Inhoudsopgave van 2023-05-23 - Star

BARLOWORLD has exited non-core businesses and the focus is on organic and acquisitive growth in its industrial equipment and services and consumer industries divisions, CEO Dominic Sewela said. The group yesterday reported im- proved trading activity across most of its operations in the six months to March 31, which with cost containment resulted in a 20.3% increase in headline earnings per share to 578 cents. “The performance cements the decisions with respect to our strategy and focus on the core verticals of industrial equipment and services and consumer industries,” he said in a statement. The interim dividend was raised to 200c per share from 165c. Following unbundling and listing of Zeda in December 2022, and the disposal of the remaining logistics business, the key exits out of non-core businesses…

BALWIN Properties, which lifted profit 20% to R437 million in the year to February 28, has a development pipeline that now spans 18 years consisting of up to 43 781 apartments across 26 projects. “I have been criticised about the extent of our land bank before, but we have found that rezoning land takes time and we don’t want to have to continually stop-start our development work,” CEO Steve Brookes said in a telephone interview yesterday. Speaking at the release of their annual results, he said the performance was boosted by pent-up demand after the pandemic, and the launch of Munyaka Beach Living Apartments in Waterfall, and of Izinga Eco Estate in uMhlanga, which spiked forward sales. A final dividend of 14.1 cents per share was declared…

The Free State MEC for Health, Mathabo Leeto, convened a multi-sectoral meeting on Sunday with the District Outbreak Response Teams and Development Partners, which included the executive mayors of Fezile Dabi and Ngwathe as well as councillors. There was an update on the interventions to stem the spread of diarrhoea and cholera in Vredefort and Parys, as well as nearby areas of Fezile Dabi and the entire Free State, according to Mondli Mvambi, spokesperson for the Free State Department of Health. Mvambi said: “According to the reports presented at the meeting, around 76 patients were examined at various clinics and hospitals throughout the district with diarrhoeal diseases, and six were proven positive for cholera and successfully treated at Parys Hospital and Boitumelo Hospital in Kroonstad.” He said following the identification…

Are minors safe in South Africa? The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has reported five cases of children and teenagers being raped, and rapists being sentenced, in the last month alone. The most recent sentence was for a stepfather who was raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter. According to NPA regional spokesperson in Mpumalanga, Monica Nyuswa, the Secunda Regional Court convicted and sentenced a 52-year-old man from Embalenhle to life imprisonment for repeatedly raping his 12-year-old stepdaughter. According to Nyuswa, the accused and the victim’s guardian were in a love relationship and lived together as a family in Embalenhle. Between 2020 and 2021, the accused would wait for the victim’s guardian to leave for work, and then rape the victim. Last week, again in Mpumalanga, the Emalahleni Regional Court convicted and sentenced Tshepo…

American motivational speaker Dr Umar Johnson has called for South Africans to use their votes wisely in the upcoming general elections, saying it is important to ensure the right leaders are put in positions of power. Johnson was addressing a crowd at eSigodlweni in Orlando East, Soweto, yesterday. He said the Truth and Reconciliation Commission did not achieve its mission of really giving the victims of apartheid justice. “As Africans, we have taken our foot off the gas, and we tend to celebrate achievements that have not yet crystallised. We tend to honour agreements with non-African people that are never upheld. I think that a lot of us are a little lazy revolutionary speaking. We are content with superficial achievements but not substantive change. When I look around the diaspora,…

What is wrong with President Cyril Ramaphosa? It seems odd to ask that when 70 is the new 50, but is he too old and tired? What is he doing? Making peace between Russia and Ukraine (he and a group of African leaders, who collectively have little international clout). What else? Few leaders in democracies have reputations that have slipped as low as his has over the past five years. What a disappointment! Instead of Ramaphoria, Ramadisillusion. Is anything in our country better than it was in 2018? The list of failures is so long and so well-known that it is becoming boring to repeat it. The latest was the announcement that South Africa is importing veterinary drugs from Botswana because Onderstepoort cannot make them and will no longer provide…

