Indholdsfortegnelse for 2024-02-07 i Mercury

PRINCE Mbonisi Bekithemba kaBhekuzulu in his latest challenge to King MisuZulu kaZwelithini’s position is seeking to stop him from appointing a traditional Prime Minister of the Zulu Monarch and nation. However, King Misuzulu has already announced the appointment of Zululand District mayor, Thulasizwe Buthelezi as traditional prime minister and Inkosi Phathisizwe Chiliza as his deputy. Prince Mbonisi’s lawyers JG & Xulu Incorporated Attorneys filed an interdict application last November in the Pietermaritzburg High Court asking for King Misuzulu to be prevented from “appointing a person to serve as Undunankulu and/or Prime Minister of the Zulu Monarch and of the Kingdom of Amazulu”. The application also seeks to interdict king Misuzulu from exercising the powers of the Trustee of the Ingonyama Trust; convening any meetings with amakhosi to discuss the affairs…

The DA is giving President Cyril Ramaphosa 5 days to open a case of corruption against his deputy, Paul Mashatile. The party claims Mashatile has been involved in many cases of corruption dating from the time he was Minister of Human Settlement, but continues to have more scandals exposed even now as deputy president of the country. No one can blame the DA, as we all know that Ramaphosa, on becoming president, promised South Africans a clean government free of corruption, that those who were implicated in state capture would be prosecuted for destroying the economy of the country and the money would be recouped. John Steenhuisen should be well aware that there is something seriously wrong with his approach to this extremely important matter. If anyone happens…

SOUTH African Indians and coloureds have made significant contributions to the Struggle for freedom and democracy in South Africa. Their roles have often been marginalised or overlooked, despite them being instrumental in mobilising and organising their communities. However, the announcement by the Minister of Employment and Labour to implement employment equity targets benefiting South African Indians and coloureds are a positive step towards breaking down the racial boundaries created by apartheid. The defiance campaign of the 1950s and the United Democratic Front (UDF) of the 1980s are significant examples of the pivotal roles played by South African Indians and coloureds in the anti-apartheid movement. However, post-apartheid, the Employment Equity Act has created tension and competition between previously oppressed groups, exacerbating divisions. The recent changes to the employment equity targets are…

HOPE and a sense of belonging have always been a key hallmark of the DA’s offering to residents, and are reflected in the fact that where the DA governs, more jobs are created, and government spends peoples’ money on services for all and receives clean audits and national and international accolades where it governs. The fact is that by addressing challenges in administrations where it governs, and innovating across a range of services, DA governments are already improving services for all, creating safer communities, spending more on underground infrastructure and rolling out more affordable, convenient and safer public transport, to name but a few. There’s a lot of work which still needs to be done, but the DA is clearly on the right track to improve service delivery, and granting…

The first State witness in the trial of serial rapist and murder accused, Sifiso Mkhwanazi, has told the court of a foul smell coming from a Joburg CBD warehouse. The State called its first witness in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court to testify against the 21-year-old who is facing six counts of murder, seven of rape and several other charges. The crimes were allegedly committed between April and October 2022. Caretaker of the building, Michael Damien, who works for New City Estate that manages the building where the bodies of the six sex workers were found, took the stand to testify on Monday. The witness said that while conducting an assessment of the building on October 9, 2022, he noted a pungent smell coming from it. This forced him to…

Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula says they will implement the new rules of Parliament to prevent any disruption in the House during the State of the Nation Address (Sona). President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to deliver the Sona tomorrow. But EFF leader Julius Malema said at the weekend in Durban, while campaigning, that they will push to be part of the proceedings in the Chamber and ask Ramaphosa about Phala Phala. Parliament last December banned Malema, his deputy Floyd Shivambu, party secretary-general, Marshall Dlamini, spokesperson Sinawo Tambo, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi and Vuyani Pambo from Parliament for a month for disrupting Ramaphosa’s Sona last year. The EFF also lost its court application for the suspension to be lifted. They were suspended from attending Parliament from February 1 to 29. Mapisa-Nqakula said yesterday,…

