Table of contents for NM-2021-04-19 in Mercury

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za Dividend retention policies among SA’s real estate investment trusts (Reits)may be undermining their equity investment case, GCR Ratings said in a credit research report on Friday. This was despite the fact that GCR believed retaining dividends was supportive of their credit profile, the credit rating agency said in a research note on Friday. By law Reits have to pay 75 percent of the distributable income as dividends, subject to directors ensuring that the Reit passes a solvency and liquidity test. Many Reits have chosen to retain dividends to bolster their balance sheets during the uncertainties of the Covid-19 pandemic and after many tenants were forced to close their doors through the lockdowns last year. SA Reits provided more than R3 billion of relief to tenants.…

Gerry Cupido geraldine.cupido@inl.co.za EVERY time I walk into a hotel room, I’m amazed by how much they are able to fit in there. No matter how small a hotel room is, they fit in a little desk, a dresser, a closet, kitchen nook and of course a toilet and bathroom. Then I get home and it feels like I don’t have enough space even though I can fit two small hotel rooms in my lounge. How crazy is that. If you use a space in your home creatively you can get so much more out of it. Here are a few ideas: Use the dead space under your staircase. People often close that space and turn it into a storage area. Yes of course that’s a great idea, but…

Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za TWO weeks before the ANC’s “step aside” rule comes into effect, the KwaZulu-Natal branch has submitted 13 names of members who have to do so. The party’s provincial secretary, Mdumiseni Ntuli, said yesterday that the final decision on who should step aside would be taken by the party’s national executive committee. Although Ntuli did not reveal the names or alleged offences of the members, it is understood that some of them face charges including rape, murder, corruption, attempted murder, stock theft, theft, driving under the influence of alcohol, the illegal carrying of firearms and charges relating to fraudulently earning child support grants. A large portion are councillors in eThekwini. However, the governing party faces a dilemma on what to do with the likes of former eThekwini mayor…

JEAN MICHEL BOUVIER | Bryanston SEEING Prince Harry at his grandfather’s funeral, I have to ask him this: if you have shown no consideration and respect for your grandfather when he was alive and seriously ill in hospital, by giving the interview with Oprah, why would you bother to return to Britain and show respect to him now that he’s dead? What is the point? I just hope your grandfather did not die of a broken heart, after he learned of your bombshell interview. Honour and show respect to someone when he is alive, so he can die a happy man. It’s too late now, Harry.…

KEVIN GOVENDER | Shallcross I WAS fortunate to have visited India a couple of times in the mid ’90s and mid-2000. From the cloying humanity and dabbawallahs of Bombay to the go-to bars of Goa, the unashamed beauty of Bangalore and the serene waters of Kerela to the hustle and bustle of Delhi and the golden dunes of Rajasthan, it was an assault on the senses, but always imbued with being incorrigibly retrograde and immobilised in amber. But not anymore, for under the stewardship of the charismatic statesman Narendra Modi, now in his second term, it is fast becoming touted as one of the superpowers of the world. It is there for all to see as I quote from a recent Morgan Stanley Research Report. In the past…

IKBAL KOLIA | Lenasia THE variance of over 100% between the basic fuel price and what consumers have to pay at the pumps needs to be addressed urgently. With fuel prices at unbearable levels for the economy, the government must immediately utilise the vast storage facilities it has in Mossel Bay and elsewhere to stabilise the fuel price instead of letting these facilities to private companies and allowing them to fleece us. The existing method of determining the fuel price is open to massive manipulation and corruption in the government, and needs to be reviewed. We need to be adequately protected from the vagaries of the international financial and oil markets as well as other vested interests.…

The Oscars ceremony next week will have the look and feel of a movie, giving winners more time for speeches, while coronavirus masks will play a major role, producers of the show said. The pandemic has led to a reinvention of the traditional show where the world’s highest movie honours are handed out in a theatre with an audience of more than 4 000 A-list stars and industry executives. Much of the April 25 ceremony will instead be held at the Art Deco Union Station in Los Angeles. “It’s not going to be like anything that’s been done before,” said director Steven Soderbergh. He directed the 2011 movie Contagion and said the pandemic had “opened up an opportunity to try something that hasn’t been tried”. The ceremony would be shot…

