Inhoudsopgave van 2021-06-10 - Star

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za SANLAM, South Africa’s biggest insurance company, closed stronger on the JSE as the market cheered the group’s strong operational performance for the four months ended April compared to a year earlier. Among the highlights for the period was the 20 percent increase in new business volumes, up 81 percent in the Value of New Business, the more than doubling in net fund inflows, and the strong performance of the African General Insurance business. Sanlam said the current rate of new business growth had received a boost from improved savings due to the Covid-19 pandemic shifting spending patterns. “In due course we would expect this supportive situation to normalise and therefore expect the growth in new business volumes to moderate at some point,” Sanlam said.…

Decuplets dad thanks SA for its support IOL Reporter SHOCK. Excitement. Incredulity. Awe. And envy? This is the gamut of emotions experienced in South Africa and abroad after Pretoria News and IOL broke the story of a South African woman Gosiame Thamara Sithole, 37, giving birth to a world record-breaking 10 babies at a Pretoria hospital. The birth of the decuplets is a world first. And it was a world exclusive for us, scooping all local media and resulting in the world’s media beating a path to our door to secure the rights to use the pictures. Mom and the Thembisa 10 (as the newborns have been dubbed) are under close guard and we are determined to honour their requests for non-disclosure of where they are. The decuplets’ dad,…

A LARGE police presence was seen yesterday outside Eskom’s headquarters at Megawatt Park in Sandton as Soweto residents peacefully protested outside. The residents said they were taking matters into their own hands and demanded a meeting with the management of the power utility to restore electricity in some areas of the township. Among these areas were Dube, White City, Sunvalley, and Pimville, which have been without electricity for almost a year. Speaking to The Star, Nhlanhla Mohlauli, one of the delegates who organised the protest, said that the communication between the ward councillors, Eskom, politicians and the residents has been a game of broken telephone, and that is why the electricity has not been restored. “We have forged a new generation of delegates who will liaise with the power utility.…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za CONSULTATIONS on the Green Paper on Marriages in order to recognise all unions irrespective of sexuality or religion commenced in the Western Cape on Tuesday. The Cabinet had approved the publication of the Green Paper on Marriages for public consultation earlier this year. “Despite the efforts of the State to redress the injustices of the past, the current marriage statute still deprives certain cultural and religious communities from concluding legally recognised marriages. This includes Islamic and Hindu marriages, customary marriages concluded in some African communities and marriages of transgender persons,” the Green Paper stated. Human rights organisation, Cause For Justice, delivered written submissions stating it was important religious groups were able to practise their beliefs. “It is imperative that religious groups should be able to freely express…

Eric Shikobela | Pretoria South Africa is at breaking point, nothing so far is going right. Good news and progress have become a stranger to our ears, and the hope of many is dwindling rapidly. Pride, ignorance and arrogance make our leaders say: “All is well in our nation, or soon things will be back to normal,” while we can see our country is like a sinking ship that needs salvation quickly! And although we might draw it back from its sea of troubles, to think we will find it in its normalcy is far-fetched. This letter aims to serve the purpose of a call to unity as leaders of this blessed and beautiful country. Despite our political, racial and religious differences, we should find a way to…

The death of Shaleen Surtie-Richards reminded us of the role of actors in the memory of the nation. Though she played many roles, that of Fiela remains indelibly etched in the minds of many, through Katinka Heyns’ film, based in Daleen Mathee’s book, Fiela se Kind. Fiela’s true story is of a woman living alone in the depths of the Knysna forest, where she finds a lost child which she brings up. Then the parents arrive and want the child back, the law must take its course. Who is the true mother? It is the classic story of the foundling, dramatised by Bertolt Brecht, Oscar Wilde and many others as tragedy, comedy, pathos and romance. But this is South African, with its emphasis on colour and upbringing. A very different…