PLEASE Call Me (PCM) inventor Nkosana Makate welcomed the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) judgment yesterday, which ordered that cellphone giant Vodacom make a new offer to him within 30 days. This time Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub had to make a new offer on a longer contract with the company – 18 years – as opposed to his stance that the contract was only five years. The court ordered that Joosub’s determination of a reasonable compensation to Makate of R47 million (based on a 5-year contract) – made in 2019 – be set aside. The court ordered the matter to be remitted back to Joosub to determine the amount of reasonable compensation due to Makate, based on Makate having had an 18-year contract with Vodacom. In terms…

The Competition Commission has approached the Constitutional Court for leave to appeal a Competition Appeal Court (CAC) judgment handed down last month, which upheld an appeal by majority of the respondent banks accused in the rand/dollar currency manipulation scandal. “This appeal will provide the Constitutional Court with an opportunity to pronounce on whether the South African competition authorities have jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute firms that are based outside of the Republic whose anti-competitive conduct affects the South African economy,” said commissioner Doris Tshepe. The matter dates back to June 2020, when the Commission had referred a case to the Competition Tribunal against 28 local and foreign banks alleged to have colluded with one another to fix the foreign exchange rate in respect of the US dollar and the South…

SHORTLY after 8am on February 5, 2016, a tragedy engulfed Lily Mine in Barberton, Mpumalanga. To mark the eighth anniversary of the tragedy on Monday, ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba reiterated his call for those involved to face criminal charges. Mashaba led his party in a prayer service at the mine on Monday to mark eight years since three employees were trapped underground. The crown pillar located between the roof of level three and four underground collapsed. The lamp room container in which Solomon Nyirenda, Yvonne Mnisi and Pretty Nkambule were working was swallowed by the earth as the mine collapsed. Their remains have still not been retrieved. After numerous delays, the inquest into the incident commenced in November 2021 at the Mbombela Magistrate’s Court. It is worth noting that numerous…

Kenyan police said yesterday they had arrested the main suspect in a deadly gas blast that triggered a huge fireball in the densely populated area of Embakasi in Nairobi last week. Six people lost their lives in the disaster and about 280 were injured when a truck loaded with gas canisters exploded in Embakasi, in the south-east of the Kenyan capital, last Thursday night. Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) said in a statement on social media platform X, that its investigators had arrested the “prime suspect” who rented the gas depot where the blast occurred. “To ensure that justice has had its way, the DCI teams who are investigating the dreadful incident have so far arrested main suspect Derrick Kimathi alongside three Nema (National Environment Management Agency) officials who…

Washington: US President Joe Biden confused his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron with France’s long-dead former leader Francois Mitterrand, in a speech that went viral in video footage on Monday. Addressing a campaign event in Las Vegas on Sunday, the 81-year-old US leader described Macron’s reaction to a speech at a G7 meeting in 2020. As well as getting Macron’s name wrong, he misstated the country he leads. “And Mitterrand – Macron, from Germany – I mean, from France looked at me and said, said ‘You know, what – why – how long you back for?’” Biden said, according to a White House transcript. Mitterrand was French president from 1981 to 1995, and died in 1996. Video of Biden’s mix-up has been viewed thousands of times on social media X and…

ISTANBUL: One person was killed and five others were wounded when leftist militants shot at a police checkpoint in front of a courthouse in Istanbul yesterday, in what Türkiye called an attempted terrorist attack. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said police had killed the two shooters, whom he said were believed to belong to the DHKP-C group. The DHKP-C, the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Army-Front, is an outlawed Marxist organisation considered a terrorist organisation by the US, EU and Türkiye. It has been blamed for a string of attacks in Türkiye since 1990. Authorities have detained and killed dozens of its members over the years. |…

