Table of contents for 2021-11-04 in Mercury

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za RENERGEN, the domestic producer of gas and helium, saw its share price soar for a second consecutive day yesterday, after it announced a 600 percent increase in its methane and helium reserves at its flagship Virginia Gas Project. The independently confirmed reserves will give the project, the only onshore gas project of its kind in South Africa, the capacity to supply a constrained global helium market and to supply methane to the local renewable energy markets. Helium is used in the medical sector, space travel and superconductors, and in the manufacture of microchips, fibre-optic cables and other electronic equipment, among a variety of other uses. The share price increased by 15.5 percent to R40.71 yesterday morning after Renergen announced the increased reserves. On Tuesday the…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za THE eThekwini Municipality wants to extend a contract related to the supply, delivery and maintenance of buses for 12 months, pushing the cost of the contract up by R200 million. The municipality now wants to spend just over R730m on the contract, according to a notice it has published for public comment. The changes mean that the original contract valued at R517 691 540 would increase to R731 346 119. The notice has raised questions from members of the outgoing council, who asked why the city would take out such a notice before a new council was sworn in. The amendments on the contract tackle several aspects, ranging from changes in the technical specification of the buses and extending the time frame when the buses could be…

“Over working” for the other parent. Trying to “cover” for the other parent, absent or present. Getting between the child and teachers, friends, coaches, as if the parent can and must shield the child from all consequences, inevitable dangers, and everything negative. Giving the child the impression that he or she is their reason for living, the very reason the sun rises on any new day. Treating the child as if he or she is so different, so special, that he or she will never need to be accountable for his or her behaviour, mistakes or failures. Allowing the agenda of the child to take precedence over all other agendas. For instance where established plans with other people are sabotaged because a child chooses not to co-operate. Giving a child…

GABI MARAIS | Gillitts So the politicians are at it again. Let’s all fly to Rome for a meeting, then let’s go to Glasgow for another meeting. Private planes, motor vehicles for Africa and oh, let’s take our spouses with us, after all this is meant to be business. What are emissions? Never mind, we will save the world, but we don’t need to worry about what we are doing. All a load of hot air, and a freebie holiday at the cost of those who pay taxes. Do we care? Are we going to achieve anything? Never mind Covid-19, we will shake hands, not keep to social distancing and do what the normal person who is financing all this cannot do. Perhaps George Orwell’s Animal Farm should…

FAROUK ARAIE | Gauteng Our local elections are over. Victory has been declared, defeat has been acknowledged. It was John F Kennedy who said: “Victory has a thousand fathers, defeat is an orphan.” It is indeed tragic that 70% of South Africa’s 26 million registered voters ignored the elections. Citizens have lost faith in the governing party and the other parties as well. The actual number of votes cast for all the parties is statistically meaningless. It represents the will of a minority imposing it’s edict’s on the majority, who by not voting indicated that voting has become a liability in a fatally flawed democracy. Our fractured country is in turmoil as answers are sought for inequities, monumental poverty and dangerous economic imbalances. Many of us accepted the…

Bongani Nkosi bongani.nkosi@inl.co.za A REPORT commissioned by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) has dispelled earlier findings that more than half a million pupils dropped out of school due to Covid-19. Released in July, the National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (Nids-Cram) painted a dire picture of year-on-year drop-outs. It concluded that more than 500 000 pupils had dropped out of school by May 2021. The figure was extrapolated from responses by 5 862 people contacted by the researchers between April 6 and May 11. The DBE commissioned a new study that shows very different results and places the number of drop-outs at 19 000. Martin Gustafsson, a senior academic at Stellenbosch University, analysed data captured for the South African School Administration and Management…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) presented its preliminary findings of its Election Satisfaction Survey 2021, which found that 68% of voters took less than 15 minutes to reach their voting stations. About 22% took between 16-30 minutes, 7% took between 31-60 minutes and 3% took longer than an hour. A sample of 300 voting stations countrywide were selected for the purposes of the study and the results are based on the interim captured sample of voter responses (number = 12 229) collected on November 1. The survey also found that overall, 86% of the voters found the voting stations easily accessible to persons with disabilities and the elderly, while 7% did not. The HSRC was commissioned by the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) to conduct a…

