Índice para 2023-03-24 em Star

EFF leader vows to protect Russian leader from ICC, which intends to enforce his arrest should he visit this country for BRICS summit EFF leader Julius Malema has vowed to protect Russian President Vladimir Putin against a recent warrant of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which intends to force South Africa to arrest him should he step into the country. This past week, the ICC, which South Africa is a signatory to, issued a warrant of arrest for Putin for allegedly committing war crimes in Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. With South Africa set to host the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, and China at the 15th BRICS Summit from August 22 to 24, speculation has been rife as to the country’s response to the…

“EMERGING artists are struggling to establish a viable career in the arts industry. This has been made worse by Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s government, which has failed to meet any of its set targets for emerging artists,” says Wildri Peach, DA spokesperson for sport, arts, culture and recreation in Gauteng. The MPL said these failures are a clear indication that Lesufi’s aim to use sport and the arts as a vehicle for economic empowerment and transformation is just a pipe dream. “A DA government would ensure the budget allocated for this department is spent properly and all targets are met. We would ensure the money allocated is only spent in a manner that benefits our sport, arts, and culture industries. It’s unacceptable that the goalposts for meeting targets by this…

The Veil of Maya Chantal Stewart Minimal Press Chantal Stewart’s The Veil of Maya provides the reader with a total experience. This is a novel which goes beyond mere storytelling to probe deeply into the mysteries underlying so much of human experience, and which foregrounds the sheer fragility of our relationships and interactions with one another. Main character Lena Brown is a geneticist who finds herself called upon to investigate an “outbreak of madness” among villagers in rural Swaziland (eSwatini). This conjures memories of her childhood, when her family from Cape Town would frequently spend time visiting her grandfather on his farm in Swaziland. She also finds herself confronted with the power of traditional philosophies vis-à-vis her modern “scientific” medical training, and realises that there is no automatic right or…

Encore In Death JD Robb. Loot (R224) Piatkus It was a glittering event full of A-listers hosted by Eliza Lane and Brant Fitzhugh, a celebrity couple who’d conquered both Hollywood and Broadway. And now Eve Dallas has made her entrance – but not as a guest. After raising a toast, Fitzhugh fell to the floor and died, with physical symptoms pointing to cyanide, and the police have crashed the party. From all accounts, he wasn’t the kind of star who made enemies. Everyone loved him – even his ex-wife. And since the Champagne cocktail that killed him was originally intended for Eliza, it’s possible she was the real target, with a recently fired assistant, a bitter rival, and an obsessed fan in the picture. With so many attendees, staff, and…

Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, retired founder of the Inkatha Freedom Party and traditional prime minister of the Zulu nation, says he was privileged to have been mentored by the best political minds on the African continent. Buthelezi’s life has been that of both a monarch and a civil rights leader. His mother was Princess Magogo ka Dinuzulu, known for her musical talent throughout the Zulu kingdom, while his father, Chief Mathole Buthelezi, came from a generation of leaders in the Zulu royal house. One could probably say that the first flirtation between Buthelezi and political ideology was through his uncle, Pixley ka Isaka Seme. He was one of the first highly educated black people of his time and the founding father of the ANC. It was clear that Buthelezi was destined…

The much vaunted, much publicised country shutdown was a monumental flop. Definitely not the “most successful protest in South African history” as the wannabe revolutionary Malema would want us to believe – just the opposite. Protests hardly ever, if ever, achieve anything. A protest is only possibly effective if it has thousands of people taking part in a mass demonstration. Monday’s shutdown did not achieve anything – diddly squat. The turnout was poor. In Durban, protesters were unhappy for not receiving lunch and refreshments. Shame! A few skirmishes here and there, but for the main it was business as usual. The protest was humiliating for the two-bit politician after all the media hype. Malema is a good media manipulator, but extremely poor at organising real support and winning votes. His…

The letter by David Lawson, “Path to civilised society includes no polygamy”, (The Star, Wednesday) refers. Respectfully, Ntate, I disagree with you. It appears you were restating your convictions and prejudices rather than responding to what I had written. Your shameless biases and ignorance are evident when you say overpopulation and vices like rape are linked to polygamy in “other” societies that are not European. Democracy and rights are not a product of European monogamy but of the theological concept of freedom in the Bible. I understand your concerns and perhaps your heroism in defending women. Except that your points had nothing to do with the crux of my letter. The bottom line was that the Bible as the foundational moral code of modern monogamous societies has been successfully used…

