Table of contents for 2023-04-21 in Mercury

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted an in-person invitation to attend the 15th BRICS summit in Durban in August, despite the International Criminal Court (ICC) issuing a warrant for his arrest. South Africa’s BRICS Sherpa, Professor Anil Sooklal, yesterday confirmed that Putin, along with all other heads of state, had accepted the invite from President Cyril Ramaphosa. The ICC, of which South Africa is a full member, issued a warrant of arrest against Putin and urged 123 countries who are signatories to the Rome Statute to arrest him. This is for alleged war crimes related to the abduction of children from Ukraine. Sooklal said Ramaphosa had sent out invitations to the leaders of Russia, Brazil, India and China. “All of the leaders, including President Putin, have accepted the invitation and…

IN A written response received from the minister of communications and digital technologies, the ANC, in no uncertain terms, declared that South Africans will never receive free internet or data, and that millions will continue to live with no access to technology, unless it is provided by an ANC cadre or tenderpreneur. It is laughable that an international, multibillion-dollar company must hand over at least 30% of its equity to the ANC government to operate within South Africa. Elon Musk’s Starlink is the world’s first and largest satellite constellation to deliver broadband internet capable of supporting streaming, online gaming, video calls and more. Examples of countries benefiting from its use include Ukraine during the Russian invasion, where Musk ensured that any attempt to black out communications by the Russians would…

THIS whole saga about the looting at Eskom leaves one wondering as to the sincerity of our president in trying to stamp out corruption. We now read on electronic media that Ramaphosa insists that De Ruyter should report the high-ranking politicians implicated in the Eskom looting. As has previously been mentioned, De Ruyter has already mentioned the names of those involved to Gordhan; the question that should be asked of Gordhan is why he has not informed Ramaphosa – who is ultimately his boss – of those allegedly involved. What is Gordhan hiding? His openness on the SAA deal is also shrouded in secrecy and possible corruption. His own track record is starting to become rather tainted and one wonders whether he can be trusted. Now there is another news…

BEFORE you harshly judge a single mom or dad or evaluate their parenting: It might not be that the children are simply ill disciplined; it may be the result of pure exhaustion. Be kind when he or she is rattled – working two jobs and rearing children at the same time can, after a year of two, get to a person. He or she may be so “on edge” with the children because a former spouse may be refusing to pay child support or undermining his or her every move. The parenting you are witnessing may well be somewhat over-protective, but there may be some sad history that demands a close and protective eye. Sometimes the unsafe adult in a child’s life is the other parent. Be kind when you…

A JOBURG man who bagged more than R33 million in the Powerball jackpot doesn’t plan on resigning. Instead, the man, who is in his fifties, plans on building a legacy for his family. The National Lottery Ithuba confirmed that the winner had come forward to claim his R33.6m in the PowerBall draw (number 1396) that took place on April 11. Last week, Ithuba had urged all ticket holders to check their tickets and come forward to claim their prizes. The winning ticket was purchased at Spar in Alberton. The winner, who works in the finance sector, will not take early retirement, according to Ithuba. Meanwhile, someone else has bagged over R8.5m in the Powerball jackpot from Tuesday’s draw via the Capitec banking app. Ithuba said all players who won via…

Food inflation continues to rise sharply with consumers having to fork out much more for vegetables compared with last year. According to Stats SA, inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages continued to accelerate, with prices increasing by 14.0% in the 12 months to last month. It said this represented the largest annual increase since the 14.7% rise in March 2009. Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice & Dignity Group (PMBEJD) said that there had been major year-on-year increases in the price of potatoes, onions, carrots and tomatoes. Agri SA said it attributed the higher prices to the impact of load shedding on food production. Mervyn Abrahams, the programme co-ordinator for PMBEJD, said there had been a massive spike in the price of basic vegetables. “Two of the most bought vegetables that we have…