Yogashen Pillay yogashen.pillay@inl.co.za MAGISTRATE Irfaan Khalil has said that he would hand down his judgment in the bail application of brothers Ned and Dylan Govender, who have been charged with murder in connection with the Phoenix violence in July, later this month. Khalil yesterday adjourned the case in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court to November 10 for closing arguments from the State and defence, and said he would deliver his bail decision on November 18. The brothers have been charged with the murder of Mondli Majola, who was killed on July 12 during the unrest and violence in Phoenix. The State alleges that Majola was among a group of black people who were attacked by armed Phoenix residents. At issue in the bail application is how Majola died. While an initial…

THE reopening of the country’s borders in the early 1990s has exposed South Africa and its population to way too many things. Some of the phenomena are known and people talk about them daily. These include the influx of migrants, coronavirus and currency fluctuations. On the other hand, there are many positives like readmission to international sports and freedom of movement that have come with the opened borders. Hidden to public knowledge are crimes gruesome acts that, when narrated, one can hardly imagine that humans are capable of performing. As the old saying goes, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. This may be interpreted to mean that the mere fact that you are not aware of something does not mean it does not exist. The underground world of…

A report on abuses committed during war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region was published, but a spokesperson for the party controlling Tigray said investigators did not visit many sites where violence occurred. The joint investigation by the United Nations Human Rights Office and the state-appointed Ethiopian Human Rights Commission set out to document alleged violations of human rights, humanitarian and refugee law committed by all parties to the conflict in Tigray. There have been widespread accusations against Ethiopian and allied Eritrean soldiers of gang-rapes, mass killings of civilians, and accusations of blocking humanitarian aid. There have also been accusations of gang-rapes and killings by Tigrayan forces, particularly by Eritrean refugees living in Tigray. The government has denied blocking aid and said individual soldiers have been tried for any abuses, without…

TUNIS: Tunisia had discovered a tunnel near the French ambassador’s residence from a house frequented by a known extremist, and anti-terrorism forces were investigating, the Tunisian Interior Ministry said yesterday. Tunisian security forces have thwarted most militant plots in recent years, according to Western diplomats. The last major attacks took place in 2015 when militants killed scores of people in two separate assaults at a museum in Tunis and a beach resort in Sousse. The French residence is located in the upscale suburb of La Marsa.…

AT its roots the basic outline of the game of lawn bowls is simple; roll the jack to the far end of the green and then attempt to roll your bowls to land closer to the jack than any of your competitors. While doing this the bowler must observe the run of the green and use the bias of the bowl to take the correct grass and apply the appropriate weight so as to finish jack level, or immediately in front or behind the jack. ​As has been reported before, lawn bowls is a game for all people. It can be low key and social or fiercely competitive ‒ it all depends on the goal of the bowler. While the fundamentals of the game are easy to learn,…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za THE ANC leadership, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, will need to take a long, hard look at itself and answer the question: what went wrong with the local government elections? This is the view of party activists from different parts of the province after the governing party recorded spectacular losses in many municipalities in northern KZN. Many party members and supporters have taken to social media to vent their anger, with some calling for the party’s leadership to resign following its dismal performance at the polls. An ANC activist from the Midlands, Thanda Zakwe, expressed sadness at the loss of some municipalities, including several to the IFP in northern KZN and one in the uMgungundlovu district which is made up of towns such as Howick, Pietermaritzburg and Richmond. On…

NEW golf rules are about to be introduced for players who are 50 and older, according to information that comes this way. Examples: If a tree is between the ball and the hole, and the tree is deemed to be younger than the player, the ball can be moved without penalty. This is simply a matter of timing. When the player was younger, the tree was not there. The player is otherwise being penalised because of his age. A ball sliced or hooked into the rough shall be lifted and placed on the fairway at a point equal to the distance it carried or rolled into the rough, with no penalty. The senior player should not be penalised for tall grass which ground keepers failed to mow. A ball hitting…

