Table of contents for 2022-01-20 in Mercury

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za The INDEPENDENT Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) said that it had independently conducted investigations and taken disciplinary action on the misdemeanours of two SAA IRBA members before the release of the first part of the Zondo Commission report on state capture. In a statement yesterday, the IRBA said all SAA matters were fully investigated during the 2017 to 2019 years, and findings of its probes had been through all the appropriate committee structures within the organisation. “On audit-related matters, the individual joint auditors were found guilty on five charges. Both respondents accepted monetary sanctions determined by the IRBA. “On non-audit related complaints, one of the respondents opted not to accept the monetary sanction and this matter has been referred for a disciplinary hearing. This matter is on…

Chrissy Teigen has expressed her frustration at her acne taking “forever” to heal. The 36-year-old model shared her dissatisfaction about the “three angry little b*******” on her face that won’t budge on her Instagram Story on Monday. The mother-of-two – who has Luna, five, and Miles three, with All of Me hitmaker husband John Legend – captioned a close-up selfie: “I had 3 angry little b******* and they’re taking forever to heallll. (sic)” Teigen’s acne complaint comes after she recently documented her eyebrow transplant with her 36.6 million followers. The author heaped praise on the procedure, which involves putting hair from the “back of your head” on to the brows to create a fuller look, after years of overplucking the facial feature as a teen. She wrote: “I never wear…

EBRAHIM ESSA | Durban THE Earth, many moons ago, must have been moving at the usual speed of a 1 000 km/h on its axis, on most days. Perhaps faster on weekends. Chappies chewing gum sold two for a penny, and usually stuck in the mouth for much longer than nowadays. One could buy a VW Beetle then for not much more than what a kilo of beetle-nut now sells for. A loaf of bread had a lot more wheat in it,however, sold for a shilling and sixpence in the late 1950s. So what went wrong? Your Business Report correspondent, Siphelele Dludla, writes (The Mercury, January 18) that the most pressing headache internationally, is not Covid-19 any longer, but a strange micro-organism that does not have a material…

NARENDH GANESH | Durban North Dear Minister Sisulu, It would be remiss of me if I did not commend you on a profound article. I was highly impressed. It was with great interest and intrigue that I perused your lengthy response to your comrade Ronald Lamola’s correspondence to you. While it made for riveting reading, to the hoi polloi it would be meaningless. These are the very people whom you purport to represent and whose proxy your party runs helter-skelter to during vote-harvesting season – the very citizens who are in the throes of another “struggle” brought on by the “people” who, during the time of the “Struggle”, promised that “better life for all” and so much more. I bought into that phrase myself, having once been a…

A Free State man has been sentenced in the Bethlehem Magistrate’s Court to 12 years’ direct imprisonment for murdering his wife in a graveyard in Mamafubedu near Petrus Steyn. Thabiso Motloung, 40, was convicted for the murder of his wife on December 1 last year. According to the evidence before court, on the day of the incident at 4.15pm, police from Petrus Steyn were summoned to the graveyard by members of the community who saw the body of a woman lying among the graves. Police officers said they found the woman had been stabbed to death. The victim, Puseletso Motaung, 28, from Mamafubedu, was declared dead at the scene. A murder docket was opened for investigation, and a week later, the victim’s husband was arrested. Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General BB…

The Durban FilmMart Institute (DFMI) has opened its call for project submissions for the 2022 Durban FilmMart. The 13th Durban FilmMart is due to take place from July 22-26. Designed to create partnerships and further the development and production of African cinema, the Durban FilmMart was named in Unesco’s 2021 Film Trends in Africa Report as “the continent’s best film market”. “Our vision is to stimulate the growth of the African film industry through the development of film projects, and to network African film- makers within the continent, and the rest of the world,” said Magdalene Reddy, general manager of the Durban FilmMart Institute. “The Durban FilmMart is a significant platform for African producers to meet and interact with key film professionals from across the globe.” The DFMI invites film-makers…

