Indholdsfortegnelse for 2021-12-22 i Mercury

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za COMMUNITY, environmental and human rights groups have filed leave to appeal the High Court’s ruling that had found there was no reasonable apprehension that Shell’s seismic blasting off the Wild Coast would cause irreparable harm. The Border Deep Sea Angling Association, the Kei Mouth Ski Boat Club, Natural Justice and Greenpeace Africa, who lost their application for an urgent interdict to stop Shell’s seismic blasting earlier in December, are appealing because this is an issue of substantial public importance. “They believe there are reasonable prospects of an appeal court finding: that Shell did not undertake the consultations which its own environmental management programme obliged it to take, that the risks of harm to marine life are real and not speculative, and that there was a reasonable apprehension…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za SOUTH Africa has lost its seat on the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) after failing to campaign for enough seats to keep it in the prestigious council which makes decisions on marine practices the world over. According to close sources, while it is South Africa the country that has lost the seat, the issues that led to this lie squarely on the shoulders of the South African Maritime Safety Association (Samsa), currently embroiled in board and corporate disputes that made it impossible for the country to campaign and network in time to acquire enough votes to retain its seat. The implications are accreditation for South Africans working on international waters in any capacity, as Samsa is tasked with ensuring the credentials of individuals, vessels and projects undertaken off…

Given Majola given.majola@inl.co.za THE INDUSTRIAL Development Corporation (IDC) said its Post Unrest Business Recovery Fund had sustained 30 000 jobs as businesses impacted by July’s civil and social unrest began operating again. The unrest which led to extensive looting and destruction of businesses and property in Gauteng and KZN impacted the retail, manufacturing and agricultural sectors, among others. Almost five months after the unrest, many employees who were facing a bleak festive period were said to have reclaimed their jobs. IDC chief executive Tshokolo Petrus Nchocho said the impact of this unrest to the national economy was significant, given the strategic importance of Gauteng and KZN as SA’s key manufacturing hubs. “And this was telling of the disruption to the supply chain,” Nchocho said, adding that the funding…

Karen Singh and Nomonde Zondi KWAZULU-NATAL Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane has said that the department has a pool of health workers they can deploy to assist at facilities where there have been Covid-19 cases. Speaking during a media briefing yesterday, Simelane said since the fourth wave started, there had been Covid-19 cases among health workers. However, she said the majority of those who tested positive did not have severe symptoms. “But that does not change the fact that they still have to be in isolation and therefore they can’t be at their work stations.” Simelane said to deal with this, the department will have teams who can be deployed to assist those facilities that need more staff. “We will have teams roving around, particularly for small facilities like clinics where…

THYAGARAJ MARKANDAN | Kloof Oh boy! Zuma’s troubles never seem to end. One moment he was in high spirits, and the next, he was down in the dumps. Just after he celebrated the publishing of his book, which was sold out in a few hours, the Gauteng High Court ordered that he must spend Christmas in prison. How could the court have no mercy for an old man? But that’s the law: cold, aloof and dispassionate as ever. In an application brought by the DA and the Helen Suzman Foundation, the court found that Zuma’s parole was irregular, illegal and null and void. Just two months into his 15-month sentence for contempt of court, national commissioner for Correctional Services, Arthur Fraser, who apparently is a Zuma lackey, overruled…

DUNCAN DU BOIS | Bluff Like other adherents to the prescribed narrative on Covid-19 and vaccines, Dr Bob Clark (The Mercury, December 21) attempts to dismiss opposing views as “irrelevant drivel”. If Clark fact-checked, he would find that at 59, Dr Peter McCullough is not “an ageing” cardiologist. If Baylor University is a “B-grade medical school” that in no way diminishes the esteem in which McCullough is held for some 600 peer-reviewed articles he has researched and published. The reason he was fired from Baylor and the University of North Texas in February should alarm anyone who upholds scientific integrity. Baylor, like many medical schools, relies on funding from Big Pharma. McCullough was fired because his scientifically proven views on Covid-19 and its treatment clashed with the prescribed…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za THE parents of a 6-year-old girl, who was electrocuted at a sectional title housing complex in Richards Bay, lost their bid to hold the municipality liable for their loss for a second time. The couple initially turned to the high court in Durban, where they attempted to claim damages against the uMhlathuze Municipality and the Ocean Rest 3 body corporate. Ocean Rest 3, meanwhile, entered into a confidential settlement with the parents. Following a damages trial, they lost their case against the municipality, as the high court found that it could not be held liable. The couple then turned to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), where it maintained that the municipality should be accountable for their damages. The child was electrocuted in June 2013, after…

