Inhoudsopgave van 2021-12-01 - Mercury

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za ICT TECHNOLOGY investment group AYO Technology Solutions posted muted results for the year to August 31, after facing many challenges, including to its reputation, and the effects of Covid-19 on the economy. Notwithstanding this, a final divi- dend of 30 cents per share was declared, which brought the total dividend for 2021 only marginally lower to 95c from 100c in 2020. Chief executive Howard Plaatjes said yesterday that the pandemic triggered reductions in IT spend, leading to a loss of some customers and non-renewal of maturing contracts, which affected the bottom line. This was exacerbated by the material adverse impact of unwarranted media attention and hangover from the Mpati commission on the group’s reputation. However, he said they had maintained a positive attitude, the balance sheet…

Christine Quinn has blasted trolls who have accused her of faking her traumatic pregnancy. The Selling Sunset realtor was forced to take to social media to call out the “beyond sick” messages she had been inundated with in her DMs, after her dramatic birthing experience with her son, Christian Georges Dumontet – who was born via an “emergency crash C-section” in May – was featured in the latest season of the hit Netflix series. Sharing one of the messages she received, Quinn responded: “K y’all are beyond f****** sick”. On Twitter, the 33-year-old reality star demanded those who disrespected her to apologise. “For all y’all still mad on pregnancy gate, please go look at my IG stories. And apologise. This is seriously so hurtful.” One of the users had called…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za ORGANISED business in KwaZulu-Natal has come out in support of the government’s proposal to begin discussions on mandatory Covid-19 vaccination, saying the move was necessary to revive the country’s battered economy. President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday said that the government was exploring the idea of making Covid-19 vaccination compulsory. He said the government would set up a task team that would undertake broad consultations on making vaccination mandatory for specific activities and locations. Deputy Health Minister Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo told the National Council of Provinces during question time yesterday that mandatory vaccination had been put into focus due to vaccine hesitancy, adding that a number of people had not come forward to get the jab. Business experts said despite concerns from some quarters that such a move…

YOU are probably stronger than you think you are, more determined than you may appear to be, and more stubborn than you like to believe you are. True? Good. We agree on something. You are going to make it. You are going to make it through these tough and uncertain times. You have been in tough circumstances before and you did it then, so you have the tools to get through this crisis. People may give up on you but you will not give up on yourself. You may even offer the impression that you are giving up on yourself, but you are not. I know what you are doing. You are circling around, taking in information, weighing things, you are listing pros and cons, counting costs, getting your…

DUNCAN DU BOIS | Bluff In its editorial of November 22, The Mercury proposed a “balanced” way forward in dealing with the issue of Covid-19 and vaccinations. Now, November 30, it advocates that mandatory vaccination is overdue. The absolute reality of this is that your opinion is not based on science. If The Mercury reported on the effects on populations worldwide that have submitted to being injected with what the Center for Disease Control now labels a drug, not a vaccine, your opinion would be quite different. During November the following countries, in which over 90% of the population have been “vaccinated”, reported widespread Covid reinfections: Israel, Belgium, Ireland, Western Australia, Taiwan, Singapore, and the six New England states in the US. The World Health Organization reported 2.5…

ROBIN NAIDOO | Phoenix Dear mayor Mxolisi Kaunda, You are still the mayor because of us because you were enabled by our Indian votes, entrusted to equally greedy, self-serving, faulty Indian leadership, which resulted in bringing you and the ANC back to selfish, prejudicial and absolute power once again. Shame on those unscrupulous Indian leaders from smaller parties for throwing us under the bus. As the face of the ANC leadership, you have not replied to my emails and personally hand-delivered letters to you since replacing Zandile Gumede. You have made a mockery of your position as ANC mayor, closing doors to Indian citizens of Durban, who have unresolved land and housing issues, for over 27 years, with our land stolen by the National Party (NP).…

