Table of contents for 2022-04-22 in Mercury

IN A desperate attempt to ensure that funds earmarked for disaster relief are not looted, Parliament yesterday agreed to establish an ad hoc committee to oversee the rebuilding efforts in KwaZulu-Natal. Political parties had urged the government to ensure that funds allocated for relief following the floods in KZN are not misused or lost through corruption. Parties said the looting of Covid-19 funds revealed in probes by the auditor-general, the Special Investigating Unit, the Hawks and other agencies should not be repeated during the state of disaster in KZN. President Cyril Ramaphosa has roped in the Solidarity Fund to oversee some of the funds. In his address to the nation this week, Ramaphosa said they would ensure they cracked down on corruption. Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi told a news…

We were in the Kruger National Park over the long weekend and saw a lion kill. A pride of eight lions brought down a huge zebra just before dusk and were gorging themselves. So focused were they on the kill that they did not bother about us being so close to them. Nothing you see on television could beat this, to be just metres away from the hungry lions. Waiting nearby, hoping to steal the carcass from the lions were some hyenas and some vultures perched on the trees. The hyenas were circling the lions, making their familiar laughing sound. But they had no chance of stealing the kill as the lions were all around the carcass. When we went back the next morning, the lions were still at the…

The front-page article by Kuben Chetty and Bobby Peek’s contribution on page 8 in Thursday’s Mercury were both excellent appraisals of the dire straits the City of Durban and KwaZulu-Natal find themselves in following the recent devastating rains. Let me start on page 8 and the photo of a huge, lethal road collapse, the location of which is unknown to the author. It was, however, a stark reminder of the total night-time collapse of the M13 at St Heliers where tragically at least three young persons died. More recently the La Mercy old road collapse was a carbon copy of the problem. Both of these road failures were entirely due to stormwater culvert failures that could have been prevented if detected early. The preventive remedial action would have involved a…

More than 52% of the global population are affected by a headache disorder every year, with 14% reporting migraines, according to study. Headaches are one of the most prevalent and disabling conditions worldwide, seen mainly among adults between 20 and 65, according to the Global Burden of Disease study. Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology reviewed 357 publications from between 1961 and the end of 2020 to estimate the global prevalence of headaches. The review, published in The Journal of Headache and Pain, showed that about 26% people reported a tension-type headache and 4.6% reported a headache for 15 or more days a month. The studies also indicated that about 15.8% of the world’s population have a headache on any given day, and almost half of…

Police Minister Bheki Cele has said top SAPS members have been deployed to deal with the spate of violent clashes that left one person dead and five injured in Soweto. “Our top priority is that those who committed this murder must be arrested at least in the next 48 hours,” said Cele. “I am told that this was a peaceful march, nothing provoked them but they took an innocent life. “As police, it is our job to investigate and protect communities.” Cele was addressing a group of Kliptown community members yesterday, following a shooting incident that left ‘Operation Dudula’ member Kgomotso Diale dead and five injured. Police said it was alleged that on April 18, a group of people, allegedly residents of Pimville with Operation Dudula members, marched to…

THE hard lockdown resulted in thousands of youth not being able to gain the skills they need to find jobs, the higher education department’s annual performance plan for 2022/23 shows. Figures for youngsters enrolling at public technical vocational education and training (TVET) colleges, community education and training (CET) colleges and with sector education and training authorities (Setas) declined drastically. “Enrolments in TVET college programmes have decreased by 32.8% from 673 490 in 2019 to 452 227 in 2020,” the department’s annual performance plan showed. “Covid-19 pandemic has contributed to the decline, as students were not enrolled in TVET colleges during the second semester of 2020. “In addition, the 2020 enrolment (at the colleges) was lower than the planned 610 000 target.” The 23 Setas, established in 2000, are funded through…

Limpopo police commissioner Lieutenant Thembi Hadebe has ordered a 72-hour activation plan to hunt down those involved in the murder of a farmer and his wife. According to police, the 74-year-old farmer and his wife died after their farmhouse was set alight by suspects during a house robbery in Levubu outside Thohoyandou at about 4.20pm on Wednesday. “It is alleged that a passer-by noticed two strangers wandering on the property,” said provincial police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Malesela Ledwaba. “Apparently the two, who were about to leave the premises in the vehicle belonging to the farmer, were disturbed and fled on foot, leaving the vehicle behind. The police were notified and reportedly found the farm house on fire, with the farmer and his wife still inside. The victims were burnt beyond recognition.”…

