Table of contents for NM-2021-04-20 in Mercury

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za PLANS by the Msunduzi Municipality to increase revenue collection by offering some relief to indebted customers has come under fire as the city faced accusations of rewarding defaulters. In terms of the plan, indebted customers could get a 30% discount on their debts provided they met the conditions set by the municipality. The initiative, termed “Covid-19 relief”, is part of the municipality’s revenue-enhancement strategy. The municipality desperately needs to raise cash to rein in consumer debt that has ballooned to close to R5 billion and is growing. It also needs to fund maintenance and repairs of infrastructure. Its electricity infrastructure has become unreliable, leading to outages that are threatening the city’s economy. A report compiled in January by the municipality deals with the initiatives proposed by the…

TONY BALL | Gillitts THE newly appointed SA Post Office chief executive Nomkhita Mona (The Mercury, April 16) utters all the right platitudes and corporate babble in her “turnaround” strategy. No doubt that would get her a distinction from business school examiners but sadly, reality is something different. The post office business model is not obsolete. Supplying an efficient cost-effective service to paying customers is the basics of any business and is centuries old. Look at PostNet and the various courier companies. The post office has no clear idea what it is supposed to provide and that is why Mark Barnes jumped ship – he was not prepared to be a puppet. Mona is confident of building a world-class service. Perhaps in her bid to engage creditors she…

MOHAMED SAEED | Pietermaritzburg AS HEALTH Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize announced the online registrations for phase 2 of the country’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out, the anti-vaccine brigade increased its conspiracy theories on the Covid-19 vaccine. The battle between facts and conspiracies around the safety of Covid-19 vaccines has intensified. There is a long history of opposition to vaccination. I recall when my children were born, friends used to advise against childhood vaccinations. The aim of any vaccination is to prevent transmission, illness and death and to achieve herd immunity. Now is the time to confront vaccine misinformation on social media in order to dispel myths as lives are at stake. It is time to create herd immunity as Covid-19 has created a lot of unanswered questions to deal with,…

| Michel de Montaigne SOME ancestral mathematics come this way. To be born you need: 2 parents; 4 grandparents; 8 great-grandparents; 16 second great-grandparents; 32 third great-grandparents; 64 fourth great-grandparents; 128 fifth great-grandparents; 256 sixth great-grandparents; 512 seventh great-grandparents; 1 024 eighth great-grandparents; and 2 048.ninth great-grandparents. For you to be born today from 12 previous generations, you needed a total of 4 094 ancestors over the past 400 years. Think for a moment. How many struggles? How many difficulties? How much sadness? How much happiness? How many love stories? How many expressions of hope for the future? How much of this did your ancestors have to undergo for you to exist in this present moment? Yes, all that to experience a Covid pandemic. Non-enthusiast IN HIS latest…

Sisonke Mlamla sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za HIGHER Education, Science and Innovation Minister Blade Nzimande said National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding had increased from R5.9 billion in 2014 to R34.7bn last year. Nzimande said in the current financial year NSFAS funding was expected to reach over R43bn, a further increase of close to R10bn in just two years from 2020. Nzimande said there had been a significant increase in the number of students and an increased budget allocation by the government to fund the children of the poor and the working class through NSFAS. He said the funding was in line with the government’s commitment to fund university and TVET college students from poor and working-class backgrounds to attain at least their first undergraduate qualification or a TVET college qualification. “From…

Se-Anne Rall se-anne.koopman@inl.co.za A 16-year-old KwaZulu-Natal high school pupil, who violently assaulted a classmate in September last year, has been sentenced to 12 months’ community service. She has also been placed under the supervision of a probation officer for the duration of the sentence. National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson in KZN Natasha Kara said the teen, a pupil at Mathole High School in Mahlabathini, would also undergo intensive therapy. The teen was convicted of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm (GBH) last month. Video footage of the teen attacking her classmate went viral on social media last year. In the clip, the girl is seen ripping off the victim's underwear and dragging her on the ground. She then pushes away a boy who tries to intervene and continues…

