Table of contents for 2021-08-24 in Mercury

DINEO FAKU dineo.faku@inl.co.za SHOPRITE is planning to withdraw from the Uganda and Madagascar markets, it said yesterday after announcing an 8.1 percent increase in total merchandise sales from continuing operations to R168 billion for the 53 weeks ended July 2021. Shoprite, Africa’s retail giant, is adding to its list of exits after selling its Nigerian business of 15 years and closing Kenyan stores in March. “In line with the group’s non-RSA review process, our operations in Madagascar and Uganda have been classified as discontinued,” said Shoprite. The group operates 10 stores in Madagascar and has five branches in Uganda, employing 300 Ugandans. Commenting on the exit, Peter Hirst, senior analyst at Euromonitor International, said Shoprite was leaving Uganda in line with the company’s review of its long-term ventures…

GIVEN MAJOLA given.majola@inl.co.za A WHOPPING 81.5 percent of professionals in the accounting, data analysis, human resources and IT fields are considering resigning from their jobs to go freelance, according to a survey by the online talent platform Outsized. The survey, conducted by the provider of on-demand freelancers and independent consultants to the financial services and management consulting industries in South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, found that a quarter of its 200 respondents said that they were already in the process of taking that leap. Of these, 37 percent saw it happening in the next few weeks or months, and only 10 percent admitted it was more of a long-term fantasy. The survey respondents were well-qualified to succeed independently, with every respondent holding a university degree and 64 percent having…

ASHFAK MOHAMED ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za WHILE Caster Semenya’s fight to run in her favourite 800m event continues, she is considering filing for damages from World Athletics after an amendment was made to a study that was influential in stopping her from ultimately defending her Olympic title. Semenya’s lawyer, Greg Nott, described the change in the British Journal of Sport Medicine’s wording in a study about female athletes with differences in sexual development (DSD) as “unfair, cynical and untoward”, and the timing of it just after the Tokyo Olympics as “shocking and reprehensible”. The New York Times reported recently that the scientists behind the 2017 study had now issued a correction about the impact that high levels of naturally occurring testosterone in female athletes had on performance, stating that these outcomes were “exploratory”,…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za THE ANC in KwaZulu-Natal is facing an uphill battle as it tries to resolve hundreds of disputes lodged by disgruntled party members over the councillor candidates list. A list circulated on social media showed the ANC had received 340 disputes by August 16, with eThekwini region recording 138 disputes that included claims of manipulation of the nominations process. ANC KZN spokesperson Nhlakanipho Ntombela said yesterday that the party would abide by the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC) deadline for the submission of the candidates list. The IEC earlier yesterday extended the deadline from 5pm to 9pm last night. Ntombela also said a number of disputes had been lodged by unhappy party members over candidate selection. The candidates list, he added, was a mix of old…

SNAIL mail has reached the town of Hinckley, in Leicestershire, England. A giant snail was found in a box at a parcel office, according to the BBC. The container had no delivery or sender address. The creature has been identified as a giant African land snail and they say it is in good nick. Such snails can reach about 25cm in length and weigh up to 700g. But this one’s origins are a mystery. Perhaps it’s a case of misdirected mail – maybe our government’s economic recovery programme gone astray? Jolly D IN HIS latest grumpy newsletter, investment analyst Dr James Greener finds something reassuringly nostalgic and endearingly Establishment about the name of Jolidee Matongo, the new mayor of Johannesburg. “Not everyone will know or remember the phrase ‘Jolly D’,…

NICOLE GRAHAM | Leader: DA eThekwini ELECTION time is well and truly upon us, bringing with it a number of opportunities, threats and theories. People have often repeated the idea that DA councillors are alienated by the ANC-led municipality and that the consequent solution is rather to try to elect ANC councillors who can better access “the system”. This idea is not borne out by fact and is undemocratic. If this idea were true, surely wards represented by ANC councillors would be in great condition? I challenge anyone to find me a ward with an ANC councillor that has seamless service delivery. They won’t be able to because they don’t exist. Most ANC wards are far worse off on an objective comparison. The reason that our city is…

Lisa Isaacs lisa.isaacs@inl.co.za CIVIL society organisations have expressed disappointment at the National Energy Regulator (Nersa) electricity subcommittee’s recommendation to conditionally approve the government’s proposal for another 2 500MW of nuclear power. Nersa’s subcommittee has recommended a conditional approval with suspensive conditions, mainly citing concerns over affordability. “The nuclear build programme must be at an affordable pace and scale that the country can afford, because it is not a great option in the long term,” the committee noted. The subcommittee’s recommendation will be taken to the Nersa board which will then make a final decision. The Koeberg Alert Alliance (KAA) said the decision was disappointing as Eskom was R480 billion in debt, and cannot afford a new nuclear build. “No vendor will fund a build without guarantees and neither Eskom nor…

