Índice para 2022-05-18 em Mercury

Max Mbili, who was shortlisted for the city manager position, has gone to court to challenge why he was not appointed. Mbili, who is currently the municipal manager for the Ray Nkonyeni Municipality on the South Coast, has filed an application in the Durban High Court. The matter has been set down for August 3. In his application, he wants the court to declare that the municipality’s reasons for failing to appoint him as the new city manager are irrational, unjustifiable and unreasonable. He also wants the court to order that the issue of his non-appointment be referred back to the eThekwini council for reconsideration. Mbili was the front-runner to be appointed as the new city manager for eThekwini, but his appointment was derailed just days before it was to…

A BRITISH tribunal has ruled that to describe a man as “bald” is sexual harassment We, of the thinly-thatched brigade, are astonished. There are sexual connotations, of course, but they’re positive. We have a slogan: “We don’t waste our hormones growing hair.” Baldness is a badge of masculinity, virility. According to The Huffington Post, the tribunal also compared calling a man “bald “with commenting on the size of a woman’s breasts. Okay, there could be an element of admiration here, but the overall tone is one of negativity towards baldness. It happened in Yorkshire where an electrician complained that a foreman called him a “bald….” I won’t complete the expression because it would offend the feminists. The panel noted that the complainant had not objected to use of the four-letter…

I note, in your May 17 edition, that the “sinkhole” which occurred on the national road, the N3, in the Key Ridge vicinity was repaired with the road being open for traffic within three days of the occurrence. The SA National Roads Agency (Sanral) is to be congratulated on its performance in this respect, which is in line with world practice. In comparison, provincial and municipal roads that suffer due to traffic disruptions occurring, often as a lack of adequate maintenance, generally shown up by heavy rainfall, often take up to nine months to a year to be rendered fit for use. There are many examples over the years, a great number more recently, confirming this situation. Could this vast difference in performance be ascribed to the difference in competency…

Two weeks ago on a Saturday evening, a man managed to disarm a policeman and shot three people, including the officer, in a Cape hospital. All three lost their lives in an environment that was supposed to ensure healing and care. In the midst of this tragedy, a story of heroism emerged. Shortly after the man shot the three victims, a brave nurse was successfully able to persuade him to surrender the weapon. As a result of her courage, she saved more lives from being taken. Even though this story represents a singular event that occurred in the health-care sector, it highlights something far more important: the continual hard work our nursing staff do on a daily basis. It is for this reason we all should stop for a moment…

Medical staff were held hostage, and the ambulance they were travelling in was stripped of its engine, gearbox, tyres and battery by criminals who had called saying there was a woman in labour in Mpumalanga. The incident took place in Belfast on Sunday evening, Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said. “It is reported that on the said day, the emergency medical services received a strange call about a woman who was in labour, giving birth at a farm near Belfast on the Spitzkop Road. An ambulance, a VW Crafter, was then dispatched to attend,” said Mohlala. “At around 9.30pm, it is said that a follow-up call was received by the paramedics whereby the caller asked to meet with the medical staff at a certain spot to give directions to…

KwaZulu-Natal Department of Arts and Culture (DoAC) says claims that the ward-based Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) volunteers are sitting at home without a management plan are not true. The department says it is working on ways to improve this programme to benefit a considerably greater number of arts practitioners in the future. The department was responding to claims by the DA that Cultural Creative Industries (CCI) volunteers within KZN’s DoAC EPWP programme were being paid a stipend despite sitting at home. The party alleged that the employees have not done any work since December 2021, and to date the department has spent more than R5 million on the programme. “Despite this there is little, if anything, to show for it, and it appears that this is just another tick-box…

A 44-year-old man has been sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for smuggling explosives into South Africa, the Hawks said. Motsi Wilfred Nhamo was sentenced at the Musina Magistrate's Court yesterday. Hawks spokesperson Captain Matimba Maluleke said Nhamo was arrested last year at Beitbridge after they received information that he was smuggling explosives from Zimbabwe into South Africa. “On 30 May, 2021, members of the Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation received a tip-off about a person smuggling explosives from Zimbabwe into South Africa.”…

