Table of contents for NM-2021-04-06 in Mercury

Sandile Mchunu sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za QUILTER plc has set its sights on the UK market as its core business going forward following a strategic review of its operations and selling Quilter International business for about £483 million (R9.78 billion) was a clear demonstration of the path the wealth manager is embarking upon. The sale of the former Old Mutual International business to Utmost last week comes after the Isle of Man business was put under a strategic review by the group in December last year in a move that shocked the industry and investors. Quilter expects net cash proceeds of about £450m from the sale after allowing for transaction costs. The transaction is expected to close at the end of the year and is conditional on Quilter shareholder approval,…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za BLACK DA leaders in KwaZulu-Natal have described the controversial remarks made by former party leader Tony Leon as “offensive” and damaging to the party’s brand. Some leaders, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, said the remarks had given life to the narrative that the DA was a racist party that lacked commitment to the country’s transformation agenda. They were reacting to Leon’s utterances in an interview on his latest book, Future Tense, where he described Mmusi Maimane, the party’s first black leader, as an “experiment that went wrong”. The remarks have sparked a debate about race relations within the party and the value attached to black leaders. Maimane took exception to being called an experiment, describing it as “dehumanising”. He told the SABC that…

JUST what is going on here? Nasa now claims that a piece of the Wright brothers’ first aircraft, the 1903 Wright Flyer, is on Mars. The experimental helicopter, Ingenuity, which hitched a ride to Mars last month on the spacecraft Perseverance Rover, has on it a small swatch of fabric from the Wright Flyer, according to Associated Press. Ingenuity will attempt the first powered, controlled flight on another planet later this month. It will mark a “Wright brothers moment”, says Bobby Braun, director for planetary science at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Cape Canaveral. The Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, Ohio, the Wrights’ home town, donated the postage-size piece of muslin from the plane’s bottom left wing, at Nasa’s request. The swatch made the 300 million-mile (483 million kilometre) journey…

DANIEL FRANK | Richards Bay THE Zondo Commission of Inquiry has criticised advocate Dali Mpofu for bringing the commission into disrepute and for showing disrespect. Unashamedly, advocate Dali Mpofu asks his critics to jump into the lake after criticising him for his outbursts (“shut up”). His comments were rude, unprofessional and toxic. This outburst has necessitated an investigation by the General Council of the Bar. Mpofu was cross-questioning Minister Pravin Gordhan on him belittling former SA Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Tom Moyane by telling him to “grow up” and for “being cheeky”. The learned advocate kept pressing Gordhan, insinuating that he was displaying racist tendencies towards Moyane. Gordhan kept denying that he was racist. Whether Gordhan is a racist, (which I strongly believe he is not) is…

Karen Singh karen.singh@inl.co.za IN SPITE of an often bleak picture being painted of service delivery, a national survey has found reason for hope as statistics point to an improvement in certain areas. Overall, more people are gaining access to basic service delivery, according to the 2019 Non-Financial Census of Municipalities (NFCM) report released by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) last week. The SA Local Government Association (Salga) welcomed the findings of the report which measures service delivery, including water, electricity, solid waste management and sanitation. “The NFCM has shown that local government in South Africa is making meaningful progress in delivering basic services to the communities they serve,” said Salga. The association said the number of bucket toilets supplied by municipalities had declined by 47.6% from 2015 to 2019. The report…

Helmo Preuss THE World Health Organization (WHO) released a 120-page report this week that the most likely path of the Covid-19 virus was from bats to another animal and then to humans, but the report failed to satisfy critics of China’s response to the pandemic. Conspiracy theorists in particular claim that a “weaponised” virus was accidently released from a Wuhan laboratory, although the WHO report stated that a laboratory accident leakage was considered to be “extremely unlikely”. The search had become highly politicised, with for example many Australian products being banned or facing additional tariff and non-tariff barriers in China after the Australian government was one of the first to call for an investigation into the origins of the virus. Scientists across a broad political spectrum agree that establishing…