HEALTH Department director-general (D-G) Dr Sandile Buthelezi has been reinstated to his role as the department’s accounting officer. Buthelezi was placed on precautionary suspension in September over his alleged role in the Digital Vibes saga. At the time the department said he would remain under suspension until he appeared before an internal disciplinary meeting. It also said Dr Nicholas Crisp, deputy D-G responsible for National Health Insurance, had been assigned to act in the role until the process was concluded. In June, former health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize was replaced by his then-deputy Dr Joe Phaahla over the Digital Vibes matter. Mkhize was accused of putting pressure on departmental officials to award a controversial R150 million tender to Digital Vibes, a company owned by Tahera Mather and Naadhira…

Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za THE corruption trial involving former eThekwini mayor and KwaZulu-Natal ANC heavyweight Zandile Gumede hit another snag yesterday, forcing the presiding judge to postpone it to March next year. The corruption, money laundering and racketeering case in which Gumede and 21 others, including former city manager, Sipho Nzuza, are accused of pocketing millions in bribes when the eThekwini Municipality awarded a R320 million waste collection tender to several companies in 2016 has been besieged by problems from the beginning. The high-stakes case which has 55 State witnesses started in early May 2019 when the Hawks pounced on Gumede and the co-accused. In its 397-page docket with financial transactions, the State alleges that Gumede and the others were involved in a criminal enterprise to fleece the municipality of millions.…

Tegucigalpa, Honduras: Once Xiomara Castro’s expected election victory is confirmed, making her Honduras’s first woman president, she will immediately face a daunting panorama of challenges. With more than half the votes counted, experts say Castro’s 20 percentage point lead is “irreversible.” Castro is likely to face some tough obstacles when taking office as head of a country wracked by gang violence, drug trafficking, corruption and widespread poverty. According to Transparency International, Honduras is 157th out of 180 countries in its corruption perception index, making it one of the most graft-tainted places in the world. Under outgoing President Juan Orlando Hernandez, the anti-corruption fight in Honduras suffered several blows in 2020. First, a regional anti-corruption commission was disbanded, then congress passed a new criminal code to lower graft sentences, and…

LOS ANGELES: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has wished his ex-wife, Dany Garcia, a happy birthday. The Red Notice star, 49, posted an Instagram video praising the film’s producer and his business partner – who he was married to between 1997 and 2007, and has daughter Simone, 20, with – and the “long road” they have travelled together. The actor wrote on her 53rd birthday: “What a long road of business and enterprise we have built. Happiest of birthdays @danygarciaco.” He enthused about the “privilege” of having Dany in his life since he was a teen.…

FOR 19-year-old Burundian Adelphine Nimfasha, regularly carrying more than twice her own weight in rice on her father’s bicycle proved to be excellent – albeit unusual – preparation for becoming a professional cyclist. On Sunday, Nimfasha came sixth in Africa’s first international women’s cycling competition after a fall cost her the lead she had held for most of the way. “I didn’t give up but rose up, took my bicycle, and proceeded to finish the race,” said Nimfasha, who finished in the top three in national competitions in Egypt and Nigeria before the latest competition, held in her home country. Her determination earned her the road cycling “combativity” award. Two Kenyans and a Ugandan won the top three prizes. Cycling is gaining popularity as a sport in Burundi, where bicycles…

Islamabad: At least 20 people were injured yesterday morning after 30 vehicles piled up due to dense fog at three different locations in Pakistan, police said. An official from the patrolling police told local media that the vehicles piled up on M-2 motorway at Kala Shah Kaku and Qila Sattar Shah areas in Sheikhupura district of the eastern Punjab province due to dense fog. Several cars also collided on M-1 motorway in the country’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province due to dense fog, leaving more than six people injured, Xinhua news agency reported.…