Gilles van Cutsem On June 5, 1981, a short report of five cases of pneumocystis pneumonia in young homosexual men in Los Angeles marked the discovery of Aids, the first pandemic of the 20th century caused by a completely new virus, HIV. Since then Aids has killed 33 million and infected 76 million. Of the 38 million people living with HIV, 27 million are now on life-saving treatment. This is a threefold increase since 2010. But it still falls short of the global target of ensuring that 30 million people would be on treatment by 2020. In fact, not one of the 2020 targets has been achieved. We are not even close. Last year, there were 1.5 million new infections, three times the target of 500 000, and 690…

The EU yesterday threatened Britain with retaliatory action if it refuses to implement post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland, after talks to solve the simmering row broke up without agreement. Visiting European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic said Brussels’ patience with London was “wearing thin” over its failure to enforce checks on goods heading to the province from mainland Britain. “Today I can say we are at a crossroads in our relationship with the UK. Trust, which should be at the heart of all relationships, needs to be restored,” he said in London. “If the UK were to take further unilateral action in the coming weeks, we will not be shy in reacting swiftly, firmly and resolutely.” Asked what form that might take, he said it could include legal action,…

Ankara: The Turkish government has no time to waste on slander, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday regarding the allegations of a Turkish organised crime boss against the Cabinet. Sedat Peker, an exiled Turkish national convicted of mob-related crimes, has been claiming that he used to have deep ties to some officials of the ruling AK Party. His videos, which contain allegations of murders, corruption and drug trafficking, have become a hot topic in Turkey. “We thoroughly debate on and talk about every issue regarding our country and nation in public. However, we never do this because of the members of terrorist or criminal organisations. We have no time to waste with them,” Erdogan said.…

Peru’s leftist presidential candidate Pedro Castillo indicated his party won Sunday’s election, his strongest comments yet about the result of a vote that has roiled markets in the South American country. “According to the report of our representatives, we already have the official party count of the votes where the people have imposed themselves on this feat,” Castillo told followers outside his headquarters on Tuesday evening. He asked backers “not to fall into provocation” and said the business sector was showing support for the party. Castillo leads Keiko Fujimori by 50.2% to 49.8% – or a gap of nearly 72 000 votes – with 98.3% of ballots counted. Fujimori has denounced some irregularities in the process, saying the rival party was “distorting or delaying” the results, but hasn’t yet provided…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za African Equity Empowerment Investments (AEEI), the diversified majority black-owned investment group, yesterday denied that a call option claimed by investee partner company BT Communications Services South Africa was capable of being exercised. AEEI, which is controlled by Sekunjalo Investment Holdings, is an indirect shareholder in BT Communications Services South Africa (BTSA) through its 100 percent shareholding in Kilomix Investments, which owns 30 percent of BTSA. AEEI’s denial of the call option comes after BTSA said it wished to terminate its relationship with Seku- njalo through the call-option, after an alleged misrepresentation to Parliament’s standing committee on finance. In terms of the shareholders agreement entered into between BT Limited (BT) (formerly British Telecom), BTSA, Kilomix Investments and AEEI on November 4, 2008, BT had a call…

Alyssia Birjalal alyssia.birjalal@inl.co.za The family of TV, film and theatre actress Shaleen Surtie-Richards have called on the Presidency to give her a state send-off. The icon was found dead on Monday at a guest house in Cape Town, where she was filming scenes for kykNet’s Arendsvlei. Family spokesperson and local musician Alistair Isobell said: “The family have contacted the Presidency, requesting a provincial send-off which has the support of the creative community, which wishes to recognise and acknowledge the accomplishments of an inspiration,” said Isobell. He said Surtie-Richards’s funeral had been set for Sunday at 2.30pm at the Durbanville Memorial Park in Cape Town. Due to the global pandemic and lockdown restrictions, attendees will be limited, but fans will be able to stream the ceremony. Isobell said Surtie-Richards was a…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za THE CASE of seven accident victims against the Road Accident Fund (RAF) will be heard in the high court in Pretoria on Tuesday. They are asking the court to order that the RAF may not refuse the lodgement of any claims irrespective of whether they have all the reports at hand or not. The applicants are a handful of the many who cannot lodge their claims with the RAF following a directive issued in March that submissions not accompanied by a host of reports would no longer be accepted. These include accident and medical reports, which claimants and lawyers said were not immediately necessary when a claim was being lodged. They argue that many of the reports were difficult to obtain straight away and could be handed…

