Indholdsfortegnelse for 2023-04-20 i Mercury

THE AFRICAN Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is one of the African Union’s 13 flagship projects comprising its Agenda 2063 initiative aimed at unlocking Africa’s potential as a global economic powerhouse. Once implemented, the AfCFTA will be the world’s largest free trade area, uniting 54 of Africa’s 55 states and all eight of the continent’s regional economic associations in a partnership that aims to create a single continental market representing a population of about 1.3 billion and combined gross domestic product (GDP) of approximately $3.4 trillion. Standard Bank is a key partner of the African Continental Free Trade Area Business Forum taking place from April 16 to 18, 2023, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. As Africa’s largest bank by assets, present in 20 markets across sub-Saharan…

A second G4S prison guard, who is accused of helping convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester escape from the Mangaung prison, has been arrested in Bloemfontein. The 51-year-old was arrested on Tuesday at the prison and is expected to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court today. National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the suspect faced charges of assisting an inmate to escape from lawful custody and defeating the ends of justice. This arrest brings the total to six people who have been arrested in the escape, including Bester and his girlfriend, Dr Nandipha Magudumana. They were eventually arrested in Tanzania and deported back to South Africa to face charges related to the escape and murder. Police have also arrested former G4S employee Senohe Matsoara, Integritron CCTV technician operator…

A composite Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton called Trinity, made up of bones from three different T-Rexes, sold for 5.5 million Swiss francs (about R111m) in a rare auction this week. Estimated to be 65 to 67 million years old, the skeleton was sold at the Koller auction house in Zurich after being shipped from the US in nine giant crates. Trinity fetched a hammer price of 4.8m Swiss francs, rising to 5.5m with the buyer’s premium added on. The skeleton was put up for sale by an anonymous US private individual. It was bought by a private European collector of modern art and dinosaur relics. Auctioneer Cyril Koller said it was the third T-Rex skeleton ever sold at auction, and the first in Europe. “It was a wonderful auction because we…

When engaging the media, you expose yourself to the public and this process can be difficult. Research and understanding relevant knowledge is critical. When you take a chance and talk rubbish like 2% interest on a loan, as the mayor of Johannesburg did, you will suffer. People are vicious and public utterances come at a cost that few can manage. The writer/speaker must believe in his/her opinion and if conviction is absent, the author will be measured as insincere and attention-seeking. I have battled with the subject of “who should govern” for decades. Initially, I held those with religious qualification were most qualified, until I studied corruption amid the religious authority of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism etc, and settled that religiosity did not always imply ability. Many may be offended,…

Words cannot describe the enormous sadness, as we come to terms with losing veteran journalist Mariah Vengtas Bisetty, who has left an indelible mark on all our lives, and will forever be part of everything we have achieved, and everything we will strive for. A name that is synonymous with the fine art of journalism, he bequeathed a legacy to South Africa that is unsurpassed. Mariah was the ultimate reporter of his era and his generation. Talk of one man whose name cannot be forgotten as far as our rainbow nation’s news media is concerned, then you must be referring to our late icon of the fourth estate. Bisetty was a colossus in every avenue of life from sports to politics, an individual who spoke out fearlessly against the atrocities…

The register of members’ interests for 2022 has shown that some MPs are moonlighting to supplement their income amid tough economic times. Parliamentarians are required to declare any remuneration or employment outside of Parliament, and it should be sanctioned by their political parties. A look at the register, released this week, showed ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe is a preacher at Hope of Glory Tabernacle. Meshoe’s deputy, Wayne Thring, is also a preacher at Kingdom Connect Ministries. ANC MP Giovanni Heinrich receives an extra income from gospel music CD sales. Former EFF MP Mgcini Tshwaku, now a member of the Mayoral Committee in the Joburg Metro, was an online tutor at Unisa’s chemical engineering department. Musician and EFF MP Ringo Madlingozi performs for Ristar Music records while his colleague, Khanya…