LONDON: Nigerian senator Ike Ekweremadu and his wife have been found guilty of trafficking a man to Britain to provide his kidney to their ill daughter, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said yesterday. Ekweremadu, 60, and his wife Beatrice, 56, were found guilty of conspiring to exploit a street trader from Lagos, who was offered a reward of 3.5 million naira (about R137 000) for his kidney. Nigerian doctor Obinna Obeta, 51, was also convicted yesterday. Sonia Ekweremadu, the intended recipient of the organ who has a deteriorating kidney condition, was found not guilty in the conspiracy. | Reuters…

DAKAR: Eight new confirmed cases of Marburg disease have been reported in Equatorial Guinea, the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday. This brings the total of confirmed cases to nine and probable cases to 20 since the outbreak of the deadly disease similar to Ebola was declared in February. Twenty deaths have been reported. The areas reporting cases were about 150km apart, suggesting a wider transmission of the virus, the WHO said. Marburg disease is a viral haemorrhagic fever that can have a fatality rate of up to 88%. | Reuters…

MANCHESTER United’s owners were yesterday awaiting fresh bids from a Qatari banker and British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe after the deadline passed for revised offers to buy the Premier League giants. Reports said that bidders were initially told they had until 11pm on Wednesday to submit new offers, but that deadline has now been extended. It is unclear when the new cut-off will be. Qatar Islamic Bank chairman Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani and Ratcliffe, the founder of chemicals giant Ineos, are the only bidders who have gone public with their intentions. A first round of bidding took place last month and it has been reported there are as many as eight separate potential investors for the club owned by the American Glazer family, who are deeply unpopular with United…

South Africans are grappling with the report shared by Statistics SA (Stats SA), revealing that inflation has risen for the first time since October. It is reported that the annual consumer price inflation was 7% in February 2023, up from 6.9% in January 2023. Stats SA said food, non-alcoholic beverages, and transport are listed as the main contributors to the inflation rate in February. In response to the reports, Mmusi Maimane, the leader of the One South Africa movement (OSA), lashed out at the government, claiming that the country is on the wrong track. “We are headed in the wrong direction under the leadership of this government. Prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 13.6% over the past 12 months. The reading in February is the highest since April…

from page 1 “Because the Weltevredenpark reservoir is recovering, it is currently 62.35% full. This will help sustain water levels at the Waterval 2 reservoir, which feeds into the Commando system. “If there are no unplanned interruptions to the system overnight, then there should be improved water levels by Friday,” said the entity. The entity said the Cosmo City reservoir (which was at 2.02m) inlet was closed overnight and opened at 7.30am yesterday to assist Honeydew and Boschkop. “Ten mobile water trucks have been provided for the Honeydew and Boshkop areas. The Crown Gardens reservoir is currently sitting at 0.92m, tower 1 is at 2.01m, and tower 2 is at 1.81m, making the levels critical at this stage. Inflow suddenly stopped on Wednesday. Technicians are investigating the reasons for this.…

Zikhethe: Break Free from Drugs is a campaign led by four women under the umbrella of the Sister’s Keeper Movement, with the common goal of serving the community. The campaign aims to raise awareness about the major challenges brought about by illicit drugs and what drugs represent to society, especially for the youth. According to Olebogeng Moemisi, the project organiser, they never miss an opportunity to be involved in community-uplifting projects, including gender-based violence as well as women’s empowerment initiatives. She said the campaign will mobilise support, inspire people to act against drug use, discourage the abuse of alcohol and drugs among young people and educate them on the negative impact of substance abuse. “We were inspired to embark on an anti-drug campaign and the rehabilitation of addicts after having…

Hello Beautiful Ann Napolitano Loot (R604) Dial Press Inc ANN Napolitano’s latest novel, Hello Beautiful, encapsulates the multitudes of love and hurt that families contain, and lays bare their powers to both damage and heal. You will weep buckets because you come to care so deeply about the characters and their fates. At its centre is another ailing soul, the emotionally hobbled William Waters. He grows up with no memory of his sister, Caroline, a lovable redhead who died at the age of 3 when he was a mere 6 days old. Her absence engulfs his early years, her death having left his parents emotionally frozen and unable, or unwilling, to forge a connection with their remaining child. Overlooked and neglected at home, William’s only solace becomes his love of…

Have you ever felt joy that you could not adequately express? You felt, like the Psalmist, that your “cup overflows”. That was how I felt during my perusal of my former teacher’s biography in preparation for the radio show on Bold Moves Radio. My heart throbbed with reverential fear when I saw my name among the list of Bhekani Ephraim Lowani’s references. I mused: What have I done to merit an honour like this? How do I become a reference point to a person who cradled me in his arms in my childhood? The Great South African Teachers was published by Professor Jonathan Jansen in 2011. I never summoned the courage to write about the teachers who systematised my thinking. I am indebted to the men and women who moulded…