DENISE FROST | Blind SA Blind SA lodged an objection with the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) at the voting station in Tshwane on November 1, stating that blind and partially sighted voters did not have the Universal Ballot Template to cast a secret vote at the local government elections. Blind SA acknowledges that the IEC produced over 30 000 copies of the Universal Ballot Template. However, these did not reach all voting stations. Blind SA had 53 blind and partially sighted observers throughout the country who visited over 200 voting stations. The initial findings were that the majority of these voting stations did not have the Universal Ballot Template. Presiding officers have confirmed that they did not receive any Universal Ballot Templates and were not trained on…

BEVERLEY TSITSI MUTANDIRO | UK I AM angered by the massive incompetence, carelessness and poor governance of the Zimbabwean government that is failing to rehabilitate and reconstruct road transport network systems in the country. Roads, bridges, traffic signals, road markings, bus stops and humps are all in desperate need of repairs. Many accidents are caused by the failure of the Zimbabwean government to construct better transport network systems. It is a nightmare to travel in Zimbabwe. The roads have numerous potholes and the local governments are failing to repair them, which clearly shows that the Zanu-PF government has failed to manage the country effectively. The road systems are too narrow to accommodate the ever-increasing transport network systems. The poor physical infrastructure such as transport, telecommunications, energy and water…

Dieketseng Maleke dieketseng.maleke@inl.co.za IN an effort to upskill and reskill, the Durban University of Technology (DUT) has launched a postgraduate Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) programme. The postgraduate programme will start with a cohort of 20 postgraduate students receiving bursaries to the value of R90 000 each. “It is envisaged these students would go on to make a positive impact on society by shaping skills, pioneering industries, and empowering industries with their research findings,” DUT said. According to DUT, this is aimed at realising the highest levels of the government’s strategic plans for societal and industrial reforms, as well as to narrow the growing digital divide brought about by the emergence of 4IR. The university said the training was done in collaboration with five leading researchers across South African tertiary institutions.…

| Zelda Venter A woman who claimed she was attacked by a rapist while he was out on parole may now proceed with her more than R2 million in damages claim against Correctional Services. She claimed the parole board was negligent in releasing the man before he was ready to face the outside world. The victim is holding the minister of justice and correctional services liable for the fact that she was attacked. Ivan Botha is back behind bars after he was convicted of the attack on the woman. He had attempted to assault, rape and rob her. Botha was a convicted criminal who had committed, among other offences, rape and indecent assault in the past. He was placed on parole in November 2010 and the attack on the woman…

FRENCH author and public intellectual Victor-Marie Hugo said: “The true division of humanity is between those who live in light and those who live in darkness.” The power of light to transcend darkness and trounce evil is the universal message of most faiths, and is the essence of the global Hindu festival of Diwali. The international reach, recognition and respect was evident in 2016 when the UN declared that Diwali would be a non-meeting day. An important tenet of Hinduism is Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam – the whole world is one family, which can be viewed as the equivalent of Ubuntu. In his Diwali message last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa said: “It is testament to the resilience of the great cultures of the subcontinent that Deepavali continues to be celebrated here in…

MINNEAPOLIS: Seventeen months after George Floyd’s murder led to nationwide calls to abolish or defund the police, voters in the city where the movement began soundly rejected a proposal on Tuesday to replace its troubled police department. Now the result from this election is likely to have national implications in the debate over policing and racial justice. City Question Two would have amended the Minneapolis charter to allow the police department to be replaced by a Department of Public Safety. The new agency would have taken a “comprehensive public health approach” to public safety, including dispatching mental health workers to certain calls and more investment in violence prevention efforts. The measure also would have removed decades-old language from the city charter requiring a minimum number of police officers based on…

Minsk: Belarus yesterday sentenced two members of the rights group Viasna to jail time for their support of last year’s protests against the country’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, the NGO said. Leonid Sudalenko was handed three years in jail, while his colleague Tatiana Lasitsa was jailed for two-and-a-half years following a closed-door trial, Viasna said. The pair were arrested for their support of mass demonstrations that erupted across Belarus following a disputed presidential election last year. They were found guilty of “grossly violating public order”, among other charges.…