South African expatriates in Khartoum, Sudan, are struggling to get home amid the deadly military clashes taking place in the country. At least 185 people have been killed in fighting across the country between the warring generals of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudan army. Expats spoke to The Mercury’s sister newspaper Cape Argus about their experiences and struggles to get home with the airport inoperative, hospitals under attack and intensifying airstrikes. On Monday, citizens received a message from the South African Embassy that evacuation would be considered when the airport was cleared. Birgitte Davy, originally from Cape Town, has been living in Sudan for the past four years after being recruited for a learning and development manager (HR) position. Before moving to Khartoum, Davy was based…

In the wake of devastating earthquakes in February, the demand for tiny houses and caravans surged in Türkiye as citizens seek safer accommodations in the earthquake-prone country. The two massive earthquakes on February 6 claimed over 50 000 lives in southern Türkiye, toppling tens of thousands of buildings and leaving millions of people homeless. Amid quake fears, many citizens living in seismically active zones, who do not feel safe in their current houses but have a limited budget to settle in a new apartment, are turning to alternatives – tiny houses and caravans, according to industry veterans. “Following the earthquake there’s been an explosion in demand for tiny houses,” Galip Olmez, CEO of Yako Groups, Türkiye’s biggest company producing tiny houses, told Xinhua. “Whenever there is a crisis, there is…

At the world’s northernmost year-round research station, scientists are racing to understand how the fastest-warming place on Earth is changing – and what those changes may mean for the planet’s future. But around the tiny town of Ny-Aalesund, high above the Arctic circle on Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, scientific data is getting more difficult to access – and sometimes it’s vanishing before scientists can collect it. Scientists hoping to harvest ice cores are finding glaciers inundated by water. Research sites are becoming more difficult to reach, as earlier springtime melt leaves the ground too barren for snowmobile travel. Researchers have been studying the polar region for decades – with Ny-Aalesund’s weather records going back more than 40 years. But their work has become vitally important as climate change ramps…

Just metres from a busy train station in the heart of Paris, scientists have uncovered 50 graves in an ancient necropolis which offer a rare glimpse of life in the French capital’s precursor, Lutetia, nearly 2 000 years ago. Camille Colonna, an anthropologist at France’s National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP), told a press conference there were already “strong suspicions” the site was close to Lutetia’s southern necropolis. The “Saint Jacques” necropolis, the largest burial site in the Gallo-Roman town of Lutetia, was previously partially excavated in the 1800s. However, only objects considered precious were taken from the graves, with the many skeletons, burial offerings and other artifacts abandoned. The necropolis was then covered over and again lost to time. The INRAP team discovered one section that had never…

Anti-crime group Action Society wants amendments to be made to legislation so that the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) can operate as an independent chapter nine institution. The organisation launched the campaign yesterday, calling for the public to sign its online petition to get rid of the police minister as a decision-maker. It wants the legislation governing Ipid’s operations, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate Act of 2011, to be changed and the Constitution to be amended to provide for Ipid’s status as a chapter nine institution. The organisation said even though Ipid was a watchdog mandated to investigate misconduct or criminal activity committed by police and municipal police services (MPS), it still answers to the minister of police, with the Ipid Act granting the minister the power to remove the…

A combination of conservatism and reluctance to get tested for a number of infectious diseases is one of the drivers behind the high rate of tuberculosis and HIV in the province, KwaZulu- Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane told members of the Provincial Legislature yesterday. Presenting the department’s R50.6 billion budget, the MEC highlighted strides that had been made in the provision of health care to all parts of the province and ensuring greater efficiency in health-care centres. However, she conceded that HIV and TB infections remained concerning, as these could be addressed if people got tested. “We once again make the point that being regarded as the epicentre of this ‘double pandemic’ of TB and HIV and Aids is a badge that we do not wear with pride. It is…

THE police’s inability to speedily make breakthroughs in targeted killings involving high-profile individuals makes it easy to be convinced that South Africa is sliding down the dangerous path of becoming a failed state. Criminals have become so brazen that they attack their victims in public spaces in broad daylight. In fact, a Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime report by analyst Rumbidzai Matamba, “The Business of Killing: Assassinations In South Africa”, paints a grim picture. It recorded 141 assassinations in the country in 2022 alone – an average of more than two a week. The latest incident involving former ANC youth league member and Cape Town councillor Loyiso Nkohla at a mobile police station is a murder that should outrage all of us. He was known for having led what…

