Indholdsfortegnelse for 2023-10-18 i Mercury

THE SOUTH African Reserve Bank (SARB) has given the strongest indication yet that it will not begin cutting interest rates before the year ends as it needs to tame inflation to the midpoint of the target range for a sustainable period. In its October Monetary Policy Review published yesterday, the SARB said that upside risks to inflation had strengthened over the past months, heightening uncertainty about a precise path for inflation. The SARB said that in spite of headline inflation decelerating towards the 4.5% midpoint of the target range, upside pressures to core inflation were reflected in still elevated survey-based inflation expectations and a weak rand, with further risks emanating from load shedding. Headline inflation rose to 4.8% in August and September, and is projected to average 5.9% in 2023,…

Torrential rain across KwaZulu-Natal since Sunday night has led to damaged roads, bridges and flooded homes. The KZN Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Department yesterday said disaster management teams, in collaboration with the Joint Operation Cluster involving all municipalities and law-enforcement agencies, had swiftly responded to reported damage. “Families whose homes were damaged and submerged in water have been successfully evacuated. Preliminary reports indicate that in the uBuhlebezwe Local Municipality, in the Harry Gwala District, two houses were destroyed due to heavy rains, while another two sustained partial damages. “No injuries or fatalities were reported. The affected families have chosen to stay with relatives.” In eThekwini, two houses in KwaMashu were flooded and another in Molweni was damaged by a fallen tree. “Several roads have been damaged and have…

What tackling! What never-give-up guts! It tells us (and the Boks) that whatever they might come up against when they play England in the semis on Saturday, they’ve got what it takes. What a game it was last Sunday. What a nerve-jangler. Yet, oddly enough, it now leaves us with a feeling of calm and confidence as Saturday’s semi-final approaches, and (we hope) the final. ’Erewego, ’erewego, ’erewego! Some clean sweep WHICH brings us to a nonsensical piece written in the London Daily Mail by their rugby writer, Sir Clive Woodward. “European teams dominated the pools and I’m predicting a Six Nations clean sweep in the quarters. Here comes the NORTHERN POWERHOUSE.” One European side has reached the semi-finals – England. The other semi-finalists are Argentina, New Zealand and ourselves…

That eThekwini – the municipality with the greatest housing need in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) – has had R17 million stolen from its coffers is an indictment of this ANC-run government. While city officials have assured the public that the three projects affected by this embezzlement will still go ahead, the reality is that eThekwini’s housing crisis continues to deepen under the ANC’s watch. Had the details of this corruption not been leaked to the media by a whistle-blower, would the municipality have come clean on its own? Definitely not. Will these errant officials be dealt with? Probably not. Or will they be redeployed to other municipalities or spheres of government in true ANC style? In all likelihood, yes. With 80% of KZN’s 1 000 informal settlements within the Metro, the need…

Impeached Public Protector advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane has joined the EFF, saying this was because she believed in its seven cardinal pillars and wished to continue to protect South Africans. An overwhelming majority of parliamentarians voted to remove her from office last month, owing to a report by the Section 194 inquiry that recommended her removal on grounds of incompetence and misconduct. On Monday, Mkhwebane was joined by other members of the EFF to make the announcement of her new political home. Mkhwebane said the EFF was her first political home and clarified that she was never part of the ANC. She said that while she was treated harshly by the ANC and the DA, this was not a move fuelled by disgruntlement. “I am here, this is my political…

In 1923, Walt Disney left his failing animation company, Laugh-O-gram Films, and used his last few dollars to buy a train ticket to join his brother, Roy, in Los Angeles, where they began making animated films out of their uncle’s garage. The company they founded would become one of the most influential media and entertainment brands in history. The Walt Disney Co turns 100 this month. The company, which Walt Disney famously observed “was all started by a mouse”, is now a $156 billion (about R2.9 trillion) behemoth, spanning theme parks, television networks, films and a streaming service that reaches millions of people across continents. To mark the occasion, more than 250 items are on display at Disney 100: The Exhibition in London. Throughout the exhibition’s 10 galleries, visitors…

