Table of contents for 2022-10-18 in Mercury

CONSULTING Engineers South Africa (Cesa) has called on government to stop talking and start implementing infrastructure projects, warning that failure to do so is causing a loss of technical skills through emigration. Cesa chief executive Chris Campbell said in a statement yesterday that the lack of investment in infrastructure development, particularly from the public sector, coupled with a lack of government projects and the slow pace at which tenders are awarded, coupled with a high percentage of tender cancellations, was very concerning. “The impact of this on the consulting engineering and construction sector is having a devastating effect on the sustainability of companies. “The industry is experiencing an increase in the loss of technical skills through emigration. It is a well-known fact that infrastructure development underpins economic growth, and we…

WOMAN farmers have called for help from Police Minister Bheki Cele, saying they are sitting ducks for violent attacks from brazen criminals, who are often after their livestock. The plea was made by women from different parts of South Africa who gathered for the African Farmers’ Association of South Africa (Afasa) conference at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban yesterday. A farmer from Mpumalanga province, Maria Madisa, told the minister that women were keen to make a mark in farming, but were under constant pressure from criminals. She appealed for more police to be deployed in farming areas in order for them to feel safe. “Aside from the police, the minister should consider providing firearm training to women farmers so that when we are under attack we…

You may have noticed that when you are anxious you probably don’t make the best decisions. I am not referring to situational fear and anxiety that is gone the minute an immediate threat subsides, but to fearfulness and anxiety as a way of life. The emotions run deep. They colour our world. They pervert perceptions. Fear disturbs sleep. Anxiety distances us from the people we most love. Together, they can drive us to erratic behaviour and lead to harmful decisions. Fear and anxiety trigger fight or flight responses as a way of life and can be so entrenched in our psyches we think it is just the way we are. It is not. It doesn’t have to be. Listening, really listening, listening to one’s own life is a necessary skill…

This letter is directed to our eThekwini Municipality. Just who do you councillors think you are, playing fast and loose with our money? R22 million spent on statues of Mandela and Tambo and now council argues over the additional R1m to install them? Who sanctioned this in the first place? Statues anywhere in the world are just a perch for birds and their excrement. R23m could have gone to infrastructure repairs instead of levying already overburdened ratepayers with this extra item, which is now appearing as an additional sum on top of the existing water levy, which again was levied on our actual water consumption, leading to triple charges on our water bills. Durban is leading the charge of being the most expensive city for poor rate-paying citizens. That dodgy…

Confusion as to where the Biden regime is taking the US would not be necessary if the dots supplied by Obama and Hillary Clinton were joined. Despite his pledge to a strong economy, as president, Obama committed the US to globalism, which meant exporting American jobs to Mexico and China and progressively submerging the US economy into the globalist dictates of the World Economic Forum. To facilitate the achievement of global government, the sovereignty and nationalism of the US has to be subverted and neutered. That was the end objective of an intended 16 years of Democrat occupation of the White House – eight years of Obama followed by eight years of Hillary Clinton. Trump’s totally unexpected 2016 presidential victory therefore constituted a major setback to the globalist goals, which…

An estimated 45% of South Africa’s total available food supply is being lost or wasted yearly, with the primary production stage of the food cycle on farms being a major contributor. However, less than 40% of farmers measure how much food is wasted during the farming process. This was among findings of a recent study by the Behaviour Change Agency (BCA), a behavioural science research company in Cape Town. BCA was commissioned to do the research on behalf of WWF SA, the WWF Nedbank Green Trust and Food Forward. The findings were released ahead of World Food Day, marked on Sunday. Food waste occurs across all stages of the food supply chain, but a study by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) found that 34.3% of total…