India is poised to overtake China as the world’s most populous nation, with almost 3 million more people than its neighbour by the middle of this year, data released on yesterday by the UN showed. India’s population by mid-year is estimated at 1.4286 billion, against 1.4257 billion for China – 2.9 million fewer – in the UN Population Fund’s (UNFPA) “State of World Population Report” for this year. The US is a distant third, with an estimated population of 340 million as of the end of June, the data showed in a report that reflects information available until February. Population experts using previous data from the UN have projected India’s population would surpass China’s this month, but the global body’s latest report did not specify a date. UN population officials…

Britain is anticipating that 56 000 migrants will cross the Channel in small boats to its shores this year, court documents show, meaning it would need to house as many as 140 000 asylum seekers. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has made stopping boat arrivals one of his five priorities after the number of migrants arriving on the south coast of England soared to a record level in 2022 of more than 45 000, up 500% in the last two years. Already this year, more than 5 000 more people have arrived in Britain across the Channel. In court documents submitted as part of a case being brought against it at London’s High Court yesterday, the government said as of March it was estimated to be accommodating more than 109 000…

London: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has declared his wife’s shareholding in a childcare company that could benefit from a new government policy, four years after she invested in the firm, a much-delayed new register of ministers interests has shown, reports said. In a footnote to his entry on the register, Sunak declares that among “a number of direct shareholdings” owned by his wife, Akshata Murty, is a “minority shareholding” in Koru Kids, one of six companies involved in a pilot scheme to incentivise people to become childminders. The UK Prime Minister is being investigated by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner over whether he properly declared his wife’s shareholdings. | IANS…

MIAMI: Florida officials were yesterday considering largely prohibiting classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in all grades, expanding on a law signed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis that barred such lessons for elementary-age students. The proposed rule, which does not require legislative approval, is part of a broader rightward push on cultural issues that DeSantis has championed for what is expected to be a 2024 presidential campaign. The new regulation would bar teachers from providing such lessons unless the instruction is required by state standards or is part of a health class that parents can opt their children out of. | Reuters…

The KWAZULU-NATAL government’s commitment to process environmental impact assessment (EIA) applications within a 30-day period has been warmly welcomed by organised business figures who believe that the move could help unlock investment opportunities worth millions of rand. The commitment to fast-track the issuing of EIAs was made by Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs MEC Siboniso Duma during a presentation of his department’s budget at the KwaZulu-Natal legislature in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday. He told MPLs that his department was intent on ensuring the revival of the KZN economy, which would lead to more investments and create jobs for locals. Duma indicated that over the past months, the province had issued 159 EIAs for a number of catalytic projects that had resulted in the injection of R9 billion in investment and…

“My son is 37. He is not in a life-threatening surgery and yet when I got the text this morning that he was in the operating room I wanted to cry. I didn’t. But for some reason I wanted to.” Your note illustrates that the umbilical cord is infinitely elastic! He is your son. You have been with him from “the beginning”. You have seen him through every phase of his life. You are going to “feel it” whenever he faces trials and difficulties. While you need no permission, I’d suggest you go ahead and cry all you want, and all you need. While I do not know this to be true – how could I? – I will suggest your emotions and wanting to express them is only…

Prior to 1994, independents had every right to qualify as candidates to stand for election, and many did. However, for at least 50 years no independent candidates were successfully elected. The political system is just such that the electorate attaches greater confidence to the ability of “numbers of like-minded” in influencing political policy effectively. Political issues are not so diverse as to warrant an excess of varying participants at parliamentary level. It is also a fallacy to believe that political parties are made up of a large number of people who are all exactly of the same opinion. In each political party there are degrees of minor differences. The relevance of compromise and tolerance on lesser important issues is more important than absolute unanimity. It is therefore a fallacy to…

The security company G4S, responsible for letting convicted murderer, rapist and fraudster Thabo Bester escape, should pay the R1.4 million it took to fly him back into South Africa. According to Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, the delegation tasked to bring back Bester and his accomplice, Dr Nandipha Magudumana from Tanzania, found the cheapest option was to charter a private flight, because commercial airlines wouldn’t accommodate them. However, he did not confirm if they asked other airlines if they would do so. Not only must taxpayers pay for the whole escape debacle and the process to find Bester, but now they must also pay for the luxurious flight to bring them back. We will not stand for this. The money could have been much better spent on clearing the DNA…

