Innehållsförteckning för 2023-03-22 från Mercury

Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday described South Africa’s ability to achieve a relatively peaceful transition from the apartheid era to democracy as an awe-inspiring achievement that required patience, commitment, strong leadership and a true desire for peace from all parties involved. He was speaking at the first Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi annual lecture at Durban’s ICC where guests included Zulu King Misuzulu KaZwelithini, businessman Vivian Reddy, advocate Dali Mpofu and former ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule. “South Africa was blessed with so many leaders who were all active at the same time. Buthelezi was a significant player during a crucial period in the country, Africa and world history. The country was on the brink of civil war but ultimately it led to democracy.” Obasanjo said while the Truth and Reconciliation Commission…

Last Thursday’s Mercury carried a full-page article by award-winning columnist Ms Devi Rajab (“Unsung Indian Heroines”) which I would like to comment on. Towards the end of her most informative analysis of the historical multi-fold contribution by Indian women of South Africa, she remarks “The proud heritage of the Indian community has unfortunately been muffled and silenced by a lack of exposure and media censorship”. Absolutely. Names like Dr Goonam and Fathima Meer, like the others who were mentioned, will live on forever. However, what bugs me now is the question: Why are our Indian women so quiet nowadays? (I have just about given up on Indian male voices, but that is a subject for another day!). So much of local tyranny from the government in so many areas,…

Respect is placing high value on privacy, even, perhaps especially, between and among people who are very intimate with each other. The deeper, greater the intimacy, the greater the need for individual space, even opportunities for extended solitude. Respect is listening. It’s having the willingness to focus on what another is saying without correcting, interpreting, or interrupting. It’s developing an eye for what another may need or want and looking for ways to serve one another. It’s having an eye for mood and occasion, the ability to read a moment and to sense when strong emotions may call for deeper understanding. Respect is having an ear for what is not said. It’s the capacity to read between the lines, to discern what may be uncomfortable to express. It is developing…

Five people, aged between 29 and 36, were arrested after they were caught with sheep in the boot of a vehicle in the Northern Cape this week. Provincial police spokesperson Sergeant Omphile Masegela said police were conducting operational duties on Monday when they were informed about a white Renault Cleo transporting sheep. “The vehicle was spotted about 10km outside Upington and a high-speed chase ensued. The vehicle was later stopped and four sheep were found in the boot,” Masegela said. Masegela said the driver failed to provide proof of ownership of the vehicle. The vehicle registration was circulated and it was found that it was reported as stolen in Cape Town. “The police arrested four men and a woman. The suspects are facing charges of stock theft and possession of…

As public hearings on the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill continue, Mpumalanga parents and educators who came out to voice their support and concerns around a legislation were most interested in a new clause. This clause promises to criminalise the unlawful and intentional interruption or hindrance of any school activity. The residents shared their views on the bill with the portfolio committee on basic education during the first of three public hearings on it in the province recently. Those who came out to the hearings highlighted that the numerous service delivery protests in the area which resulted in the unlawful interruption of school programmes were a major concern to them as the incidents affected teaching and learning negatively. The proposal to hold the perpetrators liable and be fined or…

Power-sharing deals in coalition governments bear testament to this MANY people are saying the show of force from the government before the EFF’s shutdown seems to be a somewhat misguided attempt to make up for its “unequivocal” failure to protect the people during the looting mayhem that engulfed KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in July 2021. In The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, Karl Marx famously observed: “Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past.” Our choices to embrace or condemn the bogus EFF’s national shutdown, characterised by the spewing of propaganda and polarisation, are shaped, and even bound, by the histories and institutions we inhabit in…

French journalist Olivier Dubois made an emotional return home yesterday after nearly two years in captivity in the Sahel, with his family and President Emmanuel Macron greeting him at an airport near Paris. The 48-year-old stepped down from the plane and made a beeline to hug family members waiting for him on the tarmac of Villacoublay air base. Macron embraced Dubois, in a brief break from domestic political turmoil over his government ramming through a divisive pensions reform. Dubois was kidnapped in Mali on April 8, 2021. He said in a video released by his captors that he was taken by the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM), the main jihadist alliance in the Sahel, which is linked to al-Qaeda. He and a US aid worker – 61-year-old Jeffery…

