Innehållsförteckning för 2021-06-11 från Mercury

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za AS THE GOVERNMENT prepares to launch a Steel Master Plan to improve the competitiveness of the industry, downstream fabricators and manufacturers have called for the relaxation of tariffs to help them stay afloat. Marketing manager at Duferco Steel Processing, Nico Van Wyk, said for the industry to become competitive, the downstream suppliers had to be the focus of the government’s efforts to revive it. Van Wyk said the 18 percent duties on hot rolled coils steel was squeezing the downstream steel sector. He said Duferco, which competes with South Africa’s primary steel producer ArcelorMittal SA (Amsa), relies on hot rolled coil imports to sustain its export market. “The government does allow us to import hot roll coils, convert them, and export them without paying duties,” Van Wyk…

SUPER Group expects headline earnings a share to between 248 to 303 cents for the year to June 30, 2021, representing an increase of 64 to 100 percent over the previous year, the group said in a trading update yesterday. Revenue was expected to be R36.8 billion to R43.8 billion, an increase of 6.4 to 26.5 percent over the previous year. Operating profit was expected to increase by between 20.8 to 46.5 percent. Revenue reflected strong sales performances in Fleet Solutions and Dealerships UK in particular. The historically underperforming South African consumer and convenience businesses and the European supply chain operations continue to show significant financial improvement. Cash generated from operations had been good. All capital projects that were delayed as a result of the lockdowns in South Africa…

THE INDONESIAN, South African and Mexican finance ministers expressed support yesterday for an overhaul of international tax rules to make companies pay their fair share in a more globalised and digitalised business world. In a joint article with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, Indonesia’s Sri Mulyani Indrawati, South Africa’s Tito Mboweni and Mexico’s Arturo Herrera Gutierrez endorsed changes proposed by the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies. G7 finance ministers agreed on Saturday on a system to make multinational companies pay more tax in countries where they operate, alongside a minimum global corporate tax rate of at least 15 percent. “This year, nations have a historic opportunity to end the race to the bottom in corporate taxation, restoring government resources at a time…

COLIN BURGER Assagay It is obvious that South Africa has another pandemic to deal with in the form of politician corruption. The question is no longer “who is corrupt?” but “who isn’t?” The latest allegations against Zweli Mkhize are frightening. Here we have a major player in the fight against Covid-19 being targeted for corruption. For heaven’s sake, where does it stop? This is the very last person one would have thought would be involved. The ANC has been ripped apart by the Zondo Commission exposing the party to be full of corrupt and thieving individuals at the very top level. The leaders of the EFF have now been exposed for what they really are but that was common knowledge and already in the public domain. Neither party can be…

PAT McKRILL Camperdown Forget Covid-19, that’s another matter altogether, but while the South African population despairingly watches the ANC and its inept yet sly acolytes go about destroying the country, I thought that as an aside, I’d take a look at what certain government-elected individuals are, or are not, doing to contribute further to the now inevitable crash. I was on the N3 returning from Durban to the basket-case municipality in which I live, and I passed a filthy traffic police car bumbling along at about 60km/h, being driven by a policewoman sans seatbelt while talking on her cellphone. We were both negotiating our way through the death trap that is the reality on our roads, surrounded by huge trucks travelling at over 120km/h, and shiny, expensive vehicles, many without…

I THOUGHT I knew what love looked like. Then I saw a man’s daughters come home and, with their mother, nurse him back to health after Covid-19, commuting between their own families and their dad, helping him every step of the way. I thought I knew what love looked like. Then I met a woman whose husband had, knowing he would precede his wife in death, prepared their home, doing all sorts of repairs and updates, so the house would be perfect for her many years after his death. I thought I knew what community support looked like. I understood it a little better when I found out that an entire town lined the streets to welcome a child back home after heart surgery. I thought I knew what love…

