Indholdsfortegnelse for 2021-06-21 i Mercury

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za CONSUMER spending is expected to have come under pressure in May as high food inflation showed no signs of abating, driven by high producer prices and low statistical base effects. Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) will this week release the consumer price index (CPI) and producer price index data amid rising unemployment in the first quarter despite encouraging economic performance. The CPI inflation is forecast to have accelerated to 5.2 percent year-on-year in May from 4.4 percent in April, affected by the statistical base comparison after last year’s lockdown. Aside from the impact of the base effects, economists said the upward food price pressures were expected to have remained evident in May. Investec’s Kamilla Kaplan said May CPI would be driven higher by base effects and…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za GLOBAL life sciences group Bayer is set for further expansion in the southern African region as it cele- brates 100 years of operations in the country capped by a vibrant performance even in the Covid-19 lockdown period. The group enthused this week that it ended off a turbulent 2020 by celebrating 100 years in South Africa, a century in which its operations across agriculture, pharmaceutical and consumer health have grown substantially. “This South African operation leads the market sales across all three business units on the continent and plays a vital role in facilitating Bayer’s expansion into the southern African region. To be most effective, we focus our efforts on areas where our business has the greatest impact and where our efforts can have the greatest benefit,”…

A PORTUGUESE teenager has found a message in a bottle that travelled at least 3 800km. It was from another teenager in Rhode Island, in the US. “Christian Santos, 17, was spearfishing in the Azores when he found a crumpled plastic bottle that was thrown into the sea near Rhode Island in 2018,” according to Associated Press. The message in orange marker: “It is Thanksgiving. I am 13 and visiting family in Rhode Island. I am from Vermont.” The note included an email address. Christian’s mother, Molly, posted a photo of the note on Facebook asking others to share the post in the hope of finding the writer to show how far the message had travelled. Molly says she sent an email to the address given, but had no response.…

NICOLE GRAHAM Leader: Democratic Alliance eThekwini FRIDAY’S front page story, which paints a glossy picture of eThekwini’s Acting City Manager Sipho Cele, refers. It may be true that Mr Cele is next in line for the City’s job top, but what does he really have to show for his tenure? The municipality has been in rapid decline since 2016 and the past year has only gotten worse. The municipality’s Trading Services Cluster – which comprises Water and Sanitation, Electricity and Durban Solid Waste – is effectively in a state of total collapse. In addition to these being key service delivery units, they also account for around 50% of the municipality’s income. Where has Mr Cele intervened? Irregular expenditure has decreased, but it was never going to be easy to reduce…

MOHAMED SAEED Pietermaritzburg MSUNDUZI’S coffers have apparently run dry. Where are our rates going to? Surely, there must be accountability. I would like to know what is the solution. Is it ethical for the municipality to take money in the form of rates and taxes and other payments from citizens for services that are not really rendered? With all the promises of improved services made over the past few months, it has not improved. In actual fact, it has deteriorated to a level that citizens are now frustrated. It seems like no one cares and absolutely nothing is being done to improve the situation. Leadership across the different levels of government have correctly identified and diagnosed the problem areas. Problems such as corruption, self-enrichment, factionalism, ineffective policy implementation programmes and…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za A PLAN to deal with the proliferation of crime in KwaZulu-Natal must focus on illegal guns circulating in the province. This is according to KwaZulu- Natal violence monitor Mary de Haas. She was reacting to comments made by KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala that the provincial government was introducing a recalibrated comprehensive intervention plan to deal with crime in the province. The plan, Zikalala added, would work to disrupt gangs and criminal networks, intercept drugs, seize illegal guns, apprehend criminals and bring them to justice. De Haas said the news of the government acknowledging the rise in crime, especially violent crime, was encouraging, adding political will was crucial in addressing crime. “A good start will be the taxi industry and private security because…

Zintle Mahlati zintle.mahlati@inl.co.za THE inquiry appointed to investigate whether the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) can safely hold local government elections, says it is on track to complete its work by July 21. The inquiry has so far received more than 1 000 submissions from the general public, and opinions from medical experts. The inquiry was appointed last month and is chaired by former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke. It is tasked to “enquire into, make findings and report on, and make recommendations concerning the likelihood that the IEC would be able to ensure that the forthcoming 2021 general local government elections will be free and fair, in view of (i) the challenges posed by the Covid‑19 pandemic, and (ii) the measures promulgated by the government to curb the continued…

IT HAS degenerated into an ugly war of semantics. No sooner had Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan announced the new public-private partnership (PPP) for SA Airways with a “black-owned” strategic equity partner (SEP), Takatso, tongues were wagging: “Is this privatisation or not?” To Gordhan it is an “entirely home-grown solution” between the government and the private sector to relaunch SAA as a “sustainable, competitive and transformed airline". Ideologues such as the ANC’s coalition partner, SACP claim victory over Gordhan in its role in averting the airline’s “liquidation” and “wholesale privatisation”. He needs to come clean to what extent the SACP claims are true and how beholden the PPP will be to its neo-socialist agenda for national assets, which scoffs at the very thought of being a burden to…