The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) said it has arrested three women traffic officers who allegedly demanded money from a truck owner. It is alleged that the traffic officers were conducting a law enforcement operation when they stopped a truck driver between Hennenman and Kroonstad in the Free State. “Upon inspecting the truck, the officers found that some of the tyres were smooth. They then solicited a bribe of R2 000 from the driver in order not to issue a traffic fine,” said RTMC spokesperson Simon Zwane. The truck owner was allegedly contacted to arrange the payment to the officers but the owner also alerted the provincial anti-corruption unit and the “plan” was put into operation. “The trio, aged between 43, 44, and 45, were arrested and will appear…

Police officers risk their lives to fulfil their mandate to their country every day, but the alarming rate at which they are being killed is cause for concern. The first quarter’s crime statistics released by Police Minister Bheki Cele painted a grim picture for South African police officers, revealing that as many as 31 police members were murdered between April and the end of June this year – an average of one officer every three days. And since June, we have seen several more deadly attacks on police, both while on and off duty, with many losing their lives. This gradual upsurge is unacceptable and through the years, police management has promised measures to bolster the safety of police officers. But as more wreaths are being laid for fallen officers,…

CHINESE leader Xi Jinping welcomed his “dear friend” Russian President Vladimir Putin to Beijing yesterday, kicking off a multilateral summit overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war. Beijing this week hosts representatives of 130 countries for a forum on Xi’s vast trade and infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). At the top of the guestlist is Putin, on his first trip to a major global power since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine threw his regime into international isolation. At an official banquet, Xi delivered a toast in which he alluded to recent geopolitical conflicts, but added that “the historical (trend) of peace” was “unstoppable”. “Although the world today is not peaceful, downward pressure on the global economy is increasing, and global development faces a great deal of challenges, we firmly believe…

Covid-19 hospitalisations have increased by 24% in one week in the UK as new variant BA.2.86, dubbed as Pirola, sweeps across the country. According the UK Health Security Agency, from the last week of September, the number of people testing positive for the virus increased by over 29.4% on the week before, despite a reduced testing infrastructure. This comes as the highly mutated Pirola reached over 100 cases in the country, said Covid-19 variant tracker GISAID. Pirola, the latest Omicron strain to appear this year, contains 34 additional mutations that could make it easier to avoid immunisations. Pirola has been detected in 15 countries including France, Japan, Australia and Denmark. Symptoms are a runny nose, headache, lethargy, sneezing, a sore throat, diarrhoea, eye irritation and rashes. |…

Sydney: Hundreds of firefighters were battling almost 70 bush fires in Australia’s New South Wales state yesterday, with one man dead and several homes under threat. Police found the 56-year-old’s body after a bush fire scorched a large area in the rural settlement of Temagog, 340km north of Sydney, on Monday night. Dozens of homes are still in the path of the fire, which has burned through more than 10 000ha, said the Rural Fire Service. It said the fire would still be burning this weekend, with warmer weather expected. Bush fires have raged across Australia’s eastern seaboard, razing swaths of forest, killing millions of animals and blanketing cities in smoke. | AFP…

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia’s total fertility rate for last year declined to the lowest in five decades, raising concerns about the country’s shrinking and ageing population. The Department of Statistics Malaysia said the fertility rate in 2022 declined to 1.6 children for every woman aged from 15 to 49 years as compared to 1.7 children in 2021. This rate was the lowest in five decades with 4.9 children per woman in 1970. The declining fertility rate signals a population growth shrinkage and economic and social implications. The number of live births in Malaysia was 423 124 births in 2022, compared to 439 744 births in 2021. | Xinhua…