A KwaZulu-Natal woman who kidnapped and murdered her 10-year-old neighbour with the aim of selling her organs has been jailed for life. Zandile Nsele, 40, was sentenced in the Durban High Court yesterday. According to Natasha Kara, the provincial spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Nsele received a life sentence and a combined 25 years after she was convicted of charges including murder and kidnapping. Nsele kidnapped Sphumelelo Mzimba in June 2019. “They knew each other and often visited each other’s homes,” said Kara. Nsele, who was unemployed and had financial problems, decided to kid- nap the victim and demand ransom from the victim’s parents but she did not intend to return the girl to her family. “She planned to kill the child and sell her organs and/or…

Russia said yesterday that 265 Ukrainian soldiers had surrendered after staging a last stand at the besieged Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol, prompting Kyiv to call for a prisoner exchange. Moscow claimed control of the strategic port city of Mariupol last month after a weeks-long siege, but hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers remained holed up in underground tunnels beneath the huge Azovstal industrial zone. “Over the past 24 hours, 265 militants laid down their arms and surrendered, including 51 heavily wounded,” the Russian defence ministry said. It added that those needing medical help were taken to a hospital in a part of the eastern Donetsk region controlled by pro-Kremlin rebels. The ministry published images showing wounded soldiers being carried on stretchers, some being searched and others being put onto buses. Elsewhere, MPs…

More than 70 Palestinians were wounded in overnight clashes with Israeli forces at a Jerusalem funeral, Palestinian medics said yesterday, in unrest that police said included “violent riots” which threatened officers’ lives. The unrest unfolded as Palestinians were burying Walid al-Sharif, 23, who died on Saturday of wounds suffered during clashes last month at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound. The Palestinian Red Crescent said the injuries occurred “during clashes with occupation forces”, with Israeli police firing rubber bullets and stun grenades in and around Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem’s Old City. Sharif’s body was carried by mourners across the Al-Aqsa compound and brought through the Old City’s Herod Gate, before burial at a nearby cemetery. Police said “violent disturbances occurred both during and after the funeral, including in the cemetery itself.” Six…

New York: Billionaire Elon Musk said yesterday that his purchase of Twitter would not go ahead unless he was given assurances on the bots that he says plague the platform, further complicating his acrimonious $44 billion bid for the social media giant. The chief of SpaceX as well as Tesla, Musk is listed by Forbes as the world’s wealthiest person, with a fortune of about $230 billion. Twitter chief executive Parag Agrawal has said the platform suspends more than a half-million bogus accounts daily, and locks millions more weekly that fail checks. Internal measures show that fewer than 5% of accounts active on any given day at Twitter are spam, but that analysis can’t be replicated externally due to the need to keep user data private, Agrawal said. Musk responded…

GAZA: Two Gaza orthopaedic surgeons, having treated thousands of people with broken limbs since 2019, are now applying their skills to saving animals in a community where veterinary services focus on more basic interventions. Many of brothers Mohammad and Youssef Al-Khaldi’s human patients have been victims of Israeli army gunfire at border protests, they say. For animals, they can often prove fatal. Mohammad said 80% of animals with untreated fractures die, after he and Youssef tended to a sheep’s broken leg at their clinic in southern Rafah. They also mend bones on cats, dogs and even birds. | Reuters…

PICK N PAY chairperson Gareth Acker- man yesterday said the economy needed speedy surgery as he called for the government to urgently sort out its energy policy issues while harnessing the capability of the private sector to aid the recovery. This as South Africa has been plunged into repeated load shedding by power utility Eskom, knocking the bottom line of businesses, and hitting the economy. Speaking during the presentation of the Pick n Pay company results for the 52 weeks ended February 27, 2022, Ackerman said it was only through trusted partnership that the economy would recover. “The constant focus on issues other than growing the economy is resulting in a smaller cake to share among a growing population. We need to grow the economy and start…

As criminal charges were opened yesterday in connection with an alleged racist incident which took place at a residence at Stellenbosch University, it emerged that another incident had occurred just days before. A white student at the university, Theuns du Toit, was suspended on Monday after he was captured on video urinating on fellow student Babalo Ndwayana’s belongings at the male residence Huis Marais on campus. The university said it was initiating an investigation to determine the final outcomes. Ndwayana yesterday laid charges of housebreaking, malicious damage to property and crimen injuria at Stellenbosch police station. While the incident caused mass public outrage and saw students protesting at the university to call for the perpetrator to be expelled, it emerged yesterday that it was the second alleged racist incident in…