Mercury Reporters FOUR organisations have filed an urgent application in the Grahamstown High Court to halt the seismic survey for oil and gas off the Wild Coast. Border Deep Sea Angling Association, Kei Mouth Ski Boat Club, Natural Justice and Greenpeace Africa want the court to grant an interim order interdicting and restraining the respondents, BG International Limited, Shell Exploration and Production South Africa and Impact Africa from undertaking seismic survey operations. It wants the interdict to be granted pending a review application on the decisions taken by the minister of mineral resources, which approved the exploration. Both the Minister of Mineral Resources and the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment are also cited as respondents. The matter is set to be argued this afternoon. Shell said it had…

HERE’S a lucky break for you. About 60 people dropped in for a tipple at the Tan Hill Inn in the Yorkshire Dales. Three nights later they were still there, snowed in by storm Arwen, which blanketed much of the north of England and Scotland. The Tan Hill Inn is Britain’s highest altitude pub. The snow was piled up against it and about three metres deep elsewhere. The roads were blocked not just by snow but by fallen power cables as well, according to Sky News. A few customers were unfortunate enough to be in 4X4 vehicles in which they could get out, which meant they missed the fun. The rest had two days and three nights in the pub, which involved a quiz, movies, a free buffet and Sunday…

NEIL MACLEOD | Durban My concerns about the standard of services provided by the eThekwini municipality are growing. Here are just three recent examples. The road surface of the M4 Ruth First highway has been failing at an ever-increasing rate over the past few years. Large sections are cracking and crumbling and potholes are now starting to form. So imagine my surprise when I saw today that the metro’s solution is to waste money repainting the white lines on the road, rather than repairing it. Secondly, I too have not received orange recycling bags for more than six months and have made many phone calls to DSW and written to the head of DSW, the city manager and the mayor and had no response. The municipal spokesperson seems…

| Mercury Correspondents The Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) said South Africans who were stranded in several capital cities should contact their nearest embassy, as teams were working around the clock to provide consular services. This, as countries decided to impose travel bans on South Africa and several other African countries, after local scientists alerted the World Health Organization (WHO) to a new Covid-19 variant last week. Dirco spokesperson Clayson Monyela said South Africans were quarantined in Mauritius at the expense of that government, after they landed there on Monday – amid an immediate suspension of all flights from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabweand Lesotho. Monyela said the decision was made while the plane was airborne, leaving families back home concerned. “A plane took off from South Africa…

Daniela Gennrich How is it possible that institutions whose purpose is to bring new hope, love and peace through preaching the good news of their faith, have managed to become known as the least safe and the least inclusive for survivors of violence and gender-non-conforming people? In the words of a survivor of gender-based violence (GBV): “Our churches (and mosques, and temples and synagogues) are the place where we long to go, but we know, it is the last place where we will get the help we need.” Trying to unpack this age-old conundrum, and the enormous, tired old elephant which rattles around a very large room, is a very real, topical, essential and urgent question to address. In the words of Nompilo Gcwensa, who leads the Phephisa Survivors Network:…

Yogashen Pillay yogashen.pillay@inl.co.za CONSUMERS are set to bear the brunt of huge fuel price hikes which come into effect today, which will see the cost of food and transport increase. This is according to transport and farmers’ organisations that spoke to The Mercury yesterday. The Department of Minerals and Energy announced on Monday that the petrol price would rise by 81 cents/litre, while the two grades of diesel increase by 72.5 (0.05%) and 74.5 (0.005%) cents/litre respectively. South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) regional chairperson Mathula Mkhize said that with the recent fuel increases the taxi industry had no choice but to consider an increase in taxi fares. “The leadership of Santaco normally announces its annual increase in taxi fares in July but, with the continuous increase in fuel prices,…

Better safe today, than sorry for the rest of one’s life SOUTH African health authorities announced the detection of a new Sars-CoV-2 (Sars-2) variant of concern on November 24 and within hours airlinks to some European countries and the US from seven southern African countries were slammed shut, in some cases only weeks after they had finally reopened. Whether this is an overreaction or not, it will have negative consequences for economies across southern Africa, especially those that rely on tourism. This is despite only South Africa and Botswana reporting cases of the Omicron variant in the region to date. The first case was detected by the Harvard HIV team in Botswana on November 9. Within five days of its announcement from South Africa, more than a dozen countries had…

