Inhoudsopgave van 2023-02-10 - Mercury

A NATIONAL state of disaster and the appointment of a Minister of Electricity were the two major announcements made by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address (Sona) last night to deal with the country’s energy crisis. However, the address was not without disruption as the EFF’s Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu among others raised points of order insisting that Ramaphosa should not address Parliament due to the Phala Phala farm theft scandal. “He has passed a motion of no confidence in his Parliament. Until he has resolved the dispute between us and him, he has no leg (sic) to address,” Malema said. Ramaphosa has taken a report of the Section 89 panel, which found that he may have a case to answer on Phala Phala, on…

FURTHER to the letter written by Annette Taylor in The Mercury of February 8, about a Russian military drill off our coast, I have this to add: While nature with her terrible earthquakes brings death, sadness and misery to thousands, (Vladimir) Putin slaughters women and children indiscriminately, with the backing of our foreign minister, Naledi Pandor. Natural disasters are taken for granted, but human transgressions such as Putin’s should be punished. Pandor’s justification for supporting the Russian invasion (of Ukraine) is based on Russia’s support for the ANC’s struggle against apartheid, but today’s ANC is a disreputable shadow of the former liberation movement.…

I AM writing to express my concern regarding President (Cyril) Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation address (Sona). While I appreciate the president’s efforts to address the country’s issues, I cannot help but feel that his words lack substance and cannot be taken seriously. Over the past few years, President Ramaphosa has made a number of promises during his Sonas that have yet to be fulfilled. These unmet promises are a clear indication of the government’s lack of action and commitment to addressing the country’s problems. For example, the president promised to create jobs and stimulate economic growth, but unemployment remains at a high level, and the economy continues to struggle. In addition, President Ramaphosa is on record for promising to deal with load shedding, but power outages continue to cripple…

The death toll from earthquakes that struck Türkiye and Syria this week neared 16 000 early yesterday, as hopes faded of many people being found alive 72 hours since the disaster and frustration simmered over the slow delivery of aid. On the ground, many people in Türkiye and Syria spent a third night sleeping outside or in cars in freezing winter temperatures, their homes destroyed or so shaken by the quakes they were too afraid to re-enter their dwellings. The earthquake, which struck in the dead of night and was followed by powerful aftershocks, is on course to be Türkiye’s deadliest since 1999, when a similarly powerful tremor killed more than 17 000. In Türkiye, footage emerged late on Wednesday of a few more survivors being rescued, including Abdulalim Muaini,…

KwaZulu-Natal legislature speaker Nontembeko Boyce has described as “fruitful” a meeting with the Zulu royal family to finalise preparations for the opening of the legislature. The speaker, accompanied by senior administration officials from the legislature, met the royal house delegation led by Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini and which included Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who is the traditional prime minister to the Zulu monarch and nation, and other senior royals in Durban on Wednesday. “There was nothing unusual with this meeting; as you are aware we usually meet with the royal family ahead of the opening of the legislature each year. We had been doing this for years with the late king,” said Boyce yesterday. She indicated that it was important to meet with the royal family because any programme of the…

Seven life terms and 83 years imprisonment – that is the sentence meted out to the so-called graveyard serial rapist this week. Elvis Aaron Zulu, 40, from Pienaar, in Mpumalanga, was earlier convicted on 22 counts – nine of rape, six of kidnapping, three counts of robbery with aggravating circumstances, three of pointing a firearm, and one of possession of an unlicensed firearm. Zulu’s reign of terror took place between January 2011 and November 2014 in Pienaar, in the district of KaBokweni, next to the Kruger National Park. During the trial the court heard the chilling evidence of his victims, who testified about their nightmare ordeals at the hands of Zulu. After raping them, he invited members of his gang to also rape them. He had a special preference for…

The Constitutional Court has dismissed as moot an application from the minister of tourism for leave to appeal a judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) regarding the use of Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) status level criteria to select SMMEs to benefit from the Tourism Relief Fund during Covid-19. The appeal was brought by former tourism minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane against Afriforum and trade union Solidarity. A court considers a case moot when there is no longer a live dispute between the parties which would be practically affected in one way or another by the court’s decision in the matter. Soon after the declaration of the state of disaster following the outbreak of Covid-19, which severely affected businesses, the minister established the Tourism Relief Fund to assist SMMEs to…

