Table of contents for 2023-01-30 in Mercury

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said president Cyril Ramaphosa had not distributed any information about the resignation of deputy president David Mabuza. Mbalula was speaking on the sidelines of the ANC national executive committee (NEC) lekgotla, which is a two-day meeting that brings together the political leadership and senior government officials to assess the performance of the ANC-led government against its policies and targets. Mabuza did not attend the lekgotla, and Mbalula told the media that he sent an apology, which the leadership accepted. “The president has not shared anything about the resignation of the deputy president, and the deputy president has apologised (for not attending). His apology was read and accepted. There’s no problem about it. Mabuza has been one of the most loyal servants of the ANC, and he…

The recent eThekwini council meeting which collapsed due to lack of attendance by some parties deserves comment. This is typical of how these councils function; nothing is achieved – it’s just a bunfight and if, for example, the DA (or anyone that the ANC doesn’t agree with) has a good idea, it’s simply a case of call for a vote of no confidence. And as in the case of recent elective meetings, they degenerate into violence and people getting injured, and in some cases as was recently reported, killed – and these are people who are looking for positions within the ANC NEC, etc. What kind of culture and ethics is this? This behaviour filters down into councils and in the greater scheme of things, nothing but chaos is…

The failure of the eThekwini council to hold its scheduled monthly meeting because of haggling within the ruling coalition as to who should be appointed deputy mayor, illustrates exactly where the priorities of certain elements of this council lie (The Mercury, January 27). Although the position of deputy mayor is traditional, it is largely a sinecure. When Fawzia Peer was deputy mayor, there were occasions when she was not appointed to act as mayor. But such considerations are not what matters. The scrap over who gets to be deputy mayor is all about remuneration, perks, power and patronage which supersede the interests of those whose revenue float the metro’s boat. While theoretically coalitions broaden democratic representivity in the exercise of power, the eThekwini coalition is proving otherwise. In the first…

THE other day we discussed the case of a young girl in America who sent in to her local police station a half-eaten cookie and some chewed carrots, with the request that they search for DNA, with a view to establishing whether Santa Claus and his reindeers are real. The police sent on the request to the Rhode Island Department of Health, which has now responded that it was not able “to definitively confirm or refute the presence of Santa” in the young girl’s home. It tweeted that “we all agree that something magical may be at play”. It found no complete matches to anyone in the Combined DNA Index System, but said there was a partial match “to a 1947 case centred around 34th Street in New York…

SANDF members recovered three stolen vehicles outside Komatipoort, near the Mozambique border. A Toyota Fortuner and two Toyota bakkies were found abandoned on Saturday. Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said according to information police had received, the three vehicles were recovered by the SANDF members after being spotted next to the border crossing. He said police went to the scene and established that the single cab bakkie (Legend 50) was reported stolen in January in Alberton. The Toyota Fortuner was also reported stolen in January in Mothotlung, North West, during a hijacking, while the third vehicle was reported stolen in Springs in January. “No arrests have been made, and police will continue to look for the suspects,” he said. Mpumalanga provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela said the…

KWAZULU-NATAL police officers were among the award recipients at the 8th SAPS National Excellence Awards in Limpopo. The awards ceremony to recognise officers and teams for outstanding service was held on Saturday night. Officers in KZN picked up awards for station of the year, senior operational manager of the year Level 13-15 and the minister’s award was given posthumously to Sergeant Busisiwe Mjwara from Hilton Search and Rescue SAPS, who drowned along with police dog Leah during an operation in the Msunduzi River in the April floods last year. Hilton Search and Rescue SAPS also received the joint minister’s award for search and rescue efforts during the April floods. Brigadier William Slabbert, station commander of Margate SAPS on the South Coast, won the award for the senior operational manager of…