AN attorney, who made headlines two years ago when he swore 16 times at a judge during virtual court proceedings, has now again hurled insults at another judge. He shouted “f*** off”, before he stormed off. Darren Sampson had tongues wagging in 2020 when he repeatedly swore at Judge Tasneem Moosa during virtual proceedings. Sampson subsequently apologised to that judge and at the time said that he has severe anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder. The Legal Practice Council, after the incident in 2020, said it was launching an application to have him either struck from the roll of attorneys or suspended from the attorney’s profession. It is not known what happened in the meantime regarding that application, as the Legal Practice Council has not yet responded to a question posed…

THE 34-year-old man arrested in KwaZulu-Natal for allegedly contravening the Cyber Crime Act following the distribution of pornographic images with overlaid faces of President Cyril Ramaphosa and Police Minister Bheki Cele did not appear in court yesterday. On Sunday, the Hawks announced that the man would appear in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court yesterday for allegedly contravening the Cyber Crimes Act, after he was arrested in Azalea, Pietermaritzburg. However, yesterday Hawks spokesperson Colonel Philani Nkwalase said that the man was “not court ready” and would only make his initial appearance today. “The police officers who went to fetch him arrived (in Pretoria) very, very late so he could not appear today (yesterday). “He was not court ready, with regards to the documentation,” said Nkwalase. “The documentation was not ready so he…

The recent signing of sub-license agreements to manufacture generic versions of cabotegravir long-acting, the injectable medicine for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis will contribute to reducing HIV transmission by providing people a choice in their HIV prevention options. This is said to assist especially the African continent which, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids, has a high burden of HIV cases. Deborah Waterhouse, CEO of a specialist pharmaceutical company dealing with HIV medicines and research, ViiV Healthcare, said this was an important milestone towards enabling broad access to medicines in countries with the highest burden of new HIV cases. She revealed that there were plans to manufacture the injections in South Africa. Waterhouse said the selected manufacturers,Aurobindo, Cipla and Viatris would manufacture and supply the generic versions of cabotegravir…

THE new Employment Equity Amendment Bill, which President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law last month, is meant to promote diversity and equality in the workplace. Instead, it is only stirring up political tensions and economic anxiety, and is set to lead to a legal battle over its constitutionality. The amendment bill seeks to transform South Africa’s workforce by setting equity targets for 18 economic sectors and the nine provinces. The bill only applies to employers with more than 50 employees, who have to submit employment equity plans with provision for race, gender and disability, among others. Meet the “targets” and the companies qualify for certificates of compliance to do business with the government. Fail to make the numbers and bosses face a penalty of up to 10% of annual turnover.…

Dhaka: The UN food agency said yesterday lack of funding had forced it to cut food aid for around one million Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh for the second time in three months. Rations would be cut from $10 (about R192) a person a month to $8 from June 1, World Food Programme spokesperson Kun Li said. The full ration of $12 had already been cut in March. Aid groups said the cut caused hardship in the overcrowded camps, where malnutrition was already rampant. UN diplomats have urged the Bangladeshi government to drop a ban preventing Rohingya working outside the camps. | AFP…

NEW DELHI: India’s Delhi High Court issued a summons to the BBC yesterday in a defamation case over its documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi that questioned his leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots. The suit was filed on the basis that the documentary “maliciously defamed India”, said Siddharth Sharma, an advocate for Gujarat-based non-profit Justice on Trial that filed the suit. Sharma said the court issued a summons to the BBC with the next hearing set for September 23. Relations between India and Britain have soured after the documentary. | Reuters…

Manchester City did not even need to kick a ball at the weekend to be crowned champions of England as Arsenal’s challenge ended with a whimper in a 1-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest. It looks like also being a decisive weekend in the race for a top-four finish as the end to Liverpool’s winning run left Newcastle United and Manchester United needing just one point from their remaining two games to secure a place in the Champions League. At the bottom, Everton are on course for the great escape for the second consecutive season as a disastrous 3-1 defeat for Leeds United at West Ham United left Sam Allardyce’s men staring relegation in the face. Here, we look at three talking points from the Premier League weekend. Gunners serve title…

