Содержание выпуска: 2022-01-26 — Mercury

Philippa Larkin philippa.larkin@inl.co.za SASOL said yesterday that things were looking up for the petrochemicals giant as it posted a 31 percent rise in revenue in the six months to December 30 on higher crude oil prices and increased demand following the easing of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions globally. The group generated revenue of $4.86 billion (R773.9bn) compared with $3.7bn for the comparative period last year. Its financial performance was also underpinned by a favourable macroeconomic environment, refining margins and chemicals prices. Sasol’s share price leapt more than 4 percent to R304.95 at intra-day trade, with the share having risen 86.55 percent in a year. In its energy business, Sasol said it was realising higher gross margins and a 3 percent increase in sales volumes. Gas production…

Thabo Makwakwa and Siyabonga Mkhwanazi THE Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) was expected to write to President Cyril Ramaphosa instructing him to explain his utterances that he knew those who had stolen public funds for political campaigns. The committee was deliberating yesterday after it had invited the ANC’s Mervyn Dirks to address it on his letter requesting Ramaphosa be summoned to appear to explain his utterances. Chair of Scopa Mkhuleko Hlengwa said Ramaphosa owed the committee and the people of South Africa an ex- planation of what he knows about the misappropriation of state funds. “We must also write to the public protector informing her that we will be dealing with the matter that Mr Dirks brought before her office requesting that the office investigate the matter. We will…

FAROUK ARAIE | Benoni NPA top investigator Mr Frank Dutton has passed away. His death leaves our fractured and beleaguered nation immeasurably poorer for we have lost a great officer and a dedicated man who was our country’s servant, in every meaning of the word. There are few men or women who could equal his devotion to the principles upon which our democracy was founded. Our nation is diminished today by the death of a patriot who was one of the greatest defenders of freedom under the rule of law. He leaves a legacy that we are grateful to inherit. The NPA has lost an officer of the highest integrity, courage and honesty. For many, Dutton was the symbol and embodiment of values he cherished with a granite-like…

THEMBA KHOZA | Department of Water and Sanitation We are receiving heavy rainfall in most parts of the country. This is a good thing to recharge our water resources mainly due to South Africa being a water-scarce country. As we have seen in recent weeks, the heavy downpours have been associated with flooding and infrastructure-related disasters. Houses and towns have been flooded, and rivers and roads washed away. This has led to serious hardships for communities. Inasmuch as nothing much can be done to stop natural disasters, we can play our part to mitigate the extent and impact of such disasters. We also play a part in these disasters due to our irresponsible behaviour and disregard for the environment. We have turned our water resources into dumping sites,…

TOM MHLANGA | Braamfontein THE South African government is in a serious state of disaster. One wonders if the Department of State Security is even aware of this because we have been witnessing disturbing scenes which smells like deliberate sabotage. The burning of our National Key Points can’t be coincidental, it is clear that someone is behind this. As much as our government would want to keep certain information from the public, it must take us into its confidence and assure us that they are capable of dealing with this crisis. We have become a joke to other countries because of the incompetency of our leaders. What is also clear is the fact that there is a serious campaign to unseat the current president and the two…

Robin-Lee Francke robin.francke@inl.co.za Police are investigating an incident in which an ANC councillor was manhandled and dragged by security officials at municipal offices in East London. Videos surfaced across social media of councillor Nanziwe Rulashe kicking and screaming as she was dragged, allegedly by armed men, from the offices on Monday. Rulashe works for the Amathole District Municipality (ADM). In one of the videos, a woman who claims to be head of security says she received verbal instructions from the municipal manager to have Rulashe removed from the offices. The videos have sparked outrage across social media platforms. Executive mayor Nceba Ndikinda said the matter would be “fully investigated”. “It is very sad to view and read about the alleged incident that took place in ADM head offices yesterday. “This…

Chevon Booysenc chevon.booysen@inl.co.za The justice system has come under fire for the slow pace of cases after an elderly Khayelitsha woman died before the case against the man who allegedly raped her could be heard. The matter was recently struck off the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court roll. The accused was a 50-year-old member of the SANDF. Activist Zona Morton, who had been monitoring and assisting the victim and family, criticised the justice department and attributed the delay in the case to the DNA backlog that exists countrywide. “The perpetrator was injured by community members who found him in the act. The investigating officer found DNA on the scene and this was submitted along with the rape kit... Due to the rape injuries the victim struggled to walk. The investigating officer was dedicated…

