Indholdsfortegnelse for 2022-01-04 i Mercury

IANS The online dating community has seen some interesting changes in the past few years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. QuackQuack, which just passed the 15 million user mark in India, ran a short poll among 50 000 of its users to map the preparations of newly formed couples and discovered some fascinating statistics. The poll brought out some interesting dating trends ahead of the New Year, the key takeaways are summarised below: Jab ‘We’ Meet 75% of men and 56% of women are really eager to meet their partner/match in the New Year. The remaining 25% of men and 44% of women would prefer to continue virtual dating/video calling because they were concerned about the new Covid-19 pandemic variant Omicron. From late night chats to planning trips in…

Bang Showbiz Chrissy Teigen has sprouted new hairs after undergoing an eyebrow transplant. The 36-year-old model recently took to Instagram to enthuse about the procedure, which involves transplanting hair from the “back of your head” to the brows to create a fuller look, after years of overplucking the facial feature as a teen. Teigen wrote: “I never wear make-up if I can avoid it, so I was so excited for this eyebrow transplant surgery where they take hairs from the back of your head!” And she has now updated her 36.4 million followers on the progress in a clip showing off the new hairs that have sprouted. She captioned the video: “welcome, new brow hairs!” Many fans commented on how glowing the brunette beauty’s skin was looking, with Hollywood actress…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za STAFF members, including those at management level, in the eThekwini Municipality are among those failing to pay their municipal accounts on time. The latest report put before council showed that this group is in debt to the tune of R30 million for services. Councillors and ward committee members from the previous term are also owing. The combined debt of councillors, municipal staff and ward committee members for the month of September was R34.5 million. The figures are contained in a report that was tabled before the executive committee in December. It covered the months between September and July. It showed that the municipality is owed billions of rand by various stakeholders that include residents and members of government. Opposition parties in the council said it was concerning…

THERE is no shortage of suggestions on how to pack for a trip. Yet no matter how much expert advice is available, we tend to develop our own routines. My sister, for instance, packs 24/7/365. She spends incredible amounts of time thinking, planning, designing, re-thinking, worrying about being overweight, even if there is no flying involved. It is safe to say she is worrying right now about packing for trips yet unplanned. My routine is well-practised. I take the same airline carry-on bag wherever I go, no matter how long the trip, the destination, or the reasons I’m going. If it cannot fit into my old faithful bag and be with me on the plane, I don’t take it. Let’s think of 2022 as a shared trip. Here’s my…

ROBIN NAIDOO | Phoenix What do I want for 2022? Glad you asked. It’s exactly 28 years since I’ve been kept waiting by the ANC-controlled eThekwini Municipality to return my claimed land in Durban North. Add another two years with the National Party, from 1992 and that’s 30 long years of waiting. Half the average person’s lifetime. A white-owned construction company has been on my claimed lands for over 20 years, leased post-apartheid, by eThekwini Municipality, to maintain the status quo of apartheid and maintain the Group Areas Act, as I’m forced to remain in Phoenix. Who do we blame? The ANC, of course. They just blatantly ignored Employment Equity and Affirmative Action and employed white male management to stifle and stop land restitution to the Indian land…

PAMELA NGUBANE | Centurion, Tshwane I WRITE in response to the letter “Christians in Palestine have had no peace for years” by Mohamed Saeed from Pietermaritzburg (The Mercury, December 22). He states that Palestinian Christians are barred by Israel from visiting holy sites. This is false. Al-Monitor on December 18 wrote an article “Israel to allow Gazan Christians in Bethlehem for Christmas”, confirming that Israel has issued 500 permits for Christians to travel from Gaza to Bethlehem for Christmas. These permits cover half of Gaza’s 1 000-strong Christian population. Sadly, Israel is forced to implement such strict controls on people moving in and out of Gaza through Israel, because of the danger posed by Hamas. This conflict was not initiated by Israel yet is one which Israel has…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa is scheduled to deliver the ANC’s January 8 statement on Saturday with an eye on the outcomes of the party’s regional and provincial conferences ahead of the national elective conference in December. At least one ANC region has publicly endorsed Ramaphosa to be re-elected for his second five-year term as party leader in December this year after a number of regional conferences were held in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Limpopo. Delegates to last month’s Alfred Nzo regional conference in the Eastern Cape unanimously agreed that he be given a second term to lead the party at its upcoming 2022 national conference and mandated the regional executive committee to engage other regions inside and outside the province around its perspective. This is despite the…