Three children had died after a kidnapping of 94 pupils and eight staff in north-west Nigeria last week, an official said yesterday. The kidnapping for ransom is the latest in a series of such incidents in northern Nigeria, with a sharp rise in abductions since late 2020 as the government struggles to maintain law and order amid a flagging economy. The two girls and a boy were found dead, two with gunshot wounds, said Mustapha Yusuf, principal of the federal government college in the remote town of Birnin Yauri in northwest Nigeria’s Kebbi state. Nine abductees escaped or had been rescued but the kidnappers held the rest, with security forces wary of staging a rescue attempt for fear of harming the children, Yusuf said. The principal said bandits had…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za STEINHOFF Investment Holdings (SIHL), a subsidiary of Steinhoff International, recorded a R5.2 billion operating profit after material expenses in the six months to the end of March compared with a R10.6bn operating loss in the prior year, after foreign exchange gains and a strong performance by Pepkor Holdings (Pepkor) boosted the results. SIHL, wholly owned by Steinhoff International Holdings NV, is the issuer of preference shares with a R1.5bn capital value, which are listed on the JSE, and it holds Steinhoff’s South African assets, including Pepkor. Revenue from continuing operations jumped 8 percent to R36.5bn. The company said it had realised an interim foreign exchange gain of R3.7bn versus a forex loss of R4.8bn last year. SIHL said the litigation settlement proposal provision was increased to…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za THE provincial government has called on parents to keep their children, who are showing signs of flu, home to avoid exposing other children to the possibility of Covid-19 infections. The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health said it had detected clusters of infections at schools. This emerged during a briefing by the provincial government on the state of Covid-19 infections in the province. The government revealed that the numbers were increasing fast. The briefing was led by Premier Sihle Zikalala and Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane. Simelane said parents should keep sick children at home. She said they should not be lulled into a false sense of security by the fact that children did not get very ill when they got infected, as families were also at risk. “At…

After 123 days handcuffed together to save their on-again off-again relationship, Ukrainians Alexandr Kudlay and Viktoria Pustovitova have split up, shedding their bonds on national TV and saying the experiment had brought home uncomfortable truths. The couple from the eastern city of Kharkiv decided to handcuff themselves together on Valentine’s Day, in a last-ditch attempt to break the cycle of breaking up and making up. Throughout the experiment, which they documented to a growing social media following, they did everything together, from grocery shopping to cigarette breaks. They took turns to use the bathroom and take showers. Pustovitova, who initially resisted the handcuff idea, shed tears as she discussed the latest break-up: “It will be a good lesson for other couples not to repeat what we have done.” Pustovitova, 29,…

THEMBA KHOZA Mpumalanga IT IS always said that the youth are the future, and this places a huge responsibility on the youth to build a better future for generations to come. June is Youth Month, which looks at the role of the youth in our democracy and puts more emphasis on youth development. This year marks 45 years since the June 16, 1976 uprising and Youth Month this year is being commemorated under the theme, The Year of Charlotte Mannya Maxeke: Growing youth employment for an inclusive and transformed society. We have just commemorated June 16 as our country, especially the youth, is faced with many challenges such as high unemployment, climate change and dwindling water resources. Youth unemployment is dangerously high and this has also led to young people…

DID you know my dad? He owned the tea room near the top of Blackburn Road next to the Dutch Reformed Church, up the road from Parkhill soccer club. You may or may not have known him by name, but you may have been a woman in need of milk for her baby. He would have given it to you under the counter as if defying the boss who was, of course, himself. When you tried to pay he may have whispered: “Take the milk, my dear. No baby should go without food. Keep your money for something else the baby needs.” Or, you may have wandered into the shop and said you had no place to stay for a while and he may have said, “we have plenty of…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za THE Department of Basic Education’s decision to keep schools open was warmly received by education stakeholders despite the surge of Covid-19 cases. Minister Angie Motshekga announced on Saturday that schools would remain open during a media briefing where she provided an update on the impact of Covid-19 on schools in the country. Motshekga said even though there had been a number of cases reported in schools, especially in Gauteng, most schools in other provinces remained stable. She said the department had reported cases of 100 schools that were disrupted while in the sector there were more than 25 517. “This means 25 400 schools remain stable and that is why we are saying let schools and provinces handle any outbreak and not expect that we must shut…