SIFISO MAHLANGU sifiso.mahlangu@inl.co.za AS LOAD SHEDDING soars, independent power producer Karpowership-SA’s plan to generate electricity has been slowed down following a complaint by a local campaign group. The environmental impact assessment of Karpowership-SA’s proposed project in Saldanha Bay will be reopened after The Green Connection advocacy group laid a complaint with the Department for Forestry, Fishing and Environment. The department has halted the company’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) until an investigation had been conducted. Karpowership-SA said it was confident the issues would be swiftly resolved. Company spokesperson Kay Sexwale said: “We have already engaged on many of the environmental concerns that have been raised and we look forward to a continued discussion of our plans. “We are ready to produce power that may very well end this load shedding nightmare.”…

IN A previous article, I spoke about the Auditor-General of South Africa (AG) who has a constitutional mandate and, as the Supreme Audit Institution of South Africa, exists to strengthen our country’s democracy by enabling oversight, accountability and the government in the public sector through auditing, thereby building public confidence. The AG does annual audits and examines whether there is fair representation and absence of significant misstatements in financial statements. The AG also looks at the reliable credible performance, information or predetermined objectives. Above that, they need to ensure there is compliance with the laws and regulations governing financial matters. We have spoken about some of the audits and the problems the AG experienced with the Department of Employment and Labour. They can express different opinions, ranging from an unqualified…

Sisonke Mlamla sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za OUTRAGE against the proposed amendments to gun ownership laws is growing, with pro-gun ownership groups saying discouraging gun ownership for “self-defence” would place women at greater risk of gender-based violence (GBV), because they would be legally unable to protect themselves. The proposal published last month by the Civilian Secretariat for Police Service (CSP), could see changes to the law that would remove self-defence as a valid reason to own a firearm. Action Society spokesperson Dr Rineé Pretorius, said they were concerned about the impact that the amendment to the Firearms Control Act (FCA) would have on the continued violence against innocent women and children. She said people's safety would be jeopardised if the right to self-protection is removed. An organisation which helps women lawfully license firearms for…

Kailene Pillay kailene.pillay@inl.co.za Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo is confident he will compile his state capture report by the end of this month. However, some are not convinced that the report will meet expectations. The Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture is running out of time to complete its work. While it did not sit for hearings over the past couple of days, Zondo last week assured South Africans that the Commission was working hard behind the scenes. He maintained that various personnel were busy with preparation of summaries of evidence. However, political analyst Bheki Mngomezulu said while he appreciated the forthcoming report, he doubted it would be “at the level I expected”. Mngomezulu attributed his doubts to the fact that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s evidence has been left…

Kudzai Chikowore | Defender of human rights I AM deeply traumatised that the Zimbabwean government is struggling to end the persistent problem of child labour. In Zimbabwe, more than 13% of under-age children are used in farms and as house maids. These children, under 18, face problems such as low wages, extra work, long working hours, lack of holidays, harassment, sexual exploitation, physical torture, ill treatment, lack of welfare facilities, absence of social security measures, lack of rest, development of fatigue and lack of freedom. It is painful that many of these children are forced to take jobs in the farming sector where living conditions are extremely harsh. Poverty, high school drop-outs and early marriages are forcing under-age children to work in Zimbabwe. The heartless Zimbabwean government has…

Morgan Bolton morgan.bolton@inl.co.za THERE really wasn’t anything unpredictable when predicting the predictable outcome in years prior, when prognosticating the results of previous Formula One seasons. The 2021 calendar has just about chucked any such forgone conclusions out of the window, along with any conviction that Mercedes and Sir Lewis Hamilton would again dominate every GP. Every race this season – with Monaco being the exception – has been on point, serving up some magnificent drama and racing. This past weekend's Azerbaijan GP was brilliant to the last lap. I agonised when Max Verstappen crashed out, and cheered when Hamilton erred, which cost him the victory on the penultimate lap. It has been many years since I have felt such misery and elation while watching F1. For years, fans have been…

