Indholdsfortegnelse for 2022-12-21 i Mercury

NEPI Rockcastle, JSE-listed owner of retail centres in central and eastern Europe, said yesterday it has acquired Forum Gdansk Shopping Centre in Poland from Multi Veste 339, owned by Blackstone managed funds, for €250 million (R4.61 billion). The deal is one of the biggest single asset shopping centre transactions in Europe by value in 2022, a statement said. Forum Gdansk is a 63 500m² gross lettable area shopping centre in Gdansk, the sixth largest city in Poland by population, with over 470 000 inhabitants. Gdansk, together with the cities of Gdynia and Sopot, comprise the ‘Tricity region’, which is considered to be one of Poland’s largest, wealthiest and fastest growing urban agglomerations. NEPI Rockcastle CEO Rüdiger Dany said in a statement the transaction was accretive to distributable earnings and was…

THE DEVELOPMENT Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) has been granted a R2.2 billion loan by the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) to expand its portfolio with strategic projects. AfDB’s board of directors yesterday announced that it had approved the line of credit facility five days ago to the DBSA for energy, infrastructure, and communications technology projects within the Southern Africa region and across the African continent. The facility will provide long-term funding to the DBSA, augmenting internally generated funds as well as loans from other development finance institutions (DFI) and commercial lenders. The DBSA is seeking to raise $1bn (R17.3bn) in funds over the next three years. As it seeks to expand its portfolio, it will focus on clean and renewable energy, infrastructure, ICT, social and women-owned projects in SADC.…

RE-ELECTED ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa has pledged to unite the ruling party, admitting that the party made mistakes over the years, saying they had paid “dearly” for it too. He also spoke tough on corruption as he closed the five-day ANC 55th elective conference, held at Nasrec, South of Joburg yesterday. While Ramaphosa delivered his closing address, the conference will sit again in the new year to deal with outstanding matters that were not dealt with, including policy issues. Ramaphosa said he had been approached by a delegate from the Free State at the conference after the Top 7 was announced, who urged him to unite the party. “He said to me, ‘president, we want you to unite the African National Congress’. And that is precisely what I see my…

With the latest resignation of Mr De Ruyter, I saw an Eskom communication that he will stay on till the end of March next year. I also read that Mr Gordhan thanked Mr De Ruyter for his extraordinary service to the people of South Africa. This, after he (Gordhan and Mantashe basically subtly accused the man of sabotage and offered no public support and here I had thought that Gordhan was an honourable man). In the last 10 years there have been seven CEOs at Eskom and I recall that there was load shedding in 2008, so the rot was already there long before De Ruyter. So the current scenario has to do with colour, and even goes as far as a black business organisation calling for action to be…

THIS year has undoubtedly been a year replete with political uncertainty and daunting social woes. With the escalating fuel costs, food price increases, dearth of employment opportunities, rampant crime and ongoing load shedding, it was almost impossible to remain optimistic. Corruption, maladministration and a lack of vital service delivery further served to dampen our flagging spirits. Yet, in true South African style, we persevered and overcame these seemingly insurmountable odds. At the Chatsworth Regional Hospice Association, we witnessed the best of humanity with our benefactors who, despite their own financial challenges, partnered with us to be a veritable beacon of hope for those under our caring wings. We also record our heartfelt gratitude to our dedicated band of volunteers who espouse the virtues of selfless serving. We are indeed grateful…

SMALL Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams has outlined some of the government interventions to improve conditions for small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs). Speaking at the networking business breakfast of the ANC Progressive Business Forum, she said policy decisions on small business development would remain the same, however, they needed to make sure that they improved the regulatory environment for SMMEs and cut the red tape. “Most of our informal traders are complaining that municipalities charge them ridiculous amounts, as a result, they are not able to trade legally and therefore miss out on certain opportunities that they can enjoy and also exclude some of the people that want to get into that space.” She said if small businesses were to create jobs, there must be a conducive environment that…

AS THE saying goes, while the cat is away, the mice will play – and so do criminals who take advantage of unoccupied homes during the festive season holidays when the owners are away. According to the 2021/22 Governance, Public Safety, and Justice Survey, the number of housebreaking incidents in December last year alone totalled an astronomic 146 000. This was more than 60% higher than the previous year, when 90 000 incidents were recorded. Likewise, Statistics SA revealed that housebreaking incidents peaked in June and December during the 2018/19 period and in June, September and December in 2019/20. These all coincided with school holiday periods. The police have also confirmed that criminals seek opportunities to steal when people are away on holidays. A lot of houses are left unattended…

