Indholdsfortegnelse for 2021-06-30 i Mercury

Aishah Cassiem aishah.cassiem@inl.co.za A BUSINESSWOMAN is set to take legal action against one of Africa’s biggest law firms, for allegedly agreeing to represent her company, taking her money and confidential information, and thereafter backing out while knowing they were on the panel of the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (Sefa) which was a respondent in the case. Mendiswe Mzamane’s small black-owned business, Razoscan, was one of many approved loans for businesses from previously disadvantaged communities, but alleged corruption from Sefa left her with a major company loss when the entity allegedly gave her R3 million to a Greek national in 2015. Mzamane said she was searching for trustworthy firms to assist her in retrieving her money from Sefa when she finally approached Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs (ENS) in December 2018…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za THE REHABILITATION of the poultry industry, which has set local producers and importers on a collision course, has already created R4.7 billion growth in the industry and 1 298 jobs since early this year. Local producers said the growth excludes benefits in the feed manufacturing industry, grain industry, packaging industry and other sectors as the target of lifting the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from R48bn in 2019 to an estimated R54bn in 2022 in sight. Pillar 1 of the master plan will work on establishing 50 new contract farmers and 1 000 jobs and cost R35 million, to be financed by the Land Bank and the Industrial Development Corporation. The plan by Minister in the Department of Trade Industry and Competition Ebrahim Patel earlier this…

Sandile Mchunu sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za KAP INDUSTRIAL Holdings said yesterday it continued to see strong market demand for its products, despite the uncertainty created by the Covid-19 outbreak, and it remained confident that it would continue to perform well into 2021. KAP operates a number of divisions in its portfolio, which include integrated timber, automotive components, integrated bedding, polymers, contractual logistics in South Africa and Africa, and passenger transport. The group said in an operational update for the 11 months to the end of May that while Covid-19 would continue to evolve and present unprecedented social and economic challenges and uncertainty, their employees and business model had proved to be agile and resilient during the period. “We are focused on a number of strategic initiatives in order to provide revenue growth, margin…

FAROUK ARAIE | BENONI GAUTENG is in the grip of the third Covid wave in all its fury. Within the next four weeks it will probably overwhelm the province and spread across the country. In a life and death struggle, a deadly war of attrition is in full progress between man and microbe, as the Covid-19 tsunami wave turns our major cities into islands of death and desolation. A biological intruder has penetrated the landmass paralysing the country as it unleashes its venom on the unwary and the ignorant. The only safe strategy is to retreat from its trajectory and to wear any battle gear to ward off its invisible beams of death. The ruthless war between man and microbe is intensifying as the race to contain and…

NARENDH GANESH Durban North PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa, you announced our regression into a revised alert level 4 of the lockdown, necessitated by the increased rate of infections of Covid-19 countrywide. I believe it is imperative that, while our focus is on the immediacy of the crisis, we cannot remain averse to the fact that this pandemic is far from over. The historical peaks and troughs of the virus over the past 15 months is indicative of the fact that the cat-and-mouse game we are embroiled in will not end in the near future. Despite efforts by the authorities to mitigate against the spread of infections, the reality is that the mutative properties of a virus, especially Covid-19, means that this contagion is going to be around for a while yet.…

The conservationists hold the rare saker falcon down at Siberia's Taigun hatchery and tattoo the letters S.O.S. on to the base of its bill – part of a new scheme to save the bird from poachers. The procedure is practically painless, said Artyom Kucher, the vet who came up with the plan at the centre in Barnaul, capital of Altai region. The aim is to make the falcons worthless to gangs who catch and sell them on to wealthy clients in the Middle East for hunting. Prices for the birds can reach tens of thousands of dollars. But buyers prefer wild birds and the tattoos show they came from a hatchery. “Hunters can simply remove and cut off metal ID rings on their feet and make them saleable,” Kucher said.…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za SENIOR citizens within the prison population have not been forgotten in the roll-out of the Covid-19 vaccine. According to the Department of Correctional Services, 537 inmates aged over 60 have received their first doses of the Pfizer vaccine. In addition, 90 officials aged older than 60 also received their first doses. Department spokesperson Sechaba Mphahlele said they continued to implement measures to mitigate the spread of the virus in an effort to protect officials, inmates and the general public. The department has suspended visits to all correctional and remand detention centres across the country. Mphahlele said apart from the elderly inmates and officials who have registered, health-care workers also received their first jab. The roll-out is monitored through the department’s Vaccination Roll-out Co-ordinating Committee, which comprises…

