Indholdsfortegnelse for 2024-03-20 i Mercury

Family, friends and members of the public have banded together to search for KwaZulu-Natal North Coast skipper, John Matambu. Matambu has been missing since March 16. His burnt charter fishing ski-boat Magnum Too was found beached in the vicinity of Dobela on the Mozambique coastline on Sunday, with no sign of the skipper or his unidentified passenger. It is believed the boat departed from Sodwana Bay early on March 16. Candice Eilertsen, the wife of Matambu’s nephew Michael, said they had been managing and dealing with people offering to help and leads coming in. She said Michael was dealing specifically with the investigators and people who wanted to lead search parties. Eilertsen said the first search party was initiated by a friend of Matambu who became worried when he…

The R20 increase to the Social Relief of Distress grant to R370 a month is still less than half the amount of money adult South Africans need just to feed themselves, with nothing left over for things such as transport, electricity, toiletries or medicine. On Saturday, the GOOD Party unveiled its election manifesto, under the theme “Stop the Suffering” – placing the provision of a basic income grant (BIG) of a minimum of R999 a month for all unemployed people front and centre, because you can’t build a democracy on a foundation of injustice. Besides which, the Constitution provides that if the economy can’t provide for the basic needs of the people, the State must do so. Social security is not a gift or a handout. It is an inalienable…

The Sunday Times front page headlines referring to the ANC’s decision to partially privatise SAA, quoting President Cyril Ramaphosa’s comment, read:- “No wholesale sell-off but we need private capital.” This illustrates the duality (or is it duplicity) of the various factions of the ANC. On the one hand there is the realisation that the private sector should be involved in “saving” SAA from collapse. On the other hand, there is the other section (Cosatu and the SACP) who demand complete state control. The facts, however, are that the collapse of SAA (and for that matter just about every other SOE under ANC state administration) has happened because of the continued insistence by the ANC and Ramaphosa on implementing cadré deployment. It is South Africa’s tragedy that while there are…

WITH lessons learned from the brink of ‘Day Zero’ drought and energy procurement plans under way, the City of Cape Town has partnered with a global research centre to launch a research lab. The Water, Air, and Energy (Wae) Lab by the municipality, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and the Community Jameel is expected to co-generate evidence and inform policies that effectively improve access to clean air, water, and reliable energy for Capetonians. The evidence generated will also be relevant to growing urban centres in the rest of South Africa and low and middle-income countries globally. Policymakers, researchers from across the world and distinguished speakers, including Nobel Prize laureates Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee were among those in attendance at the launch in the Banquet Hall, Civic…

The KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra (KZNPO) wraps up its 2024 World Symphony Summer Season, with the final concert taking place in The Playhouse Opera Theatre tomorrow at 7pm. The KZNPO said conductor Daniel Boico will round off the season with Dvorák’s Bohemian-folk inspired Czech Suite and ending with Mozart’s exhilarating Symphony no 38 The Prague. “The centrepiece for the evening’s programme is Camille Saint Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals – a playful, humorous musical suite of 14 movements honouring a variety of animals. “The work, about 25 minutes in duration, was a piece Camille Saint Saëns’ wrote for fun, for a private performance by two pianos and chamber ensemble. On piano are Nina Schumann and Megan-Geoffrey Prins.” KZN Philharmonic season tickets are available through the KZN Philharmonic Office on 031…

A Durban man who stabbed his mother to death a day before Mother’s Day in May 2023 has been found not criminally responsible for her death. Krishen Pillay, 40, was found to not be mentally fit to stand trial and will be detained at the Fort Napier Hospital. Pillay, who suffers from schizophrenia, was arrested shortly after the murder on the morning of May 13, 2023 at their Glen Anil home. It is believed that Pillay and his mother, Debigee Pillay, a housewife, had an argument over the cleaning of his room which led to the stabbing. Debigee Pillay, 65, died from her injuries. He was also charged with the attempted murder of his sister, who is a medical doctor. Attorney Anand Nepaul represented Pillay. In court proceedings in the…

ON May 21, 1960 in Sharpeville, 69 people were killed when police fired on a peaceful crowd that had gathered in protest against the pass laws of the then apartheid regime. About 7 000 protesters had gathered at the police station for the mass action. The police then opened fire on the crowd which had started advancing towards the fence around the police station. Of those who were killed, 29 were children. Another 180 people were injured. Some were shot in the back as they fled. In present-day South Africa, March 21 is commemorated as a public holiday in honour of human rights and to commemorate the Sharpeville massacre. With the May 29 general election looming, politicians will again use the occasion to score political points. The 1960 protest was…

