Inhoudsopgave van 2024-01-31 - Mercury

South Africa is being seen as a popular destination for wealthy individuals from elsewhere across Africa, Europe, Russia and the UK, the BRICS Wealth Report showed yesterday. The report calculates South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita at $11 200 (about R210 700) , a contrast to the World Economic Forum’s $13 243 calculation for 2023 behind the UAE, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia. “South Africa’s wealth management market is well positioned for success. It is a potential hub for other African wealth management markets, having one of the biggest stock exchanges in the world and a well-developed wealth management, fund management, and banking system,” noted the Africa Wealth Report 2023. While there has been widespread concern about governance shortfalls in both public and private spheres in South Africa,…

Indians all over the world are celebrating. The Ram Mandir temple has been officially opened by Indian Prime Minister Narendi Modi, fulfilling a long held, cherished dream. But controversy surrounds the temple in Ayodhya. Built as a sprawling complex, the temple now stands on a site where a sixteenth mosque the Babri Masjid, once stood. Like all invading armies the Mughals did not respect the religion and customs of India and just imposed their will on the people. The site has long been a contentious issue between the Hindu and Muslim communities. The Hindus claim that the site was the birth place of Rama. In 1992 angry far right Hindu nationalists tore down the Babri Masjid, triggering nationwide religious riots in which over 2 000 people, mostly Muslims, lost their…

Imagine you had the power to shift entire narratives by creating a global catastrophe and then investing in the stock markets before problems hit the fan? Well, at this present moment there are nefarious individuals who use their power and their influence to try and coerce society into believing that we are very close to a total global meltdown. Issues such as climate alarmism, gender neutrality, population control, pandemics and open borders are all tools being used by these arrogant socialist evildoers to bully us into submission, and to somehow prove to us that Capitalism is the problem. Javier Milei, the brave and newly elected President of Argentina took aim at these Globalists at Davos in a 23 odd minute speech, tearing into every single idea or agenda that the…

PEOPLE living in a village in the Scottish Highlands are being urged to hide their outdoor food waste bins and bird feeders as a search continues for a missing monkey that escaped from a wildlife park. The Japanese macaque got free from its enclosure at Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie according to Sky News. The monkey was later spotted sitting on a garden fence and taking nuts from a bird feeder in the nearby village of Kingcraig. It disappeared into the trees before the keepers appeared. The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS), which runs the park, says a team of the charity’s expert keepers will continue to patrol the village to track down the animal. Although the monkey is not believed to be a threat to the public or…

President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured South Africans that he will soon announce the election date but did not commit to making this announcement when he delivers the State of the Nation (Sona) address next month. The Electoral Commission of South Africa will conduct its final voter registration weekend on February 3 and 4 and voter registration will end once Ramaphosa promulgates the date. Opposition parties have urged him to use the Sona address to unofficially announce the date so that they can prepare for the massive logistical undertaking of campaigning for the election. Ramaphosa during a wide-ranging interview with a national broadcaster, said the election date will be announced soon. “Well, the election date will be announced shortly so that South Africans get ready for the election. “This is an…

Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille said her department will this week intensify efforts to attract more Chinese tourists to South Africa, in a bid to boost the country’s economic fortunes. De Lille made the remarks at a glitzy event in Pretoria on Monday night, where China’s ambassador to South Africa, Chen Xiaodong hosted Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations, also known as the Spring Festival. The minister said she will be meeting Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi and representatives from the Presidency to present a roadmap on how South Africa can woo Chinese visitors. “My department, South African Tourism and I are focused on welcoming more Chinese visitors to South Africa. I am meeting with the minister of home affairs and the Presidency’s project management office this week to see how…

In the ongoing bid to find answers for the reasons behind the Covid-19 lockdown decisions made by the government in 2020, which severely impacted the lives of people in the country, Sakeliga will once again turn to court. It has brought a high court application to have the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs declared guilty of contempt of court. The contempt relates to a failure to disclose, pursuant to a previous court order, records of the sweeping Covid-19 lockdown decisions made behind closed doors in 2020. If Sakeliga succeeds in this contempt application, the current minister, Thembi Nkadimeng, will have to disclose the records both she and her predecessor, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, have so far kept from the public. The sheriff confirmed to Sakeliga that papers were…

