Innehållsförteckning för 2021-09-10 från Mercury

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za Subdued sentiment on global markets kept the rand in the red yesterday, putting a slight dampener on the substantial widening in the current account balance of payments, which came in at the largest surplus ever of R343 billion in the second quarter of 2021, advancing from R261bn in the first quarter. The figure was R10bn higher than analysts’ expectations for the quarter, signifying the height in the softening of commodity prices, particularly platinum group of metals. As a ratio of gross domestic product (GDP), the current account surplus widened to 5.6 percent in the second quarter of 2021 from 4.3 percent in the preceding quarter. Investec economist Kamilla Kaplan in a note said export demand for non-commodity goods had also been supported by the…

IANS Nutrition is the cornerstone of good health and development. Apricots Apricots are a great supply of vitamins and minerals that are required for a healthy body. Eating apricots as a part of a diet rich in fruits is a great way to prevent cancer, low cholesterol, and heart disease risk. Apricots also enhance vision and improve digestion. Besides, it also aids in weight loss and improves skin health. The dietary fibre in apricots increases the metabolism which improves the human body’s digestion and prevents constipation. Apricots are also a good source of iron. Sea buckthorn It is a shrub found in China and areas of Europe. It contains many medicinal compounds and nutrients like vitamins, amino acids and fatty acids which are good for a healthy immune system.…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za The management association of a business estate, which suffered billions of rand in losses during July’s looting and unrest, has secured a high court interdict against a business forum that allegedly made threats and demanded a stake in the rebuilding process. The application by the Cornubia Industrial Business Estate Management Association and company, Samuels Group, which is based at the estate, came before the Durban High Court on Wednesday. The court granted an order interdicting and restraining the Amabhubesi Business Forum and the forum’s Thulani Mbanga Nhleyama from assaulting, intimidating, threatening, burning or in any way damaging the property of the estate and the company. They are further interdicted from threatening, assaulting or intimidating the staff. The estate association and the company, which were represented by Nic…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za UNEMPLOYMENT in eThekwini is at an all-time high, with almost 40% of the city’s adult population having given up on looking for work. The city’s unprecedented unemployment crisis was documented in a detailed report delivered by a city official during a webinar on the state of the city’s economy, organised by the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry yesterday. The unemployment rate (those actively seeking but unable to find work) in the city is 26% and is at its highest rate since the city started tracking these statistics six years ago. It was also revealed that almost four out of every 10 people able to work had given up looking for jobs. Tshegang Chipeya, senior research advisor at the Economic Development Unit of the eThekwini Municipality, delivered…

| Samuel Goldwyn IT’S the Big ’Un tomorrow! It’s the Huge ’Un! It’s the Ginormous ’Un! Does anything come bigger than a Currie Cup final between the Sharks (Natal) and the Bulls (Northern Transvaal)? I was still in short pants when Natal played in their first-ever Currie Cup final. It was against Northern Transvaal at Kingsmead (King’s Park was being built). We lost 9-8 – them scoring a try in injury time. We were skippered by the great Peter Taylor at Number 8. At flyhalf was Springbok great Roy Dryburgh, who was equally at home at centre, wing or fullback. When I first met Roy many years later and reminded him of the match, he said: “Yes, that was when I missed a penalty in front of the posts…

EBRAHIM ESSA | Durban WE ARE forever being exposed by the big small box, to the latest stock market prices of Brent Crude oil, gold, platinum and the dollar. Which man in the street really wants to know? How about reminding us about the price of cooking oil that we need to fry some bhajias, potato chips and other equally harmful stuff to keep us warm? Tell us please where normal, sliced white bread is still available for under R14? Perhaps we need to know why (even if it’s a lie) why a very famous brand of tea which was R21 three years ago is now R56. And margarine which was meant to replace costly butter is now just about reaching the same price as the dairy product.…

Kailene Pillay kailene.pillay@inl.co.za The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) says it accepts the urgency of the DA’s court application regarding the reopening of the candidate nomination process. In papers filed this week, the DA wants the court to review the IEC’s decision, and declare it unconstitutional and unlawful. The application arises from the recent order of the Constitutional Court to dismiss the IEC’s application to delay the local government elections. The Concourt order also stated that amendments could be made to the election timetable that was “reasonably necessary”. The apex court ordered that elections must go ahead this year and explicitly stated that a voter registration weekend be held. However, the IEC took the court’s order a step further and made a further amendment it deemed “reasonably necessary” by…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za A health economist has weighed in on the government easing the Covid-19 restrictions. The chairperson of the Social Security Systems Administration and Management Studies School of Governance at Wits University, Professor Alex van den Heever, said data collected was showing a downward trend in Covid-19 infections. Van den Heever’s comment comes after reports that the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) had met various stakeholders, including religious organisations and political parties to discuss the lockdown. President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to address the nation soon on the matter. The country has been on alert level 3 of the lockdown since July 25. The National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) said in its report on Wednesday that the current surge in Covid-19 infections seemed to be showing signs of…