Vernon Mchunu vernon.mchunu@inl.co.za AT LEAST two KwaZulu-Natal municipalities could be among the country’s 39 that could be dissolved because of instability, an expert on local governance has said. In a precedent setting move, the national cabinet has been forced to dissolve the crisis-ridden Lekwa local municipality in Mpumalanga. The Pretoria High Court ordered the government to intervene after Astral Foods took legal action because the company could not get regular access to clean water and electricity. Governance and economics commentators have described the intervention as proof that party politics is often a hindrance against reining in errant municipalities. KZN’s Ugu and Amajuba district municipalities could be among the 39 which National Treasury says are as critically distressed as the Lekwa local authority, said a source who recently retired after serving…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za INTERVENTION from the provincial government on dysfunctional municipalities across KwaZulu-Natal had yielded results, with two-thirds of the municipalities showing improvement and stability, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Sipho Hlomuka revealed yesterday. Speaking after visiting Howick, where he oversaw the unveiling of community projects, Hlomuka said some of the key reasons behind municipalities being under administration were political instability, unfunded budgets and irregular expenditure in councils. But the interventions in municipalities such as Msunduzi (Pietermaritzburg), Mpofana (Mooi River), and uThukela District had shown encouraging results, which included: * Municipalities being able to fill vacant posts at senior management level. * Spending all the grants meant for service delivery projects. * Committees being able to hold meetings and councils holding regular sittings, as per the requirement. * Implementation…

Police said a suspect was arrested while allegedly transporting thousands of rand worth of counterfeit sneakers this week. Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said an intelligence-driven operation was conducted on Wednesday on the R69, Vryheid/Hlobane Road next to Shoma Settlement. “Police spotted a suspicious bakkie. Upon searching the said vehicle, police discovered bales of counterfeit sneakers,” said Mbele. A 30-year-old suspect was arrested. “The total value of the goods was R700 000.” She said the suspect was expected to appear in Vryheid Magistrate’s Court.…

President Cyril Ramaphosa is participating in the G7 Leaders Summit in the UK, which starts today, with two overarching priorities – to shore up investment in South Africa and to canvass G7 nations to support the temporary waiver of Intellectual Property Rights at the World Trade Organisation to ensure equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines. Ramaphosa was invited alongside the heads of state of India, Australia and South Korea. The president has said that South Africa was invited to the G7 summit because the G7 countries acknowledged the country’s role in driving the continental response to Covid-19. The global recovery from Covid-19 is likely to dominate the agenda, as well as the urgency in tackling climate change. South Africa and India have led the charge for a temporary waiver of intellectual…

IT would seem that come hell or high water, the Games of the 32nd Olympiad will take place in Tokyo from July 23. It will be a Games like no other. The build-up has been one like no other, with the pre-Games torch relay, a crucial marketing event ahead of the Olympics, postponed on a number of occasions because of the Covid-19 pandemic in Japan. Public polls suggest that the country’s citizens are very strongly opposed to hosting the Olympics this year, as Japan has struggled to manage the pandemic, while its vaccine roll-out has been sluggish. But the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which has billions of dollars on the line, are forging ahead. The United States and China are sending teams, and that will be enough to ensure success…

An analysis by UN agencies and aid groups estimates that about 350 000 people in Ethiopia’s conflict-torn Tigray region are in famine conditions, said a UN document. The Ethiopian government disputes the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, according to the notes of a meeting on the situation in Tigray of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee– made up of the heads of at least 18 UN a (IASC) nd non-UN organisations . “On the risk of famine … figures were being disputed by the Ethiopian government, notably the estimated 350 000 people across Tigray believed to be in IPC 5 famine conditions,” the June 7 document read. The analysis had found that millions more across Tigray required “urgent food and agriculture … support”. Fighting in Tigray broke out in…

La Paz: Two lawmakers traded punches in Bolivia’s Plurinational Legislative Assembly amid an intense debate about the detention of Jeanine Áñez, who led the coup government that overthrew democratically elected president Evo Morales in 2019 and was herself arrested in March. Bolivian senators gathered on Tuesday to review the circumstances leading up to Áñez’s March 2021 arrest on charges of terrorism, sedition and conspiracy. Before being ousted in an October 2020 election, Áñez had ruled the country for 11 months, coming to power in the vacuum created by Morales’ sudden departure from Bolivia amid threats against him.…

Mike Greenaway mike.greenaway@inl.co.za ON Monday night it could be the Sharks boarding a plane for Italy to play Benetton in the Rainbow Cup final and not the Bulls - all that has to happen is the Sharks have to beat their nemesis side with a try-scoring bonus point while denying their opponents a single log point. That is easier said than done, most rugby folk would say, given the form of the Bulls in the Rainbow Cup but Sharks coach Sean Everitt says his players will be tackling this ’Mission Impossible’ with gusto. The Bulls, after all, have not won at Jonsson Kings Park post lockdown, just as the Sharks have not won at Loftus Versfeld, with the big difference, of course, being that some of the Sharks’ defeats in…