SOUTH Africa’s poverty problem is institutionalised, as it was during the apartheid years. In fact, South Africa is still an apartheid state. ANC veteran and former state president Thabo Mbeki said during his tenure (1999-2008) as president of the republic that South Africa is “a country of two nations – one that is white and wealthy and another that is black and poor”. Emotions quickly reach a breaking point when it comes to this topic of the shortage of resources in black communities, and more often than not we have seen that it results in conflicts of black self-hate, or what some in the media have termed Afrophobia. As such, I feel duty-bound to contribute to the discourse by addressing the emotions and the conflicts resulting from the jobs discourse,…

At least 78 people were killed in a stampede in the Yemeni capital Sana’a as residents gathered at a school to receive cash donations distributed by merchants during Ramadaan, witnesses and the Houthi administration said yesterday. Hundreds of people crowded to receive the alms, which amounted to 5 000 Yemeni riyals, or about $9 (R162) a person, two witnesses said. “When the door opened, there was a big rush by people wanting to reach the school yard first and some people began falling on the steps leading to the entrance,” one medic said. Two thirds of the population need help in the war-torn country, which was impoverished even before the conflict erupted eight years ago. The Houthi Health Ministry said 77 people were injured, including 13 in a critical condition,…

The Easter tourism spend registered a slight improvement compared to last year when the province was battling to cope with the impact of the floods. An update on the Easter weekend tourism was presented during an eThekwini Municipality Economic Development and Planning committee meeting yesterday. Deputy head of Durban Tourism Winile Mntungwa said the entity had hosted many activation events to encourage tourists to visit the city. She highlighted the arrival of the Queen Mary 2 cruise ship in Durban recently as a significant tourism opportunity, and said more cruise ships would be encouraged to visit the city. Detailing the Easter performance in figures, the report said: “In occupancy the figures were standing at 63% last year, and moved to 65% this year. “This Easter season saw 65% overall occupancy…

I feel desperately sorry for André de Ruyter. Here was a man, a CEO who made every effort to abide by the principles of business, thus attempting to set a tone to reflect the values and convictions of the organisation he was leading, and who must have spent countless hours brainstorming, yet nothing was taken seriously by his ANC superiors. It’s no secret CEOs have a massive impact on company culture and set the character to reflect the values and convictions of the organisation they lead. The corrosive, repulsive, wild defamatory comments directed at De Ruyter by Minister Gwede Mantashe drove the final nail into the coffin. Stripped of dignity, it no doubt made his tenure intolerable. However, this is the true phenomenon and grand product of the ANC. Zero…

Former ANC president Jacob Zuma, (addressing the ANC elective conference), stated in December 2017 that there would be free education in South Africa. Now in 2023, the government, through the Special Investigating Unit, is seeking to persecute and prosecute about 40 000 students it claims defrauded NSFAS. I stated from the onset the idea of free education was not practical, and have been proven right. But the question still is, why did the government see it necessary to campaign for free education in 2019, through a situation enshrined as government policy, only to abandon it just before another election? In addition to this, the same government is using the SIU to persecute students it has failed to provide employment opportunities for. To think that the apartheid government spent so much…

THE Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has so far recovered about R1 million from its investigation into 102 law firms – as well sheriffs’ offices – which received duplicate payments from the Road Accident Fund (RAF) estimated to be about R340m. The SIU presented its preliminary findings to Parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) this week. The SIU has approached several legal practitioners with the evidence, and they have opted to co-operate with the SIU and have signed acknowledgements of debt, said Kaizer Kganyago, SIU spokesperson. According to him, to date, the SIU has signed acknowledgements of debt to the value of R68m. Kganyago said the signing did not absolve the legal practitioners from civil criminal prosecution and their conduct could be reported to the Legal Practice Council (LPC).…

