Indholdsfortegnelse for 2025-04-02 i Mercury

RECENTLY I have noticed a number of messages/posts circulating on social media, and in the mainstream media as well, where the DA has been blaming the IFP for the fragmented water reticulation systems in eThekwini. The DA claims that the IFP is co-governing with the ANC and therefore responsible for the water crisis facing the city. I think it's important that the facts are made plain. Firstly, this municipality is not run by the ANC and IFP alone. It is run by 31 parties who form part of its full council. The executive committee is made up of 10 members: ANC (4), DA (3), NFP (1) EFF (1) and IFP (1). To suggest that the IFP, with just one Exco seat, is responsible for the water crisis because the IFP…

Just over two decades ago I dropped in at The Mercury’s offices in Durban and asked to see the editor. The kind woman at reception made a phone call, and within a few minutes, I was in Editor Dennis Pather’s office, where I enjoyed his warm hospitality, his keen sense of humour, and a stimulating conversation. I told Mr Pather that The Mercury was my first real reading material as a child and how I marvelled that “The Idler” (then written by John Vigor) could produce a column every day. Then, reflecting on it now, I brazenly told Mr Pather that I would like to write a weekly column – from the US – for The Mercury, similar to the freelance work I was already doing for the Indianapolis Star.…

Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe announced a price drop in all grades of petrol and diesel yesterday. Mantashe announced that the decreases will come into effect today. They are as follows: Petrol 93 (unleaded and lead replacement petrol, LRP): 58 cents per litre (c/litre) decrease. Petrol 95 (unleaded and LRP): 72c/litre decrease. Diesel (0.05% sulphur): 83.8c/litre decrease. Diesel (0.005% sulphur): 85.8c/litre decrease. Illuminating paraffin (wholesale): 81.70c/litre decrease. SMNRP for IP: 114c/litre decrease. Maximum LPGas retail price: 79c/kg decrease. Mantashe said that South Africa’s fuel prices are adjusted monthly, informed by international and local factors. “International factors include the fact that South Africa imports both crude oil and finished products at a price set at the international level, including import costs.” Mantashe added that the crude oil price…

The average age of first-time home buyers in South Africa now sits at 37, when only a few years ago it was 33, says Bradd Bendall, BetterBond’s national head of sales. The rapid increase in the age of first-time home buyers shows that potential buyers are now waiting longer to buy a home as they work on consolidating their finances before committing to bond repayments. “Affordability is one of the reasons why many South Africans are taking longer to buy their first home, with many opting to rent until they are in a position to afford the hefty transfer duties associated with a bond,” Bendall said. He says the shift in the average age of home buyers is the result of several interlinked factors, primarily centred around affordability and economic…

Police in KwaZulu-Natal have launched a manhunt for suspects linked to a cash-in-transit heist on the KwaMashu highway, the M25, on Monday afternoon. KZN police spokesperson Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo said armed suspects stopped a cash-in-transit vehicle, stealing an undisclosed amount of money. “The guards sustained minor injuries.” Videos of the robbery have since gone viral on social media. Prem Balram, of private security company Reaction Unit South Africa (Rusa), said that according to reports, heavily armed suspects travelling in two vehicles forced the driver of the cash van to stop. “The suspects attached explosives to the vehicle and detonated it in peak traffic,” Balram said. They robbed the security officers of their firearms and stole the cash, h e said. “They fired multiple shots before they sped off in…

Nationwide peaceful protests under the hashtag #JusticeForCwecwe took place yesterday over the critical failures by authorities in probing the rape of the 7-year-old girl six months ago. This comes after a 7-year-old girl, Cwecwe, was raped in October 2024 at Bergview College in Matatiele, Eastern Cape, while waiting for scholar transport. Despite her parents promptly reporting the incident, no arrests have been made to date, fuelling public outrage and demands for accountability. The hashtag #JusticeForCwecwe has gained significant traction, with South Africans calling for action from law enforcement and the Department of Education. It was previously reported that Police Minister Senzo Mchunu said three individuals, including the school principal, have been identified as suspects in the case. “All outstanding statements have since been obtained by the investigating officer. DNA tests…