Protesters in Myanmar clapped together in a show of dissent against the military junta yesterday as a regional bloc prepared for talks on the crisis that has killed nearly 600 people. Clapping began in various parts of the main city Yangon in response to a call by protest organisers, residents said. The gesture would honour “Ethnic Armed Organisations and Gen Z defence youths from Myanmar including Yangon who are fighting in the revolution … on behalf of us,”a protest leader Ei Thinzar Maung, wrote on Facebook. Despite the killing of at least 564 people by the security forces since the February 1 coup, protesters have come out across the country every day to voice opposition to the putsch of the Aung San Suu Kyi-led government. The movement, which some protesters…

More than 100 people were killed and dozens are missing after floods and landslides hit East Nusa Tenggara province in Indonesia, officials said. Volcanic debris from Mount Lewotolo engulfed homes on Sunday following heavy rain, killing at least 20 people and leaving more than 60 missing, said Thomas Ola, the head of Lembata district. “Fourteen villages are still totally isolated,” he said. Mount Lewatolo has erupted intermittently since December. In another part of the province, the death toll after flash floods and landslides hit villages on Adonara island on Sunday rose to 73. Access to the island had been difficult because of high seas, said the Disaster Management Agency. Interruptions to internet access mean limited information is available. Meanwhile, on nearby Alor island, similar disasters killed at least 11 people,…

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court handed Alphabet Inc’s Google a major victory yesterday, ruling that its use of Oracle Corp’s software code to build the Android operating system that runs most of the world’s smartphones did not violate federal copyright law. In a 6-2 decision, the justices overturned a lower court’s ruling that found Google’s inclusion of Oracle’s software code in Android did not constitute a fair use under US copyright law. Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the majority, said that allowing Oracle to enforce a copyright on its code would harm the public by making it a “lock limiting the future creativity of new programs”. | Reuters…

Ashfak Mohamed TATJANA Schoenmaker has already surpassed Penny Heyns’ African records in the 100m and 200m breaststroke, but can she emulate one of her idols with a medal at the Olympics? The 23-year-old has been swimming her way into the hearts and minds of South African sports fans over the last few years, with her double gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games really putting her on the map. She followed that up with an historic silver medal in the 200m breaststroke at the 2019 Fina long-course world championships – becoming the first SA woman to claim a top-three spot in the event. Schoenmaker has proved that she is in top shape for the Tokyo Olympics by setting a new 100m breaststroke African record of 1:05.89 in Stellenbosch in February, ahead…

Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has ruled out playing Eden Hazard in today’s home Champions League quarter-final first leg against Liverpool, saying he will not risk another injury setback for his club’s record signing. “Hazard needs to stay calm and be patient, the most important thing is that he is completely recovered and I don’t think we’ll hurry his return,” Zidane said yesterday. “If the player is in good shape then I’ll want to play him but right now we’re going to take things slowly and see what happens.” Hazard sustained two serious ankle injuries in his first season with Real, making only 20 starts in all competitions. He has had equally bad luck with injuries this campaign, facing five separate setbacks and making only 11 starts in all competitions,…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za South Africa’s fiscal metrics have deteriorated further as the Covid-19 pandemic has severely contracted tax revenue for the year ending March 31, 2021. However, the SA Revenue Service (Sars) last week announced a tax shortfall of R175.2 billion, compared to its original estimate of a R312.8bn under-recovery made a year ago. Sars said that it collected R1.250 trillion in tax revenue in the year ended March 2021, which was around 12 percent less compared with the government’s original February 2020 target of about R1.425trln. The initial 2020/21 target of R1.425trln was set by the National Treasury before the Covid-19 pandemic led to a nationwide lockdown in March last year. After the economic decline, business closures and job losses through the pandemic, the Treasury…

DESPITE significant medical progress over the last centuries, infectious diseases such as influenza and malaria still represent significant threats to modern societies. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is a case in point. The spread of a virus can also have important economic implications. These economic implications manifest themselves through aspects such as loss of income, for example, reductions in the size of the labour force and productivity, increase in absenteeism and because of curtailment measures imposed on individuals and societies aimed at interruption, the transmission and spread of the pandemic, which, invariably disrupt economic activity. The successful development of vaccines against the coronavirus and subsequent endorsement of vaccine roll-outs the world over has highlighted the importance of each country developing its own vaccine production capacity to reduce reliance on external sources…