This morning, I woke up nauseous. Even threw up a bit. Fatigued. Bloated and generally pregnant with disgust at the latest South African media tomfoolery. At some point, we must hit pause and sigh collectively at our dishevelled quest to be credible sources of news in this country. A women gives birth to 10 babies. One newspaper scoops this and plays its cards close to its chest until the day of publication. Today, that is. An entire head of government communications, possibly gunning for a leader’s photo-op with babies, then casts aspersions on the credibility of the story by stating: “We have spent a better part of today tracing the story of @IOL of a woman having given birth to 10 babies! @IOL can you please help the public where…

LONDON: Prince Charles is the second richest member of the royal family. According to Forbes, the royal family is worth £20 billion (R383bn) and of that amount £352 million is owned by his mother, Queen Elizabeth, in personal assets, which will pass down to Charles. They state that Charles’ income comes primarily from his Duchy of Cornwall estate, which owns a significant amount of land and properties. Despite its name, only 13% of the estate is actually in Cornwall, however, with the rest spread out across 23 counties in England and Wales. . The Duchy of Cornwall website suggests the vast majority of its income used to support the public duties and charitable work of Charles, his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, as well as his son Prince William…

WINDHOEK: Germany yesterday rejected calls for reparations from Namibians over colonial-era killings that Berlin has recognised as genocide, saying the e1.1 billion financial aid it was offering was on a “voluntary basis”. At parliamentary question time, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas acknowledged that over the years, there had been calls for reparations from countries including Greece and Poland over Nazi-era massacres. “But one must say that that has nothing to do with this case before us. Because this agreement is exclusively on a voluntary basis, there are no legal grounds on which this payment is made or provided for,” he said. “And as such, that is also not comparable to the issue of reparations.”…

MIHLALI BALEKA @Mihlalibaleka ONE of the key strengths of new Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter is his ability to galvanise players and fans with positive talk. Soon after his return to Naturena was announced yesterday, Baxter was back at it as if sensing the negativity that has engulfed Chiefs for the past season. His assessment: “It will take more than immediate results for the club to return to the top of South African football, as it will be important for Chiefs to find their identity by keeping their eyes on the pathway, not on the destination. “When I was here the last time, I knew that Chiefs hadn’t won anything for quite a while. And so, when I came in, I knew that winning something was a priority for them.…

Morgan Bolton morgan.bolton@inl.co.za THE rise and rise of Wandisile Simelane is not a case of one small step but rather one giant leap, his evolution as a rugby player a saltation instead of an incremental development. You could say it has almost been meteoric. It is often easy to forget that the 23-year-old only started the sport at 11, and was destined to become a footballer after having been recruited into the youth set-ups of Kaizer Chiefs and Moroka Swallows. When Super Rugby ground to a halt last year due to Covid-19, he had only played eight matches for his franchise, the Emirates Lions, which amounted to 321 minutes of game-time in that tournament. Now the outside centre is on the cusp of debuting for the Springboks, possibly as soon…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za MOTUS Holdings said yesterday that it expects headline earnings per share to be more than 1 000 cents for the year to June 30, compared with 296 cents last year when it traded through the pandemic. Earnings per share for South Africa’s biggest distributor of vehicles was expected to be more than 1 000 cents versus 165 cents in the 2020 financial year. The share price was up 2.27 percent to R95.35 yesterday afternoon, with the price well up from R33.23 at the same date a year before. “The new vehicle markets in the geographies in which we operate continue to be affected by weak macroeconomic environments. Vehicle sales are under pressure as consumers postpone purchases and, in South Africa specifically, trade down to…

Liam Karabo Joyce liam.joyce@inl.co.za Singer and songwriter Nomfundo Ngcobo, known professionally as Nomfundo Moh, is back with uMthwalo following the runaway success of her first single Lilizela. Taken from the 20-year-old’s upcoming album, Amagama, the track sees Nomfundo reflecting on the burden of responsibilities and importance of reaching out for support. Tell us about your upcoming album, when did you start working on it? I started working on the album in late 2020 (September) when I realised that people would like to hear more from me. How would you describe the sound of your album? My album is African and authentic. It has that African feel that makes one miss home. How would you describe the lyrical content of your album? The lyrical content covers many aspects of life, which…