Highlighting the fact that 666 police officers have lost their lives to Covid-19 so far, Police Minister Bheki Cele is “confident there will be more compliance to the regulations than before” from the public under the adjusted Level 4 rules. While outlining the new lockdown measures with other National Coronavirus Command Council members yesterday, Cele welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that the vaccination of SAPS and security personnel members will kick off on July 5. More than 180 000 SAPS members and supporting staff will be vaccinated. Cele warned again that the contravention of lockdown restrictions might lead to a fine or six months’ jail, with transgressors ending up having a criminal record. Since March 27 last year, 465 098 people have been charged for the contravention of the Disaster…

By-elections scheduled for today in eight wards across South Africa have been postponed as “free and fair” elections could not be ensured due to the country entering an adjusted level 4 lockdown. Following a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases, president Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday that South Africa would enter 14 days of level 4 lockdown, from Monday. On Monday night, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) chief executive, Sy Mamabolo, confirmed that the IEC had requested the Electoral Court to postpone the by-elections scheduled for today. “The view of the commission is that given the alert level 4 regulations, the prospect of a free and fair election in the affected wards is vitiated. Members of the public in the affected wards will be notified as to when the…

Mariam Seedat-Khan WHILE chairing a virtual trans-Atlantic research consortium, an SMS indicating “You were near someone who has shared their positive diagnosis. You were near this person on the 27th May 2021” flashed across my screen. My breast cancer remission status instantaneously gripped me with the fear of being infected with Sars-CoV-2. My brain was no longer in attendance at the meeting; the traumatic news left me unable to focus. It is likely that I was experiencing high levels of anxiety and a panic attack of sorts. I proceeded with the virtual meeting; turning off my camera was the only way I knew how to camouflage my anxiety. I paused to consider why I hid my news and related anxiety. The text message left me exhausted and to be…

Mike Greenaway mike.greenaway@inl.co.za CURWIN Bosch has the ideal opportunity to make a statement to the Springbok selectors when he returns to the Sharks team for their Currie Cup visit to Western Province this evening. Bosch was overlooked for the 45-man Bok squad named to tackle Georgia and the British and Irish Lions, and then was rested for the Sharks’ first-round Currie Cup match against Griquas. But he is now back in business and coach Sean Everitt believes the 24-year-old could have a significant influence on the outcome of a game anticipated to be played in wet conditions. “It is great to have Curwin back in the mix,” Everitt said. “We gave him a break because he has carried a major workload for us. Yes, he was disappointed to be overlooked…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za Diana Hoorzuk is set to be the new deputy mayor of the eThekwini Municipality. Speaker Weziwe Thusi announced during a council meeting yesterday that the name of ANC member Hoorzuk has been put forward by the ANC to replace Belinda Scott, who left the municipality earlier this year. ANC KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Nhlakanipho Ntombela confirmed to The Mercury that Hoorzuk had last been a member of council in the 2016 term. Scott, who was brought in along with new political leaders, after the removal of then mayor Zandile Gumede, left this year to pursue personal endeavours. While Hoorzuk’s nomination was approved by council, she still has to be sworn in. The new deputy mayor will be in the position for a mere four months if the local government…