A CHATSWORTH pensioner has described the daily struggle to put food on the table for his family of seven. With the rising cost of living, families are struggling to buy necessities, including food, and a Shoprite food index report has projected that it will only get tougher. The report, released on Monday, projects that by 2025, nearly half of South Africa’s population will be food insecure, with 48.96% of the population potentially not having enough to eat. Yesterday, the Chatsworth grand- father, who did not want to be named, described the challenge to feed himself, his wife, two adult sons, his daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. He said both his sons and daughter-in-law were unemployed, and the family relied on his old-age grant and the little income his wife made. “It’s…

It is time to pray for the residents, legal or illegal, of the cities across this land and around the world. Please pray, even if it is to a God in Whom you do not believe. Whatever your faith persuasion, or the decision to have none, you may or may not agree that it is time to pray for the residents, legal or illegal, of the cities across this land and around the world. Please pray, even if it is to a God in Whom you do not believe. Oh God, our differences in faith and differences in our approach to you, divide those whom they ought to unite and incite those whom they ought to calm. May this not be true for me. Help us to love, embrace, and…

I find it iniquitous that the government is considering increasing VAT because of “their precarious finances”. Every day we hear of millions of rand that disappear or are misused and are supposedly untraceable. I find that hard to believe. If the government stopped stealing the taxpayers’ money and paying themselves over-inflated salaries for a job not well done or not done at all, there would be no need to increase VAT. Shame on them for even considering imposing an extra burden on people already struggling to survive. Why not impose a tax on luxury cars etc, which is what I am sure they are spending their stolen money on.…

Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga has revealed that the Road Accident Fund (RAF) has notched up R4.8 billion in 1 725 default judgments issued by various courts over the past three years. Chikunga said that the reasons for the default judgments were due to the RAF electing not to defend legal actions for claims that became valid in terms of sections of the RAF Act. “These are claims that become valid because they were not objected to within the stipulated 60 days. “The RAF does not want to incur further legal costs in defending valid claims; as a result, the judgments are granted in default without incurring costs of defending attorney and counsel,” she said. Chikunga said in her written response to parliamentary questions from DA MP Alf Lees that the…

A 59-year-old man has been sentenced in the Murraysburg Regional Court in the Western Cape to 23 years’ imprisonment for murdering his girlfriend. Solomon Ferreira, 59, was convicted of murdering Petronella Goeie- man, 31, on November 4, 2021. State Prosecutor, Noluvuyo Ndinisa told the court Ferreira had 26 previous convictions for charges including rape and murder and he has been declared unfit to possess a firearm. His convictions date back to 1973 when at age 9 he was found guilty of housebreaking with the intent to steal. In November 2021, on the night of the murder, the court heard that the couple were arguing in a room and Ferreira’s mother, Letta Ferreira, 82, went to investigate. Letta said she tried to stop the argument but failed and went to her…

An OFF-DUTY policeman who was hijacked and stabbed just after midnight on Monday night had to walk to a petrol station for help. The cop, stationed at Durban Central SAPS, was driving on Chamberlain Road when he stopped at a stop sign and was accosted by hijackers. Provincial police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala said it is alleged the 34-year-old man was driving back home when four suspects approached his vehicle. “One held a knife against the victim’s neck. The suspects allegedly took his cellphone, firearm and vehicle.” Gwala said the car was later recovered in uMlazi. According to information received, the suspects made off with the policeman’s State-issued firearm, which had live ammunition. It is further reported that he was stabbed twice and had to walk to a petrol station…

TRANSPORT Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga said October Transport Month, was about showcasing service delivery and reminding the nation of the centrality of transport in daily lives. The minister said for the duration of the month, the government would be showcasing what had been achieved in delivering on the electoral mandate across all modes of transport ... Or has it? Roads with potholes countrywide and some without markings tell a different story. Traffic lights go on the blink every now and then, but the turn-around time for repairs remains abysmal. Improvements to the Moloto Road are still in the making decades later. The government remains unsure of what to do with e-tolls in Gauteng.The drive to Limpopo is still not for the faint-hearted, with various reasons given for the deaths that lurk…