SOUTH Africa had not experienced a Cabinet reshuffle in 18 months since President Cyril Ramaphosa last reshuffled it on November 22, 2018. There are pros and cons to each side of the spectrum, but I see the recent reshuffle as a missed opportunity by the president to correct a few wrongs in the structure of his executive (Cabinet) and a chance to demonstrate to South Africans that he is a real statesman not a political deployee. The structural realignment was the unbundling of the Department of Water and Sanitation from the Department of Human Settlements and the absorption of the Department of State Security into the Presidency. There are two key issues that we need to confront, namely (i) the size of the Cabinet (it is a bloated Cabinet) and…

NEW YORK: Henri soaked the US northeast with rain and disrupted transport after being downgraded to a tropical depression. The former hurricane would produce additional rainfall of 1 to 3 inches (1.25-381mm), with locally higher amounts possible, over portions of Long Island, New England, southeast New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania through yesterday, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory. It caused a trail of power outages and flooded roads along the coast. Dominion Energy was forced to reduce output at the Millstone Power Station. “Slow-moving Henri is expected to continue to produce heavy rainfall and flooding across portions of southern New England and the Northern Mid-Atlantic states through today,” the National Hurricane Center said. “Heavy rainfall from Henri will continue to result in limited to considerable…

Herman Gibbs herman.gibbs@africannewsagency.com KAIZER Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter has highlighted technical deficiencies that contributed to the early-season wobble in Mbombela on Sunday when the team had to share the spoils despite dominating possession. After running Mamelodi Sundowns close a week before in the MTN8 quarter-final, which Chiefs lost in a penalty shoot-out, much more was expected from them. They started the season on a high by winning the Carling Black Label Cup. As it turned out, Chiefs did little to excite their fans in their Premiership opener, which was pretty much a non-event. Amakhosi rarely looked like picking up a positive result as they failed to set up attacks that generated scoring opportunities, and Baxter put it down to “technical errors” in the team’s approach. “The lack of quality was…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za THE FINANCIAL Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) yesterday suspended the exchange licence of ZAR X, effective from late Friday afternoon, due to the exchange not meeting liquidity and capital adequacy requirements. ZAR X trades the listed stocks of Agribel group, Dale Capital Group, Orion Real Estate, Runway Property Group, Senwes, Transformational Investment Portfolio One, and TWK Investments, its website showed. Etienne Nel, co-founder and chief executive of the exchange said that the timing of the suspension was unfortunate. However, the exchange considered the suspension to be temporary and it posed no risk to issuers or investors who held their assets in their own name directly at Strate. He said ZAR X had lodged an appeal against the FSCA decision. FSCA commissioner Unathi Kamlana said in a…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za WORKFORCE Holdings, a provider of employment, training and wellness services, said yesterday that it expects a pick up in the demand for labour contracting as it swung back to profitability during the six months ended June 2021 in line with the rebounding economy. Chief executive Ronny Katz said the level 4 lockdown and the current level 3 of the Covid-19 pandemic had affected the economy and the business, and had created a stop-start situation, which inevitably would affect the results of their investments. “Workforce believes that the third wave is being contained and as a result business activity will reach levels higher than the 2020 financial year. “We foresee a reinvigoration of the permanent placement industry, coupled with a change in emphasis in the areas in which…

ROLAND FISHER | Durban As Mr Zuma was incarcerated, the process was for the prisons department to give him a health check, which was allegedly performed and which he passed. Now we read that he had a traumatic injury last year, requiring a hospital stay, numerous procedures and at least six months required for said procedures and hospitalisation, and all this coming to light on the eve of his court appearance. Curious that the prisons department never picked this “injury” up, nor was it ever alluded to by himself and his legal team over the past many months – no sir, this smacks of déjà vu, where Mr Zuma’s one-time financial adviser was given a free pass from jail as he was terminally ill, as advised by his…

ALISON FERREIRA | North Beach The reply by a municipal official to questions asked about Kings Park pool by previous correspondents is typical of the lame replies given to questions about municipal services. Yes, we are still under Covid-19 level 3, but these questions about the pool have been asked before the Covid-19 pandemic hit us. If pool facilities are falling apart, what has that got to do with Covid-19? Why did the Eastern Cape and not KwaZulu-Natal host the SA Swim Champs this year during Covid-19? Because the Kings Park pool facility badly needs repair. The municipality lacks either the funds or the will to do anything about our once beautiful pools and this includes pools all over eThekwini. Please, Covid-19 is just an excuse.…

