Indholdsfortegnelse for 2021-05-18 i Mercury

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za SOUTH32, the Australian-headquartered mining company yesterday flagged a loss of up to $175 million (R2.47 billion) from the sale of its South Africa Energy Coal (Saec) to Seriti Resources as Eskom gave its consent for the transaction. South32 chief executive Graham Kerr said yesterday that on completion of the divestment the group expected to book a loss on sale of between $125m (R1.7bn) and $175m, while the group’s net cash balance was expected to reduce by about $180m to reflect the recognition of the vendor support package being provided to Seriti. “For South32, completion of the divestment is an important milestone that will see us significantly simplify our business, reduce our capital intensity and improve our underlying operating margins,” said Kerr. South32 previously announced…

Sibusiso Mboto and Tarryn-Leigh Solomons NEGOTIATIONS between the Department of Public Service and Administration and public sector unions led by Cosatu) continued throughout most of yesterday as the government tried to avoid a possible strike by thousands of public servants. The public service wage talks have been dragging on for weeks as unions press for a 7% increase while the government has remained firm on no increase. While it is understood the government has since presented an improved offer to unions, its contents have not been disclosed. Over the past few weeks, threats of a strike have become more ominous as the Public Service Association (PSA), the South African Police Union and the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) have declared a dispute. Saftu spokesperson Trevor Suku told The…

DHAYALAN MOODLEY | Mobeni Heights IN APRIL, we celebrated the commemoration of World Book Day. Congratulations to the teachers of Falcon Primary School in Chatsworth, who are on a mission to get learners to read. In spite of teachers reaching a breaking point, which has left many of them close to burnout, I am sensing a breath of fresh air among pupils as the culture of reading is long overdue. Reading programmes are essential in improving and developing skills in literacy from early on. The future of society is dependent on the capabilities that we, as adults, inject into our future learners. Let us reinforce a culture of learning and reading that will support a better tomorrow. Not enough is done by the Department of Education to ensure…

| Tom Stoppard INVESTMENT analyst Dr James Greener notes in his latest grumpy newsletter that somebody has woken up to the fact that minibus taxis don’t pay much income tax. “Everyone feels that something must be done about that. Unsurprisingly not too many folk are volunteering to break this news and begin handing out tax return forms to the owners and drivers within this massive but pretty lawless business. “The reality is that it’s probably best if we just leave that tax uncollected. After all, one of my old shibboleths is that it is extremely unlikely that the government would be able to distribute that money as swiftly and widely as the industry itself is probably doing. “They are running a pretty good case study in the benefits of…

Working long hours is killing hundreds of thousands of people a year in a worsening trend that may accelerate further due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization said yesterday. In the first global study of the loss of life associated with longer working hours, the paper in the journal Environment International showed that 745 000 people died from stroke and heart disease associated with long working hours in 2016. That was an increase of nearly 30% from 2000. “Working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard,” said Maria Neira, director of the WHO’s Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health. The joint study, produced by the WHO and the International Labour Organization, showed that most victims (72%) were men and were middle-aged or older.…

Independent Media has called for press freedom to be upheld amid the recent violence in the Middle East. It said while the world celebrated World Press Freedom Day on May 3, many international colleagues were unable to participate, since their ability to report on news or opinion has been severely restricted or denied outright. It said the current situation in Palestine is a case in point, including the bombing of the building in Gaza that housed the Al Jazeera and AP news agency offices. “This is a deliberate attempt to silence the media covering the events happening in Palestine. Independent Media outright denounces this action.” The Palestinian Centre for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) has already noted a drastic increase in the number of violations against media freedoms. (According to…

ZELDA VENTER zelda.venter@inl.co.za THE torture, carried out by a police officer, to force an innocent man to confess to a gruesome killing resulted in his co-accused being falsely implicated, the Constitutional Court has found. This was the latest episode in the quest for justice by Eugen Mahlangu and the family of the now late Phanie Johannes Mtsweni, which has made a full circle in the courts. They each claimed R2 700 000 in general damages and R85 000 for loss of income in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria. They had served an eight-month stint in jail before the real killers were caught and sentenced. Mahlangu was awarded R90 000 and Mtsweni R50 000 for the time they were held in custody, from May 2005 until the end of February 2006.…