When I was young, I worked as a garden boy on the Bluff. The madam had a dog which she loved. He got such tasty treats, while I got two thick slices of jam bread and strong tea. How I envied the dog! Pets are pampered and spoilt by their rich owners who spare no amount of money in making their lives as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. Regarded as part of the family, they get the best of everything – tasty, expensive pet food, regular visits to the dog parlour to be groomed and shampooed, they sit on the sofa and watch television with the family, get a front seat in the car, and if they are sick they go to special animal doctors. There are laws to deal…

While the outcry over the fiasco at the funeral of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh reverberates around the world; once again a few chilling comparisons with apartheid South Africa emerge. While all of this was happening, apartheid Israel was stealing indigenous Palestinians’ land in Masafer Yatta. The people who lived there for generations won’t be citizens of Israel, yet an immigrant from Eastern Europe or the US claiming to be of Jewish ancestry (and not necessarily practising the Jewish faith) will be given land and citizenship. Identical to the forced removals in apartheid South Africa. Common jokes are “Israel terrorist” and the only “peace” Israel wants is a “piece of Palestine” (or the occupied territories). Antony Abu Akleh, the journalist’s brother, had to give assurances to the apartheid Israeli security forces…

REASONABLE requests I believe parents can legitimately make of any young adult son or daughter: Keep your parents in the loop about your life. Making this a habit will ratchet down the tensions and anxieties in even the most anxious families. Check in regularly, especially if you have nothing of note to say and are making no requests at all. These actions from you will indicate that you are indeed an adult. When you have tough or bad news, deliver it yourself, face-to-face. Let your parents be among the first to know about any important developments in your life, like the loss of a job, loss of an important relationship, or a scrape with the law. No parent likes to be taken by surprise when it comes to these matters.…

World Cup-winning South African flyhalf Elton Jantjies, who has been charged with malicious damage to property, will be back in court next month. Jantjies appeared in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on Monday. The case was postponed to June 3. Jantjies is out on bail of R1 000. According to the National Prosecuting Authority in Gauteng, Jantjies is charged with malicious damage to property and contravention of the Aviation Act. Jantjies was arrested by the police at OR Tambo International Airport on Sunday after an alleged incident took place during an Emirates flight from Dubai to Johannesburg. The 31-year-old Springbok allegedly broke a light on the plane, according to his agent James Adams, but local media reports suggested Jantjies was involved in an altercation with an air hostess. A report…

PARLIAMENT says it was establishing appropriate systems to process and oversee the implementation of the Zondo Commission report. Parliament spokesperson Moloto Mothapo said President Cyril Ramaphosa has officially submitted part three of the commission’s report, which related to the conduct of current and former MPs. “As the aspects of the report have a direct bearing on Parliamentary business, the institution has swiftly initiated processes to implement its recommendations. “Accordingly, the joint committee on ethics and members’ interests has been requested to investigate possible contraventions of the code of ethical conduct and disclosure of members’ interest for Assembly and Parliament council members. “This applies only to current members, who were serving in Parliament when any alleged transgressions took place,” he said. This comes after a legal opinion said portfolio committees should…

City libraries have become a soft target for criminals who steal computers, photocopiers and other equipment. This was revealed in a report tabled before eThekwini Executive Committee (Exco) members yesterday. It also indicated that library staff members had been held at gunpoint and had their belongings taken by thugs in some instances. The report, “State of Libraries”, had been requested by Exco members following growing concerns that these important community facilities were in a state of decline in the city. Dr Musa Gumede, deputy city manager, Community and Emergency Services, told Exco members that libraries had continued to be the main information source for community members, despite predictions of a decline in demand because of the emergence of modern technology. “Patronage is still very high and the demand for the…

Libya’s capital was rocked early yesterday by gunfights between backers of two rival administrations, threatening another escalation in the war-torn country. Supporters of a government endorsed by Libya’s parliament and by an eastern-based military strongman had tried to move into the western city of Tripoli by force. That sparked pre-dawn clashes with armed groups supporting interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah. Hours later they pulled out, citing the “security and safety of citizens”, as the UN, EU and US appealed for calm. Dbeibah was appointed under a troubled UN-led peace process early last year to lead a transition to elections set for December, but the vote was indefinitely postponed. In February this year, the eastern- based parliament appointed rival premier and former interior ministry Fathi Bashagha to take his place, arguing…