All 33 suspected militant prisoners who seized a Pakistan police station over the weekend were killed and their hostages freed in a clearance operation by special forces yesterday, the defence minister said. The hostage takers, who were suspected of being members of various militant groups including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), overpowered their jailers and snatched weapons on Sunday. “All the hostages have been freed,” Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said. “Ten to 15 men from the SSG (special forces) including an officer were wounded while two were martyred.” Elite troops stormed the police station around noon when differences broke out between the hostage takers over how to handle their captives, with witnesses reporting blasts and heavy firing. The suspected militants, who were being held on suspicion of terrorism, had demanded…

Istanbul: Turkey has slammed Sweden’s refusal to extradite a reporter that Ankara has demanded in exchange for its ratification of Stockholm’s Nato membership. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants Sweden to return dozens of people he suspects of involvement in a failed 2016 coup, including the now-closed Today’s Zaman newspaper’s former editor-in-chief, Bulent Kenes. Sweden’s Supreme Court cited the risk of Turkey’s “persecution based on this person’s political beliefs”, blocking the request. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu lashed out at the decision vowing to discuss it at a visit to Ankara by Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom. | AFP…

BERLIN: A 97-year-old woman who worked as a Nazi concentration camp secretary was convicted yesterday for her role in the murder of thousands of people, in what could be one of the country’s last trials for World War II crimes. The court in the northern town of Itzehoe handed Irmgard Furchner a two-year suspended sentence for aiding and abetting the murder of 10 505 people and the attempted murder of five people. The indictment had originally charged Furchner with aiding and abetting the murders of 11 412 people. She was sentenced under juvenile law, because she was aged between 18 and 19 at the time of the crimes. | Reuters…

INDEBTED ratepayers in eThekwini Municipality have been given a lifeline by the municipality which has reinstated the Debt Payment Relief Programme for another three months. The municipality’s full council recently approved a report granting permission to reinstate debt relief for ratepayers whose accounts are in arrears. The new reprieve period kicked off on December 1 and ends in February 2023. The last debt relief period was between April and June 2022. Government departments and parastatals will not benefit from this programme. Municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said as of November 30, 2022 the municipality was owed R21.3 billion, R16bn of the arrears amount was for residential properties and R5.3bn was for business. “It is difficult to determine how much the municipality will recover from this relief as this will depend on…

THE National Health Department is falling deeper into a debt crisis due to its failure to pay suppliers, owing nearly R74million by the end of September, according to the Public Service Commission (PSC). As of September 30, it owed 2 929 suppliers R73.7m. The Department of Tourism’s non-payments had increased from R2.6m in August to R3.2m in September. PSC Commissioner Anele Gxoyiya released the quarterly bulletin yesterday titled, “The Pulse of the Public Service for the period of July 1 to September 2022”. The amounts were sourced from the National Treasury office of the Accountant-General. “The number of unpaid invoices spiralled from 959 as at June 30, 2022, as reported in the Pulse of quarter 1 of 2022/23 to 3 454 as at September 2022. The Health Department contributed the…

TO THE architect of “Thuma Mina”, we sadly say Hamba Kahle as the nation braces itself for a political hurricane of immense proportions. It was former French president Charles De Gaulle, who once said, “There can be no power without mystery. Nothing more enhances authority than silence”. The Section 89 independent panel found prima facie evidence against the president. Phala Phala was the Achilles heel that led to a Shakespearean tragedy. Ramaphosa can be likened to Richard III, Shakespeare’s crippled king, a master manipulator, a specialist at luring many to their doom. Everyone directly and even peripherally involved in the Phala Phala debacle will be remembered in history for this sordid saga. The puzzling aspect of this scandal is the behaviour of the president, a highly-accomplished man of tremendous intellect…

When I first got to know about the ANC – what it was all about, what it stood for and who it stood for – there was no doubt in my mind, young and formative as it was at the time, that I could identify with the organisation. Talk about fantasies and dreams. Having succumbed to the noble principles as espoused by the ANC, when it was once a liberation movement seeking the freedom of an entire nation on a ticket of non-racialism, I am now in a quandary because it is now being principally perceived as an organisation of thugs, thuggishness and thuggery. Forget about the boast of what it has done to liberate South Africa before 1994. Look at what it has done to this beautiful country since…

