Innholdsfortegnelse for 2021-09-03 i Mercury

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za SANTAM, the short-term insurer, would pay out a dividend of 432 cents a share for the six months to June following a steady performance impacted by contingency business interruption (CBI) claims and claims on corporate fires. Gross premiums written increased 10 percent to R20.07 billion. Chief financial officer Hennie Nel said they were satisfied with the results in that, while the company “did not shoot the lights out”, it had done well in an environment where there were no big natural catastrophes, and claims were returning to normal levels. The underwriting margin of 6.7 percent, he said, was “reasonably strong” and about midway between the group’s targeted margin. He said possibly the biggest challenge the group faced currently was uncertainty in the low-performing…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za The DA has challenged KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala to come clean on the actions he will take against Social Development Head of Department Nelisiwe Vilakazi after she was fingered for alleged wrongdoing. According to DA Member of Provincial Legislature (MPL) Elma Rabe, a forensic investigation report leaked by a whistle-blower accused the HOD of nepotism during the period when she was a senior official at the department’s Midlands Cluster. The report, Rabe said, had made recommendations on the steps to be taken by Zikalala against Vilakazi. “The DA today calls on Zikalala to confirm whether the process was finalised and the nature of actions against officials to date,” said Rabe in a statement this week. According to the MPL, the report contains wrongdoings on Vilakazi’s…

EBRAHIM ESSA | Durban I do hope this is my last tirade over the topic of “why most refugees head for US, Australia, New Zealand instead of the communist countries”. (Refer Mr Dave Lawson): Refugees like our most unfortunate local informal – shack dwellers mostly – set up their colonies at places of least resistance (aka “Indian” areas). Perhaps the countries mentioned above (US and parts of Europe) are experiencing chickens coming home to roost. Libyans head for their old masters – Italy. Moroccans to their ex-slave drivers, France, Indians and Pakistanis to the UK because the sun never sets there, being the biggest colonists and once owning 25% of the Earth. Tit for tat can also provide some clues. I don’t recall Russia invading most parts of…

SHARKS versus Griquas in the Currie Cup semi-final tomorrow, and the prospect beckons of a sensational end to the season. The province seethes with excitement. Chaps, just don’t kick away possession the way you did against Western Province. You have the runners, you have the handlers – use ‘em! And hou kop all the way, nothing stoopid. Expectations are high. The damsels of the Street Shelter for the Over- Forties are, as ever, standing by to proffer their knicker elastic for a fashioning of catapults for the time- honoured celebratory feu de joie in which the streetlights are shot out. Sharks for the Currie Cup! Boks for the Rugby Championship Down Under in Queensland! Our 200th Test against the All Blacks coming up. What a double-header that could be! ’Erewego,…

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula will make a decision next week on whether the impeachment of Western Cape High Court Judge President John Hlophe will be done through a secret ballot or open ballot. It follows her presentation to MPs yesterday that the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) referred the matter to Parliament for processing. House chairperson Cedric Frolick said they were also resolving Parliament’s Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) systems to be able handle voting when it happens during impeachment proceedings. Mapisa-Nqakula said after getting legal advice she referred the reports of the JSC and recommendations to the justice committee. The justice committee would then outline to Parliament on procedures to be followed in the impeachment of Judge Hlophe. The JSC had found him guilty of gross…

Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za THE former minister of communications, Dina Pule, who left her political office under a cloud of corruption, is now part of a three-member panel that has been tasked with resolving the ANC in Mpumalanga’s dispute over local government candidate lists. Pule, who later apologised for some of the alleged shenanigans under her watch, will work alongside party veterans Ben Mthembu and Nokulunga Mkhonto. According to a memo from Luthuli House announcing this, all disputes arising over the selection of candidates to represent the ANC in the upcoming local government elections would have to go to the provincial list committees. If the warring parties were not satisfied with the final outcome, they could appeal to a higher structure. The ANC in Mpumalanga has been besieged by complaints from…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za POLICE Minister Bheki Cele said police were following very strong leads that would culminate in the arrest of suspects responsible for some of Umlazi’s bloody mass murders. Cele revealed this during his visit to the township yesterday, after he learned with shock of two mass murders that had claimed 11 lives in the space of five days. Five people were slain on Tuesday at W-Section and six on Sunday night at U-Section. On Sunday night, six people, including two women and a 14-year-old boy, were shot dead at an informal settlement at U-section in an alleged rivalry between two criminal groups. Speaking during the visit, Cele said the investigations were still ongoing and unfortunately, no arrest had been made. However, regarding the Sunday shooting, Cele said…

