Table of contents for 2021-12-31 in Star

Shingai Darangwa shingai.darangwa@inl.co.za Just two weeks since the album came out, producer and DJ Kelvin Momo’s Ivy League is already being hailed by many as the album of the year. Coming in at a meaty two hours and 53 minutes, the project is the longest amapiano project in recent memory, but you’d never say – its summery vibes send you coasting through. Kelvin is among the genre’s most productive artists. Ivy League is his third project in 18 months. His previous projects, Momo’s Private School and Bayeke teased the mature, jazzy vibes that he effortlessly masters on Ivy League. Each guest appearance on the album seems carefully curated by Kelvin, with the likes of TBO, Ch’cco and Sino Msolo blending seamlessly with its rich sounds. He may not be as…

Buhle Mbonambi Not everyone is able to go to a New Year’s Eve party and with a midnight curfew in place, is there even a point to go partying? So if you are looking for a way to bring in the new year at home with your loved ones, here are our picks of the shows to tune into tonight. Royal Variety Performance M-Net at 8.30pm The annual Royal Variety Performance is a showcase of the best in UK and international talent. The event has been attended by royalty since 1912, see comedians, musicians and performers take to the stage in aid of the Royal Variety Charity, which Queen Elizabeth II is a life patron of. The star-studded extravaganza will include exclusive performances from Michael Ball and Captain Sir Thomas…

Willem Phungula willem.phungula@inl.co.za RADICAL Economic Transformation group leader Nkosentsha Shezi has described President Cyril Ramaphosa’s charging of R1.2 million to dine alongside him at a gala dinner as “a recipe for state capture”. The gala dinner, to be hosted by the Progressive Business Forum (PBF), is set to be held at the Protea Hotel in Polokwane next Friday as a precursor to the party’s annual January 8 celebrations on Saturday. Shezi questioned the motive behind charging that amount and described the move as a clear pre-selling of government tenders, adding that the ANC was supposed to further explain the purpose of this rather than merely say it was for networking. The exclusive dinner was expected to also be used as a fund-raiser to fill the party’s empty coffers –…

Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za THAT match went largely as expected. To start with the victors … This Indian team is an extremely, extremely good one. They’ve proved it in Australia (twice in the last three years) and England this year. They continue to dominate at home, as the current world Test champions, New Zealand, can attest. The Australians can go ahead and anoint their own pace attack as the best around, but this Indian one is better. Mohammed Shami may not be as strapping as Pat Cummins or Mitchell Starc, but he is a magnificent fast bowler. He doesn’t miss. He honed in on a line and length here, top of off stump, and then stayed there. His dismantling of Aiden Markram in the first innings made for terrific viewing. Markram…

A sensational six-wicket innings haul on debut may not be enough to keep paceman Scott Boland in the Australian team, with regular seamer Josh Hazlewood set to return from a side strain for the fourth Ashes Test in Sydney next week. Boland, who was plucked from obscurity by selectors on Christmas Eve, was Man of the Match in the third Test in Melbourne after finishing with astonishing figures of 6/7 from four overs as England capitulated for 68 in the second innings. The selectors are blessed with an embarrassment of bowling riches, with first-choice seamer Hazlewood expected to be fit and Mitchell Starc unlikely to be rested after Australia’s bowlers had a light workload at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where they romped to an innings and 14-run victory. Boland said…

ENGLAND all-rounder Chris Woakes has supported Joe Root to continue as the team’s Test skipper despite their humiliating Ashes capitulation to Australia. England suffered an innings and 14-run loss to Australia on Tuesday in Melbourne as Root’s team surrendered the five-Test Ashes series with two matches to spare. Root, who was reluctant to discuss the long-term future of his captaincy after the Ashes defeat in the third Test, has not won any of his three Ashes series in charge. The 31-year-old has also suffered a record nine defeats in 2021 as the captain. Asked if the England team would support Root’s continuation as skipper, Woakes told British media on Wednesday: “Absolutely. “It’s clear that the captaincy isn’t having an effect on his batting, which a lot of the time with…