North Korea has denied providing arms to Moscow after the US said it supplied rockets and missiles to Russia’s private military group Wagner. Washington designated the Wagner group a “transnational criminal organisation”, citing its weapons dealings with Pyongyang in violation of UN Security Council resolutions. The White House showed US intelligence photographs of Russian rail cars entering North Korea, picking up rockets and missiles, and returning to Russia. A senior North Korean official, Kwon Jong Gun, rejected the claims, warning the US of a “really undesirable result” if it spread “rumours”, branding it a “grave provocation”. Along with China, Russia is one of the North’s few international friends. | AFP…

Ukraine’s military said yesterday its forces repelled an attack in the area of Blahodatne in the eastern part of the Donetsk region, while Russia’s Wagner private military group said it took control of the village. “Ukraine’s Defence Forces repelled the attacks of the occupiers 13 other settlements in the Donetsk region too,” the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in its daily morning report. But the Wagner Group said on the Telegram messaging app its units had taken control of Blahodatne. Four civilians were killed, one in Bakhmut, and 17 wounded in Russian attacks, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of the Donetsk region, said on Telegram. | Reuters…

Washington: Tom Verlaine, the influential frontman of the band Television which emerged from the New York punk rock underground in the late 1970s with seminal album Marquee Moon, has died at the age of 73. The singer and guitarist died in New York “after a brief illness”, Jesse Paris Smith, the daughter of Verlaine and punk-poet laureate Patti Smith, told The New York Times. Born Thomas Miller, Verlaine adopted his last name from the French poet Paul Verlaine, whose lyricism he tried to infuse into his song-writing, while playing guitar in a style both ethereal and aggressive. He went to high school with fellow punk icon Richard Hell, and together they founded Television in 1973 alongside guitarist Richard Lloyd. Its 1977 debut Marquee Moon is “one of the greatest albums…

A 5.9-magnitude earthquake hit north-western Iran overnight, killing at least three people and injuring more than 800 in the region near the border with Turkey, state officials and media said yesterday. Panicked residents fled their homes as buildings collapsed and rubble crushed cars, with hundreds seeking shelter from freezing winter conditions in evacuation centres as more than 20 aftershocks rattled the region. The shallow quake hit the city of Khoy, with a population of around 200 000, in West Azerbaijan province, said the Seismological Center of the University of Tehran. “This incident has left 816 injured and three dead,” West Azerbaijan governor Mohammad Sadegh Motamedian was quoted as saying by IRNA news agency. People were seen wrapped in blankets and huddling around fires in the snow-dusted region, in images…

THREE municipalities under the control of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, say they will heed the call by the party’s provincial office to legally challenge the steep increases in the electricity tariff which have been approved by the National Energy Regulator of SA (Nersa). This after Nersa approved an 18.65% tariff increase this financial year and an increase of 12.74% for the 2023/24 financial year. The ANC in eThekwini Municipality said it has instructed the City’s legal department to look into how it could challenge the tariff increase, while Msunduzi Municipality said it would solicit public support from its residents in the event it had to go to court against Nersa. ANC provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo said recently that the party’s Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) unanimously rejected the tariff hikes. “We…

The refusal by the IFP to hand over uMhlathuze Municipality to the EFF may be one of the main reasons why the Red Berets have decided to part ways with the party. The IFP will hold a media briefing at its headquarters in Durban today following the announcement by EFF leader Julius Malema that they were ending their working relationship with the IFP. Speaking at a party gathering in Gauteng yesterday, Malema indicated that they were splitting with the IFP by recalling all its deputy mayors in municipalities where the two parties were co-governing. The EFF leader referred to the IFP as “apartheid collaborators”, telling their members that they would not work with a party that refused to change. “We don’t want to see the IFP government in any government…

Western nations are pouring military aid into Ukraine, thereby risking a massive nuclear exchange with Russia. Nato leaders have never witnessed the horrors of a nuclear war. Putin must also be warned that any nuclear assault will kill more than 2 billion in the northern hemisphere. Selective morality and historical amnesia are now part of Western strategy in its attempt to contain and defeat Russia as an imperial European power. When the then Soviet Union and now Russia intervened militarily in the affairs of other nations, the Western alliance remained impassive. The killing of innocent civilians in major conflict zones is brushed aside by the West when their allies are involved. Every major power, from Russian to a combination of Nato nations, violated every rule pertaining to warfare permissible under…

