Table of contents for 2022-10-20 in Star

MARKUS Jooste’s family trust Silver Oak only has assets worth around R100 million and not billions of rands as suggested in the South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB’s) attachment order for the assets of the alleged mastermind of the massive corporate fraud at Steinhoff, according to a Silver Oak Trust trustee. This was according to Gary Harlow, a trustee and one of the respondents in the attachment order that SARB obtained from the Cape High Court, and acted upon on Tuesday when its officials appeared at Jooste’s Hermanus home. Harlow, a director that has sat on many boards in South Africa, and somebody who knew Jooste for 30 years, was interviewed yesterday by Biznews.com According to the attachment order disclosed on the SARB website, Jooste’s assets to be attached include…

The once glorious University of South Africa (Unisa) is a shadow of its former self, and the accusations of incompetence point to vice-chancellor Puleng LenkaBula. The divisions in the university’s leadership are on show with many in management “simply wishing for her to resign”. Last month, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande appointed an assessor to investigate the unending complaints of malfeasance at the university. Renovations of the vice-chancellor’s official residence, at a cost of more than R2 million, has caught the eye of the assessor. Nzimande also revealed details of the expenditure on the renovations in reply to DA MP Chantel King’s questions in the National Assembly. The DA demanded to see itemised billing for the project and to examine the service providers involved in renovating the Cloghreen residence in…

THE DA led a protest action to call on the government to cut down VAT on food mainly bought by the poor. The demonstration was held yesterday before Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana’s mid-term Budget statement. The party’s Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga and national spokesperson for finance Dion George led the demonstration on Church Square, outside the offices of the National Treasury. It was declared a fight for more affordable food for poor South Africans. The party said VAT cut relief would help poor households to stretch budgets further and enable the purchase of more nutritious food. Msimanga said the party had called on Godongwana to implement zero-rate bone-in chicken and other chicken categories commonly bought by low-income households. Zero-rating bone-in chicken would cost about R3 billion, but experts suggested…

Calls have been made for South Africans to start addressing the way in which we socialise ourselves as Statistics SA’s women empowerment report paints a sad picture of sex disparities. Statistician-General of South Africa Risenga Maluleke released the findings of the “Gender Series Volume IX: Women Empowerment, 2017 to 2022” report on Tuesday. The report provides insight into sex disparities, trends and patterns in economic empowerment and sex equity in positions of decision-making, both in government and the private sector, among others over the past five years. “We have to start addressing as a nation the way in which we socialise ourselves from childhood. Policy programme implementation, yes, but the whole issue of socialisation is very, very critical,” Maluleke said. The report revealed that there has been a steady increase…

The bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines was an act of terror that will have grave implications for under sea installations and the beginning of sub-surface warfare. It was a serious breach of international law that will have global ramifications. It is shocking that certain nations took part in an act of terror to disrupt energy supplies, setting a precedent for other nations to follow. Nations with expertise in undersea capabilities took part in the audacious operation. The acts of terror have raised concerns that undersea cables connecting the world to the internet are at risk. Internet cables connect all the world’s continents and represent the digital highway for everything from YouTube videos to financial market transactions. The laws of armed conflict, will enter a new dimension as deep-submersible vehicles…

Essentially, funerals have become the true party and social gathering of black people as remedies for their environments of clustering and underdevelopment. The Covid-19 pandemic already showed us how both government and science sectors or general society, perceive the function of the churches and their limits. Here, the expectation is that during unknown crises, the churches must toe the line of government instruction, and scientific advice, more than any biblical conviction. Then in the actual funerals, the behaviour of “mourners” and the bereaved is far from both the ethics of dealing with loss and African traditions. Now the mourners are essentially party-goers, who care more about the cuisine and dress code and the bereaved seem to see funerals as a time to settle old scores. For many family members, the…