Overwhelmed by record numbers of asylum seekers from across the world, US border officials have released thousands of migrants on the streets in San Diego this past month. Twice a day, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) vehicles drop off asylum seekers at the transit centre in Oceanside, a city of 172 000 about 80km north of the border, say humanitarian organisations and volunteers who welcome the migrants and help them reach destinations elsewhere in the US. They are among about 18 500 people released in the San Diego area since September 13, according to local government officials and legal and humanitarian organisations that have been in contact with the CBP. Custom officials said when the NGOs that receive migrants are over capacity, the Border Patrol co-ordinates with local…

ABERDEEN: Scotland’s leader Humza Yousaf is confident his dream of independence will come true in the next decade despite his governing party haemorrhaging support over the worst crisis in its modern history. The dominant political party in Scotland for almost two decades, the pro-independence Scottish National Party has been damaged by infighting and scandals, including the arrest of its charismatic former leader Nicola Sturgeon. Britain’s main opposition Labour Party won back a parliamentary seat in Scotland this month, ousting the SNP. Scots rejected ending their union with England by 55% to 45% in a referendum in 2014. But nationalists argue the 2016 vote to leave the EU changed everything, as a majority of Scottish voters had opposed it. Yousaf said an independent Scotland would include better protections for workers and…

MAIDUGURI: At least 50 people, including women and children, were abducted and three others were killed in an attack by gunmen in Bagega, a mining village in Nigeria’s north-west Zamfara state, residents said yesterday. Kidnapping for ransom has become commonplace in north-western Nigeria, where armed gangs, often referred to locally as bandits, have targeted villages, schools and travellers, demanding millions of naira in ransom and making it unsafe to travel by road or to farm in some areas. Residents said the gunmen had stormed the village on motorcycles, shooting and setting houses ablaze. | Reuters…

New Delhi: India’s top court refused yesterday to legalise same-sex marriages but said the country had a duty to acknowledge LGBTQ relationships and to protect them from discrimination. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has opposed moves to legally codify same-sex partnerships in the five years since the Supreme Court struck down colonial-era laws banning gay sex. Lawyers for several same-sex couples had urged the court earlier this year to grant their relationships full legal recognition, but the five-member Bench ruled that extending marriage equality was a parliamentary decision. | AFP…

“IF it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” might be an expected refrain when your team have just won a World Cup quarter-final against the host nation. But while the Springboks produced a heroic effort in their 29-28 triumph over France at the weekend, it doesn’t mean that SA director of rugby Rassie Erasmus and coach Jacques Nienaber won’t be considering any changes to the starting XV and bench for Saturday’s semi-final against England. One immediate reason is the fact that there is a six-day turnaround between games. At least the South Africans won’t have to travel somewhere else as they are again playing at the Stade de France, but it took a monumental effort from the team to get across the line against Antoine Dupont’s side. It will be about…

THE DEPARTMENT of Tourism will continue implementing regional and international tourism marketing campaigns to position South Africa as a viable tourism destination. This is one of the seven strategic interventions in the Tourism Sector Master Plan which was gazetted on Friday by the Minister of Tourism, Patricia de Lille, after the conversion of the Tourism Sector Recovery Plan. De Lille yesterday said the Master Plan was aimed to galvanise industry, labour and government to collectively act on a shared vision, identify priorities, and deliver economic activity and jobs for all South Africans. “The pillars and strategic interventions of the Tourism Sector Recovery Plan have been adopted for the Master Plan and therefore the effective implementation of the Plan will be anchored on seven Strategic Interventions supported by catalytic programmes with…

Drug use, crime and prostitution are occurring in one of the temporary shelters housing victims of the five-storey Marshalltown building fire that killed 77 people in August. Yesterday, The Mercury’s sister newspaper The Star visited the Hofland Park Recreation Centre in Bez Valley, where more than 200 victims, including children and women, have been staying for the past 46 days since the incident. A caretaker, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the security personnel meant to guard the place had fled, leaving no one to protect the centre. “This is not a shelter, but a recreation centre. We were told the victims would be here for 72 hours and they would be sent to an appropriate facility, but that has not happened almost two months after the fire. “Crime…