India’s main reservoirs have hit their lowest March levels in five years, government data showed, indicating a possible squeeze on drinking water and power availability this summer. In major centres such as India’s ‘Silicon Valley’ Bengaluru, home to firms like Google, water supply is already being curtailed. The 150 reservoirs monitored by the federal government – which supply water for drinking and irrigation and are the country’s key source of hydro-electricity – were filled to just 40% of capacity last week, government data showed. Water reserves are the lowest for March since 2019, when reservoir capacity fell to 35% and saw southern cities such as Chennai run out of water. The situation could escalate the crisis in central and southern cities which face extreme heatwaves in April and May. India’s…

HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s Legislative Council yesterday unanimously passed a new national security bill within a fortnight of it first being tabled, fast-tracking a major piece of legislation that critics say threatens the China-ruled city’s freedoms. The package, known as Article 23, updates or creates new laws and penalties to prohibit treason, sabotage, sedition, the theft of state secrets and espionage, with up to life imprisonment. The 90-seat council stacked with pro-Beijing loyalists was first presented with the bill on March 8, following a month-long public consultation. It will come into effect on Saturday. | Reuters…

The United Rugby Championship is a lost cause for the Sharks but Bok bruiser Eben Etzebeth says the Durbanites can still get their hands on silverware in the form of the Challenge Cup. And if the Sharks do win this second-tier knock-out competition, they will automatically qualify for the more lucrative Champions Cup, something they currently cannot do by finishing in the top eight of the URC. There are not enough games left for the Sharks to climb from 16th into play-off territory. “The Challenge Cup is now something we are targeting as it will mean we can get into the Champions Cup if we win it,” Etzebeth said. “Unfortunately, trying to qualify by making the top eight in the URC is no longer possible, which is disappointing if you…

A few days ago, the Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) hosted a dialogue on Mobilising Finance for a Just Transition, covering a broad range of issues relating to climate finance tagging, project design and matchmaking, financial structuring and implementation support, among others. What was interesting through the dialogue was the convergence of views to address the fundamental question on what constitutes a “just transition” project, and what are the criteria that should inform the tagging of climate finance as well as the institutional and policy alignment needed to support the financing of the just transition. The current PCC draft “Just transition Finance Mechanism Recommendations Report” tabled for public participation and comments, acknowledges that “just transition projects are less commercial by nature, necessitate a higher proportion of grant finance and risk mitigation…

The Black Lawyers Association (BLA) has called for any opinions given to the Constitutional Court by retired Justices Zak Yacoob and Johan Froneman to be discarded and for the sitting justices to reconsider these matters. Last week, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said he had decided to discontinue the use of retired justices to help consider new applications to the Constitutional Court after legal non-governmental organisations and other concerned bodies challenged the chief justice’s explanation that they were providing an administrative support service. The Council for the Advancement of the Constitution (Casac) twice wrote to Justice Zondo, with concerns also being raised by BLA, Freedom Under Law and the National Association of Democratic Lawyers (Nadel). Casac in its letter said that deciding whether to grant or dismiss applications was a core…

We have seen devastating action by eThekwini Municipality employees that has seen service delivery regress to unacceptable levels. Piling waste has caused havoc in the city and surroundings with an exponential increase in electricity and water outages resulting in communities taking their frustration onto the streets. In all the commotion, do we see a very vocal political head in the mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, addressing all stakeholders in respect of the action? It was in The Mercury last year that we learnt of a steep salary increase for the City manager and the motivation for the increase was that he was leading a category 10 municipality and some of his counterparts in other metros were earning more than him. Now the question is why are his employees not earning according to…

Ireland, Ireland! Together standing tall, Shoulder to shoulder, We’ll answer Ireland’s call! THE Paddies have won the Six Nations for the second season in succession – and deservedly so, but it was close. The Scotties were always in the picture. It’s been a wonderful Six Nations – just ask the damsels of the Pub With No Name, who are still strumming their knickers at the memory. And a feature of the competition has been the emergence of Italy as a force to be reckoned with. Their all-round play – in the tight and the loose – was of a new order and their rout of Wales (Poor old Taffies!) was the crowning glory. Italy are going to be a force in world rugby. The damsels, of course, supplied knicker elastic…

FOLLOWING a cash heist nvolving two police officers nearly a decade ago, Police Minister Bheki Cele’s office will now have to fork out nearly R94 million to cover the losses incurred. The Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, found the minister to be vicariously liable for the conduct of the two officers. This was based on a previous Constitutional Court judgment where it was held that when intentional criminal deviant conduct of the police is closely connected to the minister’s business, he may be held vicariously liable in a delictual claim for damages. The now former police officers Lekele Rekson Lekola and Tamsanqa Gladstone Khubeka were among a group who, during the late evening of April 27, 2014, participated in a well-planned robbery at the Witbank premises of the company known…