VISVIN REDDY | ADeC chief activist A WATER meter in Phoenix, Durban, was recently bumped into and damaged by a motorist, who reported the incident to the municipality. Water gushed from the site, creating a fountain that lasted more than five days. That’s how long it took for the municipality to repair the leak. I got thinking and looked at my water bill. Many residents in Durban complain bitterly about the tariffs. I could see why. That water lost from that broken meter, and every other burst water pipe, means we are paying for it. Non-revenue water losses in Durban account for 40% of the amount we pay. When you look at the water that gushes from broken water taps in informal settlements and constant bursts caused by…

SIGH! A bleak July stretches ahead. Will the level 4 lockdown be lifted after a fortnight? I’ll ask the fairies at the bottom of my garden. But let’s try to be positive. The Politburo, er Command Council, who decide these things has discovered that the safest place to be in a Covid-19 pandemic is, after all, a windy beach, preferably in the surf. Breakthrough! The beaches stay open. Is it possible that they could discover within a fortnight that the person sitting at home watching TV and taking a snifter or two will not be infected by the virus nor spread it? That he needs a liquor store to get himself ensconced in that situation? As they say in Bonnie Scotland, I hae ma doots. I sense an impulse to…

DR PETER BAKER | Johannesburg WHILE the ANC government is pushing hard to get the NHI through and to get the health industry nationalised, one shining example of why this should never be allowed to happen is the former Joburg General Hospital (sadly renamed after an icon, which now just links incompetence to her name), which is yet to reopen. If the ANC cannot open one formerly functional hospital after a confined fire (the more so during a fatal pandemic when hospital beds are most needed), then just imagine our entire medical system under the control of this malignant cancer, the ANC. I have not seen a South African entity which the government/ANC controls, be it the SABC, SAA, the railways, municipalities, Eskom, the post office, the harbours,…

Multiple users complained about an outage affecting Alphabet Inc’s search engine Google and its streaming and email services late on Monday before services were restored, outage monitoring website Downdetector reported. Platforms including Google, YouTube, and Gmail were down,with users citing issues with login and accessing the website, Downdetector said. More than a thousand users were having difficulties with the search engine at one point, the outage monitoring website showed, and users were also facing issues with YouTube TV and Google Drive. Reports of a Google outage on Downdetector had dropped significantly to single digits by early yesterday.The issue affecting the platforms was not clear as Google did not immediately comment. Downdetector tracks outages by collating status reports from a series of sources, including user-submitted errors on its platform.…

Demonstrators in eSwatini yesterday demanded reforms to the absolute monarchy while security forces tried to repel them with gunfire and tear gas. “I can hear gunshots and smell tear gas. I do not know how I will get home, there is nothing at the bus rank; there is a strong presence of riot police and the army,” Vusi Madalane, a shop assistant in the capital Mbabane, said by telephone. Acting Prime Minister Themba Masuku denied some media reports that King Mswati III had fled the violence to South Africa. Anger against Mswati has been building for years, and protests occasionally turn violent, with police using tear gas, stun grenades and water cannons to disperse stone-throwing protesters. Security forces set up road blocks to prevent access by some vehicles to Mbabane…

The second phase of applications for the KwaZulu-Natal Youth Fund will begin on July 1 and run for 30 days, according to the provincial government. Applications for the fund will be advertised in local newspapers and on KZN government social media pages, Premier Sihle Zikalala said during a virtual sitting yesterday. The fund is aimed at supporting young entrepreneurs and is aligned to the province’s Youth Economic Empowerment Strategy. “This is a provincial flagship programme led by the Office of the Premier. The KZN Youth Fund serves as a catalyst for funding business ventures created and owned by young people,” Zikalala said. The first tranche of the Youth Fund was rolled out in 2019 to 53 youth enterprises that received around R69 million. Just over 400 jobs were created as…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za Fisherfolk in KwaZulu-Natal have expressed reservations over the extension of Marine Protected Areas (MPA), warning that the restriction would drive many subsistence fisherfolk to poverty. Today marks the deadline for public submissions on the Draft Management Plan for the Aliwal Shoal MPA, an ocean stretch marked by the Department of Fisheries for protection and non-fishing to allow marine species to grow and provide for fishing in the future. The KZN Subsistence Fishers Forum has, however, said the impact of the draft proposal was that present fishing areas would be further reduced, resulting in more “no fishing” zones. “The reality is that many underprivileged coastal residents depend on fishing for their survival, and while the restrictions in the next 10 years may result in a higher fish population…