South African national team captain Ronwen Williams has bullishly waved away any influence of Nigeria’s past results against Bafana ahead of tonight’s titanic clash. Bafana will battle the Super Eagles in the Africa Cup of Nations semi-final at the Bouake Stadium at 7pm. The winner between the two teams will face either Democratic Republic of Congo or the hosts Ivory Coast, who will duke it out in the second semi-final. Bafana do not possess a good record against the west Africans, and were also eliminated by Nigeria at the quarter-final stage the last time these countries met in 2019. Nigeria have also won seven, drawn five and lost just two of their 14 encounters against Bafana over the years and therefore head into this clash as favourites. Bafana were dumped…

A multimillion-rand development in the eManzimtoti area, south of Durban, has been thrust into the spotlight after the developer said that the project was being stalled by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (Edtea). Developer Brett Latimer, the chief executive of Oxford Freshmarket, posted videos on TikTok accusing Edtea of undermining the development and with it, the potential jobs it will create. In response, Edtea MEC Siboniso Duma, department officials and eThekwini Municipality held a meeting with Latimer at the eManzimtoti project site yesterday. The development, which will include retail space, is valued at about R240 million and is expected to create close to 350 permanent jobs. Edtea has said that environmental compliance in respect of the development is the main point of contention. At the…

THE rules of tough love are relentless in their quest to bring sanity to a delinquent party. So too, the ANC has, for the past 30 years, degenerated from a clear-thinking party to a party incapable of controlling its lust for power, money and excesses, coupled with an insatiable thirst for corruption. It is akin to addicts who are no longer capable of controlling their urges and will resort to the most heinous deeds to get their fix. The forthcoming elections must see the electorate performing the duties of a loving and caring parent. Clamping the wayward ANC will be like placing a hardened addict into rehab, for an extended period, in the hope that the addiction will cease. The ANC is no longer fit for purpose. A new party,…

I RECEIVE from retired colleague John Trachim some photographs, interior and exterior, of an elegant three-storey building from an earlier era. A caption reads: “I’ll definitely return especially if they still have bands on.” Says John: “Popped up on my phone. Dunno who sent it. But it brings back lots of memories.” Yes, indeed. Me too. It’s the Cauliflower pub in Ilford, Essex, in England, a listed building built about the turn of the 19th century. It stands beside the Ilford Recorder (a weekly newspaper read in every quarter of the globe) where I once worked. The Cauliflower is a Victorian gin palace of great style and grace. Its barmaids were a delight and perky after you bought them a Irish Mist or two. It was a place of live…

A trade union in the health sector believes there is no political will to speedily resolve the perennial problems bedevilling South Africa’s public hospitals, including the shortage of doctors. Dr Cedric Sihlangu, chairperson of the South African Medical Association Trade Union (Samatu) said problems, including the lack of medical doctors to attend to patients, cannot be resolved because the people who can effect changes are unaffected by the rot. “This requires political will. If it were for us, we would just scrap the Parmed (medical scheme) that the parliamentarians and the executives enjoy. “They have these sophisticated medical schemes which, when they go to private hospitals, they get treated like royalty, and because of that, they preside over the public health, but they do not subscribe to it,” Sihlangu said…

Auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke has found that the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development failed to take to task officials behind fruitless and wasteful expenditure totalling more than R30 million in the 2022/23 financial year. Maluleke said effective steps were not taken to prevent the fruitless and wasteful expenditure. “Most of the fruitless and wasteful expenditure was caused by payment of invoices for services not rendered. “Disciplinary steps were not taken against officials who had incurred and/ or permitted irregular expenditure,” Maluleke reported in her findings. The department’s management did not implement adequate oversight controls to ensure action plans to address prior years’ findings were addressed to facilitate reliable reporting, Maluleke said. The financial statements submitted for auditing were not fully prepared in accordance with the prescribed financial reporting…