Namibia has banned all imports of poultry and poultry products from South Africa after further outbreaks of avian influenza were detected in the neighbouring country, its Agriculture Ministry said yesterday. Last month Namibia suspended imports from one egg-producing chicken farm in Ekurhuleni, in Gauteng, after the death of around 300 birds. The samples from the farm tested positive for the H5 strain. Namibia extended the ban on poultry to all South African farms after an outbreak on a further eight farms. Consignments containing poultry products packed on or after March 19 will be refused entry into Namibia. However, imports of poultry and their products in transit through South Africa from other countries not affected by the avian influenza outbreak would be allowed, the ministry said. Last month, neighbouring Botswana…

Tigist Mekonnen Melesse MANY African countries still rely heavily on foreign aid. However, several studies have shown that foreign aid has failed to deliver sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. The fact that foreign aid – as currently practised – has failed to achieve its poverty reduction targets in Africa is clear from the data. Over 75% of the world’s poor live in Africa today. In 1970 the figure was 10%. Some forecasts suggest it could rise to 90% by 2030. Africa is the only continent in the world where official aid inflow outstrips private capital inflow by a large margin. This is problematic since no country in the world has achieved substantial development based on reliance on aid. This points to the need for reform. There are two sides…

CONSTRUCTION is booming in Dakar, where unfinished apartment blocks tower over most streets, their exposed concrete bricks a dull uniform grey. In one site, however, a building stands out – the bricks the workers are laying are made of raw, red earth. Concrete is inexpensive and used in abundance in Senegal’s capital, but it is poorly suited to the West African heat. On summer days, when temperatures frequently reach 38°C, the buildings become furnaces, cooled only with blasts of air conditioning. Earth naturally regulates heat and humidity, say the founders of Worofila, an architecture firm specialising in bioclimatic design. Since 2016, they have been pushing for the material to make a comeback. They say it could reduce pollution from cement factories and electricity production – and keep people…

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis has named a new bishop of Hong Kong, a long-delayed appointment that comes amid Sino-Vatican frictions and growing Western concern over human rights in the global financial hub. Stephen Chow, 61, head of Hong Kong’s Jesuit order, will replace Cardinal John Tong, who has held the post in a caretaker capacity following the death of the previous bishop, Michael Yeung, in January 2019. Senior clerics in Hong Kong said the new bishop must ease tensions among a flock divided between those wanting the diocese to do more to defend Hong Kong’s waning freedoms and others, including powerful establishment figures, who want a less confrontational approach. The former British colony has long been a strong Catholic beachhead on the edge of a mainland China under officially atheist…

Barcelona: Catalonia’s two main separatist parties said yesterday that they had reached an agreement on forming a new coalition government, more than two months since a regional election. The wealthy north-eastern region of Spain has since 2015 been governed by a coalition made up of the leftist ERC and the more hardline “Together for Catalonia”. The two parties said they had reached an “agreement in principle” to form a new coalition and “avoid new elections” which will likely be headed by the ERC this time around as it got one more seat than JxC in the February 14 elections.…

Sandile Mchunu sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za ADAPT IT said yesterday that an independent expert, Nodus Capital TS, had recommended to its shareholders to reject the Huge Group’s offer, citing that the offer is unfair and unreasonable to its shareholders. The Huge Group tabled an offer of 55 cents a share for the entire issued share capital of Adapt IT in January, valuing the provider of specialised software and digitally-led business solutions at R795 million. However, Adapt IT share price has since rallied, fuelled by the news of its proposed acquisition and reached a high of R7.20 when the Canadian- based software company, the Volaris Group, entered the race last month for its takeover, offering 650c a share. Nodus Capital was appointed by Adapt IT’s independent board in February to express an…

CALGRO M3, a leader in the development of integrated residential developments and memorial parks, returned to profitability in the year to February 28 after revenue, gross profit and the balance sheet improved. Chief executive Wikus Lategan said it was a particularly pleasing set of results, given that the group had faced enormous challenges during the financial years 2016 to 2018, following which hard decisions were made and executed in 2019 and 2020. “We’ve managed to reduce our debt and cut our fixed costs substantially by 40 percent, sell non-core projects and the residential rental portfolio, and ultimately improve liquidity,” he said. Debt was restructured, and only R70 million remained in capital market maturities in the next 24 months. The construction division was being outsourced. Overall revenue for the year decreased…

Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za WITH a history of openly defying the courts if he is not happy with how he is treated, former president Jacob Zuma has hinted that he may defy the Pietermaritzburg High Court if it “allows a violation of his rights”. Zuma made this threat yesterday while addressing his supporters outside the court where he had appeared before Judge Piet Koen for his long-mothballed corruption, fraud and money-laundering trial in which he is accused of pocketing bribes from Schabir Shaik when the country procured arms in the late 1990s. Zuma’s comment came as the case was moved to Wednesday next week. Later, speaking outside court, suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule said Zuma’s support would be bigger next week, because more ANC members from the Free State would descend…

EBRAHIM “EBKOYBIE” ESSA | Durban So it was a joyous Eid celebration for us local Muslims last Friday. Early morning prayers followed by somehow scheming to “meet” close relatives, family and friends, by some safe method – at a distance, double masks, extra sanitising – all, of course, hopefully by rational thinkers. Followed by sweetmeats, biryani, cold-drinks, exotic biscuits, tea. But let’s move out of our own protected cocoons for a few moments and dwell on the millions of homes throughout the world where such a celebration in any form is totally foreign. Instead it is replaced by an indescribable, silent sadness. Where the air is filled with a pervasive gloom. A gloom that will last possibly forever. A space that was visited by death in the…

DUNCAN DU BOIS | Bluff ON MAY 7 one of the key objectives of the ANC’s Freedom Charter was attained at the parliamentary committee meeting on land ownership. That development should have been front-page news instead of the May 13 headline about a new mall development. As we have seen with B-BBEE, no set of regulations is static or beyond the aim of the ANC to abrogate. So it is with property rights in the Constitution. Having hobbled section 25 by enacting legislation legitimising expropriation without compensation (EWC), on May 7, the ANC, with the encouragement of the EFF, showed their true communist intentions. They want three further amendments to EWC: To limit the role of the court in determining “nil” compensation. Their parliamentary legal adviser, Charmaine van…

YOUR spiritual maturity is not affirmed by how much you read the Holy Scriptures, sing hymns, pray, clap your hands, or dance to contemporary religious music. It’s not determined by how often you visit your place of worship or how much money you donate to its causes. It’s not affirmed by your title (if you have one), the ornate design of your robe (if you wear one) or the position you hold in the hierarchy of your faith (if you have one). But it is affirmed by your willingness to take responsibility for your life, your choices and the good use of your skills and talents. It’s measured by how you treat people, especially loved ones and strangers; how you love your enemies, offer hospitality, and respect, regard and love…

| African News Agency (ANA) Three men from Bulgaria were sentenced to a collective 60 years’ imprisonment for drug dealing, in the Vredenburg Magistrate’s Court, and their assets worth R46.5 million were forfeited to the state. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said this was one of the biggest drug busts in South Africa after 973 bricks of cocaine with an estimated street value of R580 million were found hidden in the hull of a fishing vessel which anchored at the Saldanha Bay Harbour earlier this year. Mario Radoslavov Vasev, Asen Georgiev and Atanas Mihaylov Bikov were convicted of drug dealing and entering South Africa illegally using fake documents. Four Bulgarian men and six men from Myanmar were initially arrested. However, the State withdrew charges against the men…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za A FOREIGN national truck driver says he was left traumatised after being assaulted by a group of men outside Maydon Wharf in Durban on Sunday. Zimbabwean-born Edmond Sinyoro said the group identified themselves as being members of the All Truck Drivers Forum and Allied South Africa (ATDFASA), representing local truck drivers. The incident comes as the truckers’ forum strengthened their call to have foreign nationals removed from the freight industry, but they have steadfastly denied being involved in attacks on them. Sinyoro said he had been driving a truck to load cargo at the harbour and was to drive to Joburg that day. The 49-year-old said the moment his truck approached the gate, he was stopped by men with sjamboks and knobkerries. “From that moment, I knew…

THE EFF has remained tight-lipped about a summons issued by the City of Cape Town in which it is seeking R80 000 in damages for the destruction caused during controversial and violent anti-racism protests outside a high school last year. Mayor Dan Plato’s office said the Kuils River Magistrate’s Court on Friday issued a summons for the EFF to pay R87 312 for damage to public infrastructure, that had to be repaired, in connection with the protests at Brackenfell High. The city launched a civil claim against the party after the November 2020 protest action by a large group of EFF members. At the heart of the issue was a “whites-only” matric farewell party that was leaked online, igniting a spate of violent clashes between protesters and local residents.…

