Innehållsförteckning för 2022-03-01 från Mercury

Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za THE ANC eThekwini region has become a key battleground for two senior figures from KwaZulu-Natal who have aspirations for national leadership positions within the governing party. According to insiders, the decision by former home affairs minister Malusi Gigaba to address lectures such as the Solomon Mahlangu event in Pinetown last week was part of the battle for the soul of the ANC’s biggest region nationwide. Before that, Gigaba was invited to address another event in KwaMashu. The branch that hosted him was the Makhosi Nyoka (a freedom fighter who was killed by an apartheid hit squad while crossing the SA-Eswatini border to carry out an MK operation), which is one of the biggest in the region with about 600 members and has sizeable voting delegates during elective…

ALLAN WOLMAN | Tel Aviv, Israel Russia is invading Ukraine, targeting schools, hospitals and civilian areas, yet this is what the ANC are focused on while the entire world is uniting to support Ukraine? An unbelievable obsession with Israel. Under the banner of the ANC, the SACP and Cosatu have joined hands in calling for a “March to Israel Embassy 3rd March”. The three high-profile keynote speakers, Gwede Mantashe, ANC national chairperson; Solly Mapaila, 1st SACP deputy secretary-general; and Zingiswa Losi, Cosatu president, are all calling for Palestinians’ rights to dignity, security and comfort. We surely must salute this initiative, especially in the light of current world events. Palestinian dignity, security and comfort are under immense threat in Lebanon, Syria and other countries in the region. The Palestinians,…

GEOFF CARUTH | Pinetown I am sure that I am not alone in being dumbfounded by the article “West must share the blame for Ukraine crisis”, The Mercury, February 25. That it should be written by Gert Grobler, an educated former South African diplomat, is even more astonishing. Let us look at the history. At the end of WW II, while the Western powers relinquished any residual control over the former Axis powers, Russia in the form of the then Soviet Union not only retained, but tightened its grip over a vast area of Eastern Europe, subjecting millions of Europeans to almost half a century of subjugation, murder, dictatorship and poverty. During this period they sent in their tank à la Putin to brutally suppress uprisings in Hungary…

SOME things are so blatantly obvious I would think they don’t need to be said or written. But, when we are immersed in the push, pull and the pressures of daily life, I can easily miss the obvious or the obvious can be forgotten or neglected. Perhaps this is true for you, too. Know what encourages you and encourages those whom you love. Do these things. Make them a priority. Focus on what you and your family loves and you will have a bountiful supply of hope during difficult times. Make relationship repairs quickly. When things go awry in friendships, the sooner matters are addressed, the better. It doesn’t matter who is wrong or who is right. Friends make repairs to friendships without considering who is wrong or right. Resist…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za The State Security Agency (SSA) is investigating malfeasance in the entity, Defence Minister Thandi Modise has announced. Modise revealed details of the probe during the justice, crime prevention and security cluster’s briefing. “A forensic investigations firm has been appointed to conduct an investigation into all malfeasance in the agency,” she said. According to Modise, the SSA had recently dismissed four members who were found guilty of fraud and corruption. “The agency has also made much progress in terms of working with the (National Prosecuting Authority’s) Investigating Directorate to ensure that the persons who were involved in criminality will be prosecuted,” she added. Police Minister Bheki Cele refused to answer questions about the axing of national commissioner General Khehla Sitole. President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday terminated Sitole’s employment…

At least 19 people were killed in a horrific head-on collision on the R34 between Bloemhof and Schweizer Reneke in North West at the weekend. The 19 are believed to be from the same family and were travelling to Bloemhof in a Toyota Quantum minibus which collided with a truck. North West Department of Community Safety and Transport said the crash happened on Saturday night and the truck driver escaped unharmed. The victims were among the 22 occupants of the vehicle. Three people – two women and a child – sustained serious injuries and were admitted to a local hospital in critical condition. The North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport, Sello Lehari, sent messages of condolences and appealed to road users to exercise caution. “What does one say…