Helping survivalist communities improve their livelihoods with new business skills Jody Delichte TRADITIONALLY, there is no word for business among the pastoralist communities of the arid Marsabit County, in northern Kenya. Nor do they have words for any of its most common terms, such as profit. Instead, they have a lexicon associated with a different set of principles: mutual aid, generosity, sharing. These deeply rooted values have shaped their sense of self and community for generations, determining both individual and collective behaviour. But this is changing. In recent years, the people in this region, which borders Ethiopia, have started to grapple with a new reality – that of becoming business people. Aid agencies have started to work with them and help them build more sustainable livelihoods through business. Pastoralists…

INDIA locked down its capital New Delhi last night to try to control a raging coronavirus outbreak, as the hard-hit US passed a hopeful milestone of giving at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose to half its adults. There was good news from Australia and New Zealand as well, as the two neighbours opened a travel bubble that would allow people to travel without a mandatory quarantine. And in Europe, Greece said it would welcome vaccinated travellers from some countries as it sought to restart its badly-bruised tourism sector, while Portugal and Slovenia peeled back virus restrictions as infections eased off. But India was still facing rocketing infections, with hospitals running out of beds and the government forced to reimpose economically painful restrictions again. New Delhi braced for a fresh week-long…

THE US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating a Texas crash on Saturday that left two dead and local police said appeared to have occurred with no one in the driver’s seat. NHTSA said it “has immediately launched a Special Crash Investigation team to investigate the crash. We are actively engaged with local law enforcement and Tesla to learn more about the details of the crash and will take appropriate steps when we have more information.” Tesla had no immediate comment. The crash occurred as scrutiny is increasing over Tesla’s semi-automated Autopilot driving system following recent crashes. Autopilot was operating in at least three Tesla vehicles involved in fatal US crashes since 2016. The 2019 Tesla Model S was traveling at a high speed, when it failed to…

LONDON: American cookbook author and former model Chrissy Teigen hopes to break the stigma around fertility struggles with a new campaign encouraging women to be more open about their troubles conceiving and seek assistance. The 35-year-old, who is married to singer John Legend, is launching the Fertility Out Loud Campaign during the April 18-24 National Infertility Awareness Week. Teigen has joined forces with the US non-profit RESOLVE for the campaign, encouraging couples to use the organisation’s resources and support to help find a fertility specialist. Teigen has long spoken about the struggles she and Legend faced to start a family. Their two children were both born through in vitro fertilisation. “There is still a stigma attached to it. There is still this privacy that people want with it and this…

London: The Old English Sheepdog, one of Britain’s most recognisable dog breeds, has been listed for the first time as vulnerable to extinction after a drop in popularity, The Kennel Club said yesterday. The Kennel Club recorded just 227 puppy registrations last year for the dog, recognisable for its shaggy coat. It is the lowest number in 60 years, it said, marking a “steep decline” in the breed’s popularity, the club said. The category was devised for British and Irish native breeds which have fallen below 300 annual puppy registrations and could be at risk of disappearing from Britain. | AFP…

Emma Pinedo and Jesus Aguado MADRID Television broadcasters won’t break their contracts with Uefa and national leagues to join the breakaway European Super League project, the head of Spanish media company Mediapro said yesterday as furious fans also slammed the move. Jaume Roures, whose company broadcasts matches from Spanish football’s top-flight La Liga and holds the TV licensing rights of the Uefa Champions League in the country, said he believed the new competition would not succeed. “International TV broadcasters have contracts (with Uefa) until 2024, nobody is going to break those contracts now. The only thing that the current move does is to create unease,” Roures said. “It won’t succeed. There is no other way out.” “I think it is more despicable, it is more of a greedy power…

Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za AS the ruling party continues to battle the fallout of a resolution that compels members who have been criminally charged to step aside, it has been warned that there could be a revolt when the members have to leave their positions. Xolani Dube, a political analyst from the Xubera Institute for Research and Development, says the resolution has been drafted in such a way that it is not enforceable. Dube’s warning comes as supporters of corruption-indicted Zandile Gumede, the former eThekwini mayor and KwaZulu-Natal Legislature MPL, yesterday told her to stay put. They said Gumede had suffered enough and had been cleared by the KZN provincial integrity commission to resume her party duties. Gumede and 20 others are facing corruption, money-laundering and fraud charges emanating from a…

FAROUK ARAIE | Benoni THE tragic and untimely death of Limpopo pupil Lufuno Mavhunga, a victim of school bullying, graphically illustrates the deadly nature of the bullying menace. The 15-year-old allegedly committed suicide to end her constant agonies at the hands of a sadistic bully. Intimidation at schools has become a vexing issue. It is a sensitive subject that provokes anxiety and because it arouses emotions and has negative images, it requires courage to face it squarely. To admit to the existence of violence in schools, traditionally a place of learning and growth, is particularly painful. As a consequence, violence is often kept out of the official agenda and public debates on education. Schools are meant to be safe zones, not war zones. Schools of our past era…

NARENDH GANESH | Durban North WHAT is good for the goose is good for the gander. The DA, that holier-than-thou entity where nobody can do any wrong and the paragon of all things perfect, a trope often embellished by the party as it jostles for political power, seems to have been caught off guard with the Madikizela-Mazzone debacle. Bonginkosi Madikizela, the Western Cape MEC for Transport, who admitted lying to the DA about having a BCom degree, has been suspended as a result, pending investigations. Natasha Mazzone, a matriculant who is not a qualified attorney and who sits as a deputy chairperson of the party’s federal council, astoundingly also sits on the party’s federal legal commission, a body that deals with legal aspects of the party. She claims…

MORE school-based counsellors and early-warning intervention programmes may help identify bullies and the bullied, the National Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) has said, in light of Lufuno Mavhunga’s funeral at the weekend. Family and friends gathered in Thohoyandou on Saturday for the 15-year-old’s burial after she took her own life because of a bullying incident. Naptosa executive director Basil Manuel said there was a shortage of counsellors at schools which impacted on victim support structures. Some schools had one counsellor for every 300 children, he said. “Early warning interventions systems are also needed in order to provide support before it is too late. Social media management must also be part of the debate,” Manuel said. Mavhunga was a Mbilwi Secondary School pupil who was attacked by another 15-year-old, who…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za THE Msunduzi Municipality has come under fire from ratepayer organisations and residents, over its proposed tariff increases. A report detailing public responses to the draft budget shows that almost all major ratepayer organisations have objected to the increase. The municipality has tabled its draft budget for the 2021-22 financial year. Last month, public hearings on the budget were held. It is set to be implemented in July. The draft budget has proposed an increase of 5.35% across the board, with the exception of water and electricity, whose tariffs are determined by outside factors. The estimated budget is at R6 billion, with the tariffs capped at 5.35%, water will be at 7% and electricity will be at 14%. The report on the hearing shows the municipality was excoriated…

Zintle Mahlati zintle.mahlati@inl.co.za THE Judicial Service Commission (JSC) yesterday recommended Judge Roland Sutherland to be appointed as deputy judge president(DJP) for Gauteng, a division with the most demanding case load. The JSC set its task of interviewing dozens of candidates for a second week yesterday. Sutherland was the only candidate to stand for the role of deputy judge president. He has been a judge since 2012 and has acted in the DJP role since 2019. In his most notable cases recently, he denied former Gauteng health MEC Bandile Masuku’s bid to challenge a Special Investigating Unit PPE probe against him. Sutherland faced tough questions over transformation, community work and whether judges could be corrupt. Commissioner Thamsanqa Dodovu questioned Sutherland on whether he knew of corrupt judges and whether recent claims…