THE Supreme Court of Appeal this week voiced its displeasure at the language used by Limpopo High Court Judge President Ephraim Makgoba, who apparently referred to the evidence of one witness as being “s***.” Former Marble Hall police constable David Komane turned to the Supreme Court to appeal his conviction and 18-year sentence after Judge Makgoba found him guilty of an R11 million heist. While looking at the record of the proceedings before Judge Makgoba, the judges of the Supreme Court noticed that the judge referred to the evidence of a priest, Johannes Mampane, who testified in the trial, as being “s***”. Judge Yvonne Mbatha, who wrote the judgment on behalf of the Supreme Court, said: “The transcript reveals that the learned judge referred to Mr Mampane’s evidence as follows:…

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed victory in the biggest battle of the war in Ukraine yesterday, declaring the port of Mariupol “liberated” after nearly two months of siege although hundreds of defenders were still holed up inside a steel works. Ukraine derided Putin’s attempt to avoid a final clash with its forces in the city as an acknowledgment that he lacked the troops to defeat them. In Washington, US President Joe Biden authorised a further $800 million (about R12.3 billion) in military aid for Ukraine including heavy artillery, citing a “critical window” in the conflict as it enters a new phase. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia’s leadership had made a “catastrophic mistake” by invading his country. He ruled out going to Moscow for direct talks on ending the war.…

French President Emmanuel Macron has maintained his lead over far-right challenger Marine Le Pen following a prickly television head-to-head debate, a poll showed yesterday. With just days to go before Sunday’s election run-off, the two were back on the campaign trail – Macron in a Paris suburb of Seine-Saint-Denis with a strong left-wing vote, and Le Pen in the north of the country where she has a loyal following. Macron was seen as winning re-election with an unchanged 56% of the vote, according to a survey. But uncertainty about the final result remained high as the poll also showed that just 72% expected to cast their vote, a figure which would mark the lowest turnout since 1969. Viewers of the only debate between the two final candidates deemed Macron prone…

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday proposed a “global security initiative” that upholds the principle of “indivisible security”, a concept also endorsed by Russia, although he gave no details of how it would be implemented. In a video speech to the annual Boao Asia Forum, Xi said the world should respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, while paying attention to the “legitimate” security concerns of all. “We should uphold the principle of indivisibility of security, build a balanced, effective and sustainable security architecture, and oppose the building of national security on the basis of insecurity in other countries,” Xi said. China has refused to condemn Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine, and blames the Ukraine crisis on Nato’s eastward expansion. Analysts note that this is the first…

SEOUL: A die-hard Queen fan unveiled a life-size bronze statue of Freddie Mercury yesterday on South Korea’s resort island of Jeju, after an eight-year quest to honour his late hero. The music of British rock band Queen is popular in South Korea, a country more associated with home-grown K-pop dance bands. Jeju businessman and Queen superfan Baek Soon-yeob, 57, used to listen to bootleg recordings of Mercury, who died of Aids-related complications in 1991. Queen’s music was banned in South Korea in the 1970s by then-dictator Park Chung-hee’s regime, which considered it “unsuitable”. Baek said it had been an eight-year effort to build the statue. | AFP…

COACH Stuart Baxter was relieved of his duties by Kaizer Chiefs after a controversial second stint at the club. Independent Newspapers football writer Mihlali Baleka looks at five talking points that might have led to his sacking. No regard for the fans A portion of Chiefs’ supporters chanted “Baxter must go” following their 1-0 defeat to SuperSport United at home on Saturday upon their return to the stadium after more than two years. But the Brit didn’t appear to be bothered. He said he was open to walking if that’s what the majority of Amakhosi’s faithful and the chairman Kaizer Motaung wanted. Before that, though, Baxter had stressed that he’s not bothered by the criticism he gets on social media as people hide behind keyboards thinking that they know more…

