Índice para 2023-02-07 em Mercury

THE EFF in eThekwini has blamed the “arrogance” of the smaller parties for the failure of the motion of no confidence which was aimed at ousting eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda last week. The party said the smaller parties that brought the motion had failed to consult the EFF on their motion and had not formulated a succession plan on who would replace Kaunda once he was removed. The EFF was one of the parties that blocked Kaunda’s removal by voting against the motion filed by Active Citizens Coalition councillor Imtiaz Syed. But Syed rubbished the claims by the EFF, saying the party’s reasoning for not supporting the motion was based on the fact that the party appeared to be in some form of partnership with the ANC. EFF councillor and…

An energy expert and economists said they expected the energy crisis at Eskom to be one of the top priorities when President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Thursday. Dr Sanele Gumede, an economics lecturer at the University of Kwa- Zulu-Natal, described Eskom as one of the biggest problems facing the country. “From indications that I got from the (ANC’s) January 8 statement, it looks like the government is looking at nuclear power and hydroelectric energy as a way to address the country’s energy crisis. The question is: why has this taken them so long? This was looked at in the past but nothing came from it. If we look at the amount of rivers that we have in South Africa, we could also generate…

The decision of coal miner and exporter Thungela to acquire a controlling interest in Australia’s Ensham coal mine speaks volumes about why South Africa is no longer an attractive investment destination (Business Report, February 6). The reasons listed by Thungela CEO, July Ndlovu, for this R4.1 billion investment provide a catalogue of what ails investment in South Africa: Transnet’s inefficient rail system, erratic power supply due to load shedding and what he euphemistically calls “infrastructure bottlenecks”. The positives Ndlovu cites for investing in Australia are its well- established mining jurisdiction with support infrastructure industries and handy access to Japanese and other Asian markets. But perhaps the most telling reason for Thungela’s Australian acquisition is the need “to de-risk our underlying business and to bolster the resilience of the company (thereby)…

According to solid intelligence reports, the Mossad (the national intelligence agency of Israel) was behind the attacks that bombed certain installations in Iran last week. For many years, Israel and Iran have been waging a hidden war that so far had a dual focus, drones and cyberspace. Involved are the Mossad, the CIA, FBI and Western intelligence. Since 2004, more than 20 Iranian scientists have been killed by the Mossad. In the early 1960s, Egyptian scientists connected to their missile programme were assassinated. Gerald Bull, the architect of South Africa’s G5, who was busy building a missile system for Saddam Hussein, was killed in Brussels by the Mossad. Over the years, the Mossad has assassinated more than 500 targeted individuals, resulting in the deaths of more than 1 000 people,…

Parents are being urged to vaccinate their children as the country is facing an increase in measles cases. According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), more than 400 cases have been confirmed. The NICD said five provinces had declared measles outbreaks – Limpopo (158 cases), Mpumalanga (86), North West (147), Gauteng (30), and the Free State (20). “The age distribution and origin of cases remain largely unchanged, with the majority of measles cases in outbreak-affected provinces being among the 5-9-year age group (39%), and the highest proportion of cases arising from hospitals, as opposed to primary health clinics, in the under-one-year age group (54%). “However, there is a significant number of cases in the 10-to-14-year age group (17%), justifying the need for a vaccination campaign to include…

A baseline study is being conducted on the water losses experienced by eThekwini Municipality as part of the Water Conservation and Demand Management initiative, water entity Umgeni Water has revealed. The study comes as a result of an agreement between the City and the water entity which was reached in September last year. It is hoped that once completed, the initiative will result in a massive cut in water losses by the municipality. According to the auditor-general’s report on eThekwini, the City had water losses of 56.2%, meaning it was losing more than half of the water purchased from Umgeni Water. The municipality is the water entity’s biggest client. Umgeni Water stakeholder relations manager Shami Harichunder revealed that the initiative would look at, among other areas: Identifying locations where significant…