Karen Singh karen.singh@inl.co.za The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) is searching for a reckless Gauteng driver who placed his life and the lives of other motorists in danger when he jumped out of his moving car on Moloto Road in Pretoria and continued to steer the vehicle. The motorist, driving a red SUV with Gauteng number plates, was recorded by another motorist travelling behind him. The man is seen climbing out the driver’s side window of his vehicle moving down Moloto Road which has traffic flowing in both directions. The vehicle is seen meandering from the shoulder of the road to the other end of the lane while the man sits on the door of the car and waves his arms above the roof. At this point, a driver in…

THE shocking incident in which a driver steered a car while hanging out of the window on the deadly Moloto Road in Mpumalanga, has once more shone the spotlight on reckless driving. It also reminded all of us that road safety is a shared responsibility between the authorities and ordinary citizens. In the 31-second video clip, which went viral, the car can be seen weaving in and out of the lane, while the driver climbs on to the car’s roof, only getting back inside it when a truck approaches from the opposite direction. Moloto Road, or the R573 road, is one of the deadliest roads in South Africa. It connects Mpumalanga, Gauteng and Limpopo, and has seen some of the most horrific accidents, including head-on collisions involving buses. Unsafe, old…

A Madagascan minister was one of two survivors to have swum some 12 hours to shore yesterday after their helicopter crashed off the island’s northeastern coast, authorities said. A search was still ongoing for two other passengers after the crash on Monday, whose cause was not yet clear, police and port authorities said. Serge Gelle, the country’s secretary of state for police, and a fellow policeman reached land in the seaside town of Mahambo separately yesterday after ejecting themselves from the aircraft, the port authority said. In a video shared on social media, Gelle, 57, appears lying exhausted on a deck chair, still in camouflage uniform. “My time to die hasn’t come yet,” says the general, adding he’s cold but not injured. Gella became minister as part of a cabinet…

CAF president Patrice Motsepe arrived in Cameroon on Monday, and said he wanted to make next month’s troubled Africa Cup of Nations in the country “a success”. The CAF chief’s visit comes against a backdrop of persistent rumours that the 9 January-6 February continental showpiece could be called off or delayed again. The tournament has already suffered a year-long delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Before talks with Cameroon president Paul Biya and an inspection of Yaounde’s Olembe stadium, Motsepe said: “We are very sure of our commitment to make (the tournament) a success in Cameroon.” His visit comes a week after Europe’s top clubs threatened to refuse to release their African players for the event due to concerns over the Covid-19 health protocol. Many of Africa’s leading players are…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za THE JURY IS out on the price of chicken, South Africa’s most accessible source of protein, after the International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) implemented additional provisional tariffs up to June 2022 on poultry imports from Brazil, Spain, Ireland, Poland and Denmark. Itac has implemented provisional anti-dumping duties against Brazil (up to 265.1 percent), Ireland (up to 158.4 percent), Poland (up to 96.9 percent), Denmark (up to 158.42 percent), and Spain (up to 85 percent) with immediate effect. The duties will remain in place until June 2022 as Itac investigates the extent of dumping and may implement these duties permanently. While the South African Poultry Association (Sapa) and advocacy group FairPlay have lauded the move to protect local producers, the Association of Meat…

