Indholdsfortegnelse for 2021-07-02 i Mercury

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@in.co.za MANUFACTURING and services’ industrial output edged down in June amid fresh concerns over rising Covid-19 cases and tighter lockdown restrictions. The seasonally adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) released yesterday showed a slow down for the third consecutive month to 57.4 index points in June from 57.8 points in May. Absa said although all five of the headline index’s major subcomponents were above the neutral 50-point mark, both business activity and new sales orders increased at a slower pace. It said that another expansion was likely in the third quarter as the sectors’ output recovery had been maintained in the second quarter. A significant annual expansion was effectively guaranteed given the extremely low base set in the second quarter of 2020, Absa said. Absa senior economist Miyelani…

Millie Bobby Brown has revealed Zendaya is one of her fashion icons and opened up about her style evoloution. The 17-year-old actress has revealed she looks up to the Greatest Showman actress, 24, for style inspiration as well as Hollywood legend Audrey Hepburn. She said: “I don’t know that I have a favourite – I will always reference Audrey Hepburn as someone who just exudes elegance and style. “That being said, I also think Zendaya makes really interesting fashion choices and always looks amazing!” The Stranger Things star has loved most of her red carpet looks, but her most memorable is the Calvin Klein By Appointment gown she donned to her first Emmys in 2017, where she was up for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za EMBATTLED eThekwini municipal manager Sipho Nzuza has parted ways with the municipality after he reached a settlement with the council. In a statement issued by the municipality yesterday, Durban mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said Nzuza’s last official day was on Wednesday. The municipality appointed Musa Mbhele, who is the chief operating officer, as acting city manager. Sipho Cele, who has been acting in the position for the past few months, will go back to his position as deputy city manager for governance and international relations. Councillors were informed at an in-committee meeting on Tuesday that the municipality had reached an agreement with Nzuza, who has been on leave since last year. Nzuza’s position in the municipality had become untenable because of legal challenges. He was arrested and…

TREVOR FORBES uMhlanga Rocks THE Karpowership contract appeal against the Department of Forestry Fisheries and Environment has a lot of political power behind it not to be granted. Go back to the building of the new Durban airport. The barn swallow lobby group tried in vain to stop it but failed. The three Turkish power ships combined will produce about as much power as consumed by the Hillside Aluminium Smelter in Richards Bay. Alusaf was started in 1971 as a strategic industry to provide aluminium to South Africa. Due to the very low-cost electricity long-term contract with Eskom, the smelter was able to grow and become an exporter of aluminium ingots. The raw materials required alumina and carbon black are imported. The smelter is owned by an Australian mining giant…

VISVIN REDDY | ADeC chief activist THE ADeC welcomes the decision by the Department of Home Affairs to extend Smart ID and passport collection points to KwaZulu-Natal but cautions that limiting the service to only FNB customers will cause an uproar. We have always maintained that some of the services offered by Home Affairs offices can be outsourced to the private and other government sectors. Today, you can renew your vehicle licence at the post office. I have witnessed the chaos at Home Affairs offices where people wait for hours before they can process simple applications. We had written to the minister requesting that municipal offices, the post office and banks to be used to provide the same service for renewals. This will reduce the burden on Home…

YOU want to love and be loved. You hope for general kindness, generosity for all people, while holding on to the hope for powerful, long-lasting, strong relationships with a handful of very close people, with one becoming and being your spouse. You know more about what is going on around you than you let on. At times you feel underestimated, underappreciated. You want to know and develop your gifts and skills, so nothing about your life will be wasted. You think friendships can be more like a race or contest, and competing makes you tired. You are nervous, even afraid, about some things that would surprise some people if they knew. The things that make you nervous, even afraid, sometimes make no sense, sometimes they make a lot of sense.…