With the African continent known to be bursting with talent, Afrochella is one of the platforms that have been accentuating and elevating the significance of African talent. Afrochella is a celebration of Africa’s diverse culture and vibrant work showcased by the continent’s many emerging creatives, artists and entrepreneurs. This year, Afrochella’s theme is “AfroFuturism”, a term created to reflect on the past, explore the future and create a progressive path for the African diaspora. To bring “AfroFuturism” to life, the Road to Afrochella series will include on-site activations in South Africa. The Road to Afrochella event will headline some of the hottest African Afrobeat and amapiano artists, including Daliwonga, Focalistic, Stone- bwoy, Young Stunna, Gyakie, Nirvana Nokwe, Venom & Shisilize, UncleParty Time, DJ Pizaro, DJ Loft, Leddi G and Kojo…

Which side will the scale fall on? Balancing the request for salary increases and the high unemployment rate is tough for businesses throughout the world. The Trade Union Congress (TUC) demands that Britain’s Prime Minister Liz Truss step down because millions are struggling to make ends meet. Across the English Channel, several unions in France affected the railways and oil refineries, among other services. In Africa, reports indicate that Nigeria was experiencing a brain drain, with 800 doctors leaving the country due to inflation and the plunging currency, Naira. In South Africa, where unemployment has reached unprecedented levels, two unions are at loggerheads over the Transnet salary increases. Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) said that the number of unemployed persons increased by 132 000 to 8 million in…

VENEZUELA: Arturo Betancourt always takes the same route home from work. But a mechanic recently fumbled the installation on his new GPS system and this week his van wouldn’t start. The inconvenience ended up saving his life, he said. After hitching a ride partway home from a co-worker at lunchtime, Betancourt made the rest of the trek by foot to his home in Maracay, the capital of Venezuela’s northern state of Aragua. It was raining – hard. A creek that flows down a nearby mountain swelled, spilling over into the larger river it feeds below. A fast-moving landslide formed, sweeping away car-sized boulders and swallowing up houses in northern Maracay. “I was drenched in water and getting stuck in the mud,” Betancourt said. “But, meanwhile, the landslide was gushing down…

Yangon: At least eight people were killed and 18 wounded when two bombs exploded outside a prison in Myanmar’s Yangon yesterday, in the latest blasts to rock the commercial hub. The bombs hit a crowd queuing to drop off parcels for inmates at Insein Prison, an information team for the country’s junta authorities said in a statement, without specifying exactly how many explosions had occurred. The junta blamed “terrorists” and said the dead included three prison staff and a 10-year-old girl. It added that security forces had defused another “homemade mine” device found nearby. | AFP…

EXHAUSTED as they were in the final 10 minutes, the Lions had gone the distance against Ulster and had the Irish team on the ropes, bobbing and weaving for survival. The Joburgers couldn’t land the final punch to win the bout, and they will have to rectify that short-coming immediately on Saturday. To be honest, the Lions could have, and should have beaten Ulster this past week – but a laboured start at the beginning of the match, and a gullible kick-off to the second half, forced them to chase the game in the latter stages of the match. With all due respect to Glasgow Warriors, they should not offer such an examination of the Joburgers, not on their first visit to Ellis Park in the United Rugby Championship. Nevertheless,…

AmaZulu (1) 1 Mhango 39' Maritzburg United (0) 1 Samu 77' AMAZULU and Maritzburg United shared the spoils when they drew their DStv Premiership match 1-1 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium yesterday. Usuthu have gone four matches without a league victory at home while Maritzburg managed their second stalemate in a row AmaZulu striker Gabadinho Mhango scored for the home side in the 39th minute from close range after good work by Siphesihle Maduna. Maduna, who scored in the last match, dribbled three defenders on his way into the Maritzburg box before dragging his low cross towards Mhango, who made no mistake, firing in first time. With Usuthu having gone a man down, the tide turned for Maritzburg and they found their equaliser through forward Friday Samu in the 77th…