Mashudu Sadike AUBREY Manaka forcefully opened a window to gain entry at 21-year-old Capricorn TVET student Precious Ramabulana's accommodation on November 24, 2019. The 29-year-old raped her, stabbed her 52 times, robbed her of two cellphones and left her for dead. These are some of the harrowing details presented in a guilty plea statement at the Polokwane High Court in Limpopo, where Manaka appeared to face five charges that included, rape murder and robbery yesterday. Manaka was arrested at his parental home in Nyakelang village in late November 2019. He abandoned bail at his first court appearance, citing fear of the community. Manaka, who pleaded guilty to all charges, cut a lonely figure in the dock, rocking back and forth as his attorney Lawrence Manzini read his confession statement…

Thabo Makwakwa Embattled power utility Eskom made an unexpected U-turn in the South Gauteng High Court yesterday when it appeared to concede that there was no evidence of corruption when it decided to set aside a multi-billion rand fuel supplier contract belonging to a black female-owned company. In a long and bruising battle between Eskom and giant fuel supplier Econ Oil, judgment was finally reserved in the bitter showdown involving the two, moving an inch closer to bringing the controversial saga to finality. Judge Bashier Vally, who was presiding over the matter, which was heard virtually, informed both parties that his written judgment would be hand-delivered to both parties in due course. In the showdown, both parties’ lawyers argued why the judge should rule in their favour. Eskom lawyers,…

Annelize Oosthuizen PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa signed a series of new tax and finance-focused bills into law on January 20 this year. Even though they primarily deal with administrative and technical issues, they also introduce changes which everyday South Africans should be aware of as some of them carry the increased risk of being convicted if you are negligent with your tax affairs. The following changes in tax legislation are noteworthy to taxpayers. Since last year, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) has assessed a significant number of taxpayers automatically. If you accept the outcome, you do not have to file a tax return at all. Being negligent with your tax affairs could result in jail time Section 234 of the Tax Administration Act (TAA) was amended to make it…

POLICE killings are on the rise in South Africa, but law enforcement agencies appear to be failing or slow in getting the killers behind bars. In KwaZulu-Natal alone, according to the latest statistics released by Transport, Community Safety and Liaison MEC Peggy Nkonyeni, 11 police officers were killed between March last year and April this year. Ten of the officers were killed while off duty and one while on duty, but to date we don’t know anyone who had been convicted for their murders. Although several calls had been made in the past for police to defend themselves mercilessly when faced with armed criminals, the killings seem to be persisting. One possible reason could be the lower number of convictions that have been recorded so far. Of the killings between…

BERLIN: Prosecutors have charged former Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn with giving false testimony to parliament when he said he was unaware of the carmaker’s diesel emissions cheating before it became public in 2015. Volkswagen is struggling to draw a line under its biggest ever corporate crisis in which it admitted using illegal software to rig US diesel engine tests. The “dieselgate” scandal has cost the German carmaker more than $39 billion (R536bn) in fines, refits and legal costs. “In his testimony, the accused falsely claimed to have been informed of the defeat devices only in September 2015,” Berlin prosecutors said in a statement yesterday, confirming an earlier report in Bild newspaper. Volkswagen said in March it would claim damages from Winterkorn for breaching his duty of care by…

PARIS: The man alleged to have slapped French President Emmanuel Macron ran a club for enthusiasts of medieval swordsmanship, sources said yesterday. A police source identified the suspect as 28-year-old Damien Tarel. Macron was hit on Tuesday during a walkabout in southern France as he greeted a small crowd. Tarel then shouted “Down with Macronia” and “Montjoie Saint Denis”, the battle cry of the French army when the country was a monarchy. A source described him as someone who was “a bit lost, a bit geeky, a bit of a gamer”. Tarel managed a local club of martial arts enthusiasts focused on the practice of historical European martial arts, including traditional swordsmanship.…