Lesotho start-up MG Health has become the first African cannabis grower to win EU permission to export cannabis flower for medicinal use, which can range from relieving chronic pain to treating spasms caused by multiple sclerosis. Lesotho has helped to pioneer the nascent legal cannabis sector in Africa which could be worth over $7.1 billion annually by 2023 if new laws were introduced, the African Cannabis Report said two years ago. Launched in 2017, MG Health has its cultivation and modern processing facilities at a secluded location about 2 000m above sea level in mountainous Lesotho. MG Health chief executive André Bothma said the firm had received certification to export cannabis flower as an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) under the EU’s Good Manufacturing Practices protocol. “What this means is that…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za ETHEKWINI Municipality has warned tenants at Virginia Airport that if they refuse to move out to make way for the site’s redevelopment, it will approach the court to have them evicted. There are about 20 tenants at the airport and the city said all were on a month-to-month lease. Asked what the city would do if the tenants refused to move as they had threatened, municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said it would, “approach the courts for eviction, none of the tenants has valid leases, they are all on a month-to-month basis”. The eThekwini council resolved last month to approve a proposal to redevelop the site and for bidders to approach the city with possible plans. The municipality wants to use the prime land to attract investment…

THE death of Lindani Myeni, a former KZN man, in Hawaii has sent shock waves through the country. As the Black Lives Matter movement still seeks justice for George Floyd and the Take The Knee initiative continues to highlight racism and police brutality, the murder of unarmed civilians by police is still taking place. Myeni was unarmed when he was shot dead by three police officers. Black Americans and South Africans shared similar experiences, at the hands of police, during the battle for civil rights and the fight to end apartheid. This was a complex and complicated relationship that changed over time, but the trust relationship was never fully restored. Ten years ago, Ficksburg community activist Andries Tatane died after he was beaten and shot with rubber bullets, during a…

Washington: Former president George W Bush has stepped into the US debate on immigration, saying migrants are “a force for good” and arguing for a gradual process to allow undocumented immigrants to earn legal status. Bush, a past governor of Texas, made his points in an op-ed article in the Washington Post previewing his new book Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants. The book features portraits of immigrants painted by Bush himself. He says he knows his paintings “may not set the art world stirring”, but he hoped “to humanise the debate on immigration and reform”. | AFP…

Lutho Pasiya I HAVE had a mug of warm lemon water before bed for a few months now, but usually because it sounded good and I wanted something warm besides coffee. When I saw several pictures and posts floating around the internet promoting the benefits of drinking lemon water before you sleep, I decided to investigate this habit I had already been doing. They reveal that a glass of lemon water will boost your immune system and promote your well-being by eliminating free radicals that may otherwise promote illness and disease, and that it can also balance your body’s pH levels to promote cell function and structure.…

Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za THE South African men’s team’s tour to the West Indies in June, and the national women’s trip to England later this year could be in jeopardy if Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa follows through with his threat to ban Cricket South Africa (CSA) as the sport’s governing body in the country. South African cricket was left reeling yesterday, after the minister said he would be invoking his rights, under the National Sport and Recreation Act, that include not recognising a federation. Should that happen, the CSA will no longer be able to hand out national colours and the Proteas won’t be the national team. That could mean the Proteas not touring and the effects of that on sponsorship deals would be severe for a sport…

ROLAND FISHER | Durban SO NOW there are “red zones“ in Cape Town where services such as fire departments and ambulances have to do their job under police protection. Is there anyone who can explain the logic behind this situation and perhaps the psyche of the communities involved? Those services are emergency services, there for the safety and health of the people. So why attack the crew members and their vehicles? It would seem that the communities don’t need the services, so to be totally blunt, fire engines and ambulances should be removed, since offering these basic necessary services are for the benefit of the peoples of the various areas who seemingly don’t want them. This would also apply to buses burnt as a result of the endless…

HOW many millions of TV viewers around the world would have been watching the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral at Windsor Castle on Saturday? It was quite something and in so many different ways. It was held in observance of the Covid-19 protocols – not a huge state funeral – which made the service in St George’s Chapel very much an intimate family affair, reflecting Prince Philip’s own values and his role over the decades of support for Queen Elizabeth, alongside his international role in activities such as nature conservation. The service – including hymns and readings – and the military pageantry were much of it planned in advance by the duke himself. And it all brilliantly captured his life, his career in the Royal Navy and elsewhere, his values –…