THE KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development has appealed to pet owners to have their animals vaccinated, expressing worry about the spread of the deadly disease. The department said Durban and Pietermaritzburg were the leading districts with positive rabies cases in KZN. KZN Agriculture Department spokesperson Mthobisi Makhathini said rabies remained a dangerous virus. “There is a very concerning inland movement into Hammarsdale and Umgungundlovu district. “On the map you can see other species that have had rabies, but livestock cases are rare. “Nobody should eat or cut up a carcass with rabies, even though the risk is low in cooked meat,” said Makhathini. He expressed government concern over the lukewarm response for vaccinations from pet owners. Dr Jerry Manenzhe from Pinelands Pets Animal Clinic said rabies…

ROAD accidents statistics and the related deaths have been gradually escalating since the start of the festive season. However, while a car will forever be considered to be one of the most lethal man-made machines, this should not be the case. The fact that the majority of vehicle accidents are the result of human error, or follow a violation of traffic laws, means that these tragedies could be avoided if road users just took extra care. Last week, the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) published a list of roads considered to be the most dangerous in the country. Unsurprisingly, the notorious Moloto Road linking Gauteng with Mpumalanga and Limpopo topped the list. This was accompanied by a warning of the times during which most accidents occurred – between 4pm…

Middle East adversaries Saudi Arabia and Iran were among countries attending a conference in Jordan yesterday, organised by France and Iraq which aims to provide a forum for discussing the region’s problems. French President Emmanuel Macron is attending the conference. The attendees include the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran, regional rivals that severed ties in 2016, but there has been no word on whether they will meet bilaterally. Iraq has hosted five meetings between Saudi and Iranian officials since last year, but these have not yielded any breakthroughs in relations. Tehran and Riyadh, the leading Shia and Sunni Muslim powers in the Middle East, have backed opposite sides in proxy wars across the region, from Yemen to Syria and elsewhere. Before the conference, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator met…

Tokyo: Record levels of snow hitting Japan’s Niigata, Tohoku and other areas north of Tokyo have left vehicles stranded on highways, caused power outages and disrupted transportation, the weather agency and local media said yesterrday. Weather officials said vehicles became stranded in heavy snow on roads in Niigata prefecture, with local media reporting that the Self-Defence Forces were enlisted to help with the situation. The Japan Meteorological Agency reported that the amount of snowfall had reached three times the seasonal average in some areas, with 2.2m recorded in one village in Yamagata prefecture and 1.87m in Niigata. | IANS…

Disgraced US movie titan Harvey Weinstein was convicted this week of the rape and sexual assault of a woman a decade ago, in what prosecutors said was part of his “reign of terror” over aspiring young actresses in Hollywood. The 70-year-old Pulp Fiction producer, once one of the most powerful men in the film industry, faces up to 24 years in jail, in addition to a sentence he is already serving for sex crimes in New York. His victim in the Los Angeles case said she hoped he “never sees the outside of a prison cell during his lifetime”. “Harvey Weinstein forever destroyed a part of me that night in 2013 and I will never get that back,” the woman, identified during the trial as Jane Doe #1, said in…

Could it be? Is it possible? Has it happened? Have the Lions landed a coup with their latest signing? Are they loading Kwagga Smith 2.0? All pertinent questions after the Joburgers unveiled sevens superstar JC Pretorius yesterday as their newest acquisition – a well-known fact for some weeks – but now an official one. Pretorius, who has been nominated for the Springbok Sevens Player of the Year award, has already begun his odyssey in XVs, and in the coming days, weeks and months, the comparisons with Smith – for now at least – will be inescapable. And it could be completely justified Both are products of HTS Middelburg, and like Smith, Pretorius had the Sevens circuit at his mercy when he decided earlier this year to shift focus to full…

The delayed national elective conference of the ANC ended without concluding all of its business with the party postponing the announcement of additional national executive committee (NEC) members and the outcome of commission reports. Instead, newly elected secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said that the conference would resume with a hybrid session on January 5, where policy issues would be discussed and the outcomes would be presented the following day. The announcement of the party’s additional 80 NEC members would be made “today or tomorrow”, he said. With the conference facing more than a 24-hour delay, exhausted delegates agreed to adjourn it. This was prompted by delays in registration, finalisation of the credentials report and voting procedures, Mbalula said. “Due to these delays it was not possible to adopt the commission reports…

