Table of contents for 2022-05-20 in Star

Sangoma calls for cleansing after the death of three ANC mayors in less than a year FOLLOWING the death of the third City of Joburg ANC mayor in less than a year, questions have been asked about whether the position is cursed. Mpho Moerane succumbed on Wednesday evening to his injuries he sustained in a car crash a week ago . He served a brief stint as mayor after the passing away of mayor Jolidee Matonga last year. There were murmurings that there was foul play and witchcraft related to Moerane’s accident, however, his family dismissed the claims. According to the Moerane’s family, his accident was caused by a rock that he drove into in Bowling Avenue. He was on his way from a meeting to his home in Bryanston…

AFTER having last made cellphone contact with Fezile Qhawekazi Nxumalo on March 25, who had left home to visit her boyfriend in Witbank, a northern KwaZulu-Natal family was still reeling after the mother of a three-year-old was found dead. Nonkululeko Ndlela said that her cousin Fezile Qhawekazi Nxumalo left their homestead in Ogedlini, in Nongoma, on March 22, to visit her boyfriend, who was not the father of her toddler, Abelwa Nsele. She said that on arrival in Mpumalanga, Nxumalo had messaged saying she had arrived safely. The next day her cousin sent a WhatsApp message which she did not respond to until late on March 24. “On March 25, when our cousin, Khanyezile Mngomezulu, contacted Fezile by WhatsApp, complaining to her that she never contacted them when she was…

THE ball is now in the hands of the Constitutional Court justices to decide if banks should have their wings clipped in their approach to obtain default judgments against bond defaulters owing small amounts. Counsels for the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and three major banks presented their clients’ positions before the apex court yesterday. The SAHRC took on Standard Bank, Nedbank and FNB, which it accused of prejudicing bond defaulters owing as little as R7 000 by bringing default judgment applications against them in the high court. It held that the magistrate’s court was more suitable to hear these matters, some of which resulted in home repossessions. It submitted that they were “more accessible than the high court to impoverished respondents”. Advocate Matthew Chaskalson SC advanced the SAHRC’s argument…

While this book may appear daunting in its length of 701 pages, it rewards lie in being a bold, richly related novel spanning three centuries about lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia. In an alternate version of 1893 America, New York is part of the Free States, where people may live and love whomever they please (or so it seems). The fragile young scion of a distinguished family resists betrothal to a worthy suitor, drawn to a charming music teacher of no means. Then, in a 1993 Manhattan besieged by the Aids epidemic, a young Hawaiian man lives with a far older and wealthier partner, hiding a troubled childhood. And in a futuristic 2093, a world exists awash with plagues, governed by totalitarian rule. Here, a powerful…

Beyond Fear is the testimony of Ebrahim Ebrahim, a revolutionary among revolutionaries, whose poignant and inspirational account of his years spent dedicated to bringing down the apartheid state is told in ways we have not heard. As one of the founding members of Umkhonto weSizwe, he played a central role in directing the sabotage campaign of the early 1960s. Convicted for this, Ebrahim arrived on Robben Island in 1964, where for over 15 years he played a leadership role in the creation of the “University of Robben Island”. Soon after his release, Ebrahim became the head of the ANC’s political military committee in Swaziland. He was abducted in December 1986 by apartheid agents and taken to South Africa. He was charged with high treason and sentenced to a further 20…

THE lost city of Kaditshwene was declared a heritage site in 2011, but has apparently not been opened officially. It was not a “city” in the true sense of the word but a vast settlement of rondawels founded circa 1470. It had a population of about 20 000, almost exceeding that of Cape Town at the time, but it was not “better than Cape Town”. The site is on a hill on the border of two white-owned farms. The Bahurutshe were never attacked by or robbed of their land by white settlers (colonials), but there were continuous wars with neighbouring Batswana chieftains. With regard to the two white-owned farms, and according to “Political Analysis South Africa” (March 2019), one farmer, Mr Delport, was willing to sell the land back to…