THE right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should urgently seek wise counsel from South Africa’s last president to preside over an apartheid administration: FW de Klerk. After decades of self-delusion, De Klerk and his former white supremacists in the then Nationalist Party elected to come to terms with the inevitable eventuality – a one man, one vote democratic order. Just as almost 80% of the Palestinian land is occupied by apartheid- practising Israel, South Africa occupied Namibia and banished majority black citizens (some 85%) to various pockets of Bantustans according to their ethnic groups. The Nats, De Klerk et al would attest, possessed enormous military power and unparalleled intelligence services. Their police were as militaristic and powerful as their army. Like the Palestinians, we blacks couldn’t travel freely to where…

A major cyclone packing ferocious winds and threatening a destructive storm surge bore down on India yesterday, disrupting the country’s response to its devastating Covid-19 outbreak. At least six people died over the weekend in torrential rains and winds as Cyclone Tauktae, according to press reports the biggest to hit western India in 30 years, swept over the Arabian Sea with Gujarat state in its sights. The “extremely severe cyclonic storm” had been expected to make landfall yesterday between 8 and 11pm local time with winds of 155-165km/h gusting up to 185km/h, the Indian Meteorological Department said. It warned of storm surges of up to 3m high in some of Gujarat’s coastal districts. The colossal swirling system visible from space exacerbated India’s dire problems in dealing with a huge coronavirus…

More than 80% of Japanese oppose hosting the virus-postponed Olympics this year, a new poll showed yesterday, underlining public antipathy less than 10 weeks before the Tokyo Games. The latest survey comes after Japan expanded a coronavirus state of emergency on Friday as the nation battles a fourth wave of infections. The weekend poll by the Asahi Shimbun daily found that 43% of respondents want the 2020 Games cancelled, and 40% want a further postponement. Those figures are up from 35% who backed cancellation in a survey by the paper a month ago, and 34% who wanted a further delay. Only 14% support holding the Games this summer as scheduled, down from 28%, the poll found. If the Games go ahead, 59% of respondents said they want no spectators, with…

Seoul: The wife of Belgium’s ambassador to South Korea will exercise her diplomatic immunity to avoid criminal charges on accusations she hit two boutique staff in the head in a row over shoplifting, police said yesterday. Ambassador Peter Lescouhier has previously said he “sincerely regrets the incident involving his wife”, adding that he “wants to apologise on her behalf”. South Korea is a signatory to the Vienna Convention, which gives accredited diplomats and their families immunity from criminal prosecution. Officers questioned the woman after the embassy said she would co-operate with police.…

British heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has promised to smash compatriot Anthony Joshua in a video published on Twitter that confirms their world title unification fight in Saudi Arabia on August 14. “Got some massive news for all you guys, I’ve just got off the phone with Prince Khalid of Saudi Arabia, he told me this fight is 100% on, August 14th 2021, summer time. All eyes of the world will be on the kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the 32-year-old said. “I cannot wait, I repeat, I cannot wait, to smash Anthony Joshua on the biggest stage of all time. This is going to be the biggest sporting event ever to grace the planet earth. Do not miss it – all eyes on us.” | Reuters…