Political parties in KwaZulu-Natal say more arrests and convictions related to political killings before next year’s elections will prevent further bloodshed. They also called for the full implementation of the 2017 Moerane Commission of Inquiry findings into the killing of politicians in the province. The commission, founded to investigate and report on the underlying causes of the murders and to curb the number of deaths associated with political violence, recommended appropriate actions to prevent future incidents and steps to ensure that perpetrators of these crimes are prosecuted. Police Minister Bheki Cele on Monday, on the sidelines of the ANC’s National Executive Committee meeting in Boksburg, said 348 people had been arrested in connection with the murders since the 2018 establishment of a task team. Cele said criticism aimed at…

The stone wall at the entrance to the Unesco headquarters carries a profound message that all members of the UN have violated ever since its inception. These sacred words must not be ignored. It says: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed”. Chronic conflicts, relentless warfare and persecution, as lived experiences, have created mental stress in communities across the war-torn landscapes of the world. In today’s brutal wars, civilian deaths outnumber the death of fighting combatants. The world is afflicted with gruesome violence carried out by governments in the name of anti-terrorist missions. Whatever the nature of this grotesque violence, the ultimate consequence is the destruction of humanity, with innocent civilians bearing the cost.…

The country is down in the dumps. We needed something badly to lift our spirits. Our politicians can’t do it. They are a useless lot who are largely responsible for the mess we are in. Our president only talks and puts on a show to impress the public. He can’t fix the problems in the country but wants to mediate in Ukraine and Palestine. Our sportsmen and women have come to our rescue and are giving us something to cheer about. Not the Bafana boys but our cricketers and rugby players. The Springboks are putting on a show on the world stage with a dazzling display of rugby. They are showing the world not only what tough mettle they are made of but also their never-say-die spirit inherited from their…

Civil society organisations have expressed concern over proposed changes contained in the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill, which they fear could lead to higher electricity costs, potentially impacting the most vulnerable. The bill aims to amend the Electricity Regulation Act of 2006, to introduce a competitive market in the electricity sector through increased private-sector energy generation. The bill also seeks to provide for the establishment, duties, powers and functions of the Transmission System Operator SOC Ltd, “to provide for an open market platform that will allow for competitive electricity trading”. Last month, the portfolio committee on mineral resources and energy opened a call for comments on the proposed amendments, which closed on Friday. The Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC) made a submission advocating for the halting of the independent transmission…

President Cyril Ramaphosa has entered the fray on the fiscal crisis and denied South Africa has run out of money. He said Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tabled a report at this week’s meeting of the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC). In the report, Godongwana outlined the country’s fiscal challenges and members of the NEC noted the crisis was caused by jobless growth. The NEC urged the government to speed up programmes that would grow the economy. Unions were angry a few weeks ago after it emerged that the government was preparing to implement cost-cutting measures. Ramaphosa said they would get through this period as they were implementing reforms in the energy and logistics sectors. But he denied South Africa was running out of money. “The NEC received a report from…

THE DA in KwaZulu-Natal has made a string of allegations concerning the appointment of staff members in the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (Edtea). The party’s provincial leaders yesterday briefed the media on this and other allegations. They have compiled a dossier from information provided by the whistle-blowers and are going to hand over the information to the Special Investigating Unit. However, Edtea spokesperson Ndabe Sibiya rubbished the allegations saying they were sourced from “pickpocketed and fabricated documents”. DA provincial leader Francois Rodgers said their action was not motivated by the elections next year that were expected to be hotly contested between the ANC, IFP and the DA, especially in this province. Outlining the allegations, Rodgers said whistle-blowers had raised concerns about irregular appointments within the department,…