The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) says one school pupil was killed and two injured when they were struck by lightning in Dann- hauser in the Amajuba District, in northern KZN on Monday. KZN Cogta said provincial disaster management teams are responding to the trail of destruction caused by severe thunderstorms accompanied by strong winds and lightning in Dannhauser, Estcourt, Vryheid, and Ulundi. Cogta MEC Bongiwe Sithole-Moloi said the three learners from Mandlamasha Primary School, in Dannhauser, were struck by lightning on their way home from school on Monday. “Unfortunately one learner died on the spot while the other two were rushed to hospital where they are recovering.” Sithole-Moloi expressed condolences to the family of the dead learner and wished a speedy recovery to the two…

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) has added 1.2 million new voters to the voters roll, with the most registrations taking place in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Eastern Cape. IEC chief executive Sy Mamabolo said a large number of young people had registered to vote and were now eligible to cast their ballots in the national general elections. This was an important reversal of the historic under-representation of young people, he said. It was also indicative of the progress being made to address the historical under-representation of young people in that category. The commission said it was pleased that there were now 4.3 million young people aged between 20 and 29 who are registered to vote. The commission said 77% of new registrations (352 000) were young people under…

The party is likely to fall on its sword, or spear, carried by its once trusted soldiers The political landscape of South Africa has witnessed an unprecedented shift as former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma declared their non-participation in the ANC's campaign for the upcoming 2024 elections. Zuma went a step further, announcing the formation of a new party, the MK Party, which aims to divert support from the ANC’s traditional voter base. However, the MK Party is seen by many as a mere carbon copy of the ANC, both in appearance and substance. The similarity in colour scheme and symbols, with the only exception being the wheel, led to a humorous social media joke about the ANC being left with just the wheel of a VW Polo, in…

Displaced again and again by Israel’s military offensive on Gaza, Mahmoud Amer and his family have now pitched their tent close to gravestones in a cemetery in Rafah, the last place of relative safety in the ruined strip of land. The family are among dozens camping in the cemetery, a sandy expanse with a view of the Mediterranean Sea on the horizon, because they feel less at risk there from Israeli bombardments. “People were forced to come here to this safe place, which is the cemetery among the dead,” said Amer, who is displaced from al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza with 11 family members including children and grandchildren. “It’s better than living in residential areas where the houses could collapse on our heads,” said Amer, who spent weeks in…

EU CHIEF Ursula von der Leyen yesterday recommended the bloc bury a plan to cut pesticide use in agriculture as a concession to protesting European farmers. The original proposal, put forward by the European Commission as part of the bloc’s green transition, “has become a symbol of polarisation”, she told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. Noting that the plan – to halve chemical pesticide use in the EU by the end of the decade – had also stalled in discussions in the European Parliament and in the European Council representing EU member countries, Von der Leyen said she would ask her commission “to withdraw this proposal”. The pesticide issue is just one of a long list of grievances that have prompted a mass protest movement by EU farmers, who…

Hong Kong: AN airport ground worker was killed when he was hit by a towed aircraft yesterday, authorities said. The unnamed victim, a 34-year-old Jordanian national working at Hong Kong Airport, is believed to have been riding in the passenger seat of a tow truck when he fell out of the vehicle and was hit by the plane being pulled behind it, police said. Emergency workers pronounced the man dead at the scene. Hong Kong’s airport authority said the man was an employee at ground support and maintenance firm China Aircraft Services. The police are investigating the incident. |…

STOCKHOLM: Sweden plans to close its investigation into the 2022 explosions that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea between Russia and Germany after apparently failing to identify a suspect, several German media outlets reported yesterday. According to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung and Die Zeit newspapers and broadcasters NDR and WDR, the prosecutor leading Sweden’s investigation will announce a halt to the probe soon. “I will take a decision tomorrow and what that decision will be, I cannot tell you now,” Swedish Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist told Reuters yesterday, declining to elaborate. |…