About 300 000 tons of Ukrainian wheat booked by Egypt’s state grains buyer for delivery in February and March is yet to be shipped, with one cargo stuck in port and four others still to be loaded, four traders said. Egypt’s General Authority For Supply Commodities has offered traders an extension to secure the cargoes, according to traders and officials. Egypt, typically the world’s largest wheat importer, depended heavily on shipments of Black Sea wheat that were disrupted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The war has raised concerns over Egypt’s ability to sustain its strategic reserves and secure affordable wheat used to make steeply subsidised bread available to nearly two-thirds of the population. Egypt’s prime minister said this week that the government had wheat reserves to last…

PENNSYLVANIA: Nylah Anderson, inspired by “Blackout Challenge” videos on TikTok, took a clothes hanger and a purse from her mother’s closet in December with the goal of mimicking others she’d watched on the social media platform, a new lawsuit alleges. The 10-year-old then hanged herself. Unable to free herself from strangulation, Nylah lost consciousness. Her mother, Tawainna Anderson, found her hanging in the closet “near death” . She was rushed to hospital in Delaware but the girl died five days later. Anderson has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against TikTok, accusing its “predatory app” of pushing “exceedingly dangerous challenges”. | Washington Post…

THE NIGHT of the long knives is looming at the SA Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) following the completion of investigations into maladministration and corruption, which have raised more questions than answers, particularly on charges against its suspended acting chief executive, Sobantu Tilayi. Disciplinary action is being considered against Tilayi for mobilising a process to transfer funds from the Maritime Fund without informing the board or obtaining the resolution of the board, and proceeding with the request to transfer funds from the Maritime fund without full disclosure to the lawful Samsa board in office at the time of the request. A second official, company secretary Lolo Raphadu, is on the ropes in the final report for allegedly proceeding with the request to transfer funds from the Maritime fund without full disclosure…

PREMIER Fishing and Brands posted a solid 75 percent increase in headline earnings a share to 3.07 cents in the six months to February 28 in spite of the continued aftershocks of the Covid-19 pandemic and constrained natural resources. Premier is a vertically integrated organisation, which through its subsidiaries specialises in harvesting, processing, marketing, sales and distribution of a variety of marine products. It owns and manages factories, an abalone farm, and several fishing vessels. The group holds medium to long-term fishing rights in squid, lobster, small and large pelagic as well as hake. It also produces organic fertilisers through the “Seagro” brand. A reduction in revenue by R62 million to R224m was due to a scarcity of the squid resource, one of the biggest contributors to…

Two top US defence intelligence officials were to testify on Capitol Hill yester- day about what the government knows of unidentified flying objects, in the first public congressional hearing concerning UFOs in more than 50 years. The hearing comes 11 months after a report documenting more than 140 cases of what the government officially calls “unidentified aerial phenomena”, or UAPs, that US military pilots have reported observing since 2004. The more popular term UFO, has long been widely associated with the notion of alien spacecraft, which received no mention in last June’s UAP presentation. The focus, instead, was on possible implications for US national security and aviation safety. But the report included some UAPs previously revealed in Pentagon-released video footage of enigmatic airborne objects exhibiting speed and manoeuvrability exceeding known…

I must express my thanks to Duncan du Bois for his comments (The Mercury, May 16). Never have I been kept so busy consulting my Oxford English dictionary. Much more of this and my spare tyre will be visibly reduced. Saponaceous fulminations? I never dreamt that I should be capable of such actions and/or utterances (whatever they mean). And as for my best efforts to “ … dismiss narratives which diverge from what I regard as holy writ …” I confess that Mr Du Bois clearly has me at a disadvantage, for nowhere in my previous letter did I express my views on the topics in question – holy or otherwise. About the closest I have come to expressing subversive views is in a letter published in The Mercury on…

