Indholdsfortegnelse for 2021-07-09 i Mercury

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za FORMER president Jacob Zuma insists that he is entitled to hold his beliefs, views and opinions about judges and the judiciary. Zuma said that he should not be discriminated against just because he once held the most powerful office in the country. In his replying affidavit filed on Wednesday at the Constitutional Court just before he handed himself over to Correctional Services authorities to start serving his 15-month jail term for contempt of court, Zuma said the Constitution clearly does not require that he be discriminated against in terms of the law due to his being a former president. “I am entitled, whether as president or not, to hold beliefs, views and opinions on our judges and the judiciary. The arguments of the Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF)…

Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside, I do like to be beside the sea … THE world’s tallest sandcastle has been built in the town of Blokhus in Denmark. The amazingly ornate castle stands 21m high, according to the BBC. But this was no buckets and spades operation. The structure is reinforced with glue and clay, and took 4 860 tons of sand to make. Meanwhile, a fellow at Newquay, in Cornwall, England, seemed set on digging a record depth hole at Fistral beach. He dug so deep, says Sky News, that he’d disappeared from the view of other beach-goers when it collapsed in on him. Fortunately, they dug him out unharmed. … where there’s lots of girls beside That I like to sit beside Beside the…

THEMBA KHOZA Department of Water and Sanitation The pollution of water resources is a major problem in the country with most rivers and streams turned into rubbish dumps. Water resource pollution has a negative impact on the social and economic development of communities and the country, as pollution affects water quality and reduces the quantity of water fit for use. Pollution is a major threat as it turns rivers, streams and other watercourses into death traps. Rivers and streams provide many socio-economic benefits for society. In some parts of the country, some rural communities still depend on rivers for their livelihoods. Clean and healthy rivers and streams provide communities with water for human consumption, cooking and washing. The watercourses provide fish for food and water for agricultural products and livestock.…

An Eastern Cape attorney has been sentenced to 10 years’ in prison in the Mthatha Regional Court. Yesterday, Eastern Cape provincial spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), Captain Yolisa Mgolodela, said Sandile Majavu, 51, was convicted of defrauding his clients. Mgolodela said that during 2011, Majavu, the director of Majavu Attorneys, was admitted as an attorney in Mthatha. It was during that year that he assisted a victim with entering into a contractual agreement to buy a house through the firm. On February 1, 2011, the victim paid R300 000 into the Majavu Attorneys’ trust account. The victim later paid a further R5 586 on May 31, 2011. Mgolodela said Majavu also lured another victim into purchasing a house where the victim paid R1.1 million into the…

Kedibone Modise kedibone.modise@inl.co.za As the country continues to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, the arts and entertainment industry is falling deeper into severe financial straits. With the industry at a virtual standstill and performance venues indefinitely closed, many creative artists across the country have been struggling to make ends meet. While some got employment when lockdown restrictions were eased, others have had no work since March last year. Joburg-based Noah’s Art, operated by eight theatre and dance professionals, has worked to raise funds for food parcels and food vouchers for struggling artists. Theatre practitioners Vicky Friedman, Lorri Strauss, Shelley Meskin, Talia Kodesh, Caryn Katz, Sharon Spiegel-Wagner and Hannah Rudnicki, with choreographer David Matamela, run the initiative which collects food and donations to assist performing artists who are without means…

GOITSEMANG TLHABYE goitsemang.tlhabye@inl.co.za THE Covid-19 vaccination launch event for the SANDF has been postponed due to technical challenges. However, the planned roll-out of vaccinations to members of the military would continue in Pretoria and all other areas that were initially earmarked. The launch event had been scheduled for the Military Medical Centre at Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria yesterday. SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini said the actual launch of the vaccination programme had been postponed due to technical, internal and operational processes that needed to be carried out. However, Dlamini said the planned roll-out of the vaccinations to members of the military would continue and that they were aiming to vaccinate as many members as possible, in particular those who were on the front line. “We are going to follow…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has expressed concern over the ongoing water crisis in the Ugu District on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, going as far as alerting the Department of Water and Sanitation. The water crisis in the district took another turn this week, with violent protests erupting as residents of Mthwalume near Hibberdene blocked the R102 before switching to the N2, where there were also scenes of looting on Tuesday. SAHRC KZN manager Lloyd Lotz said they had received numerous complaints regarding the water supply issues in recent years. “Since 2015, we have been receiving complaints. However, those were individual complaints that were resolved by the commission. The current complaints that the commission has were received in 2019, across Ugu District Municipality,” said Lotz.…