Sort out external vs internal, and old vs new, then university can take leap forward UNISA is a public institution. There is a huge role it must play in closing the deep shortfall of the government's national imperative to provide sufficient access to higher education. The progress made by the government is well known, but the shortfall is still too deep. Unisa does not belong to the government (minister); it does not belong to itself (council or management) – it belongs to the people of South Africa. Instead of administration, may the minister, council or the chancellor, whoever is best suited, convene a forum whose primary focus will be to give rise to justice for Unisa. The government must do justice to Unisa by allowing its mission to be redefined…

The UN warned Israel yesterday against the “forcible transfer of civilians” in the Gaza Strip, which could be in breach of international law. The UN human rights office said that a legal temporary evacuation of civilians came with obligations on Israel, which, the Geneva-based agency said, it appears to have made no attempt to fulfil. Israel has demanded that residents of north Gaza leave for the south, hoping to clear the area of civilians in preparation for a perilous urban ground assault. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden will visit Israel today in a show of “ironclad” support as Washington tries to prevent the escalating war against Hamas in Gaza from spilling into a wider Middle East conflict. Anger and bloodshed have surged as the war has claimed thousands of lives…

A man suspected of shooting dead two Swedish football fans and wounding another in Brussels was a 45-year-old Tunisian who had an asylum application rejected in 2020 but continued to live in Belgium illegally, according to Belgian officials. After an overnight manhunt, police fatally shot the suspect at a café in the Schaerbeek district of northern Brussels yesterday, a day after his deadly attack, which prosecutors are treating as an act of terrorism. Authorities have not named the man. In a video claiming responsibility for the attack, he said he was a member of the Islamic State militant group and gave his name as Abdesalem Al Guilani. Belgian state broadcaster RTBF named him as Abdesalem Lassoued. Yesterday, investigators searched the block of flats where he had lived in Schaerbeek with…

LONDON: Climate activist Greta Thunberg was detained by police in London yesterday after she and others protested outside an oil and gas conference, preventing some delegates from attending. Video footage showed Thunberg, wearing a badge saying, “Oily Money Out”, standing calmly as two police officers spoke to her. She was searched and placed in the back of a police van. Thunberg had been protesting outside in Mayfair. She and dozens of others locked arms, obstructing entrances to the conference venue. | Reuters…

KYIV: Ukraine said yesterday that it had hit airfields in the Russian occupied south and east of the country during the night, claiming the “successful operation” had destroyed several helicopters. Kyiv, which launched its counter-offensive against Russian forces this summer, has claimed to have carried out operations in occupied territory several times. Kyiv’s special forces said they had attacked airfields in southern Berdyansk and eastern Lugansk. Berdyansk fell to Russian forces early last year. Lugansk has mostly been controlled by pro-Russia forces since 2014. Kyiv has for months asked the West to supply it with long-range weapons. | AFP…

BANYANA Banyana coach Desiree Ellis says they have put their World Cup heroics behind them as they are now focus on returning to the Olympics next year. Banyana had a record-breaking performance in Australasia. In just their second appearance at the tournament, Ellis’ team qualified for the last 16. It was a memorable tournament that revealed the growth of the team. But Banyana can’t dwell on the past – there are other fish to fry. That includes returning to the Games, having missed out on the last edition in Tokyo. Banyana will begin their quest to play at the quadrennial global event in Paris next year with their first leg of the qualifiers away to the Democratic Republic of the Congo next Wednesday. Ellis says they know what’s at stake.…

IN the famous words of legendary mixed martial artist Jon Jones: “Giving up on yourself is a decision.” Yesterday in Dharamshala, that is precisely what Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee did when they were presented with an opportunity to fight or take flight. They undoubtedly took the flight option when they were faced with Scott Edwards, a batter ranked 41 in the world in one-day international cricket and also captain of the 14th ranked team in the world. The look of helplessness and frustration in the fast bowlers’ faces is an image that every South African will have at the back of their minds going forward at the 50-over World Cup in India. That image will serve as a stinging reminder for all South Africans that…