Nomonde Zondi nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za KWAZULU-NATAL Transport MEC Peggy Nkonyeni said there had been a decrease in traffic accidents and fatalities in the province from December 3 until yesterday, when compared with the same period in the previous festive season. Nkonyeni was at the Mariannhill Toll Plaza yesterday to monitor traffic flow as holidaymakers made their way out of the province. Nkonyeni said she was proud of law-enforcement agencies for their hard work. “We have experienced a decrease in road fatalities and road crashes in KwaZulu-Natal which is why I am very appreciative of our teams that have been working hard during this festive period. Compared to 2020, we have experienced a decrease of 13%, so that means that our hard work is paying off.” She also conveyed her condolences to families…

Sihle Mavuso and Loyiso Sidimba THE urgent application to stop Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo from handing over the first of the three batches of state capture inquiry reports to President Cyril Ramaphosa has been adjourned until today, by the South Gauteng High Court. Yesterday, lobby group Democracy in Action (DIA), chaired by businessman Thabo Mtsweni, launched an urgent court action to stop the chairperson of the commission of inquiry into state capture, Justice Zondo, from handing over the first batch of the report to the president. The lobby group opted for the court route, following a letter it sent to the commission just before Christmas, raising objections on having Ramaphosa as the receiver of the report, since he had been implicated at the commission. Apparently, the commission did…

Take up Graça Machel’s challenge to make a difference like the late Arch People often ask me nowadays what are the best and worst things about adopting New Year resolutions and sharing them with others. A simple answer is “other people in my life”. These people are the best thing because so many pray for me and my family, and take the trouble to write and express support. They have the sense to read between the lines of regular reports throughout the year with details on progress registered. That way, I maintain a strong circle of loving accountability partners to help me attain my yearly milestones. Yes, last year has flown by. It seems like only yesterday that we each had adopted New Year resolutions – and deftly found extra…

Five Syrian soldiers were killed and 20 wounded when the Islamic State (IS) militants targeted their bus in eastern Syria overnight on Sunday, state news agency Sana reported yesterday. The IS missile attack targeted the military bus near an oil station in the Syrian desert region between Homs and Deir al-Zour provinces in eastern Syria, said Sana, citing a military source. It further charged that the IS militants had repeatedly carried out such attacks from the area that is controlled by the US forces in the al-Tanf region. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the Syrian government forces sent military back-up and dozens of soldiers to the desert region the previous day. Since 2019, a total of 1 625 government forces and allied fighters have been killed by…

LONDON: Prince Andrew’s struggle to have the sex abuse civil lawsuit filed against him by an alleged Jeffrey Epstein victim thrown out continues, as a New York court yesterday unsealed a confidential 2009 deal between the late tycoon and Virginia Giuffre (née Roberts). The defence team of the Duke of York believe the agreement the accuser struck with the convicted paedophile could shield him from a public trial. In December, judges had ordered the unsealing of the settlement by January 3 unless there was “good cause” for it to remain secret. Epstein’s estate had earlier agreed to let the Duke of York review the agreement, but court approval was required. Prince Andrew’s lawyer, Andrew Brettler, has claimed the deal gives “a general release of all claims against him and…

KIGALI: Rwanda is one of only seven African countries that have achieved the World Health Organization’s (WHO) target of vaccinating 40% of their populations against Covid-19 by the end of December, the global health agency has said. WHO put forward the goal at the start of 2021, but only about 9% of people on the continent have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 so far. According to Rwanda’s health ministry, as of December 31, 7.6 million of the population aged 12 and above had received at least one dose of the vaccine, while over 5.3 million had received two doses and 111 681 have received booster shots, Xinhua reported.…