SINCE the implementation of the national lockdown in March 2020, our stadiums have been left vacant, bereft of gees, and mostly silent – save for the shrill blast of the officials’ whistle, the groans of staff and the muted mutterings of players. It has made for a sad spectacle, as stadiums that can accommodate thousands of frenzied fans have been televised to the country as empty husks, far removed from their former glory as epicentres of heaving emotion. There can be no denying that the impact of Covid-19 on sport has done an incalculable amount of damage to the income, revenue and coffers of the nation’s clubs, teams and franchises. Thankfully, there is light at the end of the tunnel – a glimmer of hope that in the foreseeable future…

Managua: Nicaraguan prosecutors have ordered the arrest of an award-winning novelist who used to be an aide to President Daniel Ortega, making him the latest perceived opponent to run afoul of the leftist government as elections draw near. Sergio Ramirez, who in 2017 won the Premio Cervantes, the most prestigious literary award in the Spanish-speaking world, is accused of “incitement of hate” and “conspiracy” – charges that have already been used several times in the arrests of candidates set to run against Ortega in November’s election. Ramirez is also accused of receiving money from the Violeta Barrios Chamorro Foundation, which is accused of money laundering and undermining national sovereignty. Ramirez, who fell out with Ortega’s Sandinista National Liberation Front in 1995, was notified of the charges on Tuesday. He…

AMMAN: Jordan’s highest appeal court yesterday upheld a guilty verdict against a former confidant of King Abdullah and a minor royal who were sentenced to 15 years in jail on charges of attempting to destabilise the monarchy. The cessation court said it confirmed evidence backing the sentence passed last July by a state security court against ex-royal court chief Bassem Awadallah, who played a big role in the drive to liberalise Jordan’s economy, and Sherif Hassan Zaid, a distant relative of King Abdullah. The pair pleaded not guilty and said they had nothing to do with the case.…

Stuart Hess SOUTH Africa’s selectors juggled the spin options at their disposal for the T20 World Cup, picked one player who hasn’t played a T20 international, didn’t pick another who has featured frequently of late, and chose another who has only played sporadically in the last two years. The composition of the spin element in the squad is only one part of some bizarre decisions that also saw “free agents” like Faf du Plessis, Chris Morris and Imran Tahir ignored. Bjorn Fortuin, Keshav Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi will be the three frontline spinners for the tournament, which SA’s brainstrust anticipate will take place on worn pitches in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Oman from late October. The IPL will be played to its conclusion in the region and then…

ASHFAK MOHAMED OLYMPIC champion Tatjana Schoenmaker says she “embraces” her new-found popularity in South Africa after receiving a financial reward from a crowd-funding initiative yesterday. And surfing silver medallist Bianca Buitendag says she is so proudly South African that she sometimes irritates people by expressing her patriotic side. Swimming star Schoenmaker and Buitendag were recipients of a crowd-funding initiative, Spansaam, which was kick-started by property developers Atterbury Property and sports nutrition company USN. It was initially understood that Sascoc and the SA government would not be able to provide financial incentives for Team SA’s medallists and world record-holders at the Tokyo Olympics. Since then, sports, arts and culture minister Nathi Mthethwa provided details of the incentives for gold, silver and bronze medallists in the Team SA Olympic and Paralympic squads…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za MUSTEK, local assembler of information communication technology (ICT) and home computers, lifted headline earnings a share by a whopping 247.5 percent to 441.81 cents and the dividend by 246 percent to 90c after the group benefited from remote working and learning trends. The share price leapt 3.38 percent to R13.75 by yesterday afternoon, bringing the gain in the price over a year to 96 percent. “We are confident the working and learning from home reality is more than a passing trend. Employees had a glimpse of what their workplaces can be, and most will demand this type of flexibility from their employers in future,” the group said. Revenue increased 25.6 percent to R8.04 billion and gross profit was up 14.8…

