Table of contents for 2022-10-04 in Mercury

The auditors in Steinhoff and Tongaat Hulett are being investigated by the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) to establish if there was any improper conduct, according to IRBA CEO Imre Nagy. In an interview with Business Report, Nagy said there were cases of management fraud and corruption in the JSE-listed entities, notably Steinhoff and Tongaat Hulett. Nagy said the Steinhoff case was a complicated investigation and was still ongoing. “We anticipate that we will know by the first quarter of 2023, whether there are any charges of improper conduct,” he said. Embattled Steinhoff was involved in a financial scandal where some of its management had manipulated the balance sheet, while Tongatt Hulett’s executives were charged with backdating sale agreements between March 2015 and September 2018. Last week, the IRBA…

NATIONAL Treasury has increased the allowance for retirement funds to invest offshore from 30% to 45%, and simultaneously collapsed the 10% African allowance. This is a big change for the asset management industry, which, excluding Africa, had moved its offshore allowance from 15% to just 30% in the first 25 years of democracy. What, if anything, does the change in foreign exchange regulations mean for your investment strategy? Surprisingly, in the short term, perhaps not much. Post the regulatory change, we engaged 14 asset management companies in the multi-asset mandates we make use of, and none intended to increase their foreign exposure in the short term, given their view that valuations still favoured SA assets. We suspect, though, that in the medium term the changes are likely to be profound,…

Rex Trueform, an investment holding company, and owner of the Queenspark fashion retailer, yesterday said its retail segment turnover has fully recovered in the year under review to pre-Covid-19 levels, while its property segment was resilient. The group comprises the retail sales of women and men’s clothing, shoes, costume jewellery, related fashion accessories, and cosmetics through Queenspark branded outlets in South Africa and Namibia. Its property portfolio consists of developed and undeveloped properties, held directly and indirectly through a subsidiary, Queenspark Distribution Centre Proprietary. In its audited annual financial statements released yesterday, the group said its revenue increased by 35% from last year’s R491.4 million to R665m. The group said headline earnings per share increased 81% to 266.5 cents. Investment income amounted to R24.8m, while retail sales totalled almost…

A NOW divorced woman has discovered that if you cheat on your spouse, you lose. The court ruled that she would forfeit half of her husband’s pension money because she left him and their children for other men. The woman, who cannot be identified as the matter involves a divorce action, went to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, to divorce her husband. She also asked that half of her husband’s pension be paid to her. The husband, in turn, said his “cheating wife” should not get a cent and that the half of his government pension fund, which a spouse married in community of property is usually entitled to receive, should be forfeited due to her conduct over the years. The couple got married in 2009 and the husband said…

In his latest grumpy newsletter, investment analyst Dr James Greener advises all of us to invest in rainwater tanks. “What will definitely end badly is ‘the incorporation and establishment of the South African National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency Limited as a state-owned company and major public entity owned and controlled by the State to administer, fund, finance, operate, maintain and provide advisory services in respect of national water resources infrastructure. This sounds like Eskom for water and should have us all fleeing to install rainwater tanks.” A great game The United Rugby Cup, where our top provincial sides play their counterparts in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy, is surely proving a wonderful shot in the arm for South African rugby. Saturday’s encounter in Swansea between the Sharks and the Dragons…

What a pathetic bowling performance by the Proteas in the match with India this weekend. I’m sure lots of supporters are asking the same questions. Why is management persisting with Wayne Parnel, Lungi Ngidi and even Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje? To say the least, they were pretty poor. The only highlight of the game, as far as South Africa is concerned, was David Miller and Quinton de Kock, with a brilliant unbeaten 174 , but they were left with too much to do, thanks to appalling shots from Temba Bavuma and Rilee Rossouw, both getting successive ducks in the two games. It’s time for figureheads to be pushed to the side and give genuine batsmen a chance. When the Proteas played in England, Bavuma was injured and we won…