ALGERIA, Ivory Coast and Morocco, who are among the favourites for the Africa Cup of Nations, have been hit by Covid-19 just over a week before the tournament kicks off in Cameroon. The Ivorians said players arriving from Europe at their training camp in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, had tested positive and been put into quarantine by local authorities. They did not name the players nor state how long they will have to isolate, but the rest of the squad would continue with their training, a team statement yesterday added. Ivory Coast have been preparing in Saudi Arabia since Monday and are due to stay until January 5, before heading to Cameroon, where they will compete in Group E against Algeria, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone. Algeria earlier this week said…

Bang Showbiz Jonathan Groff says he was amazed by the effort Keanu Reeves put into fight scenes during the making of The Matrix Resurrections. The 36-year-old star features in the new sci-fi blockbuster as the villainous Agent Smith and explained how he was amazed by the effort Reeves put into a fight scene as he returns to the role of Thomas Anderson/Neo. Groff told The Hollywood Reporter: “All of the rumours are true about Keanu’s level of work ethic. He was there training and getting ready before all of us got there. “My first day in the training tent, Keanu was in his jiu-jitsu outfit doing kicks and punches. I mean, he really sets the bar for all of us in the training.” The Mindhunter actor continued: “It was so…

Lehlohonolo Mashigo lehlohonolo.mashigo@inl.co.za AS SOUTH Africa approaches New Year celebrations, fireworks have traditionally been used to usher in a new year, but for many animals, this can be a terrifying night. The SPCA said that fireworks have a detrimental effect on not only domesticated animals but also farm animals and wild animals. “We implore the public to please refrain from using fireworks. Prevention is far better than cure, and not using fireworks is a small and simple act of kindness that will go a long, long way,” said SPCA spokesperson Keshvi Nair. Nair said that most animals are far more sensitive to sound than human beings, and what sounds like a normal sound to us can be multiple times louder for them, and this causes them to become frightened. “In…

Lehlohonolo Mashigo lehlohonolo.mashigo@inl.co.za Living conditions in Alexandra have come under scrutiny after the heavy rainfall this past week caused havoc in the township. After the evacuation of residents living near the Jukskei River due to flooding, housing in the overcrowded township has come under scrutiny by community leaders, such as Alexandra philanthropist and activist Linda Twala. Twala said more land was needed as residents were crammed in a small area. This, while those in leafy Sandton live in spacious dwellings in a well- serviced suburb. “We need Frankenwald, which was left as a gift by the late Mr Alfred Beit. It has been standing empty for years. With proper development and educational facilities, (it can be) a state-of-the-art retirement village for our senior citizens who marched in 1954 and 1956…

The festive season which is filled with Christmas feelings, quality time with loved ones and relaxation, will soon be replaced with back-to-school excitement. As consumers shift gears from the holiday season to the back-to-school (BTS) madness, Kutlwano Tshetlhane, mother and stationery marketing manager at BIC, shares her top five budget-friendly tips to help navigate the BTS panic and make it a little bit easier on the mind and the pocket. Take control of your own shopping basket While ordering a stationery box through your child’s school may seem like the obvious choice, it’s not necessarily the only option. You might end up with stationery items you don’t need. Take control, shop yourself through physical or online stores, and choose the items that you and your child prefer. Pro tip:…

ON MONDAY, December 27, a day after the passing of Bishop Tutu, I happened to be in Cape Town. I got a chance to pass through St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town. I paid my respects to the country’s grandfather and the conscience of the nation, Archbishop Tutu, the man called the Arch. By some coincidence, I was also in Cape Town some 35 years ago in September 1986 when the Arch was installed as the first black Anglican Church Archbishop of Cape Town at the same St George’s Cathedral. My mates and I had gone to church in Gugulethu that Sunday. There was a general buzz in the township with scores of the church mothers (omama bomthandazo) in their church uniforms heading towards St George’s Cathedral for the…

