Innholdsfortegnelse for 2021-07-05 i Mercury

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za A DAMNING forensic report has lifted the lid on the rampant abuse of overtime in the Metro Police and exposed instances where an officer earned a staggering R1.2 million over two years while others claimed for overtime even on their rest days. The revelations are contained in a forensic investigation report that looked into allegations of wrongdoing in the Metro Police Unit between 2017 and 2019. However, the report has been described as a “hit job” by some in the unit who said it was being used to undermine the current management by blaming them for matters that occurred before their time. The investigators looked into allegations of abuse of overtime, the appointment of senior managers, the recruitment of Metro officers and the abuse of council vehicles.…

IF YOU think you have Covid-19, it might be best to stay away from your pets, says the author of a Dutch study that found a surprising number of dogs and cats may be getting infected. “About one out of five pets will catch the disease from their owners,” said Dr Els Broens of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, although there are no known cases of the disease spreading from pets to humans. “Luckily, the animals do not get very ill from it.” In Broens’ study, presented in a paper at the European Congress of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 156 dogs and 154 cats from 196 households were tested in homes where humans were known to have had a coronavirus infection. About 17% of the animals, 31 cats and 23…

MOHAMED SAEED Pietermaritzburg AS THE pandemic surges harshly, children, like adults, are experiencing the continued uncertainty of Covid-19 and its impact. Last year was extremely traumatic with the abrupt arrival of the contagion, creating confusion and affecting lives and livelihoods. One group particularly affected by these challenges are pupils, especially Grade 11 and matric pupils. They also faced and are still facing the brunt of the virus and ensuing interruptions. For example, last year some pupils and their families had the virus and could not really perform well at school. Besides the strict lockdown and thereafter attending school on alternate days, stress and the rapidly evolving conditions added to poor performance in some brilliant and hardworking pupils. Similarly, when schools unexpectedly closed last week, many schools did not complete their…

FAROUK ARAIE Gauteng SOUTHERN Africa is in turmoil. Our stalwarts designed a government that would resist mob rule. They did not anticipate how strong mob rule would become. They drafted a Constitution and designed a government, to avoid the fate of those governments in many parts of Africa which they witnessed had succumbed to rule by demagogues and mobs. Today the masses are being swayed by crude and ambitious politicians playing on their emotions. When elected officials in a democracy abrogate their responsibility, citizens often take matters into their own hands, resulting in mob rule. Currently, our faltering democracy is assuredly proceeding without its head. How long, one wonders, can it go on performing this miracle? We are being governed by impulse, rather than by reason. Recorded history reveals, that…

Tshego Lepule tshego.lepule@inl.co.za IT’S A BLEAK July for cash-strapped consumers as the electricity and petrol price hikes will impact on the already high food prices. This week the electricity cost for customers supplied by municipalities increased by 13% to 14% across the country. Consumers also face the prospect of a petrol and paraffin increase this week after the AA predicted price hikes. The association forecasts increases of about 23c a litre for petrol, 38c for diesel and 32c for illuminating paraffin. “This increase is going to be very difficult for those who use paraffin for cooking, lighting, and especially heating as South Africa heads into the heart of winter,” the organisation said. And today, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa) online public hearing process begins in the…

THE political suppression of apartheid-era cases is another painful reminder to families of freedom fighters that the battle to find the truth and for justice to prevail is far from over. A recent Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) rebuke of the Executive and the National Prosecuting Authority for its failure to act highlights the inability to deal decisively with these cases. Following the rebuke, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola said that 114 Truth and Reconiciliation Commission (TRC) cases were being considered for investigation by the Hawks. Lamola said 55 TRC cases have been referred to the Directors of Public Prosecutions (DPP) offices in the jurisdictions where the crimes were committed as at May 25, 2021. “These cases are all being investigated by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation…