comment by Mike Greenaway AS Sharks coach Sean Everitt defiantly pointed out in the aftermath of his team’s 43-9 hiding at Loftus Versfeld, the Sharks are a proud side and a reaction from them will be forthcoming this week against the Stormers, but does the coach have the ammunition to turn things around? The Bulls’ slow poison up front began taking its toll soon after half-time and after having led 12-9, the home team accelerated in the second 40 to score 32 unanswered points as the Sharks’ forwards fell away. Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett went as far as saying that the Sharks forwards “gave up”, and if that does not fire a response from the Durban pack, what will? The thing is, it is the Stormers that are coming…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za SOUTH African manufacturing companies have backed calls to increase their production capacity instead of relying on imports in a bid to boost the forecast gross domestic product growth. A report launched yesterday showed that local manufacturing businesses could increase their capacity by substituting 20 percent of non- petroleum goods imports for domestically produced goods within five years. The report was launched by the Business Unity SA (Busa) in conjunction with the Business leadership SA (BLSA) after research and consulting firm Intellidex surveyed 125 businesses. It is particularly important as the government has placed localisation as a central cog in the machinery of policy to best assist South Africa’s economic recovery. Intellidex said the general sentiment among the 125 companies surveyed was that they support attempts to…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za PREMIER Fishing and Brands (Premier), one of South Africa’s largest black-owned and managed fishing groups, delivered a solid interim performance in the six months to February 28 and it further anticipated a good second half barring unforeseen events, chief executive Rushaan Isaacs said yesterday. A 5 cents a share dividend was declared. This was after “much work and dedication” by the group and its employees during a period in which operations and markets were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and a number of measures were taken to counteract this such as the multi-skilling of staff across operations, Isaacs said. The share price rallied 10.13 percent to 87c at the close on the JSE yesterday. Revenue increased 32 percent to R284m and gross profit was up…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za Vacant posts for izinduna have been frozen because of the financial constraints in the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta). The move has sparked an outcry from a formation that represents the interests of izinduna, who have accused the government of attempting to destroy traditional leadership. The department and izinduna are already at loggerheads, with the latter threatening to take the department to court over its failure to pay them their backpay of more than R1 billion. “We have received letters from the department saying the new izinduna will not get paid because the government has no money. We see this as a way of destroying traditional leadership,” said Phakamani Dlamini of Ubumbano Lwezinduna. In a letter seen by The Mercury and addressed to the…

Karen Singh karen.singh@inl.co.za KWAZULU-NATAL Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane said KZN was ready for Phase 2 of the vaccination roll-out that will focus on people over the age of 60 and health-care workers. The MEC was speaking during a briefing on Phase 2 of the mass Covid-19 vaccination campaign by the National Health Council, led by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, on Sunday night. Simelane said KZN was ready to start with Phase 2 of the vaccination, using a phased-in approach starting yesterday. She said close to 100 000 health-care workers had been vaccinated, leaving 60 000 still to be vaccinated. “We believe that those will be concluded in the next seven days and that process will run parallel to the Phase 2 start of the vaccination,” she said. Simelane said the…

JAIRAM REDDY | Berea IT HAS been reliably reported that chaos reigned supreme at St Augustine’s Hospital during the course of the week, the site of vaccination for health-care workers in the central Durban area. Health-care workers, some of them in their sixties, waited from 7am only to be informed at 5pm that the centre had run out of vaccines. Many in the long queue had taken time off work for their vaccination. The economic cost to the country of large numbers of health-care workers attending without acquiring the vaccine must be considerable. In a country where the economy has been brought to its knees by the Covid-19 pandemic, this degree of inefficiency is certainly not helpful. It is not rocket science to more or less match the…

NARENDH GANESH | Durban North I refer to my correspondence dated April 29, 2020 entitled, “Hold your fire before opening schools, minister”. At that stage, the pandemic was in its infancy stages and South Africa was in the hard lockdown phase. The desire to resume “normal” education at that time was understandable and predicated on the belief it could have been attained with the protocols that were to be implemented. My suggestion at the time was that this would have been a Herculean task given the fact educators were not clued up with such protocols, children would not be compliant and the PPE situation in terms of logistical supply had not been properly established. That the academic year reached fruition – albeit with an abbreviated delivery of education – was…

Tarryn-Leigh Solomons tarryn-leigh.solomons@inl.co.za PARLIAMENT’S police portfolio committee has proposed a fully digitised firearm licence application system to make it possible for citizens to renew their licences online. This comes after the committee conducted an oversight visit to the SAPS Central Firearm Register (CRF) and the forensic science laboratory services in Tshwane on Saturday. The committee found a backlog of about 250 000 applications piled up in the offices and corridors. Acting committee chairperson Kebby Maphatsoe said the committee was not impressed by the backlog and proposed a fully digitised application system instead of the current system, which was laborious and inefficient. “According to the SAPS, a process of modernisation is under way and a bid has already been advertised to computerise the firearm licence application system to make it possible…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za STAFF at the Mangosuthu University of Technology returned to work yesterday after the institution and labour union reached an agreement on salary increments. The staff workers, led by the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu), embarked on a protest last week as they demanded the immediate implementation of their previous settlement regarding salary increases. The university had reached an agreement with the union last month on the matter, bringing an end to a three-week protest and workers resumed work on April 19. The union had demanded an 8% salary increment, and the university offered a 5.8% increase which both parties agreed on, subject to the university council’s approval. The union made a follow-up two weeks ago and found there had been no progress regarding the…