There is something for everyone. From those looking for shad to the guys wanting to target the deep sea giants. The sardines have brought them all. With sardine action down south there has not been much news from the north. The bigger seas have also made fishing a bit tricky on the more exposed beaches. Those that have fished up north have mainly been fishing in the Cape Vidal area along the reefs and ledges. These areas fish very well, even in a big sea. Edibles are the main target there but some good inedibles are always hooked. A 4/0 - 6/0 Mustad circle hook is the most useful size for most of the reef fish as they generally have large mouths for their size. Fish softer squid and…

Steinhoff Investments, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Steinhoff International Holdings, said yesterday that it expected headline earnings per ordinary share for the six months to March 31 to be 4 600 to 5 400 cents compared to the headline loss per share of 23 716.3c in the previous period. Earnings per ordinary share were expected to be between 4 500 and 5 000c per share compared to the loss per ordinary share of 24 187.2c in the previous corresponding period. Steinhoff Investments financial results for the six months ended March 31 this year are expected to be released on or about June 18. |…

EDWARD WEST edward.west@inl.co.za MULTICHOICE Group (MCG) added 1.4 million 90-day active subscribers in the year to March 31, a 7 percent growth year-on-year, while earnings growth was robust, despite the pandemic. In a year that required careful navigation of Covid-19-related challenges, the group ended the year with 20.9 million subscribers – 57 percent in rest of Africa and 43 percent of them in South Africa. Growth rates improved because of better consumer demand, continued penetration of the mass market, and the easing of electricity shortages in Southern Africa, the group said in its results yesterday. Revenue increased 4 percent to R53.4 billion, with subscription revenues accounting for R44.7bn. The dividend was held at 565 cents. Core headline earnings, the board’s measure of performance, was up 32 percent at R3.3bn.…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za ESCALATING levels of crime which is affecting businesses, tourists and residents of Margate has become a major concern for the town, with the business sector now joining forces to tackle the scourge. Margate’s community organisations have vowed to intensify their crime-fighting efforts and clean up the beachfront to ensure the South Coast town remains a tourism attraction. The Margate CBD Community Policing Forum (CPF), the Margate Business Association and the Margate Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association said crime was spiralling out of control, especially in the CBD. Ratepayers’ Association chairperson Berry Smit said criminal activities in the town, especially on the beachfront, were painting a negative image of the town and affecting the local economy. Smit said they had roped in the Ray Nkonyeni Municipality law enforcement, Margate…

FAROUK ARAIE Benoni THE terrorist carnage in the Canadian city of Ontario, must be condemned by all of humanity. Four innocent souls were snatched by a fascist just because they were Muslims. Words fail to describe such mindless slaughter. Those who perpetrate it, whoever they are, personify the embodiment of evil and sheer cowardice. The mindless slaughter of men and children is an affront to humanity. Terrorist is a label that jumps easily into the headlines when the perpetrator is Muslim, but is often handled with caution or tossed out entirely when the perpetrator is white. Global media stigma has real and devastating impacts on the lives of Muslims. Every given day there are more Muslims dying, either by these terrorists, in the name of terrorism or in the war…

EBRAHIM ESSA Durban When the Covid-19 scourge first hit us about 18 months ago, the first reaction was to take cover, hide under the bed and suddenly adopt the Islamic-veil, with the hope that this may help to delay reaching high heaven too prematurely. Everybody was strangely very accommodating. Kind words, encouragement from all directions, phone-calls for Africa to relatives, friends. And doctors, lawyers and teachers, accepting online requests. Cups of goodly sanitiser “did runneth over”. Supermarkets rose to the occasion. They kept prices as normal as possible and limited numbers on their floors, with sub-managers monitoring all aisles to prevent overcrowding. Online home schooling became virulent. Home deliveries from most supermarkets opened up new avenues as food trolley wheels began to corrode and creak with lack of use.…