Given.Majola given.majola@inl.co.za GLOBAL internet group Naspers, through its early-stage tech investment vehicle Naspers Foundry, yesterday announced a R54 million investment in Planet42, a car subscription company that tackles transport inequality. The investment was part of a R91m equity round led by Naspers Foundry, alongside existing investors Change Ventures and Startup Wise Guys. Existing debt investors, such as the impact debt fund Lendable, added a further R380m of debt. The investment in Planet42 was part of Naspers’s R1.4 billion commitment to grow South Africa’s early-stage tech ecosystem and the eighth investment since the launch of Naspers Foundry in 2019, the group said yesterday. Naspers SA chief executive Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa said: “This investment builds on Naspers’ growing mobility portfolio, which includes WhereIsMyTransport, Autotrader and OLX Autos, among others. “Planet42 is an…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za THE North Gauteng High Court yesterday granted former president Jacob Zuma permission to appeal its decision that declared his medical parole unlawful and ordered him to go back to jail. Judge Keoagile Matojane ruled in favour of Zuma and the Department of Correctional Services, who both wanted to challenge his December 15 ruling overturning the decision to place him on medical parole in September. “Because of his illness and advanced age, he needs compassion, empathy and humaneness which is the essence of ubuntu. In my view, another court may take this into consideration and come to a different finding accordingly,” the judge found. Judge Matojane said Zuma was serving his sentence, albeit outside prison, following his medical parole granted by former Correctional Services national commissioner Arthur Fraser.…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za MEMBERS of retirement funds should be able to access a portion of their pension to enable them to absorb some of the financial pressures that are brought about by unforeseen circumstances, including job losses. This is the view shared by economists and labour following the release of a paper by the National Treasury titled “Encouraging South African households to save more for retirement” for public comment. The paper provides proposals aimed at enabling limited access to retirement fund savings pre-retirement, enhancing longer term retirement outcomes by improving preservation and inclusively improving retirement outcomes via the mechanism of auto-enrolment. Many have expressed support for the system, citing the number of people who experienced financial hardships because of Covid-19 due to many companies closing shop over lack of economic…

FAROUK ARAIE | Benoni Dr Imtiaz Sooliman was chosen as SA Person of the Year. This humble and dedicated doctor is undoubtedly a South African hero of international stature. For centuries, doctors have been hailed as heroes who heal disease, alleviate pain and save precious lives, and traditionally have been paid handsomely to do so. Dr Sooliman chose to give back to humanity on a global scale that has stretched across international frontiers. His stupendous contributions during the deadly Covid-19 struggle is truly breathtaking. His organisation, which he founded in 1992, Gift of the Givers, has delivered aid worth more than R300 million in an 18-year period, encompassing 22 countries, including in South Africa – a stupendous feat, unmatched anywhere in the world. His superb medical team has…

The bear went over the mountain, The bear went over the mountain, The bear went over the mountain To see what she could see… SOMEWHERE, probably in Coller County, in Florida, this female bear had found a pet feeder. She put her snout in and ate her fill. Unfortunately, the pet feeder, made of plastic, broke up, leaving most of it encasing her head and shoulders. So what do you think she did,? So what do you think she did? She went back over the mountain, She went back over the mountain She went back over the mountain To see what she could see… She’s been picked up on security video wearing her strange headgear. Florida Fish and Wildlife officers were looking for her to free her of the…

Three employees from the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in St Lucia in northern KwaZulu-Natal will spend Christmas behind bars after they were arrested and charged in connection with fraud and other charges. According to national police spokesperson, Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo, the trio were arrested following a sting operation by the Cold Case Unit and Directorate for Public Prosecutions in KwaZulu-Natal. The suspects include Nokuthula Lafuleni-Zungu, who worked as a building capacity manager, an executive manager, Caiphus Khumalo, and Nkosinathi Victor Ntshangase, a game ranger. The trio made their first appearance in the Empangeni Magistrate’s Court on Monday facing charges of fraud, corruption, extortion, theft and racketeering in connection with an amount in excess of R100 million. “Investigations revealed that some of the suspects were allegedly demanding money from various service providers…

The KwaZulu-Natal Office of the Premier said it had noted with “utter dismay and concern” the recent utterances regarding the handover of new vehicles to the wives of the late Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini. The statement came after IFP MPL Blessed Gwala said while the party applauded the handover, it questioned the timing of the event. He accused Premier Sihle Zikalala of grandstanding, contending that the handover had been approved early in the year, but the government had delayed in delivering the vehicles. He also questioned what the premier’s office planned to do with the vehicle for the late Queen Shiyiwe Mantfombi Dlamini, as her palace, Khangelamankengane, had not received it. In a statement, the premier’s office said: “Mr Gwala’s allegations that the vehicles were purchased a long time ago…