A tree does not bloom in frost, and a frozen economy does not produce income EVEN before the political bickering between lawmakers over political tradeoffs needed to pass the budget by today, we have been living under doubt and speculation since Moody's Investor Services, Fitch Ratings, and S&P Global Ratings downgraded the country’s sovereign credit rating one notch below investment grade. As the absence of consensus on the budget adds more pressure, we have all been getting antsy because of the enveloping crisis. The term “crisis” derives from the Greek “krisis”, meaning decision or judgment. From this, we also get terms such as critic (someone who judges) and critical condition (a medical state that could go either way). A crisis can conclude fortunately or tragically, but the point is that…

Argentina and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) may be on the home stretch over a $20 billion new programme, but the deal has so far failed to dispel traders’ anxiety and a haze of uncertainty around the outlook for the country’s peso currency. The nation, under the leadership of libertarian President Javier Milei, is trying to rebuild investor confidence and bolster depleted foreign currency reserves after years of overspending that left the grains producer locked out of global markets and battling to stabilise its finances. The government is in advanced talks with the IMF over a new deal that could give the central bank a much-needed hard currency buffer, but uncertainty over FX policy has spooked traders and led to a drain in already depleted reserves, under- scoring a challenge…

Beirut: Hezbollah lawmaker Ibrahim Musawi called on the Lebanese state to act after an Israeli strike on Beirut’s southern suburbs yesterday, the second in days despite a Hezbollah-Israel ceasefire. Musawi said that the Lebanese authorities must “act with the highest level of effectiveness, make the international community bear its responsibility, and take the highest level of measures to guarantee the safety of the Lebanese”. Meanwhile, an Israeli strike on Beirut killed Hassan Bdair, a Hezbollah official handling Palestinian affairs, in the second such raid within days.…

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin remained open to contact with US President Donald Trump, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday. Peskov said that “such contacts can be agreed upon very quickly if necessary”. He said that Russia and the US were working on implementing ideas related to the Ukrainian settlement, but there were no specifics yet. In a phone interview with NBC News on Sunday, Trump said he was “very angry” when Putin criticised the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s leadership, adding that the comments were “not going in the right location.”…

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said that the issue of Kyiv’s membership in Nato had been the cause of the Ukraine conflict, and it was not discussed in the context of the rare earth metals deal. “I see he (Volodymyr Zelenskiy) is trying to renegotiate the rare earth (deal),” Trump said at the White House. “Through you (reporters), I heard that they now say ‘Well, I’ll only do the deal if we get into Nato’ or something to that effect. Well, number one, that was never discussed.” The issue of Ukraine’s membership in Nato was the cause of the conflict, Trump believes. “That’s probably the reason the war started, actually,” the US president emphasised.…

I’m not sure what the minister of health was smoking when he issued regulations that banned the sale of hemp and cannabis food products. In essence, the banning of these food products will not only destroy jobs, businesses and the future of many people in South Africa but it will also force people to go back to smoking cannabis instead of a much healthier approach of eating cannabis food products. It also became clear that the minister of health forgot to consult the public and the professions. This issue of forgetting to consult seems to have been entrenched in government. At least the president has now confirmed that it might be a good idea to consult with the stakeholders and the public. While I fully understand that there are some…

OH BOY, calamity and a learning process. When an earthquake wreaks havoc in a place with a name like Myanmar, those of my vintage have to look up where it is. Myanmar…? Oh, this is Burma, off the Andaman Sea, a place of much military action in World War II, much written about it. The writer George Orwell lived and worked there in the 1920s, and his later colossus of a book, Nineteen Eighty-Four, ironically warned of a worldwide future in which what goes on politically in and around Burma/Myanmar today could possibly happen all over the world. An odd quirk, not so? The name Burma was changed relatively recently to Myanmar by the military regime that currently rules it with an iron fist. But politics are suddenly overshadowed by…