As South Africa battles the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, health-care workers are set to breathe a sigh of relief as the national Department of Health announced that it has begun the allocation of medical graduates to provinces, in batches. Department of Health spokesperson Popo Maja said provinces will proceed in turn to take over the placement of eligible medical graduates into various facilities, for the junior doctors to kick off their mandatory internship and community service training programme for this year’s mid-year cycle. “The consultation process with the National Treasury and provincial health departments is ongoing to source additional funding for 155 accredited posts, to ensure all 288 medical graduates awaiting to undergo the programme during the second semester are placed,” said Maja. “The department acknowledges the frustration…

Mwangi Githahu mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za RELIGIOUS groups and faith-based political parties made a last-minute push this week against the government’s Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (Pepuda) Amendment Bill, claiming it is a threat to religious freedom. The groups are at odds with civil society groups, which say the amendments will help in the fight against hate crimes. The deadline for public comment on the bill, which was published by the Department of Justice and Correctional Services, was June 30 after an extension was granted. According to the department, “the proposed amendments seek to address the weaknesses that are in the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act of 2000.” However, ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe said: “ACDP views the Pepuda Bill as one of the greatest threats…

The government said yesterday it had noted with great concern the ongoing political and security crisis in neighbouring eSwatini, insisting that citizens’ rights to peaceful protest should not be curtailed. “We are particularly concerned by reports of loss of life and destruction of properties. The right to peaceful protest is universally recognised,” Department of International Relations and Co-operation spokesperson Clayson Monyela said in a statement. “The South African government calls on the security forces to exercise total restraint and protect the lives and property of the people, in keeping with the country’s constitutional provisions and laws. In addition, South Africa urges all political actors and civil society to engage in meaningful dialogue in order to resolve the current political challenges facing the country.” On Wednesday, the Swaziland Youth Congress (Swayoco)…

Shannon Ebrahim CUBA’S excellence in medical research has been proved once again as it will probably be the first country in the world to vaccinate its entire population with its own vaccines. While most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are scrambling to acquire vaccines, and only 3% of the region’s population has been vaccinated, Cuba’s government says it can have 70% of its population inoculated by August. This is a huge accomplishment for a tiny island nation that has been choked by the debilitating economic blockade the US imposed for 60 years. This week, Cuban authorities said its recently developed three shot Abdala vaccine has proven 92% effective against Covid-19 in advanced clinical trials. This makes the Cuban vaccine among the most effective in the world, ranking…

IT has been 608 days since the Springboks have played a game of rugby. Six-hundred-and-eight long days since the pride of South Africa and the world champions have kicked a ball in anger; smashed into their opponents; defended their line with honour; scored tries through either the maul, scrum, hard graft, or brilliant play; brought the ecstasy of victory to their fans, or the ignominy of lamentable defeat to our hearts. For close to two years we have missed it all, the old and new, the veterans and the greenhorns, the triumphs and losses. Today, the long wait to see our beloved Boks is over. It will be a day of many firsts when SA face Georgia at Loftus Versveld. It will be the first time that the central-caucasus nation…

Strasbourg: The European Court of Human Rights yesterday dismissed a case brought by the widow and daughter of Yasser Arafat, who have claimed the iconic Palestinian leader’s death was the result of poisoning. Suha El Kodwa Arafat and Zahwa El Kodwa Arafat, who are French citizens, filed their case in 2017 after French courts dismissed their claims. Arafat died in a military hospital near Paris aged 75 in 2004 after developing stomach pains while at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Many Palestinians accuse Israel of poisoning Arafat, a charge denied by the Jewish state. | AFP…

Four decades after the first wave of Afghan refugees fled in the face of a Soviet invasion, and nearly 20 years after a US-led invasion transformed life in the country, humanitarian agencies say they are bracing for another round of displacement in Afghanistan as the Taliban gains territory and Western forces prepare to withdraw in September. This week, the top US military commander in Afghanistan warned that chaos and civil war could be on the horizon. US intelligence analysts fear the Afghan government could fall swiftly in the wake of the US withdrawal. While President Joe Biden has sought to reassure Afghan leaders of Washington’s “humanitarian commitment to the Afghan people,” aid agencies say there’s much to fear. Nearby countries already hosting millions of Afghans say they are not equipped…