HEALTH Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has confirmed that use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the Sisonke trial would soon resume after final consultations with the SA Medical Research Council and the World Health Organization, among others. The Sisonke trial involving nearly 500 000 J&J vaccine doses administered to health workers was paused following international reports of complications in certain recipients. It was reported that out of 6.8 million doses administered in the US, there had been six cases of a severe and rare type of blood clot. Mkhize visited the Mitchells Plain hospital yesterday to assess the state of preparedness for the second phase of the vaccine roll-out which is set to kick off around May 17, a day after phase one officially ends. After a walk-through and…

LIFTING the temporary suspension of the roll-out of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine under strict conditions, as recommended by the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority on Saturday night, proves that the country’s scientists have conducted extensive scientific research to avoid the unnecessary loss of human lives. The strict conditions include strengthened screening and monitoring of participants at risk of a blood-clotting disorder. The regulatory body also called for measures to be implemented to ensure the safe management of any participants who develop vaccine-induced thrombosis and thrombocytopenia. The country’s vaccination programme has been moving at a snail’s pace, and the lifting of the suspension offers renewed hope that the programme will be back on track soon. To avoid the loss of lives, and as part of the drive to reach…

Strong winds and high waves lashed the eastern Philippines yesterday as the strongest typhoon ever recorded in April barrelled past in the Pacific Ocean, killing at least one man and triggering flooding in lower-lying communities, disaster officials said. The national weather bureau issued a severe wind and heavy rainfall warning, saying “destructive typhoon-force winds extend outward up to 110km from the centre of the storm”. More than 100 000 people were evacuated from coastal areas, according to provincial disaster agencies. The core of Surigae, or Bising as the storm is known locally, is not expected to hit land. But with a diameter of 500km and winds reaching 195km per hour, parts of the eastern islands of Samar experienced flooding, while several communities lost power. The first super typhoon of 2021…

The EU yesterday imposed sanctions on 10 Myanmar junta officials and two conglomerates linked to the military over the coup and bloody crackdown on protesters, European officials said. “The military regime is continuing its course of violence and manoeuvring the country into a dead end. That is why we are increasing the pressure to bring the military to the negotiating table,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said after holding virtual conference talks with his EU counterparts. European diplomats said the two firms hit with asset freezes and visa bans were the Myanmar Economic Corporation and Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd, which dominate sectors including trading, alcohol, cigarettes and consumer goods. The officials targeted are mostly members of the ruling State Administration Council seen as responsible for undermining the democracy in the…

MOSCOW: Russia’s main opposition leader Alexei Navalny was transferred to a prison hospital, the prison service and his lawyer said yesterday, 20 days into a hunger strike that has brought international warnings of consequences should he die in jail. Allies of Navalny are planning mass countrywide demonstrations later this week, which the Russian authorities have branded illegal. Russia’s prison service said a decision had been taken to transfer Navalny, 44, to a regional prison hospital. His condition was “satisfactory” and he was being given “vitamin therapy” with his consent, it said. The Kremlin said yesterday it would retaliate against any further sanctions. | Reuters…

Stuart Hess South Africa’s cricketers have apologised to the sport’s sponsors for the actions of Cricket SA’s administrators, saying officials have “undermined and betrayed your commitment to the sport.” In a statement released through the SA Cricketers’ Association - the players union - and signed by its president, Khaya Zondo, and the three Proteas captains; Dane van Niekerk, Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma, the players also admonished CSA’s Members Council, for not acting in the best interests of the sport in SA. Players around SA are understood to be very concerned following Sunday’s pronouncement by sports, arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa that he could ban CSA as the official governing entity for cricket, thus jeopardising the players’ opportunity to represent SA. Yesterday’s statement outlines how government intervention would have…