Cleo Smith vanished from her tent at a remote western Australian campsite more than two weeks ago. The only clues to her disappearance: witness reports of screeching car tyres in the dead of night, and the tent’s zip – left open at a point too high for the 4 year old to reach. Police and volunteers scoured the coastline, interviewed campers and combed many images and surveillance videos. A reward of AUD$1 million (R11.5m) was offered for information that could lead to her safe return. Early yesterday, they found her – in a locked room in a house in Carnarvon, just seven minutes from where she lived with her mother, stepfather and baby sister. A 36-year-old man was apprehended at a nearby property and taken into custody. “When she…

DINEO FAKU dineo.faku@inl.co.za ANGLO American plc’s chief executive of almost a decade, Mark Cutifani, has been lauded for his leadership in the South African mining industry and beyond after the 104-year-old company announced that he would be stepping down. Anglo American said yesterday that South African Duncan Wanblad, 54, would be its new chief executive, signalling a new chapter for the globally diversified mining company with South African roots. “There has been no greater privilege for me than leading Anglo American and our incredible people. Together, we have transformed our competitive position and led the way towards a very different future for mining – a safer, smarter future that delivers enduring value for all our stakeholders,” Cutifani said. Cutifani, an Australian businessman, who took the helm nine years ago, placed…

Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za WITH five municipalities hung in KwaZulu-Natal, political parties in the province have started setting terms and conditions they want met by their suitors, with the ANC and IFP emphasising that non-racialism is key to any agreement. Coalition governments are not new in the province – in 1994, as part of the nation-building project, there was a government of national unity that forced the IFP, ANC and the now-defunct New National Party to band together at the national level. In KZN the IFP, under the late Dr Frank Mdlalose, had to accommodate ANC MECs such as Jacob Zuma – who was the MEC for economic development, Dr Zweli Mkhize and S’bu Ndebele. Speaking ahead of the IFP national executive committee (NEC) meeting starting in Durban on Saturday, the…

California condors, a critically endangered species, can reproduce without mating, according to a study by conservation scientists at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. During a routine analysis of biological samples from the California condors in the zoo’s breeding programme, the scientists found that two condor chicks had hatched from unfertilised eggs. “It came as a big surprise, to be honest. We didn’t expect to find any of this,” said Cynthia Steiner, associate director for the alliance’s conservation research division. Steiner is also the co-author of the study published last week in the Journal of Heredity, the official publication of the American Genetic Association. Scientists confirmed that each condor chick was genetically related to its mother but neither bird was genetically related to a male. The two birds represent the…

BENNY PILLAY | Durban As a community activist of Chatsworth, my ear is to the ground, and it is surprising to see that the DA has claimed to have won so many wards in Chatsworth and Phoenix. Upon further investigation, many community members are mentioning DA councillors by name and specific supporters, whereby these councillors have allegedly registered residents from other areas outside Chatsworth to vote in Chatsworth wards about a month ago. These residents were given money and food hampers to vote for the DA, residents alleged. The DA knew that they were going to lose Chatsworth wards because of poor service delivery in DA-run wards. Therefore, the DA allegedly resorted to under-handed tactics. It has been alleged by some Bayview community residents that the DA councillor…

DAVID LAWSON | St Lucia Although I agree with many of the observations in Koert Meyer’s article (The Mercury, November 2), I must point out the US is not the only superpower to invade and launch wars against other countries. A couple of dozen countries have been invaded and violated by the Soviet Union and its heir Russian Federation since 1917 including: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Romania, Iran, Bulgaria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Albania, Korea, Czechoslovakia and Syria. Communist Chinese invasions include: Korea, Taiwan, Tibet, Vietnam and India. He also mentions the guidance of Almighty God and his approval of our behaviour. Does he mean the God of the Old Testament? “You shall annihilate them – Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites,…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za The ACDP and other organisations will approach the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, next week to urgently halt the roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine to children between the ages of 12 and 17. The other organisations are Free the Children – Save the Nation and the Covid Care Alliance. They have teamed up with the ACDP in an urgent application for an interim interdict against the roll-out, pending the outcome of an internal appeal before the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) to stop the vaccine programme for children. Bongani Khanyile-Luthuli, of the ACDP, said on October 19 the party sent correspondence to the Department of Health and Sahpra demanding the suspension of the roll-out for children aged 12 to 17. As it had no response to this…