In an article titled “New technology to tackle road carnage” (The Mercury, May 13) the correspondent reports that “new technology, known as a Speed Fox device, which is fitted into a vehicle to limit its speed, has been hailed as a solution to road carnage in the country”. This is totally illogical. Cars are made to exceed the speed limit of 120km/h, then a device is fitted to limit the speed of the car. I have often pondered why cars are not manufactured to comply with the traffic laws of the country. What is the use of paying hundreds of thousands of rand for a mode of transport that has excessive power and speed as selling points when these very factors lead to breaking the law?…

A woman who argued she was entitled to R2 million from the Road Accident Fund (RAF) because her partner, whom she had intended to marry, was killed in a car accident had her case turned down by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. The woman, who cannot be named so as not to identify her daughter, met her partner two years before he was killed. Before his death, he took care of her as well as her teenage daughter. According to her, there was a legal duty on him to support her and her child, whom he had accepted and treated as his own. Thus, she reasoned, she could claim from the RAF for loss of support. The woman claimed they were engaged to be married at the time of…

The case involving a 40-year-old woman who allegedly tried to hire hit men to kill her husband has been postponed until May 24 for a possible bail application. The accused, who is believed to have two children with her husband, appeared in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court on Monday, National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Mojalefa Senokoatsane said. She faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder. “The case has been postponed until May 24, 2022, for a possible bail application. The accused is facing a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. She is remanded in custody until her next court appearance in the Kimberley district court,” Senokoatsane said. Kimberley police spokesperson Captain Olebogeng Tawana said the woman was arrested on Sunday less than 1km away from the police station. Tawana said police were…

THE Constitutional Court has overturned the murder conviction and life imprisonment sentence of Liqhayiya Tuta, a Unisa LLB student who claimed he was wrongly convicted of the 2018 murder of a police officer. Tuta was sentenced to life by the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, for stabbing to death Constable Nkosinathi Sithole and injuring his colleague, Constable Lawrence Makgaela. He then turned to the apex court which on Friday ordered that he be released with immediate effect. The court said it would furnish its reasons later. The short order issued by the Concourt read: “The accused is found not guilty and acquitted.” Nine justices ordered that either the head of the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre in Pretoria or his Johannesburg prison counterpart release Tuta immediately. Both Tuta’s murder conviction as…

Insofar as Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has posited a deterioration of the finances and performance of SOEs as a characteristic of state capture, nothing of the sort happened at Eskom during the period of time that he concludes that state capture existed at the power utility. This is, accordingly, an obstacle that stands in the way of the state capture report part IV. The period of time at Eskom that I claim credit (although not sole credit) for, is the period reflected in Eskom’s audited financial statements from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2018. This is the time defined in the state capture report part IV as the period of state capture at Eskom. In this period, Eskom’s improved performance, through my and Mr Brian Molefe’s (former Eskom CEO)…

Dawn Drexel had a sinking feeling about her daughter, Brittanee, going to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for spring break in 2009 because no adults were going and she refused the 17-year-old’s request. “I told her I felt something was going to happen to her,” said Dawn, of Rochester, New York. “I just felt it.” Brittanee went anyway. Within days, she was missing. For 13 years, Dawn and Chad Drexel have lived in limbo, holding out hope that their daughter was still alive. Now, they finally have news – law enforcement officials have announced that they had found Brittanee’s remains and arrested the man they say is responsible for her death. Raymond Douglas Moody, 62, an early suspect in the case, was charged with murder, kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct in…

LONDON: Queen Elizabeth made a surprise appearance at the official opening of the Elizabeth Line. The monarch, 96, joined her youngest son, Prince Edward, at Paddington Station yesterday to mark the completion of the London Crossrail line named in her honour, her third public outing in five days. The queen, who has been suffering from mobility issues, felt well enough to join Edward. She declined the chance to travel on one of the new trains, leaving Edward the honour of being the line’s first passenger. The line is the third one opened during the queen’s 70-year reign named after the royal family. | Bang Showbiz…

Islamabad: A deadly cholera outbreak linked to contaminated drinking water has infected thousands of people in Pakistan as the country grapples with a water crisis exacerbated by a heat wave. Temperatures in parts of Pakistan have reached record levels in recent weeks, reported CNN. Cholera cases were first identified in Pir Koh, a remote mountainous town in Balochistan province, on April 17. Since then, more than 2 000 people have been infected and six have died, CNN quoted Ahmed Baloch from the provincial health department as saying. Residents in Pir Koh say they have no access to clean, drinking water. | IANS…