LOS ANGELES: Burt Bacharach has died at the age of 94. The legendary composer – who worked on hits such as Walk On By and I Say a Little Prayer – died of natural causes at his Los Angeles home, his publicist has confirmed. Bacharach composed hundreds of songs in the 1950s to 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. He worked on many movie scores. He was an eight-time Grammy winner and won two Oscars in 1970, for the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid score and for the song Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head. He then took home his third Oscar in 1982 for Arthur’s Theme. | Bang Showbiz…

The US and Brazil will seek to reset ties this week when President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva travels to Washington to meet Joe Biden, both keen to turn the page on the Jair Bolsonaro years. Veteran leftist Lula, who took office for a third term last month after defeating far-right incumbent Bolsonaro, will hold what his team called a highly symbolic meeting with his American counterpart today at the White House. “It’s an opportunity for the two leaders to meet face-to-face and give the relationship a new direction and new momentum,” said Brazilian foreign ministry official Michel Arslanian Neto. US-Brazilian ties turned chilly after Biden defeated Donald Trump, Bolsonaro’s top ally and political role model, in the 2020 presidential race. Lula’s return now paves the way for a rapprochement.…

New Delhi: Twitter CEO Elon Musk yesterday said the micro-blogging platform was facing “multiple internal and external issues simultaneously” and would be “fully back on track later tonight”. Twitter suffered a massive outage when several users globally, including in India, reported having issues while posting a tweet and sending direct messages. Users likely scheduled their tweets for reporting the issues as they were not able to post it immediately. According to the outage monitor website DownDetector, over 59% of people had reported problems while using the application, 32% while using the website, and 9% with server connection. | IANS…

Mogadishu: The UN and its partners, along with Somali state and federal authorities, announced that humanitarian groups are seeking $2.6 billion (R46bn) to assist 7.6 million people as the East African nation is currently under the grip of the longest and most severe drought in its history, following five consecutive poor rainy seasons. Nearly half of the population, 8.25 million people, need immediate help and protection from the drought that has devastated Somalia. Unless humanitarian assistance is sustained and rainfall is sufficient, famine is a possibility between April and June, officials said. It is the worst drought in four decades. | IANS…

THE GOVERNMENT’S intention to declare the energy crisis a national state of disaster is not likely to spook investors and it may not result in the immediate end of load shedding. This is the view of Momentum Investments economist Sanisha Packirisamy who weighed in on the raging debate about declaring a state of disaster at Eskom. This comes after the weekend’s Cabinet lekgotla, which met to evaluate the legal requirements that should be met by the government before taking such a decision in a bid to help end crippling power cuts. Speaking to Business Report yesterday, Packirisamy said a state of disaster would likely speed up the time lines for any regulatory and legislative issues. However, Packirisamy said by doing so, a number of stakeholders might not actually get the…

TENSION is mounting between the metro police unit and their counterparts in the municipality’s VIP security unit over allegations that the metro police are taking over their duties of providing protection for the city’s councillors. Members of the VIP unit said they were tasked with the responsibility of protecting the city’s VIPs and councillors under threat, but their duties were now being performed by metro police. However, the city yesterday denied the existence of any tension, saying the two units were getting along. The members of the VIP security went to the Durban City Hall yesterday to meet the Speaker of council, Thabani Nyawose, to complain about the matter. “We met with Speaker Nyawose and he told us this was beyond his power, and he would be calling for a…

Some enchanted evening, you may see a stranger. You may see a stranger across a crowded room … ’TWAS certainly an enchanted evening at the St Clement’s arts soiree this week as we sat outside under the stars and listened spellbound to Anthony Stonier as, for the best part of two hours, he sang a wonderful medley of numbers more or less from the Sinatra era. Melodies, sentiment, expressions of love – wonderful stuff! A great innocence about it. And in a number such as Hold My Hand, a reminder that this came in the closing days of World War II when people were recognising a new reality in which love stood a chance of flourishing. One could not help but wonder if there could eventually be parallels today…

The brutal murder of Shalima Ramsanker, an innocent holidaymaker, is a grim reminder of the state of lawlessness in our rainbow nation. We are on the edge of an abyss, and the only way our democracy will survive is if we fight fire with fire. Like the pirate and the slaver before him, the law judges the violent criminal as hostis humani generis, an enemy of all mankind subject to severe punishment. We abhor violent crime and, confronted by it, we share the sense of justifiable outrage, frustration, and vulnerability that is the response of people everywhere. Society has the right to defend itself against the perpetrators of violent crime and the duty to reach out compassionately to the innocent victims of crimes and their loved ones. Justice must be…