THE four men accused of kidnapping Westville businesswoman Sandra Moonsamy in May 2019 have pleaded not guilty to the crime. The trial of the four accused got under way in the Durban High Court yesterday. According to National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson in KwaZulu-Natal, Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, the accused are: Lucas John Ndlovu, Dumisani Radebe, Jose Omega Tembe and Arthur da Silva Mondlane. She said in addition to kidnapping charges, Radebe, Tembe and Mondlane were also charged with robbery with aggravating circumstances. “Tembe and Mondlane are further charged with contravention of the Immigration Act, for entering or remaining in the Republic of South Africa without a valid permit.” Moonsamy was kidnapped on May 30, 2019 and was kept against her will until November 7, 2019. “During this time, the men are…

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa needs to remove Police Minister Bheki Cele from his position if he wants the public to believe that he is serious about holding incompetent senior government officials accountable. Last week, the Presidency announced that Ramaphosa had terminated National Police Commissioner General Khehla Sitole’s employment by mutual agreement with effect from March 31. A statement on Friday said Ramaphosa and Sitole had agreed that the early termination of the commissioner’s contract was in the best interests of the country. Sitole joins a long list of national police commissioners who have failed to finish their term in office since the dawn of democracy. Ramaphosa’s action is commendable and demonstrates his commitment to holding politicians and senior government officials to account. However, for members of the public to believe…

Near the rusting remains of a smelter, barefoot men and women scratch at the ground in the quest for cassiterite – the tin oxide ore that generations ago gave the town of Manono a brief taste of the good life. Manono, a town in Tanganyika province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is almost a textbook case of a mining town that went from boom to bust. But hopes are rising that the impoverished town could be magically transformed. The big news is that a large deposit of lithium – the metal used to make rechargeable batteries in phones and electric cars – has been found nearby. After several years’ exploration, Australian company AVZ Minerals, which owns a majority stake in a joint venture with Congolese firm La Cominiere,…

After decades of talking tough on global warming while greenhouse gas emissions rose, the world and its leaders were confronted yesterday by a horrifying “atlas of human suffering”, and the promise of far worse to come. Nearly half the planet’s population are highly vulnerable to a devastating array of climate impacts, according to a landmark UN report that said time had very nearly run out to ensure a “liveable future” for all. Species extinction, ecosystem collapse, insect-borne disease, deadly heatwaves and megastorms, water shortages, reduced crop yields – all are measurably worse due to rising temperatures, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said. Just in the last year, the world has seen a cascade of unprecedented floods, heatwaves and wildfires across four continents. All these impacts will accelerate in…

Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za By various accounts, there was no panic in the Proteas ranks after they had lost the first Test. There certainly was more than one reason to hit the red button and outside of the team bubble, there was understandably criticism of a performance that saw South Africa suffer their second worst innings defeat, in a match that lasted just seven sessions. One week later, there has been two hundreds, a “five-for”, wickets for the frontline spinner and lots of smiles and chirps on the players’ faces again. It does lead to the question: Why was SA so bad only a week ago? The answer seems to be: The players still don’t know. The best offer in answering that question came from Kyle Verreynne yesterday. “We saw the…

Eshlin Vedan eshlin.vedan@inl.co.za Kaizer Chiefs sporting director Kaizer Motaung Jr has said that the club have some exciting implementations which are set to occur in the near future. “For me, assuming the role of sporting director is exciting because it is the core of building long term sustainable plans for the organization,” Motaung is quoted as saying. “There are different touch points on my side which are not just focused on the football side of the business. “What’s important is that it’s given me the last couple of months to do a proper assessment, you are inheriting a squad, seven years of certain strategies that clearly aren’t working and it’s being true and honest to the process and saying, ‘what are the ways to bring proper change?’.” After many years…