Gender activists have called for gender-based violence to be treated as a pandemic because it was declared a “second pandemic” last year. This was in reaction to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) this week passing the Gender-Based Violence Bills, which include the Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Bill, Domestic Violence Amendment Bill and the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill. The bills were introduced in Parliament following a presidential summit against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) in 2018. Amendments to the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill include the legislation regulating the National Register for Sex Offenders (NRSO). Women’s rights activist advocate Brenda Madumise-Pajibo welcomed the amendments but emphasised that since Ramaphosa declared the scourge of gender-based violence a second pandemic, it needs…

Havana: Cuba’s vaunted public health system, which boasts more doctors per capita than any other country, has been pushed to the brink in recent months by the arrival of the coronavirus Delta variant. In a country long left relatively unscathed by the global pandemic, doctors are now battling to get their hands on oxygen and drugs, and patients can wait up to 24 hours for a hospital bed. Despite having rolled out its own, home-grown Covid-19 vaccines – Latin America’s first – Cuba has seen infections sky-rocket since July, especially in remote parts of the country, and deaths have soared too. Of the 5 300 coronavirus deaths recorded on the communist island of 11.2 million inhabitants since the outbreak started, nearly half were in the last month alone, as were…

Dublin: Ireland yesterday imposed a €225 million (R3.8 billion) fine on Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp for breaching EU data privacy laws after European regulators demanded the penalty be increased. Ireland was asked to “reassess and increase its proposed fine on the basis of a number of factors … and following this reassessment the DPC has imposed a fine of €225 million on WhatsApp,” said Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC). The fine was handed down by the DPC as the country hosts the European headquarters of Facebook. The DPC has been largely responsible for policing adherence to the EU’s data rights charter.…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za SECURITY officials tasked with protecting eThekwini Municipality’s councillors, among others, could lose their overtime pay benefits as the city seeks to implement changes aimed at curbing the ballooning costs of overtime. Head of security management Dumisani Bhengu told the finance committee recently that they were looking at containing overtime expenditure in the security cluster and replacing it with an allowance. Apart from VIP security officers, other units that could be affected by the proposed change are the land invasion unit, rapid response and escort unit, security officers that look after the city hall, and those working on the city streets. The move could trigger a backlash from the labour unions, who said they had not been consulted about the move, and that it was the duty of…

VISVIN REDDY | ADeC leader AFRICAN Democratic Change (ADeC) submitted its candidates for the local government elections within the time specified by the IEC. As part of the process, each candidate is required to submit a form indicating acceptance of nomination, appendix 4. To our shock and horror, the IEC informed us that one of our candidates, Sabeena Chetty, was listed as a candidate for the DA in eThekwini. After investigating the matter, we ascertained that Chetty’s name was submitted to the IEC by the DA, without her consent. She has since informed the IEC of this serious breach and is laying charges with the police. The DA, in its haste to make deadlines and to seem a step ahead of the ANC, submitted the name of…

JOHN KNOTTENBELT | Sherwood Congratulations to all involved for the wonderfully spring-inspired front page of The Mercury of September 1. It certainly brought the feeling of spring right into my home. It made me wish that every day could be the start of spring. And so it should be in South Africa too. I pray that our nation could slip out of the obsessively lobotomised state we have sunk into – one where we have watched, as if we were watching yet another mindless TV soapie in a state of hypnosis. Only, this one is real. Our country and every section of its infrastructure has been dismantled by the “democratically elected government and their subsidiaries”, via corruption, incompetence, thinly veiled lies and promises, and every trick in…

I am thoroughly convinced that there are always good reasons to have hope. No matter how dire or conflicted the circumstance, no matter how bleak the prognosis, while there is life, and even beyond it, there remain reasons to be hopeful. I’ve seen hope in action. I’ve seen painful family scenarios, the most estranged of siblings, the most obstinate of personalities, turn, and find previously unimagined degrees of humility, and move in healthier directions. But, evil abounds. It tries to rob us of hope. Of course men and women are capable of inflicting much hurt and destruction, but I believe that the good in this world by far outweighs the evil. There is goodness, kindness, and benevolence latent in every man, woman and child, and I believe it far exceeds…

