Indholdsfortegnelse for 2024-02-29 i Mercury

KWAZULU-NATAL Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube delivered a range of plans to deal with the energy and water crises, unemployment, crime and infrastructure challenges while also highlighting the gains made in 30 years of democracy during the State of the Province address yesterday. Speaking at the Oval Cricket Ground in Pietermaritzburg, Dube-Ncube said life had improved for people living in townships from KwaMashu to uMkhanyakude, where in 1996 communities that had access to electricity was 46% while today this stands at more than 97% and water provision now stands at 85% of households that have access to piped tap water. “We acknowledge the current challenges of constrained energy and water supply in some parts of the province. “We are working hard to attend to these issues, and I am convinced that working…

HERE’S a fellow who, at the age of 97, is happy to crawl on his belly through wet grass to get his photo, film shot or sound recording. It’s Sir David Attenborough, world-renowned naturalist and broadcaster, who, according to Sky News, for his latest project explores the ways that animals hear and produce sound. Attenborough’s long-time collaborator, and the show’s series producer, Sharmila Choudhury says: “David keeps us on our toes. He sets the bar very high. And that’s a good thing. “I think he still works harder than most of us, usually seven days a week … When he commits himself to something, he gives it 100 percent.” Joining the team for filming in the Wye Valley in Monmouthshire, Wales, to capture the song of a wild dipper, Attenborough…

At the dawn of democracy during the first administration, a shocking remark was made that anybody from the street could be hired as a nurse. When some of the nursing training colleges were closed, it was easy to associate their closure with the assumption that training nurses was not important. Some hospitals were also closed, without studying the health needs of our communities or gathering any information regarding the running of the health-care system. That was the beginning of the downward spiral of our health system. What was to be a great loss to South Africa was a welcome boost to foreign countries which happened to be aware of the many multiskilled South African nurses trained to carry out their functions competently. Those who were trained in midwifery and advanced…

Following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s nomination of Justice Mandisa Maya to succeed Chief Justice Raymond Zondo as the country’s next chief justice, the EFF has welcomed the latest developments. On Tuesday, Ramaphosa announced that he had embarked on a process of consultation with the leaders of political parties and the Judicial Service Commission to convey his nomination of Judge Mandisa Muriel Lindelwa Maya as chief justice. The EFF in a statement said it welcomed the nomination as her extensive knowledge, experience and impeccable character stood her in good stead. “Justice Maya’s remarkable journey and achievements make her a truly deserving candidate for the position of chief justice. “Her ability to champion the rights of the marginalised while upholding the Constitution earned her respect across the legal fraternity and the admiration of…

Defence Minister Thandi Modise and former EFF Gauteng chairperson Mandisa Mashego have denied claims that they are connected to former president Jacob Zuma’s Umkhhonto weSizwe (MK) party. Zuma announced on December 16 that he would neither campaign nor vote for the ANC and that instead, he endorsed the MK party for the May national general elections. On Monday, Mervyn Dirks, who was one of a few ANC MPs who voted in Parliament for the motion to probe the Phala Phala matter, said the governing party’s reluctance to place Cyril Ramaphosa under scrutiny was a crucial motivating factor in him joining the MK party. On Tuesday, in a statement, Modise said “fake news reports” had suggested that she had resigned as a minister and as an ANC national executive committee (NEC)…

THE acting head of the eThekwini metro police, Sbonelo Mchunu, says the approval of the smart policing solution for the unit was “long overdue” and would be a “game-changer” in the fight against crime. On Tuesday, the City’s executive committee (exco) approved the smart policing solution, which would see the provision of modern technology like body-worn cameras for use by metro police in their duties. The move has been welcomed by political parties who said it could improve the safety of citizens in areas besieged by criminal activity. In a brief statement to The Mercury, Mchunu said: “This is a great boost for the police. I have been fighting for it since 2020. This will have a great impact in both officer safety, officer efficiency and performance as well as…