A wise decision by the Msunduzi Municipality – who called for proposals for a non-profit organisation to refurbish and manage the Mountain Rise Crematorium for a 20-year period. The same can’t be said about eThekwini Municipality. The Mobeni Heights Crematorium is still closed for reasons nobody seems to know. I am saddened at the disrespect we have been shown. With our economy spiralling downwards toward a meltdown, it seems nearly every department is dysfunctional. If I say I am disillusioned, it will be an understatement. We have a non-profit organisation, The Clare Estate Crematorium, who have board members which comprise engineers, retired principals and businessmen, a team of professionals. Wouldn’t (it) be an idea to allow these professionals to take over the Mobeni Heights Crematorium? Rest assured, in a matter…

TOO sick to work, but not sick enough to attend a wedding in another city proved to be a bad decision for a former employee at Mediclinic in Potchefstroom. He was dismissed more than 10 years ago after it was found that he was dishonest. The man, who was represented by trade union National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu), has been unsuccessfully fighting his dismissal all these years. He was recently dealt yet another blow, when the Labour Court turned down his leave to appeal application. He had sought to leave to appeal a judgment in an earlier case which went against him. In that matter he had wanted the court to set aside the finding of an arbitrator that found his dismissal was fair. In the course…

A report coming out of Washington has again raised concerns about the scourge of human trafficking in South Africa. The US Agency for International Development and its research partners released their first report from a larger authoritative research study on the scope and nature of human trafficking in South Africa. The partners, which include SA Laser Pulse, Purdue University, the School of Human and Community Development at the University of the Witwatersrand and Khulisa Management Services, supported by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the US Agency for International Development (USAid), said the report stemmed from a study on human trafficking that was conducted from 2020 and 2022. The study aimed to provide evidence on the nature and magnitude of human trafficking in South Africa for policymakers and…

According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), State advocate Valencia Dube approached the court with an urgent application on Friday to have Ackerman’s bail cancelled following his failure to comply with the court order to furnish the State with a doctor’s note on January 27. NPA spokesperson Phindi Louw-Mjonondwane said an investigating team was dispatched to Ackerman’s house to investigate the matter after Ackerman failed to appear in court. “The investigation team, comprised of Captain Banks and Warrant Officer Pelser, acted swiftly and visited his place of residence after realising that the accused had become unreachable. On arrival, they found that the accused had moved out and sold all his movable assets. He has since disappeared, which is a contravention of the bail conditions.” | Mercury Correspondent…

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport, Community Safety and Liaison MEC, Sipho Hlomuka, has called on the police to step up law-enforcement operations. Hlomuka was reacting after two people were killed and four were injured in a shooting on Zazi Road in Clermont on Wednesday. The department said the two victims were identified as Siyanda Matabela, 23, and Kwanele Ngomazulu, 24. Those injured by stray bullets included Martha Langa, 34, Sphiwe Maduna, 30, Sipho Mwawa, 23, and an unknown man in his thirties who was a few metres away from the scene. “I am pleased to report that already a team of senior police members at district level, led by Brigadier Cele, is working on this case. “These are premeditated murders; I call on the police to work around the clock…

SINCE the very beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, Nato has emphasised that it is not a warring party to the conflict and does not want to become one. Let me provide you with an example of a recent statement made by the secretary-general of the organisation, Jens Stoltenberg: “Nato was not, and will not be, a warring party to the conflict in Ukraine; the alliance is not sending its troops and aircraft to Ukraine.” At the same time, the alliance has already supplied weapons to Ukraine worth billions of US dollars. Recently, the delivery of Leopard battle tanks to the combat zone has been actively discussed. Being a diplomat and not a soldier, I know little about the combat characteristics of this heavy armoured vehicle. However, one…