The centrepiece of the agency’s Quesst mission will enable commercial supersonic travel over land. Lockheed Martin has designed, built and conducted initial flight tests with the aircraft and the first flight is targeted for next year. “That first supersonic flight was a tremendous achievement, and now you look at how far we’ve come since then,” said Catherine Bahm, an aeronautical engineer at Nasa’s Armstrong Flight Research Centre in California. Through Quesst, Nasa plans to demonstrate the X-59 can fly faster than sound without generating the typically loud sonic booms that led to supersonic flight over land being banned in 1973. The plan includes flying the X-59 over several communities to survey how people react to the quieter sonic “thump” it produces. | IANS…

THE South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric), on behalf of the banking industry, has released its annual statistics for banking-related crimes for 2021. In most of the banking crimes reported, KwaZulu-Natal ranked in the top three, with the third highest number of cases. Sabric said that from 2020 to 2021, digital banking fraud incidents decreased by 18% overall. The biggest decline in fraud incidents occurred in mobile banking fraud. Sabric CEO Nischal Mewalall said digital banking products were far safer than in-person banking and enabled people to transact from anywhere safely. “But criminals have adjusted their social-engineering tactics to leverage your data from social media and data leaks, making their efforts to manipulate customers difficult to spot.” ATM attacks increased by 11% in 2021, with a 17% increase…

NEWLY appointed chairperson of ActionSA in KwaZulu-Natal, Zwakele Mncwango, said it was the encouragement he received from current DA members and members of the public that led him to decide to join the party. In a media briefing yesterday, he said after resigning from the legislature and the DA, he received messages of support after a rumour emerged about his move to ActionSA. “What was encouraging to me was that members from the former party and other parties, when the speculation about me joining ActionSA (started), they were saying, ‘Zwakele if this is true, we are on board’. “There are so many people who are already excited about the vision of ActionSA which then meant to me that I am not making a mistake. This is the right decision. What…

We are resolute about telling the truth YESTERDAY morning I woke to yet another undeserved and unnecessary verbal attack on my name and reputation and that of Independent Media by WITS university adjunct Professor Anton Harber, published on that platform of self-righteousness that is the Daily Maverick. Harber has made it his life mission, it would seem, to attack Independent Media and myself, given the frequency with which he launches his salvos under the guise of “opinion”, and occasionally, as a thought leader. In my opinion, Harber does not know fact from fiction. Neither does the Daily Maverick, who appear to allow their platform as a broadcast channel for unsubstantiated hogwash. Operation Hlanza Harber’s diatribe on the News24 article about an Independent Media ANC election preparation document, is a…

As Chinese President Xi Jinping opened the landmark Communist Party Congress, the country’s vast financial bureaucracy has been busily tamping down ripples of turmoil across its currency and stock markets. Chinese state banks are stepping up intervention to defend the weakening yuan, banking sources said yesterday. Scores of companies have announced share buybacks or executive share purchase plans since Friday, when regulators unveiled plans to ease share buyback rules. State-owned banks vowed in unison that they would boost support for the economy, while state-run asset managers pledged their “confidence in the long term and healthy development of China’s capital markets”. The well-coordinated, wide-ranging efforts going into the twice-a-decade party congress, which opened on Sunday, have restored a sense of calm and stability, at least for now, in the financial markets.…

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has said that it will commit $1.2 billion to support efforts to end all forms of polio globally. Polio is a highly infectious disease spread mainly through contamination by faecal matter, that used to kill and paralyse thousands of children. Three injections of the vaccine provide nearly 100% immunity. Governments and foundations aim to end polio in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the virus remains endemic. The announcement came ahead of a key pledging moment today that is being co-hosted by Germany and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which the Gates Foundation is part of. | Reuters…

COUNCILLORS in the eThekwini Municipality have hailed the revelation that the municipality has prevailed in its long-standing dispute over a multimillion-rand debt with the bus company Tansnat, but appealed for transparency over the outcome of the matter. The city and the bus company have been involved in a protracted legal battle over a debt estimated at hundreds of millions of rand. The company claimed the municipality owed it money and the municipality in turn claimed that the company owed it money. In 2020, The Mercury reported that the debt purportedly owed by Tansnat was estimated at R600 million. The matter went before a private adjudicator. Asked about the matter recently, eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said it had been resolved “in our (city’s) favour”, while admitting that the judgment also stated…