Amid the ongoing challenges facing women in South Africa, tech entrepreneurship presents a remarkable opportunity to empower women and girls in the country through the use of technology. The 6th annual Innovator Trust Women In Tech (Wit) Appreciation Experience is set to take place on November 16 with aims to honour female tech entrepreneurs from across the country for their outstanding achievements in leading their businesses. The awards are hosted by the Innovator Trust – a small-business training incubation facilitator established in 2014 whose mission it is to support and nurture the development of sustainable information and communications technology (ICT) SMMEs in South Africa. In its sixth year, the WIT Appreciation Experience was conceptualised primarily to recognise female beneficiaries from the enterprise development, supplier development and young entrepreneurs programmes facilitated…

I am distressed and disappointed by Zimbabweans’ massive suffering. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has failed to govern the country effectively. The poor and marginalised Zimbabweans are subjected to a pathetic degrading and inhuman life under the Zanu-PF government. It is also pathetic and disheartening in the 21st century that women in Zimbabwe are using dirty old rags and, in some cases, even leaves, as sanitary pads while Mnangagwa and his inner circle take the country’s resources. The economy is on its knees, inflation is rising every day. ATMS have no cash and the exchange rates are ever changing. Zimbabweans are exposed to extreme poverty, to the extent that daily, they are migrating to other countries in search of better living standards, particularly South Africa, which cannot accommodate more Zimbabweans. Mnangagwa should…

WEDNESDAY marked the 45th anniversary of the banning of The World and The Weekend World newspapers by the erstwhile apartheid government. On that fateful day, former National Party minister Jimmy Kruger declared the two newspapers, Pro Veritate and 19 other Black Consciousness-inclined organisations as unlawful in terms of the then Internal Security Act. Scores of black political leaders were arrested on that day, including the editor of the newspapers, Percy Qoboza, whose arrest attracted a local and international media glare. It was a Black Wednesday, both figuratively and literally. The genesis of black newspapers was limited to sex, crime, soccer, boxing, booze, gangsterism, infidelity and beauty pageants. The Bantu World, later to become The World newspaper, was the main and predominant English newspaper read by black people. White people…

Gospel music enthusiasts are counting the days to one of the most highly anticipated events in the music world, which is set to bring together local and internationally acclaimed household names in the gospel industry. Multi-award-winning and chart-topping gospel heavyweights will grace the inaugural “Replenishment” concert at SuperSport Park Cricket Stadium on Saturday. Joyous Celebration, Benjamin Dube, Dumi Mkokstad, Dr Tumi, Andile Ka Majola, Ntokozo Mbambo, Hlengiwe Mhlaba, Thinah Zungu, Sbu Noah, Takie Ndou, Mmatema, Ncebakazi Msomi, Kgosi, Ndu Shezi, Winnie Mashaba and many other talents are set to deliver performances at the concert. The Star spoke to renowned radio host Thabo “Tbo Touch” Molefe, who has been at the helm of bringing this event to life. He detailed the significance of the event, revealing that it would be the…

Tjaart van der Walt looks every bit like a company wants its bean counter to look. Bespectacled, studious, serious, meticulous – he is the epitome of the man you want balancing your books. Underneath the academic façade, though, there is a sporting exuberance and athletic zest bursting to come out. Cricket South Africa’s chief financial officer is an avid sportsman, who hails from Potchefstroom and who participated in a number of sports growing up and was more than decent at rugby, cricket, athletics and tennis. A bowling all-rounder in his youth, Van der Walt played first team cricket at schools and club level at Potchefstroom Gymnasium and Potchefstroom University, now University of the North West. “I’ve got good memories of my cricketing days and getting my first bat, a Gray-Nicolls,…

October 19, 1977, remains the media’s credibility barometer and its anniversary yesterday asks for a reflection on the present. While our media are among the leaders in the developing world, more so when it confronts corruption and poor governance, it must still come to the party to address South Africa’s deeper challenges. On October 19, 1977, I was in Soweto as I was each morning during those turbulent times with states of emergency and press restrictions. My job was to criss-cross the usual hot spots. I was shocked to find out that journalists Aggrey Klaaste, Willie Bokala, Gabu Tugwana and others had been detained. Dr Nthato Motlana and his entire “Soweto Committee of 10” members and Fanyana Mazibuko and his teachers’ action committee were also carted off to jail. Later…