Even supporters of Ramaphoria wave start to anticipate defeat as euthanising mercy SOUTH Africans are watching whether this State of the Nation Address (Sona) will demonstrate a more gradual transition from a governing party to the opposition as a state of mind – an exhaustion of the will to govern and a dissolution of the discipline necessary to get work done into factional rancour. That journey precedes an election defeat and makes one more likely. Will this Sona make more ANC-SACP-Cosatu members lose hope of victory in accomplishing electoral promises? Will it reveal a leader in Ramaphosa who has run out of inducements to loyalty to see through the New Dawn project that ushered him into office? Will it expose failed attempts to show strength, advertising weakness instead? Voters smell…

Israeli forces killed five Hamas militants yesterday during a raid on a refugee camp near the occupied West Bank city of Jericho, the Palestinian armed group and Israeli sources said. Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said it would avenge the death of its members killed in the Aqbat Jabr refugee camp raid, which Israel said was aimed at capturing gunmen who had attempted a shooting attack on Israelis. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the Israeli incursion. The raid came during a period of heightened tensions that have drawn fears of a further escalation in violence and prompted calls for calm on both sides from the United States and international bodies. Israeli forces have carried out months of raids in the West Bank following a spate of deadly attacks in…

Beijing confirmed yesterday that a balloon seen flying over Latin America is Chinese, while the US worked to recover what it claimed was an unmanned spy craft it shot down at the weekend. China has expressed fury at Washington’s decision to shoot down a device that it insists was an unmanned weather surveillance aircraft that had veered off course last week. That balloon sparked outrage in the US, which accused China of an “unacceptable violation” of its sovereignty and prompted Secretary of State Antony Blinken to call off a planned trip to Beijing. Beijing acknowledged yesterday that the latest balloon, spotted by US and Colombian officials flying over Latin America at the weekend, was also Chinese. Its foreign ministry said the device was of “a civilian nature and used for…

HANOI: Vietnamese authorities have over the past week seized more than 600kg of ivory smuggled from Africa, the government said yesterday. Trade in ivory is illegal in Vietnam but wildlife trafficking remains widespread. Other items often found smuggled into the country include pangolin scales, rhino horns and tiger carcasses. Customs authorities in the northern port city of Haiphong yesterday found nearly 130kg of ivory hidden in a container of cow horns originated from Africa, the government said. This after the finding of 500kg of African ivory last week at Lach Huyen Port in the city. It’s the largest seizure of ivory in Vietnam in four years. | Reuters…

Nairobi: A Kenyan court yesterday rejected a bid by Facebook’s parent company Meta to stop a case accusing it of exploitation and poor working conditions. The suit was filed by a former content moderator at Sama, a company contracted by Meta to review Facebook posts. Meta sought to have the case struck down. But high court judge Jacob Gakeri yesterday dismissed the request from Meta. Meta has faced scrutiny over the working conditions of content moderators who say they spend hours focused on hateful, disturbing posts with little regard given to their well-being. | AFP…

Bulls coach Jake White’s near-death experience has caused him to think differently about the game of rugby and life itself. For him it used to be that every try and match was life and death but after surviving an illness that nearly cost him his life, he now knows what life and death comes down to. White penned a heartfelt My Voice article yesterday, revealing just how close to death he came after he fell ill while travelling with the Bulls during the United Rugby Championship. In early January the team touched down in Wales for a match with the Dragons, but White couldn’t make it out of bed for that game. He says he already started feeling sick when the Bulls faced the Stormers in Cape Town two…

The Proteas women’s team delivered a mixed-bag in their first T20 World Cup warm-up match in Stellenbosch on Monday. The bowling unit discovered the challenge that lays ahead with England piling on 246/7 in their 20 overs. England’s top order, in particular, were belligerent with Sophia Dunkley striking 59 off just 19 balls (9x4, 3x6). Her opening partner Danni Wyatt was more sedate with 24 off 17 balls, but the carnage continued through Alice Capsey (61 off 33 balls) and Nat-Sciver Brunt (51 off 25 balls). All the South African bowlers suffered as a result, with only Shabnim Ismail (2/38) conceding less than 10 runs per over. Captain Sune Luus was particularly expensive, with the captain leaking 21 runs off her only over. In their turn at the bat, the…