SABER AHMED JAZBHAY | Newlands West LET the racial healing among South Africans truly begin now, for the cosmetic make-up has worn off and the ugly scars following over three centuries of abuse and oppression against black inhabitants run deeper than we think. We need to remove the scars which camouflage the suppurating wounds beneath that haven’t healed. Let’s adopt the intent of US lawmakers and civil society smarting from the discredited Trump years. In addition to the slavery reparations bill that is going before the US Congress having garnered support in the House of Representatives, a prominent order of Roman Catholic priests, the Jesuits, has pledged to raise $100 million (about R1.43 billion) in an act of atonement for participating in the American slave trade. That money…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za PUBLIC servants have rejected the government’s offer not to increase their salaries this year and are threatening to strike as they do not want to be made “scapegoats” for rampant corruption, fraud and mismanagement. The government finally responded to the trade unions representing public servants’ demands for a consumer price index (CPI), which is projected to be 3.1%, plus 4% pay hike, among other benefits. In its response, the government offered its employees a “0%” wage increase for the 2021/22 financial year. The Public Servants Association (PSA), which represents more than 235 000 state employees, reacted angrily to the government’s offer. “The response was utterly disappointing and an insult to labour as it only responded positively to some issues, which have no direct short-term financial benefit for…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo and Karen Singh THE South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) has recommended the lifting of the suspension of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine roll-out, with conditions. It said it had studied the data from the roll-out and found no reports of major health concerns. This comes after Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced the voluntary suspension of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine roll-out, which is being administered to health-care workers, under the Sisonke Phase 3B Implementation Study. Sahpra said they had engaged with the Sisonke Phase 3B Implementation Study team and Janssen Pharmaceutica. The focus of the engagement was on the safety data reported from the Sisonke study, as well as the adverse events reported in the US. Based on their review of the available data,…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za THE family of Lindani Myeni, who was shot dead by Hawaii police in Honolulu on Wednesday, believe his death was an act of racism. Born in Empangeni, the 29-year-old former rugby player had moved with his wife and children to the island earlier this year. Myeni, who went to George Campbell Technical High School, was killed when police said they were responding to a home burglary incident. It is not clear what Myeni was doing outside the home. When the police arrived at the scene, a scuffle ensued between Myeni and the three police officers. It is alleged that Myeni punched and injured three officers, with one of the officers opening fire and shooting him four times. Myeni’s uncle, Andlile Xaki, said that the family was emotionally…

Changes to the natural environment put pressure on social, political systems Gugu Nonjinge AS THE world recognised World Water Day on March 22, we have to acknowledge that the current climate crisis is also a water crisis. Even though the impacts of climate change on the water cycle will vary regionally, the water crisis needs to be seen as an entry point for conflict. Africa is responsible for a mere 4% of global carbon dioxide emissions, yet it is disproportionately vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. According to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), more than half of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are among those most affected by the burden of climate exposure. As a result, the continent is grappling with multiple climate-related security risks such as…

“Allow a doctor to see my dad.” The heartbreaking plea from Alexei Navalny’s daughter came amid a wave of dismay and horror across the globe over Russian authorities’ refusal to let President Vladimir Putin’s leading critic see his doctor, as his condition has reportedly sharply worsened. Darya Navalnaya’s plea on Twitter for medical care for her father comes as he faces his 19th day on a hunger strike in prison over Russian authorities’ refusal to let him see his doctor. The 20-year-old is currently in California studying at Stanford University. Russia’s refusal to allow Putin’s main political rival access to his doctor comes after his press secretary Kira Yarmysh tweeted that he was “dying”, and several doctors said he could go into cardiac arrest at any time. Yarmysh said he…

Myanmar’s shadow government yesterday urged Southeast Asian leaders to give it a seat at the table during crisis talks next week, and not to recognise the military regime that seized power in a February coup. Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing is expected to join a special Asean summit on Myanmar on Saturday in Jakarta – his first official overseas trip since the putsch that ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The army has moved to quell mass protests against its rule, killing at least 730 people according to a local monitoring group. Min Aung Hlaing’s invitation to the meeting of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations has drawn scorn from activists who have urged foreign leaders not to formally recognise the junta. Moe Zaw Oo, deputy minister of…