Beaten and raped by police officers as a child, Mira was among the many victims of sexual violence during Nepal’s civil war, and is now one of the few to recount her ordeal. Guerrilla attacks and forced disappearances were daily facts of life on both sides of the Himalayan republic’s decade-long Maoist insurgency. The conflict ended in 2006 with a peace deal that brought the rebels into government and promised justice for those who had suffered in the fighting. But 16 years after the war ended, civilian courts have handed down just two convictions for civil war-era crimes, while rape survivors are frustrated that their traumas have been met with official indifference. After years of waiting for redress, they are now sharing their experiences in a demand for recognition. “They…

AMSTERDAM: The Netherlands will follow Spain in pulling out of the Energy Charter Treaty protecting investments in the sector, its energy ministry said yesterday. In force since 1998, the treaty, which has more than 50 signatories including the EU, allows investors to sue governments over policies that jeopardise their investments. In announcing the decision, Dutch Minister for Climate and Energy Policy Rob Jetten told parliament the treaty is not in line with the Paris climate accord and that efforts to re-negotiate it have been unsuccessful, a spokesperson said yesterday. | Reuters…

KAIZER Chiefs will be the only one of the four teams with a disadvantage going into the second leg of the MTN8 semi-finals this weekend. Orlando Pirates, Mamelodi Sundowns and AmaZulu will start with clean sheets, but Chiefs conceded a goal in a 1-1 draw in their first leg at home. Brandon Truter, the AmaZulu coach at the time, said the away-goal rule gave his team the edge ahead of the second-leg showdown. Truter has since been fired, and he will not be able to reap the benefits of his first-leg reward. After the first leg early in October, Truter sported a huge smile on his face as he walked away from FNB Stadium. “We wanted to win the game today. We came out here to get a positive…

ACSION said yesterday that a potential cash offer for the property company might lead to a delisting from the JSE. “Shareholders are advised that Acsion is considering a potential de- listing of the company’s shares from the securities exchange operated by the JSE, on the basis that the delisting would be accompanied by a cash offer, which, if successfully concluded, may have a material effect on the price of the company’s securities,“ it said. Shareholders were told to exercise caution in dealing with the shares. The firm, with a market cap of more than R2 billion, has an investment portfolio consisting of eight well-established, strategically located retail properties, a light industrial property and a mixed-used development, all located in South Africa, as well as an international retail property situated…

South African actress Thuso Mbedu has become one of the most talked about actresses in Hollywood. The star catapulted to fame after her role in Barry Jenkins’s 10-part epic The Underground Railroad, for which she won several awards. And her most recent role in The Woman King added to her success. The hugely popular film, currently in cinemas, tells a story inspired by true events but heavily fictionalised and dramatised, about an all-women group of African warriors, whose leader is played by Viola Davis. Now that Mbedu has fulfilled her dream of acting in an action flick and alongside Davis, her new focus is on anime. In an chat with Jeremy O Harris of Interview Magazine, Mbedu said she has hooked up with a comic book artist, who is helping…

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) have briefed members of Parliament (about economic crimes besetting Eskom. Opening the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) meeting yesterday, chairperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa said: “We remain fundamentally concerned about the state of health of Eskom. The rolling load shedding (tells you) there is a problem.” Addressing Scopa, SIU investigations head Leonard Lekgetho said their investigations looked into, among other things, lifestyle audits, the contracting of cloud computing services, software licences, engineering and project management contracts at Majuba and Matla power stations. He said 334 officials were linked to Eskom vendors. Of these, 135 had been referred to the power utility for disciplinary hearings. Eskom found 67 guilty, 18 not guilty, 19 resigned, four retired, eight withdrawn and…