Eshlin Vedan eshlin.vedan@inl.co.za AMAZULU captain Makhehlene Makhaula believes that his team’s CAF Champions League group is “tough”, but he thinks that the club can persevere with proper preparation. AmaZulu have been drawn in Group B, which will see them face Moroccan giants Raja Casablanca, Guinea’s Horoya AC and Algerian club ES Sétifienne. While AmaZulu will not be among the favourites to win Africa’s premier competition, there is no doubt that their ambitious coach Benni McCarthy will fancy his chances of progressing deep in the competition. Usuthu will also be inspired by the fact that they have already produced one of the competition’s biggest shocks this season, after ousting five-time champions TP Mazembe in the second preliminary round. “I think that the technical team will prepare us well. We are playing…

Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel vented his frustration at a snowballing injury crisis, and some refereeing decisions, as his side fell further behind Premier League leaders Manchester City with a 1-1 home draw against Brighton & Hove Albion on Wednesday. Tuchel was left hopping on the touch-line as his players put in an error-strewn performance that the German blamed on a string of injuries and Covid-19 cases that have stretched the European champions. “It’s too much, at some point it’s too much,” a visibly strained Tuchel told reporters after he saw wing-back Reece James hobble off with a hamstring injury before fellow defender Andreas Christensen went off at half-time with a back problem. “This is where we are and you need to adapt your demands to the situation you are in,”…

Novak Djokovic could still play at the Australian Open, a Serbian teammate said yesterday, despite the world number one’s last-minute decision to pull out of the ATP Cup in Sydney. The 20-time Grand Slam champion withdrew from this week’s teams event days before its start tomorrow, heightening doubts over whether he will defend his Australian Open title. Djokovic has refused to confirm if he has been inoculated against Covid-19, with all participants at the opening Grand Slam of the year needing to be vaccinated or have a medical exemption. Dusan Lajovic, who will lead Serbia’s ATP Cup drive in Djokovic’s absence, said his teammate wanted to be in Sydney. “Unfortunately he’s not able to come here, but, you know, he was I think hoping, same as we did, that somehow…

Portuguese national Jose Peseiro was announced as Nigeria’s new national football coach on Wednesday, but he will not be in charge at the Africa Cup of Nations tournament next month. Nigeria this month dismissed Germany’s Gernot Rohr just weeks ahead of the Cup of Nations, with technical director Augustine Eguavoen taking charge on an interim basis. “After careful consideration of a memo presented by chairman of the technical and development sub-committee, the executive committee endorsed a proposal for the appointment of Mr Jose Peseiro as the new head coach of the Super Eagles,” the Nigeria Football Federation said in a statement. The federation said the Cup of Nations, to be held in Cameroon between January 9 and February 6, would allow Peseiro to establish a working relationship with Eguavoen, who…

Emily Yahr Many of this year’s celebrity apologies, like so much else in 2021, were pretty bleak. Justin Timberlake offered an overdue apology for his treatment of Britney Spears and Janet Jackson. Morgan Wallen posted an apology video when he was caught saying the n-word. DaBaby apologised for his homophobic comments. Chrissy Teigen said she was “ashamed and completely embarrassed” about her past bullying tweets. However, as usual, there were also plenty of stars opening up their Notes app or frantically calling their publicists for more, shall we say, bizarre situations … proving that even as a global pandemic continues, their antics cannot be stopped. Here were some of the weirdest things they apologised for this year: Made fun of BTS fans CBS late-night host James Corden has been…

Sonri Naidoo Soweto residents in Diepkloof are up in arms after the brutal murder of a 28-year-old man. The residents believe the man was shot by a Mozambican national and have since retaliated by breaking down foreign national-owned stores in the area and burning tyres in the road. On Wednesday at about 4am, Diepkloof SAPS spokesperson Captain Phephi Matlou-Mteto confirmed that two young men were sitting in an abandoned vehicle near the Bareni taxi rank when a man approached them and started shooting at them. She said, according to witness, the firearm did not go off because it was not loaded and the man walked away. “But the man later returned and shot at the two men, causing the death of one of them. We have no information about…