Eighty-Four SA Post Office (Sapo) employees have been placed on suspension for issuing fraudulent vehicle licences nationwide, while 15 have already been fired. This is according to Communications and Digital Technologies (CDT) Minister Mondli Gungubele. His revelation comes six months after the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) chief executive, advocate Makhosini Msibi, revealed that R3 billion was lost due to fraudulently-issued licence discs. DA spokesperson on communications and digital technology Dianne Kohler-Barnard said the modus operandi included selling fake vehicle licences, while some officials found ways around the system to issue licences fraudulently. Msibi said the RMTC and the SIU were probing 800 cases. In December, DA MP Katlego Motshidi-Bodlani asked the department about whether charges were brought against any of the individuals implicated in issuing fraudulent vehicle licences. Gungubele,…

New electricity minister meets ambassador to discuss load shedding For nearly two decades, South Africa’s capacity for economic development has diminished, resulting in an energy crisis threatening to collapse entire industries. Its regional prominence is also at risk, as countries like Mozambique make inroads into handling the bulk of import and export cargo for the region. Cargo handling in the region has historically been the preserve of South Africa. The revamped Maputo ports now handle much of southern Africa’s cargo, even servicing South African clients – and demand is on the rise. While most sub-Saharan nations have harnessed energy production parallel to their industrial development needs, South Africa has not. Plagued by an energy crisis since 2009, the increasing demand for goods and services to satisfy a steadily growing middle…

Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, exploded during its first flight yesterday, but Elon Musk congratulated his SpaceX team on an “exciting” test of the spacecraft designed to send astronauts to the moon, Mars and beyond. The uncrewed rocket disintegrated minutes after successfully blasting off from Starbase, the SpaceX spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas. The Starship spacecraft that will eventually carry crew and cargo had been scheduled to separate from the first-stage rocket booster three minutes into the flight, but separation failed to occur and the rocket blew up in a ball of fire over the Gulf of Mexico. Despite the failure to complete the full 90-minute flight test and reach orbit, SpaceX and Musk, the founder and CEO of the private space company, declared it a success. SpaceX…

THERE are still plenty of inedibles around if you are looking for some back-breaking fights. For those who prefer the finer art of edible fishing, there are lots of fish to be caught. The North Coast has seen good fishing for those targeting inedibles as well as those looking for an edible to take home. The sea has been a little rough, so you have to make the most of the pleasant conditions. Scratching has also been the main fishing style up north with the rocky gullies producing a lot of fish, with bronze bream being the main catch. Zebra and blacktail have been the bycatch. The central coast has remained consistent. The beachfront has seen plenty of smaller inedibles with a few giant surprises in between. Mackerel and redeye…

THE team that recently looked unstoppable on the domestic front has seemingly forgotten how to win ... The aura of invincibility that Mamelodi Sundowns wore with pride just last month is gone – the Brazilians and victory suddenly resembling the parallel lines of a railway – destined never to meet. And now, instead of the earlier confident talk of a second continental title, those associated with the multiple South African champions are speaking in hushed tones about the chances of their club reaching the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League. With good reason too, for why would they be confident of such success when their team has just been knocked out of the Nedbank Cup they’d been hoping to defend? That wouldn’t be so bad had that defeat been…

THE IFP yesterday accused the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department and MEC Mbali Frazer of favouritism in the awarding of the multi-billion-rand tender for the National School Nutrition Programme, saying the contract had been awarded to a politically connected businessman, Sandile Zungu. However, Zungu vehemently denied the claim in a statement yesterday. The school feeding scheme has been in the spotlight after it emerged that several children did not get their meals at the start of the school term last week due to issues experienced by the main supplier. The department said on Tuesday that the matter had since been attended to. Speaking during the Education Budget Vote debate yesterday, IFP member of the provincial legislature (MPL) Mntomuhle Khawula said the party had heard that contract had been awarded to Zungu. “We…