ABOUT 1.3 million children in the country aged 3 to 5 years are not attending any form of early learning, while only 45% of those who did were developmentally on track. The portfolio committee on basic education was told this yesterday during a briefing on the migration of early childhood development (ECD) from the Department of Social Development to the Department of Basic Education (DBE). The migration process was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his 2019 State of the Nation Address, in which he said: “Over the next five years, we will focus our attention on expanding access to early childhood development and improving early-grade reading, where we are already beginning to see progress.” The committee was not happy with the progress update, as it raised questions about whether…

POLICE Minister Bheki Cele’s grand entrance at the ANC manifesto launch, using an SAPS chopper paid for by the squeezed taxpayer, comes as no surprise if one looks at his track record. The saga at the weekend also comes at the “wrong” time for the ANC, which wants to project itself as a caring government, in the hope of trying to convince citizens before the crucial May 29 election. Although the SAPS maintains there was nothing wrong with the stunt, it does not help the ANC’s cause. The SAPS response that Cele was “conducting his constitutional responsibility as a minister of police where he also advised and guided operations”, makes matters more interesting. It means Cele “conducts his constitutional responsibility” only when the ANC is involved. He spectacularly failed to…

US President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden yesterday testified behind closed doors at the impeachment inquiry into his father, which House Republicans are pushing ahead with even after the person who provided accusations at the heart of their case was charged with lying to the FBI. House of Representatives Republicans for months had sought the younger Biden’s testimony, requests that he first rebuffed and then belittled by making surprise public appearances at the Capitol. The hearing came just before the US government will run out of money to keep all agencies open if Congress fails to act by week’s end. Investigators are expected to ask Hunter Biden, 54, about his business activities, including his role with Chinese firm CEFC and on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma. House Republicans…

Strasbourg: Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, said yesterday that she feared disruption and arrests at her husband’s funeral, set to take place tomorrow in Moscow. Addressing the European Parliament, Navalnaya assailed Russian leader Vladimir Putin as a “mobster” responsible for her husband’s death. She also urged European politicians to investigate financial flows in the West linked to Putin and his allies. “The political innovation here is to apply the methods of fighting organised crime, not political competition,” she said. | AFP and Reuters…

Warsaw: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said yesterday the government was mulling a “temporary” closure of the border with Ukraine for goods, amid tensions over low-priced Ukrainian grain. Polish farmers have been blocking border crossings with Ukraine and other highways to protest at what they say is unfair competition from goods entering the Polish market from their war-torn neighbour. Russia has blocked crucial Black Sea trade routes used by Ukraine to export its farm produce. In a bid to help Kyiv economically after the Russian invasion, the EU decided in 2022 to drop tariffs. | AFP…

For decades, lawn bowls carried the label of “old man’s marbles”, with bowling greens synonymous with the leisure pursuits of the older generation. However, John Perfect and his Youth Bowls regulars are swiftly dismantling this stereotype, proving that the greens are a vibrant arena for the younger generation. The Youth Bowls Tournament held at Queens Bowling Club on Saturday, February 23, was a testament to this paradigm shift. Forty-six youth, all under 21, gathered for a day of intense competition. The attendees showcased remarkable skill and enthusiasm, leaving the hope of future emerging champions in their wake. John Perfect’s initiative has breathed new life into the sport, cultivating talent and nurturing a passion for lawn bowls among the youth. Port Natal Bowls (PNB) president Steve Kelf, who attended the Youth…

POLICE confirmed yesterday that they have arrested the seventh suspect in connection with the February 2023 murders of rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and his friend, Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane, outside the Wish Restaurant in Durban. Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda confirmed the seventh arrest. He said the 30-year-old suspect was arrested yesterday. The SAPS said five suspects will appear in court today, while the other two are being held in neighbouring eSwatini while their extradition process gets under way. Crime experts yesterday welcomed the arrests and praised the police for a professional investigation. KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi told reporters on Tuesday night that the “mastermind”, two gunmen, two spotters and “the organiser of firearms and vehicles” were all in police custody. He said some of those arrested were linked…