One in three people working in Australia’s Parliament have experienced sexual harassment, a report published yesterday said, following an independent inquiry into parliamentary workplace culture. Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who ordered the review in February after his party came under pressure over its handling of an alleged rape inside the building, said the findings were “appalling” and “disturbing”. The review detailed widespread improper behaviour, and found that more than half of the people who responded had experienced at least one incident of sexual harassment, bullying or actual or attempted sexual assault. “Such experiences leave a trail of devastation for individuals and their teams and undermine the performance of our Parliament to the nation’s detriment,” it said. Morrison said that Parliament must clean up its act. “Like anyone who works in…

MASERU: Lesotho’s former prime minister Thomas Thabane was charged yesterday with the murder of his estranged wife, Lipolelo. Thabane, 82, is accused of hiring hit men to kill Lipolelo, 58, in June 2017, two days before the prime minister’s inauguration. He appeared in the High Court boardroom in Maseru on yesterday – not in the courtroom as normal practice would dictate. Reading out the charges, High Court clerk Tebello Mokhoema said Thabane “did unlawfully and intentionally cause the death of Lipolelo Thabane” on June 14, 2017. Five co-defendants in the trial include Thabane’s young wife Maesaiah, who was controversially granted bail in June. The other four are suspected hit men allegedly hired by Thabane and Maesaiah to kill Lipolelo Thabane. Lipolelo and Thomas Thabane had been embroiled in bitter divorce…

WELLINGTON: Coastal sea temperatures around New Zealand have risen well above average recently, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA)’s meteorologist said. Meteorologist Ben Noll said that water temperatures have ranged from 1.1-1.4ºC above average for November, with daily sea surface temperatures more than 3ºC above average around the western and northern North Island and eastern South Island over the last week. Marine heatwave conditions, classified when the sea temperature is above the 90th percentile for at least five days, have been observed in waters offshore of all regions of New Zealand.…

Herman Gibbs herman.gibbs@africannewsagency.com IN the aftermath of the much-publicised Fifa disciplinary committee meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, last Tuesday, the South African Football Association (Safa) have been ignored, amid veiled signs that the world-governing body might be dealing with more than just a complaint about a dubious referee. Two weeks ago, Safa lodged a protest with Fifa following the controversial handling of Bafana Bafana’s World Cup qualifier against Ghana in Cape Coast by Senegalese referee Maguette Ndiaye. Ever since, Safa and the South African football fraternity have been on tenterhooks, as there has been nothing but stony silence from the world’s governing body. Speculation is that the silent treatment could be a thought-provoking sign that Fifa are dealing with more than just a formal complaint about a biased referee. It has…

I still feel that Rassie Erasmus was hard done by following his ban by World Rugby for misconduct relating to the video he made about referee Nic Berry’s performance in the first British & Irish Lions Test in June. But the fact that Erasmus won’t be allowed in the coaching box or on the side of the field as a water carrier for most of the 2022 international season will actually benefit the development of Jacques Nienaber as the Springbok coach. SA Rugby’s director of rugby Erasmus will surely continue to play a part in preparing the Boks for Test matches, starting with next year’s three-match series against Wales in South Africa, which is tentatively pencilled in for July 2022. Erasmus can only rejoin the Boks on match-days after September…