They killed all the buffalo; now they are turning their guns on themselves. Gun violence has become so endemic in America that not a day or week goes past without a crazed gunman turning his gun on innocent people in a supermarket, mall or school. They are making their Wild West and violent, action-packed horror movies into reality shows. In the latest act of gun violence, a 16-year-old black teenager was shot by an 85-year-old man in Kansas City. All Ralph Yarl did was walk up to the wrong house looking for his younger twin brothers at 10 at night. Andrew Lister, the homeowner, asked no questions but just took out his gun and let the gun do the talking, shooting Ralph twice in the arm and head. You expect…

HERE’S a shocker. A running app picked up a 2.5 mile anomaly in the performance of a runner in a 50-mile race between Manchester and Liverpool, in England. (The race is demarcated in miles, not kilometres). It turned out that Scottish ultra-runner Joasia Zakrzewski was feeling poorly, having started the race only hours after arriving on a flight from Australia, according to Sky News. So she accepted a lift in a car for a 2.5 mile stretch, then started running again to come in third. She admits what she did, and apologises, but that did not stop her accepting a third-place medal and being photographed with it. The case is being referred to UK Athletics. This recalls the case in our Comrades Marathon when, at the halfway mark, a fellow…

Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi wants G4S security company penalised, including for the R1.4 million the State spent on returning convicted murderer and rapist Thabo Bester and his lover Dr Nandipha Magudumana to South Africa. The pair were arrested in Arusha, Tanzania, over a week ago after fleeing the country amid reports that Bester had escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre almost a year ago. Motsoaledi said that this amount was not the only cost that the government incurred due to the daring escape. “I think they (G4S) should be penalised on many fronts, not only the R1.4m. They should be penalised because of the carelessness – and they are being paid. I believe that the Correctional Department must say they are no longer going to pay them because they…

President Cyril Ramaphosa has been accused of doing nothing about the two ministers that were implicated by former Eskom chief executive André de Ruyter in corruption in the power utility. Ramaphosa said in a response to a parliamentary question from DA leader John Steenhuisen that he had not been briefed about the identities of the ministers. Steenhuisen had enquired whether Ramaphosa was briefed by his national security advisor Sydney Mufamadi and Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan, about the identities of the two ministers. Ramaphosa said he had been advised that in terms of section 34 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, De Ruyter had a duty to report corrupt transactions to any police official. “Once any such person has presented evidence to an appropriate law-enforcement agency,…

Explosions and gunfire resounded in Sudan’s capital yesterday as fighting between the forces of two rival generals showed no signs of abating ahead of festivities marking the end of Ramadaan. Over 300 people have been killed since the fighting erupted Saturday between forces loyal to Sudan’s army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Some of the fiercest battles have taken place in the capital Khartoum, a city home to five million people, most of whom have been cloistered in their homes without electricity, food and water. As battles raged, Burhan dismissed any prospects for negotiations with Daglo, telling Al Jazeera yesterday he sees no option but “decisive military” action, adding that he was open for mediation. The fighting…

In 2023, only 39% of respondents in a survey said religion was very important to them, compared to 62% who said that in 1998, according to The New York Times this week. The survey was conducted on about 1 000 US adults last month by The Wall Street Journal and NORC at the University of Chicago about the importance of different values to Americans. “When you look at the full results, the picture becomes a bit more complicated,” with 60% of respondents saying that religion was either somewhat or very important to them, and only 19% saying religion was not important to them at all, said the article. Mark Chaves, a professor of sociology at Duke Divinity School who directs the National Congregations Study, said: “America can still be a…

PROTEAS star Quinton de Kock says he is “chilled” about not having played a match in the Indian Premier League this season and is instead focusing on improving his fitness. De Kock has not been a regular starter at the IPL since his debut season a decade ago in 2013, with the dynamic opening batter/wicketkeeper playing integral roles for previous teams Royal Challengers Bangalore and five-time IPL Champions Mumbai Indians before moving to Lucknow Super Giants last season. He had an immediate impact at LSG, forming a potent opening combination with captain KL Rahul that drove the team all the way to the play-offs last year. De Kock’s contribution was immense with the left-hander scoring 508 runs at an average of 36.28 and a strike rate of 148.97, including a…