The High Court in the Western Cape has ruled against a woman who wanted to live in her late boyfriend’s house with her children and also have access to his cars. Ruansa van Eeden brought an urgent application in the high court after the family of her late boyfriend, Wilfred Heathcoate Craythorne, refused to hand her back the keys to his house. Craythorne died in November and the two were living in separate homes, but Van Eeden had keys to his house. She gave the keys to his family so they could stay in the house during the funeral as they lived overseas. However, Craythorne’s mother, Aletha Catherina Oosthuizen, who was the first respondent in the case, lives in Cape Town. After the funeral, the family decided to rent out…

SECURITY guards have been hired to protect the premises of what was once a popular restaurant in Musgrave, Durban, from being further vandalised by vagrants. The building, situated on the corner of Stephen Dlamini and St Thomas roads, was occupied by La Bella, an Italian restaurant, pub, and function venue. After the business ceased to operate at that premises in 2023, vagrants moved in, and began stripping the interior infrastructure and made a home for themselves. The municipal building that housed the restaurant falls under the jurisdiction of the eThekwini Electricity Department. DA ward 31 councillor Remona Mckenzie, who had come under fire from residents over the dilapidated state of the building, said yesterday that it was a relief that security guards had been deployed. The municipality has started the…

EVERY now and then, there are incidents or events that call on us as a country to unite behind a common goal. We are not only referring to things that make everyone happy like the Springboks winning a crucial rugby game against the All Blacks or retaining the World Cup, or when Dricus du Plessis defeats a tough opponent during a global fighting contest. No. Here we are referring to the rallying call for #JusticeForCwecwe, a 7-year-old Eastern Cape girl who was raped while waiting for her school transport in October last year. Since then, the parents of the Bergview College pupil in Matatiele have had little to no information about what happened to their daughter, whom they sent to school to be safe. Instead, they have been met with…

China sent its army, navy, air and rocket forces to surround Taiwan for large-scale drills yesterday that Beijing said were aimed at practising for “precision strikes” and a blockade of the self-ruled island. Taiwan dispatched its aircraft and ships, and deployed land-based missile systems, in response to the exercises and accused Beijing of being the world’s “biggest troublemaker”. The drills come after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in Japan on Sunday that the US would ensure “deterrence” across the Taiwan Strait, and called Beijing “aggressive”. China opposes US support for Taiwan, which Beijing insists is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control. Beijing has increased the deployment of fighter jets and naval vessels around Taiwan in recent years to press…

Shelter, clean water and medicine are in short supply following the earthquake in Myanmar that has caused significant structural damage and had a devastating human toll, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said yesterday. A 7.7 magnitude earthquake on Friday, which killed more than 2 700 people and left more than 4500 injured, severely damaged critical infrastructure including major bridges and roads. “The time window for critical search and rescue is narrowing ... Shelter, clean water, medicine are in short supply. People in affected areas spent the night in the open because there is no electricity or running water,” OCHA’s Myanmar Resident and Humanitarian Co-ordinator Marcoluigi Corsi said in Geneva by video link from Yangon. Multiple UN Agencies have raised the alarm about the shortage of…

Seoul: South Korea’s Constitutional Court will issue its long-awaited ruling on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment on Friday, months after he was suspended for declaring martial law. Yoon’s December 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule plunged South Korea into political chaos after he sent armed soldiers into parliament. For Yoon to be removed from office, at least six of the court’s eight justices must vote in favour. Confirmation of his impeachment would trigger elections which must be held within 60 days. Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans have been rallying for and against Yoon in the capital, Seoul.…