Se-Anne Rall se-anne.koopman@inl.co.za The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) has come under fire over utterances made in a media statement suggesting that the Covid-19 vaccine could alter women’s menstrual cycles. In the statement, the CGE warned against mandatory vaccinations for employees and students. It stated that a medical journal reported that vaccines could cause a small change to the menstrual length but this change was temporary. “… While health experts believe this finding is not clinically significant, the commission would like to caution businesses and various institutes against forcing employees to vaccinate and imposing harsh sanctions on them if they do not,” the statement read. President of the College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of South Africa, Professor Priya Soma-Pillay, said that at this stage of the pandemic the benefits of…

Zama Ngcoya zama.ngcoya@inl.co.za The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has welcomed the reopening of 11 schools in Mkhambathini, in the Midlands. The 11 schools under the Kwa-Nyavu Traditional Council did not open last week due to chieftaincy disputes. The gates to the schools had been locked and teaching staff received death threats and were told not to attempt to open the schools. The department’s spokesperson, Muzi Mahlambi, said they were pleased that schooling could begin for pupils. “We are happy that engaging with the various stakeholders in that area has yielded positive results, and that we now have all our schools back. “We are hopeful that there will soon be a permanent solution to this debacle to avoid any further interruptions for our students. The office of the premier also intervened…

Yogashen Pillay yogashen.pillay@inl.co.za KwaZulu-Natal Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Sipho Hlomuka convened a meeting yesterday with the mayors, speakers and Exco members from the municipalities that are under the King Cetshwayo, uMkhanyakude and Zululand districts. Hlomuka said that the meeting was the third leg of his direct engagements with Exco members of all KZN municipalities, both at a local and district level. He has already met with representatives from the uMgungundlovu and Harry Gwala districts, eThekwini metro and the Ugu and Ilembe districts. He is set to meet with the Amajuba, uThukela and uMzinyathi districts in Newcastle later this week. Hlomuka said that one of the key issues discussed was the roll-out of the councillor orientation programme which was aimed at equipping the newly elected councillors with the…

During the fourth population count post-democracy, at least 165 000 fieldworkers will be deployed across the country to count everyone within its borders. Stats SA says these fieldworkers will be out and about from next week to conduct the nationwide population and housing census. The census will run from February 3 to 28. It was due to be conducted in October last year, but was delayed due to disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Deputy Minister in the Presidency Thembi Siweya visited Stats SA’s head office at Salvokop yesterday and was briefed on the state of readiness by Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke and Census 2022 project director Calvin Molongoana. “I am pleased that we can now have fresh data to help us with policy formulation and evidence-based decision-making. Conducting a census…

IN WHAT we believe is a victory for gender-based violence (GBV) victims and survivors, we commend the Kannaland Municipality officials in the Western Cape for having enough courage to remove a convicted rapist from his position as mayor and a convicted fraudster who was his deputy from his position. While their party, the Independent Civic Organisation of South Africa (Icosa), may claim that axed mayor Jeffrey Donson and his deputy Werner Meshoa were elected by voters, that argument holds no water as it does not absolve them of being convicts. After all, the party had enough time to act against the two, but failed to do so. Donson was convicted of statutory rape and indecent assault in 2008. His victim was 15 years old. After lodging an appeal in the…