KEVIN GOVENDER | Shallcross There has been much conjecture and innuendo about what the defining factors were in bringing about a truce between Pakistan and India. For now there is a temporary respite from the constant bombardment of shelling and sporadic enfilades along the almost 800km Line of Control. I wonder who will be the first to breach this act of good faith. History tells me it will be Pakistan. Think about Pakistan, and one might get terrified. A third of its 16 million live in poverty and only half of them are literate. In 2002, Pakistan warned India that if it was attacked, it would go nuclear. One of its scientists sold its nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea. In the 60 years since…

EBRAHIM “EBKOYBIE” ESSA | Durban ORGANISED charity, begging, handouts, special government grants during emergencies like Covid-19 and normal government grants for the elderly, infirm and disabled, collectively boggle and confuse the average mind, for two main reasons: greed and/or dishonesty. Donating to well-known, established organisations is the least of the problem. Many of these take care of deaf and blind people. (People the government should be taking full care of.) Some well-known agencies go out of their way, risking life and limb to rescue hostages from religious fanatics, terrorists and cut-throat pirates. These and many others deserve support from the public and private sectors. Unfortunately, of late, more and more charitable institutions have sprung up and not all of these can be checked for authenticity. Nobody has…

Before you next head off to bed I challenge you to: Reach out and make a new acquaintance. Look for the possibility of finding a new friend. It will take a moment of courage and potentially offer you a joyful return. Drop a note in traditional post to someone who is not expecting to hear from you. Recall a wonderful and shared memory. It will take a moment of effort and offer you unexpected joy. Reach within, see what relationship-repair you may need to offer anyone in your circle of family and friends. Do your part in facilitating healing and reconciliation. The stronger person is usually the first to initiate. Repeatedly resist all urges to strong-arm others, exercise power, or get your way. You will be amazed at how relieving…

Namibia’s High Court has ruled against a gay couple battling to obtain travel documents for their twin daughters, born to a surrogate in South Africa, after authorities refused to do so because the infants were not citizens. Namibian Phillip Luhl and his Mexican husband, Guillermo Delgado, had already been fighting for citizenship for their 2-year-old son when the twins, born in March, were refused the documents required to enter Namibia. Namibian authorities say Luhl must prove a genetic link to the children. In an urgent court application, the fathers asked the judge to compel the home affairs ministry to issue the documents to bring their new daughters home. But Judge Thomas Masuku refused yesterday, saying such an order would be “judicial overreach”. Namibia’s legal system does not recognise same-sex marriages…

Vernon Mchunu vernon.mchunu@inl.co.za PRINCE Mangosuthu Buthelezi has received a shower of accolades for his decades-long service to the Zulu nation and the late King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu. The Imperial Youth of Brazil (IYB), an organisation fighting for the restoration of the Brazilian empire, has bestowed the Honour of Merit Award on Buthelezi, in his capacity as the traditional prime minister to the Zulu monarch and the nation. “It is with great honour that we inform that (Prince Buthelezi) has been chosen by the executive of the group to receive the award,” the organisation wrote in a letter of award. Brazil’s emperorship was abolished during a coup d’etat in 1889, to be replaced by a federal republic. Since then, elements from the royal dynasty have been seeking the revival and recognition…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za STAFF at the Mangosuthu University of Technology resumed work yesterday as they reached an agreement with the institution regarding salary increments. The university and the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union had reached a deadlock in talks after the union demanded an 8% salary increase, while the university was offering only 3.3%. The workers downed tools and embarked on a strike at the beginning of the month which was later followed by violent student protests at the institution. This led to the university being closed until further notice. Nehawu eThekwini regional secretary Prince Mthalane said that in their meeting with the university management last week they managed to come to a solution. Mthalane said they had concluded their collective agreements, which automatically halted the proceedings of…

A Western Cape father has been sentenced to 25 years behind bars after he admitted to killing his 4-month-old daughter because she was crying. Ashwynne Kortjie, 22, entered into a plea and sentencing agreement with the State, detailing baby Ashmee-Lee Stallenberg’s final moments, and how he could not take her “incessant crying”. He was initially charged with murder and child abuse under Section 305(3)(a) of the Children’s Act but the child abuse charge was withdrawn. In his plea Kortjie admitted to having Ashmee-Lee in his care on November 19, 2019, because he and the baby’s mother were not together. He said at about 9am the next day he and Ashmee-Lee were alone in his bedroom when she continued to cry. “While the baby was lying on the bed, the accused…