Throughout history, medical research, technology and innovation in their divergent forms have introduced noteworthy developments to medicine and healthcare globally. Numerous advancements in critical knowledge of medicine and healthcare have allowed several improvements in diagnosis, treatment and care. With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the need for these improvements became ever more urgent, and the race began to develop technological innovations and scientific means that would counter the pandemic. Researchers turned to 4IR (Fourth Industrial Revolution) technologies during the pandemic as these are the latest cutting-edge innovations said to be transforming medicine due to rapid advances in genomics, genetic engineering, digital health, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), robotics and much else. These scientific and technological advances promise new avenues for developing the healthcare sector and transformative, life-saving…

An Indian court yesterday sentenced Rahul Gandhi, leader of the largest opposition party, the Indian National Congress, and scion of past prime ministers, to two years’ imprisonment after he was found guilty of defaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a speech at a 2019 campaign rally. A court in Modi’s home state of Gujarat announced the conviction, then immediately suspended the jail sentence for 30 days, during which Gandhi could appeal. T The defamation case was initially brought in 2019 by Purnesh Modi, a local politician in Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), after Gandhi asked a crowd in southern India why two prominent fugitive business executives and the sitting prime minister all shared the Modi surname – and happened to all be “thieves”. The court decision came at a time…

Peshawar: One person was killed and eight others injured during a stampede for free flour in inflation-wracked Pakistan yesterday, the first day of the holy month of Ramadaan. The price of basic food items has rocketed, with inflation at a near 50-year high in the country that is back in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund. Police said that hundreds of people gathered at the local market, one of hundreds of distribution points set up by the government during Ramadaan. In a nearby district, a man died and four others were injured when a wall they were sitting on collapsed as crowds amassed for free flour. | AFP…

SOUTH Africa coach Hugo Broos has a “positive feeling” ahead of his team’s crucial Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Liberia at Orlando Stadium this evening. After enduring a poor start to the qualifiers, losing to Morocco away from home last year, Bafana have a chance of getting their campaign up and running in Soweto. Registering their first win in Group K – which only has three teams after Zimbabwe were banned – will see them take a step closer to qualifying for the finals. But they would need to beat the Liberians in their back-to-back qualifiers, or accumulate four points and have a better head-to-head advantage and goal difference for that to happen. Broos is not thinking about the second leg in Monrovia as yet though as the silver-haired…

THE NATIONAL Treasury is preparing a Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) Circular dealing with the relief strategy regarding more than R50 billion debt owed to Eskom by municipalities. This was announced by Deputy President Paul Mashatile yesterday in Parliament during his maiden oral questions session in the National Assembly. This government intervention was first announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in his Budget Speech last month when he said Eskom would provide incentivised relief to municipalities whose debt was unaffordable. Mashatile said the MFMA Circular was expected to be released later this month, with implementation expected to start on April 1. “Under the National Treasury, the Multidisciplinary Revenue Committee is continuing with its main task of ensuring that all municipal debts are co-ordinated, tracked and resolved on an ongoing…

The SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) is calling on civil society to support their strike over a wage increase at giant supermarket Makro. Employees have been offered a 4.5% increase by the employer, while they are demanding an increase of not less than 12%. Saccawu issued a notice to resume the 10-day strike action at Makro stores after wage negotiations have been deadlocked for months. Mike Tau, Saccawu second deputy president, said it was approaching a year since they had been negotiating with Makro. “We have tried all in our powers … to convince management that they need to look after their employees … the management has never reverted with any revised offer since they put the 4.25%, and R410, on the table,” said Tau. He…

First, Cream the butter and sugar Emelia Jackson Loot (R557) Murdoch Emelia Jackson finished in third place in the 2014 season of MasterChef Australia and in 2020 won MasterChef Australia: Back to Win. Since then, she has gone on to be one of Australia’s best-known pastry chefs. Emelia has just brought out her first cookbook, First, Cream the Butter and Sugar. “Baking was my happy place growing up; however, I don’t think I realised how much I loved baking until I started writing this book. The book is your new best friend to help you become the best baker you can be. I am a lazy(ish) baker. I skip steps where I can, and I like to simplify methods to get the same end result.” Emelia has divided her book…