Skeletal remains have been found on a farm in Port Edward on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. According to police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele, the discovery was made on January 12 at about midday, and the police were called to the scene. “On arrival the police found skeletal remains. It is suspected that the deceased is a male,” Mbele said. She added that the deceased was wearing black Adidas tracksuit pants, a bottle-green Puma cap, checked boxer shorts and a T-shirt. “Anyone with information is requested to contact Detective Sergeant Mzizi at 039 311 5430/073 1397 646 or Crime Stop at 08600 10111,” she said.…

Government’s response to recent lawlessness was weak and lethargic THE term lawlessness is often used as an idiomatic catchphrase to describe general chaos and disorder. Many do not appreciate the term as an analytical tool, useful in understanding the structures and sub-structures of society. Lawlessness denotes a state of disorder within society that is fundamentally driven by a disregard of the law. Images of Parliament burning, due to a suspected arson attack, were highly disturbing and should be ringing major alarm bells over South Africa’s interest in the affairs of the state. In the grander scheme of things, the incident must be understood in the context of declining law and order in South Africa. Commentary in the coming months will probably be dominated by discussions about the cost of rebuilding…

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday that Russia could launch a new attack on Ukraine at “very short notice” as he met the country’s president on the first leg of a new diplomatic push to avert war. Russia said tension around Ukraine was increasing and it was still waiting for a written US response to its sweeping demands for security guarantees from the West. The pessimistic statements highlighted the gulf between Washington and Moscow as Blinken gears up for a meeting with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov tomorrow that a Russian foreign policy analyst called “probably the last stop before the train wreck”. Blinken told diplomats at the US embassy in Kyiv that a Russian build-up of tens of thousands of troops near the Ukrainian border was…

Buenos Aires: Up to 2 000 trucks are backed up at Argentina’s main border crossing with Chile due to tougher Covid-19 testing requirements, Argentine haulers said on Tuesday. Some 900 trucks a day usually pass through the Christ Redeemer crossing from the Argentine province of Mendoza into Chile. But those have been backed up for two days due to tougher health controls imposed on Argentine haulers by Chile. “At any moment the supply chain is going to break. It’s not a funnel, it’s a plug. Effectively, the border is closed,” Daniel Gallart, from the Mendoza truck owners’ association, told AFP.…

Mihlali Baleka mihlali.baleka@inl.co.za The battle lines between the top three – Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns – should have long been drawn for the signature of Tebogo Mokoena by now. But Sundowns appear to be all but unchallenged – as always. In the past few weeks reports have been rife, insisting that the Brazilians have tabled an offer to their rivals SuperSport United for Mokoena, while Chiefs, on the other hand, are said to be keen on signing Sipho Mbule from the Tshwane giants. But every Chiefs supporter – or outsider – will tell you that it’s, in fact, Mokoena that Chiefs need – and not Mbule. Sure, the two have played together since their junior days but they are unique in their own way. Mbule is very…

DIEKETSENG MALEKA dieketseng.maleka@inl.co.za THE WORLD’S second-largest luxury group Richemont said sales increased by nearly a third in the quarter to December, due to the rising demand for its jewellery and watches in the Americas and Europe. In a statement yesterday, the company, which is chaired by billionaire Johann Rupert, said the quarter was its fastest holiday-season sales growth in at least a decade. It said consumers spent lavishly on Cartier jewels and Chloé fashion. Richemont is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange as a primary listing, and is included in the Swiss Market Index of leading stocks. Richemont South African Depository Receipts are listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Richemont’s secondary listing. The company’s iconic brands include Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Mont Blanc, and Piaget. According to the…

Nomonde Zondi nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za HEALTH-CARE worker unions have expressed concern over the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health placing a moratorium on the filling of posts. The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) issued a statement stating it was disappointed by the recently issued circular G01/2022, which put a moratorium on the filling of posts, including critical personnel like nurses. It said the moratorium came at a time where there was a severe staff shortage. Denosa added that it was concerned about how its members were going to cope without additional staff. “The sad part is that patients and nurses are the ones that will suffer when service delivery is affected. As it is, nurses are demotivated, burnt out and some are sick because they are overstretched and haven’t received any salary…