After almost being cancelled following a scandalous split from his baby mama, multi-award-winning TV personality Katlego Maboe has bounced back. On the set of his latest gig, SABC1’s Deal or No Deal, he served the tea on returning to the spotlight. Launched in March, Deal or No Deal is a thrilling game of chance, where contestants select one of 20 sealed boxes. Each box contains a cash amount ranging from R1 to R250 000. As the game unfolds, the cash value of the boxes are revealed and the contestant is offered an amount in exchange for their box by the show’s Banker. With each round, the host asks the contestant to decide on a deal or no deal option. We got to sit in on the filming of an…

l Command centre set up to tackle crisis in Hammanskraal AN INVESTIGATION has been launched into the cause of the escalating cholera crisis in Hammanskraal, which had claimed 15 lives by yesterday afternoon. The Department of Water and Sanitation with provincial health departments have set up a command centre to halt the spread of the infectious waterborne disease in Hammanskraal, north of Pretoria, after five additional deaths were reported at the Jubilee District Hospital. Yesterday afternoon, Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo announced the number of fatalities had risen to 15. Mahlobo said that as a result of the escalating crisis, the government had established a co-ordinated command centre – which would operate at the political and technical level – to find an immediate and effective solution and avoid…

Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, Gauteng MEC for Transport and Logistics, has applauded the arrest of a Department of Roads and Transport officer for allegedly seeking a bribe from a member of the public. According to the MEC’s spokesperson, Lesiba Mpya, the 40-year-old engineer attached to the Roads Branch was approached by a businessman who wanted to develop an access road into his newly-purchased farm, near Tarlton, Krugersdorp. He said the official allegedly demanded R80 000 in exchange for the approval of the businessman’s application. “The man was arrested on May 16, following an operation led by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation’s Serious Corruption, and he has since appeared in the Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court after he was arrested for allegedly receiving a sum of R40 000 in bribes,” he said.…

Energy company, Econ Oil has accused former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter of disseminating a combination of misrepresented facts and outright falsehoods about the company and its director, in his recently published book, Truth to Power, My Three Years at Eskom. The company said it rejects misrepresentations in De Ruyter’s book, adding that it reasserts its commitment to integrity and excellence. Econ Oil, a private black female-owned business and level 2 B-BBEE company, supplies a range of fuel oils to its clients in the automotive, energy generation, mining, tyre, milling and other industrial sectors. The company offers services including petroleum blending and refining, laboratory testing, bulk storage, fuel distribution, pump and tank installation and also provides renewable energy solutions. The company’s director Nothemba Mlonzi wrote: “In De Ruyter’s ‘hagiography’, a…

South Africa has been ranked the 11th-best LGBTQ+ travel destination in the world, according to dating reviews website MyDatingAdviser.com The dating advice website published research titled “The Best Countries for LGBTQ+ Travel in 2023” to highlight cultural attitudes for LGBTQ Pride Month in June. The research revealed that South Africa was named the 11th-best country for LGBTQ+ travel after the country was given an LGBTQ+ travel index score of 86.2 out of a possible 100 points. MyDatingAdviser said to determine the most gay-friendly travel destinations, the website compared 34 countries across eight key indicators of LGBTQ+ friendliness. The indicators include society’s acceptance of homosexuality, sexual activity rights, civil union rights, marriage rights, adoption rights, military service rights, anti-discrimination laws, and gender identity laws. In terms of public acceptance towards homosexuality,…