Herman Gibbs With the second half of the PSL's season due to start in a few weeks, Bafana Bafana captain Ronwen Williams has urged players to work hard at their clubs so as to be in good shape for the international matches when they come around. The next Fifa window will be late March. CAF have scheduled the 2022 World Cup final qualifying round for that slot with 10 teams playing for the five slots allocated to the continent for the showpiece event in Qatar in November. The outcome of Safa's appeal to Fifa is still unknown. Last December, Fifa dismissed the appeal to replay the match against Ghana, but the national association appealed that verdict. It is unlikely that Fifa will change its initial decision, and Safa will be…

A demoralised England have vowed to salvage some pride when their shambolic and Covid-hit Ashes tour resumes in the fourth Test at Sydney tomorrow. Joe Root's men face another difficult clash against a rampant Australia, who crushed them by an innings and 14 runs inside three days in the third Test at Melbourne to retain the Ashes with an unassailable 3-0 lead. It followed heavy defeats in Brisbane and Adelaide, where batting collapses, poor fielding and questionable selections cost the tourists dearly. They are facing a 5-0 whitewash, although rain forecast for Sydney could come to England's rescue. Veteran seamer Jimmy Anderson admitted that "the lads are pretty flat at the minute, “if I'm being brutally honest". "It can be difficult, especially for guys experiencing the Ashes for the first…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za Suspended Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) vice-chancellor (VC) Dr Enoch Duma Malaza says he feels vindicated after securing an interim interdict preventing the institution from implementing its council resolution that he retire before the end of his five-year contract. Malaza brought an urgent Labour Court application challenging the MUT council’s decision. In September last year, Malaza was informed of a council decision to have him retire, citing that he had reached the age of 65. His last day was to be December 31. In the matter before court, the suspended VC said he had been appointed in 2018, and his letter of appointment had stated that his contract should not exceed five years. According to the Labour Court judgment handed down by Judge Z Lallie on December…

Mayibongwe Maqhina and Theolin Tembo Firefighters returned to Parliament yesterday after a fire, which started on Sunday, flared up. The City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson, Jermaine Carelse, said yesterday afternoon that firefighters were trying to contain it. “The void beneath the roof sheeting of the National Assembly is on fire,” he said. “About 34 firefighters are busy with active firefighting.” Yesterday, the media were informed that fire forensic investigators and engineers were investigating the cause of the fire and assessing the damage. However, the experts did not have access to the National Assembly owing to the high temperatures in the building. National Council of Provinces chairperson Amos Masondo said the investigations would resume once the building was declared safe and handed over to the investigators. “We…

Researchers have used digital technology to take the first accurate look inside the mummy of King Amenhotep I, which has remained unwrapped in modern times, according to a study published recently. The scans revealed details about the appearance and mummification of the 18th Dynasty king, who ruled Egypt from about 1525-1504 BC and was the son of New Kingdom founder Ahmose I. Amenhotep’s mummy, adorned with decorations on its linen wrapping and its funerary mask, was found along with those of other kings and queens in a cache in Luxor in 1881 and transferred to Cairo. Because of efforts to preserve the decoration, it was one of a few royal mummies not to be physically unwrapped and examined in the modern era, according to the study in Frontiers in Medicine,…

EBRAHIM ESSA | Durban THE late Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu warned a number of people. To the ANC of those times, he clearly expressed his stance against corruption. Result thus far: greedy hands have multiplied exponentially as the coffers of this country continue to be looted by the old and the new people in power. Fearlessly, he chided past president Thabo Mbeki for his “non-medical” diagnosis that there was no link between HIV and Aids. (“How can a virus cause a syndrome?”). This stance sent tens of thousands to premature death, as they were denied medication because they did not meet the minimum “CD” index. Tutu took Jacob Zuma to task for denying the Dalai Lama a visa to visit South Africa. The archbishop was euphoric at the…