TRANSNET National Ports Authority (TNPA) said yesterday that it had received a favourable response from industry on its plans for a liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal at the Port of Richards Bay and would issue a request for proposal “within weeks”. The project comes as the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy’s Strategic Plan for 2020-25 focuses on the development of the gas market as an alternative source of energy to meet limited and depleting energy supply in South Africa, as Eskom battles to keep the lights on. The country’s Integrated Resources Plan too has a gas power generation target of 3 000MW by 2027. “Approximately 19 companies responded to the RFI (request for information). The response included major developers and operators of gas infrastructure in South Africa, Europe,…

Relationships #1. How people treat you is (at least after a very short while) up to you. Once they’ve revealed limitations on understanding boundaries and good manners, it’s up to you to self-protect. Relationships #2: How we can treat ANYONE is how we can treat EVERYONE. If a man is capable of ripping off a stranger, he’s certainly capable of ripping off his mother. Relationships #3: If you don’t determine who you are in any relationship, the relationship will do it for you. Get in first and you’ll save yourself a lot of energy and trouble. Relationships #4: Don’t work too hard or expend more effort than the person with whom you want to relate. Mutual and equal won’t come later if you sacrifice your integrity to be accepted. Relationships…

New York: Inhaling harmful nanoparticulates – that are less than 100 nanometers wide and found in the likes of sunscreens, pharmaceuticals and sports equipment – during pregnancy can escape from the lungs and enter the placenta, and lead to low birth weight in babies, finds a study. The study, reported in the medical journal Placenta, showed that inhaled nanoparticles – specks that can’t be seen in conventional microscopes, found in thousands of common products – can cross the natural protective barrier that normally protects foetuses. The resulting inflammation may affect bodily systems, such as blood flow in the uterus, that could inhibit growth of the foetus. Rutgers University scientists studying factors that produce low-birth-weight babies revealed that they were able to track the movement of nanoparticles made of metal titanium…

A big thank you to The Mercury in your Thursday editorial comment, regarding the complaint that the use of the Disaster Fund has sadly to be focussed more on a frantic cry to prevent looting of the fund by greedy carpetbaggers, than on identifying people and areas that need urgent attention. Editorials are most necessary to bring about a unifying thought, a united front, a general feeling about the rest of the nation’s thoughts. Especially about human values. In many cases, the wisdom of comments by editors, who are obviously chosen for their unbiased opinions, help to remove doubts and confusion in the minds of the average population. Mostly, editorials provide a moral compass, pointing to basic human rights, secular, yet showing a deep understanding of and a genuine respect…

In a bizarre turn, the Department of Defence approached the Labour Court to review its own decision to give one of its financial clerks a final warning after a sum of R40 000 could not be accounted for. The department had approached the court as they wanted her fired. In turning down the review, a judge said “a new thinking” had developed where state departments asked the court to reverse its own decisions that they were not happy with. Judge Graham Moshoana said the Labour Court could not interfere with the disciplinary sanction. Metse Patricia Masombuka was, and still is, employed by the department at Dunnottar, Gauteng, as a senior accounting clerk in the finance department. In February 2018, the chief accounting clerk performed a weekly inspection on a sub-account…

There has been another delay in the corruption case of former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli as he wants the police to pay for his legal fees. Mdluli and his co-accused, former SAPS supply chain manager Heine Barnard and chief financial officer Solomon Lazarus, appeared briefly in the North Gauteng High Court this week. The trio face charges of corruption, fraud and theft stemming from the time they were employed by the state, between 2008 and 2012. All three face charges related to the alleged abuse of the police’s secret slush fund. The allegations include using the fund to pay for private trips to China and Singapore, the private use of witness protection houses and the leasing of Mdluli’s private residence to the state in order to pay his bond.…

A 4-year-old boy whose grandmother was brutally killed by her gardener was left devastated by her murder. This is according to a Victim Impact Statement handed into the court following the murder of Sharon Deetlefs. The 62-year-old Pietermaritzburg grandmother was strangled with the cord of a hair dryer last December at her home in Prestbury. She had been living alone. Her gardener Douglas Mataula, 35, was sentenced to 30 years behind bars this week by the Pietermaritzburg High Court. Mataula also pleaded guilty to two counts of housebreaking, with intent to steal and theft for breaking into Deetlefs’s home on two previous occasions prior to the murder. In his guilty plea he said that on the day of the murder, he went to Deetlefs’s house to ask her for taxi…