Paris: French society is becoming increasingly “racialised”, French President Emmanuel Macron has warned in comments that blamed imported US ideas that focus on race. He took aim at the idea of “intersectionality”, popular among left-leaning US academics, that explains discrimination and poverty by examining the role of race and gender in affecting an individual’s life chances. “I stand for universalism. I don’t agree with a fight that reduces everyone to their identity,” Macron said. “I favour ‘dressing properly’ at school. Everything that is a marker of identity, or a desire to shock or stand out, shouldn’t be at school.” | AFP…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za UK-HEADQUARTERED Petra Diamonds has shaken up its board with the appointment of business veterans Deborah Gudgeon, Alex Watson and Johannes Bhatt as non-executive directors a month after it agreed to pay compensation for dozens of people who allegedly suffered human rights violations at its Tanzanian diamond operation. Petra, which mines diamonds at the Williamson mine in Tanzania, and the Cullinan mine outside Pretoria, said it had appointed Gudgeon as chairperson designate of the audit and risk committee. Gudgeon currently serves as the non-executive director and chairs the audit committee of global steel and mining firm Evraz plc. Petra said it had appointed Watson and Bhatt as non-independent non- executive directors. Non-executive chairperson Peter Hill said: “I would like to welcome Deborah, Alex, and Johannes to the board…

Sandile Mchunu sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za SABVEST Capital’s (Sabcap) share price leapt by more than 5 percent on the JSE yesterday morning after the investment group said it expected its half-year earnings for the six months to the end of June to surge by more than 100 percent, boosted by investee companies that are trading at or ahead of pre-Covid-19 levels. Sabvest has interests in nine unlisted investments, which include Apex Partners, Classic Food Brands and Masimong Group Holdings, and direct and indirect interests in six listed investments, which include Transaction Capital, Metrofile Holdings and Corero Network Security plc. The group also has an offshore bond portfolio. The group said in a trading statement that it expected its headline earnings per share (Heps) and earnings per share (Eps) to be at…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za PUBLIC Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane yesterday again came under fire from the Constitutional Court – this time for improperly conducting her investigation into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s CR17 ANC presidential campaign. Retiring Justice Chris Jafta found that Mkhwebane made findings that were not supported by facts and that it appeared she was unduly suspicious of the person she was investigating. The majority judgment, which was penned by Justice Jafta with Justices Mbuyiseli Madlanga, Rammaka Mathopo, Nonkosi Mhlantla, Leona Theron, Zukisa Tshiqi and Margaret Victor concurring, dismissed Mkhwebane’s appeal of the North Gauteng High Court ruling declaring her 2019 report into Ramaphosa’s CR17 campaign for the ANC presidency invalid. In March last year, the full bench of the high court – Gauteng Judge President Dunstan Mlambo and Judges Keoagile Matojane…

Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za THE battle lines have been drawn between the supporters of former president Jacob Zuma and the authorities who have been tasked with effecting his arrest should he fail to voluntarily surrender himself. Upping the ante yesterday, the Zuma supporters vowed that they would do whatever it takes to thwart any arrest as they believe that the former head of state was a victim of a judiciary system that is badly entangled in politics. In Nkandla, one Zuma supporter, asking not to be named, said: “This is minor. Our true strength will be seen from Sunday when we start gathering here (Nkandla) in numbers.” On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court sentenced Zuma to 15 months in prison for defying its order that he testify before the Zondo commission and…

DR IMRAN KEEKA DA KZN Spokesperson on Education THE education sector’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out mess in our province must be laid squarely at the door of KwaZulu-Natal’s Department of Health (DoH). While the Department of Education has been on the ball when it comes to the pandemic – notwithstanding a few issues – it is the DoH that has dropped the ball. Only 60 500 teachers of the 127 000 total staff eligible for the vaccines have received the jab to date. Those that must be eligible are food handlers, administrative staff, school governing body – paid staff and other ordinary staff in schools. South Africans, through such examples of catastrophic failures, will pay the price while we are being battered by a third surge. In the meantime, the DoH…