Motorsport Reporter A brilliant start from Brad Binder, in the third race of the MotoGP season, propelled the Red Bull KTM rider to a top five finish at the Portuguese GP yesterday. Binder, starting from 15th on the grid, jumped off the line with impressive aggression, carving his way to seventh in the field. He then pushed up into sixth for a couple of laps before Francesco Bagnaia of Italy seized the position from him to eventually finish second. With seven laps to go, Alex Rins was forced into an error, and crashed out of the race while chasing down Fabio Quartararo - the eventual winner - and a lap later Johann Zarco endured a similar fate, lifting Binder to fifth. With the race coming to a close, Binder…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za ARCELORMITTAL South Africa (Amsa) said in its 2020 integrated annual report that it was committed to addressing the country’s steel shortages. Chief executive Kobus Verster said on Friday the group had experienced considerable delays with starting the N5 blast furnace in Newcastle. Verster said the N5 setbacks were frustrating, particularly because of the group’s intense focus on addressing customers’ steel shortages that had been building up since before Covid-19. “In the new year we have bud-geted and planned to fix the problems caused by the unusual post-pandemic start-up of N5 and to improve its reliability. Conversely, production of flat steel at Vanderbijlpark was very successfully resumed, from June blast furnace D and December (blast furnace) C,” said Verster. Amsa, South Africa’s biggest steel producer, has been under…

Two WEEKS ago I referred to the commodity super cycle that is under way. The stock prices of most resources companies have followed commodity prices on the way up. The big question I asked myself is where I can find value in the resources sector. My starting point was to look for stocks such as junior or emerging mining companies that are often ignored or not followed by analysts. I used the JSE-listed junior mining companies in South Africa to calculate a Junior Mining Company Index for South Africa. The index is based on market capitalisation and the weightings are recalculated at the end of each quarter. Coal-related mining companies were excluded, though. The final list of companies used to calculate the index were therefore Bauba Resources, Eastern Plats, Jubilee…

Viwe Ndongeni-Ntlebi viwe.ndongeni@inl.co.za After intense training, I tend to book myself for full-body massage to help my body recover. As a routine, I booked myself a session after hiking 21km in the Drakensberg as part of my training for Mount Kilimanjaro. There are several health benefits to receiving regular massages as part of a health or fitness routine. Athletes and coaches swear by sports massages. Instead of my usual place, I tried a Komani Health Shop and was given a massage by Dr Lydia Jaceni, a naturopath. After our session, she introduced me to a product called ashwagandha, which came in the form of drops, for the tension in my shoulders. The plant is a small shrub with yellow flowers that’s native to India and North Africa. Extracts or…

Tarryn-Leigh Solomons tarryn-Leigh.solomons@iinl.co.za AYO Technologies chief executive Howard Plaatjies said the aftermath of First National Bank’s (FNB) decision to shut down the company’s accounts meant that several people could lose their jobs in the middle of a pandemic He described the bank’s closure of the company’s transactional accounts as aggressive action. In an announcement on Thursday, AYO Technologies informed its shareholders that the company had been given notice by FNB of the closure of its transactional accounts and that it had launched legal proceedings against the bank. “Despite the company’s best efforts, FNB has not provided AYO with what it regards as valid reasons for termination. The company believes that it is entitled to fair treatment and, as a result, the company has instituted legal proceedings against FNB for its…

DAVID CARTWRIGHT | Hillcrest I MUST agree absolutely with Tony Ball concerning priorities in traffic management (The Mercury, April 16). The fact that the average speed prosecution NPR (number plate recognition) camera which was taken out at the top of Field’s Hill was very swiftly replaced is solid proof that revenue generation is paramount. As regards the perception by traffic authorities of hazardous situations, well that would be wishful because, in my view, their officers have zero expertise in policing the traffic. Why, just recently I tailed a “KZN traffic police” Toyota on the N3 through the Howick/Tweedie/Lion’s River area at speeds of up to 150km/h. The fact that I was at those speeds was enough to be stopped and apprehended, but the “traffic cop” concerned obviously hadn’t…

IT’S quite easy to tell who you are dealing with if you know what to look for. Good people clean up after themselves. They tip well, open doors for others and hold back on expressing their opinions until they have heard all sides. They are kind to people who can do little or nothing for them. They don’t try to impress people with their wealth or accomplishments. Good people respect the elderly and say please and thank you a lot. They respect experience. They listen a little more than they speak. You don’t hear them calling others idiots unless there is real and objective evidence for it, and even then they are quite guarded about it. Good people connect with others much more than they cut people off. They don’t…