Bongani Nkosi bongani.nkosi@inl.co.za A LESBIAN couple in a permanent relationship have succeeded in their court bid to have themselves recognised as parents of their child conceived through artificial insemination. The country’s legislation, under section 40 of the Children’s Act, legally recognises only the mother who conceived as a parent. In court, the couple argued that the legislation unfairly discriminated against same-sex female couples by not extending parental responsibilities and rights to both of them automatically. The consequences of this were that, for instance, the child would also have no rights regarding inheritance of the partner who did not give birth if she were to die intestate. The second parent would not be legally obliged to maintain the child. Her consent would also not be required for the removal of the…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za THE financial stability of the eThekwini Municipality has come under scrutiny, with councillors demanding that mayor Mxolisi Kaunda provide them with detailed financial information of how much money the city “has in the bank”. Councillors are demanding to know how much the municipality, which they claim is “on a financial cliff”, will collect in the coming months to ensure sustained service delivery. They warned that basic services were so poor in some communities that residents were considering withholding their rates. At yesterday’s full council meeting, DA councillor Warren Burne led the charge demanding that Kaunda produce the financial details in the next meeting of the finance committee next month. Burne said available information showed that the city had been burning through cash since August last year. Opposition…

THYAGARAJ MARKANDAN | Kloof Sport may not be a strong deterrent against aggression and human rights violation. But it can be nevertheless used against an aggressive country which has violated international law by attacking a sovereign nation without provocation. Sportsmen and women with a conscience will voice their disapproval of warmongering, pariah nations who do not belong to the global human community, by refusing to engage in any sporting activities with them. When Russia attacked Ukraine, former world racing champion Sebastian Vettel was one of the first sportsmen to speak out without hesitation. He said that if the Formula 1 race was held in Sochi he would not be going. Formula 1 then cancelled the Sochi race from…

PUTIN versus Paddington Bear. It has emerged that Volodymyr Zelenskiy was the voice of Paddington Bear when the popular film was released in Ukraine. The 44-year-old was a comedian and actor before moving into politics and, while most Ukrainian film fans will have known about his role in the film, it was revealed to the rest of the world after actor Hugh Bonneville, who was in the film, tweeted a message, according to Sky News. He said: “Until today I had no idea who provided the voice of Paddington Bear in Ukraine. “Speaking for myself, thank you, President Zelenskiy.” The tweet included a link to a video where Mr Zelenskiy is seen voicing the part and then speaking in Ukrainian in front of a poster of the film. HO de…

Specialist engineer Xolela Masebeni, who was in the news after being arrested for allegedly defrauding Absa bank of more than R100 million within the space of three months, has been shot dead. Eastern Cape police spokesperson Warrant Officer Majola Nkohli said Masebeni was shot outside his home in Unati Mkefa, Ezibeleni, at the weekend. “Police can confirm that they are investigating a case of murder after a 31-year-old man, Xolela Masebeni, was fatally shot outside his home at Unati Mkefa area, Ezibeleni, on Saturday afternoon,” Nkohli said. “On Saturday, February 26 at about 4pm, it is alleged that Masebeni was sitting in the yard with four of his friends, when two unknown men accosted him. It is further said that Masebeni stood up and approached the two unknown men.” His…

Nomonde Zondi nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za A family in Pietermaritzburg have taken the extraordinary step to exhume and rebury the remains of their loved one after land invaders built houses at the Azalea cemetery. It is understood that people from the surrounding areas such as Imbali, Ashdown and Willowfontein have been burying their loved ones in the cemetery over the past 30 years. Thembile Mazibuko, from Imbali unit 13, said her father died in August 1992 and he was buried at the Azalea cemetery. She said that when they first went to the cemetery, they found that there was someone building a house next to the grave. When they enquired about it with community leaders, they were told the matter was being resolved. “As time went by we realised that more people were…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za OPPOSITION party councillors in eThekwini have warned the municipality not to pay contractors that invade sites and build without permission. The parties said if these contractors were paid, the city ran the risk of having more sites being invaded and being billed for work it did not authorise. The DA and the EFF led the charge, warning the council that it was setting the wrong precedent by not sanctioning companies that invaded sites and entertaining the claims they had put forward for work they were not authorised to do. The issue came up during a full council meeting yesterday as councillors discussed paying R6.9 million to consultants to assess what work was done by companies, without the city’s approval, on ablution facilities servicing some of the city’s…