The Chinese embassy in Tokyo has announced it will resume issuing visas to Japanese citizens. Yesterday’s decision ends a retaliatory step against Japan’s “discriminatory” move to require Covid testing for travellers arriving from mainland China, where infections were surging. China stopped issuing visas to Japanese nationals from January 10. It also suspended issuing visas to South Koreans for similar reasons. The Chinese embassy in South Korea had not lifted the suspension as of yesterday. Japan is still requiring those travelling on direct flights from China to show proof of negative test results within 72 hours before leaving China. Travellers are also tested upon arriving. | AFP…

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak yesterday fired Conservative Party chairperson Nadhim Zahawi after an inquiry into Zahawi’s tax affairs found a “serious breach” of ministerial rules, the government said. “As a result, I have informed you of my decision to remove you from your position in His Majesty’s Government,” Sunak wrote in a publicly released letter to his Iraqi-born ally, following a scandal that cast doubt on the premier’s own judgement and vows of integrity. Sunak’s decision to dismiss Zahawi, rather than invite him to resign, underlined the serious political stakes at play at a time when millions of Britons are struggling to pay bills. | AFP…

The US city of Memphis has disbanded the special police unit whose officers fatally beat a young black man, after a video of the assault sparked widespread shock and outrage. The video, which shows five officers repeatedly kicking and punching 29-year-old Tyre Nichols as he moans and calls out for his mother, triggered calls for police reform. The southern US city announced it had deactivated the officers’ special unit, known as Scorpion, which was launched in 2021 to reduce illegal activity by assigning more police to high-crime areas. The Memphis Police Department said in a statement it was “in the best interest of all to permanently deactivate the Scorpion Unit”, which stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods. “The officers currently assigned to the unit agree…

Pope Francis starts a trip tomorrow to two fragile African nations often forgotten by the world, where protracted conflicts have left millions of refugees and displaced people grappling with hunger. The January 31-February 5 visit to Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and South Sudan, takes the 86-year-old pope to places where Catholics make up about half of the populations and where the church is a key player in health and educational systems as well as in democracy-building efforts. The trip was scheduled to take place last July but was postponed because Francis was suffering a flare-up of a chronic knee ailment. He still uses a wheelchair and cane but his knee has improved significantly. Both countries are rich in natural resources – DRC in minerals and South Sudan in oil…

England 342/7 Buttler 94*, Brook 80, Moeen 51, Nortje 2/64, Parnell 1/54 South Africa 345/5 Bavuma 109, Miller 58*, Jansen 32*, Markram 49, Rashid 2/72 South Africa won the second ODI by five wickets to win the series 2-0 “Bavuma, Bavuma, Bavuma!” A name that has not echoed around a South African cricket ground with such fervour since that magical day at Newlands seven years ago. But for all the historical significance of that sunlit day in Cape Town, this arguably meant even more to the man himself, South Africa’s white-ball captain Temba Bavuma, at the Mangaung Oval on Sunday. Bavuma has been the centre of criticism for the past six months in SA cricket. The levels of condemnation crossed a line that no SA cricketer has ever had to…

The world’s biggest Consumer Electronics Show, CES 2023, was held in Las Vegas and displayed numerous innovative, astounding and sometimes perplexing technologies. A few of these remarkable products were: A driver assistance system Comma.ai demonstrated their Comma 3 device installed in a KIA EV6. The Comma 3 device runs on Openpilot, an open source advanced driver assistance system that can be retrofitted to more than 200 models. The hardware consists of three high-dynamic range (HDR) cameras, cellular LTE, wi-fi, an inertial measurement unit (IMU), high-precision GPS and microphones, and costs about R25 797. During tests the Comma 3 advanced driver assist device provided a very smooth ride and was able to easily recognise and stop for red traffic lights. It further kept the vehicle centred in the lane, made assisted…