JOHANNESBURG police have arrested a 38-year-old man who allegedly shot his girlfriend in their flat during an altercation. Joburg police said the suspect was arrested last night and would be charged with attempted murder, and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition. The incident happened at Cherry Court. Police spokesperson Captain Xoli Mbele said the 28-year-old woman was shot in the upper body, while in the couple’s flat. “They had an argument concerning the phone and he accused the victim of cheating on him. He shot her and damaged her cellphone with a bullet. “The victim was taken to hospital by an ambulance, and quick response by the police led to the apprehension of a suspect,” said Mbele. He said a firearm with no serial number and with live rounds…

Samkelo Mtshali samkelo.thulasizwe@inl.co.za FORMER attorney and trade-unionist-turned businessman Yunis Shaik yesterday gave a harrowing account of the torture that political detainees endured at the hands of the apartheid regime’s security branch police. Shaik was giving evidence before Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Zaba Nkosi at the re-opened inquest into the death of 26-year-old Pietermaritzburg-born dentist Dr Hoosen Haffejee while in police detention at the Brighton Beach Police Station on August 3, 1977. During his detention at the Brighton Beach Police Station in March 1980, Shaik said that he was held in the same cell in which Haffejee, his cousin, had met his demise less than three years earlier. Shaik said that the security branch police used a specific cell for political prisoners at Brighton Beach, a cell that was separate from…

Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za MINISTER in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele says “family meetings” to announce the easing of the lockdown restrictions was not yet on the cards. Responding to questions at a post-Cabinet briefing, Gungubele said there were at least three factors considered for the easing of the restrictions. “Whether it is going to be eased or not, it depends a lot on the rate of infections. Secondly, it depends on the degree to which our facilities cope. “Thirdly, and of course mainly, it depends on us sticking to non-pharmaceutical measures,” he said. The minister said the convening of the “family meetings”, where President Cyril Ramaphosa normally announces moving the country to different alert levels, depended on the advice given by the NCCC (National Coronavirus Command Council) meeting to determine whether…

The former managing director of the Life Esidimeni Group has continued to deny that mentally ill patients had been transferred from the facility without medication and medical records. Dr Morgan Mkhatshwa took the stand yesterday at the Life Esidimeni inquest being heard virtually by the High Court in Pretoria. The inquest is investigating whether anyone should be held criminally liable for the deaths of 144 mental patients trans-ferred from Life Esidimeni facilities to various NGOs. The Gauteng Department of Health had terminated its contract with the company in an attempt to save costs. Mkhatshwa faced cross-examination from legal representatives of various witnesses. Advocate Rendani Munzhelele, for former NGO social worker Daphney Ndlovu, questioned Mkhatshwa on allegations mentally ill patients were transferred in a bad state. Ndlovu, who worked at an…

SPORTS teams like the All Blacks like to preach on all forms of morality from a pedestal so high you wonder whether there is an oxygen supply up there, because their actions don’t match the message when it comes to gender-based-violence (GBV). I have been appalled by the lack of appetite among New Zealand rugby’s leadership to address GBV when it concerns All Black players. Winger Sevu Reece was in 2019 picked for the All Blacks, despite having pleaded guilty to assaulting his partner. However, the All Blacks coach of the time, Steven Hansen, whose previous profession was in the police force, defended Reece’s inclusion and said that domestic violence was not a gendered issue. Reece pleaded guilty to assault against a female, but was discharged without conviction after a…

Sixty-five combatants had been killed after Yemen’s Huthi rebels launched a renewed offensive on Marib, the last government stronghold in the country’s oil-rich north, a military official said yesterday. The Iran-backed rebels attacked pro-government positions south of the strategic city, making progress despite losing dozens of fighters in coalition air strikes. It was the Huthis’ first major offensive on Marib, the key to controlling the region, since June, when 111 fighters on both sides died in clashes. “Twenty-two pro-government (forces) were killed and 50 others were wounded, while 43 Huthi rebels were also killed in the past 48 hours,” a government military official said. The figures were confirmed by other military and medical sources. The fighting comes after strikes on Yemen’s largest airbase in the south killed at least 30…