An adult male orangutan has been released into an Indonesian national park by conservationists and the government after he was caught eating a villager’s coconut plants on Borneo island. As the orangutan habitat diminishes due to land use, conflicts between communities and the great apes have increased. Indonesia has designated several areas in Kalimantan as safe havens for Borneo orangutans, which are on the World Wildlife Fund’s endangered list. Conservationists found orangutaun Jala eating the plants after residents reported seeing the orangutan near their gardens in March. They monitored the ape, whom they estimated to be about 15 years old, for a month before transporting him to the Tanagupa conservation forest in the Gunung Palung National Park, in west Kalimantan. At the end of the lengthy journey, including a…

Mercury Reporter GLOBALLY most of mental health care continues to be provided in psychiatric hospitals, and human rights abuses and coercive practices remain too common. But WHO’s new “Guidance on community mental health services: promoting person-centred and rights-based approaches”, released yesterday, finds mental health care must be grounded in a human rights-based approach. According to its latest estimates, governments spend less than 2% of their health budgets on mental health. The majority of reported expenditure on mental health is allocated to psychiatric hospitals, except in high-income countries where the figure is about 43%, they noted. The new guidance, which is intended primarily for people with responsibility for organising and managing mental health care, presents details of what is required in areas such as mental health law, policy and strategy, service…

Jehran Naidoo Jehran.Naidoo@africannewsagency.com KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala has said aggressive operations are needed to put a stop to sexual and violent crime in the province. He was commenting on the province’s crime statistics for the fourth quarter of 2020/2021 that were released by the police. Zikalala said that the fast-growing numbers posed a threat to the province’s social and economic prospects, and that interventions were needed to thwart criminal activities. The province is now regarded as the most dangerous in the country in terms of murder, with the Plessislaer, Inanda and uMlazi police stations recording the most murders for the recorded period, with 73, 63 and 61 respectively. “The provincial executive council of KZN has vowed to take the war to the criminals and promised to bring the crime rate…

Nyaniso Qwesha | Wynberg QUESTIONS by former president Thabo Mbeki still resonate today: “We want an Africa that is free from poverty. What kind of leader will create an end to poverty? We want an Africa driven by women’s emancipation. Where is this leadership, how do we create it? We want an Africa that is free from corruption. How do you produce this leadership that is not corrupt?” There are no easy answers, but these are the questions that need to be answered by every one of us to see a growing country. It is more relevant now with our country’s current predicament, primarily when we critically investigate challenges faced by our government. One would look widely at some of the events that are facing our leaders. The Digital…

Geneva: The world has marked the first rise in child labour in two decades and the coronavirus crisis threatens to push millions more youngsters toward the same fate, the UN said yesterday. In a joint report, the International Labour Organization and the UN children’s agency Unicef said the number in child labour stood at 160 million at the start of 2020 – an increase of 8.4 million in four years. The hike began before the pandemic hit and marks a dramatic reversal of a downward trend that had seen child labour numbers shrink by 94 million between year 2000 and 2016, it said. Just as the Covid-19 crisis was beginning to pick up steam, nearly one in 10 children globally were stuck in child labour, with…

MELBOURNE: Australians across the east of the country woke yesterday to wild, frosty conditions, with flash flooding causing at least one fatality, while large snow dumps fell across neighbouring New South Wales. Cold air from the Antarctic dropped temperatures in Sydney to just 10°C, a 37-year record. “I’m quite sure all of us want to get out and build a snowman,”Kevin Beatty, the mayor of Cabonne Shire, one of the inland towns to receive a snow dump, said. A subsequent low pressure weather system brought flooding in some areas, leading to at least one fatality in Victoria state. Authorities urged 26 000 residents in the town of Traralgon, west of Melbourne, to evacuate. Police reported they had found the body of a man in a vehicle submerged in flood waters.…

SEOUL: South Korean lawmakers are pushing for reform to reduce the military’s judicial power after a female soldier who had suffered sexual abuse committed suicide, rekindling criticism of the military’s handling of sex crimes. An air force master sergeant, identified by her surname Lee, took her life last month after being molested by a colleague. Her family said she had reported the case and sought help, but the air force only tried to cover up the assault and bully and silence her. Air force chief Lee Seong-yong resigned last week, taking responsibility for Lee’s death.…