ROLAND FISHER Durban THE deputy president is now off to Russia, for medical treatment. One presumes that he is unable to get the necessary treatment in this country. One wonders if the taxpayer is paying for this seemingly unnecessary trip. Since the senior government officials need treatment in far off countries, it seems that they have no faith in the medical expertise in this country, but are nevertheless hell-bent on foisting a National Health Scheme on us, when the Department of Health is in disarray and far from effective and efficient. The general populace must be losing faith in the government and its ongoing spending with abandon on exercises which can be resolved here.…

PHIL GREENLEES Cape Town So, CR has, once again, dipped his hand in the ban jar and pulled out the “ban alcohol for two weeks” ticket. What is the purpose of such a ban? In the past, we have been told that it is to help reduce alcohol-caused injuries that take up hospital beds needed for the Covid-19 third wave victims. If that were true, instead of banning alcohol, with its resulting unemployment and damage to the industry, how about enforcing the rule of law regarding illegal super-spreader events? No, just kidding. That would have required a modicum of logic, or even common sense. And in any case we don’t have a functioning police service to carry out enforcement of the rule of law. Just a couple of days ago,…

Lisa Isaacs lisa.isaacs@inl.co.za Rescued sea turtles Bob and Harry are making steady progress on their road to recovery at Cape Town’s Two Oceans Aquarium. Visitors to the I&J Ocean Exhibit will know long-time resident Bob, an endangered green sea turtle that was rescued in 2014, who has been recovering from brain damage following an infection as a result of ingested plastic, is on a path for eventual release. Harry, also an endangered green sea turtle, was rescued on Stilbaai beach in October last year, and is now in long-term recovery at the facility. Harry has overcome a severe carapace infection called “shell rot” and has survived intestinal troubles associated with ingesting large pieces of plastic pollution. When rescued in 2014, Bob was in a bad state with his intestines full…

Bongani Nkosi bongani.nkosi@inl.co.za THE Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has delivered a scathing judgment upholding the appeal application brought by the Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma against a high court ruling that declared the lockdown regulations invalid and unconstitutional. The Pretoria High Court last year dealt with a matter brought by Reyno de Beer and his Liberty Fighters Network (the LFN) to challenge the lockdown regulations. The SCA judges Mohamed Navsa, Visvanathan Ponnan, Thokozile Mbatha and David Unterhalter also called on National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi to consider prosecuting De Beer for contempt of court. The call, detailed in yesterday’s judgment, related to De Beer’s letter to SCA President Mandisa Maya in which he said he found the four judges to be “clearly…

Vernon Mchunu vernon.nchunu@inl.co.za THE writing off of an unaccounted-for R4.5 billion, a R109.8 million unjustifiable payment to consultants and financial losses amounting to R248.3m are among the ills that continue to bedevil the KwaZulu-Natal municipal space. This is according to the latest municipal audit performance review issued by Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke this week. While the City of uMhlathuze was hailed for being the only municipality in the province to receive a clean audit opinion, Amajuba, Inkosi Langalibalele, uMzinyathi district munipality received disclaimer audit opinions while no findings could be made regarding Nquthu because it had not submitted documents by the cut-off date. Although there had been some improvements in the year under review, the overall stagnation in KZN’s municipalities proved complacency on the part of management and leadership in relation…