My Year Of Not Getting Sh*tfaced – How I Tried And Failed To Give Up Alcohol And Learned The Joys Of Moderation Pamela Power Loot (R189) Jonathan Ball After an exceptionally wild Mother’s Day where she danced like there was no tomorrow, picked a fight with a stranger and collided with the floor, Joburg scriptwriter and author Pamela Power is forced to take a hard look at her drinking habits. She realises that although she does not need to find an AA group immediately, she might be a serial binge drinker and needs to take back control. In this honest yet humorous account of her year of not getting sh*tfaced, Pamela examines her long, complicated relationship with alcohol. She is shocked to realise just how much of a crutch alcohol…

A WOMAN who claimed that she was the first customary wife of a now deceased man failed for the second time in her legal bid to have a say where he should be buried. Malepono Morwamakoto turned to the High Court sitting in Polokwane for an order forcing the woman who claimed she was the true wife, as well as the funeral parlour involved in burying him in 2021, to exhume the body of the late Frans Mfana Radingwana. He was buried at the Legolaneng cemetery, but Morwamakoto wanted him to be reburied at the local Ga-Mampuru cemetery in the Sekhukhune District. She told the court she was bringing the application on behalf of herself and with the blessing of her late husband’s children. Following the death of the man…

As we remember and honour all mothers worldwide and appreciate all women, let us remember women in Zimbabwe who have been forgotten and abandoned by the government, as economic decay batters them the most. Mothers in Zimbabwe have not joined other women in celebrating International Women’s Day as they are suffering the most from the impact of the economic collapse and these women cannot escape to foreign countries like the Zimbabwean youth. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has failed Zimbabwean women on many fronts. Pregnant women are dying in record numbers, underage girls are forced into marriages, opposition party women are being abducted, killed and tortured. It is agonising and traumatic to note that these mothers are yet again abused in election campaigns by the beleaguered President Mnangagwa. It has become a…

THE Gauteng provincial government has no evidence to support its claim that none of the 10 dams in the province is suitable for the generation of hydro-electricity. The provincial energy response committee was established after the announcement of the state of disaster, due to the blackouts. A budget of R1.2 billion has been set aside to resolve the energy crisis. Last year, Premier Panyaza Lesufi indicated that research had shown that none of the dams could be used for the generation of hydro-electricity. I tabled follow-up questions earlier this year, regarding that no proper answer was given on why the province could not produce hydro-electricity. Gauteng is the engine room of the South African economy. It is a gross dereliction that nothing has been done by the provincial government before…

TEL AVIV: Israelis took to the streets en masse yesterday in protest against the government’s overhaul of the court system, blocking roadways across the country and intensifying a months-long campaign decrying the move. Police detained dozens of protesters for public disturbance across the country. The protests have escalated since the start of the year when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government introduced new legislation that would limit the authority of the Supreme Court. Netanyahu has pushed ahead with the legislation, and yesterday a law was ratified limiting the circumstances in which a prime minister can be removed. | Reuters…

DENVER: A student who was accused of shooting and wounding two faculty members at his Denver high school has been found dead near his vehicle in Park County. The Park County Coroners Office confirmed that the body belonged to Austin Lyle, 17, who shot faculty members as they were patting him down for weapons as part of a “safety plan” devised for the youth based on previous behavioural issues. The East High School student fled the shooting scene after Wednesday’s violence. Police said a body was found near the suspect’s vehicle. Classes for the school were cancelled for the week. | Reuters…

AUSTRALIA left India with the world number one ranking in one-day cricket and will return to the subcontinent for this year’s World Cup with confidence after edging the hosts 2-1 in the series. Australian white-ball cricket looked to be at a crossroads only a few months ago, with Aaron Finch stepping down from the one-day captaincy and the T20 team failing to reach the World Cup semi-finals on home soil. Yet Australia’s ability to quickly reset, rebound and ultimately dominate was on display again in India, where they sealed the series with a 21-run win in Chennai on Wednesday under stand-in captain Steve Smith. It was India’s first defeat in an ODI series on home soil since Australia beat them four years ago. “I think in World Cup years, it…

SOUTH Africa’s top rugby players will be celebrating if a proposal to shift the Rugby Championship to March is approved. Currently, the big hitch to SA’s move to the northern hemisphere at provincial level is that it means no time off – the Sharks, Bulls, Stormers and Lions play all 12 months of the year, while the Springboks host an incoming tour in June, play the Rugby Championship until October, and conclude with a November tour to Europe. So it makes sense that SA Rugby is reportedly trying to convince Sanzaar to bring the Rugby Championship to a slot much earlier in the year. This would engineer a mid-year break for the top players. The Sydney Morning Herald says that Argentina is backing SA’s attempt to create an off-season because…