Sometimes it is hard to digest that Masabata Klaas has been around the Proteas Women’s national team for almost 14 years already. The Botshabelo-born medium-pacer made her international debut way back in 2010 and came through the ranks when the women’s game was still very much an amateur pastime. Her career has also been stunted by having to play second fiddle for a large part to South Africa’s long-serving pace trio of Marizanne Kapp, Ayabonga Khaka and Shabnim Ismail. But with the latter having retired from international cricket after last year’s T20 World Cup on home soil, coach Hilton Moreeng has needed to lean on the 33-year-old much more in the past 12 months. It certainly has been an asset on the current tour of Australia with only a handful…

THE expiration of a contract between Ithala SOC Limited and Absa bank has been named as one of the contributing factors to the challenges faced by the bank. Ithala had a contract with Absa to use its technology to process its banking transactions, which has expired. Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (Edtea) MEC in KwaZulu-Natal Siboniso Duma yesterday briefed the media on the South African Reserve Bank Prudential Authority’s action against Ithala which led to a order being granted last December. The order states that an exemption notice, that allowed Ithala to carry out its operations, lapsed on December 15 last year. The order stated that due to the lapsing of the exemption notice, “Ithala is not entitled to continue any deposit- taking activities and to deal with any…

Judge Julia Sebutinde must be highly commended for her independent thought and view in the ICJ case. Her refreshing and honest approach took a lot of courage in the face of one-sided and biased opinions. The Ugandan government distanced itself from her findings but did not condemn her in any way. She voted against all six measures and her arguments were well-constructed and faultlessly presented. Israel was declared a state in 1948; Palestine was not. There never was and never has been an ancient and independent Palestinian state that existed before the Israelites, under Joshua, entered the Land of Canaan (the Promised Land) circa 1420 BCE (Biblical record). Interestingly, the Qur’an specifies that “the Land of Israel is the home of the Jewish people” (Sura 5:21). Israel is not the…

THE COALITION of capitalist and imperialist countries like the US, France, the UK and Germany are supporting one another to protect their ships along the Red Sea – Gulf of Aden – but, sadly, there is no coalition to protect human beings and save lives. The Houthi strike on ships from some Western countries is in protest of the siege and bombing of Gaza. The Houthis have made it clear that their attacks on ships in the Red Sea will stop as soon as apartheid Israel’s illegal military attack on Gaza stops unconditionally. The notion Western countries are driving – that the Houthis are “Iranian proxies” – is disingenuous. The Yemeni people, like human rights activists across the globe, are supportive of the Palestinian resistance and the moral struggle to…

The power of encouragement! “Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never harm me,” says the little song, despite its vast inaccuracies. Bones heal. Bones, I believe, can become stronger as a result of healing. Harsh words, hard, misspoken comments, put-downs, slams, insults, double-edged “compliments” can stay with a recipient forever. They can be replayed, chorus-like, all through a person’s life. I have known people to be inflicted with fresh pain years after a toxic volley has been delivered. Of course this is so! I bet you can recall word-for-word what some misguided teacher yelled at you when you were knee high to a grasshopper. You might not still carry the pain, but some do. I’ve met them. Responsible, accurate, sincere affirmations can inspire a child, guide…

rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za A BUS driver and two bus conductors are in trouble with the law after they allegedly tried to bribe Tshwane Metro Police when they were caught transporting illegal immigrants on the R101 route near Hammanskraal. This was during a law-enforcement operation, where 211 fines were issued for various infringements under the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act. The Tshwane Metro Police Department’s (TMPD) integrity unit together with special operations and the K9 unit, nabbed the bus driver and conductors. Member of Mayoral Committee for Community Safety, Grandi Theunissen, said: “These operational duties led to the arrest of three people – the bus driver and two bus conductors who tried to offer bribes to TMPD officers when they were found transporting illegal immigrants.” He said the suspects…

ORGANS of state, such as the police, had a constitutional duty to uphold the dignity of the courts and ensure the effectiveness of their orders, a judge has said in stating his reasons why he had found the SAPS to be in contempt of court for failing to safeguard long distance buses in the Eastern Cape. Long-distance bus company Intercape has been embroiled in litigation with the police and transport authorities after its bus service suffered a series of incidents. It said the attacks on its buses were indicative of a deliberate strategy by rogue taxi operatives in certain parts of the province to subject it and its long-distance drivers and passengers to violence, intimidation and coercion to increase its rates. Earlier, the bus company had turned to the Eastern…