Kailene Pillay kailene.pillay@inl.co.za The SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) will reveal whether the CoronaVac vaccine developed by Sinovac will be approved for use in the coming days. Sahpra chief executive Dr Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela provided an update on how far the institution was with vaccine registrations and approvals yesterday. She said a decision about whether it approves Sinovac’s vaccine for use in South Africa was “close to being finalised and will be communicated to the company within the coming days”. Semete-Makokotlela said that it usually took many months to authorise the use of medicines and vaccines but due to the demand as a result of the pandemic, they have fast-tracked the process of authorising vaccines to about 90 working days. “While we have drastically reduced our usual time frames for…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za THE eThekwini municipality has tabled a debt relief plan aimed at assisting struggling ratepayers. The plan, tabled before a full council meeting this week, will assist residential and business ratepayers who have defaulted on their payments. The city will provide ratepayers with a plan to pay their municipal debts. The proposal came under fire from some opposition parties that said it did not address the needs of those hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. A report on the plan tabled before the full council said all residential property owners would be allowed to enter into a payment plan in terms of the eThekwini Municipality Credit Control and Debt Collection Policy. They would have to make a payment of 5% of the debt as a down payment, and…

OTTAWA: Hundreds of people were evacuated in western Canada as fires added to the unprecedented heatwave in the region, which has had record-breaking temperatures. The village of Lytton, 250km north-east of Vancouver, was evacuated because of a fire that spread quickly. The fire came a day after the village, in the province of British Columbia, set a Canadian record high temperature of 49.6°C. Yesterday, the heatwave continued to move eastward into the central Canadian prairies. Heatwave warnings have also been issued for the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, parts of the Northwest Territories and northern Ontario. | AFP…

CHINESE President Xi Jinping hailed China’s “irreversible” course from colonial humiliation to great-power status at the centenary celebrations for the Chinese Communist Party yesterday, in a speech reaching deep into history to remind patriots at home and rivals abroad of his nation’s – and his own – ascendancy. Speaking above the portrait of Mao Zedong which dominates Tiananmen Square, from the podium where the famous chairman proclaimed the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Xi said the “era of China being bullied is gone forever”, praising the party for raising incomes and restoring national pride. Drawing a line from the subjugation of the Opium Wars to the struggle to establish a socialist revolution in China, Xi said the party had brought about “national rejuvenation” lifting tens of millions from poverty…

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said yesterday that its first shipment of food intended for Venezuelan school children had arrived in the South American country, which is suffering a humanitarian crisis spurred by an economic collapse. The WFP in April announced a deal with President Nicolas Maduro’s government to reach 185 000 children this year and expand to 1.5 million by the end of the 2022-2023 school year. Child malnutrition is on the rise in the once-prosperous OPEC nation. The first 42 000 food packages including rice, lentils, salt and vegetable oil will be distributed to children under age six in areas affected by food insecurity in Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city, the WFP said. Since Venezuelan schools are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the packages will be…

LONDON: British Princes William and Harry put their differences aside yesterday when they unveiled a statue to their late mother Princess Diana on what would have been her 60th birthday, saying they hoped it would be a lasting memorial to her life and legacy. The brothers, whose falling out has been the subject of intense scrutiny, looked relaxed together as they revealed the statue they commissioned in honour of Diana in the Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace in central London. The bronze statue depicts Diana, who was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997, surrounded by three children, which Kensington Palace said represented “the universality and generational impact” of her work. “Our hope is that this statue will be seen forever as a symbol of her life and her…

CASTER Semenya vowed to continue her fight against the ban that prevents her from competing in her preferred 800m event after she failed in a bid to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics at alternative distances. In the Semenya story, 2nd par, please change the sentence to: The 30-year-old South African, who is two-time defending Olympic champion at 800m, is banned from competing in any race from 400m to a mile after World Athletics ruled in 2018 to ensure fair competition. Women with high natural testosterone levels must take medication to reduce them to compete. But Semenya, who refuses to take any medication to alter her testosterone levels, will continue to battle against the ruling despite losing several appeals over the last two years. "The ban doesn't make sense at…

BELGIUM’S Dries Mertens is looking forward, more than most, to today’s European Championship quarter-final against Italy, where he has spent the last eight years of his club career. Mertens broke Diego Maradona’s goalscoring record at Napoli last year and has played with many of the Italians he will be up against in Munich. “It is special to play against Italy because I’ve lived there for the last eight years and I know all their players," he told a news conference on Wednesday. Mertens is a big admirer of Italy's national team, among the most impressive at Euro 2020 so far. "This generation can play football. They have won a long series of matches and conceded few goals. They have a good mix between youth and experience," he said. "Many people…