Kailene Pillay kailene.pillay@inl.co.za CITY of Joburg Mayor Geoff Makhubo has denied that his friend and former business partner, Patrick Makubedu, made a number of donations to the ANC in a bid to influence his chances at winning IT contracts in the city. Makhubo testified at the Zondo Commission regarding cash flow and transactions during his tenure as treasurer of the Greater Johannesburg Region of the ANC, and as the finance manager at the City of Joburg. The commission heard that Makubedu – a director at IT service management company EOH – made a number of donations to the ANC and also made several transactions from his personal business to bail out Makhubo’s cash-strapped business. In one instance, Makhubedu had transferred R200 000 into Makhubo’s Molelwane Consulting business account that…

Supporters of a proposal to waive patent rights on Covid-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organization (WTO) are set to call on opponents to join the negotiations, stressing the gravity of the pandemic, a draft document showed yesterday. Talks at the WTO on temporarily waiving Intellectual Property (IP) rights have been deadlocked for months. But US President Joe Biden’s decision earlier this month to back talks for a waiver has raised hopes that the few remaining wealthy-country opponents could also switch camps. The EU has since backed a US proposal to discuss waiving patent protections, although Switzerland said it left many questions unanswered. “The co-sponsors call on all delegations who have not yet indicated that they will join text-based discussions, to do so as soon as possible,” the 62 proponents…

AS the country kick-starts its Covid-19 vaccination of elderly people, pensioners living in rural areas should not fall through the cracks because they happen to be located in the forgotten parts of South Africa. Following the slow pace of the vaccination roll-out that focused mainly on vaccinating healthcare workers, the government yesterday started administering the jab to people aged 60 and over. The involvement of the private sector, including pharmacy groups such as Clicks and Dis-Chem and old-age homes, in the vaccination process has brought renewed hope that more people will be reached through phase two of the Covid-19 vaccination roll-out. Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has set ambitious targets of vaccinating 5 million citizens by the end of June. It should also be noted that the second phase will…

Gaza residents cowered indoors yesterday after Israeli jets pounded the enclave, as violence that has killed more than 200 people – overwhelmingly Palestinian – entered a second week. Before dawn, in the space of just a few minutes, dozens of Israeli strikes bombarded the crowded Palestinian coastal strip controlled by Islamist group Hamas, according to journalists and the army. Flames lit up the sky as intense explosions shook Gaza City, sparking widespread power cuts and damaging hundreds of buildings, local authorities said. Some 3 100 rockets have also been fired by Palestinian militants toward Israel since conflict escalated on May 10 in the heaviest exchange of fire between the rivals in years, sparked by unrest in Jerusalem. Yesterday a reporter in Gaza saw huge plumes of grey smoke billow…

Los Angeles: Legendary rocker and guitarist Eric Clapton admits fearing he would never play again after he got the first jab of the Covid vaccine, adding he could not do anything for two weeks. The 76-year-old suffers from peripheral neuropathy, a disease that affects the nerves beyond the brain and spinal cord. Telegram shared a letter by Clapton to architect and film producer Robin Monotti Graziadei, in which he wrote: “I took the first jab of AZ and straight away had severe reactions which lasted 10 days.”…

A Union Pacific train hauling hazardous materials derailed and then caught fire in the city of Sibley, Iowa, authorities said on Sunday, leading to the evacuation of dozens of people although there were no reports of injuries or fatalities. The derailment, involving 47 rail cars, took place in the afternoon in Sibley, Union Pacific said, adding that the cause of the incident was under investigation. Within an hour, local officials texted an evacuation order to people nearby. An area comprising about an 8km radius around the scene of the derailment was evacuated as a precaution, according to ABC News. The train was carrying fertiliser and ammonium.…

HERMAN GIBBS The once-mighty Kaizer Chiefs are shaping up as the unlikely lone flag bearers for South African soccer on the African continent by the time the Caf Champions League and Confederation Cup quarter-finals are decided this weekend. Chiefs shocked friend and foe alike over the weekend when they overwhelmed Tanzanian football giants Simba SC to the tune of 4-0, and the margin could well have been bigger. The 4-0 win marks one of the biggest yet by a SA team on the continent. Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates, both former Champions League winners, are the only two SA teams to record runaway wins in Africa. Over time, Sundowns and Pirates have enjoyed 5-0 and 3-0 wins over Al Ahly, the aristocrats of African football. The Egyptian giants have…