| Reuters ANCHORAGE (Alaska): Following another year of stark climate impacts in the Arctic, scientists have warned of a new scourge hitting the region: marine trash. With the region warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, sea ice that has long blanketed the Arctic Ocean is disappearing, opening new routes to shipping. Scientists began noticing the trash bobbing in the icy water or piling up on Alaska Bering Strait-area beaches last year. “That’s a direct result of increased human maritime activities,” said climate scientist Rick Thoman of the Alaska Centre for Climate Assessment and Policy, one of the lead editors of the 2021 Arctic Report Card which was released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA). The garbage shows “what climate change is allowing people to…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za THE Department of Fisheries, Forestry and the Environment (DFFE) recently reopened the Online Application System for the Fishing Rights Allocation Process (FRAP) for registered users and current applicants. The reopening of the application system on December 28 last year does not apply to new applicants and will close at midnight on January 28, DFFE said. However, the Saldanha Bay Westcoast Black Business Alliance (BBA) spokesperson Sammy Claassen said the department was ill-prepared for the process and that a month’s extension was not sufficient. He said the extension also did not assist small-scale fishers who do not have access to online resources. “Fishermen and the fishing industry has pleaded and protested for many months with relation to FRAP 2021. The public participation consultation process was rushed, inadequate and…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za IT was a rough start to the new year for three senior managers in the Newcastle Municipality, who were placed on precautionary suspension yesterday amid a myriad allegations that include insubordination, impersonating a municipal manager, submitting questionable education qualifications and dishonesty. The executives are employed in the mayor’s office, administration unit and in the culture and amenities office. The Mercury cannot name the trio as it was unable to locate them by yesterday afternoon to give them an opportunity to comment on the allegations. The municipality yesterday confirmed it had issued the officials with letters of precautionary suspension. The official in the mayor’s office is accused of issuing instructions to other municipal officials when he did not have the power to do so. In a letter dated…

Koert Meyer It’s that time of the year again. New Year resolutions are flying around thick and fast. Needless to say, only to be broken soon after being made. But what about political parties, churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and wherever else human beings form organised groups? All these entities play critical roles in our lives. Shouldn’t they also bind themselves to New Year resolutions, especially now that our country is once again on its knees? Soon after the start of the Second World War, many countries were faced with which side to join. If ever our country was divided right down the middle, it was when faced with the moral decision to either help to defeat or resist the mighty evil force of Nazism. Our parliament failed dismally…

SERIOUS questions have to be asked about the current administration’s commitment to safeguarding important government institutions after a fire broke out at the National Assembly on Sunday. Speaking in a press briefing, Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille announced that the police’s protection services had arrested a suspect in connection with the incident. While it is reassuring that the police have made a swift arrest, we sincerely hope that they have enough evidence that will lead to the successful prosecution of the suspect. This incident has contributed to the trust deficit that members of the public have in the government’s ability to protect its citizens, its infrastructure and its strategic buildings. People no longer trust the state to keep them safe from harm, and the destruction of parliament…

POLICE in northern Niger have seized more than 200kg of cocaine worth around $8.7 million (about R138m)that was being transported in the local mayor’s official truck, two police sources said yesterday. The mayor and his driver, who were in the vehicle at the time, were arrested with 199 bricks of cocaine at a checkpoint on the road heading north out of the desert trading hub of Agadez on Sunday, the sources said. Niger’s Central Office for the Repression of Illicit Drug Trafficking confirmed that there had been a record seizure of more than 200kg of cocaine in Agadez, but did not give details. West Africa, most often a transit route for illegal drugs on the way from South America to Europe, has registered a series of record busts in recent…

THE resignation of Sudan’s prime minister leaves the military in full command and threatens a return to the repressive policies of the ousted regime of strongman Omar al-Bashir, analysts say. After months of street protests and violent crackdowns that have claimed at least 57 lives, observers fear more bloodshed ahead after premier Abdalla Hamdok stepped down late on Sunday. In his farewell address, Hamdok said he had tried to prevent Sudan “from sliding toward disaster” but that it was now at a “dangerous crossroads threatening its very survival”. “Hamdok’s resignation has left the military in sole command of the country,” said Magdi al-Gizouli of think tank the Rift Valley Institute. “Protesters will take to the streets again and will be left to face more violence.” Since its independence from Britain…