Vilnius: The bodies of three US soldiers who went missing last week have been found in a swamp at the Pabrade training area in Lithuania’s Svencionys District, the US Army Europe and Africa said in a statement on Monday. The whereabouts of a fourth soldier remained unknown. “Three US Army soldiers (...) were found deceased in Lithuania today,” the statement reads. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has extended condolences over the deaths of the soldiers, Baltic News Service (BNS) reported. The search and recovery operation was launched last week to locate the men who went missing during a training exercise in Pabrade.…

The Democratic Alliance will be laying criminal charges against (Minister of Human Settlements) Thembi Simelane after allegations have emerged of her involvement in yet another corruption scandal, this time involving Eskom and her previous employer, Vitrovian. In addition the DA will write to the National Prosecuting Authority to determine what progress has been made on the investigation and prosecution of Simelane in relation to the VBS looting scandal. We further reiterate our call for Simelane to be removed from the Cabinet by the President, as a most basic step. In a shocking report, it has come to light that Simelane earned more than R700 000 while she was working for Vitrovian to crush protests at the Kusile power plant. Vitrovian’s charges were outrageously inflated, and the utility billed Eskom for…

RECENT events have compelled this country to “smell the coffee”, especially concerning the actions and conduct of the secular states of Israel and America, as well as secular white grouping both inside and outside of secular South Africa. That is to say, the Madiba magic is finally over, hopefully forever! In addition, South Africans acted superior to other black Africans, giving them the impression that “white people are with us”. Without a doubt, one of the psychological foundations of xenophobic sentiments in South Africa among black people was the idea that if white people were placated and made to feel that South Africa preferred them over impoverished, destructive Africans who had failed to achieve their own “rainbow democracy” after independence, then things would get better. That has become dubious, and…

The Royal Household Trust, which manages the affairs of the Zulu-Royal house, has come under fire for its management of the construction of King Misuzulu’s new palace in oPhongola. Sipho Buthelezi, the chief financial officer of the trust, was first questioned about the scope of work increasing which could potentially lead to increased costs. Buthelezi faced further scrutiny for stating that it is not possible for him to say “no” to a request from his principal in the Royal House. He did not provide further details and later retracted this comment. The Royal Household Trust appeared before the Finance Portfolio Committee recently and mentioned that funds had been set aside for work at the new Mashobeni Royal Palace in oPhongola. The committee wanted to know how much is being spent…

Two former senior intelligence officers have been arrested for allegedly defrauding the State Security Agency (SSA) of R5.8 million. Ntshavheni Prince Makhathana and Matome Solomon Ralebipi appeared in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court this week where their bail was set at R100 000 and R150 000, respectively. Makhathana, a former manager of the Cover Support Unit (CSU) of the then National Intelligence Agency (NIA), now SSA, was responsible for all its operations and financial expenditure, together with his co-accused, Ralebipi, a former agent of the NIA. As the manager responsible for the operations and financial expenditure of the unit, Makhathana allegedly exploited his position to defraud the intelligence agency of R5.8m. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) accused Makhathana of laundering this money through the property company of his…

Will it be third time lucky for Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg High Court Judge Leicester Adams, the sole candidate for yesterday's Judicial Service Commission (JSC) interview to fill the vacant position at the Electoral Court? Following an interview and the panel deliberations, the JSC has resolved to recommend him as a permanent judge for this position. The final decision will lie with President Cyril Ramaphosa, who will consider the recommendations. Judge Adams had been acting at this court during last year’s elections, but he was twice in the past overlooked for a permanent position at the Electoral Court. Facing several questions from Chief Justice Mandisa Maya during the interview, as well as questions from other panellists, Judge Adams appeared keen to take on the position. Online judge’s watchgroup Judges Matter…

Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Dean Macpherson believes the government is making headway in bringing to book those who are involved in the construction mafia. For years, South Africa has struggled with criminal groups, often referred to as the “construction mafia” who have disrupted construction sites through violence and intimidation. These groups frequently demand a 30% stake in contracts, halting progress and undermining the industry. This has had a detrimental effect on the country’s economic and infrastructure development, contributing to a climate of uncertainty among local and international investors. Macpherson revealed last week that since the Construction Summit in November last year, 745 construction-related extortion cases have been reported, resulting in 240 arrests. “This is a major breakthrough in our fight against criminals and gangsters who think they can…

There are enormous opportunities for South Africa’s economy in the diversification efforts of the sugar industry. At the recent South Africa-European Union (EU) Summit, the EU committed €4.7 billion (R92.6 billion) support to South Africa in aid of, amongst other things, green technologies such as Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs). This Global Gateway Investment Package offers South Africa a unique opportunity to integrate itself into the global biofuel value chain The EU's commitment to supporting biofuels, and particularly SAF, is a prime example of a technology that will open up a new sector that will support economic growth, resilience and job creation. And it can do this while potentially reducing reliance on government subsidies which contributes to an already overburdened fiscus. Through strategic policy reform and investment incentives, South Africa can…

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron held a phone conversation on Monday, during which they agreed to immediately resume security and migration co-operation between the two countries. The two leaders held an “open and cordial” discussion about the state of bilateral ties and the tensions that have accumulated in recent months, and reiterated their willingness to resume the fruitful dialogue established in August 2022, read a statement published by the Algerian Presidency on Facebook. During the call, Macron urged Tebboune “to grant pardon” to jailed French-Algerian writer, Boualem Sansal, an 80-year-old who is sentenced to 5 years in prison on charges of “undermining national unity,” citing his age and health. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot will visit Algiers on Saturday to solidify progress, read the statement.…

Whole herds of cattle have drowned in vast inland floods sweeping across the Australian outback, officials said yesterday, as the muddy tide drenched an area the size of France. Swollen rivers burst their banks after unusually heavy downpours last week over outback Queensland, an arid region home to some of the country’s largest cattle ranches. Officials said more than 100 000 livestock – cattle, sheep, goats and horses – had been swept away, were missing, or had drowned. “These are only early indications of the magnitude of this disaster and while these preliminary numbers are shocking, we are expecting them to continue to climb as flood waters recede,” said state agriculture minister Tony Perrett. “It’s heartbreaking to consider what western Queenslanders will be going through over the weeks and months…

Helsinki: Finland is pulling the plug on coal early, as its power plant closure yesterday puts the country on the verge of a full phase-out, four years ahead of schedule. Finland is shutting down for good its last remaining coal-fired power and heat plant in Salmisaari, south-western Helsinki. “A clean transition does not come cheaply,” Olli Sirkka, CEO of Helsinki energy group Helen, which owns the Salmisaari plant, told Reuters. To replace the annual production 175 MW of power and 300 MW of heat by the plant in Salmisaari, Helen will have to rely on electricity, waste heat and heat pumps, said the company.…

WINDHOEK: Namibia’s financial system remains stable with strong liquidity levels and adequate capital buffers, the Bank of Namibia said on Monday. Speaking at the launch of the central bank’s 2024 annual report, Governor Johannes Gawaxab said the banking sector has maintained solid capital buffers and improved asset quality, while the non-banking sector also expanded, buoyed by strong investment returns and stable demand. “Our banking and non-banking sectors demonstrated remarkable resilience and stability despite the prevailing economic conditions,” said Gawaxab.…

Erling Haaland will be out of action for up to seven weeks after suffering an ankle injury, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said on yesterday. The prolific 24-year-old Norwegian was forced off in Sunday's 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final win at Bournemouth after scoring his 30th goal of the season. City said on Monday that the forward would see a specialist but anticipated he “will be fit to play a further part in the remainder of this season including this summer's Fifa Club World Cup". Guardiola gave an update yesterday, on the eve of his side's Premier League match against struggling Leicester at the Etihad. “The doctors told me between five and seven weeks," he said. “So hopefully for the end of season and Fifa Club World Cup he will be…