The first cholera cases in South Africa were detected about a month ago, in three patients who came from Zimbabwe. It is highly infectious and deadly if it is not detected and treated promptly. It is important to educate communities about this disease. The signs and symptoms: nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, which may be watery, dehydration, with sunken eyes, abdominal pain, lethargy, fluid and electrolyte imbalance. In severe cases, shock and seizures. The causes: contaminated municipal water supply, food sold by street vendors, vegetables grown with water containing human waste, raw fish or undercooked seafood, poor hygiene, handling of food without the proper washing of hands. Treatment: consult a doctor without delay. Hospitalisation, antibiotics, intravenous infusion, and check the fluid and electrolyte imbalance. It is important that the patient be…

Diego Naranjo, a prominent doctor from Medellin, Colombia, is facing a monumental financial responsibility after a court ordered him to provide ongoing child maintenance for the next 18 years. The unexpected turn of events came to light when a patient, who had undergone a vasectomy, surprisingly impregnated his wife despite being assured by Dr Naranjo that the procedure was a success and additional contraception was unnecessary. The couple, deeply affected by the implications of the doctor’s alleged mistake, decided to take legal action against Dr Naranjo. Subsequent sperm tests confirmed their suspicions – the vasectomy had not been successful. The parents filed a lawsuit, asserting that the physician’s negligence had caused significant emotional and financial distress. The court, recognising the gravity of the situation, ruled in favour of the parents,…

Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala has promised strong action and demanded an explanation of some of the questionable procurements related to the maintenance of houses occupied by public representatives. According to Lennox Mabaso, head of communication at the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, Zikalala has ordered an investigation into all procurement practices for the refurbishment of properties occupied by public representatives within his portfolio. Mabaso said this follows revelations that involve a kitchen refurbishment to the tune of R1.4 million, curtains procured to the value of R54 000, and a fumigation at a cost of R240 000 on government properties in Cape Town and Pretoria. “The minister wants to get to the bottom of what, at face value, appears to be hugely inflated prices, and he said…

Kunyashe is a Grade 1 pupil in Cape Town. She’s very focused on her school work. She shares a tiny one-roomed shack, hardly bigger than a double bed, with her mother and four siblings. Kunyashe receives a meal at school – her teacher once saw the little girl spooning some of this meal into another container to take home for her baby brother. This is the context in which many South African children learn to read. But it’s a context that received no mention when the country’s Department of Basic Education, on May 16, released the alarming preliminary findings of the Progress in Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS 2021). The international standardised test measures the reading achievement of Grade 4 children (10 years old). It is designed to measure children’s “reading…

Sudan’s army conducted air strikes in the capital Khartoum yesterday, residents said, seeking to win ground against its paramilitary rivals hours before a week-long ceasefire aimed at allowing delivery of aid was due to take effect. The army also carried out air strikes into the evening on Sunday, witnesses said, targeting vehicles from mobile units of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) that have been operating across residential areas in the capital since the conflict between the two military factions erupted on April 15. Both sides have said they will abide by a ceasefire. Though fighting has continued through previous ceasefires, this is the first truce to be formally agreed following negotiations. The ceasefire deal includes a monitoring mechanism involving the army and the RSF as well as representatives from…

Brussels: The EU yesterday said it had demanded that Greece open a probe into video footage apparently showing the forceful expulsion of migrants who are set adrift at sea. The footage, published by the New York Times, showed what appeared to be masked men on April 11 accosting migrants, including a baby, who had arrived in Greece by boat and bundling them in a van. The video then showed the migrants being taken out into the Aegean Sea, transferred to an inflatable raft and set adrift. Turkish coast guard boats are seen rescuing them about an hour later. | AFP…

Brooks Koepka says the fightback from right knee surgery that sidelined him for most of the past two years has made his fifth Major title the most special of all. Koepka outdueled Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland down the back nine at Oak Hill on Sunday to capture the PGA Championship for his first Major victory since 2019. “This one is definitely special,” Koepka said. “I think this one is probably the most meaningful of them all with everything that has gone on, all the crazy stuff over the last few years. It feels good to be back and to get number five.” Since 1990, only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have as many Major triumphs as Koepka, who added a third PGA Championship to his two US Open crowns.…