BIGFOOT is back – or is he really? Notices have been found in wilderness areas of Pennsylvania, in the US, that the mystical giant man-ape with shaggy black, brown or red hair has been encountered. The signs call on visitors to “observe elevated park etiquette, be cautious of your surroundings and keep the location of any small children /pets within a tighter scope of awareness.” They also warn: “Do not approach the creature.” But this irritates the wildlife authorities who tear down the signs whenever they are found and insist there is no such creature as Bigfoot – also known as Sasquatch. His existence is a myth, a lot of baloney. “Bigfoot is not real,” insists the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, according to Huffington Post. But if…

South Africa, in spite of being on the lowest rung of the step ladder at the bottom of the deepest abandoned mineshaft, still sends out desperate smoke signals that give the message: Yes. We are down in the dumps. Our economy is badly fractured. We are probably on the list of the most corrupt country in the world . We don’t have electricity. We don’t have water. We are unemployed. But: We still have a great Constitution. We do not go around invading other people’s countries. We do try our best to implement laws that prevent petty racism, sexism and abuse of children. We don’t have our policemen going around, shooting helpless black people. We don’t sanction our military to go and wipe out helpless countries on the pretext of…

I have lost all respect for President Cyril Ramaphosa. Once I believed in him, that he would clean up the terrible mess that Zuma had made. But the stink has only got worse under his leadership. Like many politicians, he has the gift of the gab. He makes lots of plans and promises, but fails to implement any of them. Widespread looting of state resources is still going on under his watch. Way back in 2015, former president Jacob Zuma had appointed his deputy Cyril Ramaphosa to head the Eskom “war room” with the mandate of turning the troubled national power giant around. Though Ramaphosa was fully aware of the problems crippling Eskom, he just sat like a disinterested, neutral spectator with folded arms and did nothing to stop the…

The Bellhaven Harm Reduction Centre is desperate for funding so it can continue with its methadone treatment for drug addiction. The centre helps homeless people and also disadvantaged members of the public who are in need of methadone treatment. Methadone is an opioid substitute that helps alleviate the side effects associated with drug use. Centre manager Percy Gumede said beneficiaries received free methadone treatment, two meals per day and psychosocial support. Gumede said the centre was struggling to get funding for the methadone programme, which is the primary reason why the beneficiaries come to the centre. “As an opioid replacement, methadone gives addicts time to focus energy on other things other than hustling to get a fix,” he said. He said the centre was no longer able to take people…

A police officer from Hillcrest SAPS appeared briefly in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court yesterday for a bail application, after he was arrested for allegedly shooting dead two women he was romantically involved with. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) confirmed that Mlungisi Blessing Sikhakhane, 23, is a constable with the SAPS. “He faces two counts of murder and was remanded in police custody to appear in court on October 26 for a formal bail application, said NPA spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara. Preliminary reports indicated that Sikhakhane allegedly shot the two women, Sthembile Ngobese, 23, and Enhle Majozi, 18, multiple times in a back room he was renting in KwaNyuswa near Hillcrest, on October 14. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Social Development said the information about what happened was sketchy, however, it was alleged…

FOLLOWING the recent outbreak of monkeypox in Europe and North America, the international news media were accused of bias in their reporting. The accusation is that media outlets perpetuated negative stereotypes, for example by portraying monkeypox as a disease that affects only African people or people of African descent. The accusations stem from editorial decisions to use stock images of Africans, people of African descent or people living in Africa, when reporting an outbreak that predominantly affected countries in the global north. The Foreign Press Association Africa, said these types of reports showed a “glaring lack of dignity afforded to black and brown-skinned victims of disease outbreaks”. Numerous pieces of research have shown that Western media misrepresent Africa when reporting on diseases, and portray the West as superior and Africa…