Samkelo Mtshali samkelo.thulasizwe@inl.co.za THE DA in uMngeni local municipality is concerned about the safety of the former deputy mayor of the council who left the ANC and joined the party on the eve of Monday’s local elections after claims that she had received death threats. In an unexpected move, Nompumelelo Buthelezi, who had formed part of the uMngeni local municipality as deputy mayor from 2016, left the ANC in favour of the DA. Speaking to Independent Media at the DA’s Victory Rally in Goddard Park at Howick Falls, Buthelezi said her efforts to expose PPE corruption had compounded her already dire situation as she claims to have started receiving death threats as far back as 2018. She is currently being protected by private security that the DA has organised for…

A group of armed men killed an employee and a security guard at a business on Londonderry Crescent in Springfield, Durban yesterday. KwaZulu-Natal regional police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala said it was alleged that “at 11.24am a group of armed men arrived at the business premises” and shot a 46-year-old security guard and another 48-year-old employee. “Both victims sustained injuries on the body and they died at the scene,” she said The suspects also robbed the security guard of his firearm. | Karen Singh…

IT REMAINS mind-boggling how low the bar is in South Africa, especially when it comes to Eskom, where failure seems to be the order of the day, with no consequences for those at the helm. South Africans can be forgiven for the lack of outrage whenever the power utility implements power supply cuts because this happens more often than before. To businesses, the power can determine whether they survive the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. What cannot be accepted is the narrative that Eskom group executive officer Andre de Ruyter, his fellow executives, the board and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan are the right people to keep the lights on. If anything, the opposite is true. They have been given enough time to attend to the most pressing issues at…

Sweden’s government said yesterday that it was setting up a truth commission to examine the country’s past treatment of, and abuses against, the Sami minority, following a similar move in Finland last week. The commission would be tasked with charting and investigating the policies affecting the Sami and their implementation. “It feels very good that we can finally appoint a truth commission,” Culture and Democracy Minister Amanda Lind said. “The government has a responsibility to increase knowledge of the abuses, rights violations and racism that Sami people have been subjected to,” she said. She added that increasing awareness of “historical injustices” was important to “facilitate reconciliation”. The Sami are believed to have arrived in the region at the end of the last ice age. Victims of a brutal assimilation policy…

JERUSALEM: An Israeli court yesterday suspended the auction of a partial tattoo kit billed as having been used on inmates at the Auschwitz death camp, after an outcry from Holocaust survivors. Obtained from a private collector, the eight fingernail-sized steel dies, each lined with pins to form numerals, would have been pressed into prisoners’ flesh with ink to brand their serial numbers. His website had deemed it “the most shocking of Holocaust items”, with a projected sale value of $30 000 (about R462 900) to $40 000. Bidding was $3 400 when Tel Aviv District Court granted a request by survivors to halt the auction.…

HERMAN GIBBS herman.gibbs@gmail.com CHAMPIONS Mamelodi Sundowns earned a record 11th consecutive clean sheet after beating a determined Maritzburg United 1-0 in their Premiership clash at Loftus yesterday, after a goalless first half. When second-half play resumed, Sundowns induced a fresh sense of urgency into their play and in the opening seven minutes, Maritzburg’s German-born goalkeeper Marcel Engelhardt was forced to make two saves. This was the cue for an imminent strike and Peter Shalulile provided a touch of magic with a well-taken volley after Sundowns sprung an attack from deep. After an upfield kick that cleared Maritzburg’s rearguard, Shalulile outsprinted the retreating defence and fired his attempt well clear of Engelhardt. Meanwhile, Cape Town City returned to league action on a victorious note with a 1-0 win over Chippa United…