Sibusiso Mboto and Zama Ngcoya THE start of the academic year for KwaZulu-Natal schools yesterday had mixed results, with some schools able to conduct classes on the first day, while some did not open at all. Teacher unions, National Teachers’ Union (Natu) and the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) expressed general satisfaction about day one in most KZN schools, but emphasised that the provincial Department of Education could have done better. Naptosa’s Thirona Moodley said while pupil attendance was good, it was unfortunate that many parents failed to register their children last year and arrived at schools to have their children placed yesterday. “This must be discouraged as it impacts on the planning of the school and the learners are not assured that the schools closest…

DUNCAN DU BOIS | Bluff The cartoon attempting to justify the deportation of Novak Djokovic from Australia because of his opposition to the Covid-19 vaccination (The Mercury, January 18) actually says more about the public’s mental state than Djokovic’s. Regardless of Australia’s highly regulated state, Djokovic’s deportation is not based on science. The coming weeks and months will increasingly expose the absolute falsehood upon which the vaccination campaign is based. Evidence is dripping out worldwide as to the ineffectiveness of any of the so-called vaccines in either stopping transmission or producing immunity. In the past week, the European Medicines Agency has conceded that booster shots are weakening immune systems and causing the vaxxed to be more prone to disease. The World Health Organization has waved the white flag…

IT’S odd how the suffix “gate” is now affixed to any major political scandal. It comes, of course, from the Richard Nixon case in America when Republican hoodlums burgled the Democratic Party offices in the Watergate building in Washington, and Nixon tried to cover the thing up. It ended in his resigning rather than facing impeachment. In this country we had Infogate, as it came to light that the Department of Information had been up to all kinds of verneukerry. It ended the political careers of prime minister – then briefly president – John Vorster and minister of information Connie Mulder. The affixing of the suffix “gate” seems to have ominous consequences. In Britain they’re talking now about “Partygate” – the apparent holding of booze parties at No 10 Downing…

Nomonde Zondi nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za EDUCATION experts say parents need to be understanding and kind towards children who get their matric results this week as they wrote under tough conditions. Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga is set to announce the matric pass rate this evening, and pupils will be able to access results at their schools and on media platforms on Friday. University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) Professor Thabo Msibi, the dean and head of the School of Education at the university, said both parents and matric pupils needed to appreciate and acknowledge that they wrote the exams during a pandemic. “There were a lot of restrictions, anxiety, fear, stress and depression. Parents must be kind to their children and not have high expectations,” said Msibi. He further emphasised that it was…

POLICE are investigating cases of murder after five bodies were discovered with gunshot wounds next to Golden Highway in Eldorado Park in Gauteng yesterday morning. Police spokesperson Dimakatso Sello said the circumstances surrounding the incident were unknown, and police investigations continued. “Police request anyone who may have information that can assist to please contact their nearest police station or the Crime Stop Line at 08600 10111. All information received will be treated as strictly confidential,” Sello said. Community members who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the five who died could be victims of a revenge attack, after six City of Joburg security guards were killed in a shooting at the Goudkoppies landfill last Tuesday. According to the community, the areas of Goudkoppies, Devland and Eldorado Park were rife…

MWANGI GITHAHU mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za THE legal battle which has seen beleaguered state-owned weapons manufacturer Denel facing off against trade union Solidarity over unpaid salaries and benefits is set to continue at the Labour Court next month. Last September, the Labour Court ordered that assets worth R4.6 million be attached by the Sheriff and sold with the money raised going to pay outstanding salaries and employee benefits, including medical aid and pensions. The amount paid was to settle amounts owed to Solidarity members in Denel Dynamics and Denel Land Systems. Defence and aerospace Solidarity sector co-ordinator Derek Mans said it was important to note that the salaries were settled in some divisions but not in all. He said through its attorneys, Solidarity has written to the Sheriff to continue with the…