Unless the current trend is reversed, in decades to come honest historians will ascribe the demise of South Africa and its transformation into a depopulated, impoverished vassal state of the global elite to two fatally flawed ideologies: communism and decarb- onisation. Thanks to unprecedented levels of control, falsehoods have become the enshrined narrative driven by a small elite which has succeeded in encompassing its command over the mass media, science, academia, technology, finance and mainstream political parties. Already South Africa is a failed state after 30 years of the application of an ideology that has a history of failure – communism. And the promoters of this ideology are not done yet. Still to come is the national democratic revolution when in true USSR fashion the country becomes a one-party state,…

AS A regular visitor to your beautiful country, I have frequently turned to the pages of the Cape Times for informed comment about South African affairs written by professional journalists. However, I read the article, “BRICS Countries Can Prevent Western-provoked Catastrophe” by Aleksei Malenko (Cape Times, February 26) with dismay and sadness. This was not journalistic opinion but rather egregious propaganda by an official of the Russian state. We have come to expect the lies and half-truths produced by that state, and its predecessors, but I certainly did not expect to find them in the pages of what I have always regarded as a respectable newspaper. The truth about the Russian state is not to be found in the article, fuelled by Russian paranoia, but much more succinctly in the…

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) yesterday flagged a reported R5 billion in over-expenditure in the 2022/2023 financial year with the likelihood of overspending in the year ahead. This is expected on the back of impairments as the parastatal refurbishes and replaces infrastructure vandalised at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. In its report to the Portfolio Committee on Transport, Prasa, currently embroiled in accusations of illegally evicting more than 100 people off its rail tracks in Wynberg, Cape Town, said other than personnel expenses, which took 70% of its subsidy from the government, the entity was spending far more on security of its assets. Prasa chief financial officer Lesibana Fosu said, “Employee costs as in prior years is a major item, probably 70% of the cost base.…

Former South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) CEO Tseliso Thipanyane is in the running for the position of deputy public protector. He had also applied for the public protector post last year when Kholeka Gcaleka was selected by Parliament. Thipanyane is one of nine candidates who have been shortlisted by members of the justice and correctional services committee in Parliament yesterday. The position became available after Gcaleka replaced Busisiwe Mkhwebane last year. Members of the ANC, DA, EFF and ACDP agreed on the candidates to be interviewed. There were 44 candidates who were vying for the position and the committee whittled it down to nine. ANC MP Nomathemba Maseko-Jele nominated Siphokazi Moleshe and said she was the right person for the job. Moleshe is currently the chief director for corporate…

A SIGNIFICANT finding in the recently released opinion of advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, SC, is that the public now has the assurance that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has adopted sufficient measures, checks and balances to deal with matters emanating from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The opinion was sourced by the NPA after it appointed Ntsebeza to consider and evaluate the measures instituted by the NPA’s TRC Component, a separate portfolio created specifically to prioritise TRC matters, in September 2021. In applications filed on behalf of the NPA, senior prosecutors Dr Torie Pretorius and advocate Chris Macadam alleged political interference prevented them from executing their duties. Surprisingly, both prosecutors, appointed before 1994, remained silent on the subject matter from 2003 until 2019 without raising this concern. In its scathing…

Fighting raged yesterday in the besieged Gaza Strip, where the reported death toll neared 30 000 as mediators insisted a truce in the Israel-Hamas war could be just days away. The Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry reported another 91 deaths in overnight Israeli bombardment in Gaza, while UN agencies sounded the alarm on dire humanitarian conditions and food shortages. Mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the US have been trying to find a path to a ceasefire amid the bitter fighting, seeking a six-week pause in the nearly five-month war. Mediators said a deal could finally be within reach – reportedly including the release of some Israeli hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7 attack in exchange for several hundred Palestinian detainees held by Israel. Qatar was “hopeful, not necessarily…