MOST public holidays in South Africa hold great historical significance as they serve as remembrances of a painful history as well as reminders of the long road ahead. Human Rights Day is one such day that serves as a moment of reflection and commemoration for those who lost their lives in the Sharpeville Massacre of 1960. The events of March 21, 1960, which started as a peaceful march against the apartheid pass laws, turned into one of the most tragic human massacres when the police killed 69 people including 29 children and injured over 180 people. This day marked a major turning point in South African history as it resulted in an intensified armed Struggle for liberation from the brutality and inhumanity of apartheid. In 2024, South Africa marks the…

Efforts to hammer out a temporary truce in Gaza intensified yesterday after months of war that have devastated the Palestinian territory and pushed hundreds of thousands to the brink of famine. While a UN-backed assessment said 300 000 people in Gaza’s north would face famine by May without a surge of aid, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said everyone in Gaza was now in need of humanitarian aid. UN human rights chief Volker Turk blamed Israel for the hunger crisis, telling reporters in Geneva they were blocking aid and conducting the conflict in a way that “may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war”. Israeli troops yesterday pressed an assault on Gaza’s biggest hospital, which they allege is being used for military purposes. The military…

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday hailed a recent strengthening of defence ties with the Philippines as “extraordinary”, saying they would only grow further, though Washington’s expanding alliances were not aimed at China. Speaking during a visit to the Philippines, Blinken said China’s actions in the South China Sea had triggered a wider international reaction, and the US was engaged in intense diplomacy to reaffirm international law. “We have a shared concern about (China’s) actions that threaten our common vision for a free open Indo-Pacific, including in the South China Sea and in the Philippines exclusive economic zone (EEZ),” Blinken told a press conference alongside his Philippine counterpart. Ties between the Philippines and China have soured amid repeated spats over disputed features in the Philippine’s exclusive economic zone, and…

The Titans will be hoping for a return to winning ways when they host the Dolphins in their CSA T20 Challenge match at SuperSport Park today. The Sky Blues have suffered consecutive narrow defeats to the Warriors and Lions. The defending champions fell two runs short against the Warriors andlost by just one run to their cross-town rivals, the Lions, in the Jukskei Derby. The competitive nature of the CSA T20 Challenge means that due to these two reversals, the Titans now find themselves in a lowly fifth place. They will also have to find a way to navigate the remainder of the competition without their national stars that all left for the Indian Premier League (IPL). Senior bowlers such as Tabraiz Shamsi, Lizaad Williams and Junior Dala will, therefore,…

South Africa’s URC teams return to action this weekend and there is plenty at stake for the Bulls, Lions and Stormers. There are play-off positions at stake while for the fourth local franchise, the Sharks, it is all about finding form as they switch their focus to winning the Challenge Cup. Here, Independent Newspapers looks at four forwards with everything to play for. Asenathi Ntlabakanye of the Lions The big fellow would have been disappointed to be left out of the recent Bok alignment camp. He certainly has the form and has been a massive presence for the Lions and is difficult to ignore. At one point Ntlabakanye weighed 153kg but his ability to shift the opposition in the scrum is only part of his repertoire. It is his hunger…

WHILE the ANC asked the Electoral Court, sitting in Bloemfontein, to set aside the decision to register the uMKhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) due to what it deemed as irregularities in the registration process, counsel for the MKP said the ANC only ran to court once former president Jacob Zuma announced he would campaign and vote for the MKP. The parties met each other yesterday in a battle launched by the ANC to see the MKP deregistered from participating in the upcoming elections. The governing party asked for an urgent review of MKP’s registration with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). The ANC said after the MKP’s application for registration was initially rejected because it did not meet the prescribed requirements, the MKP then unlawfully supplemented its application, instead of…

Durban ratepayers may have to fork out more for municipal services from July after the eThekwini Municipality tabled a draft budget detailing new proposed tariffs yesterday. Ratepayers will have an opportunity to share their views on the draft budget as it will need to go out for public comment before a final version is tabled and approved. It was presented to members of council during a meeting yesterday at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre. New municipal tariffs come into effect at the start of the new financial year in July. Opposition parties cried foul over the tariffs and said there was no justification to ask people to pay for services they were not getting. Ratepayers’ groups expressed the same concerns with one of the organisations equating the new tariffs…

The DA calls on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to reveal how vetting took place for the student accommodation online portal service providers and student accommodation accrediting agents. Recent investigations by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) into tender contracts, revealed irregularities as well as the service providers’ inability to offer these services effectively. Service providers have to pay up to R200 per bed for accreditation and an additional 5% of rental received to NSFAS for administration fees. The online portal providers and accrediting agents stand to make millions from these contracts. The Outa investigative report also revealed that: Student accommodation online portal providers are also student accommodation accrediting agents and student accommodation providers. Connected politicians or their family members were awarded contracts to provide accrediting services. Employees…