THE RAND YESTERDAY surprised on the up as it dipped below the R16-mark as the markets shrugged off the latest develop- ments around the Covid-19 Omicron vari- ant and the record unemployment numbers. Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) yesterday revealed that the unemployment rate had escalated to 34.9 percent in the three months to September, the highest level since 2008. StatsSA said 660 000 people lost their jobs during the third quarter, with the number of discouraged work seekers dramatically increasing by 545 000. Currently, there are more than 7.6 million people of working age who are unem- ployed in South Africa. Despite this, the rand made a spectacular recovery following a retreat to R16.21 to the dollar earlier in the day as caution lingered in markets after…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za THE ANC is depleted and in its weakest state yet, with nearly 90% of its branches dysfunctional, and the focus should be on rebuilding it rather than talking about positions before its elective conference next year. This was according to National Executive Committee member Senzo Mchunu following the emergence of a list said to be part of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s slate at the party’s elective conference next year. Speaking to The Mercury yesterday, Mchunu questioned the authenticity of the list and warned members against giving credibility to gossip. Mchunu is touted for the crucial position of secretary-general. At the ANC’s 2017 elective conference in Nasrec, Mchunu, who is a former KwaZulu-Natal ANC chairperson, narrowly lost to the currently suspended party secretary-general Ace Magashule. Apart from Ramaphosa, the…

An Argentine fashion firm has found a new source of inspiration – and materials – in an unlikely location: oil industry burlap plastic sacks from the country’s huge Vaca Muerta shale formation, which they recycle to make shoes, bags and purses. The firm founded by three sisters, Fracking Design – a reference to the controversial process of fracking used in oil and gas extraction – takes plastic “Big Bags” used for holding sand, which are then processed and mixed with waste leather. Oil and gas firms in Vaca Muerta, a huge shale formation the size of Belgium, use thousands of the bags, which for the most part are not recycled but burned, releasing greenhouse gases. “A well uses between 30 000 and 40 000 tons of sand. That’s about 26…

THYAGARAJ MARKANDAN | Kloof ROYAL Dutch Shell is a multi-national energy conglomerate, second only to Exxon Mobil and, according to Forbes 2000 Global, ranked as the 21st largest public company in the world. With its headquarters in The Hague, which is also home to the International Court of Justice, it employs about 90 000 workers in 70 countries. Though its profits slumped during the pandemic lockdown, it is not short of money. In fact it is a highly profitable company. In the first quarter of 2021, it made a profit of $3.2billion (R46.6bn), eight times more than in the last quarter of Covid-19-battered 2020. Some of these multi-nationals are so big and powerful that their annual revenue is bigger than the GDP of some nations. Apple is now…

KATHY AREIAS | Durban I THINK every domestic ratepayer is being defrauded with the black bags from the municipality. The packet does not contain 26 bags, which should be 13 weeks supply at two per week. I opened four yesterday; two had 23 bags and the others 24 bags. The quality of the bags have most likely caused this because they are no longer rolled properly so they won’t fit in the packet. So instead of sorting out the production process, there are just fewer bags, for which we are paying. There is also a delivery problem, I have had to go three times in the past nine months to collect bags from the New Germany depot.…

| Mercury Correspondent Humanitarian organisation, Gift of the Givers, were among the winners at the South African Social Media Awards (Sasma) that took place on Sunday. It was the first Sasma to be hosted and while launched earlier this year, the awards aimed to celebrate social media’s influence in our lives, and those who played in the space. Gift of the Givers won the social media charity of the year award. The organisation’s spokesperson, Ali Sablay, said they were extremely happy about this accolade. “Gift of the Givers can only be filled with immense praise for our social media team based at Assegai and Javelin for being nominated by the public and winning the inaugural social media awards as the best social media team in South Africa in the…

FORT Hare University law student Nosicelo Mtebeni’s grieving family have rejected her killer boyfriend’s apology after he pleaded guilty in the East London High Court to murder and defeating the ends of justice. On Monday, Aluta Pasile, 25, apologised for killing the law student, saying he was ashamed and regretted dismembering her body before putting it in a suitcase in East London, in August. Judge Thami Bheshe accepted Pasile’s guilty plea. The court heard the gruesome details of how Pasile murdered the 23-year-old. Her murder sparked outrage, underscoring the violence experienced by women at the hands of their partners. Pasile detailed how he and Mtebeni enjoyed an evening together on August 16, but claimed she paid more attention to her cellphone than him. He confronted her and an argument ensued.…