Tens of thousands of Mozambicans are fleeing their homes in the restive Cabo Delgado province amid a surge in deadly insurgent attacks since January. The attacks, despite a massive security clampdown, are continuing as French oil company TotalEnergies aims to restart a $20 billion (R384bn) liquefied natural gas terminal in Cabo Delgado in the coming months. The project was halted in 2021 after a deadly Islamic State-linked attack in a town near it. Recent attacks include a deadly skirmish on February 9 that claimed the lives of up to 25 Mozambique Defence Armed Force soldiers, according to local media reports, a significant blow to government efforts to quell violence during an election year. This week a senior government official said just more than 67 000 people had fled attacks in…

SEOUL: South Korea will send its military and community doctors to hospitals within the next few days as part of emergency measures to support the health-care system after a mass walkout by trainee doctors, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said yesterday. Han also pleaded with the young doctors to return to work by a deadline today. Two-thirds of the nation’s residents and intern doctors who are protesting say the government should first address pay and working conditions before trying to increase the number of physicians. The government has warned it could suspend the licences of the doctors who do not comply with the back-to-work order. | Reuters…

BELFAST: Belfast’s High Court ruled yesterday that a law introduced by Britain to offer conditional amnesties to ex-soldiers and militants involved in the region’s decades of violence is in breach of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR). The law sparked more than 20 legal challenges in Northern Ireland, mostly from victims’ families, who said it contravenes the ECHR and a 1998 peace deal that ended the three decades of bloodshed. The ruling can be challenged in Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal and should that fail, the UK Supreme Court. The more than 20 challenges were condensed down to lead cases that were ruled on yesterday. | Reuters…

Economists have warned that a steep increase in the fuel price next week could well have an impact on inflation. The predicted fuel price hike would be the second consecutive increase. Layton Beard, spokesperson for the AA, said South Africans could expect a major upward shift in fuel prices in March. “From mid-month fuel data released by the Central Energy Fund, the AA notes that the current data is projecting fuel prices to jump the R24/litre mark for both grades of petrol, edging close to the R25/litre record high seen last year.” Beard added that mid-month data indicates that 95 octane petrol is set to increase by R1.35/litre, 93 octane by R1.31/litre, diesel by between R1.43/litre and R1.59/litre and illuminating paraffin by 96c/litre. Economist Dawie Roodt agreed that a significant…

Charles Darwin is regarded as the father of evolution. Darwin theorised that all species have evolved from a common ancestor over millions of years. Through evolutionary mechanisms of adaptation and specialisation, new species were formed. There are seven distinct stages observed during human evolution, ranging from Dryopithecus, which occurred approximately 12.5 million years ago to approximately 650 000 years ago when the first Homo sapiens arrived on the scene. Could one claim that humans have also evolved socially? Is proof of this the social skills we’ve developed and fine-tuned during the ages? Did this social evolution bring an end to a practice where a male could satisfy his own sexual desires by taking control of any woman? Were rules crafted to outlaw such uncivilised and seemingly barbaric behaviour?…

Courage is evident in the person who is able to identify and speak up and address bullying, no matter where it occurs or who the perpetrator may be. Courage is evident in the parent who holds two (or more) jobs and attends a child’s sports events as often as possible as a keen, supportive spectator. Courage is evident in the parent who trusts a coach’s decisions as being in the best interest of the team and the child, even if the decisions appear to be unfavourable to the parent’s child. Courage is evident in the person who voluntarily enters a recovery programme because a behaviour or an addiction is growing within and is close to becoming all-consuming and out of control. Courage is evident when a person serves and treasures…

THE much frowned upon p-word, often used in Afrikaans in the context of referring to one’s “mother”, has come under judicial scrutiny in the Western Cape High Court, as it landed its user with a suspended jail sentence. The accused, only identified in the judgment as BL, was charged with two counts of contravention of the Domestic Violence Act. It is alleged that he had contravened the terms of a protection order granted in June 2023 last year when he uttered these words aimed at his sister. She obtained the protection order against him, in terms of which he was interdicted from being violent towards her, and which prohibited him from swearing at her. So when he again swore at her, she obtained an order that he had contravened the…