VENOLIN GOVENDER | Pietermaritzburg WITH the elections around the corner, the question arises again: will Indian South African voters be used as voter fodder? The ANC has in place a BBBEE policy that sidelines Indians. Its racism shows even in government-advertised jobs. The DA is all talk but no action. They can’t deliver. The party is a barking dog that can’t bite. The party that stood up for Indians, and I admire them, is the IFP. Its leader, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, has a zero corruption record. He is a man of integrity and he always had the Indian people’s best interest at heart. He defended Indian communities on many occasions. The other party that packs a powerful punch is African Democratic Change (ADeC). They have the potential to…

THAMI NTULI | IFP Provincial Chairperson and Mayor for Nkandla Municipality I wish to express my gratitude to Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi who celebrated his 93rd birthday on August 27. I am forever indebted to his selfless leadership to the people of South Africa over the past 70 years of his public life. He offered unparalleled leadership during the dark days of apartheid. He is one of the pioneers of democratic South Africa. In 1960, black political organisations were banned which left a vacuum in the black political space. Prince Buthelezi emerged as the lone voice for the oppressed black masses. On the advice of an African political giant, the late former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda, and in consultation with Mr Oliver Tambo, Prince Buthelezi founded the mass-based organisation,…

South Korean researchers say they have developed an artificial skin-like material, inspired by natural biology, that can quickly adjust its hues like a chameleon to match its surroundings. The team, led by Ko Seung-hwan, a mechanical engineering professor at Seoul National University, created the “skin” with a special ink that changes colour based on temperature and is controlled by tiny, flexible heaters. “If you wear woodland camouflage uniforms in a desert, you can be easily exposed,” Ko said. “Changing colours and patterns actively in accordance with surroundings is key to the camouflage technology that we created.” Ko and the team demonstrated the technology – thermochromic liquid crystal (TLC) ink and vertically stacked multilayer silver nanowire heaters – using a robot with colour-detecting sensors. Whatever colours the sensors “saw” around it,…

Siyabonga Mkhwanazi siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za Auditor-General (A-G) Tsakani Maluleke has told Parliament her office is implementing the new Public Audit Act to crack down on municipalities involved in irregular spending. She said the intention of the act, which came into effect in April 2019, was to ensure there was compliance in how funds were used, adding that her office had since referred some of the cases to the Hawks. “When we conducted the audits that we are talking about now, which are for the year ending June 2020, it was the second cycle when we were applying these powers. “In the first phase, which was the initial phase of implementing these powers, we looked at the nine municipalities as part of the pile and made sure that we could implement this instrument…

Sakhiseni Nxumalo sakhiseni.nxumalo@inl.co.za Workers from the Centre for HIV-Aids Prevention Studies were left traumatised in uMlazi after the local taxi associations allegedly blocked them from accessing the area during a vaccination roll-out campaign. The centre, which works with the Solidarity Fund and the Department of Health, had deployed teams in the eThekwini District this week to administer vaccines as part of the Covid-19 vaccination drive. According to the centre, on Tuesday two of their teams were approached by 40 taxi association members in uMlazi, who told them that they needed the association’s permission to be in the area and also demanded R10 000 from them. The teams were meant to administer vaccines in uMlazi’s G and M sections. Speaking to The Mercury yesterday, the centre’s chief executive, Jacqueline Pienaar, said…

Xolile Bhengu xolile.bhengu@inl.co.za September 15 will mark two years since Durban journalist Glynis Horning’s son, Spencer, ended his life at the age of 25. Horning said Spencer was a bright, well-balanced young man, who had completed his studies in mechanical engineering and was about to start his first full-time job. To celebrate his life, hopefully help save other parents from the grief of losing a child to suicide and assist parents who have lost a child to suicide, she wrote the book Waterboy: Making Sense of My Son’s Suicide (Bookstorm). The title Waterboy was inspired by Spencer’s love for nature and linked to the nickname Fikanemvula (one who comes with rain), given to him by a broom seller when he was born. Horning, an award-winning health writer, and her husband,…

Political dynamics will be key as they will determine which investor is favoured The LATEST coup in Africa took place this week in Guinea – a country considered a treasure trove of mineral resources, much of which has yet to be exploited. The future political trajectory of the country will determine which major powers lay their hands on these critical resources. Guinea possesses more than four billion tons of untapped high-grade iron ore, a third of the world’s bauxite reserves, which are used to make aluminium, undetermined amounts of uranium, manganese, nickel, significant gold and diamond reserves, and prospective oil reserves. Aluminium is used in everything from car parts to drinks cans and home appliances. Longer-term, the metal is set to benefit from its use in electric vehicles and renewable…