Founding of militant organisations in South Africa and the PLO were a turning point While the ICJ genocide case has grabbed headlines for the past few weeks, one coincidence that many analysts do not talk about concerns the parallels between South Africa and Israel, as well as between the ANC and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). This article examines the similarities and contradictions that the genocide case exposes and its implications for the ANC and the PLO. The centrality of Hamas in the latest events in Palestine is not a coincidence but a necessary political development that the ANC itself is currently experiencing. Both the Oslo Accords and the Codesa negotiations, which the PLO and the ANC led, respectively, are now under intense scrutiny. The prominence of Hamas in Gaza…

US immigration reform has become the focus of a high-stakes political battle, with President Joe Biden and Donald Trump locking horns over one of the hottest issues of the 2024 election. With the White House race looking almost certain to be a rematch of 2020, the Republican has been hammering his Democratic successor over record numbers of undocumented migrants at the southern border. Senators are working to unveil one of the harshest immigration bills in decades, containing significant restrictions that Biden has committed to signing into law – that could include Republican priorities such as temporary border shutdowns and an end to the “catch and release” of migrants. But they’re hitting a major roadbump: Trump has an iron grip on Republicans leading the House of Representatives, and – unwilling to…

Washington: An Ohio man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for trying to burn down a church that planned to host drag shows, the Justice Department said yesterday. Aimenn Penny, 20, of Ohio, pleaded guilty in October to attempting to set fire to the Community Church of Chesterland in Ohio. Penny was sentenced on Monday to 216 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Penny, a member of the neo-Nazi White Lives Matter group, attacked the church with two Molotov cocktails on March 25, a week before it planned to host two drag show events. The attack caused limited damage, wrecking a sign and scorching a door. |…

Trade and industry Minister Ebrahim Patel said South African businesses would soon benefit from preferential trading under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). Patel was speaking in Durban yesterday during a council of ministers meeting also attended by ministers responsible for trade, the diplomatic corps, heads of businesses and media from across the continent. Twelve countries, including South Africa, have finalised their legal modalities to enable trade to commence in thousands of product lines, ranging from food and beverages to steel products and equipment, taxis, pharmaceutical and personal care products, chemical products and household goods such as fridges and televisions. President Cyril Ramaphosa will today, at Pier 1 of the Port of Durban, officially launch the first container of goods loaded on to a ship destined for markets covered…

The DA notes the release of a comprehensive report by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) into the July 2021 unrest in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). The report comes some two-and- a-half years after unprecedented violence hit the province, in a bloody week that saw attacks on lives and livelihoods. The SAHRC findings vindicate the DA’s view on the motives behind the failed insurrection. This includes a culmination of factors such as social inequality, ongoing political tensions and a severe lack of SAPS intelligence. Ultimately, these factors culminated in a perfect storm. According to the report, in January 2021, SAPS intelligence received a red alert about the possibility of KZN being shut down by a criminal element in order to remove President Cyril Ramaphosa. This is a clear sign that ANC…

ANC must examine its own apartheid state before name calling Israel! The ANC government, by its very own evil and racist conduct, is an apartheid state. That it’s upholding and maintaining apartheid by still practising the Group Areas Act of colonialism and retaining Indian-claimed lands from its former owners for 30 long, painful years, proves my point. The mere fact that an African majority government holds with impunity our claimed land – allowing it to be illegally occupied by its own voting fodder in Durban North, Clare Estate, Puntans Hill, Riverside, Cato Manor and Clairwood, among others – proves our claims as facts. Any government such as the ANC that demands current market value for Indian-claimed lands it did not pay a cent for, is nothing short of the…

SOUTH Africa continues to struggle with addressing public sector corruption for the fifth year in a row, as reported by the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). The CPI released yesterday, revealed that South Africa stood at 83 out of 180 countries. It went from a score of 43 in the 2022 index, to 41 during the 2023 report. This marks the country's fifth year of decline, despite celebrating 30 years of democracy. South Africa, at 41, sits alongside Burkina Faso, Kosovo, and Vietnam on the global index, and comes in at joint 11th with Burkina Faso on the regional table of sub-Saharan Africa. The 29th edition of the CPI, released by Transparency International yesterday, is an annual snapshot where 180 countries and territories around the globe are ranked by their…

The 65 people charged in connection with the unrest and public violence that took place in July 2021 made their first appearance in the Durban High Court yesterday. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the matter was adjourned to April 8 for some of the accused to finalise their legal representation. The accused face a total of eight charges, including terrorism, conspiring on the commission of terrorism, sedition, public violence, conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit public violence, and incitement to commit public violence. According to the eight-page indictment, the accused were disgruntled following the Constitutional Court decision to jail former president Jacob Zuma for a period of 15 months in June 2021 for contempt of court. This was due to Zuma refusing to appear before the State Capture…