A 25-year-old suspect linked to the murder of an off-duty police officer, Warrant Officer Maqhawe Sithole, has been arrested. According to the Hawks, the suspect was arrested on July 6 in KwaMaphumulo, north of Durban. Hawks said their members from the Durban Serious Organised Crime Investigation and Durban Public Order Police arrested the suspect for murder and possession of unlicensed firearm. Hawks spokesperson Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo said the suspect has been sought by the police for the murder of the 54-year-old officer, who was shot at Amatikwe in Inanda on June 24 this year. Mhlongo said it was alleged that Warrant Officer Sithole was playing pool with his friend at the tuck shop when he was attacked by the suspects. He said the suspects fired several shots at him and…

Mark Keohane Type into Google “Ali’s last fight”, and this is what you will get: “Despite pleas to definitively retire, Ali fought one last time on December 11, 1981, in Nassau, Bahamas, against Trevor Berbick, losing a 10-round decision. By the end of his boxing career Ali had absorbed 200 000 hits.” That fight is on YouTube and if you love Muhammad Ali the boxer, as much as I did, and you haven’t watched it, please don’t go there. It is awful to watch and as a fan of boxing’s greatest, you will feel powerless and an emptiness. Cue tennis’s Roger Federer and Wednesday night’s Wimbledon quarter-final. If you love Roger Federer, the tennis player, as much as I do, and for some reason you missed that night’s defeat, never…

ASSASSINATED Haitian president’s opting for authoritarian policy during his term may now result in a period of transitional government, Ludovic Comeau, a US-based professor who in the past had received an offer to join Jovenel Moise’s team, told Sputnik. “He (Moise) wanted me to be his chief of staff … I did not expect him to move in the authoritarian direction he did,” Comeau, professor of economics at DePaul University, said. Several inquiries about Moise by rights groups and researchers found his administration allegedly took part in state-sponsored massacres by providing gangs with money, weapons, police uniforms, and government vehicles, all of which was then used in three large attacks in Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince between 2018 and 2020. “Corruption is rampant. People are doing things with impunity and no…

London: A British parliamentary standards committee yesterday cleared Prime Minister Boris Johnson of breaching a MPs’ code of conduct over a luxury Caribbean holiday, but criticised his handling of the matter. After a months-long probe, the House of Commons committee on standards concluded that Johnson had accurately declared how he paid for the trip with his then fiancée, now wife, Carrie Symonds, to the privately owned island of Mustique in 2019. However, the cross-party panel of MPs said it was “regrettable” that a full explanation of the arrangements that saw a Conservative Party donor fund their holiday had not been provided earlier. It noted that he had been previously admonished over other financial interest declarations, and urged MPs “to avoid seeking or accepting gifts or hospitality on the…

MADRID: Spanish police said yesterday that they had detained a fourth suspect over the killing of Samuel Luiz, who was beaten to death in the northern city of A Coruna on Saturday in a suspected anti-gay hate crime that sparked mass protests across the country. “He is a man between 20 and 25 years old and he is accused of homicide and undue appropriation,” Spanish national police said on its twitter account yesterday. The man is a friend of the three other suspects, who were detained earlier this week, a police officer said. He is suspected of taking Luiz’s cellphone. Luiz, a 24-year-old nursing assistant, was killed outside a nightclub.…

THE Sharks’ 54-7 hammering at the hands of the British & Irish Lions on Wednesday confirmed the mammoth task awaiting South African teams when they join the inaugural United Rugby Championship in September. The Lions’ tour concludes in late August, and then SA rugby enters this new competition. The heavy defeat suffered by the Bulls in the Rainbow Cup final to Benetton was a warning that has now been emphasised by the Sharks and the local Lions being massively outclassed by a B&I Lions team that has many PRO14 players. Two of them, “Scotsman ” Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh) and Welshman Josh Adams (Cardiff) both scored hat-tricks against the Sharks, who could not live with the tempo of the northern hemisphere team. SA teams play at a…