NAIROBI: Ethiopia yesterday rejected a determination by the US State Department that its army, along with all sides in the recently concluded conflict in the northern Tigray region, had committed war crimes, calling the charge “inflammatory” and “untimely”. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that members of the Ethiopian National Defense Force, its allies from the Eritrean army and Amhara regional forces, and opposing forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, committed war crimes during the conflict. The Ethiopian foreign affairs ministry said the US claim was “selective” since it exonerated Tigrayan forces from accusations of rape and sexual violence. | Reuters…

Barcelona: The average age of the European population has gone up by 2½ years in the past decade, according to Eurostat data. In Spain, the average age has climbed by 4.3 years, the highest rise in the EU behind Portugal (4.7). However, the Center for Demographic Studies in Barcelona said that although half of Europeans are now over 44.4 years old, the main concern was the lack of children being born. Half the population in Spain is over 45 years old, according to Eurostat, but the average age is highest in Italy (48 years), followed by Germany (45.8), Portugal (46.8), Greece (46.1) and Croatia (45.5). The low birth rates are pronounced. | IANS…

FARMERS who supply sugarcane to the Gledhow Sugar Company (GSC) mill in KwaDukuza (Stanger) north of Durban, face an uncertain future, with livelihoods on the line after the company went into business rescue earlier this month. Business rescue is a legal process aimed at facilitating the rehabilitation of a financially distressed company. GSC has 374 employees whose jobs are potentially on the line depending on the outcome of the rescue process. This is another blow to the financially troubled sugar sector and the sugarcane growers after troubled Tongaat Hulett, the sugar and property group, entered business rescue in October 2022 due to its snowballing debt burden, and in the absence of additional funding. Last week, Abigail Moyo, spokesperson of the trade union Uasa said the financial challenges at GSC meant…

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday took a veiled dig at the EFF and emphasised the importance of democracy at the Human Rights Day commemoration event in De Aar, Northern Cape. Calling for an end to load shedding and for Ramaphosa’s resignation, the EFF held a national shutdown a day before the commemoration of the March 21, 1960, Sharpeville massacre, in which 69 people were killed and 180 wounded by the apartheid regime, whose cops fired on a peaceful crowd protesting against pass laws. This year’s commemoration event was themed “consolidating and sustaining human rights culture into the future”. Speaking off the cuff, Ramaphosa said: “It is quite an important day for all of us because it’s a day on which we celebrate the great progress we’ve made as a people and…

THE well publicised March 20 shutdown is over. The heroes of this scary encounter were members of the CPFs (community policing forums), the SAPS, AfriForum, community volunteer groups, members of neighbourhood watches combined with various security companies, as front line sentinels, (who) kept the entire country in a safety grip, upholding their responsibilities with integrity, bravery, while risking their lives for citizens’ safety. The role of law enforcement in society is massive and cannot be undervalued. As normality returns to our embattled country, we pause in solemn gratitude to pay tribute to these brave patriots who kept us safe from the forces of anarchy. Their 36 hours of vigil served as a profound reminder that freedom is not free. These are acts of bravery, that we might not witness again…

IN the ongoing battle to get rid of unsafe toilets, Section27 and the Centre for Child Law will on Friday launch an online accountability tool to monitor progress to eradicate pit toilets in Limpopo schools. The Michael Komape Sanitation Progress Monitor, named after 5-year-old learner Michael Komape, who drowned in a pit toilet at his school in Limpopo in 2014, will be launched at the Human Rights Festival at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. As part of the festival, Section27 will also host an exhibition to commemorate the life of Michael, which will run until Saturday. The legal battle for safer toilets has been ongoing in the high court in Limpopo, which ordered that the Department of Education provide a list of schools with pit toilets and other inadequate sanitation in…

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube said they were working closely with traditional leaders to curb attacks on them. She said this during the Human Rights Day commemoration event at Isolomuzi Sports Field, in Mondlo in northern KwaZulu-Natal yesterday. The event marked the 63rd commemoration of the Sharpeville massacre in which 69 people were killed. Dube-Ncube said the level of crime targeting traditional leaders in the province was high and had to be addressed immediately. She vowed to work hard to end the killings, urging all stakeholders to get involved in fighting crime. “Criminals who destroy the future of our youth with drugs live in our communities. We should not remain silent but co-operate with the police, because if the drug dealers are caught and those who are part of the murderous…

A woman involved in rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park (KNP) has been jailed for 16 years by the Skukuza Regional Court. Thembi Juliegirl Mangane’s two accomplices pleaded guilty and were sentenced almost two years ago, according to Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala. While her accomplices pleaded guilty and were sentenced, Mohlala said Mangane, 37, opted to go on trial and was found guilty. “The accused’s sentence emanates from a rhino poaching incident which took place on 18 April 2019. It is said on that day, rhino poachers entered the KNP through the Crocodile Bridge section where they killed a rhino and removed its horns,” Mohlala said. “Possibly two suspects managed to flee. However, after members of the police were alerted about the incident, a lookout for the…