The escalating religious tension in many parts of the world is cause for concern. History graphically reminds us that those who torment innocent people because of their religion or their religious attire, are tormented souls who have lost touch with reality. Intolerance has devoured their toxic minds. Logic and rationality do not exist in their vocabulary. Hatred and its toxic twin, bigotry, are an affront to humanity. Any form of human degradation is an outrageous violation of our respect for the oneness of humanity. Hatred and intolerance are two of the most baneful and persistent evils, they are a major barrier to peace. Its practice perpetrates too outrageous a violation of the dignity of human beings to be countenanced under any pretext. Hatred retards the unfoldment of the boundless potentialities…

South Africans are paying almost R600 more than a year ago for the same household food basket. This is the latest data from the Household Affordability Index when the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group (PMBEJD) compared September 2021 to September 2022. According to PMBEJD’s Index, in September 2021, the same basket of goods cost R4 219.48, and in September 2022, the average household basket cost R4 805.86, which is a R586.39 increase in cost. And month-on-month, the average household basket cost R4 775.59 in August 2022 and R4 805.86 in September 2022, a R30.28 increase. Economists predict it will be some time yet before South Africans see any significant change to their till slips, even with a predicted R1 drop in petrol costs from this month. “If these prices…

The Cape of Good Hope SPCA has hailed the guilty verdict handed down to a man who used puppies to beg for money. Repeat offender Selwyn Taylor was convicted of animal cruelty and assault at the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court. It was also found that using animals to beg for money is a violation of the City’s Animal Keeping By-law. Earlier this year, SPCA inspectors, with the assistance of City Law Enforcement, had apprehended Taylor, dubbed a serial puppy seller, who also uses the animals to solicit money from members of the public. Taylor, 33, who had been arrested twice in a week “become aggressive when the SPCA’s inspector tried to remove the puppy on one occasion and also assaulted Mayco member for urban mobility Roberto Quintas, who had…

I have previously decried intellectual starvation in the country concerning migration and immigration. Accordingly, I took it upon myself to pen a brief article to inform the public about the historiography of migration and immigration in South Africa. In the article, I signified how migration and immigration in South Africa are historically buttressed in race, and anti-black in an inter-sectional manner and dovetailed in racialised capital accumulation that pitted oppressed Africans against each other. A few months after the publication of the article, the phenomenon of zama-zamas erupted and saw “chauvinistic make-me-believe I am a community activist” groups mushrooming. It unequivocally called for the deportation of illegal migrants and securing of “our” borders against them. Typical of politicians, never wanting to be left behind, they entered the fray and decried…

US prosecutors were due to present their opening statements yesterday in the trial of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four others charged with conspiring to use force to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power on January 6, 2021. Rhodes and his co-defendants Kelly Meggs, Thomas Caldwell, Jessica Watkins and Kenneth Harrelson are accused of plotting to forcefully prevent Congress from certifying Democratic President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory, in a failed bid to keep then-president Donald Trump, a Republican, in power. Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in a failed attempt to overturn his election loss to Biden after Trump falsely claimed the election had been stolen from him through widespread fraud. Five people died during and shortly after the riot, and about 140 police were injured. The…

Washington: CIA Director Bill Burns, 66, said in the US spy agency’s first-ever podcast that his life is nothing like Jason Bourne and James Bond, ripping hot cars through crowded cities and deploying unimaginable lethal gadgets. Popular spy films show “a world of heroes who drive fast cars, defuse bombs and solve world crises all on their own every day”, Burns said. “That is a source of amusement for my wife and daughters. I’m most comfortable driving our 2013 Subaru Outback at the speed limit. For me, technological daring is when I finally get the remote to work,” Burns told The Langley Files, a podcast to demystify the super-secret CIA. | afp…