The inauguration ceremony of the new Afghan cabinet is scheduled for Saturday, a source in the Taliban movement has told news agency Sputnik. “The inauguration of the new transitional government is scheduled for September 11,” the source said. “Russia, China, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan and Iran have so far been invited to the ceremony.” It is also noted that the new Afghan Deputy Prime Minister, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, went to Qatar on Wednesday to invite delegations from a number of other countries. The inauguration will take place precisely 20 years after the 9/11 terror attack in the US, which was the main reason behind the launch of the US military campaign in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Taliban captured Kabul on August 15, prompting the government to fall. The…

Colombo: Sri Lankan women were urged to delay getting pregnant after more than 40 expectant mothers died of Covid-19 in four months, the health ministry said yesterday. The island nation, which recorded its first maternal coronavirus death in May, is battling a spike in Delta variant infections after travel restrictions were eased for local new year celebrations in mid-April. “Usually, we have 90 to 100 maternal deaths a year, but since the start of the third wave we have recorded 41 deaths of pregnant women from Covid alone,” said Chitramali de Silva, a director of the government’s Health Promotion Bureau.…

THE Blue Bulls had been red hot favourites to beat the Sharks in tomorrow’s Currie Cup final at Loftus, but the books have suddenly been balanced considerably by significant changes in personnel to each team. Just a day after it emerged that Bulls flyhalf Johan Goosen cannot play because he has contracted Covid-19, the Sharks revealed a trump card out of the blue in tighthead prop Thomas du Toit. Of course, the Bulls are way more than one player but it cannot be discounted that Goosen is arguably their best player and the flyhalf position is probably the most important position in the team, while the return of Thomas the Tank is massive for the Sharks because tighthead is a position where the Sharks have struggled in his…

WITH the flurry of district competitions currently in play, club competition secretaries are hard pressed to complete their quota of club competitions and should note the following changes to the calendar. The semi-finals and finals of the Port Natal Trips will be contested on Saturday, September 18 at Parkhill Bowling Club, commencing at 9am. The first of the men’s semi-finals will see two Stella Park sides face off when John Connellan, Tommy Potgieter and Chris Strover take on Wayne Rittmuller, Dougie Bashford and Wayne Roberts. The second semi-final involves the Durban Wanderers’ side comprising Paul White, Ian Hayes and Dave le Roux facing off against Hillary Bowling Club’s Wade Marshall, Hugh Martin and Tony Marshall. The two spots in the women’s final will be sought by three…

Viwe Ndongeni-Ntlebi viwe.ndongeni@inl.co.za Last week Beyoncé turned 40, and members of the Beyhive around the world had a big bash to celebrate the birthday girl! To join in on the celebration, Minnie Dlamini-Jones and her friends recreated looks from the star and Minnie wore a hot pink two-piece – that looked very vaguely familiar to the original look. The media personality wrote: “We all had to recreate one of her iconic looks and I went with #Bootylicious.” While many admired the look and praised the mother of one for getting it right, others focused more on her body. For many new moms, the battle to shed those extra kilograms they gain during pregnancy is real. But Minnie appears to be one of the lucky few who managed to bounce back.…

Sibusiso Mboto sibusiso.mboto@inl.co.za ANC members in the Moses Mabhida region are looking forward to the rerun of the councillor candidates selection process. This comes after the party’s appeals committee, chaired by Cyril Xaba, said there should be a rerun in 24 wards where there were disputes. The region, made up of Pietermaritzburg and surrounding towns, including Howick and Richmond, recorded the second highest number of disputes over the councillor candidates list after the eThekwini region. After the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s announcement on Monday that it would give parties and individuals a further opportunity to register candidates, the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal moved with speed to resolve the disputes in regions, starting with Moses Mabhida on Tuesday. ANC members from Sobantu township in Ward 35 who had marched to the…

HOW do I survive a very painful break-up after being together for several years? Even though you do not feel like it, “force” yourself into a loving and supportive community. Go out with old friends, join a club or a church, find a new interest that is shared with “new” people. Tell one person everything. Don’t choose someone too close to the situation, or someone who has also recently faced a break-up, or someone who has an axe to grind with an ex. Avoid turning the discussions into “pity parties” or “beat-up” sessions – neither will serve your greater mental health. If it is at all possible, get with supportive members of your family, especially your parents. Revisiting your roots will be surprisingly refreshing, even if difficult. Don’t beg or…