It has already been dubbed the “tour like no other” and now the British & Irish Lions’ visit to South Africa has got a little crazier with the confirmation that there is to be a sequel to Wednesday’s Lions match against the Sharks, tomorrow at Loftus. The Lions versus the Sharks take two will replace the Lions’ scheduled match against the Bulls, which had to be called off because of Covid-19 cases in the ranks of the Bulls. That had left the Lions short of a precious warm-up opportunity – they have only five build-up matches before the Test series against the Springboks begins on 24 July – so now playing the Sharks a second time is a case of necessity being the mother of invention. The reasoning is…

WHILE England exulted at reaching a first major final since 1966, there was increasing outcry abroad over the penalty awarded for a foul on Raheem Sterling in extra-time to give them a 2-1 win over Denmark in their Euro 2020 semi-final. An array of media and football figures joined Danish fans in condemning the penalty as too cheap for such a big game, some saying England's haughty views on diving looked hypocritical in view of Sterling's tumble at the lightest of touches. "They always say how bad it is when a foreign player tries to deceive the referee with a dive. In pure English football, this does not happen. Apart from, of course, in a European Championship semi-final," said Spanish newspaper Marca. "It would be nice for English football to…

THE croc couta have been plastered all over social media this season. Some amazing sized fish have been landed in the fishing skis and the boats. The North Coast has seen most of the bigger couta action. Specifically the areas around Mtunzini, Tinley and Umdloti. Most of these bigger fish have been caught on bait but some have found the allure of a wiggling lure too exciting to pass up. These bigger fish have gotten to their size mostly by being clever so take your time in presenting your bait properly and ensuring it swims straight. The snoek have been around the Umdloti area with some days seeing them throw all caution to the wind. Small spoons and fillet baits are the way to go. The Durban coast has seen…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za IMPERIAL Logistics, which yesterday received a R12.7 billion buy-out offer from Dubai’s DP World, has made a strong recovery in the 12 months to end-June 2021, although the business is not yet fully operating at pre-Covid-19 levels. The transport and mobility group told its shareholders in a business update that it had performed better than expected, despite a significant overhang of Covid-19 in many of its key markets. Imperial said that its revenue for the year was expected to increase 10-15 percent to between R51.02bnand R53.33bn, while operating profit was likely to increase 52-64 percent to between R2.22bn and R2.39bn. It said headline earnings per share of continuing operations were projected to rise to between 300-335 cents versus 156c the previous year. “The key financial…

Lutho Pasiya lutho.pasiya@inl.co.za While you would imagine having a celebrity gatecrash at your wedding would be a fun story to tell your grandchildren some day, one couple was none too impressed when British chef Gordon Ramsay obstructed their big day. Charlie Willis and his wife Laura were tying the knot on a Cornwall beach last month when Ramsay and his crew rocked up to film the chef’s new BBC TV series called Future Food Stars. While they had not paid for “exclusive” use of the beach at Lusty Gaze, the bride and groom were upset to feel like ‘extras’ on their own special day. Speaking to The Sun, Willis said: “The whole thing was a complete kitchen nightmare. “We had both worked so hard to save for that day and…

NARENDH GANESH | Durban North THE circus came to a rather tame end – Jacob Zuma meekly handing himself to the South African Police Services for incarceration. While the country was on the brink of violence in the last week, as intimated by his supporters, we cannot seek pleasure in the shenanigans that went on. The country was on the precipice of a constitutional and political crisis – ironically brought on by a man who once swore allegiance to the Constitution. The country was spellbound, disgusted, apprehensive and with a plethora of emotions stirred up as Zuma played legal gymnastics, showing disdain for the law and behaving like a brat about to be spanked for being naughty. His bravado eventually succumbed to what we all hoped for –…

DR IMRAN KEEKA DA KZN Spokesperson on Education Freedom is not a favour from government, it is a right. The freedoms intended by the framers of our Constitution were hard-won for us all. They are precious and must be guarded. This Constitution grants everyone the right to choose their health care options and includes the right to be protected from compulsion to undergo a medical procedure or do anything outside of our legal framework. Which brings us to the question: Should those in the education sector who do not want to be vaccinated against Covid-19 be forced to do so? The simple answer is they cannot be compelled. But there are consequences for such a decision and there are implications of our individual decisions that have an impact on…

An Ekurhuleni man who was allegedly masquerading as a doctor and selling medical certificates was arrested together with his “patient” and the man who referred the patient to him. Reuben Arlinda Magagula, Linda Ntsele and Evidence Mnisi were all arrested in Tsakane township last week. Magagula was charged with fraud as well as contravention of Section 39(1)(a) of the Health Professions Act, (Act 56 of 1974), for issuing medical certificates as a Medical Practitioner while not being registered as such with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). Mnisi and Ntsele were charged with fraud. According to HPCSA’s Eric Mphaphuli, Magagula was operating as Dr D Modiba and selling medical certificates for R300 to those approaching him. Mphaphuli said Magagula did not have a specific place he…