THE SOUTH African economy is at a crossroads where synergies through backward and forward linkages are needed like never before. Gone are the days when sectoral focus without having an economy- wide outlook would suffice. The need for a cross-sectoral approach cannot be more apparent than in the case of mining and agriculture. Interestingly, mining and agriculture are often juxtaposed against each other as competing for existence, especially by proponents of each sector and political players with vested interests. It is not surprising that there is often perceived competition between the two sectors as they are both vying for the same limited and non-renewable resources such as water and land. However, with careful planning and forward thinking, the two can co-exist harmoniously and engender sustainable economic trajectories in affected communities.…

ETHEKWINI Municipality is battling to collect revenue for services rendered, with its outstanding consumer debt having ballooned by R3 billion in just six months. In June last year, the City debt book was standing at around R19bn, and by December last year it had shot up to R22bn. The runaway consumer debt has been on an upward trajectory despite the municipality claiming it had a 95% collection rate. DA councillor Warren Burne warned that these debt levels, coupled with other financial losses, were dangerous for the municipality and councillors had to do something to “turn around this sinking ship”. He was speaking as the full council tabled its mid-year budget performance assessment report. A report on the issue tabled before the council said concerns were raised surrounding the collection of…

HEY, what a menu! And in Durban too! Pot of tea and cream scone, per person – 12½ cents. Pot of tea and two crumpets with honey and cream, per person – 12½ cents. Scone, jam and cream – 7½ cents. Scone and butter – 5 cents. Crumpet and butter – 5 cents. Pot of tea, per person – 5 cents. Cup of coffee – 5 cents. Coca-Cola – 4 cents. Cool drinks – 4 cents. Ice cream – 5 cents Milk – 5 cents. What incredible value at the Durban Botanic Gardens Tea Kiosk! Er, hold on though, this pamphlet turns out to be from 1963, celebrating 25 years since the kiosk was opened by the Natal Anti-Tuberculosis Association. The currency had not yet collapsed under the decimalisation disaster…

The ANC loss of majorities in many metropolitan cities and several other local authorities has created another shambolic development, the so-called shaky coalitions. Normally, coalitions are created by several political groupings negotiating to find sufficient common ground on positive approaches (subject to responsible compromise on some issues) to enable stable management of government – local, provincial or national. However, the motley of coalitions that have sprung up like mushrooms after a thunderstorm are nothing less than a temporary loose agreement for either of two main intentions: To take over temporary management arrangements from a previously dysfunctional local authority – often a previous ANC majority. This can be based on a positive intention if the participating parties agree to work towards a positive goal. To obtain or retain negative, nefarious majorities…

BEING right is a dangerous place if being right will split your family and alienate you from people you love. Being right is never as important and powerful as being loving. I am not suggesting a compromise of standards, although you may believe it to be when you are right. It’s about trying to view the world from many perspectives, understanding that people see things differently from you. Being right may give you the moral high ground, but you may also lose significant relationships. This is the challenge we face when being right is more important than being loving. Being right may work in your favour when interpreting your deceased dad’s will, but the questions will remain long after you’ve spent the money or sold the sofa: have you been…

AN SANDF staff sergeant was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment by the Camperdown Regional Court for the murder of his wife. The woman was killed in their home, in July 2018, and the staff sergeant had initially claimed she had committed suicide. Bernard Mandlenkosi Zondi, 53, and his wife Nonkululeko Revival Majola, 36, were both home with their infant child in the Mpumalanga township when the incident occurred. KwaZulu-Natal National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said: “While Zondi maintained his wife had committed suicide, the State was adamant that he had killed her with his personal firearm. The State, represented by Regional Court prosecutor, Mfundo Pepu, led expert evidence to this effect.” In aggravation of sentence, Pepu handed to the court a Victim Impact Statement compiled…