HIGHER education institutions have long been considered as the repositories of knowledge and learning, the structures through which knowledge is produced and disseminated. Today, higher education institutions appear to be susceptible to technology disruption as much as other information-centric entities. This is reflected in that the transmission of knowledge doesn’t have to be tethered to a fixed location. The technical affordability of cloud-based computing, Artificial Intelligence-based learning platforms, massive open online courses, high-quality streaming video, and “just-in-time” information gathering have pushed knowledge to the “placeless” World Wide Web. This sparked a re-examination of the role of contemporary higher education institutions within society. Developments including the globalisation of services work, the increasing value of domain expertise, rapid developments in educational technology and the rise of online open courses are creating both…

Western parties had yet to make “political decisions” to conclude talks aimed at restoring the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran said yesterday after its chief negotiator returned to Vienna. All sides to the negotiations had signalled progress in the talks being held in the Austrian capital, but added they were at a critical stage. Iran had repeatedly emphasised the need for the West to make certain “decisions”. “Unfortunately, Western sides and the US haven’t still made their political decisions on several remaining issues,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said. These issues are “in the fields of removal of sanctions, guarantees and some political claims about Iran’s peaceful nuclear programme”, he said. Parties to the 2015 deal saw it as the best way to stop the Islamic republic from building a nuclear…

Milan: Italy’s foreign minister visited Algeria yesterday for talks on increasing gas supplies from the country to compensate for a possible drop in Russian supplies over the Ukraine conflict. Luigi di Maio tweeted that he would meet with his Algerian counterpart and top officials to “discuss strengthening bilateral co-operation, in particular to address European energy security needs, in light of the conflict in Ukraine”. Algerian state energy giant Sonatrach said on Sunday it was ready to increase gas supplies to Europe, notably via the Transmed pipeline linking Algeria to Italy. | AFP…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za THE BIDVEST Group, having recently built one of the biggest LPG (liquid petroleum gas) facilities in the world at Richards Bay, is to spend another R500 million to establish an inland LPG terminal in Isando, Ekurhuleni, chief executive Mpumi Madisa said. “This is twice the size of our original ambitions, and we anticipate commissioning towards the end of 2025,” she said in a phoneinterview at the release of the group’s results for the six months to December 31, 2021, yesterday. Madisa said the decision to build the Richards Bay facility was at a time of a shortage of LPG gas in SA, and even then the facility was not big enough. The group now expected demand for its LPG facilities to also increase with the closure…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) described yesterday’s Constitutional Court ruling, dismissing the appeal brought by labour unions to challenge government’s reneging on the 2018 wage agreement, as a sad moment for collective bargaining. Popcru and other Cosatu affiliates, the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union, the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA and the SA Democratic Teachers’ Union, failed in their bid to overturn the Labour Appeal Court ruling which had gone against them regarding the wage agreement. The Labour Appeal Court had ruled that the implementation of the final leg (2020/21) of the three-year wage agreement, which was signed in 2018, was unlawful and in contravention of the Constitution. The unions had appealed this decision at the Concourt. The Public Servants Association…

From bustling Tokyo to the Isle of Man, from Novosibirsk in Siberia to the equatorial city of Quito, people everywhere comprise a single family. Researchers underscored that point, unveiling the most comprehensive family tree for Homo sapiens ever devised, based on modern and ancient genome data from more than 3 600 people around the world, dubbing the results the “genealogy of everyone”. The study helps delineate human genetic diversity and map out how people globally are related to one another, with our species arising in Africa before fanning out worldwide. The oldest roots of present-day human genetic variation reach back to northeastern Africa at a time before our species originated, according to Anthony Wilder Wohns, a post- doctoral researcher in genetics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University…

As someone who has witnessed first-hand the effects of war in Syria and the brutal occupation of Palestine by the Israelis, we must all come together and demand a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Ukraine. Despite the double standards, lies and hypocrisy of the US, EU, UN Security Council and Nato axis, Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine must be denounced and condemned. The US and its allies have been violating international law and charters for many decades with no objections from the international community. For over a century, the US has been committing far worse crimes against humanity. In the name of “war on terror”, “regime change” and “bringing democratic principles”, many sovereign countries were invaded and governments toppled. Vietnam, Chile, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, just to name a few,…