IF YOU go by the maxim of James Madison, the fourth US president, that “a public debt is a public curse”, then South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s latest $3.5bn (about R53bn) addition to the national debt burden assumes a potentially sinister context. In Q1 2022, the National Treasury borrowed $750 million from the World Bank, through a development loan in February to boost the Ramaphosa government’s post-Covid economic recovery plan, complemented by the two-tranche $3bn international bond issuance last week, this time “to fund the government’s foreign currency commitments”. Madison was alluding to unsustainable public debt, which many critics argue “is helping to keep too many poor countries and poor people in poverty”. Debt metrics is subject to as much volatility as other macroeconomic and fiscal data, given…

A group of 40 former government officials and leading non-proliferation experts have urged US President Joe Biden to successfully complete negotiations for a return to the nuclear deal with Iran, warning that Tehran is a week or two away from producing sufficient weapons-grade uranium to fuel a bomb. Yesterday the experts said failure to reverse the policies of the Donald Trump administration, which withdrew from the agreement between world powers and Iran in 2018, would be “irresponsible” and “would increase the danger that Iran would become a threshold nuclear-weapon state”. All sides in the negotiations are expressing pessimism that a new agreement can be reached to restart the 2015 deal, under which Iran sharply limited its nuclear programme and submitted to strict international verification in exchange for the lifting of…

An explosion claimed by the Islamic State at a Shi’ite mosque in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif yesterday killed at least 11 people and wounded 32, a health official said, one of a series of blasts around the country. A separate blast caused at least 11 more casualties in Kunduz, another northern Afghan city, officials said. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Mazar-e-Sharif attack. The explosions happened during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and two days after blasts tore through a high school in the Shi’ite Hazara area in western Kabul, killing at least six. The Shi’ite community, a religious minority in Afghanistan, is frequently targeted by Sunni militant groups, including Islamic State. Hospitals in Kunduz had received 11 killed or wounded people in a separate explosion, according…

GAZA: Israel carried out air strikes in central Gaza before dawn yesterday after a rocket attack launched from the Palestinian territory landed in Israel, Hamas officials and Israeli military sources said. Two training camps used by Hamas, the Islamist group that rules the blockaded enclave, were hit, and no casualties were reported. Israeli war planes struck a security post and part of an underground site used to produce rocket engines, the Israeli military said. Earlier, a rocket fired from Gaza struck southern Israel, causing slight damage to a house but no injuries, police said. No faction claimed responsibility for what is the second such attack in days. | Reuters…

KZN has been a disaster zone for the past two weeks and the future is starting to look a bit brighter (and drier). As you can guess, not much fishing has been done but the sea and dams have cleared up very quickly and we can look forward to some good fishing in the next couple of days. With all the structure in the water and on the bottom, it is imperative to take it slow if you are driving a boat or swimming in any of the dams or beaches in KZN at the moment, especially if the water is discoloured. The harbour is also an area to take it slow when exiting. Try put someone on spotting duty on the front of the boat to keep an eye…

I FIND myself hunkering down in a place at Sheffield Beach called Sea Cottage. Will Sonny Chislett, Monty Labuschagne and Johnny Nel be dropping in? (The names alone belong in a Damon Runyan story). I guess they won’t be dropping in. It’s 60 years or so since they shot the July Handicap favourite, Sea Cottage. Chislett was a bookie, who was owed a lot of money by nightclub owner Labuschagne, who, in turn, stood to lose huge amounts if Sea Cottage were to win the July. So Chislett and Labuschagne had the strongest common interest in this not happening. They set themselves up with nightclub bouncer Nel to “take care of” Sea Cottage – to use the vocabulary of the seedier circles in Brooklyn, in the US. Nel obliged by…

How is it possible to receive a metro bill in which 10 months is estimated reading, and suddenly residents receive an exorbitant actual reading/billing? It seems that the billing department has no clue of what is going on (although it spent about a billion rand on a Revenue Management System) – or is there possible mass-scale corruption or fraud taking place? The municipality is paying meter readers to read meters of every resident in eThekwini either monthly or every three months. It depends whether it is water or electricity being read. This has been the norm for decades, but it seems these readings are not being captured timeously and as a result the ratepayer is subjected to an increased actual bill, which is totally unacceptable, due to the incompetence of…