ON Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the Cabinet had decided to put the country under adjusted alert level 4 due the to increased Covid-19 infection rate and deaths as a result of the highly infectious Delta variant. The variant, first detected in India in March, is believed to be twice as contagious and to have spread to 85 countries across the world. Ramaphosa said Delta had been detected in the Free State, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Gauteng, the epicentre of the third wave accounting for 66% of cases. As of yesterday, South Africa had recorded more than 17 000 new cases, with more than 130 deaths. “The evidence we have is that the Delta variant is rapidly displacing the Beta variant which has been dominant in our…

A last-gasp addition to his team, Mark Cavendish rolled back the years as he claimed his 31st Tour de France stage victory yesterday - five years after his last success on the world's greatest cycling race. The Briton, who finished outside the time limit in his previous participation in 2018, crashed out in 2017 and hinted at retirement last year. He is now three victories away from the Tour's all-time stage win record held by Belgian great Eddy Merckx. Cavendish, back in the Deceuninck-Quick Step team this season after a five-year hiatus, powered past his rivals in the final straight to beat France's Nacer Bouhanni to the line. Belgian Jasper Philipsen took third place while his Alpecin-Fenix teammate Mathieu van der Poel retained the overall leader's yellow jersey."So many people…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za HOUSEHOLD finances are expected to improve after increasing further in the first quarter as economic activity recovered during the period on less restrictive lockdown measures. The SA Reserve Bank (SARB) Quarterly Bulletin yesterday showed that personal disposable income rose 2.3 percent year-on-year. SARB said low interest rates and subdued inflation pushed household consumption spending higher. It said that household consumption expenditure rose 4.7 percent over the quarter, slower than 7.5 percent in the last quarter of 2020. SARB said households’ net wealth increased further in the quarter as the increase in total assets outweighed that in total liabilities. It said the value of assets was boosted by an increase in equity holdings in particular, as share prices increased substantially further. Investec economist Lara Hodes…

Sentence of 15 months hailed as victory for justice or slammed as ‘abuse, politicisation of judiciary’ Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za FORMER president Jacob Zuma’s backers, relying mainly on the dissenting views within the apex court that Zuma should have been given one more chance to go to the Zondo Commission and testify, harshly criticised yesterday’s Constitutional Court judgment as abuse and politicisation of the judiciary. Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison and while Zuma’s long-time political critics hailed the historic judgment, read out by Acting Deputy Chief Justice Sisi Khampepe, the former president’s own party, the governing ANC, admitted that the court decision made things difficult for it and said its weekend NEC meeting would “dwell deeply” on the matter. “The ANC is studying the judgment. Without doubt,…

SABER AHMED JAZBHAY | Newlands West JUST over 26 years ago, in June 1995, the Constitutional Court handed down the epochal judgment in S versus Makwanyane,1995(6) BCLR 665 (CC). The death penalty in an unequal society was, and it remains, unconstitutional. Amid calls for its reintroduction, l call upon every South African to strive to create the conditions for which the Constitution has provided the blueprint. It is a crime against humanity, in fact it is treason when politicians feather their own nest while more than 30 million South Africans live in poverty.…

I ONCE had a student, who was 14 or so when we met, who expressed dismay that I flew economy and had never flown in a private jet. The boy was so accustomed to private jet travel that irregular first-class travel on commercial airlines was an inconvenience to the family. The boy was blind to the hoards who fly economy and the masses of humanity who will never fly on a plane. His “normal” was far from mine. Even at 14, what he was used to was something out of my reach. His “normal” blinded him to the experience of millions. Relatedly, I had a rare, fascinating, most unexpected evening with the wife of a celebrity. She divulged that she and her husband don’t go shopping like “other people” because,…