THE DA can hardly claim to be fighting ANC cadre deployment when its Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde, wants to reward disgraced former Transport and Public Works MEC Bonginkosi Madikizela with a top government post. At the expense of the public purse, Madikizela could soon become Winde’s special adviser despite the premier suspending him from his cabinet last year, just before the elections. Madikizela resigned while on suspension after it emerged that he had lied about having a degree. Some in the DA, including Madikizela himself, cried foul about this being revealed after he had made it known that he would be contesting the Cape Town mayoral position, which incumbent Geordin Hill-Lewis subsequently won. Now that the elections are over and the DA has retained the City of Cape Town,…

WASHINGTON: Major international airlines rushed to rejig or cancel flights to the United States ahead of a 5G wireless rollout yesterday that has triggered safety concerns, despite two wireless carriers saying they will delay parts of the deployment. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had warned that potential 5G interference could affect height readings that play a key role in bad-weather landings on some jets and airlines say the Boeing 777 is among models initially in the spotlight. Despite an announcement by AT&T and Verizon that they would pause the 5G rollout near airports, several airlines still cancelled flights or switched aircraft models. Late Tuesday, the FAA began updating its guidance on which airports and aircraft models would be affected, in a move expected to dramatically lessen the impact of the…

The topic of fighting against Covid-19 has dominated the Davos Agenda 2022 of the World Economic Forum (WEF), with participants across the world calling for vaccine equity and international co-operation to tame the spread of the virus. The contagious Omicron variant and the reintroduction of national lockdowns, travel bans and quarantines globally have “reinforced the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic,” the Geneva-based forum said on its website. The five-day online event, which kicked off on Monday, provides an opportunity for world leaders, CEOs and experts to reflect on the state of the world and shape solutions to challenges in the year ahead, the WEF said. In his address at the WEF virtual session on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for solidarity and co-operation of the international community amid the…

Washington: Scientists at Nasa’s Curiosity rover have found a type of carbon that on Earth is associated with biological processes from several powdered rock samples collected from the surface of Mars. While the finding is intriguing, it doesn’t necessarily point to ancient life on Mars. “We’re finding tantalisingly interesting things on Mars, but we would need more evidence to identify life,” said Paul Mahaffy, the principal investigator of the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) chemistry lab aboard Curiosity until retiring. “We’re looking at what could have caused the carbon signature we’re seeing, if not life.”…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE INTERNATIONAL Energy Agency (IEA) has hinted that it would be working with the South African government to develop a domestic energy policy to reduce carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. IEA executive director Fatih Birol yesterday said an overwhelming number of countries in the international community had been making inquiries about the organisation’s global net zero carbon emissions roadmap. “Many governments across the world, from India to Chile, from Indonesia to South Africa, many European countries are asking us to make this roadmap domestic for them,” Birol said. “We are working with those countries to prepare their domestic roadmap.” Birol was speaking at the session about navigating the energy transition at Day 3 of the virtual World Economic Forum (WEF) Davos Agenda 2022. The…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za OPPOSITION parties in eThekwini Municipality have questioned the wisdom behind the proposal to spend half a million rand to dress VIP protectors, with some saying such spending is a luxury that the city could do without. The reaction came after acting city manager Musa Mbhele tabled the item at Tuesday’s executive committee (exco) meeting where parties gave their input on the matter. While some welcomed the need for bodyguards’ gear, questions were asked about the high bill attached to the items. A report, sent for the attention of exco and dated August 2021 from the Security Management Unit, requested additional funding for the 31 VIP protectors, who according to the report were not included in the report adopted in March 2020. According to the report, the request…

A READER has asked me why I am focusing on grief and death. Here’s why: the past two years have exposed every one of us – all humans everywhere – to loss and grief in ways the world did not expect. Almost a million Americans have died in my country. I am unsure of the statistics – they shift – in your country. I regularly visit the hospitals in my part of the world and there have been days that the hallways are parking lots jammed with beds. Healthy men and women in their 30s and 40s have dropped dead of Covid-19 in my town. Most South Africans are familiar with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. I’d suggest we are all going to need a Grief and Reconciliation Commission in…