New finance minister Jeremy Hunt sought to rebuild investor confidence in Britain yesterday by reversing nearly all of Prime Minister Liz Truss’s mini-budget that had sparked market turmoil, and reining in a vast energy subsidy plan. Tasked with halting a bond market rout that has raged since the government announced huge unfunded tax cuts on September 23, Hunt said the country now needed to increase taxes and cut spending to rebuild stability and confidence. The former health and foreign minister has now reversed nearly all of the programme that helped Truss win the leadership of the governing Conservative Party just over a month ago, leaving the prime minister fighting for her future. A two-year energy support scheme for households and businesses, expected to cost more than £100 billion, will…

Facing their biggest challenge in years, Iran’s religious leaders are trying to portray the angry protests over the death of Mahsa Amini as a breakaway uprising by her fellow Kurds threatening the nation’s unity rather than its clerical rule. Amini, a 22-year-old from Kurdistan province in Iran, died in the custody of the Islamic Republic’s morality police after she was detained for violating strict codes requiring women to dress modestly in public. Protests which started at Amini’s funeral in her Kurdish hometown of Saqez spread rapidly across the country, to the capital Tehran, cities in central Iran, and the south-west and south-east where Arab and Baluch minorities are concentrated. Across the country, including at universities and high schools, the rallying cry “Women, Life, Freedom” and the same calls for the…

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, 70, won six of eight national assembly seats he stood for in a weekend by-election, unofficial results showed yesterday, a vote he has called a referendum on his popularity. The by-election is the latest twist in months of political wrangling that began before Khan’s April ouster via a no-confidence vote, and comes as the nation grapples with the aftermath of devastating monsoon floods that left a third of the country under water. “He defeats many”, trumpeted the front-page banner headline on the Daily Times newspaper, echoing the tone of local media coverage which called it a personal victory for the former international cricket star. It was, however, an effective net loss for his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which had previously held all eight seats. Individuals…

TRANSNET’S strike will continue to cripple the economy severely as thousands of employees have vowed to remain on the picket lines for the second week in a row, in spite of the company signing a three-year wage agreement with the majority workers’ union. The State-owned freight and logistics firm signed a deal yesterday with the majority union, the United National Transport Union (Untu), to increase their wages by up to 6% for the period April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2025. This is a remarkable feat for the union after gruelling negotiations in which the employer initially tabled 1.5% wage increases, leading to the strike. The wage negotiations were mediated by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). According to the wage agreement with Untu, workers will receive…

The ANC staff representative committee says it will apply for an interdict to halt the party’s national elective conference in December if the issue of unpaid workers’ salaries is not resolved. The party has also not paid provident funds and made medical aid contributions and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority said it had an agreement with the ANC staff provident fund that the party had to pay R10 million a month to the fund. The matter has dragged on for two years and at the July conference, staff protested outside the venue, with the party managing to make payment so the conference could continue. Staff were also incensed at the news that ministers and their deputies had their perks improved in April. Mvusi Mdala, the ANC staff representative, said party…

AFTER nationwide outrage, President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered the scrapping of the controversial 2022 Ministerial Handbook, which allowed his high-earning Cabinet ministers to freeload on electricity, rent and water. Ramaphosa, through his spokes- person Vincent Magwenya, addressed the media at a briefing on matters of public interest, after his return from a presidential business trip to the United Arab Emirates at the weekend. Ramaphosa this year signed a 2022 version of the Ministerial Handbook, which replaced a more austere 2019 version that was lauded at the time. The Mercury reported on two amendments in the 2022 version which allowed ministers and deputies free utilities and to have more support staff at a cost of more than R80 million a year. The 2022 version sparked outrage, with the DA calling for…

Under a worst-case scenario, half of the coral reef ecosystems worldwide will face unsuitable conditions by 2035, if climate change continues unabated, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Hawaii. Unsuitable conditions will likely lead to the corals dying off and other marine life will struggle to survive due to disruptions in the food chain, according to the study published in scientific journal PLOS Biology. Using an ensemble of global climate change models, the study compared scenarios of five environmental stressors projected from the 1950s through the year 2100, reports Xinhua news agency. These stressors included sea surface temperature, ocean acidification, tropical storms, land use and human population, the researchers said in a news release. By 2055, it is projected that 99% of the world’s coral…