MORE than 70% of businesses operating in Durban have revealed that eThekwini Municipality’s response to service-delivery issues was slow, saying this was affecting the business sector’s confidence in the City’s ability to deal effectively with such challenges. The Durban Business Confidence Index report also revealed that most businesses surveyed in the municipality found that poor services were provided in respect of electricity, water and water-related issues. The report is a collaboration between the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), the eThekwini Municipality and the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It is aimed at finding solutions to the challenges that impact on investor confidence and the willingness to expand businesses in the municipality. Professor Harold Ngalawa, professor of Economics at UKZN, presented the results on Friday, saying that industries such as manufacturing,…

Here is a challenging insight-for-action for daily practice until it becomes a lifestyle: Think deeply about your personal power. It comes with your humanity. As an autonomous person you have power – often limited, I will concede – to make many crucial choices. Be sure you are the one making your choices and have not abdicated to others – spouse, children, adult sons and daughters – the power that comes with your humanity. Assume your legitimate and divine place in the power seat of your life, a position only abdicated under dire medical circumstances or during advanced years when memory and health may fail. In the meantime, get all the advice and guidance you may need, but take responsibility for your life by taking up your position in your power…

The article under the headline “Special council meeting collapses” (The Mercury, January 27) refers: The report that followed could surely not have come as much of a surprise to many South Africans. It appears to be becoming the norm. What may have surprised many readers, as it did me, was the sentence: “They accused the ANC of disrespecting ratepayers”, which finished by stating that “such meetings at the ICC cost the municipality about R500 000”. Flip. R500 000? Do they have a sit-down, three-course meal? Brought in by one of Durban's top restaurants? Or what? Seems incredible to me that these councillors would fail to attend the meeting, knowing they would miss out on what would surely be a wonderful feast. May I make a suggestion? How about…

The apathetic and indifferent attitude that has befallen our leaders and organisations is obvious to all. It is visible at political, religious, economic, institutional and social levels. Individualism, self-interest, nepotism, self-aggrandisement and greed among some of our leaders are adding to the grief and challenges of the working class, less privileged and the masses. In today’s contemporary times, individualism is becoming the new order. Ordinary people are not permitted to engage the leadership or the hierarchy. Even by adopting or following correct protocols, leaders cannot be called out on their mistakes, trespasses or errors and are not open to feedback. Leaders are adopting an entitlement culture and do not want to engage in dialogue over their decisions. The general masses have to turn the other way from the mistakes of…

With women still vastly under-represented in judicial positions, the Aspirant Women Judges Programme was recently launched by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. The year-long programme is to give women within the legal system – lawyers, advocates and magistrates – the necessary tools to later become judges. The programme will be implemented by the South African Judicial Education Institution. The entity was established in order to promote the independence, impartiality, dignity, accessibility and effectiveness of the courts through continuing judicial education as provided for in the South African Judicial Education Institute Act. The purpose of the programme is to provide entry-level education and training to aspiring female judicial officers to enhance suitability for appointment to judicial office. Justice Zondo, during the launch of the programme, remarked that many of the women who…

Zandile Christmas Mafe, the man accused of torching Parliament more than a year ago, has for the third time refused to attend court. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said Mafe refused to come out of his Pollsmoor Prison cell to attend the pre-trial conference at the Western Cape High Court on Friday. Parliament was torched on January 2 last year, and the estimated cost of the damage amounted to millions. During his bail application, Mafe had indicated that he intended pleading not guilty to charges of terrorism and arson. Provincial NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said: “This time he (Mafe) didn’t furnish any reasons or make any demands but just refused to come out of his prison cell. “The prosecutor, advocate Mervyn Menigo, told the court that several prison officials, including…