DUNCAN DU BOIS | Bluff David Lawson (The Mercury of March 31) is incorrect in stating there is no reference to God in the US constitution. There is one and it is in Article VII which uses the words “in the Year of Our Lord”. While the separation of church and state in the constitution is indeed clear, as Lawson points out, the spirit of liberty within the constitution reflects the words “where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor 3:17). That spirit has endured and made the US a beacon of hope and promise to millions. In pledging to uphold the constitution, the president places his left hand on the Bible. Are we to believe, then, that there is no significance in that?…

THYAGARAJ MARKANDAN | Kloof President Cyril Ramaphosa, Deputy President David Mabuza and government officials went on an inspection tour of the Aspen vaccine factory at Gqerberha in the Eastern Cape to see for themselves this vaccine-manufacturing plant. They were impressed. At a media briefing after the tour, the president praised Aspen for establishing a world-class pharmaceutical factory in such a short time. After all the negative criticism of the slow roll-out of the programme, Ramaphosa sounded optimistic that South Africa would get vaccination on track soon. The Aspen factory is gearing up to manufacture 30 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. This is positive news and Aspen must be commended for coming to the rescue at this critical time when it was becoming so difficult to…

Mozambique’s military has said a “significant” number of militants had been killed during a battle over a key northern town and gas hub captured by the Islamic State last month. Palma was seized by the jihadists during co-ordinated attacks on March 24, in what was seen as the biggest escalation of the insurgency ravaging the country since 2017. The true death toll is not yet known, but thousands were displaced from the town of 75 000 and French energy giant Total suspended operations at its multibillion-dollar plant. On Sunday, the army escorted officials and journalists through the ravaged town, claiming a “significant” number of militants had been killed, and that they had now secured the surrounding area. Commander Chongo Vidigal, leading the military operation to regain control of the town,…

Vernon Mchunu vernon.mchunu@inl.co.za PERPETUAL failure to respect the rule of law and a lack of disciplinary action against errant officials were among the reasons that led to KwaZulu-Natal incurring the country’s highest rate of irregular expenditure, at R9.75 billion, the auditor-general has found. Failure by the Department of Health to implement disciplinary processes against officials who were alleged to have broken the Public Finance Management Act created a negative financial picture, Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke said. While there were overall improvements in the audit outcomes for the financial year 2019/2020 compared with the previous year, widespread failure to comply with legal prescripts, among other factors, continued to trigger the high levels of irregular expenditure, said Maluleke. The departments of transport, education and health were the major contributors to the irregular…

Lorna Charles lorna.charles@inl.co.za An eMdloti teen, who was bitten by a puff adder during a family hike in the Drakensberg on Friday, says his encounter with the venomous snake had not dampened his love for nature and going on adventure trials. Jude Mitchell, 15, was discharged from hospital on Sunday. “I’d say I’m feeling quite relieved and happy to be out of hospital. I don’t feel too much pain, but it spikes when or after I move,” he said from his home yesterday. Jude was with family at a holiday resort in the Drakensberg for the Easter long weekend when he was bitten. His father, Sean, said that the night before the incident, the family were chatting about the dangers of snake bites. “Jude pulled out a snake book and…

THE performance of the two KwaZulu-Natal professional soccer teams in the PSL log standings, where they occupy second and third places, is proof that local coaches can deliver if they are provided with the tools they need to do their jobs. The two KZN teams setting the DStv Premiership alight this season are Lamontville Golden Arrows, coached by the astute Mandla Ncikazi, and AmaZulu FC managed by the ambitious Benni McCarthy. Even Mamelodi Sundowns, coached by three local coaches (Manqoba Mngqithi, Rhulani Mokoena and Steve Komphela) has continued to make us proud in the CAF Champions League, where they remain unbeaten in all their matches. Sundowns currently tops the premiership log. The reason why the developments at Arrows and AmaZulu are significant is found when you study the recent history…

When a massive container ship ran aground in the Suez Canal last month, Egypt’s first female ship captain was hours away in the city of Alexandria, working as a first mate on board a different vessel. But before long, online trolls were falsely claiming that Marwa Elselehdar was responsible for the disaster. An article from the Arab News about her groundbreaking career had been photoshopped, with a new headline claiming that she was “involved” in the incident, and screenshots were spreading around the internet. “I was shocked,” Elselehdar told the BBC. “I felt that I might be targeted maybe because I’m a successful female in this field or because I’m Egyptian, but I’m not sure.” Elselehdar, 29, was the first woman to enrol in the Arab Academy for Science, Technology…