herman.gibbs@inl.co.za THE Premier Soccer League (PSL) have brought football into disrepute by undermining the independence of its own judicial tribunal when it challenged the decision to award Sekhukhune United three points after Polokwane City were found guilty of contravening the rules of the GladAfrica Championship. Instead of accepting the outcome, the PSL executive decided to challenge the decision by saying "it is the view of the League that it is not correct". This bewildering statement raised eyebrows in the football fraternity. The GladAfrica Championship ended just over a week ago, but the winners were not declared. Initially, the PSL disciplinary committee found Polokwane had contravened the competition rules against Sekhukhune. Polokwane were found guilty. It did not award the match points to Sekhukhune, who later appealed. The PSL…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday announced that independent power producers (IPPs) would now be allowed to generate up to 100 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Ramaphosa said the government approved the amendment of Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act for the energy sector, increasing the licensing threshold for embedded generation projects from 1MW to 100MW. The business industry has been calling for the government to increase the threshold on embedded power generation from 1MW to 50MW. North West Business School economist Professor Raymond Parsons said while the intervention would not offer immediate relief with load-shedding, it would help to lay a solid foundation for future power security. “The government now recognises the extent to which the failure of Eskom to guarantee electricity supply has posed the most…

UNION leaders at state-owned South African freight logistics group Transnet said they planned to pursue a strike after their members rejected a 4 percent across-the-board wage hike offer. The United National Transport Union (Untu) and the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) said their members had rejected the offer, which was one percentage point higher than Transnet had put on the table. “We have just sent communication now to the bargaining council to say we’ve had quite a bit of response and the response was to reject the offer,” John Pereira, a deputy general-secretary of Untu, said yesterday. “Both unions have rejected the mediator’s recommendation of 4 percent and the unions want one thing only and that is a certificate to strike,” said Jack Mazibuko, the…

Survey reveals a bloodbath as unemployment rate goes up Baldwin Ndaba baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za South Africa has almost 1.5 million unemployed university graduates. Speaking yesterday about matters discussed in a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, acting Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni expressed concern about the number of unemployed graduates, saying the Cabinet had described it as “worrisome”. The Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) that was released this week showed that the number of unemployed people during the first quarter of the year remained at 15 million. “The number of discouraged work-seekers increased by 201 000 (6.9%) between the two quarters, with a net increase of 164 000 in the not economically active population,” Ntshavheni said. She said these changes resulted in the official unemployment rate increasing by 0.1 of…

DUNCAN DU BOIS Bluff ONE of the features of life in South Africa since the implementation of the 1996 Constitution, is an acute awareness of rights and the establishment of chapter nine institutions such as the Human Rights Commission and the Office of the Public Protector to uphold, inter alia, the Bill of Rights. Section 12(2) of the Constitution accords the individual the right to bodily integrity and the right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experiments without consent. It is a medical fact that none of the vaccines being administered has been properly tested and that they are all in a trial period. At least a further 30 months of testing has been advised by top US cardiologist Dr Peter McCullough in his recent testimony to the…

DURBAN has been beset in recent days by mysterious waves of high-frequency sound, not readily audible to the human ear but disruptive of radio broadcasts and cellphone messaging. Whatever could this be? Hostile interference from abroad? No, the authorities have now discovered it’s just the damsels of the Street Shelter for the Over-Forties strumming at their knickers in anticipation of tomorrow’s Sharks versus Bulls match at King’s Park. This is a big ’un. Beat the Bulls with a bonus point and deny them a bonus point and our lads are on their way to Europe for a Rainbow Cup decider against whoever comes out on top between the sides in Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy. This is by no means easy-peasy but it’s by no means impossible either, especially given…

Botho Molosankwe SEVEN people believed to be part of a criminal network responsible for large-scale pre-paid electricity fraud and theft were arrested by a multidisciplinary team that swooped on various premises in Gauteng. During their arrest, one of the suspects allegedly attempted to bribe the arresting officers with R100 000 and was additionally charged for corruption. Other suspects were allegedly found in possession of illegal firearms and ammunition and will face additional charges. Several cellphones, laptops, sim cards, a total cash amount of R714 800, seven luxury vehicles, electricity prepaid vouchers and transaction records were seized. The seven are expected to appear in the Fochville Magistrate’s Court today. The arrests come after the Hawks embarked on a project driven investigation in May last year in Bloemfontein which was aimed at…

POLICE are searching for six men in connection with a kidnapping, rape and robbery that took place at the Workshop bus terminal in April. According to police spokesperson, Colonel Thembeka Mbele, on April 21 at about 3.30pm, a 35-year-old victim was waiting for the bus to Inanda when two men jumped out of a white VW Polo and asked her the time. “She told them the time and they left. The victim alleges a few minutes later, the same vehicle reversed towards her and three unknown males forcefully grabbed her and pushed her into the vehicle. Inside the vehicle were three other males.” The woman alleged that the men took her to an area she did not know and raped her. She said she was placed in the car’s boot…