MR FAROUK Araie, has again pointed to “medieval savagery” in many Muslim lands (“Mosque attack must be condemned”, The Mercury, February 8). Although most unfortunately again a sad reflection of partisan mentality among followers of all doctrines, most voices across the universal spectrum are silent when it comes to criticising their own kind. Not unlike a Man United football fan loudly conceding that “his-team’s” centre-forward had actually handled the ball before shooting it into the net. I therefore cannot blame Mr Rakesh Pande (“A few rogues do not represent a nation”, The Mercury, February 6). Anybody who has not regularly read my letters in the newspapers from the time I was 10 years old or has had a look at my book, EB Koybie – A memoir of shenanigans between…

ETHEKWINI Municipality will fork out about R500 million in the coming year on a new system that aims to improve financial controls within the metro. The city has to implement the Municipal Standard Chart of Accounts (MSCOA) with the cost for implementation currently sitting at R500m. MSCOA is a project spearheaded by the National Treasury with the aim of improving financial reporting across local spheres of government. It was proposed a few years ago and its implementation in the city has been delayed. The new system was initiated to address concerns around inconsistencies in local government financial processes, irregular reporting, and poor data integration. MSCOA enforces accounting standards, including the collection of financial data. A report on the matter tabled and approved by council last week said it was…

A harmful algal bloom, or red tide, that has been developing off the West Coast in the Western Cape, has caused an estimated five tons of West Coast rock lobsters to walk out of the ocean since Tuesday. The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment said it had activated a West Coast rock lobster contingency plan and alerted all government role-players in the sector to be ready to deploy on short notice. “Department officials, local municipalities and law enforcement are working together to assist in rescuing live lobsters and with clean-up operations. “All recovered live lobsters will be rehabilitated and returned to the sea once the threat has abated,” it said. According to the department, there has been a recent build-up of large red tides in the St Helena…

International news was recently dominated by what has been termed the Chinese balloon saga. On Saturday, February 4, US president Joe Biden ordered the American air force to shoot down an unmanned Chinese airship intended for civilian use. The balloon had been flying in US airspace. The airship was shot down just off the coast of South Carolina. Chinese authorities have indicated the entry of the unmanned airship into US airspace was unintended and was for civilian purposes. The airship was conducting research of a mainly meteorological nature and, having been “affected by the westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course”. The Chinese foreign ministry emphasised that “China always acts in strict accordance with international law and respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity…

Tokyo: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos hailed new defence and other deals signed with Japan in Tokyo yesterday, as the nations seek to deepen ties, including on security in response to growing Chinese military pressure. The countries agreed on measures to speed up military deployments for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. They also signed several other deals, from infrastructure loans to co-operation on agriculture and technology. “Our strategic partnership is stronger than ever,” Marcos said following talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Marcos’s trip comes a week after the Philippines announced a deal giving US troops access to another four bases in the country. Japan, which invaded and occupied the Philippines during World War II, has recently inked similar deals with Britain and Australia. But for now, the leaders are…

Nuclear-armed North Korea showcased its missile production muscle during a parade on Wednesday night, state media reported yesterday, displaying more intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) than ever before and hinting at a new solid-fuel weapon. The country has forged ahead with its ballistic missile programme, test-launching dozens of advanced missiles last year despite UN Security Council resolutions and sanctions. State media showed 11 Hwasong-17s, North Korea’s largest ICBM, which are suspected to be able to strike nearly anywhere in the world with a nuclear warhead. Eleven missiles could be enough to overwhelm current US missile defences, said the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. North Korea held the parade in Pyongyang to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of its army. Leader Kim Jong-un attended with his daughter, who could…

Jayapura: At least four people were killed yesterday when an earthquake struck the capital of Indonesia’s breakaway eastern region of Papua and crumpled a waterfront restaurant, officials said. The 5.1-magnitude quake hit south-west of Jayapura city at a depth of 22km, the US Geological Survey said. “A café collapsed and four people died there. It fell into the sea,” the Jayapura disaster mitigation agency said. Residents in Jayapura said people scrambled for safety, running from houses and shops when the quake struck. The country’s meteorological agency gave a higher magnitude of 5.2 and warned of potential aftershocks. | AFP…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said yesterday he had heard from several EU leaders at a summit that they were ready to provide Kyiv with aircraft, hinting at what would be one of the biggest shifts yet in Western support for Ukraine. His remarks came amid signs during a European tour that countries were closer to lifting one of the main taboos in military aid for Kyiv since Russia’s invasion last year. Western countries that have provided Ukraine with arms have so far refused to send fighter jets or long-range weapons capable of striking deep inside Russia. But the mood appears to have begun to shift during Zelenskiy’s European tour. Zelenskiy called for tighter sanctions on Moscow and punishment for Russian leaders responsible for the attack on Ukraine nearly a year…