SEOUL: South Korean President Moon Jae-in vowed yesterday to use his last months in office to press for a diplomatic breakthrough with North Korea, despite public silence from Pyongyang over his attempts for a declaration of peace between the two sides. “The government will pursue normalisation of inter-Korean relations and an irreversible path to peace until the end,” Moon said in his New Year’s address. “I hope efforts for dialogue will continue in the next administration too.” In his own address on New Year’s Eve, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made no mention of Moon’s calls for a declaration officially ending the 1950-1953 Korean War.…

Yogashen Pillay yogashen.pillay@inl.co.za WHILE the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy is set to make an announcement on the fuel price this week, economists say they expect to see a decrease in the price of petrol. Economists who spoke to The Mercury said they expected a drop in the price of petrol of about 70 cents a litre. A fuel price drop will come as a welcome relief for motorists after prices shot to record highs last year. Tax economist Professor Dilip Garach said that he expected a decrease of 75 cents a litre in petrol. But he added that it was sad that such a price decrease was unlikely to be passed on to the consumer. “The corporates push up prices of their commodities when the price of fuel…

| Dr Thomas Fuller IT WAS with great distress that I learned over the festive season of the sudden death of my dear old pal Kim Pearce, Durban’s genial one- legged giant, man-about-town and bon vivant. Kim lost his leg in a shark attack on the Wild Coast many years ago and was saved at the time only by the presence on the beach of a holiday couple, both of them doctors. That was great good luck and Kim made the most of this second chance in life, refusing to allow his sudden disability to become a handicap. For many years he was genial Mine Host at the Stokers’ Arms, a popular pub and restaurant at the station in Kloof. In more recent years he was involved in planning…

AFTER a year of censorship and derisory comments on challenges to the Covid-19 vaccine narrative, this year promises to expose the credibility of that narrative in the light of recent disclosures by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and the resident in the White House. DUNCAN DU BOIS | Bluff In a letter dated December 16 to Pfizer Inc, the acting chief scientist of the FDA, Dr Jacqueline O’Shaughnessy, wrote: “There is no adequate, approved and available alternative to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which has not been approved by the FDA but has been authorised for emergency use under a EUA (Emergency Use Authorisation)”. Thus, the claim that the Pfizer vaccines are FDA approved is a case of being economical with the…

SABER AHMED JAZBHAY | Newlands West I was inspired after I heard Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba’s warning that intense distrust of the government by, in my estimation, a growing minority of people, could sway support towards authoritarianism considering, inter alia, the breakdown in law and order, looming service-delivery collapses and corruption. So distrustful are some that whispers of a conspiracy of President Ramaphosa seizing control by stealth are sprouting in the townships. Add to that a crumbling, ethically and morally lapsed ANC. Recently, someone, a victim of a violent robbery, called for South Africa to revert to the safety and security as subsisted during the apartheid era. He isn’t alone in thinking and propagating that if giving up rights and freedom for safety and security worked, so be…

ZELDA VENTER zelda.venter@inl.co.za IN A victory for couples in a life partnership, the Constitutional Court has confirmed an earlier high court ruling that if one of the parties dies intestate – without a will – the surviving partner may claim maintenance from their deceased partner’s estate. The court on Friday confirmed that the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act must include that a person in a permanent life partnership can also claim maintenance if the surviving partner can prove that he or she was financially dependent on the deceased. As things stood, those outside of marriage could not claim maintenance, despite census data of 2016 revealing that about 3.2 million South Africans cohabit outside of marriage and that this number is increasing steadily. The Western Cape High Court earlier ruled in…