Nomalanga Tshuma nomalanga.tshuma@inl.co.za THE National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) is appealing to all coastal water users not only to be more cautious when visiting the beaches, but also to make sure they have emergency contact information of service providers who can assist in times of need. This comes after a team from the NSRI responded to a incident at the weekend following reports of a surfer who was being helped after he collapsed after returning from surfing at Alkantstrand Beach in Richard’s Bay. NSRI Richards Bay deputy station commander Jacques Kruger said: “We appeal to coastal water users around the South African coastline to always have the NSRI emergency numbers programmed on their phones. “This is after the NSRI Richard’s Bay crew and medics responded to the scene of an…

THE amended indictment of former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and her 21 co-accused, which has added the charge of racketeering, is worrisome. At the end of the 347-page long indictment, the State revealed the names of 55 witnesses it intends to call to bolster its case and secure convictions of people like Gumede and suspended eThekwini city manager Sipho Nzuza. What raised eyebrows was that some of the witnesses the State would later rely on when the case finally gets under way are people who are suspected to have committed serious crimes. For example, three of the witnesses work for DSW (Durban Solid Waste), the alleged piggy bank of corrupt eThekwini municipality officials and some ruling party members in the ANC region. Prior to the issuing of the R320 million…

Colombo: Sri Lanka’s military launched an investigation yesterday after social media posts showed soldiers forcing minority Muslims to kneel on the streets as a punishment for flouting lockdown rules. Armed troops ordered Muslim civilians to raise their hands in the air while kneeling on a road in the town of Eravur, about 300 kilometres (190 miles) east of Colombo. Local residents said they considered the order to be degrading and humiliating, while officials acknowledged that troops had no power to mete out such punishments. The victims were on their way to two restaurants to buy food.…

Eshlin Vedan eshlin.vedan@inl.co.za Kaizer Chiefs co-coach Arthur Zwane reiterated that there is still a lot of work for his side to do despite their 1-0 CAF Champions League semi-final first-leg win over Wydad AC at the Stade Mohammed V Stadium in Morocco on Saturday. Chiefs win came largely via some excellent goalkeeping from Bruce Bvuma, combined with a well-executed strike from Samir Nurkovic. Chiefs surpassed most neutrals’ expectations in the match. They claimed a vital away goal and moreover an away win. All that the Amakhosi need to do to advance to the final of Africa’s Premier club competition is to avoid a defeat by more than two goals in the return leg at the FNB Stadium on Saturday. “We came here to do the business and we did exactly…

Will there be a changing of the guard in the Bellator featherweight division? If this week's virtual media day interaction was anything to go by, then No 1 ranked AJ (Antonio De Carlo) McKee (17-0), has already taken one of the promotion’s greatest athletes, Patricio Pitbull’s (Freire) (32-4) strap. The two athletes will meet in the cage on July 31 at the culmination of the Bellator featherweight World Championship Grand Prix. The tournament - which initially saw 16 athletes start out in a quest for a $1million grand prize - takes place at the Forum in Inglewood, California. Most times, it can do a world of damage when you are able to climb into the psyche of your opponent. But aside from the mental warfare, AJ has proven…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za AS THE QUIET storm over import tariffs for poultry rages on behind the backs of consumers, Emerging Black Importers and Exporters of South Africa (EBieSA) last week appealed to the Minister for Trade Industry and Commerce to halt further reviews of the structure as the last increments last year distorted the market. This follows an ongoing review of the tariff structure last upgraded in March last year, which resulted in increases from 37 to 62 percent on frozen bone-in chicken portions and frozen boneless portions tariff increases from 12 to 42 percent. EBieSA chairperson Unati Speirs said further tariffs on imports could impact food security for the poorest of the poor and called on the industry to urgently implement the transformation commitments contained in the…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za SUPPORTERS of former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede believe that her failure to clinch a nomination from her own ward does not constitute a setback for her campaign to become the ANC’s eThekwini regional chairperson. This comes after she scored three out of four branch nominations for the regional chairperson position in branch executive committee meetings held over the weekend. Ward 53 which constitutes Amaoti, which has been Gumede’s turf for years, rejected her as well as her backers on the branch executive committee and instead nominated Thabani Nyawose for the position of regional chairperson. However, Ntando Khuzwayo – one of the frontmen in Gumede’s campaign for re-election, said Ward 53’s rejection would not affect her campaign. “Look, the campaign to have comrade Zandile back at the helm…

DA KZN Spokesperson on CoGTA LAST week, KwaZulu-Natal CoGTA (Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs)MEC, Sipho Hlomuka, bravely – or foolishly – updated KZN residents on the “good work” to turn around the province’s municipalities. In one or two cases selective indicators show some improvement, such as the Eskom debts, but the MEC ignored the real indicators of performance. In reality most KZN municipalities are not budgeting for maintenance, many have unfunded budgets and many have regressed in terms of audit outcomes. Service delivery has come to a stand-still in most parts of KZN and, consequence management is a foreign concept. CHRIS PAPPAS…

