eastern Cape businessman’s track record of taking athletes to a higher level. Expectations are thus, understandably, that the 29-year-old Sibeko could well add his name to that short-list of runners who have held on to their marathon titles. The late Zithulele Sinqe, Willie Mtolo, Frank Pooe…

CLICKS, which has proven resilient through the tough economy due to the defensiveness of its core health and beauty business, is accelerating its expansion by opening 50 to 55 stores in the 2024 financial year. CEO Bertina Engelbrecht said yesterday they had expanded the footprint to 902 stores, with the opening of a net 41 new stores in the past year. A further 10 to 20 pharmacies were also planned to be opened this year. In the six months to end-February 2024, 27 pharmacies were opened, extending Clicks’ pharmacy presence to 718. Currently 51% of the country’s population live within 5 kilometres of a Clicks pharmacy. Engelbrecht said in an interview on the release of results for the six months to end-February that they would spend R920 million…

To me, there is nothing more soul-warming on cold nights than a bowl of brothy soup – especially when feeling under the weather. So very healing. Not only are broth-based dishes comforting and nourishing, but they are also healing and hydrating. The broth is a culinary enhancer that provides flavour in a liquid form, made by simmering the meat in water. It’s well-seasoned and maintains a relatively thin and liquid consistency. It’s significantly thinner and more flavourful than stock. Being a meat-based liquid, broth is typically made from beef, chicken or fish. However, it is not uncommon to find vegetable broth. Because of its thin consistency and flavour, you can use broth for many culinary applications. It can be sipped on its own and is often used as a remedy…

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has roped in former president Thabo Mbeki to campaign in the province as the party battles to contain fierce competition from the DA, IFP, EFF and the Jacob Zuma-led uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP). The ANC is roping in its heavyweights to bolster its campaign ahead of the May 29 polls, with Kgalema Motlanthe, David Mabuza, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Baleka Mbete also expected to campaign for the party. President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the province last week and is expected to return ahead of the elections to spearhead various campaigns that will include engagements with the business community. In KZN, the party has deployed its former chairs Willies Mchunu, Senzo Mchunu, Zweli Mkhize, Bheki Cele and S’bu Ndebele to bolster the provincial leadership, also roping in former health…

ESKOM has burnt diesel to the tune of R64.78 billion in order to keep the lights on during load shedding over the past five years. The power utility spent more than half the amount, totalling R44.63bn, in the last two financial years. This was revealed by Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan responding to parliamentary questions from DA MP Farhat Essack. Essack asked about the amount of money spent on diesel for each of the past five years since May 2019 in the wake of Eskom's increasing reliance on diesel to power its open-cycle gas turbines. Gordhan said a total of R5.8bn was spent on diesel in 2019/20, R5.75bn the following year and R8.6bn in 2021/22. The power utility burnt diesel to the tune of R21.25bn in 2022-23 and a staggering…

It is a global imperative that civilised nations treat the dead with dignity and respect. These humanitarian values do not resonate with the Mobeni Heights Crematorium – its management should hang their heads in shame and disgust. The latest saga is that the thermocouple needs to be repaired, and nothing has happened for a week. To me, this is unacceptable, bearing in mind it takes 10 minutes to repair. It has caused a shutdown of operations for more than a week. Not a month goes by without the crematorium closing for a week or two. This, once again, prevents families from placing loved ones to rest in peace in the most honourable manner. Rotten to the core is the only way to describe the Mobeni Heights Crematorium. Who is going…

Seven words a mini refresher course on getting very well: Size – power, influence, authority. Be your size. Occupy your role, fill your own shoes and take your place in the world. Let your voice be heard. Humility – the willingness to learn, to change, and be taught. Discover and use your talents. This is humility. Emotional process – the hidden exchange between and among people. People who are “moving towards” you will hear you. Persons who are “moving away” from you will not hear you no matter how skilled a communicator you are. Space – proximity, both physical and emotional. Keep the emotional space around you clear by pursuing an honest life. “Toxic” space – attitudes, actions, resentments, memories that sully or distort the physical or emotional space between…

Kissing does not mean consent to sex, and no remains no, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruled in a groundbreaking rape verdict. The court found that even in circumstances where consent has been given to a specific sexual act, it may also be withdrawn during the sexual act. This case raised important questions around how courts respond to matters of intimate partner violence. In October 2021, the Eastern Cape High Court acquitted Loyiso Coko, who had earlier been found guilty of raping his then-partner by the regional court. He was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in the lower court, but he successfully turned to the high court to appeal his conviction. Although the complainant had said “no” to sexual intercourse and had cried in pain and tried to push…

Being active citizens, voting and holding leaders accountable has never been more important NOW is the time to reimagine our open and democratic society that is 30 years old and vibrant with the aspirations expressed in the Constitution to “recognise the injustices of our past, honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land, respect those who have worked to build and develop our country, and believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity”. Not too close to completely healing “the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights”, and not too far from finishing laying “the foundations for a democratic and open society in which government is based on the…

Israel stepped up airstrikes on Rafah, killing at least six Palestinians, medics said yesterday, after saying it would evacuate civilians from the Gaza border city and storm it despite allies’ warnings this could cause mass casualties. In the seventh month of a devastating air and ground war against the Gaza Strip’s ruling Islamist group Hamas, Israeli forces also resumed bombarding northern and central areas of the enclave, as well as east of Khan Younis in the south. Israeli warplanes had hammered the north for a second day on Wednesday, shattering weeks of comparative calm there, and Israel said it was moving forward with plans for an all-out assault on Hamas holdouts in Rafah, on the southern border with Egypt. Escalating Israeli threats to invade Rafah, the last refuge for around…

New York’s highest court yesterday overturned disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on sex crime charges, a shock reversal in the landmark case that launched the #MeToo movement. In their 4-3 decision, judges cited errors in the way the trial had been conducted, including admitting the testimony of women who were not part of the charges against him. “Order reversed and a new trial ordered,” the ruling said. “The accused has a right to be held to account only for the crime charged and, thus, allegations of prior bad acts may not be admitted against them for the sole purpose of establishing their propensity for criminality,” wrote Judge Jenny Rivera, in an opinion for the majority. “The court compounded that error when it ruled that defendant, who had no…

AmaZulu have applied to the Premier Soccer League (PSL) to have defender Abbubaker Mobara’s red card rescinded ahead of their next league match. Usuthu were made to play with 10 men for 70 minutes after Mobara was adjudged to have denied a clear goalscoring opportunity against Orlando Pirates last Saturday. Upon review by various ex-referees, the official on the day, Cedric Muvhali, appeared to have made a mistake, which has led to the KwaZulu- Natal-based club appealing to the league’s governing body. AmaZulu will welcome Chippa United to the Moses Mabhida Stadium tomorrow (3pm), and will hope to put back-to-back losses against the Buccaneers behind them. Coach Pablo Franco Martin told the media at the club’s training base this week that the Usuthu intend to have Mobara available for their…