THYAGARAJ MARKANDAN | Kloof THERE has been much debate and controversy about sex education in schools. When the idea was first introduced in schools 20 years ago, parents were alarmed and voiced their disapproval. But the big wigs in education felt they knew better and so opened up schools to sex education. The intention was good, to make girls aware of the pitfalls of having sex and falling pregnant while they are still in school. But rather than curb teenage pregnancy in schools, it had the opposite effect. It aroused their sexual desires, and in recent years teenage pregnancy has soared to alarming numbers. In 2020, 136 612 girls between 15 and 19 years old fell pregnant. Of these, 33 899 became mothers at 17 and younger. Even…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za FORMER crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli and his two co-accused will have to foot the legal bill for their upcoming criminal trial. Mdluli, former supply chain manager Heine Barnard and erstwhile chief financial officer of the State Security Agency Solomon Lazarus earlier applied to the SAPS as their former employer to pay for their legal representatives in their fraud, theft and corruption trial. The charges against them stem from when they were employed by the state – between 2008 and 2012 – and were at the helm of police crime intelligence services. They felt the employer should thus foot their legal bill. Their trial was placed on hold for more than a year to grant them the opportunity to apply for state funding. The three were back…

Zama Ngcoya zama.ngcoya@inl.co.za KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala said that the tourism sector is expected to benefit significantly from the recent return to Durban’s King Shaka International Airport of both South African Airways (SAA) and Qatar Airways, a development that will boost the province’s economic recovery. This comes after the announcement made by SAA that its first scheduled flight will take off from OR Tambo International to King Shaka International on March 4. SAA said it will fly the route seven days a week at least three times a day on a return service between the two cities. The return of SAA to King Shaka Airport comes shortly after the the resumption of Qatar Airways flights out of Durban. Qatar Airways resumed flying from KZN on January 14 with an initial…

Two men were arrested for possession and smuggling of illicit cigarettes with an estimated street value of more than R600 000 in Limpopo. Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said the two were arrested following a partnership between the police and the rural safety structures under the Saamboubrug policing area. “The police received a tip-off from local farmers.” He said an operation was conducted by the local police, assisted by the farmers at Maasstroom crossroad with the intention of stopping and searching two bakkies. “Police attempted to stop the two vehicles but they did not comply and sped off. “A chase ensued and with assistance from the farmers Tolwe police managed to stop one vehicle that was fully loaded with illicit cigarettes. One male suspect was immediately arrested on…

The recent elections in The Gambia on December 4 were conducted in a period in which the world is facing a global pandemic. The nomination of six presidential candidates was announced on November 6 by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to contest for the elections. Suffice it to note that all nominated candidates were men. Women’s participation in governance is underrated. The youth and women form more than 50% of The Gambia’s population, but only a few youth-led organisations in The Gambia are active in conducting voter education outreach. According to the IEC, there were approximately 962 157 registered voters, of which 57% are women, while 37% of registered voters are between the ages of 18 and 35 years. The statistics are a clear indication that women and…

The leader of a banned Nigerian separatist movement pleaded not guilty to eight new charges that include terrorism and incitement yesterday as his defence sought the dismissal of the case, arguing that it lacked merit. Nnamdi Kanu, leader of Indigenous People of Biafra, previously entered a not-guilty plea to seven charges including terrorism and knowingly broadcasting falsehoods on October 21. This week, state prosecutors added eight more charges to Kanu, 54, who is a British citizen. Most of the charges are linked to broadcasts he made between 2018 and last year. His lawyers say the new charges are meant to prolong his detention. “We are further asking that the defendant should be discharged and acquitted as there is nothing in this charge. It has no basis at all,” Kanu’s lead…

JAKARTA: A prominent member of an Indonesian militant group blamed for the deadly 2002 Bali bombings was jailed for 15 years yesterday for withholding information about jihadist networks and harbouring an extremist, his lawyer said. Aris Sumarsono, better known as Zulkarnaen, was a former military commander in Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian jihadist network with ties to al Qaeda. The 58-year-old had been on the run for almost two decades after being named as a suspect in the Bali attacks. The judge, who could not be named for security reasons , announced the 15-year jail term after the prosecution had asked for a life sentence.…