ANDY Murray looked down and out on Wednesday but he was back doing what he likes best at Wimbledon, picking himself up and dusting himself down as he roared to a 6-3, 4-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 second-round win over little-known German qualifier Oscar Otte. Before Wednesday, Murray had never lost a Grand Slam match to a player ranked as low as No 151 Otte and he had never been beaten before the third round at the All England Club. When the match had to be briefly halted at 2-2 in the fourth set as gathering gloom meant the Centre Court roof had to be closed so that the contest could continue under floodlights, it seemed as if Murray was on the verge of losing both of those personal milestones on…

Sandile Mchunu sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za Delta Property Fund managed to reduce its full-year loss to R456.11 million for the year to end February, down from a loss of R940.29m compared to last year despite facing corporate governance challenges and significant macro-economic constraints as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak. The real estate investment trust (Reit) had a tough year after former chief executive Sandile Nomvete resigned in August following allegations of fraud and the group appointed Sibongile Masinga as an interim chief executive. In the long-awaited results published at the close of the market on Wednesday, the group said the 2021 financial period was a watershed year for the group. “Corporate governance challenges and significant macro-economic constraints as a result of Covid-19 hard economic lockdowns culminated in several far-reaching, but positive…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za A KwaZulu-Natal Department of Transport investigation report has revealed that its own managers are refusing to discipline employees who have been implicated in allegations of wrongdoing, if they disagree with the findings of the investigations. The report, tabled before the transport portfolio committee this week, claimed that in many instances supervisors disagreed with the findings of the investigations and were hesitant to institute disciplinary action, stalling the process. The department’s report focused on several allegations that include bribery, fraud and the abuse of department vehicles. It said that 30 cases relating to misconduct were being handled by the labour relations directorate. The report also revealed that it was investigating a number of incidents in which staff members failed to follow procurement regulations, resulting in findings of irregular…

As demand for plant-based alternatives to meat rises, Barcelona-based start-up Novameat is using its 3D printing technology to manufacture vegetarian “steaks” that it hopes will reach the mass market next year. Novameat plans to sell its product directly to consumers and to businesses such as restaurants interested in producing plant-based meat, business development manager Alexandre Campos said. The Spanish company, which developed its technology in 2018, was showing how its latest 3D printer produced food at Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress. “It didn’t have the feeling of a traditional steak but I was positively surprised because I did not expect that the texture would be so well achieved,” said Ferran Gregori, after trying one of the “steaks” printed at Novameat’s stand at the world’s largest telecoms gathering. The company uses 3D…

THYAGARAJ MARKANDAN Kloof ZUMA your run is over. The Concourt has got you stumped. For too long you evaded the law, insulting the judiciary, abusing the Constitution and making a mockery of our democracy. Now it’s time you spent some time in prison, look at the prison and do some introspection. You should ask yourself how did you go from a former president of the country to a jailbird, wearing these prison overalls. How did you get into this mess? Arrogance? Greed and power? You should do some meditation, get down from your high horse, admit you blundered and say sorry. Former president Zuma has never been as popular as he is now. The news is full of him. Everyone is wondering: What will Zuma do next? Will he do…

GEORGIA tonight. This will be a tough ’un for the Boks up front, these are tough hombres. Yesterday, rugby scribe Mike Greenaway quoted Japan/England coach Eddie Jones saying that babies in Georgia were born with beards. Yes, the Georgians are toughies. Mike went on to note that Soviet strongman Josef Stalin was a Georgian. He started out training for the priesthood in the Orthodox Church, switched to bank robbery then took up politics. The toughness of those days has rubbed off on rugby union. The Boks will have to keep cool as they handle it at Loftus tonight. My favourite rugby story from those Slavonic regions is when the cops in a rural town in Russia got a phone call telling them two gangs of criminals were fighting in a…