PARENTS will abuse their children and justify it with lines such as “that’s how we were raised and we turned out fine” or “that’s what the Bible says”. Abusing children physically, verbally or emotionally in the hope of disciplining them and wanting obedient children is an outdated practice. Parents who fail to recognise that are lazy to do the mental work that breaks down these toxic generational patterns that were passed down to them. They are lazy to learn healthy ways to communicate with their children and they are big bullies to their children. If parents don’t recognise these patterns and continue to harm their kids, they will have strained relationships with their children.…

FOLLOWING a public outcry, Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa directed that the decision to erect a gigantic “monumental flag”, which would cost taxpayers R22 million, be reviewed. The idea behind the project was to foster social cohesion, something that is needed urgently in South Africa as we still see blatant racism. The question is how effective are such monuments in fostering social cohesion? The idea is not as black and white as one would think. Let’s unpack some recent events that call for social cohesion: the urinating incident at Stellenbosch University as well as another that surfaced following that. How the July unrest in KwaZulu-Natal played out in Phoenix and that always close to or after Diwali there’s some racial spat on social media over fireworks. There…

Hollywood star Russell Crowe quizzed candidates for Bangkok’s governor election campaign in a TV appearance yesterday. The megapolis is preparing for its first governor poll in almost a decade on Sunday in the first significant election since youth-led pro-democracy rallies in 2020. The Australian actor beamed into Thailand’s current affairs programme The Discussion. He queried them on plans to mitigate the regular threat of flooding in Bangkok, and make the city more “friendly to tourists”. | AFP…

THE 2021/22 Premier Soccer League (PSL) season yet again failed to live up to its lofty billing administratively, but let’s be grateful that there won’t be any chaos leading to court battles. Last season, we were not here: duly congratulating the champions of the GladAfrica Championship, Richards Bay, while looking forward to honouring those who stood head and shoulders above their peers. No! The game was embroiled in court cases as Shauwn Mkhize wanted her CSI Royal AM to earn outright promotion to the elite league come hell or high water, before she settled on buying the status of Bloemfontein Celtic. What led to such turmoil was leaving legal matters unresolved thanks to the poor PSL disciplinary committee run by Nande Becker back then. The PSL avoided the same trap…

KAIZER Chiefs’ ability to nurture some of the finest goalkeepers over the years has made it difficult for anyone to walk into the starting team, and that’s why current No 1 Bruce Bvuma is crediting his hard work for his run in the side. After the arrival of Brandon Petersen this season, Bvuma was expected to be pushed further down the pack, given that Nigerian international Daniel Akpeyi and Bafana Bafana star Itumeleng Khune were still in the set-up. Coach Stuart Baxter, before being fired, gave all four a chance between the sticks in the first half of the season, and it was Petersen that emerged as the No. 1 early this year. A poor run of form from the former Bidvest Wits goalie saw interim coach Arthur Zwane make…

UNDEFEATED Mdantsane-born Ludumo Lamati will attempt to revive his boxing career on Sunday when he steps into the ring for a 10-rounder against Tanzanian Haidari Mchanjo at Booysens Boxing Club, Johannesburg. Their clash will be the headline bout on Manny Fernandez’s BRD Boxing Promotions bill, which will offer a seven-fight card. The main event will not be a title bout but the winner of the junior featherweight fight will receive the new WBC African Spirit Championship belt, which has been loosely termed the Ubuntu belt. The WBC African Spirit Championship belt is the brainchild of WBC SA representatives Larry Weinstein and Alan Norman who were looking to create fight opportunities for fighters, and in this case, especially for the classy Lamati who has a praiseworthy No 9 WBC ranking in…

SPORTS, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa has decided to review his R22 million flag project, amid rousing criticism from South Africans. Artists, ordinary people, political parties and civil organisation have questioned the value of the monumental flag, citing that the money should be utilised in building playgrounds or improving the sport sector. Mthethwa said he notes the public discourse that unfolded regarding the envisaged monumental flag planned for Pretoria’s Freedom Park. “In upholding the rights of citizens to be heard, Mthethwa has directed his department to review the process related to the flag totally,” said the department in a media statement. The department is entrusted with a mandate to transform the country’s heritage landscape by building monuments, memorials, museums, changing colonial and apartheid names. The Star yesterday reported that…