IT’S pointless to say, but patriarchy is entrenched in our society. The turn of events in the country’s political landscape ensures that the status quo remains. Our mothers have been sidelined from power and leadership roles for far too long and it is a growing concern. That is part of history feminists wish to erase and forget. The trend in South African politics is that women are used as pawns in the game, specifically black South African woman. Lindiwe Mazibuko was used and discarded by the DA, former Agang leader Dr Mamphele Ramphele was also viewed as an umbrella in her leadership of the party, and Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma missed out on the ANC presidency because she was associated with her ex-husband Jacob Zuma, despite having proved herself as the…

Defence Minister Thandi Modise says the irregular procurement of Heberon medicine from Cuba by the SANDF was a big lesson for the army. “We must say it has been a big lesson,” Modise said. “We learn. In every mistake, there is a lesson.” She made the statement this week when she briefed the defence and military veterans portfolio committee on the findings of the ministerial task team (MTT) on the procurement of the Covid-19 drug. The team was appointed by former minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula after a whistle-blower spoke out about possible irregularities in the procurement and importation of the drug meant for the soldiers. The late auditor-general Kimi Makwetu had found irregularities in the procurement of the drugs, and the importation of 970 895 vials were found to not have…

Killer ex-cop Rosemary Ndlovu is back in the court facing more charges. She made a brief appearance at the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court along with her friend and fellow former policewoman, Nomsa Mudau, on charges of conspiracy to commit murder this week. Ndlovu, who was sentenced to six life imprisonment terms last November, is facing a total of three counts of conspiracy to commit murder, while Mudau has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit murder. Regarding the charge against Mudau, who is heavily pregnant, it is alleged that she plotted with Ndlovu to have her ex-husband killed. Mudau’s ex-husband, Justice Mudau, opened a case against the pair in 2018. It is alleged that he had found out that his then wife and Ndlovu allegedly plotted to have…

Her track record in liberation politics sets her apart from Ramaphosa in race for top spot THE public political spat between two ANC presidential candidates: Minister of Tourism Lindiwe Sisulu and current president, Cyril Ramaphosa, signifies two different schools of political ideology, ethics and commitment. These ideological differences were underscored when Sisulu stood up in early January this year and publicly critiqued the Constitution as one that enables the exploitation of legal loopholes in favour of the very wealthy at the expense of the marginalised majority – as well as rendering the government and judiciary subordinate to market dictates. She was subjected to a vindictive political backlash and social vilification as a result. In her article: “Hi Mzansi, have we seen Justice?”, Sisulu criticised the shortcomings of the Constitution, just…

Seventeen people have been killed in suspected jihadist attacks in northern Nigeria, where a more than decade-long Islamist insurgency has claimed tens of thousands of lives, sources said yesterday. Around two dozen fighters dressed in military-like uniforms and believed to be from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) group sneaked on foot into Geidam town in Yobe state late on Wednesday, militia sources said. They rounded up nine people in a bar and slaughtered them, some with their hands tied behind their back, militia member Gremah Bukar said. “They killed nine people at the bar, including two women and a retired police officer,” he said. The jihadists also forced their way into the staff living quarters of a technical college, killing two people and torching buildings, said Bukar, in…

London: Queen Elizabeth II turned 96 yesterday receiving a rousing “Happy Birthday” from a military band and ceremonial gun salutes, after a troubled year hit by health concerns. But the queen, the oldest and longest-serving head of state in the world, marked the occasion with little fanfare, retreating to her Sandringham country estate. Her grandson Prince William and his wife Kate called her “an inspiration to so many”. This year’s birthday coincides with four days of public events from June 2 to 5 to mark her 70th year on the throne. US toy manufacturer Mattel released a Barbie doll of the queen. | AFP…

Dakar: Health workers in Senegal went on strike yesterday to protest charges filed against six midwives accused of negligence in a death that sparked nationwide anger. The National Association of Midwives and several other groups in the health sector said they were joining a work stoppage ranging from one to three days. The public health system has been “paralysed,” said Mballo Dia Thiam at an umbrella group of health-care workers called Asas. The health minister said it had “taken steps”. The affair was sparked by the death of a nine-months-pregnant woman named Astou Sokhna at a public hospital. | AFP…