World Rugby's move to "aid the flow of the game" with water breaks has had the exact opposite effect and needs to go. In May, the governing body announced that it had approved a global trial limiting the opportunity for non-playing personnel to enter the field of play during a match with the aim of "improving the flow of matches by reducing unnecessary stoppages without compromising welfare". Firstly, it's not hard to figure out why such a law was suddenly implemented following the ridiculous outrage at SA Rugby's director of rugby Rassie Erasmus' 'water boy' role. We all know the real reason it was implemented in the first place ... it was a poorly masked attempt at restricting the comings and goings of Erasmus. "The aim of the trial is…

Sekhukhune United coach Kaitano Tembo believes that his side will go all out for a win and have had enough time to prepare ahead of their home clash against Orlando Pirates at the Peter Mokaba Stadium tonight. The pressure is currently on Tembo and Babina Noko. The side has shown little improvement from last season. Instead, they have won just one league game so far and are second last with seven points after eight games. Should Sekhukhune lose to the Sea Robbers and Marumo Gallants pick up points against TS Galaxy, Tembo’s side could move to last place. “Preparations have been going well,” said Tembo. “We have had enough time to rest and to look at areas that we need to improve. We also looked at areas in which we…

Armaments worth R80 billion destined for Ukraine and bought from a private local company have created a diplomatic pickle for South Africa, after the International Air Services Council shot down the Foreign Operator’s Permit (FOP) for an Export Permit for Conventional Arms and Services that had already been granted by the Department of Defence. Tensions between the government and the council are reported to have peaked after a FOP application was made in July, but can only be endorsed by the council, which refuses to endorse it on moral grounds. “The FOP has not been granted yet, what has been signed off is by the Department of Defence and others relevant government departments, but the consignment cannot take off without the council’s approval,” a source close to the transaction said.…

SOUTH Africa’s industrial production fell back into contractionary territory in September as the severity of intensified power cuts during the month hampered both output and demand. The seasonally adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), released yesterday, fell to 48.2 index points in September from an improved 52.1 index points in August. Absa said more intense load shedding during the month was likely to blame for the decline relative to August, with the index averaging 49.3 points in the third quarter. The September PMI print pointed to a renewed contraction in the country’s manufacturing activity as Eskom ramped up its rotational load shedding to Stage 6 and maintained Stage 4 for more than two weeks. September was by far the worst month of the year in terms of the cumulative amount…

A land rights advocacy group has welcomed the passing of the Expropriation Bill by the National Assembly last week, and says it wants to see its full implementation. After its adoption by the Assembly, the bill will be sent to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for concurrence before it finally goes to President Cyril Ramaphosa to be signed into law. The Bill outlines circumstances when it may be just and equitable for nil compensation to be paid when land is expropriated. Landless People’s Movement chairperson Msizeni Magwaza, who is a farm dweller, labelled the passing of the bill as long overdue for many people who do not enjoy land ownership. “This is what some of us have been waiting for all our lives, and our hope is that the…

Pomeranians Michi and Mochi were among 15 four-legged couples that tied the knot at a pet wedding ceremony in the Philippines on Sunday that was held along with a special blessing of pets to mark World Animal Day. Owners Ianne De Guia and Bryan Largo, who joined hundreds of other pet lovers for the animal blessing, said Michi and Mochi – dressed in a gown and tuxedo for the occasion –were able to cement their union after recently having puppies. The canine couples took the plunge at a park by a shopping mall where hundreds of animals, including cats, rabbits and guinea pigs, also received blessings in a drive-through and in-person ceremony which was presided over by a priest who sprinkled them with holy water. It was the first in-person…

Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France before being overthrown by revolutionaries and publicly guillotined following the abolition of the monarchy, is famously attributed for the almost brazen quote, “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche”, traditionally translated as “let them eat cake”. Her utterance was the result of the hubris of the aristocracy who believed in their invincibility and perpetuity of rule. And as we know, the rest is history. South Africa, the godchild of the world in 1994, was petted, pampered and praised for a near miracle that happened on April 27 of that year as it transitioned from apartheid to freedom and democracy, sometimes dubbed as a “bloodless coup”. It was neither bloodless nor was it a coup. Brave people paid the ultimate price for those invisible yet inalienable…