TOKYO: A Japanese former top bureaucrat aged 90 was sentenced yesterday to five years in prison due to his negligence over a car accident which occurred in 2019 in Tokyo. According to the ruling from the Tokyo District Court, Kozo Iizuka, a former chief of the now-defunct Agency of Industrial Science and Technology under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, was judged guilty of running a red light, killing a woman and her daughter and injuring nine, after mistaking the gas pedal for the brake. Iizuka had insisted on his innocence during his trial, stating that a mechanical issue made the car run out of control.…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE RAND CONTINUED to appreciate for the ninth consecutive day yesterday, strengthening to R14.32 against the dollar as the greenback remained on the backfoot. Sentiment has been dented by some disappointing US economic data releases in August and continued reports of supply chain bottlenecks, driving investors to riskier currencies. The rand hovered around its strongest level since early August as investors turned to riskier currencies after poor US jobs data and fears of the end of the economic stimulus. However, by 5pm the rand had fallen 3c to the dollar at R14.40 from the previous day at the corresponding time. The ADP private payrolls August report on Wednesday showed a disappointing 375 000 increase in employment created in the private sector, far below the estimated 625…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za AS THE battle for the highly contested ANC list nomination process rages, ANC eThekwini Region members have given the ruling party’s provincial leadership until today to address their grievances regarding the councillors’ candidates list. The faction aligned to former regional chairperson and mayor Zandile Gumede contends that the list circulated last week was tampered with, so that the ruling party members aligned to the former mayor were kept away from power. The faction claims that the provincial leadership was overlooking the glaring errors on purpose, and has vowed to take the matter to the party headquarters at Luthuli House in Gauteng. Njabulo Mchunu, tasked with speaking to the media, said they were eagerly awaiting the province’s response today. “We have been in constant contact with the branches…

FAROUK ARAIE | Benoni Twenty-four years ago, the most photographed woman on e arth was killed in a bizarre accident in France. A series of new documentaries, which are being shown globally, will reignite many conspiracy theories regarding her tragic death. Princess Diana’s untimely death on August 31, 1997 is once again causing global political tremors. Her car crashed into the 13th column of the Port D’Alma road tunnel in Paris at 12.23am. Evidence in the public domain clearly indicates she was killed in a carefully orchestrated plot. The cardinal question is, what were a multitude of MI6 agents doing in Paris at the time of her death? It was Lord Stevens, then police chief, who told the parents of Henri Paul, the driver of the ill-fated car,…

As with the death of Steve Biko, the quest of relatives to establish the true causes of the deaths of ANC/SACP activists Ahmed Timol and Hoosen Haffejee (The Mercury, September 2) is perfectly understandable and deserving of support. Reports of the gratuitous brutality and sadism of members of the SA Security Police in the 1970s in torturing ANC/SACP supporters can only provoke feelings of disgust and abhorrence that such activities occurred at a time of which most of us were totally ignorant. However, in condemning the suffering to which those victims were subjected, communist opposition to apartheid needs to be seen in perspective. A question that arises is: how was it possible for an educated person like Haffejee to align with an ideology whose crimes against humanity resulted in the…