LOS ANGELES: Carrie Underwood has raised over $100 000 for Save The Children with her My Savior: Live From The Ryman live-stream. The Grammy-winner played a special Easter Sunday gig live from The Ryman in Nashville, Tennessee, and performed traditional hymns covered on her new album, My Savior. The concert is available to watch for 48 hours only on her Facebook page and the donations will provide much-needed funds for the children’s charity. Carrie said: “It means so much to be able to bring this event to people in their homes on a day that holds so much meaning.” | Bang Showbiz…

KHARTOUM: Eighteen people have been killed and 54 injured in tribal clashes in the Sudanese city of El Geneina, medics said yesterday, in a renewal of bloodshed following a flare-up of violence earlier this year. The incident is the latest in the troubled region since the signing of a peace agreement late last year and the withdrawal of UN peacekeepers. In January, about 130 people were killed and military reinforcements were brought into El Geneina, capital of West Darfur state. But sources say they have largely withdrawn. The latest clashes between members of the Masalit and Arab tribes began on Saturday. | Reuters…

Vernon Mchunu vernon.mchunu@inl.co.za OWED about R668 million in unpaid traffic fines, eThekwini Municipality is also losing out on millions of rand in revenue every year because of a legal battle involving the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the city and a service provider related to speed trapping. For the current financial year alone, the city said it had lost R38m in respect of traffic fines-related revenue “as a result of the stoppage of the electronic enforcement contract under legal disputes”. The tussle with the NPA, which has been going on for about four years, had resulted in speed enforcement not being conducted, according to a report to the municipal council. Adding to the woes of dwindling traffic revenue, the city is faced with R668m in outstanding traffic fines. The legal…

I HAD the privilege of meeting a mother of four young adult children and heard of the carnage of her childhood and early adult life. Crippling addictions and multiple broken relationships and more dominated her life from 15 to 25. “Then something happened,” she said. Of all the help and support she received from family and friends, and of all the phases of tough love and refusal to appease or prop up her life, there were several keys I heard that changed everything for her and, after a few false starts, she was on her way. “I saw that if I didn’t take responsibility for my life no one else would. I submitted my life to God even as little as I understood what that meant. “I stopped blaming others…

KEVIN GOVENDER | Shallcross OUR country, fractured by the ANC, is being held to ransom by its members. The ongoing refusal by former head of state Jacob Zuma to appear at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, despite a Constitutional Court ruling, is a national disgrace. In the latest development, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that any ANC member that is facing corruption charges will be given 30 days to step aside, failing which they will be suspended. The two most prominent members affected by the resolution are Ace Magashule and Zandile Gumede. The atmosphere is jingoistic and congealing, as observers wait for Magashule’s next move. The jousting is over and now it’s pucker time. Magashule is currently out on R200 000 bail for his involvement in fraudulent…

SABER AHMED JAZBHAY | Newlands West MOST South Africans did not flock to the beaches or stray far from home during this Easter long weekend. Nor did I. With the spectre of a “third wave” looming, I took the time out, seized the opportunity provided by this long weekend in adjusted lockdown circumstances, and instead of being part of chat groups bickering and playing the blame game, I paused to reflect on what we lost as a people, as a nation, as a country. And how we can recover what we lost. These 370-odd days brought to the fore some of the wounds beneath the scars that had never healed and actually camouflaged deep suppurating wounds, because those who conceived the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) process were…