With breast cancer ranking as the leading cause of cancer mortality in women in South Africa and globally, women have been urged to take “breast health” more seriously. As October marks the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, health stakeholders have once again begun urging women, especially those over 40 years of age, to have their yearly mammograms done. With a lifetime risk of 1 in 25, breast cancer is reportedly the most frequently diagnosed cancer in South Africa. Although rare, 1-3% of all breast cancers occur in men, who are also encouraged to self-examine, especially if breast cancer is common in their family. According to experts, regular breast self-examination and breast screening with mammograms are essential to ensure the greatest chance of survival from breast cancer, which accounted for…

Msunduzi Municipality’s new city manager, Lulamile Mapholoba, says he plans to take the KwaZulu-Natal capital to greater heights and ensure that it is granted metro status in the near future. Mapholoba was formally introduced yesterday to the media and attended his first full council meeting in Pietermaritzburg. Mapholoba, who boasts more than 20 years’ experience in local government, said he was aware of the challenge before him in improving the fortunes of the municipality, which is still under administration. “There is no time to waste or to be on a learning curve, there is work to be done,” said the city manager. He singled out revenue generation, improving the city’s ageing infrastructure and ensuring that the city was run in line with the prescripts of good governance as key issues…

TRANSPORT Minister Fikile Mbalula said yesterday that as part of the October Transport Month campaign they would visit KwaZulu-Natal to assess progress on rehabilitating infrastructure destroyed by the floods. This will include rail and road infrastructure. “Road safety remains a critical cornerstone in our efforts to arrest the carnage on our roads. We continue to implement innovative measures that not only ensure that the law bites, but also inculcates responsible behaviour by all road users,” he said at the launch of the Transport Month campaign in Pretoria. Mbalula said their work with provinces and municipalities to improve the service offering at Driving Licence Testing Centres was beginning to bear fruit, with motorists spending less time in queues. “We have no doubt services will improve exponentially with the combination of online…

The UN envoy scrambled to revive Yemen’s six-month truce after a missed deadline raised fears of a return to war and prompted rebel threats against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Special envoy Hans Grundberg pledged “relentless efforts” to reinvigo- rate the truce, which lapsed on Sunday after bringing a sharp reduction in clashes since it came into force in April. Iran-backed Houthi rebels have been fighting a Saudi-led pro-government coalition since 2015 in a war that has left hundreds of thousands dead and created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to the UN. Grundberg’s plan to extend the truce – initially set to last two months and renewed twice – to six months and to expand it to new areas of agreement was rejected by the Houthis. His…

STOCKHOLM: Scientist Svante Paabo has won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries “concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution”, the award-giving body announced yesterday. The prize, arguably among the most prestigious in the scientific world, is awarded by the Nobel Assembly of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and is worth 10 million Swedish crowns (R16.1 million). It is the first of this year’s batch of prizes. Created in the will of Swedish dynamite inventor Alfred Nobel, the prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace have been awarded since 1901. Past winners in the field include a string of famous researchers, notably Alexander Fleming, who shared the 1945 prize for the discovery of penicillin, and Robert Koch, who won already in 1905 for his investigations…

NASPERS said yesterday the planned $4.7 billion (R84.7 billion) acquisition of BillDesk by subsidiary Prosus had fallen through, because “certain conditions precedent were not fulfilled.” The leading international technology group on August 31 announced that an agreement had been reached between PayU Payments Private (PayU), a subsidiary of Prosus, and the shareholders of the Indian digital payments provider BillDesk, to acquire BillDesk for $4.7bn, which at that time was worth some R65bn. The deal was reportedly would have been one of the biggest in India’s tech sector and the biggest so far attempted by Prosus. “This is good news as the price was struck in 2021 before tech shares started to fall,” @WayneMcCurrie commented yesterday on Twitter yesterday and “why did it terminate” @hudude81 questioned? “BillDesk shareholders are shocked. This…