Nonhlanhla Nozizwe Hlatshwayo nozizwe.hlatshwayo@inl.co.za THE SOUTH Durban Truck Coalition is calling on residents to join its movement as it attempts to take up the problem of truck congestion in the area with the metro police. Residents of Clairwood, the Bluff, Merebank, Glenwood, Umbilo, Seaview, Isipingo and Wentworth have formed an organisation in a bid to deal with issues that they claim are caused by truck congestion. Shanice Firmin of the association said: “Communities are bearing the brunt of traffic jams, accidents, toxic emissions, illicit parking and damaged infrastructure. With mushrooming container depots, small-scale businesses are being destroyed. Livelihoods, homes and children and people’s safety are threatened.” Firmin said residents who wanted to report incidents could join their WhatsApp group. “Affected residents are encouraged to lodge formal complaints with the metro…

Mwangi Githahu mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za A STELLENBOSCH man who received a sentence of eight years in jail for stealing R30 and a packet of cigarettes, has had his term reduced on appeal in the Western Cape High Court after a judge found the punishment to be “unjustifiably severe”. Peter Klaasen was originally sentenced in the Stellenbosch Regional Court after being charged and tried on three charges – housebreaking with the intent to steal and theft, robbery with aggravating circumstances and common assault. Klaasen was subsequently convicted on the two counts of theft and robbery with aggravating circumstances. The common assault charge was withdrawn. On the first count, involving the theft of a jacket valued at R250, he received four years’ imprisonment and on the second, robbery with aggravating circumstances, he got eight…

Mark Keohane It seems inconceivable that Caster Semenya will not be at the summer Olympics in Japan next month, but on this occasion perhaps the gods of humanity and kindness are finally smiling on her in ensuring she doesn’t make it to Tokyo and suffer the indignity of being embarrassed in an event that ordinarily would not be on her radar. Semenya’s only hope of getting to Tokyo is in the 5 000m, but her fastest time is 17 seconds off the Olympic qualifying time and 86 seconds off the world record, which is as good as a lifetime away. Semenya is South Africa’s most decorated Olympian and when I think of Olympic Games in the context of South Africa, I think of Caster and the South African swimming dream…

Twelve people were killed when a Myanmar military plane carrying a senior monk and several donors to a religious event crashed in the country, a junta spokesperson said yesterday. The plane, carrying six crew and eight passengers, crashed shortly before it was due to land in the city of Pyin Oo Lwin, spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said, blaming “bad weather”. Footage broadcast by media showed wreckage strewn around the twisted body of a plane lying on open ground near overhead pylons, and a small plume of smoke billowing upwards. Emergency responders were able to rescue a boy and a sergeant from the plane’s crew. They were sent to a military hospital. Kavisara, a prominent monk from the Zay Kone monastery near the capital Naypyidaw, and seven donors had been on…

SYDNEY: A “lab-leak hypothesis” about the origin of Covid-19 is flawed, said Dominic Dwyer, a professor at the University of Sydney, in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald published on Tuesday. The key flaw, he said, is that no evidence shows that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had SARS-CoV-2 before the pandemic. “The laboratory leak, for that to be the origin … meant they must have had the virus to begin with, and we don’t have evidence of that,” said Dwyer, who was also a member of the World Health Organization team sent to China in January. The Wuhan Institute of Virology had no reason to hide anything if they did have the virus, said Dwyer.…

MIHLALI BALEKA THE “proposed new dawn” got off to an ideal start for Bafana Bafana. The South Africans who are turning a new leaf with a youthful selection came from behind to beat Uganda 3-2 in an international friendly at Orlando Stadium yesterday. Late in March, Safa fired Molefi Ntseki as Bafana coach after he failed to guide the team to the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon next year. He was replaced by Hugo Broos who preached a new approach, which included integrating youngsters. But that new era would start without him as he had to go back home to get his second jab of the Covid-19 vaccine, with assistants Cedomir Janevski and Helman Mkhalele overseeing Bafana’s clash against Uganda. Bafana’s build-up plans this week hit a snag though.…