Zimbabwe was known as the breadbasket of Africa until the year 2000 and exported wheat, tobacco and corn to the wider world, especially to other Africa nations. However, today Zimbabwe is an importer of foodstuffs from the West. Many farmowners and farmworkers have been killed during violent takeovers. Land reform has had a serious negative effect on Zimbabwe’s economy and contributed heavily to its collapse in the 2000s. The corrupt Zanu-PF took all the farms from white farmers, but they have failed to maintain them. It is traumatic and hard to understand why Zimbabwe, endowed with rich, fertile soils, has citizens who are leaving their country in record numbers in search of food and other economic reasons to countries such as Botswana, South Africa and Namibia. The onus is now…

South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) chairperson Chris Nissen has called on national police commissioner Lieutenant-General Fannie Masemola to take strong action against police officers who abuse members of the public. Nissen was responding to the startling Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) report which revealed that thousands of police officers had been investigated for human rights violations. In its annual report, Ipid disclosed that it investigated more than 5 000 crimes committed by police officers. These included murder, attempted murder, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and rape. The purpose of the report was to outline the investigative activities of the Ipid for the 2021/22 financial year. It detailed the number and type of cases registered, investigated and completed, including criminal referrals and recommendations made, as well as…

It is all systems go for the historic ceremony to officially hand over the certificate of recognition (coronation) to Zulu King, Misuzulu Sinqobile KaZwelithini on October 29. The Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma led an inter-ministerial task team yesterday on an inspection of the venue – the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. Among those present were Police Minister Bheki Cele, KZN Cogta MEC Sihle Zikalala and Dlamini Zuma’s deputy, Obed Bapela. After inspecting the stadium, Dlamini Zuma said all was on track for the king’s big day. She said while the stadium had a capacity of 65 000, the event capacity had been set lower “Basically the capacity of the stadium is going to be 48 000 because we will have a stage…

NEW mechanisms must be developed when it comes to future amendments of the ministerial handbook to ensure that the whole process is not shrouded in secrecy. President Cyril Ramaphosa has come under fire in the past two weeks following revelations that he made secret changes to the ministerial handbooks in April, a move that saw government ministers and their deputies not paying for electricity and water in their ministerial homes. It also emerged on Sunday that Cabinet members were also enjoying perks that include support staff at taxpayers’ expense. Ramaphosa’s latest altering of the ministerial handbook has led to the expenditure on the budget item rising to more than R80 million per year. It is not clear why Ramaphosa chose to amend the ministerial handbook under the cover of…

Ethiopia’s government yesterday recommitted to peace talks over Tigray but did not address AU appeals for a ceasefire, vowing instead to carry out “defensive measures” including seizing airports and other federal facilities in the region. “These measures are necessitated not only by the repeated attacks of the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front), but also by its active collusion with these hostile foreign powers,” the Government Communication Service said, without naming those powers. On Sunday, AU Commission chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat called for an “immediate, unconditional ceasefire” as combat intensifies in war-torn Tigray, and for both sides in the war to “recommit to dialogue”. Authorities in Tigray said they were “ready to abide by an immediate cessation of hostilities” and called on the international community to press the government to come…

Russia attacked the centre of Kyiv during morning rush hour with drones yesterday and shelled other cities around the country, the second time in a week it has unleashed strikes across Ukraine while its forces face setbacks on the battlefield. Soldiers fired into the air trying to shoot down the drones after blasts rocked central Kyiv. Residents fled for shelter. An anti-aircraft rocket could be seen streaking into the morning sky, followed by an explosion and orange flames. An official in Ukraine’s presidential office said three people were killed in an attack on a residential building in Kyiv. Black smoke poured out of the windows of a blasted building and emergency service workers toiled to douse flames. Ukraine said the attacks were carried out by Iran-made “suicide drones”, which fly…