Rising interest rates and worsening power cuts have slowed the momentum of new vehicle sales growth in South Africa as load shedding hits production, while rising interest rates impact purchasing power. This comes as aggregate domestic new vehicle sales in September recorded a 10.8% increase at 47 786 units, from the 43 147 vehicles sold in September, 2021. The September print reflected a year-on-year increase of 4 639 units, and a slight monthly increase of 366 units from 47 420 vehicles sold in August. The Automotive Business Council (Naamsa) yesterday said the new vehicle market continued to reflect a healthy performance, but the pace of recovery has started to slow down. Naamsa pointed to the despondency about load shedding and other weakening economic indicators for this slowing momentum. Naamsa CEO…

THE ANC in the eThekwini region has encountered challenges that have delayed the holding of branch general meetings (BGMs). All BGMs at the weekend were cancelled and so far only eight out of 111 branches have sat. There are fears that the region, one of the biggest in the country, may not be able to meet the October 25 deadline to determine national elective conference leadership positions, with the blame being placed on industrial action by party staff and the need to upgrade scanner software. The delays could have a knock-on effect on the party’s elective conference which is due to start on December 16. The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal pronounced last week on its leadership preference, saying there was consensus behind backing Dr Zweli Mkhize for president, ANC treasurer Paul…

MY nephew sent me a WhatsApp message in the middle of the night this weekend to tell me Bobby Chalmers had died. Jenny, my sister, and I, here in the US, knew it was coming. For the past decade or so Jenny, through mutual friends, had built a deep friendship and so she was getting daily updates on Bobby’s condition. I “knew” him as a soccer star, from the grandstand of Kingsmead. Even now, I could tell you the details of some of the finest goals I have ever seen, and most of them involved Bobby. Long before I met Bobby through my sister, I knew I’d be in Durban for a week or two and I’d be delivering public lectures and so I published a column challenging two of…

You all know about cash cows. Well, ours is Eskom and all our hard-earned savings are pouring into its bottomless pit. What to do about it? Here are a few suggestions: Get rid of SAA once and for all. Establish more wind farms. Sars should collect outstanding debts from the super-rich. Get advice from other countries about solar heating and hydro-electric power; after all, we are blessed with plentiful sunshine. Employ highly qualified engineers. Destroy nuclear power stations. Clearly, something drastic needs to be done before our country goes into total shutdown.…

AMICHAND Rajbansi was a colourful yet controversial politician. A ruthless Machiavellian by nature, he made his mark in politics as a serial floor crosser. Now we have another Indian politician who follows in the footsteps of the infamous Raj. Visvin Reddy, leader of ADeC, has been on an image-boosting campaign, writing several letters to the press, criticising the ANC leadership. In one letter to The Mercury he prophesied that the ANC would lose votes over the energy crisis. (“Government leaders’ incompetence an awful recipe for disaster”, September 28.) Then in another letter he writes why, “I won’t support a nuclear plant in Durban” (September 29). But just last year in the municipal elections, he sold his vote to the ANC when he joined 16 other smaller parties and gave Durban…

WhatsApp is rolling out a new feature for some beta users that enables them to recover deleted messages. Those who have accidentally binned a message they wanted to keep will be pleased to hear about the new feature under development with the WhatsApp beta for Android 2.22.13.5 update. Users will be able to hit the “undo” button to recover the item “a few seconds” after they hit delete, WABetaInfo said. Last week, WhatsApp announced a series of new privacy settings, promising to make messaging “as private and secure as face-to-face conversations”. Users will be able to leave group chats discreetly, control who can see their online status, and block screenshots for View Once messages. Meta will start rolling out the new settings later this month in the UK, before…