Karen Singh karen.singh@inl.co.za struggle icon Swaminathan Karuppa Gounden died yesterday aged 93, after a life in service striving for equal rights for all South Africans. A joint statement by Selvan Naidoo, director of the 1860 Heritage Centre, and Kiru Naidoo, who serves on the advisory board of the Gandhi-Luthuli Documentation Centre, said Gounden was an “exemplar of a South African patriot”, model citizen, activist and non-racialist throughout his life. They said he was dedicated, totally committed, humble and selfless in pursuit of a better life for all South Africans. “He passed on in the early hours of November 30, 2021, a fortnight short of his 94th birthday. He would have frowned at being called a giant but he was certainly one of the sturdiest and tallest trees among the forest…

Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za SEVERAL MPs face the prospect of being reprimanded in Parliament and some will have their salaries docked for not complying with the code requiring them to declare their interests to the national legislature. This comes after the joint committee on ethics and members’ interests found that a group of eight parliamentarians either made declarations late or did not disclose at all for the 2020 register of members’ interests. Co-chairpersons Bekizwe Simon Nkosi and Moji Lydia Moshodi said transport portfolio committee chairperson Mosebenzi Zwane, joint standing committee on financial management of Parliament chairperson Bertha Mabe, and ANC MPs Ethel Nkosi, Itumuleng Ntsube, Moloko Tlou and Bufeze Yabo did not submit their disclosure of interest forms. In their report, Nkosi and Moshodi also said EFF spokesperson Vuyani Pambo and…

Those familiar with this space will remember our leader last Thursday urging African countries to begin a process of being self-reliant by using the resources at our disposal and stop the reliance on donations, especially from our former colonisers. Even before the ink on that leader had dried, the world, especially European countries, started shutting their borders to the southern African region after our world-class scientists announced on Friday the discovery of a new variant, now named Omicron. With no scientific evidence at their disposal, others like the US, Brazil and Canada followed suit, punishing us for being transparent when disclosing the detection of the latest variant. It’s still unclear where Omicron originated. But what has been puzzling is that European countries, especially the UK, Netherlands and Germany, were already…

The UK government confirmed yesterday that it would be seeking to increase the maximum punishment for a range of child cruelty offences as part of the proposed Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which was going through Parliament. Under the changes, anyone who causes or allows the death of a child or vulnerable adult in their care will face up to life imprisonment, rather than the current 14-year maximum penalty. “The law must provide maximum protection to the most vulnerable. So, we are increasing the maximum penalty for child cruelty causing or allowing serious physical harm from 10 years to 14 years, and the maximum penalty for causing or allowing the death of a child from 14 years to life imprisonment,” Justice Minister Dominic Raab said. The Tony Law is…

The efficacy of coronavirus vaccines will decrease with the emergence of the new Omicron variant, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel has said. “I think it’s going to be a material drop [of effectiveness]. I just don’t know how much because we need to wait for the data. But all the scientists I’ve talked to ... are like ‘this is not going to be good’,” Bancel said yesterday. The Moderna chief said the high number of spike protein mutations along with the variant’s quick spread in South Africa may warrant modification of the current vaccines line-up next year. He added that most experts were not expecting such a highly-mutated strain for a year or two and scientists were con- cerned about Omicron’s 32 mutations. Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified…

Ramallah: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has warned Israel not to undermine the vision of the two-state solution, which is backed by the international community. “Undermining the two-state solution would motivate the central council of Palestine Liberation Organisation to take decisive decisions,” Abbas said on Monday. The warning came just days after Israel approved the construction of 372 settlement units in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, Xinhua news agency reported. The Palestinians “won’t accept the continuation of the (Israeli) occupation of the land and the Palestinian people forever”, he added.…