Willem Phungula willem.phungula@inl.co.za DEMOCRACY in Action (DIA) said it would today file court papers in the South Gauteng High Court to stop Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo from releasing the state capture report to President Cyril Ramaphosa. DIA chairperson Thabo Mtshweni said that Ramaphosa was conflicted so he should not be given the report because he had been implicated by some witnesses who appeared before the commission. “We have written numerous letters to the commission, with the most recent one on December 20, to no avail about the legal permissibility of handing over of the report to the president, because in our view he is conflicted and was also implicated by some witnesses during the enquiry,” said Mtshweni. He said the president should delegate someone or Deputy President David…

Nhlanhla Mbatha THE death of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu at the age of 90 may be the most significant loss to befall South Africa this year. However, Johannesburg was hard hit by the deaths of its two first citizens in the space of two-and-a-half months. It started with the death of the city’s first post-apartheid mayor, Isaac Mogase, on April 27. Mogase, who was Joburg’s mayor from 1995 to 2000, died at the age of 87. Geoff Makhubo, who was the city’s mayor from December 2019, succumbed to Covid-19 complications on July 9. Taking over the mayoral seat on August 10, Jolidee Matongo had worn the mayoral robe for just under 40 days before dying in a car accident on September 18. Makhubo was 53 and Matongo…

Phil Foden got back in Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola’s good books in the best way possible with the winner at Brentford on Wednesday to put his side clear in the title race. The 21-year-old England international was left out of the last two games after he and Jack Grealish upset Guardiola with a night out on the town following a 7-0 win over Leeds United. Foden’s fifth league goal of the season, a silky finish from Kevin de Bruyne’s exquisite pass, capped a fine display by the forward, who was at the heart of City’s best moments. The fact a player of such quality could be left out at a crucial stage of the season highlights the attacking riches Guardiola has at his disposal. But Foden showed his quality…

Atletico Madrid have recorded five Covid-19 positives, including manager Diego Simeone, while Barcelona had three more cases among their players yesterday, the La Liga clubs said. Atleti said Simeone, captain Koke, midfielder Hector Herrera plus forwards Antoine Griezmann and Joao Felix all tested positive for the coronavirus. “All of them are asymptomatic and isolating at their respective homes, in strict compliance with the health authorities’ guidelines,” Atletico said in a statement. Atleti, fifth in La Liga on 29 points after 18 games, host Rayo Vallecano on Sunday. Barcelona said midfielder Philippe Coutinho, defender Sergino Dest and winger Ez Abde were the latest players to return positive tests. The Catalans had already been hit by a number of Covid-19 cases in their squad, with Ousmane Dembele, Samuel Umtiti and Gavi set…

French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving in Australia for next month’s Grand Slam in Melbourne, the Russian world No 11 said yesterday. The women’s Tour will kick off its 2022 season next week with a WTA 500 event in Adelaide and a couple of 250 events in Melbourne, before the year’s first major is played from January 17. “Unfortunately, I have some bad news. I arrived in Australia on Tuesday and tested positive for Covid-19,” Pavlyuchenkova said on Twitter. “I was fully vaccinated and was preparing for the start of the season in Dubai. But we live in a very difficult and unpredictable time. “Right now I am in complete isolation, in a special hotel and following all the protocols under the supervision of doctors.”…

The decision by New Zealand great Ross Taylor to end his illustrious Test career after the looming Bangladesh series has placed a new emphasis on the two matches which start at Mt Maunganui’s Bay Oval tomorrow. From being a chance for New Zealand to get their World Test championship campaign back on track after the recent 1-0 loss to India, it has become a farewell to Taylor, a cricketing great who hit the winning runs when the Black Caps won the first World Test crown this year. After the Tests, Taylor has a series of One-Day Internationals to play against Australia and the Netherlands before stepping away from international cricket. While he is uncomfortable with the closing weeks of his career being termed “a farewell tour”, the 110-Test veteran accepts…