Ntombi Nkosi ntombi.nkosi@inl.co.za More woes are piling up for ANC member and former MP Vincent Smith as more charges are set to be added on top of the corruption charges he already faces. The Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court yesterday postponed the matter involving Smith and former Bosasa chief operations officer Angelo Agrizzi to September 28. The National Prosecuting Authority’s Investigating Directorate (ID) made an application under Section 157(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act to have their matters separated. This is after Agrizzi failed to appear in court previously, due to a proven medical condition, which led to Smith attending court alone. In May the ID applied for a separation of the cases. Directorate spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka confirmed that the Palm Ridge Specialised Crimes Court granted the application as to not…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za RESIDENTS of uMsinga have accused the Umzinyathi District Municipality of violating their human rights, as they have been without clean drinking water for several months. The community collects water from rivers and lakes which are also frequented by wild animals and livestock. A resident, Mandla Ndlovu said they had been promised boreholes by the municipality, but nothing had been delivered. He said even though there were taps in some areas, they still collected water from the river as the taps were always dry. “Taps are just decorations for many, because there is no water there. It’s sad, because we are still sharing water with livestock and that’s not healthy. Water is a need, and the district has the responsibility to provide water to us, however, they are…

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za Police have warned that mob justice cases are on the rise, with 298 vigilante cases recorded in the first three months of this year. SAPS head of social crime prevention, Major-General Thokozani Mathonsi, told a webinar yesterday that this was a serious issue. He said only the police were allowed by the Constitution to enforce the law. There were no other people or parties outside the police who can enforce the law as determined by Section 205 of the Constitution, he said. Mathonsi said cases of mob justice or vigilantism were caused by several factors in communities. He warned that there was no justification for mob killings. “Actually, there is no justice about vigilantism. It perpetuates further criminality and violence. During the fourth quarter of the last…

KING Mswati III set the tone for his reign as king when he ascended the throne in 1986 at the age of 18, and did not continue his father’s active support for the ANC’s liberation struggle. In 1986, Swaziland was a dangerous place as apartheid death squads were using the country as a hunting ground to murder ANC operatives in the country. The ANC had always been able to rely on the support of Mswati’s father King Sobhuza II. The king used to say that he once told ANC comrade Moses Mabhida “if ANC cadres cross through Swaziland on the right, I will ask my police to look to the left”. After the king’s death in 1982, the Great Swazi Council of State had selected the 14-year-old prince to be…

IT remains to be seen whether England will win Euro 2020, but if one thing is certain, Gareth Southgate’s side troops have shown more mental strength than the generations that came before them. Prior to every tournament, there is always hype surrounding the Three Lions squad, with many speculating that they will be the victors. They usually tend to wilt in the knockout stages and bomb out before receiving a barrage of criticism upon returning home. Even if Southgate’s charges do end up losing the final against Italy at Wembley Stadium on Sunday, they have surely proven that they are better than the other England sides that came before them. The 2002 England World Cup squad is widely regarded as one of the best in living memory, having boasted the…

Mexico’s Supreme Court opened the door this week to legal abortion after more than three months for rape victims, in a ruling in the case of a minor with cerebral palsy. The top court declared unconstitutional an article of the penal code of the southern state of Chiapas that prevented the victim having an abortion. The director of a public hospital in the city of Tapachula had refused to carry out the procedure because the minor was more than 90 days’ pregnant, the court said. The time limit “implies a total ignorance of human dignity” and women’s rights, it said. A district judge in Chiapas failed to take into account the victim’s circumstances and the fact that she was a minor, the court ruled. While the ruling only applies to…

Palestinian workers in the Israel-occupied West Bank are putting the final touches on a decommissioned Boeing 707 aircraft to ready it for a new kind of take-off: as a restaurant. Its enterprising owners, 60-year-old twin brothers Ata and Khamis al-Sairafi, expect to welcome their first customers within weeks at the site in an isolated mountain area near Nablus. Inside the old jet’s cabin, the seats have been stripped out and the window panes removed. Tables will soon be fitted in the fuselage, which has been painted white with laminate wooden floors. The brothers plan to call their aviation-themed eatery – which is decorated with Palestinian and Jordanian flags – “the Palestinian-Jordanian Airline Restaurant and Coffee Shop Al-Sairafi Nablus”. “We will start by providing hookahs,” said Khamis, for people who enjoy…