The Palestinian Authority, Egypt and Jordan has condemned as “racist” a firebrand Israeli minister’s remarks denying the existence of the Palestinian people, with Amman summoning Israel’s ambassador for a rebuke. Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, is part of veteran leader Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government that took office in December. Smotrich had already faced international rebuke in early March after calling for a Palestinian town in the occupied West Bank to be “wiped out”, amid spiralling violence in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. “There are no Palestinians, because there isn’t a Palestinian people,” he said at the weekend in Paris, quoting French-Israeli Zionist activist Jacques Kupfer at an event in his memory, according to a video on social media. Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said ahead of a cabinet meeting on…

Nigeria’s ruling party has won the majority of governorships contested in last weekend’s elections, results showed yesterday, following a ballot marred by violence, intimidation and vote buying. Elections were held to choose governors in 28 of Nigeria’s 36 states and state assembly lawmakers. Governors in the remaining eight states had earlier been chosen in by-elections due to court rulings. The local elections came three weeks after the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, won a presidential ballot that rivals said was massively rigged. According to the results from Saturday’s vote declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APC won the governorship in 15 states. The main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won seven. The New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) emerged victorious in Kano, northern Nigeria’s…

LOS ANGELES: The latest spate of harsh wintry weather churning from the Pacific bore down on storm-weary California yesterday, with forecasters warning of wind gusts reaching hurricane force, with torrential rain and mountain snow. Southern and central California, still sodden from storms that have swept ashore one after another since late December, one just days ago, were expected to be hardest hit by the newest onslaught. High-wind warnings and advisories were posted for California from the Mexico border through Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay area. The storm marks the 12th “atmospheric river” to hit the US West Coast since December. | Reuters…

Geneva: More than 530 people have been killed this year in gang violence in Haiti, the UN said yesterday, with many killed by snipers shooting victims at random. The UN human rights office said it was concerned that extreme violence was spiralling out of control in Haiti. This year, up to March 15, “531 people were killed, 300 injured and 277 kidnapped in gang-related incidents that took place mainly in the capital, Port-au-Prince,” it said. In the first two weeks of March, gang clashes left at least 208 dead, 164 injured and 101 kidnapped. Haiti has been in crisis since the 2021 assassination of president Jovenel Moise; gangs now control more than half the country. | AFP…

Economists predict long-term impact of Monday’s shutdown ECONOMISTS have warned that, despite mostly peaceful protests, the EFF national shutdown would have a devastating impact on the ailing South African economy. They said several businesses were closed on Monday because of fear and threats of a repeat of the July 2021 unrest and looting. Professor Bonke Dumisa, an independent economic analyst, said the economic losses due to Monday’s protest action would be significant. “Our economy is already struggling. The fourth quarter of 2022 indicated that the South African economy GDP figures went down by 1.3%. Remember if the first quarter of 2023 shows GDP went down again, this would mean we have entered a technical recession as this means we have experienced two consecutive quarters of negative growth.” Dumisa said billions…

I HAD the dubious pleasure on Saturday of listening on SAfm to the treasury secretary of the EFF expounding on the squeaky clean intentions of her party, urging all South Africans to help them bring the economy to its knees on Monday by joining them in peaceful protest against poverty and unemployment, a direct result of load shedding and PPPP (the President’s Phala Phala Peccadillos). Presumably it had escaped her memory that it was the people who are now suffering, who, with yellow ANC T-shirts and 10kg mealie meal gifts in hand, voted the self-same president and his party into office. In addition to this, many of those had also assisted (still assist?) with the load shedding through non-payment of electricity accounts and deliberate infrastructural destruction of the system. But…

HEY, the Old Blighty Blues Band strikes up a few chords again today. Mouthing his lines at the mike, while walking a tightrope, will be tousle- headed blond sensation Bojo, aka Boris Johnson, former prime minister. Yes, Johnson will have our attention again as he presents to a House of Commons Privileges Committee a 50-page dossier drawn up by his lawyers, arguing that he did not lie to Parliament about Partygate, a series of boozy parties held at No 10 Downing Street in contravention of the very strict Covid regulations. The all-party Privileges Committee has already issued an interim report in which it said it must have been obvious to Johnson at the time that the parties were in contravention of the regulations. Also, Johnson is among a string of…