AMONG a number of conditions for the approval of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine in South Africa, is the submission of periodic safety updates. The approval of the vaccine for general use comes after the vaccine was being administered only to health-care workers as part of a clinical trial. The SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) said it had registered the Janssen vaccine on March 31, with conditions. “This authorisation is based on acceptable safety, quality and efficacy data submitted by Janssen Pharmaceutica to Sahpra over the period December 11, 2020, to March 17, 2021,” Sahpra chief executive Dr Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela said. “The authorisation is, however, subject to conditions which include that the vaccine is supplied and administered in accordance with the National Department of Health (NDoH) Covid-19 vaccination…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za KWAZULU-NATAL recorded the highest number of road crashes and fatalities due to accidents over the Easter long weekend compared with the past two years. Peggy Nkonyeni, KZN’s MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, revealed this during a multi-disciplinary law-enforcement roadblock at the Mariannhill Toll Plaza yesterday. According to the department, preliminary road accident reports revealed that 37 crashes occurred, resulting in 47 deaths in various parts of the province. During the same period last year, there were only five crashes resulting in six fatalities. This, however, was when the country was under level 5 of the Covid-19 nationwide lockdown. In 2019, a total of 31 crashes resulted in 40 fatalities during the province’s Easter long weekend. In one of the serious incidents, three people died when…

The attacks on Independent Media are designed to collapse our businesses THIS past week we have seen an intolerance of different views expressed in the media and across social channels, especially in relation to the politics of the country. Despite people claiming to want media freedom, Independent Media journalists and editors have been attacked for writing stories that go against the mainstream narrative perpetuated by the other media. This, very obvious attack on Independent Media, its journalists, and editors has now been extended to a full-frontal attack on myself and the Sekunjalo Group (Sekunjalo). Various institutions are being engaged to fight these battles, which led Sekunjalo to encourage Independent Media and AYO Technology Solutions to make presentations to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance (SCoF) to outline their position and…

Jordan’s estranged Prince Hamza said in a voice recording released yesterday that he would disobey orders by the army not to communicate with the outside world after he was put under house arrest and accused of trying to destabilise the country. The half-brother of King Abdullah and former heir to the throne said in the recording released by Jordan’s opposition that he would not comply after being barred from any activity and told to keep quiet. While Prince Hamza is not seen as a direct threat to the king, his actions suggest he wants to shore up his position with the Jordanian public after being removed from the royal succession. “For sure I won’t obey when they tell you that you cannot go out or tweet or reach out to…

Everyone in England will be urged to take a coronavirus test twice a week as a new system of coronavirus passports is assessed for wide-scale use under Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to reopen the economy after lockdown. Free test kits will be made available through local pharmacies, community centres and home delivery services, when the new regime goes live on Friday. With most of the adult population now having received a vaccine, the government says rapid testing of the whole population and a system of coronavirus status certification will help keep control over the pandemic as restrictions are eased. The UK has suffered the highest death toll in Europe from the pandemic and is still reeling from the country’s deepest recession in 300 years. A vaccination programme that has…

WASHINGTON: Facing criticism from several Republicans, the US’s top infectious-disease expert, Anthony Fauci, pushed back on some of the claims, calling the remarks “bizarre”. The most recent slight came Friday from Senator Lindsey Graham who urged Fauci to visit the US-Mexico border, where authorities are grappling with an influx of migrants, and asked him to witness first-hand what he called the nation’s “biggest super-spreader event”. Graham claimed thousands of Central American migrants were spreading the virus while detained in overcrowded facilities. The migrants, he said, are staying “on top of each other” and “dumped off in Texas” and elsewhere in the country. The US government has said it is working closely with the Mexican government and international organisations who are helping test migrants before entering the US. “I have nothing…

MOSCOW: The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the possibility of transmission of Covid-19 from humans to cats, dogs, minks, raccoon dogs, lions and tigers, and was studying the effects of the virus on other animal species, WHO Representative to Russia Melita Vujnovic said yesterday. The WHO representative also said an “intermediate host” had not yet been identified. The health expert said it was important to understand which animals were most “susceptible to the virus in order to find other potential animal reservoirs and avoid future outbreaks”. | Sputnik…

Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za Temba Bavuma has seen his Proteas team go to the last ball in one match, the last over in the next, witnessed a top order collapse, two brilliant knocks from the opposition, lousy fielding from his own side and been fined for his side maintaining a slow over-rate. All in just two matches. It’s been eventful - and there’s one more ODI to go. His first series as captain will go down to a decider tomorrow in Centurion, following the dramatic conclusion to the ‘Pink ODI’ on Sunday, but Bavuma is taking it all in his stride for now, trying to stay composed, while noting all the experiences and filing them away to be utilised again in the future. “I try to be as calm and…