Shakirah Thebus shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za Although the country is seeing a slight decrease in Covid-19 infections, experts are still calling for increased caution, following Christmas and New Year’s Eve celebrations. Yesterday the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reported 3 232 new Covid-19 infections. Total laboratory-confirmed cases now stand at 3 475 512 in South Africa. There were 87 Covid-19-related deaths reported by the Health Department, bringing the total number of fatalities to 91 312. The majority of new cases yesterday were from Gauteng (28%), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (25%). The Western Cape accounted for 23%; the Eastern Cape accounted for 9%; the Free State accounted for 5%; the North West accounted for 4%; Mpumalanga accounted for 3%; with Limpopo and the Northern Cape each accounting for 2% respectively of the new…

| Yogashen Pillay Three men appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Friday in connection with the murder of a man whom they allegedly caught removing copper wire from a vehicle in Brighton Beach. Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said the owner of the vehicle, his son and a friend were arrested and charged with murder after police found the man’s body. “They discovered the body of a 28-year-old man with severe injuries. His hands and legs were tied up with a chain which was also secured around his neck with a padlock,” Mbele said. “Two other suspects managed to flee and are still at large. The victim was allegedly assaulted after he was caught removing copper wires from the vehicle.” Mbele added that any form of vigilantism would…

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s choice of Pretoria Judge Narandran “Jody” Kollapen as a Constitutional Court judge is a brilliant choice for our fiercely independent judiciary. There is a sad but common misconception in our society that time and energy contributed to others is time and energy lost. Rare is the individual with the proper perspective to recognise that we may give without losing and that it is often in giving that we gain. Judge Kollapen is such an individual. His carefully reasoned and beautifully crafted opinions are models of the art of judging. His opinions will continue to inspire legions of jurists to follow in his way. Many know him for his fairness, judicial restraint, and eloquent and influential opinions. The nation should always be grateful for his integrity and absolute…

Riyadh: Yemeni rebels have seized an Emirati-flagged vessel in the Red Sea, the insurgents and a Saudi-led coalition said yesterday, giving contrasting explanations for the latest escalation in a seven-year war. The coalition, fighting in support of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, said the vessel was carrying medical supplies but the rebels said they seized “a military cargo ship with military equipment”. The coalition has been fighting for nearly seven years in support of Yemen’s government against the Iran-backed Huthis, in a conflict that has displaced millions and created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to the UN. “The militia must promptly release the ship, or the coalition forces will undertake all necessary measures and procedures to handle this violation, including the use of force if necessary,” coalition spokesperson Turki al-Malki…

SAO PAULO: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was hospitalised yesterday with an intestinal blockage and may need to undergo surgery in the latest complication from a 2018 stabbing. Bolsonaro said he started feeling unwell on Sunday after lunch. “More tests will be conducted for a potential surgery on an internal obstruction in the abdominal region,” Bolsonaro posted on Twitter, with a photo of himself giving a thumbs-up in his hospital bed. It was his second hospitalisation since he was stabbed in 2018. Vila Nova Star hospital said he was in a “stable condition”.…

The US-led coalition against the Islamic State group in Iraq yesterday shot down two armed drones targeting a compound at Baghdad airport hosting its personnel, a coalition official said. The incident, which was not claimed by any group, came two years after a US drone strike near the airport killed Iran’s revered General Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi lieutenant. “Two fixed-wing suicide drones, or improvised cruise missiles, attempted to attack Baghdad Airport this morning at approximately 4.30am” (3.30 time), the official said. A counter-rocket, artillery and mortar, or C-RAM, system “at the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Centre engaged them and they were shot down without incident,” added the source, speaking on condition of anonymity. The BDSC compound houses “a very small number of coalition troops who are not in a…

Australia’s cricketing chiefs said yesterday they were assisting a police investigation into shock allegations that an under-19 cricketer was sexually assaulted while on tour in India and Sri Lanka in the 1980s. Cricket Australia said it supported ex-Australian under-19 player Jamie Mitchell, who claims he was raped on the tour by a team official. “We applaud the courage of Jamie Mitchell in speaking out,” the governing body said. Mitchell said he was sexually assaulted in Colombo on the last night of the tour in 1985. The team official named denied wrongdoing and no charges have been laid.…