ERROL HICKS | Hillcrest JULIUS Malema’s recent diatribe over advocate Alan Dodson’s candidature for an appointment to the Constitutional Court demands a response by all level-headed South Africans. His grilling of Alan Dodson as to “why he, as a white male, should be chosen above other candidates who were black women” just epitomises or verbalises the deep seated and unforgiving attitude/hatred by him and his EFF party towards white people in South Africa. This state of mind is a prime exam ple to white people that there is no space in South Africa for them and their employment and career aspirations, and explains the reasons for the many, many young whites who have left this country for better opportunities overseas. Is the EFF prepared to make an official…

FAROUK ARAIE | Benoni ACROSS Ekurhuleni, fire professionals, doctors, nurses, medical emergency services, Saaberie Chishty Ambulances, and brave volunteers, grappled with a raging fire at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, Johannesburg. These challenges were met with bravery, courage and steely resolve at every turn. While the nation slept, brave men and women, and first responders, toiled through the night to rescue patients and move them, as flames leapt through the night sky. These front-line heroes put their own lives at risk, with selfless determination for the sake of saving lives – they are true heroes in these challenging times. The list of heroes is difficult to compile, as everyone present at the site of the raging inferno continued to battle the blaze, and bring safety and comfort to scores of…

Baldwin Ndaba baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za The North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria is set to formalise a date today for a full inquest into the deaths of 144 mental health patients in 2016. Last month, Judge Mnonoa Teffo invited the families of all the victims to the first sitting of the inquest today, at the High Court in Pretoria. The judge is expected to announce the date for the full inquiry, after consultation with the families. An evidence leader has been appointed to lead evidence about the disappearance of the victims. The patients were moved to NGOs which did not have qualifications and doctors to look after them, after the Gauteng Health Department terminated its contracts with Life Esidimeni due to cost-cutting measures. The families’ ordeal began in August 2016, when Christine…

In welcoming the new employment regulations to deal with teacher misconduct recently gazetted under the Employment of Educators Act by the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, the IFP calls on the KZN MEC for Education, Kwazi Mshengu to ensure that these new guidelines are adhered to in KwaZulu-Natal. We believe this is a step in the right direction because in 2020 the SA Council of Educators (SACE) ranked KwaZulu-Natal as the province with the highest number of sexual misconduct cases by teachers, followed by Gauteng. The IFP has on numerous occasions emphasised that such offenders have no place in the education profession. They must be named, shamed and banned for the rest of their lives from the teaching profession. The Gazette has made it clear that any person found…

More government hospital beds will be freed for Covid-19 patients, India’s Health Ministry said yesterday, as the nation of 1.3 billion people grappled with a worsening virus crisis and states appealed for additional supplies of oxygen and treatment drugs. The country recorded a record high of 261 500 new cases yesterday, with one in six tested people returning positive results, the ministry said. India is the world’s second-most infected nation with almost 14.8 million cases. Hospitals reserved for employees of ministries or public sector companies should convert some of their wards into Covid-19 facilities, the government said. “This will go a long way to address the shortage of beds reported from some states,” the ministry added. The Railway Ministry said special trains would transport oxygen tankers to needy states. In…

JERUSALEM: The Gaza Strip recorded its highest daily toll of coronavirus deaths, authorities said yesterday, as the Israeli-blockaded territory struggles with a dearth of vaccines. On Sunday, the health ministry said “23 deaths in the past 24 hours”, taking its toll to 761 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Authorities have so far only received 80 000 vaccine doses for a population of some 2 million people. Meanwhile, Israelis went about barefaced yesterday after the order to wear masks outdoors was rescinded. With about 81% of residents over 16 having received both vaccine doses, contagions and hospitalisations are down sharply. | AFP | Reuters…

Ashfak Mohamed HE might be the 400m Olympic champion and world record-holder, but that doesn’t mean nerves can’t get the better of Wayde van Niekerk. In fact, the 28-year-old says that neutralising the jitters before a race is one of the main battles he is fighting at the moment as he plots his path to Olympic glory once more in Tokyo. Van Niekerk won his third 200m national title at the Tuks Stadium in Pretoria on Saturday, bringing the heat in the second part of the race to finish in 20.38 seconds on a cool night in the South African capital. But the end result belied the nerves he felt beforehand. In a post-race interview with good friend and 100m SA champion Akani Simbine on BackTrack Sports’ Facebook live feed…