The South African Local Government Association (Salga), which represents more than 257 local governments, has expressed its concern over Monday’s killing of a Rand Water executive who was killed while at a back-to-school donation event in the south of Johannesburg. The official, identified as Teboho Joala, was shot dead while at the Zakarriya Park Community Hall. City of Joburg chief whip, Sthembiso Zungu, was injured in the shooting. The reason for the fatal shooting has not been established yet but Salga President, Bheke Stofile, told Newzroom Afrika that these incidents have the potential to lead to South Africa being run by mafias with various interests. He said this is not the first time such incidents have occurred, adding that Salga has in the past conducted a study on similar…

The Cape Town Magistrate’s Court has found that alleged members of the Black Axe romance scam syndicate, can be extradited to the US to face charges. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the court had found that the certificate issued by the US binds the court and there was enough evidence to prosecute them. Perry Osagiede, Enorense Izevbiege, Franklin Edosa Osagiede, Osariemen Eric Clement, Collins Owhofasa Otughwor, Musa Mudashiru, Prince Ibeabuchi Mark and Toritseju Gabriel Otubu were arrested and charged with wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. The State alleges that the suspects, working as a collective, would contact potential victims by email or reach out to them on social media, including online dating websites. “Using false identities and representations, the respondents…

THE ANC’s long overdue decision to suspend its former president Jacob Zuma’s membership sets the stage for what could be a bruising election campaign for the governing party ahead of this year’s crucial election. Judging by the party’s secretary general Fikile Mbalula’s remarks that they are “prepared to defend” the National Democratic Revolution, the organisation is aware that the Zuma question will not go away by just suspending his membership. The decision to only haul him before a disciplinary hearing after the elections also suggests that the party is wary of the implications of terminating his membership. Zuma’s support, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, where he hails from, cannot be overlooked. One just has to look at the crowds attending the rallies of the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party. That is…

berlin: Security staff at major German airports will go on strike tomorrow to push for higher wages, their union said, the latest industrial action to hit Europe’s top economy. Staff will walk out at Frankfurt, Germany’s biggest airport, as well as Berlin and nine other airports across the country, the Verdi union announced. No agreement has been reached with management on salaries after three rounds of talks, according to a statement from the union, which represents around 25 000 employees. The union is seeking E2.80 (R57) more per hour as well as increases to other allowances to help staff combat inflation, which has risen sharply since last year. |…

Ottawa: Canada is extending a delay on an expansion of its euthanasia laws that would make mentally ill patients eligible, saying medical practitioners are still not properly trained on the new regime. Canada approved doctor-assisted suicide for the terminally ill in 2016. The legislation was due to be expanded in March 2023 to permit mentally ill patients to request euthanasia, but Ottawa delayed its roll-out by a year to ensure proper safeguards were in place. Health Minister Mark Holland, echoing the conclusions of a parliamentary committee report, said this week “the system is, at this time, (still) not ready and more time is required” to set it up. |…

The Proteas’ quest to defeat Australia in a women’s bilateral series will continue after the home team claimed a five-wicket victory in the final T20I to seal a 2-1 win in Hobart last night. Laura Wolvaardt’s team had made history in the previous match in Canberra when they defeated the Aussies for the first time in any format, but were unable to climb their Everest in the decider at the Blundstone Arena. The world champions paced their run chase to perfection with Beth Mooney’s 55-ball 82 (11x4, 1x6) the cornerstone before Ashleigh Gardener chipped in with an unbeaten 29 (17 balls, 3x4, 1x6) to guide the home team past the Proteas’ 162-7 with four balls to spare. Mooney, who is the world’s No 1 T20 batter, has been the difference…

Bafana Bafana’s attacker Thapelo Maseko might have recently made his Africa Cup of Nations debut, but his former coaches have tipped him to be the future of the team. Maseko has been one of the standout players for Bafana at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations, having also racked up a goal for the team in the group stage. That goal against Namibia in the second game was a poacher’s finish as he connected well with Teboho Mokoena’s weighted pass before slotting past Lloyd Kazapua. Kwanele Kopo, who was one of the coaches who scouted Maseko for SuperSport’s academy in 2018 before he broke into the senior team, always knew that he was a lethal finisher. “He’s a very good finisher, full of speed and aggressive,” Kopo said yesterday from…