The pressures of professional cricket in this day and age are unimaginable. The best tournaments in the world reach hundreds of millions of viewers and social media has taken things up a notch. The ongoing IPL is an excellent example of how fans around the world have got involved in the game by taking to social media to share their views and reactions. “During the 2011 World Cup, social media was at its infancy stage. I think now everything will be even more exaggerated,” Robin Peterson said. “There’ll be more media and broadcast attention around the tournament. Back then, it felt like it (high pressure), now it will feel like that even more.” Franchise cricket has made all this pressure and intensity in games of cricket almost the norm. In…

Rivers of Living Waters Church leader Bishop Bafana Stephen Zondo briefly appeared in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria yesterday, where his sex trial was postponed to July 17. The next stint of the trial has been set down for two weeks and is to run until July 28. The trial was on Friday postponed to early in July, but the dates were changed yesterday as Zondo’s advocate, Piet Pistorius, had other commitments early in July. The prosecution will call its last few witnesses during the next session, whereafter the defence is expected to present its case. It is not known at this stage whether Zondo will be called to testify in his defence. Zondo’s brief appearance yesterday was once again in the courtroom where proceedings are usually conducted, in spite…

Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa will soon be equipped with the powers required to carry out his mandate. In February, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that he would appoint the electricity minister to deal with the energy crisis, and in March, he announced Ramokgopa as the man for the job; however, that appointment came without the requisite powers. Ramaphosa came under fire from political parties, energy experts, and ordinary South Africans for not giving the new minister the proper authority. Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya revealed this during a media briefing in Tshwane yesterday. “A proclamation has now been signed to expedite this process and will be gazetted soon,” said Magwenya. Ramokgopa visited Kusile Power Station in Mpumalanga yesterday to receive a status report on the units there: three units are out of…

Load shedding continues to severely impact Gauteng’s economy, resulting in almost 303 000 job opportunities being lost last year. Our youth are losing out on most of the job opportunities, yet the Gauteng Provincial Government is not doing enough to minimise its impact. This information was revealed to the DA in a reply to our questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature. Gauteng MEC for Economic Development Tasneem Motara said the country experienced around 3 200 hours of load shedding last year, compared to the 1 153 hours in 2021. The high number of job opportunities lost highlights that the continuous rolling blackouts are harming the provincial economy. The DA will continue to put pressure on Premier Panyaza Lesufi to urgently find a solution to the load shedding crisis in…

Like the once great Parthenon, now a fragment of its former glory, so too South Africa lies in ruins. Wave after wave of immoral political behaviour, coupled with crippled and inept rule, since 1994, the once beacon of light in Africa struggles to survive. Its citizens suffering the ignominy of debilitating decisions made by a cabal of so-called politicians whose immaturity and lack of mental agility has brought the country to its economic demise. The rest of the world could not care less about the plight of South Africans. They too have had to endure the shenanigans of the ANC on the world stage, scratching their heads about how the Mandela miracle turned into a near-apocalyptic scene from a horror movie. The implosion of infrastructure and the rise and rise…

Woolworths has announced a recall of its smoked chicken viennas with immediate effect on Friday. The retailer said it was recalling its smoked chicken viennas, cocktail chicken viennas and halaal smoked chicken viennas with the sell-by date May 27, 2023. The company said this was due to cross-contamination of milk protein between chicken viennas and chicken and cheese viennas. “We, along with our suppliers, proactively manage and prevent contamination of food, and through routine quality control tests we discovered a fault in a production line, which resulted in cross-contamination of milk protein between Chicken Viennas and Chicken & Cheese Viennas. “While the cheese may not be obvious through taste or visible in the product, we are removing all the products from our shelves. Customers who have an allergy to cow’s…