SINGAPORE: A court in Singapore sentenced a Canadian man to five years in jail for robbing a bank in 2016, but he will not receive an additional sentence of six strokes of a cane due to the terms of his extradition, the government said. Singapore has very low crime rates and the bank robbery had sparked debate about whether the wealthy Southeast Asian city state had become too complacent about security. David James Roach, now 31, fled Singapore on the same day as the robbery, but was later detained in Britain where authorities agreed to extradite him in March last year.…

SOUTH Africa's national team Bafana Bafana emerged slender 1-0 winners over neighbours Eswatini in a top-of-the-table Cosafa Cup Group A clash at the Wolfson Stadium in the Eastern Cape yesterday. The outcome allowed Bafana Bafana to retain a 100% win record against Eswatini's Sihlangu Semnikati in five Cosafa Cup games but Bafana's performance was far from convincing against gutsy opposition. A lively first half ended on a sour note when Mozambique referee Wilson Muianga red-carded Eswatini talisman and captain Felix Badenhorst after a second bookable offence. It was a huge blow for Eswatini because he was far and away the team's most influential player up to that stage. Moments earlier, Badenhorst unleashed a powerful shot from a free-kick about 15 metres outside the Bafana Bafana penalty area. The…

TOP seed Ashleigh Barty became the first Australian woman to reach the Wimbledon singles final for 41 years after beating former champion Angelique Kerber 6-3 7-6(3) yesterday. The 25-year-old will now aim to emulate Evonne Goolagong who won the second of her two Wimbledon crowns in 1980. After saving a break point in a nervy opening game on a sunny Centre Court, world number one Barty was supreme in the first set as her all-court game flowed on the grass. The 33-year-old Kerber used all her experience on the surface to hit back in the second set and looked poised to take it into a decider when serving at 5-3. But Barty got back in the groove and broke to love. Kerber's game went off in the tiebreak and Barty…

THE value of experience can never be discounted and Western Province will be the major benefactors next season when the restructured first-class cricket season gets underway. Many have questioned WP coach Ashwell Prince's recruitment strategy with the former Proteas left-hander turning towards his ex-national teammates such as Hashim Amla and Vernon Philander to join the Province team next season. Although both Amla (38) and Philander (36) are understandably past the prime of their careers, their mere presence out on the field will add great value to the overall South African first-class circuit. Amla, in particular, showed that he still possesses his immense powers of concentration and appetite to spend long periods at the crease by batting an entire day this week to remain unbeaten on 37 from 278…

JAPANESE Olympics sponsors are cancelling or scaling back booths and promotional events tied to the Tokyo 2020 Games, frustrated by "very last minute" decisions by organisers and a delay on whether spectators would be allowed, sources told Reuters. The moves by more than a dozen companies, including Canon, Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance and Ajinomoto, highlight the delicate situation for sponsors, who have tied themselves to a Games now hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and public opposition. Some 60 Japanese companies paid a record of more than $3-billion for sponsorship rights and then another $200-million to extend their contracts after the Games were delayed last year due to the pandemic. Unlike "worldwide partners" with multi-year deals, domestic sponsors are only involved in the Tokyo Games. They have been frustrated…

Thobile Mazibuko thobile.mazibuko@inl.co.za The Miss South Africa 2021 Top 30 finalists have been announced, and among the hopefuls is Lehlogonolo Machaba, 24, the first transgender woman to enter the Miss SA competition. From Oskraal, Letlhabile in the North West, Machaba is a model booker at Invade Models and the founder and owner of the DeMollies fashion brand. She holds a diploma in fashion design technology from the Tshwane University of Technology. On why she entered the Miss SA competition, Machaba said: “Transgender women are almost always ostracised from such opportunities, which is why I never thought I’d see anyone like myself on such a platform. I believe that being chosen would raise hope in a lot of little girls like myself. It has always been a dream of mine to…