NELSON Mandela Bay (the Bay/the Metro) is a convergence point for an array of biomes, weather systems, river courses and ecological characteristics and peoples, that has created a unique and globally significant biodiversity hot spot. Preserving these qualities will be essential in adapting to the changes which human activity has driven in the climate and planetary ecosystems, and to secure the diverse heritage of the human, terrestrial and marine environment of the bay. The bay’s expected climatic changes include hotter temperatures, less rainfall, sea-level rise and tidal surges, more wind, and more frequent extreme weather events. These will lead to increased flooding, longer droughts, and increased likelihood of heat-related illnesses. Indeed, local authorities have a major influence on climate change adaptation, yet their actions are strongly determined by the national…

Winston Churchill said: “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” It is a wonderful sentiment that can be applied in almost all industries including power generation. As the landscape changes so should energy production and distribution (readily) adapt, ensuring that we establish a flexible, optimised grid of the future. Traditionally, grid flexibility involved utilities enrolling large industrial energy consumers in load curtailment and demand response programmes to help adjust the balance between supply and demand. These electro-intensive users would reduce or shift their energy use during peak periods. However, today grid flexibility has become far more complex. For one, an increasing investment in renewables means that energy flow is bi-directional, with decentralised energy coming from multiple distributed energy resources (DERs). Furthermore, as organisations and even…

THE need to secure water supplies and reduce dependence on UMngeni-uThukela Water (UUW) board has prompted the eThekwini Municipality to “revive” its plan to build a desalination plant. Desalination is the process by which the dissolved mineral salts in water are removed. Currently, this process, applied to seawater, is one of the most used to obtain fresh water for human consumption or agricultural purposes. A plan for such a plant was mooted several years ago. Head of water and sanitation Ednick Msweli said the City is looking at finding alternative sources of water and will conduct a feasibility study on building a desalination plant. He said another water source being considered is the water reuse project, saying that plans relating to this were already at an advanced stage. City councillors…

SASOL is a significant investor in education, and recognition of outstanding academic achievement contributes to realising our ambition to improve access to quality of education. We do this through our various programmes and initiatives. In this case, one of the initiatives that Sasol sponsored was the National Senior Certificate Awards ceremony which took place on January 19. The event, run by the Department of Basic Education, recognises and awards top performing learners in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). Sasol supports these awards annu ally by making funds available to assist the top-performing learners from schools in the Quintile 1-3 category, which are “no fee” paying schools catering to the poorest communities. The intent behind these special awards is to enable learners to have funds to travel to university, pay…

“I’m 43 years old and divorced with a child. I’ve been attracted to this man for over a year. We work together. I speak to him by saying ‘hi’ or ‘good morning.’ I don’t chase him but I look at him and walk on. I catch him looking in my direction and he smiles. Why am I always attracted to the ‘wrong’ kind of men especially married ones? Since my divorce I haven’t had much luck with men. I don’t go out I just stay home. Maybe someday I’ll find someone. Right now I’m just letting time takes its course.” I commend you for recognising the man is married. Attractions, as you seem to perfectly understand, do not give you permission to act. You are “holding onto yourself” despite your…

The Care Dependency Grant (CDG) for children with disabilities in South Africa is insufficient to meet the needs of these children and to ensure the social protection of their families. This is according to Dr Zara Trafford from the Institute for Life Course Health Research in the Department of Global Health at Stellenbosch University (SU). Trafford received her PhD in psychology at SU recently. “None of the South African government’s cash transfer (‘grants’) programmes are intended to serve as standalone social protection, but there is a particularly dire lack of responsibility for disability and support for disabled children from government bodies beyond the Department of Social Development,” said Trafford. She said the CDG is a greatly under- researched topic compared to the Child Support Grant and the adult Disability Grant.…

Former tenants of the Usindiso building in Marshalltown, Joburg shared harrowing testimonies detailing the appalling living conditions and events on the night of the fatal fire that claimed 76 lives in August. Mother of three, Nokwazi Cele, told the chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry into the Marshalltown fire, Justice Sisi Khampepe, that she had to leave behind a neighbour’s child in the burning property in a desperate attempt to escape the fire. Cele said she and her children escaped through a window on the second floor but cried when she relived having left behind the 1-year-old, whose mother was not present, in the burning building. “It was painful having to choose between my screaming kids and leaving this 1-year-old in the room. My windows started breaking so I left…