A Ugandan woman’s appeal against being listed on the Visa Entry and Stop List (V-list) has been successful in the Western Cape High Court to be reviewed by the Department of Home Affairs. This comes after Florence Najjemba’s workers and relative visa was allegedly fraudulent after it expired. She had only found out about this when she tried to travel to Botswana. Najjemba had approached the court to review and set aside the decision of the minister of home affairs who had deemed her a prohibited person in terms of the Immigration Act. Najjemba initially visited South Africa in 2009, accompanying her sister on a short-term visitor’s visa. She subsequently successfully applied for a relative’s visa which was valid for two years. In 2011, she applied for an extension of…

Cows are one of the most important domesticated animals. They have been with us for a very long time, being first domesticated in Asia some 10 000 years ago. They are an important source of food and nourishment, giving us meat, the all-important mineral-rich milk and dairy products and hide, which is made into leather. Cows are regarded as sacred animals in India. Hindus do not eat beef, so slaughtering of cattle is taboo in India. The poor rural communities use cow dung as fuel. They even coat their sandy floors of their huts with it. But the much-loved humble cow is now becoming a problem, both to man and the environment. There is an estimated one billion cows on earth to feed 8 billion people with a growing appetite…

Excuse me for stating the obvious but if you wish to see some young blood injected into the Springboks in the next couple of weeks, you best leave those notions at the nearest stop while we cover the final distance towards the Rugby World Cup. It is clear that head coach Jacques Nienaber, backed by rugby director Rassie Erasmus, will not be involving any new faces in the End of Year tour, unless they play for SA “A”. Indeed, when it comes to the Boks in this respect, much like Donnie Brasco, you can “forget about it”. The likes of Manie Libbok, Evan Roos, Sacha Mngomezulu, Henco van Wyk, Franke Horn, Ruan Venter; and a gaggle of other young players, might get a shot at Munster and Bristol Bears in…

AFTER years of political dominance in Lesotho, the reign of the governing coalition of the All Basotho Convention (ABC) and the Democratic Congress came to an abrupt end after the 2022 national elections. In what has been described as the most eventful elections, the newly formed Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) party won the elections with 56 of 120 seats. It has formed a coalition with the Alliance of Democrats and the National Independence Party. This continues the trend of coalition governments in Lesotho since 2012. The peaceful elections in Lesotho are commendable and indicative of the continued striving towards consolidating democracy in Africa. But there have also been widespread concerns about whether the ABC would contest the election results. While the ABC will be within its rights, any contest of…

SEOUL: North Korea fired 100 more artillery shells off its west coast yesterday, South Korea’s military said, just hours after it launched hundreds of shells into the sea off its east and west coasts in what it called a grave warning to South Korea. North Korea has been carrying out weapons tests at an unprecedented pace this year. On Monday, South Korean troops kicked off their annual Hoguk defence drills designed to boost their ability to respond to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats. Pyongyang has angrily reacted to the South Korean and joint military activities, calling them provocations. Seoul says its exercises are regular and defence-oriented. | Reuters…

TOKYO: Haruyuki Takahashi, a former member of the Tokyo organising committee of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, was arrested on bribery suspicions for the fourth time, with two Japanese companies being searched in the case, media reported yesterday. The firms under suspicion are Sun Arrow Inc, producer of toy mascots of the Tokyo Olympics, and the ADK advertising company, third largest in the country, according to the Kyodo news agency. Both companies are reportedly believed to have paid bribes worth a total of 54 million yen (R6.5m) to Takahashi. | Sputnik…

SOUTH Africa’s three representatives in the CAF Confederation Cup have learnt who their second preliminary play-off round opponents are following a draw that was held in Cairo on Tuesday. Royal AM have been drawn to play against Democratic Republic of the Congo giants TP Mazembe. Though TP Mazembe have far more experience than Thwihli Thwahla, the Durban club can take heart from the heroics of their provincial neighbours AmaZulu who inflicted a shock defeat upon TP Mazembe in the CAF Champions League second preliminary round last season. TP Mazembe will look to use the tournament to rebuild themselves into a giant of African football, having not won the Champions League since 2015 and the Confederation Cup since 2017, a long time by their standards. After being dumped out of the…