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has come under fire from MPs who say it is not being fully transparent in its data on school drop-outs following a briefing to the portfolio committee on basic education. The department’s data showed that 400 000 children who started Grade 1 in 2011 (1 177 089) did not make it to Grade 12 (775 630) in 2022. Delivering the DBE presentation, researcher and adviser to the department Martin Gustafsson said repetition of grades made it difficult to conclude how many pupils dropped out. “Imagine if all Grade 1 learners repeated that grade, and no one repeated Grade 2. Then Grade 1 enrolment would be twice Grade 2 enrolment, even if no one was dropping out. ‘Dropping out’ (is) ideally understood as (an) undesirable…

On the once bone-dry soil of a diamond mine in the central Free State province, Susan Masoha now harvests big bunches of tomatoes, eggplants and spinach. The former cleaner at the mine never expected to find new work at a regenerative farming project set up on the site – part of efforts by a growing number of companies to show that mining can involve more than extraction. The aim is to rehabilitate the mining land – and prove that the sector, much criticised for its environmental impacts, can be greener while providing new ways to make a living. “I never knew a mine could also be a farm,” said Masoha, 34, who briefly worked at the mine in 2019 until Homestead Diamonds – a diamond sampling and mining company with…

A team of US college students aim to land the first robotic rover on the moon, before Nasa, it was reported. The Iris rover has been developed by the students of Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. It will be carried to the moon as part of Nasa’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme, Space.com reported. The mission, likely to be launched later this year, represents the US’s first robotic moon rover, as well as the first rover developed by university students. Nasa’s first robotic moon rover – the VIPER rover – is scheduled to launch only next year. Its 60-hour-long mission will be a primarily visual one: snapping images of the moon’s surface for geographic study. It will also test new localisation techniques as it transmits data about its position…

MSUNDUZI Municipality city manager Lulamile Mapholoba has assured the public that the termination of the four security contracts does not pose any danger to the city’s infrastructure, City officials or political principals. The municipality said the contracts were terminated after the auditor- general (AG) spotted irregularities in their awarding, including the fact that the service providers had been unable to provide annual financial statements for three successive years. The municipality relies on private security to look after some of its important assets including water supply plants and electricity sub-stations. Concerns have been raised that the termination of the contracts could leave municipal facilities vulnerable to vandalism. According to the city manager, the termination of the contracts illustrates the intent to do away with unfair practices, and ensure that decisions…

A reward has been offered for information that will lead to finding Nick Frischke, the German tourist who went missing in Cape Town in February. The donation has been offered by a private donor from Hangberg who, community leader and activist Zulfa October said, had elected to remain anonymous. October said the donor was a father and with the reward they hoped to get fresh and concrete information about Frischke’s whereabouts. She said this was to ensure that people did not despair and call off their search parties. Last weekend marked two months since Frischke disappeared while hiking the Duiker Island-Hangberg trail in Hout Bay after coming to the country for a two-week holiday. Extensive searches of the area were conducted by an Emergency Medical Services team, a police K9…

A Pretoria couple have hired a private investigator to help find jewellery worth R2.5 million stolen from their home. The retired couple were on holiday and returned home to find their “unique” jewellery had vanished. The couple have hired private investigator Mike Bolhuis, who said several people, including a close relative of the couple, have been questioned and a case of robbery opened at the SAPS. Bolhuis said the jewellery was not kept in a safe, but in a closet in the owner’s dressing room. “When you entered the main bedroom, the dressing room had to be unlocked and only then could you unlock the cupboard.” Bolhuis appealed for help from the public. “These are hand-crafted items, of which one such piece includes a cut diamond of R700 000. “These…

National grid collapse unlikely but cannot be ruled out OVER the past 15 years, South Africa has been experiencing a gradually worsening number of electricity cuts. This state of affairs has prompted frustration among citizens, negative international economic sentiment and financial hardship for many businesses. Public pressure has grown more intense, leading to the extraordinary decision by President Cyril Ramaphosa to proclaim a state of disaster, as well as to appoint a minister of electricity. Last year was marked by the worst power outages in the country’s history. Electricity generation deficits reached up to 6 GW on occasion, necessitating up to 10 hours of rolling electricity blackouts. High outages have persisted through the warmer early months of this year, and since early January the country has experienced power cuts every…