KEVIN GOVENDER | Shallcross Startling figures came from the Department of Health recently for the period April last year to March this year on teenage pregnancies. A staggering 23 266 teenagers were impregnated. Add to that, Police Minister Bheki Cele’s sombre figures of 10 066 confirmed rape cases in the second quarter of this year and South Africa really becomes a dangerous and sick society to live in. Indubitably rape and teenage pregnancies are joined at the umbilical of fear, distress, emotional scarring and shame. While both invade the soul and violate the essence of femininity, let us try to probe some of the many causes of teenage pregnancy. Some girls as young as 10 are falling pregnant. Illiteracy and poverty are the main causes. However, there are other societal…

Kailene Pillay kailene.pillay@inl.co.za The pre-trial hearing of former Vlakplaas police officer Thlomedi Ephraim Mfalapitsa, who is linked to the deaths of three student activists in Krugersdorp nearly 40 years ago, was postponed to Friday. Mfalapitsa, 67, appeared in the Gauteng Division of the High Court yesterday for the case. National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said the judge opted to postpone to allow for the State and defence to resolve some issues. “The judge wants to verify and iron out some issues so she can be sure that the case is ready for trial. “There are some outstanding items from both parties,” Mjonondwane said. Mfalapitsa, who was a SA Police Security Branch officer in Vlakplaas at the time, is accused of luring Congress of SA Students (Cosas) supporters, Eustice…

| Mercury Correspondent KwaZulu-Natal emergency and search and rescue teams have recovered the body of a boater who went missing on Sunday. IPSS Medical Rescue spokesperson Paul Herbst said the body was found yesterday and the matter would be handed over to police to investigate. “Reports indicated the person fell of a boat and did not resurface.” The search was suspended on Sunday for safety reasons. The teams returned yesterday and found the body. Meanwhile, rescue teams have resumed the search for a 6-year-old child swept out to sea at an unprotected beach on the KZN North Coast.…

THE uncertainty around the election date due to the Covid-19 lockdown is putting municipalities around the country in a difficult position, as the move is likely to have a negative impact on service delivery. The Constitutional Court is expected to make a pronouncement following the application by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to have the local government polls postponed to early next year. If the application is granted, many municipalities could be faced with a leadership vacuum, as the majority of ANC councillors would have been voted out in the party’s nomination process. This situation would have the unintended consequence of crippling service delivery in a number of municipalities. In eThekwini Municipality, for instance, ruling party councillors who have not been nominated by their communities to stand as…

The Taliban warned yesterday there would be “consequences” if the US and its allies extended their presence in Afghanistan beyond next week, as chaos continued to overwhelm Kabul airport. The hardline Islamists’ takeover of the country last weekend shocked Western nations. To manage the chaotic airlifting of foreigners and Afghans – many of whom fear reprisals for working with Western nations – thousands of soldiers have poured back into Afghanistan, with pressure growing on Washington to extend the deadline. But the Taliban, who have so far sought to strike a more moderate tone, showed no willingness to compromise on the US pull-out. “If the US or UK were to seek additional time to continue evacuations, the answer is no. Or there would be consequences,” Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen. “Staying…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE TOURISM industry in June continued making gains from last year’s Covid-19-induced lockdown effects, but the momentum of the recovery slightly slowed due to restrictions. Data from Statistics SA (StatsSA) yesterday showed that income for tourist accommodation increased by 1 012.4 percent in June. This was a significant rise compared with the same month a year ago when the country was on a complete lockdown level 5, enabling low statistical base effects to boost the June reading. In June, all accommodation types recorded large positive year-on-year growth in income from accommodation. The largest increases were reported by caravan parks and camping sites and guest houses and guest farms. Hotel occupancy rates, which make up the largest portion of the tourist accommodation sector, fell to 21.7…

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has finally decided to act against embattled and controversial Newcastle mayor and eMalahleni ANC regional chairperson, Dr Ntuthuko Mahlaba. The party has decided not to field him as one of its candidates for the local government elections, meaning that he may lose his position as the next mayor of the municipality. Although the reasons for the decision are not explicitly stated, a leaked conversation between KZN ANC provincial secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli and senior provincial executive committee member and the chairperson of the provincial list committee, Cyril Vusi Xaba, his exclusion is based on “Rule 16 cases”. These are matters brought before the leadership to discuss and take decisions on. In the email Ntuli sent to Xaba he said Mahlaba and other affected members of the ANC…