Forgiveness can most dramatically precipitate healing among and within people. He (or she) who chooses to forgive seldom loses. He who initiates forgiveness reveals his strength. It is the stronger person who is first to forgive, and when the exchange is made, both parties – the forgiver and the forgiven – benefit from the act. As quickly as you find it possible, and can muster the strength from within you: forgive when you have been wronged; when you are uncomfortable being around a particular person; when you find you have little or nothing positive to say to or about someone; when you look for ways to avoid a certain person; when you find it hard to think positive thoughts about someone. Forgive when someone’s actions (real or perceived) seem buried…

Today marks 23 years since Rod Smith’s first column appeared in The Mercury. Smith, a former Durban resident who lives in the US, recalled this week how he started writing the column titled You and Me. Smith said he visited Dennis Pather, the editor of The Mercury at the time in 2001 and requested that Pather read his editorial columns that had been published in the Indianapolis Star. He said he had been the “Saturday” columnist writing 650-700 words on any topic of choice at the American publication. “After a few days Dennis asked me to come in. He said he’d like to publish a shorter, daily article and asked if I was up to it. I agreed and You and Me was born, a title Dennis wanted for the…

The businessman charged along with others for the murders of Kiernan “AKA” Forbes and Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane has sought to explain a payment of over R800 000 he received. The State alleges that the payment was for involvement in the murders. Forbes and Motsoane were killed on Durban’s Florida Road last year. Businessman Mziwethemba Harvey Gwabeni, 36, applied for bail in the Durban Magistrate’s Court yesterday. In his affidavit in support of bail, Gwabeni said the money was payment for a business deal with a reputable company. He also said that while looking for him in February, police unlawfully entered his house and assaulted his wife. He added that he derives income from three sources: consulting in the mining industry; construction; and mining itself. “The allegation, as stated in the…

Rights flourish where there are responsible citizens and leaders in all walks of life DEAR Grandchildren. I told you a while ago that you will receive many communications from me during this historic year in South Africa. This year we celebrate 30 years of democracy. On the 21st of March every year, we celebrate Human Rights Day. On this day in 1960, police of the apartheid government of South Africa killed people in Sharpville who were protesting against the regime. The day was since then called Sharpeville Day but was renamed to Human Rights Day to emphasise that the tragic incident in Sharpeville should never happen again - anywhere. Human rights are a crucial instrument that on the one hand, protect and, on the other hand, advance dignity, healing, justice,…

Amnesty International criticised a leaked draft of Saudi Arabia’s first penal code yesterday, saying it would codify practices ranging from flogging to gender discrimination and urging changes to align it with international standards. In a report, Amnesty said the draft penal code “shatters the illusion” that de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman “is pursuing a truly reformist agenda” – a reference to social and economic changes he has introduced to modernise Saudi Arabia, and attract investment and tourism. Amnesty said the draft was first leaked in 2022 and its authenticity had been confirmed by Saudi legal experts. Amnesty said the Saudi Human Rights Commission had denied the document’s authenticity after it wrote to the commission and the Saudi government to share its analysis. The commission told Amnesty a…

Canberra: Hundreds of residents of remote northern Australia have been left stranded after Tropical Cyclone Megan forced the suspension of evacuation efforts. Megan made landfall in the northeast of Australia’s Northern Territory on Monday as a category 3 storm hit, with wind speeds up to 200km/h and heavy rainfall. Evacuations from nearby towns being led by the Australian Defence Force were suspended. This left 700 people trapped in the region as the cyclone approaches, with power cut off. Flood warnings have been issued across the north-east with up to 300mm of rain expected. | IANS…

Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos has been left fuming as uncertainty surrounds the fitness of Mamelodi Sundowns players selected for two friendlies. The South African national football side arrived in Algeria and began their preparations for matches against Andorra and the Foxes. In his final 23-man squad, Broos named seven Sundowns players, who were given permission to join the squad late because of their Nedbank Cup commitments on Sunday. However, national team captain Ronwen Williams as well as midfielder Tebogo Mokoena, who were part of Bafana’s squad, were pronounced injured by Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena after their Nedbank Cup clash with Maritzburg United. Both Williams and Mokoena were absent from the team on the day. Bafana kick off their north African tour tomorrow, when they face Andorra…

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan confirmed that he and the player directors from the tour’s policy board met the head of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia on Monday in the Bahamas but offered little news about their discussion. According to media reports yesterday, Monahan notified PGA Tour players via a memo on Monday night that the meeting with the player directors – Patrick Cantlay, Peter Malnati, Webb Simpson, Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott and Tiger Woods – took place with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF’s governor and the chairman of the LIV Golf League. The PGA Tour and the PIF have been in discussions since June about an alliance with the DP World Tour and PIF that would bring along billions in cash from Saudi Arabia. The PIF is…