DUNCAN DU BOIS | Bluff THE embrace of the “must-have-the-vaccine” narrative by the committees of Medical and Dental Deans (The Mercury, September 9) is illustrative of the coercive influence of big pharma and the mass media in imposing their will on humanity. The explanations offered by the two medical committees, in motivation of being vaccinated against Covid-19, are a sad indication of the Pavlovian extent to which they are following the fallacious narrative. If the vaccines were so marvellous, why would you have to have a second and even a third “booster?” Nobody had booster shots when we were immunised against polio. Worldwide data shows that new Covid-19 cases are occurring among those who have been vaccinated: 95% in Israel, the same statistic in New South Wales, 75%…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za ALTHOUGH textbooks may be available in Braille, literacy is about more than just textbooks. This is according to BlindSA and Section27, who are calling for copyright reform so that people who are blind can access all published works in accessible formats. In South Africa, the apartheid-era Copyright Act stipulates that in order to convert a book into Braille, or an accessible format, permission must be secured from the copyright holder. These holders often simply ignore or reject such requests. BlindSA, represented by Section27, will later this month approach the Johannesburg High Court to fight for the rights of people who are blind or visually impaired by asking the court to amend the Copyright Act. This is to pave the way for better access to reading materials in…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za SAPS members in KwaZulu-Natal have allegedly not been paid overtime for the long hours they worked to recover property stolen during the looting in July. The Police and Prison Civil Rights Union (Popcru) said it was investigating the matter after it was made aware that some members had not been paid, while others were paid less than what was due to them. Police officers worked long hours during and after the riots in July that engulfed KZN and Gauteng. Looters caused widespread damage and theft, and the police had to recover some items that had been looted. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a police officer said they should have been paid for the overtime they had worked during that period. “I have not received my payment –…

Tarryn-Leigh Solomons tarryn-Leigh.solomons@inl.co.za Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille says consequence management is in the process of being carried out against 11 implicated officials in the R40 million Beitbridge border post debacle. Last year, it emerged that the 38km border fence between South Africa and Zimbabwe collapsed. The project was initiated by the department in March last year. The fence was intended to curb the illegal movement of people between Zimbabwe and South Africa during the start of the lockdown. In April last year, De Lille raised concerns over the project and requested that the auditor-general conduct an independent audit of it. After approaching the A-G, the minister requested her department’s Anti-Corruption Unit, assisted by members from the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to also probe the project. She…

THIS week, I called the Wallabies wimps. Their own player, scrum-half Tate McDermott, had publicly stated how soft his teammates were in losing three successive Tests to the All Blacks. I called the Wallabies chumps for winning three matches in 12 in the past year after losing the World Cup quarter-final to England 40-16, the very same England that lost 32-12 to the Springboks in the final. I wrote that Sunday’s Rugby Championship was a Test of champ versus chump. I wrote that the expectation should be that the best team in the world, the Boks, should beat a team ranked as low as seventh, even if it was Australia, and that it shouldn’t matter where the game was played. I backed Siya Kolisi’s world champions to pump the Wobblies.…

London: Britain and France locked horns yesterday over plans by London to turn back boats carrying migrants across the Channel, triggering alarm and anger in Paris. At least 14 100 people have crossed the Channel to the UK on small boats this year, according to Britain’s domestic Press Association news agency – 6 000 more than for the whole of 2020. A record 828 people crossed over from France on a single day in late August, as traffickers took advantage of favourable weather. French authorities rescued 11 different boats and 198 people between Sunday night and Wednesday this week, according to the latest figures. The growing number of boats is increasingly embarrassing for Home Secretary Priti Patel, who has carved out a reputation for being tough on immigration and law…

Manila: At least one person died and 17 were missing after a storm dumped heavy rain and caused flooding in the Philippines, authorities said yesterday, as a powerful typhoon barrelled towards the country. Tropical Storm Conson hit the central province of Eastern Samar as a typhoon on Monday before weakening as it passed over the archipelago, forcing around 10 000 people to flee their homes, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. One person drowned on the island province of Marinduque, said Mark Timbal, spokesperson for the disaster agency.…

MIKE GREENAWAY CURIOUSLY, the Springboks have three loose forwards on the bench for Sunday’s Rugby Championship match against the Wallabies and this is both an acknowledgement of how Australia play and also a reflection of the versatility of the Bok squad. Coach Jacques Nienaber has had to be a touch inventive in his selections because of the injuries to Pieter-Steph du Toit and RG Snyman, two key players from the 2019 World Cup, the first a blindside flank who could move to lock and the latter a vital part of the famed “bomb squad” as a lock replacement. Nienaber has dealt with that twin loss by picking Franco Mostert on the flank — a like-for-like replacement for Du Toit in terms of size and work rate, while Mostert can also…