Big South African clothing and apparel retailers should shoulder the blame for “deplorable and terrible working conditions” in the country’s textiles industry, the Southern African Textile and Workers’ Union (Sactwu) has said. South African textiles workers in peri-urban and rural areas were struggling with poor working conditions such as long working hours, poor pay and strict toilet visiting times, global union IndustriALL said in a new report titled “Deplorable Working Conditions at Textile and Garment Factories in South Africa”. The report follows a visit to textile manufacturers in Mandeni, KwaZulu-Natal, in December by inspectors from the Department of Employment and Labour. The inspectors, notes the report, discovered that workers in the factories were working “12 long working hours with only 30-minute lunch breaks” while occupational health and safety violations were…

With headline inflation easing to 5.1% in December 2023, down from 5.5% in November and a high of 7.1% in March 2023, as anticipated, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) left the repo rate unchanged at 8.25% for the fourth consecutive meeting. While the stability of the repo rate is positive news for the housing market, the current higher debt costs as a result of the prevailing interest rates, means that consumers – including home buyers and existing mortgage holders – and businesses remain under pressure amid a tepid economy, with ongoing loadshedding and increased electricity and other municipal tariffs weighing heavily on all sectors. Lower inflation and interest rate cuts are inevitably positive for consumer confidence, a crucial ingredient for renewed buoyancy in the housing market. According to FNB statistics,…

Deadly fighting and bombardment rocked Gaza yesterday as international mediators pushed for a new ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Israel-Hamas war. Heavy Israeli strikes and urban combat across the besieged Gaza Strip killed 128 more people overnight, the health ministry in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory said. The epicentre of fighting has been the southern city of Khan Yunis – the hometown of Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, the alleged architect of the October 7 attack – where vast areas have been reduced to a muddy wasteland of bombed-out buildings. Troops fighting in city blocks and tunnels have raided several military sites, Sinwar’s office and “a significant rocket manufacturing facility”, the Israeli military said. Army spokesperson Daniel Hagari claimed troops in the city had “eliminated over 2 000 terrorists…

TEHRAN: Iran yesterday summoned the British ambassador to Tehran to protest against London’s “accusations” against the Islamic republic, state media reported. “Following the continuation of the British regime’s accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran, Simon Shercliff, the British ambassador in Tehran, was summoned … and informed of our country’s strong protest,” IRNA state news agency reported. It comes after Britain accused Iran-aligned groups of being behind a deadly attack on US troops in Jordan and, along with the US, imposed sanctions on a network that they allege targets Iranian dissidents. |…

Abuja: Kidnappers attacked a Nigerian school bus and abducted five children along with their teachers, the school’s founder said yesterday as outrage grows over insecurity in the country. Kidnapping for ransom by criminal gangs is a major problem in Nigeria and the new government is facing an outcry over a recent spate of abductions. The gunmen in south-western Ekiti state shot the bus’s tyres and took the children captive on their way home from school on Monday, co-founder Gabriel Adesanya said. He said the Emure Apostolic Faith Primary School pupils aged 8-14 were still missing plus the bus driver, conductor and two teachers. |…

Having already seen two matches washed out this season, the Joburg Super Kings would have been sitting in the Newlands dugout bemoaning their luck in SA20 season 2 when the rain came pelting down on Monday evening. But Mother Cricket takes and also gives, and she certainly favoured the Super Kings at Newlands. The visitors had the better of the conditions, bowling the majority of their innings with a dry ball before having their full 10 wickets in hand to chase down a DLS-revised target of 98. Ultimately, they did not require anyone other than openers Leus du Plooy and captain Faf du Plessis. It was a momentous shift in momentum, particularly for a JSK batting unit that had struggled to fire all season. The game situation of requiring 98…

AmaZulu announced their decision to part ways with coach Reneilwe Letsholonyane on Monday, citing poor results in his first year with the club. The Kaizer Chiefs legend has been the head coach of Usuthu’s reserve team since August last year. He was initially appointed as under-17 coach in January last year but was promoted ahead of the new DStv Diski Challenge (DDC) season. Usuthu currently occupy 15th spot in the DDC standings at the halfway point of the season, which has led to Yeye’s dismissal. The club’s youth technical director, Celokuhle Mbanjwa, explained Letsholonyane’s dismissal. “We needed to make a change within the DDC ranks because obviously the results were not coming, but we also felt we needed a new energy in a different perspective in terms of the…