WITH the death of another ANC Joburg former mayor, the question is being asked: is the city’s number one seat jinxed? The ANC’s first post democratic mayor in Joburg, Isaac Mogase, died in April last year, followed by Geoff Makhubo in July, then Jolidee Matongo a month later, now Mpho Moerane this week. “It is too soon,” Mpho Moerane said in an eNCA television interview in October last year. He was talking about the sudden passing in a car accident of then-Joburg mayor Matongo, who had only been in the office for six weeks. Today, as Johannesburg mourns Moerane, who passed away on Wednesday evening after sustaining serious injuries, also in a car accident, his words that “it is too soon” seem equally fitting. Moerane’s passing has sent shock waves…

BUDDING multi-talented musician Midnight Uzo has set her sights on stardom with the release of her debut single. Skhumbuzo Mazibuko, who goes by the stage name of Midnight Uzo, launched the single called Midnight, a song she composed at night, on several digital music platforms yesterday. Mazibuko studied music at Stellenbosch University, plays several instruments and sings opera as well. Mazibuko, 26, grew up in Joburg and Pietermaritzburg and is a firm believer in women’s rights and a proud advocate of gay rights. The budding star said she hoped to become a proud advocate for mental health issues since she struggled with mental illness from a young age. Speaking to The Star, Mazibuko said she came from a family of politicians and musicians. She said she was able to tell…

Nick Cannon admitted it is “challenging” juggling the needs of his children and their mothers. The Wild ’N Out star – who has 11-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe with his ex-wife Mariah Carey, five-year-old son Golden and 17-month-old daughter Powerful Queen with Brittany Bell and nine-month-old twin sons Zion and Zillion with Abby De La Rosa, and is expecting another baby with Bre Tiesi – insisted he is still able to “communicate” with all of his kids every day, despite the complex set up of his personal life. The 41-year-old star – who has autoimmune condition lupus – admitted fatherhood is the biggest driver in his life. He gushed to E! News: “I love it. I’ve had a lot of things happen to me during my life, and the thing…

THIS warm-hearted and moving prequel to the New York Times best-selling Baxter family series follows the members as they face rising tensions during a wedding and a colossal storm. A terrible storm builds in the early morning sky over Bloomington, Indiana, as Elizabeth Baxter prepares to celebrate her daughter Kari’s wedding to Tim Jacobs. It’s supposed to be the happiest of days, but Elizabeth can’t shake a growing sense of dread. Indeed, there are dark currents of conflict and doubt coursing through the Baxter family. In the midst of them, Kari Baxter is starting to panic. Is marrying Tim a mistake? And what about her family? Her brother Luke is angry and resentful of their sister Ashley, who has recently returned from Paris, a single mom with a son she…

WHILE the Covid-19 pandemic has paved the way for virtual proceedings, the issue of whether a court should allow affidavits deposed to virtually and signed by means of an electronic signature came under the spotlight in an Eastern Cape court. As things stood before the outbreak of the pandemic, deponents of an affidavit, in terms of legal regulations, signed the documents manually before a commissioner of oath or by way of affirmation before the commissioner. During lockdown and even after the easing of government’s Covid-19 regulations and restrictions, the practice of remote commissioning of affidavits has become prevalent and is still continuing. Judge GG Goosen, sitting in the Gqeberha High Court, was confronted with an application by a bank against a client who fell in arrears with his mortgage payment.…

AMERICANS have again displayed their arrogance to cement their illusion of being special human beings. They have vowed to be in the forefront of hunting down Russian war criminals in the raging Ukrainian-Russian conflict. But this is very rich coming from a country which has adamantly refused to subject its own citizens to international law. Their transgressions are so many but let us take their so-called War on Terror. In the pursuit of what they perceived to be terrorists after 9/11, they destroyed countries from North Africa ( Libya) Middle East (Iraq) to Asia ( Afghanistan). Nothing has been done to bring those Americans who committed atrocities in those states to justice as their government shields them by not signing international treaties. In evading international law, they even crafted…

There are many reasons why inflation should be viewed as public enemy number one. Inflation is a process of sustained increases in the general price level over a period of time, typically 12 months. Inflation can be calculated for a country, for specific regions in a country and for different income and demographic groups, for instance, pensioners. These different calculations are important because the spending patterns of regions and groups differ. That means that their rates of inflation also differ. It is, therefore, important for each household to have a clear understanding of its own inflation rate. A number of countries allow for the development of this improved understanding. For example, South African households can use an Internet tool such as the personal inflation calculator of Statistics SA. A personal…