Pupils, parents and School Governing Body (SGB) members protested outside Siyathuthuka Secondary School in Newton A in Inanda yesterday against the shortage of teachers at the school. The school has more than 600 pupils with just seven teachers. The parents and pupils said the situation had hindered teaching and learning and they would not allow the school to be opened unless the matter was attended to. Matric pupil Simangele Shabalala, 20, said: “You find one teacher teaching more than four grades in the school, and some classes even go an entire day without learning. In our class since the year started we are behind in the syllabus compared to other schools. That is not good to start the year, especially as we are doing matric.” Parents said it was pointless…

A hijacking in the Eastwood area of Pietermaritzburg resulted in the death of two victims and a crash on the N3 highway. Security company, Magma Security & Investigations owner Shaheen Suleiman said on Thursday last week there was a report of an incident in the Eastwood area where two victims were shot dead and the vehicle was taken. On the same day, the vehicle, a black Audi A3, was spotted travelling along the N3. Suleiman said after the stolen vehicle crashed into a truck on the N3, the two suspects abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot into a nearby farm in the Bellevue area. He said Magma members and police conducted a search for them and one suspect, 29, was arrested. Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda confirmed the…

AS OUR country battles the energy crisis, the governing party must be commended for suggesting that our country needs an energy mix rather than simply pushing for renewables. However, we have seen that South Africa has received much support, politically and financially, to ensure the rapid introduction of renewables by the West, in particular. Recently, US treasury secretary Janet Yellen visited South Africa because our country, as she said, “is the first country with a just energy transition partnership to which the US was proud to commit as a partner”. Yet, since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, reports suggest that there has been an uptick in the production of coal in the US. Following Yellen’s visit, the EU announced its partnership with South Africa, through its Global Gateway…

The world is producing a record amount of single-use plastic waste, mostly made from polymers created from fossil fuels, despite global efforts to reduce plastic pollution and carbon emissions, according to a new report released yesterday. The second Plastic Waste Makers Index, compiled by the Western Australia-based philanthropic Minderoo Foundation, found the world generated 139 million metric tons of single- use plastic waste in 2021, 6 million metric tons more than in 2019, when the first index was released. It found the additional plastic waste created in those two years equates to nearly 1kg more for every person on the planet and was driven by demand for flexible packaging like films and sachets. The report found recycling wasn’t scaling up fast enough to deal with the amount of plastic being…

LOS ANGELES: Beyonce has become the most-decorated artist in Grammy Awards history. The 41-year-old singer broke the record set by Sir Georg Solti in 1997 when she scooped her 32nd award on Sunday with her album Renaissance’s victory in the Best Dance/Electronic Recording category securing her place in musical legend. Speaking at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, she said: “I’m trying not to be too emotional… I’d like to thank my beautiful husband, my beautiful three children… I’d like to thank the queer community for your love and for inventing the genre.” | Bang Showbiz…

GENEVA: Swiss citizens will get the chance to try to ensure their economy never becomes cashless, a pressure group said, after collecting enough signatures yesterday to trigger a popular vote on the issue. The Free Switzerland Movement says cash is playing a shrinking role in many economies, as electronic payments become the default for transactions in increasingly digitised societies. It wants a clause added to Switzerland’s currency law, which governs how the central bank and government manage the money supply, stipulating that a “sufficient quantity” of banknotes or coins must always remain in circulation. | Reuters…

LONDON: The search for a woman who disappeared while walking her dog and on a work call intensified yesterday with underwater search specialists joining an effort to find out what happened to the mother of two last seen 10 days ago. Nicola Bulley, 45, was last seen walking her dog near a river in Lancashire, north-west England, on January 27. Just 25 minutes later, her cellphone, still connected to a work Teams call, was found on a bench. Willow, her springer spaniel, was found waiting nearby. Police said they believed she had fallen into the water. There was no evidence of anything suspicious, they said. The case remained a missing person enquiry. | Reuters…