Tropical storm Ana has killed at least 34 people in Madagascar and three people in Mozambique, while knocking out power in Malawi, authorities in the three countries said yesterday. The storm, which formed over the east coast of Madagascar, has brought heavy rains, causing flooding and mudslides in the capital Antananarivo. Madagascar’s disaster management agency said yesterday that 34 people had died and nearly 65 000 left homeless since last week. Several low-lying districts of the capital remain under high alert and emergency evacuations were launched overnight. The storm made landfall on mainland Africa on Monday, bringing heavy rains and strong winds in Mozambique’s central and northern districts. Mozambican officials said yesterday that three people were killed, with at least 66 others injured. More than 3 800 people have been…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za BUSINESS activity in South Africa ticked up in November as the composite leading business cycle indicator climbed to a three-month high on further easing of lockdown restrictions. The SA Reserve Bank (SARB) yesterday said that the composite leading business cycle indicator increased by 0.6 percent in November 2021, accelerating from a 0.1 percent rise in October. This was the second consecutive month of positive reading and the most in three months as six of the 10 available component time series increased, while three fell and one remained unchanged. This followed a general downward movement since reaching a low-base-induced peak in May 2021 which was related to the onset of the Covid-19 third wave. Lockdown restrictions dropped from level 4 in July to level 2 by…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za REINET Investments’ compound asset value growth came to 8.8 percent in euro terms per annum by the end of the quarter to December 31, 2021, since March 2009 and including dividends paid, the company said yesterday. Net asset value (NAV) at the end of the quarter for the Luxembourg and JSE-listed investment firm increased by €375 million (R6.46 billion), or 7.8 percent, compared with at the end of September 30, 2021. The increase in NAV during the quarter reflected dividends from British American Tobacco (BAT), together with increases in the estimated fair value of other investments including BAT, other listed investments, Pension Insurance Corporation Group, Trilantic Capital Partners, TruArc Partners, Prescient China funds, Asia Partners and Diamond interests. Offsetting these increases were decreases…

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, designed to give the world an unprecedented glimpse of infant galaxies in the early stages of the universe, has arrived at its gravitational parking spot in orbit around the sun, nearly a million miles from Earth. Webb will follow a special “halo” path that keeps it in constant alignment with Earth but out of its shadow, as the planet and telescope circle the sun in tandem. The prescribed orbit within the larger solar orbit thus enables uninterrupted radio contact, while bathing Webb’s solar-power array in non-stop sunlight. By comparison, Webb’s 30-year-old predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, orbits the Earth from 3 547km away. Mission engineers are preparing next to fine-tune the telescope’s primary mirror – an array of 18 hexagonal segments of gold-coated beryllium metal,…

ANTHONY STARKEY | Morningside He who knows all and self-appointed expert in Covid-19 treatment and conspiracy theories, Duncan Du Bois, shares with an awed public (Mercury, January 24) the news that his intellectual messiah, Donald Trump, is launching a Truth Platform that Du Bois claims “will eviscerate fake news and expose the real conspiracy theorists”. There is such rich irony in this earth-shattering development; for it is defeated ex-president Trump who used, and continues to use, fake news and conspiracy theories (The Big Lie) in attempting to subvert the democratic process. Du Bois, you miss the Point with all your Bluff.…

A READER writes: “I’m married to the nicest man, loving, caring, generous. However, put him in a car and we have road-rage coupled with racism. We are about to embark on a very long road trip and I’m already wondering how I’m going to cope. At present, I just look the other way and try to try to ignore it, but I find it so stressful. It’s not easy at all. Can you advise me on this?” So, driving “transforms” your “nicest man,” who is “loving, caring, generous” into a road raging racist? This backdrop – the fact that he is capable of being loving and caring – suggests your husband is fully capable of a heart-to-heart conversation with you before you leave the house. If such a conversation ignites…

Ntombi Nkosi ntombi.nkosi@inl.co.za Families of the three Lily Mine tragedy victims say they will only get closure if the bodies of their loved ones are brought out of the mine. Yesterday marked exactly 1 000 days since Pretty Nkambule, Solomon Nyirenda and Yvonne Mnisi were trapped underground at Lily Mine in Barberton, Mpumalanga. Families, civil society, politicians and ordinary community members commemorated 1 000 days since the three were trapped in a container which was swallowed by the ground almost six years ago. Members of the families and community members have been camping outside the mine while they called on mine owners to make plans to retrieve the three bodies. Spokesperson for the families, Harry Mazibuko said their first priority was that their loved ones’ bodies must be brought home.…