South African consumers, last year, had to endure one of the most financially difficult years since democracy. This is according to the latest Fourth Quarter 2023 Debt Index, released by DebtBusters yesterday to coincide with National Debt Awareness Month. It said high inflation and interest rates, and a strained economy, had combined to erode disposable incomes. Rising food, electricity and fuel prices drove inflation, with the SA Reserve Bank countering by hiking interest rates to combat it. This had led to interest rates now being 475 basis points higher than in 2020. Crippling levels of load shedding also constrained meaningful economic growth and, consequently, salary increases. Average interest rates for unsecured debt were now at an eight-year high of 25.6%. The average interest rate for a bond grew from 8.3%…

The bold move by Sekunjalo Group and its associated companies to launch the R75 billion lawsuit against the South African government was long overdue and perfectly justified. The legal action, paralleled by another Sekunjalo subsidiary, Sagarmatha Technologies, filing a separate R50bn lawsuit, marks a critical juncture in a series of events that have systematically sought to undermine and economically sabotage Dr Iqbal Survé’s businesses. It’s a David versus Goliath battle, with Sekunjalo on the just side of history. Sekunjalo Group, including most of its subsidiaries, encompassing Ayo Technology Solutions, Independent Media and other associated companies, has faced a relentless barrage of attacks directly intended to undermine and destroy the companies’ value and, in some instances, hijack them. In 2013, when Sekunjalo bought Independent Media, one of the four largest media…

Almost 6 500 candidates from 150 parties will stand in Pakistan’s election this week but only around 5% of them are women. The constitution reserves seats for women in the provincial and national assemblies but parties rarely allow women to contest outside that quota. AFP interviewed three women candidates who are pushing for change. YouTuber Zeba Waqar has built up a loyal following of several hundred thousand women online, but this week will be the first time she puts her popularity to the test in an election. The first-time national candidate from Lahore is a member of Jamaat-e-Islami, a right-wing party centred on religion. Each week women tune in to her broadcasts. A lot of those she preaches to are middle-class, elite women who are turning to social media for…

Senegalese lawmakers have voted to delay this month’s presidential election until December, a move that has sparked international concern over a country normally seen as a beacon of stability in West Africa. After hours of debating the postponement on Monday, and after police forcibly removed some opposition deputies from the chamber, law- makers adopted the measure in the late evening. The law contains a provision to keep President Macky Sall in office until his successor is installed. Security forces outside parliament used tear gas to disperse small groups of opposition protesters, with protesters chanting “Macky Sall dictator”. The atmosphere generally in Senegal has been tense since Saturday, when Sall announced a delay to the February 25 vote, just hours before campaigning was officially set to begin. |…

New Delhi: At least eight people died and about 80 were injured yesterday in a giant explosion at a fireworks factory in India, officials said. Video images on Indian broadcast channels showed flames reaching high into the sky after the explosion at the firecracker plant. Dozens of ambulances and army helicopters were called in to evacuate the wounded. Senior district official Kailash Chand Parte, who was co-ordinating rescue efforts, said about 15 fire engines were battling the fierce blaze. He said about 200 to 300 people worked at the factory, but it was not known how many were inside at the time of the explosion. |…

Washington: Three researchers have won a $700 000 (about R13 million) prize for using artificial intelligence to read a 2 000-year-old scroll that was scorched in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The Herculaneum papyri consists of about 800 fragile rolled-up Greek scrolls that were carbonised during the 79 CE volcanic eruption that buried the Roman town of Pompeii, according to the organisers of the “Vesuvius Challenge”. The trio who won the prize was composed of Youssef Nader, a PhD student in Berlin, Luke Farritor, a student and SpaceX intern from Nebraska, and Julian Schilliger, a Swiss robotics student. |…