Aid organisation Gift of the Givers has confirmed that its medical teams with specialised equipment would head to Türkiye and Syria following the devastating earthquake there. Yesterday morning, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 hit the south of Türkiye, as well as northern Syria. The death toll is standing at more than 2 400. Gift of the Givers founder and chairperson Dr Imtiaz Sooliman said search-and-rescue teams, as well as medical teams with specialised equipment, would fly out by today. Turkish Airlines would facilitate the transport. He said Gift of the Givers staff in Syria and Türkiye awoke to a terrifying tremor at 4.10am yesterday. Sooliman said various villages and cities in Türkiye and Syria had been affected. “Our teams rapidly evacuated the children from our Bayt Kareem Child…

If one reads two days of headlines on all forms of media, one gets a truly good idea of just how screwed up this country is and to be very blunt, by all accounts it is leaderless from the very top down to the local municipalities. If ones look at our overall infrastructure, and in particular the state of Eskom and Transnet, two of the important sectors that the economy relies on, these have been run into the ground by this ANC. These two sectors used to be, well-oiled pieces of our infrastructure. The rest of the SOEs have now also fallen by the way side, reason – poor management. Taking a helicopter view of what is going on in this dysfunctional country of ours we note that because…

“The world must support India’s marginalised people”, The Mercury, February 3, refers. Mr Essa cites an unverified video to perpetuate his diatribe against Hindus and India. Has he forgotten a similar incident that happened right in our backyard in December, wherein African teens were beaten up for daring to share a swimming pool with fellow South African “elites”? A few racists do not represent 60 million South Africans, just the way a few rogues do not represent over a billion Hindus. Let’s not be oblivious to the fact that discrimination exists in every society and every country. If Mr Essa expects an outcry from Hindus and the global Indian diaspora for such acts of discrimination taking place in India, he will need to scream foul for the violent attacks by…

THE Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development have come under attack for failing to introduce bills in Parliament that will give Muslim marriages legal status. The programme committee heard that Parliament’s bills office was still waiting for a draft bill from the departments. Briefing MPs, parliamentary legal adviser Charmaine van der Merwe said the two departments had confirmed they were working on a new act that would fix the constitutional defects in the divorces and marriages legislation. “We have asked for a draft bill. We are waiting for a response,” Van der Merwe said. In June last year, the Constitutional Court handed down a judgment that recognised the validity of Muslim marriages and protected the rights of people who marry according to Muslim rites,…

A South African peacekeeping soldier was killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo when an Oryx helicopter came under fire in Goma on Sunday. SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini said a crew member was shot dead. Another was wounded but landed the helicopter safely at Goma Airport. Eastern DRC is home to multiple armed groups, including the rebel M23 force that has been in battle against government troops in recent months. Government troops are supported by the UN mission, known by its French acronym Monusco, as part of its protection-of-civilians mandate. “The SANDF is in the process of informing family members of the soldiers who were involved in this unfortunate incident,” Dlamini said. He said further details would be communicated in due course. Dlamini said Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi…

The ANC has hinted President Cyril Ramaphosa may reshuffle his Cabinet after the State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Thursday. ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina was commenting yesterday, after the swearing-in of Paul Mashatile and other senior leaders in the party. The Cabinet reshuffle was seen as imminent after deputy president David Mabuza announced at his brother’s funeral on Saturday that he had resigned. But Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said on Sunday that the president had asked Mabuza to stay on until all transition processes have been finalised. Majodina said she has been in touch with Mabuza. She added that Ramaphosa was at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town and preparing for the Sona on Thursday. “The president is at the mining indaba and he is busy with the…

WHILE rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park (KNP) saw a decline in 2022, poaching fears and threats have now shifted to KwaZulu-Natal, which lost 244 rhino last year. The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) said 124 rhino were killed in the KNP last year – a 40% decrease compared with those killed for their horn in 2021. KZN lost 244 rhino to poaching last year – 228 killed in provincial parks and 16 in privately-owned reserves. The Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park was specifically targeted. Countrywide, private rhino owners lost 86 rhino. “The number of rhino killed in the past year represents a slight decline of three compared to the 451 rhino poached in South Africa in 2021,” said DFFE Minister, Barbara Creecy. “The steady decline in rhino poaching…