Vernon Mchunu vernon.mchunu@inl.co.za WHILE jailed former president Jacob Zuma has been through the worst forms of hardship for most of his life, his old age and the lack of freedom to choose what and when to eat or drink will have a significant toll on his body and mind. This was the view of clinical psychologist Dr Sathasivan “Saths” Cooper yesterday, who spoke after the former freedom fighter presented himself for incarceration at the Estcourt Correctional Centre in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands early yesterday morning, marking the beginning of his 15-month jail term. “(Correctional services) officials have gone out of their way to emphasise what he is entitled to and that he is currently in a 14-day isolation which is within the hospital section of the prison. This is a proper…

CHINESE researchers want to send more than 20 of China’s largest rockets to practice turning away a sizeable asteroid – a technique that may eventually be crucial if a killer rock is on a collision course with Earth. The idea is more than science fiction. Sometime between late 2021 to early 2022, the US will launch a robotic spacecraft to intercept two asteroids relatively close to Earth. When it arrives a year later, the Nasa spacecraft will crash-land on the smaller of the two rocky bodies to see how much the asteroid’s trajectory changes. It will be humanity’s first try at changing the course of a celestial body. At China’s National Space Science Cener, researchers found in simulations that 23 Long March 5 rockets hitting simultaneously could deflect a large…

THYAGARAJ MARKANDAN | Kloof AS OLD as Jacob Zuma is, he has shown no signs of mellowing. He thinks he is above the law and has shown not a bit of remorse, humility or sensibility that accompanies old age. He is still as angry and defiant as ever, defying the Constitutional Court, hurling abuse at the judges and insulting and abusing the Constitution. He claims he has done “nothing wrong”. Why then should the Concourt send a 79-year-old man to prison? Doesn’t it have any compassion. Sending him to prison is like a death sentence. With the third wave of Covid-19 spreading rapidly around the country, he fears he will not come out alive from prison. He says he has not taken the vaccine. That in itself is…

Appearances can be deceptive, and we’d all be the richer if we took the time to find out more about people we encounter. It fascinates me that we often know so little about each other and how little time we take to try to discover each other. Occasionally, I will play the piano. Someone where I live, will tell me they didn’t know I played. When I report that amongst other places, I played topless in a flowery skirt for a luau band in Hawaii, they are usually taken aback. Sometimes, I’ll add that at 12, I played for a stripper named Syringa who danced with a snake. This is what I mean. There are whole volumes of our lives that others don’t know about, and we’d all be enriched…

South Africa could come close to reaching its Covid-19 vaccination targets if the rollout over the weekends was equivalent to the rollout over weekdays. Between May 17 and July 5 this year, 1.3 million additional vaccines could have been administered if vaccinations were available on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. This is according to the National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile (Nids-Cram) survey which said that weekend vaccination rates are 4% of weekday vaccination rates. The study reviewed the National Department of Health’s data on the number of vaccines administered a day and found there were “virtually no vaccinations on weekends”. “The lack of weekend vaccinations is the binding constraint to the South African vaccination programme. Although vaccine supply was initially the major constraint to the roll-out of…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za MINING giant Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) is set to resume its operations on Monday after work was halted last week due to unrest in the area. This was confirmed by KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala during a media briefing at the uMhlathuze Municipality Civic Centre yesterday. The briefing comes after the provincial government, led by Zikalala, together with KZN MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Ravi Pillay, and Peggy Nkonyeni, the MEC for Transport Community Safety and Liaison, met with key stakeholders and executives of RBM. The delegation was there to deal with ongoing tensions around security concerns and challenges that have led to the halting of mining and smelting operations at RBM. On June 30, Rio Tinto, which owns RBM, announced that as a…

The SAPS has destroyed 24 901 firearms, including weapons that were voluntarily handed over during the firearm amnesty period last year. National police spokesperson Colonel Brenda Muridili said the firearms included 3 600 rifles, 3 000 shotguns and 17 800 handguns. The weapons destroyed also included those confiscated and surrendered to the State. The destruction of the weapons, she said, took place at the Cape Gate Steel in Vanderbijlpark, Gauteng. “About half of the firearms destroyed were handed in during the 2019/2020 and the 2020/2021 Firearm Amnesty periods. “These amnesty firearms were also subjected to IBIS testing and there were no positive hits nor firearm applications linked to them,” said Muridili. She said a Government Gazette published on June 9 served as a formal notice for those who had a…