Health authorities in North America and Europe have detected dozens of suspected or confirmed cases of monkeypox since early May, sparking concern the disease endemic in parts of Africa is spreading. Canada was the latest country to report it was investigating more than a dozen suspected cases of monkeypox, after Spain and Portugal detected more than 40 possible and verified cases. Britain has confirmed nine cases since May 6, and the US verified its first on Wednesday, saying a man in the eastern state of Massachusetts had tested positive for the virus after visiting Canada. The illness, from which most people recover within a few weeks and which has only been fatal in rare cases, has infected thousands of people in parts of Central and Western Africa in recent years…

The prosecuting authority has finally decided to prosecute the serving SAPS general following the intervention of AfriForum. It is claimed that the general humiliated 53-year-old Captain Riana Stander (previously Viviers) and others. The incident is said to have taken place in November 2016 when the general – who cannot be identified at this stage – visited the SAPS Academy in Oudtshoorn. According to AfriForum, the general instructed Stander and others to stand on the stage and in front of about 450 recruits. She allegedly made derogatory remarks about Stander’s attire, weight and the colour of her skin. This was met with applause and cheers from the rest of the recruits. It is claimed that the general then remarked that “the stage was too white”. Stander subsequently opened a case against…

INDEPENDENT Media is forging ahead with its legal battle against the State Security Agency (SSA) to get a suspiciously classified intelligence report declassified and laid bare for its readers. The report, the content of which cannot be fully disclosed since the matter will be heard in closed court chambers in Pretoria next Tuesday, was allegedly compiled by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) spies based at the US embassy in Pretoria. It was later shared with the SSA before concerned sources leaked it to the Daily News, one of the publications of the news media group. When The Star’s sister paper, the Daily News, asked questions about it in December last year, the SSA dashed to court and obtained an interim interdict until the matter is argued in court. The case is…

IMAGINE living in a community filled with potholes, where most of the time you do not have electricity and when load shedding hits so too do the thieves. Well, for many residents living in Merafong this is the daily reality. I have been driving awareness around the collapse of service delivery in Merafong, on the far west rand of Gauteng. The municipality oversees various towns including Carletonville, Fochville, Khutsong, Wedela and Blybank whose residents are in dire need of basic services. To recap, theft of municipal infrastructure is a daily occurrence, leading to protracted power outages. Municipal officials have told councillors they don’t report these cases to the police anymore. It takes too long and never leads to arrests and convictions. What are the consequences for a municipal official who…

Finland and Sweden on Wednesday formally applied for Nato membership, breaking decades-worth of military non-alignment following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan, as the leader of the country that has Nato’s second-largest army, has stated that Turkey would not agree to Finland and Sweden becoming Nato members. He claims that these are countries that support terrorist organisations such as the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK). IHowever, it is plausible that Erdogan is simply using this as an opportunity to display anger towards US President Joe Biden, who has since his time in office only displeased the Erdogan regime. “Neither of these countries (Finland and Sweden) has an open, clear stance towards terrorist organisations. Sweden is already a hotbed of terrorist organisations. They are reportedly coming to Turkey on Monday.…

FOR 250 years, Bryan Rostron’s family spread across the globe, helping to expand the British Empire and paint the map red. This is a personal reckoning with that legacy, echoing down to the present in South Africa. It begins with the “discovery” of Tahiti in 1767 by an ancestor, from whose log book Rostron reveals that his sailors were exchanging the ship’s nails for sex with Tahitian maidens so that HMS Dolphin began, literally, to fall apart. After the Anglo-Boer War, having emigrated to South Africa, one grandfather became editor of the Sunday Times, voicing racist opinions, and later of the Rand Daily Mail, at that time a voice of the Randlords. Ironically, his other grandfather worked for the Communist Party and printed revolutionary pamphlets for the violent 1922 Rand…