THERE can be no beans about it – women’s sport worldwide, and in South Africa, is busting through the glass ceiling, shattering any preconceptions and cutting deep into the psyche of the public at large. It has been witnessed in cricket, where the women’s game is watched intently, with the Proteas women adored by many. It can be seen in the success of Wafcon champions Banyana Banyana; and the massive success of 2022’s Women’s European Championship. SA Rugby, meanwhile, are putting in a concerted effort to uplift the game here for women in the hopes of catching up with the Home Unions, who regularly sell out their games in Europe. Netball in South Africa wants in and the Netball World Cup that will be hosted in the country in 168…

THE announcement by Transnet that it has decided to approach private sector operators to lease its container corridor line between Durban and Joburg for 20 years, has been greeted with mixed reactions from the freight industry. Transnet spokesperson Ayanda Shezi said in a statement that the plan was aimed at growing Transnet Freight Rail’s (TFR) freight container business. “Transnet SOC Ltd (Transnet), as part of its partnerships strategy, has decided to engage the market to invest in and grow Transnet Freight Rail’s (TFR) freight containerised business, which is the backbone of the manufacturing sector in the country. “To this end, Transnet will issue a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to the market to identify parties interested in entering into an operating lease with TFR for the operation and maintenance of the…

I’m convinced the men and women in the car are sure they met an idiot. It’s a Saturday morning. I’m 11. As I have done for years, I am riding my bike on the gravel entrance to EWG Smith, General Dealer, my dad’s Blackburn Road grocery shop. A car eases alongside me and the driver leans out of the open car window and asks me directions to Parkhill Soccer Club. I know where it is but… but… but everything I know sticks in my head. Words fail. My arms twitch. My neck stretches. Nothing. Not a sound will come out of me but gasps and whelps. Then, I am choking on partial words which turn to monosyllabic squeaks and squawks. I turn my bike to look elsewhere and point down…

I recently tried to report a water leak in Durban on the 080 131 3013 number. This number is printed on the side of all the metro water and sanitation vehicles and is listed on the website as the number to call. So I was surprised to be told by a recorded message: “Sorry, the dialled number is unobtainable.” It seems that some bright spark in corporate services has decided to have only one number to contact to report, water, sanitation, electricity, billing and all other engineering services complaints, but forgot to think of the customers and advertise this change widely, including updating the phone number printed on all their vehicles. Can you imagine what will happen in the next storm, when all the engineering services are affected and all…

Matome Chiloane, MEC for Education in Gauteng, is “concerned about ill-discipline displayed by learners” and states, “Any form of ill-discipline and unruly behaviour will be met by disciplinary action”. All huff and puff after a deadly incident, and that’s where it ends. Student organisations, counsellors, education officials, psychologists, hairdressers and “education experts” have all “expressed concerns” about the violence, but have not come up with any answers – 28 years on. Schools are becoming “arenas of violence”. Schools are no longer institutions where pupils can learn. One pupil even admitted: “The learners are getting out of hand”. Wow, an Einstein moment! An extremely violent society such as South Africa begets violence. Children follow the example of their parents and other adults. Parents protesting at schools, forcibly and physically removing teachers…

SMALL-SCALE farmers in KwaZulu-Natal are hopeful of meaningful change in the agricultural sector following the appointment of Super Zuma as Agriculture and Rural Development MEC. Zuma’s appointment was announced on Tuesday. He takes over the post from Bongi Sithole-Moloi, who has been moved to the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs portfolio. Menzi Mzimela, a small-scale farmer based in Empangeni, said he hoped Zuma’s appointment would lead to changes in the sector. “We have been complaining since last year about the support we should get from the provincial government. In this industry, we do not want to get to the point where one must be affiliated with a certain political party to get help. There are a lot of challenges we face and we hope he tackles them,” said Mzimela. DA…

Two paramedics were robbed by armed men while on call this week. Police spokesperson Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo said KwaNdengezi SAPS were investigating a case of robbery following an incident in which a 38-year-old ambulance driver and his 42-year-old colleague were allegedly robbed of their belongings and work equipment at Shongweni. According to the report, the ambulance crew were accosted on Friday by four men who were suspected of having reported a false emergency call about a sick elderly person that needed to be taken to hospital. The paramedics, who work for KZN Emergency Medical Services, arrived in Shongweni and were flagged down by two men who said they would show them where the sick person lived. On their way there they were allegedly accosted by another two men. One of…