Fox News reached a $787.5 million (roughly R14bn) settlement this week in a defamation case brought by voting technology company Dominion that alleged the network knowingly aired false claims linking its machines to a conspiracy to undermine the 2020 US election. The agreement to end the case avoided what most experts suggested would have been a damaging, high-profile trial for the conservative channel in which owner Rupert Murdoch would have been compelled to testify in open court. Judge Eric Davis announced the last-minute agreement after the 12 jurors had been selected and the Delaware Superior Court was readying to hear opening arguments. Fox News said it was “pleased” to have ended the dispute and added: “We acknowledge the court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.” Dominion CEO…

LONDON: Pope Francis has gifted fragments believed to be from the True Cross on which Jesus was crucified to form part of a new processional cross which will be used at the coronation of Britain’s King Charles next month. The new cross, made from recycled silver along with Welsh slate and reclaimed wood, was a gift from the king to the Church in Wales to mark its centenary in 2020. It will lead the procession at Westminster Abbey in London on May 6. It features two shards from the relic donated by the pope which have been shaped into a cross behind a rose crystal gemstone. | Reuters…

Jakarta: Mount Semeru in Indonesia’s East Java province erupted 16 times yesterday, spewing hot ash as far as 2km from the crater to the south-east, authorities said. “The first eruption started at 7.10am and the second at 8.40am, with a duration of 82 to 110 seconds,” said the Semeru Volcano Monitoring Post. The mountain, 3 676m above sea level, is in the third danger level. The authorities have asked people to remain vigilant, and in particular avoid its south-eastern sector of 13km, and a 5km radius around the summit. An eruption of Mount Semeru in December 2021 claimed more than 50 lives. | IANS…

SELESTAT: Protesters greeted French President Emmanuel Macron with boos and calls for him to resign in his first public appearance since he signed into law an unpopular rise in the retirement age. Macron was faced with hostile banners and banging on pots outside a factory he was visiting in the Alsace region. Electrical power inside the factory was also cut briefly. Macron signed into law at the weekend the rise in the retirement age which means citizens must work two years longer before receiving their state pension. At the factory visit, after protesters bashed pots and pans, he said: “Pans won’t help France move forward.” | Reuters…

KAIZER Chiefs football manager Bobby Motaung has confirmed that the club are engaged in contract discussions with captain Itumeleng Khune. The veteran goalkeeper is in the final months of his current deal, which expires on 30 June. Khune is the longest-serving player in the current squad, having made his Premiership debut in the 2004-05 season under the late Ted Dimitru. Speculation around the 35-year-old’s future has increased due to his non-involvement during large periods of this season. “Spiderkid” has made just 11 starts in all competitions this season, with his struggles for fitness and form at the forefront of his ongoing battles. However, Motaung confirmed that the club have made contact with Khune’s representatives to discuss the way forward. “We are in discussions about that,” Motaung said “We…

Energy experts said the National Treasury’s message to Eskom that it would not be providing it with additional funding and that it had to use the revenue derived from tariffs it charged consumers to fix and maintain power stations would compel the power utility to become more self-sufficient. This week, the Treasury briefed MPs in Parliament's Standing Committee on Appropriations on the Eskom Debt Relief Bill, reiterating that Eskom may not borrow for the next three years and that the company would not receive any other financial bailouts from the government to fix its ailing power stations. Briefing Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana reiterated that Eskom’s capital expenditure was restricted to transmission and distribution. According to the debt-relief programme, the first condition for Eskom is that…

A FELLOW from Iowa, in the US, bought a lottery ticket on April Fool’s Day and he thought April Fool was just playing through when he was told he’d won $40 million (R731m). “I thought it was a joke,” said Earl Lape, a 61-year-old retired mechanic from Dubuque, Iowa. Only after confirming his Lotto America ticket with a convenience store clerk was he convinced that he’d won the big prize, according to Associated Press. Lape opted to take his winnings in cash, which for the drawing was $21.28m. The $40m prize was for those who take their winnings in an annuity, paid over 29 years. Lotto America is played in 13 states and offers smaller prizes than Powerball and Mega Millions. But it also has much better odds – 1…