PRESIDENT Barack Obama said about him: “Suffice it to say, in his satires and parodies, no cow is sacred, no genre is safe. He mocked the musical – and Hitler in The Producers, the Western in Blazing Saddles, and the horror film in Young Frankenstein.” “But behind all the insanity and absurdity, there’s been a method to Mel’s madness. He’s described his work as ‘unearthing the truth that is all around us’, And by illuminating uncomfortable truths – about racism, sexism and anti-Semitism – he’s been called ‘our jester, asking us to see ourselves as we really are, determined that we laugh ourselves sane’.” The occasion was the awarding of a Kennedy Center Honor to Mel Brooks, writer, director, actor, producer. One of an elite group to have earned an…

WHAT the Stellenbosch University student has done is not only an insult to the fellow student who is a victim, but an insult to all Africans since we are cherishing the spirit of Ubuntu this month. Such a behaviour should be harshly discouraged, with no mercy whatsoever. Bullying is another thing, but urinating on someone’s belongings is objectifying a human being to trash! This is done not by a child in primary school, not by a student in secondary school, but by a full-grown man at the university. He should apologise on national TV to all South Africans so that whoever thinks of committing such an obnoxious crime will think twice. There is no way we will win the battle against such degrading criminal acts if the perpetrators’ dignity gets…

HAZARD a guess! In which country did the following incident take place? “When we arrive the criminals had broken into our house and stole some of our valuable items.” Amazingly, the incident did not take place in our notoriously crime-prone South Africa but in Ghana in 1924. That was an account given by Dr JEK Aggrey when he visited his mother country Gold Coast, which is now called Ghana, after he had spent more than 20 years in the US. He was part of a commission of inquiry. Aggrey was part of the Phelps-Stokes Commission. The aim of the commission was to look into the educational conditions and needs of black Africans and to come up with some recommendations. Aggrey visited several African countries while conducting the study, including South…

The anger directed at the racist Stellenbosch student is myopic and fallacious South Africans have become accustomed to reactive euphoria that only lasts for a few days. This has happened all too often – even our distant enemies have observed the trend. Whoever wants to destroy us as a nation can easily exploit this to our detriment, unfortunately. We tend to put so much energy and scorn on isolated incidences that happen to receive media attention, yet eat and breathe racism on a daily basis. Sadly, once the social media frenzy dies down we pat each other on the back and say we have confronted the issue head-on, and life goes on. The South African transformation agenda is just a complete façade. Stellenbosch is a microcosm of society. Racism in…

Hamas supporters yesterday celebrated a landslide student election win at a top West Bank university in the occupied Palestinian territory. Hamas’s Al Wafaa’ Islamic bloc won 28 of the 51 seats on the student council at Birzeit University, the first time Islamist candidates have gained control. The bloc aligned with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s secular Fatah movement won 18 seats. The Palestinian population has not been to the polls since 2006 because of Israel’s refusal to allow voting in east Jerusalem. | AFP…

A host of Mamelodi Sundowns players headline the nominees for the 2022 Premier Soccer League Awards announced yesterday. The DStv Premiership and MTN8 champions have had a remarkable campaign and it comes as no surprise that the bulk of their squad occupy the majority of categories of potential individual honours. The Brazilians have racked up unbelievable statistics and broken numerous records on their way to claim a fourth Premiership title in four years. However, there could be an upset on the cards with the inclusion of Victor Letsoalo in the Footballer of Season accolade and coach John Maduka vying for Coach of the Season. NOMINEES DStv Prem Footballer of the Season: Peter Shalulile (Mamelodi Sundowns) Andile Jali (Mamelodi Sundowns) Victor Letsoalo (Royal AM) DStv Prem Player’s Player of the Season:…

AFTER a week in which the university town has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, Stellenbosch FC and Cape Town City will hope to provide some positive inspiration in the iKapa derby at Danie Craven Stadium tomorrow. It has been a splendid season for both Western Cape teams with City looking to secure second spot on the Premiership table that will ensure participation in the CAF Champions League for the first time, while Stellenbosch are riding equally high in fifth place with a spot in the MTN8 already guaranteed. And, unlike other derbies around the world that are often the touchpaper for irrational fanaticism, these two sides are actually quite chummy with each other. This is partially due to the relative infancy of the derby – Stellenbosch…