Police are still searching for two men who went missing after they went fishing at the Hole in the Wall in Coffee Bay in the Eastern Cape on Friday. Eastern Cape police spokesperson Majola Nkohli confirmed that missing person cases were opened for 50-year-old Richard Joseph Sham and 42-year-old Bongani Bana. Nkohli said Sham’s wife went to the spot where she found her husband’s vehicle abandoned. In a post the public was asked to keep an eye out for the men in case they were exhausted somewhere in the surroundings. | Karen Singh…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za THE rights of a group of elderly residents who live in housing units in Groenkloof, Pretoria, have been secured yet again – this time by the Supreme Court of Appeal. They had objected to plans to use part of the land, where their units are situated, for medical offices and housing units. The Flower Foundation, which owns the property, earlier took the matter to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, and obtained a declaratory order that it may sell a portion of the land without the consent of the elderly residents living there. It said contrary to the claims by the residents – who bought a life right to a unit there – it did not need approval of 75% of them to sell the land. The…

MERCURY CORRESPONDENT A FORMER SA Revenue Service (Sars) employee Bilal Shaik has received a 12-year custodial sentence for fraud, forgery, uttering and money laundering to the tune of R6 million. Shaik was sentenced for facilitating fraudulent VAT refunds for three companies. Sars said, however, that the money eventually ended up in the bank account of Shaik, who used the proceeds for personal gain. A second accused, Kyle Nadasen, representing Kyle Nadasen CC, was convicted of fraud, forgery and uttering, Sars said. He was sentenced to six years imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, on condition he is not convicted under section 4 of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca). A third accused, Miloni Chetty, a sole member of ILONIM General Traders, was acquitted on all charges. Sars Commissioner Edward…

Bongani Nkosi bongani.nkosi@inl.co.za THE man who murdered eight months’ pregnant Tshegofatso Pule, has laid bare the gory detail of how her boyfriend allegedly hired him to kill her. Muzikayise Malephane, now a State witness after entering into a plea bargain,testified in the South Gauteng High Court, Joburg, against Ntuthuko Shoba. Shoba, who dated and impregnated Pule, stands accused of being the mastermind behind her murder. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and defeating the ends of justice. The State’s case is that Pule, 28, was killed on June 4, 2020, when she went to Shoba’s place in Florida, south of Joburg. Palesa Senokoane, Pule’s cousin, testified that she spoke to her over the phone just before 9am that day but her attempts to reach Pule over the…

Covid-19 put paid to Mandela’s red line not to go to these institutions with a begging bowl THE World Bank’s latest $750 million (R11.5 billion) development policy loan (DPL) to South Africa approved by its board of executive directors on Friday once again puts the spotlight on the governing ANC government’s relationship with the IMF/World Bank Group. The fact that the loan was at the request of the National Treasury, ostensibly to “support the government’s efforts to accelerate its Covid-19 response aimed at protecting the poor and vulnerable from the adverse socio-economic impacts of the pandemic and supporting a resilient and sustainable economic recovery”, is as revealing in its policy implications as it is in its generalities as to the use of the proceeds. No doubt, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana…

DAMASCUS: US-backed Kurdish forces tightened the noose around armed jihadists hunkering down inside a Syrian prison yesterday, with both sides facing a bloodbath or talks to end the five-day-old standoff. Around 100 Islamic State group fighters attacked Ghwayran prison in the northeastern city of Hasakeh on January 20, in their biggest military operation since their “caliphate” was defeated in 2019. The ensuing clashes with the Kurdish forces running northeastern Syria have left more than 160 people dead, including 45 in Kurdish ranks, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Some of the estimated 3 500 IS prisoners inside the facility have already been bused out to other detention centres in recent hours but it was unclear how many remained holed up inside Ghwayran. Some of the hundreds of…

The Yasser Arafat Museum said yesterday it had removed artwork depicting the iconic Palestinian leader that exaggerated his facial features after accusations they were insulting to the late president. The 35-piece exhibit at the museum in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, faced immediate backlash after it was installed on Sunday. Shehab News Agency published a picture of the caricatures showing a smiling Arafat in his trademark keffiyeh headdress with his nose and mouth oversized and slightly distorted. Supporters of Arafat, who died in 2004, took to Twitter posting photographs with the caption: “This is the icon we know”. Activists from Fatah, the Palestinian movement Arafat founded, demanded a probe into how the images came to be displayed. The museum insisted the images were merely artistic impressions of a revered…