According to one of the leading consumer attorneys in South Africa, Trudie Broekmann, this is a sign that the tide is turning in favour of long-suffering consumers subjected to exploitation. Broekmann said that of the 31 key cases that were heard by the National Consumer Tribunal the past 14 months, 21 revolved around defective motor vehicles. In terms of section 56 of the Consumer Protection Act, a car purchased from a motor vehicle dealer that is defective and returned to the dealer within six months of the purchase date, must be repaired or replaced by the dealer or the dealer must refund the consumer the full purchase price. “The Tribunal (can) order the dealer to pay back the consumer if there is substantial defect, something which affects the safety or…

Police are working around the clock to arrest suspects believed to be behind cop murders. In the past week, the Hawks and Secunda SAPS K9 officers arrested a 39-year-old man linked to the murder of Warrant Officer Langelihle Hlatshwayo, who was gunned down while entering his home in February last year. He was rushed to a local medical facility, where he succumbed to his injuries. Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale said the suspect was arrested in Thandukhanya in Piet Retief. Mogale said two suspects have been arrested. He added that more arrests cannot be ruled out. Last week, the Mbombela High Court handed down a double life sentence to man convicted of killing a cop and his sister in May last year. Mogale said Rassie Hlabirwa Nkune visited Sergeant Marcia…

DURING the Covid-19 pandemic, it was no longer possible for doctors to consult with patients in person as they would have normally done. Precautions to meeting up with people had to be implemented, said Dr Katekani Khosa, a Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University graduate serving as a medical officer at 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria. The Limpopo-born medical practitioner said the industry had to come up with the tele-medicine concept in order to continue rendering services during unusual circumstances. “This was to ensure we could continue with patient care, but in a safe environment,” he said. “So what we do is tele-health, a safe medical consultation with patients. This is more of an innovation with which we are able to continue meeting up with patients even if we are not…

The recent diplomatic quarrel with the US Ambassador to South Africa is not the first dispute between the US and South Africa. The nuclear weapons of mass destruction issue was almost a diplomatic bomb for South Africa’s apartheid government and the US. South Africa underwent a period of nuclearisation and denuclearisation which dates back to the 1940s. The nuclear programme came as a result of the National Party’s security policy which aimed to address external and internal threats. As per PW Botha’s announcement, six nuclear devices had been dismantled by 1989. The question, however, is where were the nuclear tests conducted and how have these regions had been affected? The National Party believed that the communist Soviet empire was a global threat. This position meant that the National Party had…

Georgetown: At least 20 people were killed and several injured in a school dormitory fire in Guyana, the government said in a statement, with the nation’s President Irfaan Ali, calling it a “major disaster.” The death toll had risen to 20 and several people were injured in the fire at the Mahdia Secondary School in central Guyana. Private and military planes have been sent to Mahdia, about 200km south of Georgetown. At least one plane with three evacuees had arrived in Georgetown. The government said officials were supporting efforts at Ogle Airport in the capital to “receive the critical patients and co-ordinate an emergency plan of action.” | AFP…

BEIJING: A fraud in northern China that used sophisticated “deepfake” technology to convince a man to transfer money to a supposed friend has sparked concern about the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to aid financial crimes. China has been tightening scrutiny of such technology and apps amid a rise in AI-driven fraud, mainly involving the manipulation of voice and facial data, and adopted new rules in January to legally protect victims. Police in the city of Baotou, Inner Mongolia, said the perpetrator used AI-powered face-swopping technology to defraud people. | Reuters…

Marumo Gallants shot themselves in the foot by unsettling their persevering players ahead of important matches this season. Given their financial constraints, Gallants don’t have a big squad in which players can be rotated. To add insult to injury, several players picked up injuries and suspensions at the business end of the season. Their players had worked their socks off playing in two competitions which were running parallel over the past few weeks. Apart from playing around South Africa in the Premiership, Gallants also played on the continent in the Caf Confederation Cup. Their fixtures took them to Madagascar, Libya, Zambia, Algeria, Egypt and Tanzania. The club’s glaring lack of basic organisation saw their team stranded in Türkiye after Gallants had not booked tickets for connecting flights to Libya. There…