When President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers his much-anticipated State of the Nation Address (Sona) later this week, he needs to be aware that the level of trust among South Africans is at its lowest ebb. Due to several broken promises that he has made in the past, ordinary citizens no longer take his utterances or those of his government seriously. As Ramaphosa delivers his first Sona since he won the fiercely contested presidency of the ANC in Nasrec last year, he should galvanise his team to work harder, because the promises he makes will be scrutinised by the opposition and a sceptical public. He should also be mindful of the fact that beautifully constructed speeches and sound bites will no longer cut it with the public. People are tired of load…

Nurses and ambulance staff stepped up their demands for better pay yesterday to combat the UK’s cost-of-living crisis by launching their biggest round of health service strikes. The stoppages – part of a wave of industrial action across the UK economy – saw nurses and paramedics go on strike on the same day for the first time yesterday. Striking staff outside St Thomas’ Hospital in central London waved placards and chanted “Safer staffing saves lives” and “Claps don’t pay the bills”, a reference to the daily national applause they received from the public during the coronavirus pandemic. The healthcare workers say their wages have failed to keep up with inflation over the past decade, leaving them unable to pay their bills amid spiralling fuel, food and housing costs. They warn…

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis has said some in the conservative wing of the Roman Catholic Church had exploited the death of the former pope, Benedict, in an unethical way for their own gains. Francis also rejected claims by some conservatives that Benedict, who died in December last year, was embittered by some of current pope’s decisions. “I think the death of Benedict was instrumentalised by some people,” he said. “Those people do not have ethics. They are people of a party, not of the Church.” Francis used a Spanish expression “Cuento Chino”, meaning tall tales, to describe allegations by some conservatives that Benedict was saddened by some of Francis’s decisions after Benedict resigned in 2013. The pope said he had often consulted Benedict. After Benedict’s funeral in January, the late…

A huge earthquake killed more than 2 400 people across a swathe of Türkiye and north-west Syria yesterday, with freezing winter weather adding to the plight of the many thousands left injured or homeless and hampering efforts to find survivors. The magnitude 7.8 quake brought down whole apartment blocks in Turkish cities and piled more devastation on millions of Syrians displaced by years of war. The worst tremor to strike Türkiye this century, it came before sunrise in harsh weather and was followed in the early afternoon by another large quake of magnitude 7.7. “It was like the apocalypse,” said Abdul Salam al-Mahmoud, a Syrian in the northern town of Atareb. “It’s bitterly cold and there’s heavy rain, and people need saving.” The second quake was big enough to bring…

SANTIAGO: Chilean firefighters were battling to hold back forest fires yesterday as authorities said hot and dry weather would continue this week, potentially exacerbating what are already the deadliest blazes in the country’s recent history. The fires, which have consumed 270 000ha of land, have killed 24 people so far in south-central Chile, and already made 2023 the second worst year in terms of hectares burnt after the “fire storm” in 2017. As of yesterday there were 275 active fires; 69 in combat. Chile is in the grip of an over decade-long dry weather spell, which the World Meteorological Organization said was the longest in a 1 000 years and marked a major water crisis. | Reuters…

Manchester City have been referred to an independent commission by the Premier League over alleged breaches of its financial rules, the English top flight announced yesterday. The alleged breaches span a period from the 2009/10 season to the 2017/18 campaign. City were banned from Uefa competitions in February 2020 for two years by European football’s governing body for “serious financial fair-play breaches” but the sanction was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in July of the same year. The defending Premier League champions are alleged to have breached league rules requiring provision “in utmost good faith” of “accurate financial information that gives a true and fair view of the club’s financial position”. The Premier League said the accurate financial information required related to “revenue (including sponsorship revenue), its…