Crime experts believe that South Africa is fast becoming a country with the highest rate of assassinations, amid reports that prominent people have been killed in suspected hits. Gauteng police are investigating a double murder case after Gupta and Bosasa liquidator Cloete Murray and his son Tom Murray were shot dead in a suspected hit in Midrand at the weekend. Murray, a professional insolvency practitioner who was reported to have been working on high-profile cases, and his son, a legal adviser, were travelling together when their vehicle was shot at on Saturday. Tom died at the scene, while his father was transferred to a hospital in Sunninghill after being shot twice in the head. Murray died in the hospital on Sunday morning after succumbing to his injuries. Crime activist Yusuf…

NEWLY appointed Deputy President Paul Mashatile will lead the country’s World TB Day commemoration event on Friday. As one of his first roles, Mashatile will commemorate the day at Tlhabane Stadium in Rustenburg with the South African National Aids Council (Sanac). They will be launching the National Strategic Plan (NSP) for HIV, TB and sexually transmitted infections. Mashatile is Sanac chairperson, and had his first plenary meeting last week to pave the way for the NSP. Despite the disease being curable, TB remains one of the leading causes of ill health and death globally, with 1.6 million people losing their lives in 2021, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Mashatile is expected to address about 5 000 people under the theme “Yes! We can end TB!”. World TB Day…

Government and Eskom were lambasted in court on Monday for inadequate load-shedding actions, ignoring alarm bells which had been ringing since 1998 over the energy crisis, their failure to provide South Africa with a stable energy supply and the subsequent infringement of human rights. The hearing took place at the Pretoria High Court after court action was brought by 19 unions and political parties including ActionSA, the UDM, IFP, and the National Union of Metalworkers in SA. They want the court to declare that government’s response to load shedding unconstitutional and in breach of fundamental human rights. They also want certain sectors to be exempted from load shedding. Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, representing the applicants, argued that in spite of knowing since 1998 that Eskom would run out of electricity…

A family, including a 9-year-old child, were killed in a drive-by shooting on Peter Road in Springfield Park yesterday. KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda, said a 42-year-old man, his 34-year-old wife and their 9-year-old daughter were fatally wounded in an apparent drive-by shooting. “The motive for the killing is unknown as yet, although preliminary investigations suggest that the man, who was shot, was allegedly involved in drug and gang-related activities in Chatsworth and was a person of interest in some cases being investigated by the Hawks,” he said. Netshiunda said the suspects were being sought by the police. Emer-G-Med Paramedics spokesperson Kyle van Reenen said that at about 2.30pm Emer-G-Med paramedics together with Netcare911 responded to the scene. When they arrived at the scene, they discovered a Volkswagen Amarok…

Chinese leader Xi Jinping arrived at the Kremlin yesterday for formal talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the Ukraine conflict a closely-watched matter on the agenda. Xi entered the Kremlin on a red carpet and was greeted by a military band and senior Russian officials including Putin, as both nations seek allies to counteract Western power. The Chinese leader’s Moscow visit has been viewed as a boost for Putin, who is under Western sanctions and subject to an International Criminal Court warrant over accusations of unlaw- fully deporting Ukrainian children. The Kremlin has said the two leaders would discuss proposals put forward by China to end more than a year of fighting in Ukraine, and that the talks were likely to end with Xi and Putin signing a string…

Data from the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, briefly uploaded to a global database by Chinese scientists, gives crucial information on the outbreak’s origins, including of an animal market in the Chinese city of Wuhan, researchers said. The virus was first identified in Wuhan in December 2019, with many suspecting the Huanan live animal market to be the source, before spreading round the world and killing nearly 7 million people. The data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention is no longer available on the Gisaid database. It comprised new sequences of the Sars-CoV-2 virus and additional genomic data based on samples taken from a live animal market in Wuhan in 2020, said scientists who accessed it. The sequences showed raccoon dogs and other animals were in…

Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron told allies yesterday he planned to keep the government in place and not dissolve parliament, defying opponents and public anger over his pensions reform. Police arrested another 234 people in Paris during clashes between protesters and security forces. The latest unrest came after Macron’s centrist government narrowly survived two no-confidence motions in parliament on Monday, meaning the legislation to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 looks almost certain. At a meeting yesterday, Macron called on allies to provide ideas in two to three weeks for “a change in method and reform agenda”, said an official. | AFP…