THABISI HOEANE Pretoria Regrettably, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is once again at it: busy sleeping on the job when one of its member states, eSwatini, is imploding. Is it waiting to act only when Swati refuges start streaming all over the region, or when, as usual, the army takes advantage of such instability to mount a coup? We have seen all this before, where SADC’s paralysis betrayed the subcontinent. It practically became a spectator as Robert Mugabe ran Zimbabwe into the ground. This was a fertile excuse for the army to then move in – in its own interests and those of its own accord led by Mnangagwa – under the ruse that it was chasing Mugabe to bring about stability and democracy. What is mystifying about SADC…

Mercury Correspondent BEING male and having a high body mass index (BMI) is not associated with increased mortality in Covid-19 patients admitted into intensive care units (ICU). These are the findings of a new study, led by Professor Bruce M Biccard, Professor and second chair in the Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine at UCT. Published in the journal Anaesthesia, the study provided an analysis of 58 studies done on 44 305 patients. UCT said patients with Covid-19 in ICU were 40% more likely to die if they had a history of smoking, 54% more likely if they had high blood pressure, 41% more likely if they had diabetes, 75% more likely if they had respiratory disease, around twice as likely if diagnosed with cardiovascular disease or cancer, and…

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za Deputy Justice Minister John Jeffrey says the spike in murder and rape cases in the lesbian, gay, bisexual trans- gender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) community called for intensified efforts to fight the problem. Jeffrey said yesterday there were 42 pending cases, with 30 for murder and 12 for rape with victims being members of the LGBTIQ community. “Out of the 42 pending hate crime cases, approximately 29 were reported from 2020 to date. Of these 29 hate crime cases, 16 are on the court roll with remand dates, with the remaining 13 cases still under investigation. “The cases on the template are being actively monitored, with government departments actively working with the SAPS, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and civil society to ensure these matters are thoroughly…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za Lindsay Myeni, the widow of slain South African Lindani Myeni, has expressed her disappointment after a US prosecutor announced that he would not be pursuing criminal charges against the police officers who shot dead her husband. The KZN-born former rugby player from Empangeni was shot dead by Honolulu police in the island state of Hawaii, in the US on April 14 this year. Honolulu prosecutor Steve Alm announced at a press conference on Wednesday that the police officers were justified in shooting Myeni in April this year and they would not face murder charges. Taking to social media after the announcement, Lindsay spoke of disappointment and anguish. “I bumped my head, backed into a car, took my sick babies to the hospital, and the officers who murdered…

VINCENT van Gogh’s self-portraits will go on show in London next year, in what organisers say is the first exhibition dedicated to the Dutch post-Impressionist artist’s depictions of himself. From February, The Courtauld Gallery will stage the display – from Self-Portrait with a Dark Felt Hat painted in 1886 in Paris, to Self-Portrait with a Palette which van Gogh painted in an asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, southern France, in September 1889. He died the following year. Part of The Courtauld collection, the well-known Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, which Van Gogh painted in 1889 after cutting off most of his ear, will also be on show alongside loaned works. “This will be the first time that the full span of Van Gogh’s self- portraiture has been explored in an exhibition,” the gallery,…

The issue of access to data and private accommodation has arisen again following the country moving to adjusted level 4 lockdown. On Wednesday, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande held a media briefing where he gave an update on his department’s Covid-19 plans following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that the country would be going to level 4 as a result of the increase of Covid-19 cases. Ramaphosa ordered that the level 4 lockdown would continue for 14 days from Monday, June 28. Nzimande, in response to the lockdown adjustment, said: “Contact classes in tertiary institutions will be closed this week with access to buildings closed. Residences, however, will remain open. And many of our institutions will continue with teaching and learning through remote means.” He said based on a meeting with…