One of the fraud and corruption cases against former Bosasa bigwig, Angelo Agrizzi, has been postponed to December 2. It is the latest delay of court proceedings for Agrizzi who faces charges related to four tenders that were awarded to Bosasa and its subsidiaries between August 2004 and 2007. Agrizzi’s co-accused are the erstwhile commissioner of Correctional Services, Linda Mti, the former head of finance at Correctional Services, Patrick Gillingham, and former head of finance at Bosasa, Andries van Tonder. The case was heard yesterday in the Pretoria High Court, said Sindisiwe Seboka, spokesperson of the National Prosecuting Authority. Deputy Judge President of the Pretoria High Court, Aubrey Ledwaba, presided over the matter. Agrizzi’s lawyer, Daniel Witz, said the medical report from the National Prosecuting Authority, which appointed its own…

Dozens of people were evicted from a building yesterday in Ingcuce (Albert) Street, after it was alleged the owner of the building had got a court order. The police and a private security company were at the building yesterday to monitor the situation. A source, who cannot be named as they are not allowed to speak to the media, told The Mercury that the building had been allegedly hijacked one year ago and the “hijackers” had got people to live in it and pay rent. “The owners of the building took the matter to court to remove the residents after the building was hijacked. “The owners were concerned as they believed the building had been taken over by gangs and there was a threat of violence.” Another source on the…

President becoming famous for over-promises on commitments to fight corruption PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has taken another negative and irreversible step that could diminish public confidence in his leadership’s ability to fight corruption successfully. Answering questions in the National Assembly on September 29, he fell short of spelling out demonstrable action to back up his lukewarm commitment to implement the Zondo Commission recommendations. He made a welcome U-turn on what he stated in court papers in the DA’s court case – to declare cadre deployment unlawful – that the Zondo Commission recommendations are “not binding”. However, he failed to announce tangible progress, including a Cabinet reshuffle. Attempts to remove individuals implicated in corruption and maladministration from positions of power are a full-scale war, which Ramaphosa seems to be losing. While trying…

Authorities in Ethiopia’s rebel-held Tigray region said they had withdrawn fighters from occupied parts of a neighbouring region to counter a major offensive unfolding to the north. Pro-government forces and rebels led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) resumed fighting in late August after a five-month truce, dimming hopes of peacefully settling nearly two years of war. The latest upsurge has drawn Eritrean troops back onto the battlefield in support of Ethiopia’s federal and regional forces, which are fighting the TPLF on multiple fronts in the country’s north. Tigrayan authorities said late on Sunday that a redeployment of fighters from occupied parts of the Amhara region to the south of Tigray was necessary to counter intensifying combat to the north. “So because of this, on the southern front, we…

Ukrainian forces achieved their biggest breakthrough in the south of the country since the war began, bursting through the front and advancing rapidly along the Dnipro River yesterday, threatening to encircle thousands of Russian troops. Kyiv gave no official confirmation of the gains, but Russian sources acknowledged that a Ukrainian tank offensive had advanced dozens of kilometres along the river’s west bank, recapturing a number of villages. The breakthrough mirrors recent Ukrainian successes in the east that have turned the tide in the war against Russia, even as Moscow has tried to raise the stakes by annexing territory, ordering mobilisation and threatening nuclear retaliation. “The information is tense, let’s put it that way, because, yes there were indeed breakthroughs,” Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed leader in occupied parts of Ukraine’s Kherson…

Rassie van der Dussen believes the conditions for the T20 World Cup in Australia later this month, should be much more batter friendly than what the Proteas are currently experiencing in India, especially upfront in the powerplay. Van der Dussen, who is currently not in India with the Proteas and is “gutted” to be missing the T20 World Cup with a finger injury, has been an interested spectator back home. He could only look on in frustration as the Proteas slumped to 9/5 in the first T20 international before again being reduced to 2/2 in the second match on Sunday. On both occasions, it was rookie left-arm bowler Arshdeep Singh who caused the damage. New-ball partner Deepak Chahar has also played a significant part in maintaining the pressure. This was…