Lanre Ikuteyijo THE appointment of Usman Alkali Baba as Nigeria’s acting inspector-general of police on April 6 brought a kind of closure to calls for reform of the Nigerian security architecture. It was applauded in some quarters. The main demand was to replace the heads of security services to infuse new blood into the fight against various forms of insecurity, including banditry and kidnappings. The demand to rejig the security architecture was not the only one. There were also cries against the way the police carry out their duties, especially in the area of human rights and different forms of abuse they mete out to citizens. This culminated in demanding for the abolition of the Special Anti-Robbery Squads (SARSs) set up by different police formations across the country. It…

I understand the sentiments of Ikbal Kolia regarding the fuel price and it’s effect on people’s lives, but he has the wrong end of the stick. The basic fuel price has actually reduced from R5.26 per litre in 2008/9 to R5.10 currently. So it is clear that it is not the basic fuel price – determined monthly – that is the problem. The government’s “add-ons” is the big problem: Over the period 2008/9 to the present, the Fuel Levy has increased by 32.3%, Road Accident Fund Levy by 40.4% and other levies which include Wholesale and Retail margins by 20.9%. The “add-ons” together constitute 65% of the fuel price which is nothing short of ridiculous stupidity, and is government-fuelled inflation. Governments, of course, love inflation because of the automatic increase…

NASA successfully flew its tiny helicopter Ingenuity on Mars early yesterday, the first powered flight on another planet and a feat a top engineer called “our Wright brothers moment.” At 9.34am SA time the 1.8kg rotorcraft lifted off, hovered 3m above the Martian surface, then came back to rest after 39.1 seconds. Data and images from the autonomous flight were transmitted 278 million kilometres back to Earth where they were received by Nasa’s array of ground antennas and processed more than three hours later. Engineers were tensely watching their screens at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, where the mission had been designed and planned for the past six years. They broke into applause as one of them read off a checklist of tasks Ingenuity had achieved. Ingenuity quickly…

BERLIN: Germany’s Green party yesterday named its co-chairperson Annalena Baerbock as its candidate to succeed Angela Merkel, throwing down the gauntlet to the chancellor’s conservatives who were locked in infighting for her crown. Trained lawyer Baerbock, 40, became the first chancellor candidate for the party, as surging support for Greens brings it within reach of the chancellery. With her candidacy, Baerbock said: “Climate change is the task of our time, the task of my generation. And accordingly, I want the policies of the new federal government to make climate protection the benchmark for all sectors.” | Reuters…

HAVANA: Cuba’s ruling Communist Party elected President Miguel Diaz-Canel to succeed Raul Castro as party first secretary, the most powerful position in the country, on the final day of its congress yesterday. The succession marks the end of six decades of rule by brothers Fidel and Raul Castro, who led Cuba’s leftist 1959 revolution. Diaz-Canel, 60, has emphasised continuity since becoming president and is not expected to move Cuba away from a one-party socialist system. Hundreds of party delegates gathered for the party’s most important meeting, that takes place every five years to review policy and elect new leadership. | Reuters…

Mike Greenaway The Sharks will field a familiar-looking team against the Stormers on Friday in the Rainbow Cup opener, but the senior players know they cannot rest on their laurels given the pack of young guns snapping at their heels. Sharks coach Sean Everitt used the recent four-match Preparation Series to trial his next tier of players and most of them not only proved themselves in top-flight rugby, but also stated a case for inclusion in the starting XV. “For the first two rounds of the Prep Series we put our seniors who had done the lion’s share of the Currie Cup in a conditioning programme and we gave our depth a serious test and the youngsters were exceptional,” Everitt said. “Everybody in our greater squad got game time and…