Loss and grief in the pandemic: more than counting losses and moving on Over the past two years, the world’s news channels started to include Covid-19 statistics, almost like the daily weather bulletin. Words like “daily rise in Covid-19 infections and Covid-19-related deaths” continuously run as subtitles on television screens. When a new variant of the virus is detected, scientists will be interviewed, new travel restrictions or pandemic regulations will be announced, and the world will just carry on. It’s as if people have become desensitised. At the time of writing this article, the World Health Organization’s dashboard reported the following global statistics: 265 713 467 confirmed cases and 5 260 888 deaths. Suppose a family has four members. If one member gets infected with Covid-19,…

Sana’a: UN aid flights into Yemen’s rebel-held capital have been halted by air strikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition which supports the government, an airport official said yesterday. Because of coalition air strikes targeting the Huthi rebels, “the airport is no longer able to receive aircraft operated by the UN or international humanitarian organisations”, the official told AFP. Flights into Sana’a airport have been largely halted by a Saudi-led blockade since August 2016, but there have been exemptions for aid flights, a key lifeline for the population. The airport official, who asked not to be identified, called on the UN to secure a halt to the raids so that the airport could resume operations. On Monday evening, the coalition said it had carried out “a limited number of…

CHONGQING (China): Brother and sister panda twins born in a zoo in southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality started to receive public visitors yesterday. The elder sister, named “Qizhen”, and the younger brother, named “Qibao”, were born in the Chongqing Zoo on September 13, and a 100-day party was held for the twins, whose names together mean “precious babies”. The two pandas played on the swings surrounded by colourful balloons at the party. The twins are growing well, both weighing about 5.4kg each. The zoo began to raise giant pandas in the 1960s. It has bred 40 giant pandas so far.…

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za STRUGGLING retailer Massmart yesterday flagged a decline in sales for the 48 weeks ended November 2021 and said parent Walmart had agreed to optimise its balance sheet following the looting in July. Owing to the civil unrest, Massmart incurred a full charge to the income statement for losses in the 2021 financial year, while a material portion of insurance proceeds was only likely to be settled in 2022, it said. The group said the optimisation of the balance sheet involved replacing R2 billion of a R4bn loan by subscribing for a perpetual fixed rate unsecured note. Walmart loaned Massmart R4bn last year to weather the Covid-19 pandemic. Massmart said the note would bear interest at 7.25 percent initially, and included an interest step-up of 225…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za AFTER Ascendis’s drama-filled annual meeting on Monday that required a court order to be held, Harry Smit, newly-appointed director and leader of dissenting shareholders who overturned the old board, said he hoped to see the company grow again. On Saturday there was an urgent court application by a shareholder of the company, Cambridge Investments, which resulted in the Gauteng High Court declaring the company’s plan – announced just days before – to postpone the meeting, invalid. It was never going to be a regular annual meeting. According to Smit, spokesperson for the so-called Retail Activist Investors (RAI), the shareholders were in two opposing “camps”, after Smit had been vocal about the company’s governance and business, and had managed to gather enough shareholder support to vote him in…

Baldwin Ndaba baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za THE Special Investigating Unit (SIU) received a major boost yesterday when the Special Tribunal rejected attempts by businessman Hamilton Ndlovu to block it from recovering more than R172 million from him after he was allegedly awarded illegal PPE tenders. The Special Tribunal rejected Ndlovu’s application to stay the review application of these tenders, which were awarded to him by the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) soon after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020. The SIU and NHLS review application was due to be heard in March next year, but Ndlovu and his wife, Felicia Sekete, lodged an application in November for a stay in the review application. In his affidavit, Ndlovu argued that the curator, advocate Nazeer Cassim, who controls their assets which have…

Concerned by a recent drop in population numbers of the threatened golden lion tamarin, conservationists in Brazil have built a bridge across a busy highway to help the monkeys circulate over a wider forested area. The Atlantic Forest of Rio de Janeiro state is the only place in the world where the golden lion tamarin still exists in the wild. Conservation efforts over the past few decades managed to increase their number, bringing the species back from the brink of extinction. But an outbreak of yellow fever in 2018 wiped out 32% of the population. Today there are an estimated 2 500 golden lion tamarins in the wild. The conservationists were fearful for a group of monkeys that had become isolated due to a highway. “Scientists have shown that the…