TAPIWA MUSKWE | UK I AM CONFIDENT that Nelson Chamisa, president of the opposition party in Zimbabwe known as the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), has great potential to make the nation great again. The CCC party, well-known for its bright yellow colour, is pressing for the state to be a democratic country because of its ideology of human rights and core value missions in leadership transparency. President Emmerson Mnangagwa agreed to have by-elections on March 26, 2022 for parliament and council seats while the general elections are taking place in 2023. The Zanu-PF government has failed the country since Zimbabwe gained independence on April 18, 1980, and the nation is still in shambles. Corrupt Zanu-PF has abused human rights and killed innocent people for their freedom of…

A MAN, 37, believed to be the mastermind and alleged kingpin behind a spate of high-profile kidnappings, in which a ransom was demanded, in various parts of Gauteng as well as in Maputo and Mozambique, has been arrested, police said. He and three others were arrested last week in Brackenhurst, Alberton in Gauteng. Spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said: “At this address, police found and seized three high-powered vehicles, 6 000 tablets of Mandrax, hard cash, a receipt of sale for a R1.9 million property in Bryanston, several high-end luxury brand clothing, all of which police believe were acquired through money received from ransom payments. All four were arrested and are in police custody.” She said the cases included that of Jahyr Abdullah, a Mozambican national and his friend who were kidnapped…

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa is a president on probation with his own party. His stop-start approach towards combating corruption through bold action to remove predatory individuals from positions of power as well as strengthening the criminal justice system through timely appointment of the chief justice and other judicial officials has been scorned, including by previously supportive ANC veterans. Following the conclusion of the State of the Nation Address (Sona) debate, he has spent time getting briefed and on the phone to government leaders to deliberate on things he should have decisively acted on a long time ago but failed. These include Parliament's standing committee on public accounts decision not to call him to answer questions about his knowledge of the use of state funds for ANC campaigns, the damning latest crime…

Russia and Ukraine met yesterday for their first talks since the outbreak of war last week, with Kyiv demanding an “immediate ceasefire” as the number of refugees fleeing the country hit more than 500 000. As the delegations arrived for talks on the border between Belarus and Ukraine on day five of Moscow’s invasion, the Ukrainian presidency demanded the ceasefire “and the withdrawal of troops” – which Moscow is almost certain to reject. “I do not really believe in the outcome of this meeting, but let them try,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said. Severe financial sanctions imposed by the West on Moscow showed their impact on financial markets yesterday morning, with the Russian ruble collapsing to a record low and the Russian central bank more than doubling interest rates…

Hong Kong may impose a hard lockdown that confines people to their homes, authorities signalled yesterday, with the city’s zero-Covid-19 strategy in tatters and bodies piling up in hospitals. Two years of strict zero-Covid-19 policies kept the coronavirus largely at bay but a breakthrough of the highly transmissible Omicron variant exposed how little authorities had done to prepare for a mass outbreak. Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam previously ruled out a citywide lockdown and instead has ordered all 7.4 million residents to be tested this month. But in a U-turn, health secretary Sophia Chan confirmed yesterday that it was still an option. Asked whether a lockdown was still ruled out she replied: “No. We are still discussing.” “From a public health perspective, to bring out the best effect of…

MILAN: Russian Valery Gergiev will not conduct the orchestra at Milan’s La Scala this week after he failed to condemn the invasion of Ukraine, the city mayor said yesterday. Gergiev – the general director of the St Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre and regarded as close to Russian President Vladimir Putin – conducted The Queen of Spades, an opera based on Alexander Pushkin’s novel, at La Scala on February 23. The show will run until March 15 and the next performance will be on Saturday. “I don’t think he will be there, I think at this point we can rule it out,” Giuseppe Sala, La Scala theatre board chairperson and mayor of Milan, told reporters yesterday. “The Maestro did not reply to us,” he added. Mayor Sala and La Scala artistic director…