After all the hype from our minister of transport and the RTI, on stopping the carnage on our roads (I have some questions). Firstly, why only during the festive season? One rarely ever sees any heavy duty truck sticking to the required speed of 80km/h. I blame the traffic authorities, hiding behind bushes and trees hoping to catch someone doing 200km/h. With all the best equipment, why can’t they see a heavy duty truck doing 115km/h, which is +35km/h over the speed limit? Also, what’s the use of having average speed timing when many vehicles don’t have front number plates, sometimes both? CLIVE SYMONS |…

BEING a regular cyclist on Durban’s promenade, I notice a surge in the crowds of beach lovers during the festive season. All the way from Blue Lagoon to Ushaka Marine throngs of fun-loving people are there to have fun in the sun. Unfortunately, with the crowds follows litter. Morning beachgoers have to contend with tons of litter strewn all along the promenade. There is also the danger of broken bottles, especially to children running around barefoot. Teams of cleaners are deployed to clear up the mess created by beachgoers from the previous day. The eThekwini Municipality city management should consider deploying a night shift team of cleaners. This will ensure the beaches are clean for visitors arriving the next day. This could be just a temporary measure during the holiday…

The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) has only been able to recover R12 090 to date after about R6.3 million of Community Works Programme (CWP) stipends were irregularly paid to non-qualifying government employees. Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, revealed that this involved about 534 government employees in 62 national and provincial departments. “The total unconfirmed maximum amount of Community Works Programme stipends paid to possible non-qualifying government employees for the period April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2020 was R6 300 997,” said Dlamini Zuma. She said Cogta’s director-general, Avril Williamson, wrote to the directors- general and heads of department of all 62 departments in January to investigate the matter. Dlamini Zuma said to date, 25 departments had responded…

Human rights organisation Black Sash said it was concerned about the payment of social grants for members of the public who use Postbank cards as some had complained that they had experienced delays in receiving their social grants. The delay comes as a result of the temporary suspension of ATM withdrawals for the Postbank-issued South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) gold cards for December with withdrawals only allowed at retail stores. Postbank said that the suspension was necessary as it had uncovered a series of network attacks by criminal elements determined to commit systematic ATM card fraud-related crimes. Phindile Ndlanzi, a resident from Ndwedwe, said she did not know what was wrong when she failed to receive her social grant in December. “I normally go to the ATM to…

Cities across China scrambled to install hospital beds and build fever screening clinics yesterday as authorities reported five more deaths and international concern grew about Beijing’s surprise decision to relax restrictions. China this month began dismantling its stringent “zero-Covid-19” regime of lockdowns and testing after protests against curbs that had kept the virus at bay for three years but at a big cost to society and the world’s second-largest economy. Now, as the virus sweeps through a country of 1.4 billion people who lack natural immunity having been shielded for so long, there is growing concern about possible deaths, virus mutations and the impact on the economy and trade. “Every new epidemic wave in another country brings the risk of new variants, and this risk is higher the bigger the…

Washington: US lawmakers yesterday released the text of a $1.7 trillion (R29.5trn) funding bill which Congress hopes to pass in days to avert a government shutdown. The bill includes $858 billion in defence funding and will also provide $44.9bn in emergency assistance for Ukraine. It also includes $772.5bn for non-defence discretionary programmes and provides $40.6bn to help communities hit by recent disasters. Congress last week adopted a short-term budget bill to avert a shutdown of federal services and give Democrats and Republicans more time to reach a compromise ahead of the December 23 deadline. | AFP…

SAN FRANCISCO: A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern California yesterday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, leaving thousands without power. The earthquake was about 16.1km deep, USGS said, and struck 12km west-southwest of Ferndale, California, a Humboldt County town north of San Francisco. Reports said that there were numerous gas leaks, powerlines down, and at least one structure fire in Ferndale. More than 64 000 homes and businesses were without power yesterday in Ferndale and surrounding Humboldt County. | Reuters…

Supplies of basic foods at Egyptian supermarkets have been squeezed and some stores are rationing products, with shopkeepers blaming an import slowdown and speculation by traders as prices rise. Headline inflation has surged to five-year highs of more than 18% in Egypt, spurring many shoppers to cut back on purchases or switch to cheaper goods. Core inflation, which excludes volatile items such as food, quickened to 21.5% in November. The government has reacted over the past week by saying it will draw up indicative prices for key commodities and threatening legal action against shopkeepers who don’t display prices. At one large supermarket in eastern Cairo, limits were placed on the quantity of basic foods including vegetable oil, rice and sugar, that each shopper could buy. Amid the economic headwinds, the…