NASA will pay up to $1 million (R15.3m) to people who can come up with innovative and sustainable food production ideas to feed astronauts in space, as the US space agency prepares to send astronauts further into the cosmos than ever before. Giving future explorers the technology to produce nutritious, tasty, and satisfying meals on long-duration space missions will give them the energy required to uncover the great unknown. In co-ordination with the Canadian Space Agency, Nasa has launched the “Deep Space Food Challenge” that calls on teams to design, build, and demonstrate prototypes of food production technologies that provide tangible nutritional products – or food. Over time, food loses its nutritional value. That means for a multi-year mission to Mars, bringing along pre-packaged…

DUNCAN DU BOIS | Bluff For sheer hypocrisy it is difficult to beat the disingenuous expressions of dismay uttered by the World Economic Forum (WEF) elites and their leashed political minions for the extent to which the application of their unscientific lockdowns caused global economic setback (Business Report, January 24). Despite a phalanx of medical opinion against the various restrictive measures taken in the quest to combat and contain Covid-19, the WEF cabal ignored that opinion and allowed their political gauleiters to contravene every avenue of personal freedom and enterprise. For Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to pontificate on what is needed for “strong economic recovery” bristles with hypocrisy. This is the man who endorsed the most draconian measures in supposedly combating the virus. They included virtual…

| George Burns The spam folder in an email inbox can be a murky place, full of messages promising untold riches, or such things as an escape from the New World Order. There’s the fellow in Nigeria who wants to share $100 000 with you. All he needs is your banking details. There’s the gal in California offering raunchy romps on the ski slopes in settings of unbelievable grandeur. There’s the fellow offering to give you the low-down on Bill Gates and Dr Fauci and the plans of the Illuminati to enslave the world through Covid-19 inoculations. But, as an American woman discovered, sifting through your junk messages every now and then can pay off. Laura Spears, of Michigan, bought a Mega Millions ticket on the Michigan Lottery…

Karen Singh karen.singh@inl.co.za The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) have arrested an Absa Bank employee for the alleged theft of R103 million. Yesterday, the Hawks said Xolela Masebeni was employed at Absa’s Sandton branch in Gauteng. “Absa engineer Xolela Masebeni allegedly transferred R103 million into six different bank accounts over four months,” said the Hawks. Masebeni allegedly transferred the money between September 2021 and December 2021. In other cases related to bank officials, in November last year IOL reported that a First National Bank (FNB) manager, Zandile Sibiya, who was based in Johannesburg, was released on R10 000 bail after she was arrested for allegedly defrauding her employer of R4 million. “It is alleged that between September 2019 and August 2021, Newtown’s FNB operations manager, Zandile Sibiya, 39,…

THE head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that it was dangerous to assume the Omicron variant would herald the end of Covid-19’s acutest phase, exhorting nations to stay focused to beat the pandemic. “It’s dangerous to assume that Omicron will be the last variant and that we are in the end game,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a WHO executive board meeting. “On the contrary, the conditions are ideal for more variants to emerge.” Though Omicron has sent total cases soaring to nearly 350 million, its less lethal impact and the increasing prevalence of vaccines has led to optimism in some parts that the worst of the pandemic may have passed. Tedros, the WHO’s first African head who is running unopposed for a second term, called for discipline…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za PEOPLE who face a minor criminal charge and pay an admission of guilt fine simply to get things over with as quickly as possible, could still end up with a criminal record against their names. In the latest judgment concerning this topic, the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, overturned the conviction of a building material store worker on a charge of contravening the national lockdown regulations. The court also ordered the National Prosecuting Authority and the police to pay back the R1 000 admission of guilt fine he had paid, and immediately remove his name from the criminal register. Knowledge Makhuvha approached the court after he realised that he now had a criminal record for something which he said was not his fault. He was arrested in April…

Mercury correspondent KWAZULU-NATAL police arrested 2 064 suspects in just over a week for a range of crimes including murders, attempted murders, robberies and fraud. Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said during operations which were carried out from January 17 to 24, police officers arrested 2 064 suspects for crimes ranging from murders, attempted murders, robberies, fraud, possession of suspected stolen property, theft of motor vehicle, drugs, rape, assault with the intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, possession of suspect stolen property and other crimes. She said arrests came after intelligence-driven operations across the province. “Police officers will not tolerate criminality and will ensure that criminals are put behind the bars.” She said a total of 43 suspects were arrested for murder, 24 for attempted murder, 20 for robberies,…