FORMER president Jacob Zuma has approached the Constitutional Court to have President Cyril Ramaphosa’s interdict, secured last month at the Gauteng South High Court, Johannesburg, overturned. Ramaphosa was granted an urgent interim interdict to halt Zuma’s private prosecution case against him. This is pending the ruling on the application brought by Ramaphosa to set aside the private prosecution case. Zuma wanted Ramaphosa prosecuted as an “accessory after the fact” in the private prosecution he has already filed against State advocate Billy Downer, SC, and journalist Karyn Maughan. In that matter the two are charged with alleged contravention of the National Prosecuting Act for allegedly leaking his confidential medical information during his arms deal trial. Downer and Maughan have lodged applications to have the private prosecution declared an abuse of court…

TOURISM Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has ordered a full-scale forensic investigation into the proposed R910 million Tottenham Hotspur sponsorship deal. Last week after news of the deal was leaked, acting CEO of SA Tourism (SAT) Themba Mzilikazi Khumalo had defended it saying it would yield positive results for the tourism sector. The deal is for three years and would see South Africa being advertised on the shirt-sleeve of the club’s kit. This week the Portfolio Committee on Tourism called for the deal to be scrapped after meeting with SAT. The committee said the presentation it received from the acting CEO of the SAT on the deal was underwhelming, full of contradictions and created more questions than answers. The committee has also said the acting CFO, Johan van der Walt, must tender…

Like other businesses across Cuba, Nel Paradiso is grappling with a worker shortage amid unprecedented levels of people fleeing the island nation. In just over a year, the central Havana restaurant has seen 50 employees leave. “There wasn’t enough time to replace the personnel,” said hiring manager Annie Zuniga, 26. After being forced to close its doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Nel Paradiso had been open for only two months when Nicaragua, an ally of Havana, abolished visa requirements for Cubans. That move in November 2021 kicked off the island’s largest exodus since the Communist regime came to power over six decades ago. “Nicaragua’s opening was a blow … from 50 workers, in one week we were left with 30,” Zuniga said. Of the 60 employees recruited during the…

The deadliest cholera outbreak in Malawi’s history has killed at least 1 210 people, while vaccines remain scarce and several other African nations report outbreaks, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday. The southern African nation has been battling its worst cholera outbreak on record, with nearly 37 000 cases reported since March last year. Confirmed cases have already been reported across the border in Mozambique, while the WHO said it assessed the current risk of spread inside Malawi and to other neighbouring countries as “very high”. The WHO said in a statement that active transmission was now ongoing in 27 out of Malawi’s 29 districts, with the country seeing a 143% increase in the number of cases last month compared to December. “With a sharp increase of cases seen…

London: The Church of England’s governing body yesterday endorsed plans to let priests offer blessings to same-sex couples, after hours of acrimonious debate highlighted deep Anglican divisions on the issue. The Church’s General Synod – comprising hundreds of elected members – backed the proposals by a wide margin. A total of 250 bishops, clergy and laity supported the reforms, while 181 opposed them and 10 abstained, at a vote held at the Synod gathering in London. The plans will not change rules banning Anglican priests from officiating at same-sex weddings. Synod members supported an amendment endorsing that stance, while also voting in favour of the proposal to allow blessings for civil marriages in a church. | AFP…

New Delhi: Thousands of people turned out in protest outside municipal government offices in the central Chinese city of Wuhan over major cuts to their medical benefits. Video clips on social media showed a large crowd of older people gathered in rainy weather outside the gates of the city government compound, with police linking arms to prevent them from approaching the gates. The protest came after warnings from the central government in Beijing that it won’t be bailing out cash-strapped local governments, whose coffers had been drained by three years of President Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid policy, which ended in December last year. | IANS…

The weather has been a lot more fishing-friendly over the past week with most facets seeing good fish. The summer heat is starting to make air conditioning a necessity and the northeast wind is starting to blow more consistently. The north coast is where you want to be at this time of year. Make sure you have all your traces made up. Service your reels and make sure they are spooled with the best quality braid you can afford. Preparation goes a very long way when it comes to fishing and can be the difference between a good day fishing and a miserable day at the beach. The areas around Richard’s Bay, Tugela and Ballito have been the most productive. There have been hammerheads off the deeper points during…