KAREN AND MATTHEW LUDIK | Durban HOW is it possible that the eThekwini Municipality is allowed to get away with such abominable customer service and criminal behaviour like holding the bare necessities of electricity and water for ransom from loyal, law-abiding citizens? My husband and I purchased a house in July last year and opened a new metro account that same month. From day one we have had many problems with the metro which, if I had to explain here, would fill a good few pages. Most of these problems have still not been solved on the metro’s side despite many communications over the past year. What has made me desperate now is a problem with the billing of my granny flat’s water meter. This, in itself is…

JOHN KNOTTENBELT | Sherwood A headline in the Sunday Tribune forced me to respond. It screamed “Crucifixion of Rassie will nail rugby”, and how true that is. Today will indeed be a sad day for rugby, should that “Old Boys’ Club”, the World Rugby hierarchy, decide to nail Rassie, instead of focusing on the fact that even the great lord of the match, the referee, can make a mistake. And in the case of Nic Berry, apparently even 26 of them in one match. That being the first Test of the recent British and Irish Lions against the Springboks series. Of course, some referees are deemed to be more untouchable than others, hence the fact that there are two lines persons and one TMO also keeping an eye…

Do you have people you can call for help and who will drop everything they may be doing and come to your assistance, even late at night? I do. Last night, I had a rather unexpected visit from guests who told me they’d be staying over and would be arriving within 45 minutes. It was already after 9pm when they let me know. I jumped to action: readying beds, vacuuming bedrooms and so forth and it crossed my mind that I would never get it all done and finish in time and have things as I would like them to be to welcome friends who’d been driving all day. So, I reached out for help. Within five minutes, two people arrived to help me. They were dressed for the occasion…

Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za THE National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says Covid-19 restrictions resulted in a reduction of the number of court days that could be used in the financial year ending in March. The prosecuting body said the move led to cases being finalised decreasing by about 50%. In its 2020/21 annual report tabled in Parliament recently, the NPA blamed the situation it found itself in on the accused who could not be safely transported to courts owing to the need for social distancing and decontamination. “The impact on court days in the regional courts improved from September 2020, although the reduction in the number of court cases finalised is difficult to recover,” the report said. It noted that due to the decrease in crime in the months of April to…

SA needs active citizens – even in media – to hold politicians to account THE action taken by media practitioners last week to demand accountability from Parliament, and to what extent ordinary citizens in the media space can take action to hold politicians to account, has raised a debate. I would have thought that in the new dispensation this debate, while more than welcome, is a bit stale. Citizens of whatever influence must use their voice to rebuild a country ravaged both by apartheid with its oppressive laws and dispensation, and the current regime with its tainted reputation drowning in corruption and disrespect for the Constitution that they have brought into existence. But I was wrong if media personalities Stephen Grootes and Redi Tlhabi are to be believed. On his…

KIGALI: A Belgian lawyer acting for the man whose story inspired the film Hotel Rwanda, now tried on terrorism charges, has been deported for working without a permit, the head of Rwanda’s immigration service said yesterday. Paul Rusesabagina, the ex-hotelier portrayed as a hero in the 2004 film about Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, is accused of nine terrorism-related charges, including forming and funding an armed rebel group. Vincent Lurquin was deported after appearing in court as Rusesabagina’s lawyer the previous day despite lacking legal permission to do so, officials said. “He did some work, but he was not authorised to work, he was in the country on a visitor’s visa.”…

Unpopular Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga looks increasingly vulnerable to a challenge from within his party for the nation’s top job after an ally’s defeat in a local election on Sunday which was seen as a referendum on Suga’s Covid-19 response. If Suga loses, he would join a long list of short-term premiers. He took over in September after Shinzo Abe quit, citing ill health and ending a rare lengthy term of nearly eight years. Suga, whose term as ruling Liberal Democratic Party leader ends next month, has seen his support slide from highs of about 70% to below 30%, with a weekend poll by ANN News putting support at 25.8% as Japan battles an explosive surge of infections. Yesterday, domestic media reported that former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida is…

Ashfak Mohamed ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za KGOTHATSO Montjane and Charl du Toit “embody the Paralympic values of excellence, friendship and respect, and are fully deserving of the honour”, says Sascoc president Barry Hendricks about the duo being named as flag-bearers for Team South Africa at the Tokyo Paralympics. Team SA announced yesterday that wheelchair tennis star Montjane and athletics ace Du Toit will hold Mzansi’s flag aloft at the opening ceremony today. The duo are both taking part in their third Paralympics, following on from London 2012 and Rio 2016. Montjane made it all the way to the Wimbledon final this year, and athletics sprinter Du Toit clinched two gold medals in Rio in the T37 category in the 100m and 400m events. “I am really honoured to be a South African flag-bearer.…