Residents from Phoenix, Verulam, and oThongathi, led by the DA, took to the streets at the weekend to demand answers from the eThekwini Municipality over ongoing electricity and water outages. The protest was led by DA KZN provincial leader Francois Rodgers. Rodgers said Phoenix was among many areas badly hit by water and electricity outages. “People have had enough of the incompetence of the municipal officials. People’s food is going rotten in their fridges, people with illnesses have to go a week without water, so the municipality has to fix this,” Rodgers said. The DA handed a memorandum to municipal officials at the electricity and water depot in Phoenix. A resident from Verulam, Lungile Phakathi, said the ongoing water and power outages, apart from the load shedding, were making life…

Hot on the heels of last week’s damning judgment by three judges against the Road Accident Fund (RAF) in which they ordered that its board and its chief executive, Collins Letsoalo, pay legal costs from their own pockets for two RAF cases, the parties have indicated that they want to appeal the ruling before the Supreme Court of Appeal. The fund and its heads listed several points where they claimed that the judges erred in their findings. The judgment was penned by Mpumalanga High Court Judge President Judge Francis Legodi with two judges concurring. The court last week issued a 97-page scathing judgment against Letsoalo and his board and made personal costs order against them. While it’s not clear at this stage what the costs are, some say it…

Mantashe is sceptical about the cost and timeline HOW times have changed! As Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana reminded visiting US Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen in their first bilateral meeting last Thursday in Pretoria, “the last time that a US Secretary of the Treasury visited South Africa was in 2014, eight years ago! “This is therefore, indeed, a momentous occasion,” he quipped. Was he taking a tongue-in-cheek dig at Washington’s neglect of its relationship with Africa in general, and South Africa per se for more than a decade? Or was he simply stating the obvious? Behind the diplomatic niceties and the photo shoot opportunities, there is little doubt that the main push factor for the visit was from the Biden administration’s seemingly new foreign policy objective of re-engaging with Africa…

A loud explosion struck a military industry factory near Iran’s central city of Isfahan overnight, in what Tehran said yesterday was a drone strike by unidentified attackers. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, which came amid tension with the West over Tehran’s nuclear work and supply of arms for Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as months of anti-government demonstrations at home. “An unsuccessful attack was carried out using micro aerial vehicles on one of the ministry’s workshop sites,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement carried by Iran’s state TV. It said one drone was shot down “and the other two were caught in defence traps and blew up”. | Reuters…

SEOUL: Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg arrived in South Korea yesterday, on a trip that will include Japan and is aimed at strengthening ties with US allies amid the war in Ukraine. Stoltenberg met Foreign Minister Park Jin in Seoul, and was to meet President Yoon Suk-yeol and Defence Minister Lee Jong-Sup. Nato is concerned about North Korea’s missile tests and nuclear weapons, Stoltenberg told Park, citing suspicion that North Korea is providing military aid to Russia. Yoon and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida became the first leaders from their countries to attend a Nato summit, eliciting warnings from China. | Reuters…

At least 51 people were killed in two separate transport accidents in western Pakistan yesterday, when a bus plunged off a bridge and a boat carrying children capsized. Forty-one are so far confirmed dead after their bus crashed into a ravine in south-western Balochistan province, while at least 10 pupils died in the boating accident in north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials said. Up to nine were still missing in the waters, local police said. At the remote site of the bus crash, north of the city of Bela in Lasbela district, senior administration official Hamza Anjum said “the dead bodies ... are beyond recognition”. Anjum said 40 corpses were retrieved from the wreck alongside three injured, one of which died shortly after. The remaining two survivors were in “serious” condition. The…

Climate talks in the United Arab Emirates this year should focus on action rather than visions, former UN chief Ban Ki-moon said during a visit to the oil-rich Gulf country. “Many countries and many people have already presented the visions, so we may not need any more,” he said in Dubai. “We need a COP of solutions and a COP of action.” The South Korean diplomat, who co-chairs the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens, was in the UAE at the weekend to launch a partnership with Dubai Cares, a civil society body focused on training youth on “green skills”. The last UN climate talks held in Egypt in November concluded with a landmark deal to create a “loss and damage” fund to cover the costs that developing countries face…