Three foreign nationals were remanded in custody when they appeared in the Northam Magistrate’s Court in Limpopo, facing charges of murder, in connection with the robbery and killing of a German tourist. Limpopo police said the case against Abstain Madvimdo, 24; Jan Thabonga Moshabi, 35; and Thomas Moyo, 36, was postponed to next month. “Three suspects who brutally assaulted and killed a male German tourist, 74, at Northam in Waterberg District on Saturday have briefly appeared before the Northam Magistrate’s Court,” said Limpopo police spokesperson, Colonel Malesela Ledwaba. Ledwaba said the matter was postponed to March 4. This was for bail applications and further police investigations. Ledwaba said the murdered tourist had been identified as 74-year-old Westphal Gunter Hermann Friedrich. He had departed from Botswana on Friday, and drove into…

VODACOM South Africa will be fighting back against the ruling made by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) and the order to pay out almost R20 billion to the “Please Call Me” creator, Nkosana Makate. The telecoms giant, valued at R194 billion, issued a statement on the JSE Stock Exchange News Service yesterday saying it would be applying for leave to appeal against the judgment. The judgment, if upheld, would have a vast, wide-ranging impact on both Vodacom SA and the Vodacom Group, as well as the attractiveness of South Africa as an investment destination, the telecoms giant said. After various court battles, the “Please Call Me” case ended up at the SCA, and earlier this month it ordered that Vodacom must use the models that Makate’s team had submitted…

Why don’t Johannesburg citizens have enough water? The water allocation for each province is based on the amount available in the dams and the number of people in the province. The Vaal Dam is 70% full. Rand Water, the area’s bulk water supplier, buys the water from the Department of Water and Sanitation, which will sell only a certain amount. Rand Water takes water mainly from the Vaal Dam – the region’s biggest – and treats it to potable quality. It then sells the water to Johannesburg and Pretoria (and other cities and towns) in Gauteng. The cities sell the water to their residents through their distribution systems. Rand Water is not allowed to supply more than the amount set by the Department of Water and Sanitation. But there is…

Brazil called for a “new globalisation” to address poverty and climate change as it opened a meeting yesterday of finance ministers from the world’s top economies, but the Ukraine and Gaza wars risked overshadowing the appeal. The Ukraine war took centre stage even before finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations opened their first meeting of the year in Sao Paulo, as Western countries met on the sidelines to discuss shoring up their support against Russia’s invasion. Officials said the meeting of the Group of Seven countries – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US, plus the EU – focused largely on plans to use frozen Russian assets to increase aid for Kyiv, which US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Tuesday was “necessary and urgent.” Yellen,…

Bitcoin surged for a fifth day yesterday to near $60 000 (about R1.15m), buoyed by flows into new US spot bitcoin exchange traded products that have driven it up nearly 40% this month, which would mark its largest monthly rally since December 2020. Bitcoin was last up 4.5% at $59 244, its highest since December 2021. Traders have poured into bitcoin ahead of April’s halving event to slow the release of the cryptocurrency. The value of all the bitcoin in circulation has topped $2 trillion this month for the first time in two years, says crypto platform CoinGecko, while the price of the token itself has doubled in four months. This week, around 110 million shares in the biggest three bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) changed hands – 51% of the…

Tokyo: Japan yesterday started the fourth-round of release of nuclear-contaminated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean. Despite opposition from local fishermen, residents as well as backlash from the international community, Tokyo Electric Power Company started discharging the radioactive wastewater. Similar to the previous three rounds, about 7800 tons of the wastewater, which still contains tritium, a radioactive substance, will be discharged over about 17 days. Hit by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a tsunami in March 2011, the Fukushima nuclear plant suffered core meltdowns. | IANS…

Paris: The world generated 2.3 billion tons of municipal waste last year and the pile of trash is set to grow another two-thirds by 2050, the UN said yesterday, warning of devastating costs for health, economies and the environment. Pollution is set to escalate, according to new research by the UN Environment Programme, with projections suggesting the greatest growth in rubbish will be in regions that rely on open dumping and burning – practices that emit greenhouse gases, and leach toxic chemicals into soils, waterways and the air. Without urgent action, the waste mountain is expected to grow to 3.8 billion tons by the middle of the century. | AFP…