On July 6, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPC and President of China Xi Jinping, President of the ANC and President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, General Secretary of the South African Communist Party (SACP), Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Blade Nzimande – and other leaders of more than 500 political parties and organisations from over 160 countries as well as 10 000 and more representatives of political parties and representatives of various communities, participated in the cloud event of the CPC and World Political Parties Summit with “Working for the People’s Well-being and the Responsibility of Political Parties” as the theme. In the context of profound transformations…

TOKYO: The Olympics will take place without spectators in host city Tokyo, organisers said yesterday, as a resurgence of Covid-19 cases forced Japan to declare a state of emergency in the capital that will run throughout the event. Although widely expected, the move marked a sharp turnabout from just weeks ago, when organisers said they aimed to hold the global sporting showpiece with some spectators, and all but robs the July 23 to August 8 Games of their last vestige of pomp and public spectacle. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said it was essential to prevent Tokyo, where the highly infectious Delta Covid-19 variant was spreading, from becoming the source of another wave of infections. Venues outside the greater Tokyo metropolitan area would allow small numbers of spectators, and the policy…

PYONGYANG: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un lost up to 20kg but has no major health issues affecting his rule, according to a South Korean lawmaker briefed by a spy agency. The National Intelligence Service estimated that Kim recently lost between 10 and 20 kilograms, Kim Byung-kee, a lawmaker briefed by the spy agency, told reporters yesterday. “If there is an abnormality in his health, there should be signs that drugs are being imported to the clinic that’s in charge of Kim’s health, but that was not detected,” the lawmaker said.…

GLOBAL efforts to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic are under threat because women are being excluded from critical decision-making roles, the UN said yesterday. Only 6% of coronavirus task forces, which are responsible for co-ordinating government responses to the deadly virus, have equal numbers of men and women, while 11% have no women at all, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) found. “The pivotal decisions being made today will affect the well-being of people and planet for generations to come,” Achim Steiner, UNDP’s administrator, said. “Sustainable recovery is only possible when women are able to play a full role in shaping a post-Covid-19 world that works for all of us.” New data by the UNDP and the Gender Inequality Research Lab at the University of Pittsburgh found that women hold fewer…

TEHRAN: Iran’s President-elect Ebrahim Raisi has told Indian Foreign Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar that “extensive economic interactions” between New Delhi and Tehran as well as “collective security” with the participation of regional powers were the key priorities in bilateral ties. Jaishankar met Iran’s incoming president during a stopover in Tehran on Wednesday, while on his way for a two-day working visit to Moscow. Raisi also told the visiting Indian foreign minister that “stable and lasting” ties between the two Asian nations should serve their “own interests”.…

THE Proteas will play their first ODI on foreign soil since the 2019 World Cup when they take on Ireland in a three-match series starting on Sunday in Dublin, with Rassie van der Dussen claiming the hosts “are going to throw everything they have at us”. The focus has primarily been on Test cricket and T20 Internationals since the resumption after the enforced Covid-19 break, with the visitors arriving in the Emerald Isle fresh from a hugely-successful two-format tour of the West Indies. The Proteas won the Test series 2-0 before edging out the T20 world champions 3-2 in the series decider in Grenada. Van der Dussen, in particular, will be eager to lock horns with the Irish having been a regular in the local Belfast leagues close…

FORTUNE favours the brave, so goes the adage. That Kaizer Chiefs had to depend on youngsters to plug the holes in their senior team after being banned from signing players for a year has paid dividends. The young guns are now being credited for inspiring Amakhosi to their first ever Caf Champions League final. Darrel Matsheke and Sabelo Radebe made their breakthrough in the senior team this season. But perhaps, it’s the trio of Nkosingiphile Ngcobo, Happy Mashiane and Njabulo Blom who finally established themselves as professionals in Chiefs' colours. As Chiefs rewrote the history books by reaching the group stage, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final of the Champions League for the first time in more than half a century, the trio played key roles in that incredible milestone…

MUTINOUS First Division Club Royal AM will finally get their comeuppance as they reportedly will face the disciplinary committee (DC) to answer charges stemming from their no-shows in four promotion-relegation matches last month. Their date with fate will be on Saturday and the PSL's legal eagles have set aside a full day for the matter. For several weeks now, the play-offs saga has swung to and fro like a pendulum since the well-heeled Royal AM owner Shauwn Mkhize took on the might of the PSL by challenging arbitration and court outcomes. Her flamboyant social media posts went a long way to suggest the PSL were dealing with a powerhouse of note. “My gloves are off,” she declared at one stage after the PSL were unable to impose their…