RICHARD HERBERT Kloof ONE CANNOT expect free electricity, water, infrastructure, rates, etc! Has no one told the protesters anything concerning these basic facts? The government is severely lacking if these and millions of others have developed a sense of entitlement to all and more of the above. Imagine the whole country coming to a standstill because every other affected settlement now (rightfully) demands free everything that working people have had to pay for all their lives. I am certain that anyone reading this will know what will ensue.…

STEVEN-JOHN BAM Cape Town FOR many South Africans, the tenacious spirit of the 1976 youth continues to inspire our dreams and our hopes for the future. Despite the many challenges of crime, gender-based violence, corruption, joblessness even load-shedding, there remains an inherent belief of self-determination, purpose and possibilities for all our people living under the African sun. The youth of 1976 stood together with a collective solidarity, advocating against an oppressive education system. Today the struggle for equality and justice for all continues. In South Africa, the gap between the rich and the poor is a travesty of justice. The high unemployment rates, especially among our youth, is a deep betrayal of the memory of the 1976 youth. In South Africa and Africa, there are mountains of inequality to climb.…

Nonhlanhla Nozizwe Hlatshwayo nozizwe.hlatshwayo@inl.co.za Six people were killed and 15 others sustained serious injuries in a collision between a minibus taxi and a light motor vehicle on Saturday night on the R74 between Kranskop and Greytown. The Department of Transport in KwaZulu-Natal said the accident happened at about 11pm. “A minibus taxi collided head-on with a light motor vehicle. Upon impact both vehicles caught alight and some of the occupants were burnt beyond recognition. “It is alleged that the driver (of one of the vehicles) was avoiding a stationary vehicle and collided with the oncoming vehicle. The occupants in the minibus taxi are believed to have been travelling from a wedding in Nkandla to Estcourt. The other vehicle was coming from Greytown going to a place of residence,” it said.…

“GAAN moer hulle!” With those words, the Minister of Sport, Fikile Mbalula, sent off the Springbok squad to contest the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The watching crowd roared their approval. The players beamed. The minister’s embrace of the vernacular unquestionably helped to unite South Africans. Years later, Major-General Jeremy Vearey posted those words on his Facebook page in a comment on a labour dispute that the SAPS commissioner, Khehla Sitole, was conducting against Vearey’s colleague, Lieutenant-General Peter Jacobs. Two senior officers, Lieutenant-Generals Ledwaba and Vuma – whom Sitole had relied on to deal with Jacobs – claimed that Vearey’s words “made them feel intimidated, threatened, and unsafe”. Humbug! How can South Africans feel safe in the hands of the SAPS if the heads of the service that is constitutionally charged…

tehran: Iran’s announcement at the weekend of a resounding election victory by Ebrahim Raisi, the ultraconservative judiciary chief, signaled a stunning consolidation of power, handing the elected leadership back to hard-liners and sidelining reformists who negotiated a nuclear deal with global powers and advocated greater engagement with the West. The victory by Raisi also showed the determination of Iran’s conservative establishment, including its security and intelligence agencies, to eliminate any political challenge at a critical moment, analysts said. Among the potential landmark moments ahead: reckoning with who would succeed the 82-year-old supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is seen as a mentor to Raisi. Some experts speculated about whether the return to unity at the top - Khamenei’s ruling clerics and the political structure around Raisi - could become a…

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis yesterday appealed to Myanmar’s military leaders to allow aid to reach displaced, hungry people who have fled fighting since the February 1 coup and to respect religious sites as places of sanctuary. Speaking at his Sunday blessing to crowds in St Peter’s Square, Francis said he wanted to “add my voice” to an appeal last week by Myanmar’s Catholic bishops. The pope, who has made many appeals for the release of political prisoners in Myanmar, spoke of the “heartbreaking experience of thousands of people in that country who are displaced and are dying of hunger”. The United Nations General Assembly on Friday called for a stop to the flow of arms to Myanmar and urged the military to respect November election results and release political detainees,…

Finland coach Markku Kanerva called today’s final Group B game against Belgium the "most important in our history" as they seek a place in the last 16 at Euro 2020. The Finns are third in the group after winning their opening game 1-0 against Denmark, a victory overshadowed by Christian Eriksen's cardiac arrest, before losing by the same scoreline to Russia. A win over leaders Belgium would secure the Eagle-owls a spot in the knockout phase on their debut at a major tournament, as well as top spot if Russia fail to beat Denmark. "It's the most important match in our history. A huge dream can be fulfilled, which is qualification. It's in our hands," Kanerva said in yesterday’s press conference. "My colleagues will keep me informed of the score…