He is a convicted prisoner and she a doctor. As extreme opposites as they were, they were inextricably entwined in each other’s arms. Like a fly to a lamp-post, Dr Nandipha Magudumana was irresistibly drawn to her jailbird lover. Prison walls were no barrier for their love. In fact, Bester’s incarceration made their hearts grow fonder. According to Parliament’s elect committee delving into Bester’s audacious prison escape, Nandipha was a frequent visitor at Mangaung Correctional Centre. Using her status and her womanly charm, she apparently spent several nights with her convict lover. Even more startling, we hear that Bester on several occasions slipped out of the maximum security prison under the guise of his many aliases and spent romantic nights with his lover at luxury hotels in Bloemfontein and even…

A man was arrested at a New Zealand zoo yesterday after he broke into an enclosure and took a leisurely bath in a moat next to rhinos and antelopes. Social-media footage of the incident in Auckland Zoo showed the man floating on his back, before washing his face and rinsing his hair. The enclosure is home to rhinos and nyalas. The animals “were understandably startled by the intruder”, an Auckland Zoo spokesperson said. The man was said to be in the water “for a number of minutes” before responding to instructions by zoo staff to get out of the moat and return to the visitor’s path. He was escorted off the premises and handed to the police. Zoo director Kevin Buley said he was relieved that there were no injuries…

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) has clarified its decision to withdraw the country’s amended protected species regulations to allow it more time to consider issues brought forward by impacted hunting associations. The regulations would have increased legislative protection of more terrestrial and freshwater species. Environment Minister Barbara Creecy recently withdrew regulations pertaining to threatened or protected terrestrial and freshwater species (Tops) and the associated species list in the Government Gazette on March 31, pertaining to stricter management of elephants, rhinos, leopards, the alien and invasive species list, and the list of critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable and protected species. This followed concerns raised in a legal challenge by Wildlife Ranching SA (WRSA) and the Professional Hunters Association of SA (Phasa) against the department’s amended list, claiming there were…

A defunct Nasa satellite will plunge through the atmosphere and fall to Earth this week, according to the US space agency and its Department of Defence. But it is unlikely to pose a risk to anyone on Earth, say those tracking the satellite’s dive. Most of the spacecraft is set to burn during its journey through the atmosphere, “but some components are expected to survive re-entry”, Nasa said in a statement. It said the “risk of harm coming to anyone on Earth is low,” or around a 1-in-2 467 chance. The 300kg Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager – or RHESSI – has been in space for more than 20 years. It was deployed to observe solar flares and clouds of plasma expelled from the sun, and it remained…

Nearly 3 to 5% cases of onset of diabetes is due to Covid-19, in other words roughly one person in 20 is a diabetic, according to a study. The study, led by a team of researchers at the University of British Columbia, found that SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with a higher risk of diabetes, suggesting that these infections may have contributed to an excess burden of diabetes at the population level. “These findings suggest that Covid-19 infection may continue to be associated with outcomes in organ systems involved in regulating blood glucose in the postacute phase,” said Prof Naveed Janjua, from the varsity. The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, showed that men were more likely to develop diabetes than women. People who suffered severe Covid and were hospitalised were…

The SA Post Office (Sapo) has expressed sadness and shock at the fatal shooting of three of its employees in the Eastern Cape, while police are on a manhunt to find the suspects. The employees, Bongeka Nogoda, Luleka Mpambani and Yamkela Zimase, aged between 30 and 39, worked as tellers at the Bizana Post Office, and were murdered in Jaca on Monday. Sapo said the employees were on their way from a Postbank/Sassa Pay Point to Flagstaff when they came under attack. Police confirmed that to date, no arrests have been made. “The suspects are still at large and the vehicle that was used by the suspects is red or maroon in colour. “The make of the vehicle is unknown at this stage. A case of murder (three counts) was…