Rapula Moatshe rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za THE world-class tertiary education campus in Centurion, to open under the umbrella of Stadio Holdings, is expected to receive its first batch of students next year. Stadio, a private tertiary education group, has injected funds in the region of R223 million into the project, which was built during 2020 and this year. Located near the N1 and N14 highways, the campus has been touted as “part of the drive for growth” aimed for by the group, especially in the midst of the negative economic impact caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Its group chief executive, Chris Vorster, said yesterday that phase one of Stadio Centurion was completed in June 2021, and the campus would officially open for new students next year. “Stadio’s smaller Gauteng campuses will migrate to…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za MUNICIPALITIES across the country owe Eskom R35.3 billion, and one of the power utility’s biggest defaulters has been slapped with a court order to pay more than R1.35bn, plus 2.5% interest, for its unserviced debt. The North Gauteng High Court ordered the troubled eMfuleni local municipality in the Vaal in Gauteng to pay Eskom more than R1.35bn, including 2.5% interest, after the electricity utility sued it. According to Eskom, the total amount of municipal debt arrears had escalated by R7.3bn to unsustainably high levels, and stood at R35.3bn, including interest, by the end of March, compared to R28bn last year. Eskom lists eMfuleni among the top 10 defaulting municipalities owing it R24bn in arrear debt, or 68% of total arrear municipal debt, as at March 31. The…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za MILLIONS of rand meant to assist pupils in KwaZulu-Natal to do well in maths, science and technology studies, is sitting in the Department of Education coffers, unspent. The department has come under fire for failing to spend close to R70 million in grant funding aimed at helping pupils improve their performance in critical subjects. It emerged during an education portfolio committee meeting this week that the department always fails to spend the money during the first three quarters of the financial year. The grant is a performance grant, meaning if it was not used, the National Treasury could stop making future payments to the department. The Mercury understands from the education committee members that the grant was suppose to provide for key educational tools, including smart boards…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za FORMER Transnet Capital Projects chief executive Linyenga Herbert Msagala was paid R2 million in 10 000 R200 notes by a supplier who gave him R26.4m in unsolicited profits. The Special Tribunal laid bare Msagala’s crimes in a judgment delivered by Judge Lebogang Modiba on Tuesday. Msagala looted more than R26m from the state-owned rail, logistics, port and pipeline company in a scheme involving IGS Consulting Engineers and its sole member Sipho Sithole. Transnet had initially claimed R18.4m from Msagala, his trusts, IGS and Sithole. According to court papers, Transnet wanted the return of various amounts totalling more than R15.6m which were proceeds of cash cheques drawn against the IGS’s bank account and deposited into the bank account of the Msagala Investment Trust. Msagala was bust in a…

THERE is a fresh breeze blowing through the Bafana Bafana camp. The national football team has a new coach, Hugo Broos, new captain, Ronwen Williams, and new vice-captain, Percy Tau. This is the trio tasked with overturning years of disappointment. Bafana’s lacklustre results since the golden era from 1996 until 2002, when they won the African Cup of Nations and qualified for consecutive Fifa World Cups, have been a cause of national concern ever since. The excitement of hosting the 2010 Fifa World Cup – the last time Bafana appeared at the global showpiece – was not built on, with the South African Football Association (Safa) failing to implement sustainable development projects. Safa is hoping to correct their previous errors with Broos’s appointment. The 69-year-old former Belgian international is an…

The Sri Lankan government has denied Western media reports that the country was facing a food shortage or had declared a food emergency, and assured that ample food stocks were available, local media said yesterday. Ajith Nivard Cabraal, state minister of money and capital market and state enterprise reforms, was quoted as saying that ample food stocks, including rice and sugar, were available and fears of a food shortage were unfounded. A recent government statement said that an artificial shortage of certain items had been created by certain importers and wholesale traders who had hoarded stocks of food. Responding to the situation, the government had appointed a commissioner-general of essential services. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa earlier this week declared emergency regulations on supplying and selling at higher prices, or hoarding essential…

KUALA LUMPUR: The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) has lifted a ban on operating Boeing’s 737 Max passenger jet after more than two years, it said in a statement yesterday. Malaysia suspended the aircraft in March 2019 after it was grounded worldwide following two deadly crashes. CAAM lifted the suspension as it released a new safety directive applicable to Malaysian and foreign air operators yesterday. While several airlines and lessors cancelled orders of the jet after the crashes, national carrier Malaysia Airlines kept its order of 25 jets. It said in May it would take delivery from 2024…

Bafana Bafana take on Zimbabwe in their opening Fifa World Cup qualifier this afternoon in Harare. Zaahier Adams picks out five players who could have an impact on the game. 1. Percy Tau The “Lion of Judah” will want to put in a good shift to silence all the noise related to his transfer from English Premiership outfit Brighton Hove and Albion to Egyptian giants Al Ahly. Many have considered it a regression in Tau’s career, but as he has stated he just wants more game time and he now has the opportunity to shine for Bafana. Tau’s performances throughout this Fifa World Cup qualifying campaign will be crucial to Bafana’s chances of boarding the plane to Qatar next year. 2. Ronwen Williams The newly-appointed Bafana Bafana skipper has plenty…