The people of Swaziland have been living under a brutal dictatorship for many years. The monarchy has ruled the country with iron fists. Journalists, trade unionists, students and other kinds of activists have been subject to severe repression including imprisonment, torture and murder. Many have had to flee the country. Since he came into power in 1986, Mswati has been living a luxurious life with his 15 wives in a country where more than 70% people are living under the poverty line. The Mswati dictatorship has made the elites very, very rich while forcing the majority into deep poverty. The country is going through serious difficulties as a direct result of the monarch who serves the interest of those who are connected politically and impoverishes and represses the people. The…

MANILA: Authorities in the Philippines started evacuating thousands of people yesterday after the alert status was raised on a restive volcano that spewed a 1km-high plume of gas and steam. The alert for the Taal volcano, about 70km south of central Manila, moved to level 3 from level 2 on the 5-level scale, which the seismology and volcanology agency said meant a “magmatic intrusion” at the main crater “could further drive succeeding eruptions”. Taal is one of the world’s smallest active volcanoes. Despite standing at only 311m, it can be deadly and an eruption in 1 911 killed more than 1 300 people. | AFP…

Bill Cosby was freed from prison after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his sexual assault conviction, saying he never should have faced charges. The court said he struck a non-prosecution deal with a previous district attorney more than 15 years ago. The court issued its split decision after Cosby served more than two years of a three- to 10-year sentence following his 2018 conviction. The 83-year-old actor and comedian, looking frail, smiled and nodded when asked if he was happy to be home but did not speak as reporters shouted questions. Later, Cosby posted a statement to his Twitter account, saying, “I have never changed my stance nor my story”. “I have always maintained my innocence.” But his reputation was shattered after more than 50 women accused him of…

COVID-19 has killed six fully vaccinated people in the Seychelles, which is suffering heightened Covid-19 infections despite inoculating a greater proportion of its people than any other nation. Of those, five had taken Covishield, a version of the AstraZeneca vaccine made in India, and one had been given Sinopharm, Jude Gedeon, the island nation’s public health commissioner said at a press conference yesterday. Covishield has mainly been reserved for people over 60 in the Seychelles. The rise in infections, which surged at the beginning of May and has remained at elevated levels ever since, is likely due to the arrival of the highly-transmissible delta variant, which was first identified in India, Gedeon said. The archipelago had rushed to inoculate its 98 000 people so that it could reopen to…

MIKE GREENAWAY mike.greenaway@inl.co.za British & Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland reckons combating cabin fever in the squad’s Sandton hotel is a minor challenge compared to playing two South African sides a week in the build-up to the three-Test series, which kicks off on July 24. The tourists arrived in Johannesburg on Monday to find a country newly locked down under revised Level Four restrictions and that means they are just about captive in their hotel apart from training ground visits to St Peter’s College. But the much-travelled, vastly-experienced Lions coach says the restrictions are nothing new. “It is the new norm,” the New Zealander said after naming his team to play the local Lions at Emirates Airlines Park tomorrow (5pm kick-off). “It is not really a challenge for us because…

THE shad, garrick and sharks are in full swing. The garrick and shad have been the main edibles targeted along the KZN coast. The big sharks are here but you need a drone to get to them consistently. The North Coast has been producing good catches of edibles (kingfish and stumpies) as well as some of the back-breaking inedibles (honeycombs, sandies and some shark species). The trace for these fish is the standard thick nylon with a 120lb steel bite trace attached to a circle hook. This is a trace that can be used for most of the inedible fish on the KZN coast as the only thing to change will be the size of the circle hook. You would, for example, use a 6/0 for brown skates, an 8/0…

FANS travelling from the UK to Italy for England's Euro 2020 quarter-final clash with the Ukraine tomorrow will not be allowed to enter the stadium in Rome, even if they have a ticket, due to Covid-19 curbs, the Italian Embassy in London said yesterday. England's victory over Germany on Tuesday set up the last-eight clash at the Stadio Olimpico, but fans looking to make the journey to Italy from the UK cannot attend the match. "Anybody who has been in the UK in the previous 14 days, irrespective of their nationality or residency, will not be admitted to the stadium, even if they have a ticket," a statement read. "Only those who can prove that they have arrived in Italy at least six days previously, have observed five days of…