THE IFP in eThekwini believes the consecutive cancellation of executive committee (exco) meetings of the eThekwini Municipality is undermining the committee and the important role it plays in ensuring service delivery. A meeting of the committee scheduled this week was cancelled three times in two days for a variety of reasons. The full-time committee is central to recommending decisions to be approved by full council and implemented by City officials. The first meeting was scheduled for Tuesday morning but was postponed for 5pm that same day. At 5pm, with some of the City officials already logged on to the virtual meeting, it was cancelled and rescheduled for yesterday at 4pm. This was again cancelled and rescheduled yesterday for Monday morning. IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said the cancellations undermined the work…

Sudanese troops battled waves of attacks yesterday by a paramilitary force trying to seize the army’s headquarters, while the failure of a US-brokered ceasefire hampered efforts to evacuate foreigners and residents trapped in the capital. Continuous bombardments and loud blasts could be heard in central Khartoum around the compound housing the army HQ and also at the main airport, which has been fiercely contested and put out of action since fighting erupted at the weekend. Thick smoke billowed into the sky and the streets were largely empty in Khartoum. Gunfire rattled in the south of the city, a witness said, while the army appeared to retake a key military airport in the country’s north, images on TV network al Arabiya showed. Earlier in the week, Sudan’s military ruler General Abdel…

Kremlin critic Ilya Yashin yesterday lost an appeal against what his supporters say was a politically motivated decision to jail him for eight and a half years for criticising Moscow’s assault on Ukraine. The former Moscow councillor’s appeal was rejected as authorities take a crackdown on freedoms in Russia to an unprecedented new level, with independent media shut down and key opposition figures behind bars or in exile. Speaking in court, Yashin said he had been put behind bars for “speaking the truth” over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine and Russia. “The sentence delivered against me is amazing: eight and a half years for a 20-minute speech on the internet,” he said. “In prison, I met murderers, rapists, and robbers who have received lesser sentences for their crimes.” Last year,…

WASHINGTON: Anti-vaccine activist Robert F Kennedy jr, a member of the US political dynasty, yesterday announced a long-shot bid to challenge incumbent President Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination. Kennedy, 69, faces little chance of success, but his campaign could help him to advance claims that childhood immunisations pose health risks, a theory that has been discredited by multiple scientific reviews. Kennedy has been banned from YouTube and Instagram for spreading misinformation about vaccines and the Covid-19 pandemic. He said he wanted to “end the corrupt merger between state and corporate power”. He is the nephew of former president John F Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963, and the son of former US senator Robert F Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968. In 2017, then president Donald Trump…

DUBLIN: Global airline capacity will be lower than expected this year and stay constrained until 2025 at the earliest, warned IATA director general Willie Walsh, due to delays in new aircraft deliveries and a lack of availability of spare parts. Airlines, hoping to put years of pandemic restrictions behind them, expect travel demand to recover to 2019 levels and above this year. But the lack of planes to meet demand could put a brake on growth. Aircraft manufacturers Boeing Co and Airbus are feeling pressure from bottlenecks in supply chains and that is leading to delivery delays. Walsh said he did not expect chaos at airports this year. | Reuters…

THE HollywoodBets Kings Park faithful will be bidding farewell to two of their heroes in Siya Kolisi and Thomas du Toit on Saturday when the Sharks play their last home United Rugby Championship match of the season. Even if the Sharks beat Munster, they cannot qualify for a home playoff in the competition and that means Du Toit and Kolisi, who are heading for Bath and Racing 92 respectively, will be playing their last matches in Durban. It will all the more poignant an occasion for Du Toit because he joined the Sharks straight out of school at Paarl Boys’ High in 2014. That means Du Toit has been a mainstay in the Sharks team for just under a decade and he says it would be “naive” to say that…

MUTSUHIKO Nomura’s soccer career has spanned 18 World Cups, or 70 years, to be exact. Now the silver-maned former Japanese national team player is a member of the brand new over-80 division of Tokyo’s “Soccer For Life” (SFL) league, which played its first match this month. The sprightly 83-year-old and his teammates are among a growing number of seniors pushing the boundaries of active living in Japan, one of the world’s fastest-greying societies. “When I was a kid, men in their 50s and 60s were considered ‘grandpas,’” Nomura, already a member of several amateur teams, said after a pre-season practice match in February. “And now, we’re all still at it in our 80s. It’s shocking.” As Japan’s average lifespan inches up, people aged 65 and more form nearly a third…