FAROUK CASSIM | Cape Town ON MARCH 26, 1999, President Nelson Mandela, making his farewell speech in the National Assembly, alerted the nation that we were required “to ask whether we need to re-examine our electoral system, so as to improve the nature of our relationship, as public representatives, with the voters”. The Cabinet in 2002 appointed a team under Frederik van Zyl Slabbert to investigate electoral systems and report on what would best suit South Africa. That team’s main recommendation was for South Africa to have a mix of a proportional representation (PR) and a constituency-based system. In 2017, the Motlanthe Report made a most telling point: “One of the major challenges with the current electoral system is the weakness of the proportional representation system in holding…

Itumeleng Mafisa THE National Taxi Alliance says it will disobey the roll-out of the Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act should it begin tomorrow. The Aarto and combined demerit system will penalise drivers and fleet operators guilty of traffic offences or infringements, by imposing demerit points that could lead to suspension or cancellation of licences, professional driving permits or operator cards. The Aarto Amendment Act was signed into law in 2019. In his budget vote speech, Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula had announced the system would start on July 1. National Taxi Alliance spokesperson Theo Malele said the Department of Transport had been quiet about the act and the issues with the demerit system. He said the taxi industry would not comply with the new law. Malele said…

Carol Reynolds The semigration of South Africans to appealing locations which offer a better lifestyle continues apace, with the areas north of Durban attracting on an ongoing basis a cross-section of home buyers including families, young professionals and retirees alike. Further fuelled by a shift to remote working and a fundamental change in the way we live and work, coupled with interest rate cuts at near 50-year lows, the market for residential property across all price bands has proven to be one of the country’s more resilient sectors – in particular this warm and scenic coastal region. We are fortunate to live in a very desirable pocket of the country where there is ongoing demand. The North Durban coastal belt offers exceptional schools, good infrastructure, office parks, shopping malls…

There’s a serious regrouping in the ANC to oppose enforcement of the court decision Two hours after former president Jacob Zuma began his tumble, following a guilty verdict and a jail sentence handed down yesterday by the Constitutional Court in his case against the Zondo Commission, you could sample news stories about the immediate future of the national crisis caused by the rising smoke of corruption suffocating our country and choose from two completely different narratives: one all about apparent boundless optimism, the other a mixture of caution and despair. Thanks to live media reporting and instant communication technology, colleagues in the media and legal fraternity announced that, with the decision to send Zuma to jail working its wonders in the minds of the public, the country was heading…

Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za Goolam Rajah never hit a cricket ball, nor caught one or bowled one for the Proteas, but he was among the greatest servants of the Proteas. “A very special human being,” said Dr Mohammed Moosajee, who took over from Rajah as the Proteas’ manager. “That was a sentiment echoed around the cricket world, from Proteas players, who were part of the more than 100 who were capped during his time as the manager, to players in opposing teams and commentators. “He was a selfless person. He served the game. He loved the game,” said Moosajee. Rajah, who died yesterday from complications related to Covid-19, was a pharmacist whose love of cricket saw him becoming manager of the then-Transvaal team shortly before unification in South African cricket and…

LIFE in the Wimbledon's Covid-19 bubble is not everyone's cup of tea, but women's top seed Ashleigh Barty is happy to reside in at as long as required if it means more Centre Court appearances. The 25-year-old was handed the prestigious opening slot yesterday, usually reserved for women's defending champions, for her first-round clash with Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro. That was because Simona Halep is missing due to injury, but the way Barty played for most of a 6-1 6-7(1) 6-1 victory over the Spaniard in an eye-catching contest augured well for her chances of claiming the title for the first time. It was Barty's first grasscourt match for two years and she looked perfectly at home on the lush turf under the roof that closed early on in the…