MOHAMED SAEED | Pietermaritzburg Christmas is heralded as a season of peace and goodwill, a festivity that Christian Palestinians have not known for more than 70 years. As Christians celebrate Christmas around the globe and all attention is focused towards Bethlehem, the site of the Nativity (birth) of Jesus Christ, most people do not know that Bethlehem is in Palestine, separated and partitioned from Jerusalem by the apartheid or separation wall. According to Christian tradition, Bethlehem houses important historical and biblical religious sites such as the Church of the Nativity and the Shepherds’ Field – the spot where angels first announced the birth of Christ. However, due to Israel’s brutal occupation of Palestinian lands, checkpoints, Israel’s mushrooming settlements in the West Bank and its separation wall, free access…

I AM sometimes asked why I write a daily column on the other side of the world from where I live. There are many reasons and some I have written about over the 21 years this Monday to Friday column has appeared in this newspaper. Here, though, are two of many reasons so beautifully expressed: “Good Morning Rod, “I thought that I should wish you a happy festive season! “I always read your daily column in The Mercury with interest. I wouldn’t miss it. For me it is a positive message to start my day and I learn about how well your boys have done under your loving guidance. Keep going. “As you know I retired after many years of work and I am still living happily in Durban. “I…

| African News Agency (ANA) A 20-year-old woman who allegedly orchestrated a hit on her parents and siblings has appeared in court. North West police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Amanda Funani said Onthatile Sebati along with alleged hitmen Kagiso Mokone, 23, and Tumelo Mokone, 23, appeared in the Brits Magistrate’s Court on Monday where their case was postponed to December 30 for bail application. They are facing five counts of murder. Sebati, then aged 16, allegedly hired hit men to kill her parents and siblings in Mmakau, east of Brits, five years ago. At the time of the incident, on December 6 in 2016, Sebati had reported that she had gone outside to dispose of the water she had been using to wash dishes. She said while she was outside, she…

Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za Police Minister Bheki Cele has blamed the halting of the procurement of reagents and the maintenance of equipment by sole service providers for the poor performance of the SAPS’s forensic laboratory services over the years. Cele was responding in writing to parliamentary questions from DA MP Okkie Terblanche, who asked why there had been a sharp decrease in the performance of the forensic science laboratories. In May, the minister apologised to victims of crime for the harm caused by the massive backlogs in processing DNA specimens in the forensic science laboratory services. At the time, the backlog in the processing of DNA specimens stood at 208 291 cases. The number grew from 172 787 that was recorded in February and dated back to April 2019. Cele…

The goal of Silencing the Guns (STG) was to achieve a conflict-free Africa and rid the continent of all wars and conflicts. The STG agenda was given greater emphasis for 2020, when the AU declared the theme of the year as Silencing the Guns – Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development. Despite the initiative and roadmaps produced by the AU to realise this goal, conflicts have persisted, resulting in the STG agenda being extended to 2030, in the hope that by then Africa will have cured itself of the plague of conflict. Despite 2021 being the expected start of the first year of a conflict-free Africa, there have been a number of coups d’état and an entrenchment of conflicts. In Ethiopia, the conflict between government forces and the Tigray People’s…

Eight people were killed in ethnic clashes between herders and farmers in Nigeria’s Nasarawa state, police said yesterday, although locals put the toll at over 20. Violence erupted on Friday and continued through Sunday when armed Fulani herders attacked villages of the Tiv ethnic group over the killing of a kinsman which they blamed on Tiv farmers, Ramhan Nansel, Nasarawa state police spokesperson, said. “We received a complaint on the killing of a Fulani herdsman but while the investigation was ongoing, a reprisal attack was carried out in Hangara village and neighbouring Kwayero village,” Nansel said. “Eight people were killed.” Army and police teams were deployed to restore calm and arrest the perpetrators. However, Peter Ahemba, the head of the Tiv Development Association, said the death toll was higher. “We…

Eshlin Vedan eshlin.vedan@inl.co.za KAIZER Chiefs will conclude 2021 with a home clash against Maritzburg United at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg tonight (7.30pm kick-off). Chiefs enter the game sixth in the Premiership standings, but a win can potentially lift them to second place in the log. Chiefs defender Austin Dube believes that his side can defeat the Team of Choice if they play according to their strengths. “We are doing all we can to prepare for the match. In away games, you have to adapt to certain conditions you’re not familiar with,” Dube said. “But we have been doing well at home, and playing at home, we have that advantage. I believe if we stick to our own plan and not focus too much on what they (Maritzburg) do, but…