Ethiopia’s Tigray region wanted a full withdrawal of troops from Eritrea and the neighbouring state of Amhara before it could engage in any talks with the federal government about a ceasefire, it said yesterday. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the regional authority driven out last year by Ethiopian forces and troops from neighbouring Eritrea, returned to the region’s capital Mekelle last week to cheering crowds. Their return was followed by a declaration of a ceasefire by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government, a move dismissed by TPLF as a “joke”. A statement from “The Government of Tigray”, released yesterday, said it would accept a ceasefire in principle if there were guarantees of no further invasions but a series of other conditions would need to be met before any deal could…

DUBAI: Aid agencies have distributed a strawberry-flavoured tablet for children living with HIV in six African countries, the first generic paediatric version of a key anti-retroviral, global health agency Unitaid said yesterday. Unitaid and Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) funding procured 100 000 packs of the dolutegravir formulation across Nigeria, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Benin, Unitaid said. Some 1.8 million children worldwide live with HIV, but only half receive any treatment, often hard to administer due to the bitter taste or incorrectly dosed by crushing adult pills. Some 100 000 children die of Aids annually.…

Morgan Bolton morgan.bolton@inl.co.za The Sharks and Bulls shouldn’t expect the same British & Irish Lions team that dismantled the Sigma Lions on Saturday night, that much coach Warren Gatland revealed. The tourists handsomely beat their counterparts 56-14 at Emirates Airline Park with a team packed with Test-match hopefuls, and Gatland revealed after the match that his selections will have a different look to it when they play the Sharks. “I think the players that haven’t started will start on Wednesday,” said Gatland. “We’ve got a day off (on Sunday) - the non-23 had a tough hit out (on Saturday) with some fitness and skill work, so we are trying to get everyone on the same kind of cycle. We will probably name the squad to the team (on Sunday). “Monday…

Wynona Louw wynona.louw@inl.co.za The Springboks will be hoping for good news on star lock Eben Etzebeth’s injury situation after he left the field in their first Test against Georgia on Friday. Etzebeth, who started in the second row alongside Franco Mostert, went off at half-time with a rib injury. Speaking during a virtual press conference yesterday, forwards coach Deon Davids provided an update on the injury Etzebeth picked up in the 40-9 victory at Loftus Versfeld. "Eben Etzebeth got a rib injury on Friday ... he was assessed and he was quite fine this morning,” Davids said. “The medical staff is still busy looking at him for a day or two. The head coach (Jacques Nienaber) will then make a decision in terms of his availability for this weekend. We…

Kailene Pillay kailene.pillay@inl.co.za FORMER president Jacob Zuma’s frantic attempt to interdict Minister of Police Bheki Cele and the police from arresting him will be heard in the Pietermaritzburg High Court tomorrow. The judge will first decide whether the court has the jurisdiction to hear Zuma’s urgent application to stay his arrest before delving into the merits of his application. Zuma, 79, made a last-minute attempt at halting his looming arrest when he made two court applications days before he was due to hand himself over to the authorities. He made an application to the Constitutional Court to rescind and reconsider its decision to send him to prison for 15 months for contempt of court. The Concourt agreed to hear Zuma’s application on July 12. But, in an effort to cover…

Clarity is an amazing gift and lack of it can make things really complicated. “Why didn’t you tell me?” and “If I had known,” are words I frequently hear in a typical couple’s session. Saying what you mean, expressing natural reservations, declaring expectations and revealing important facts about personal history, allows the other person a wider platform to decide his or her degree of participation. A spin-off is that it usually also makes greater clarity easier for the other person. While it is not always possible or wise to “reveal your hand” too early in a relationship, having to hide important matters certainly indicates a need for caution. The need for secrets hardly bodes well for an open, loving future. Clarity allows for people to know what they are getting…

SABER AHMED JAZBHAY Newlands West FOR God’s sake, Mr President, do something, we are tired of family meetings. The latest Zuma constitutional challenge is an attempt to abolish the Constitution. It is the best example of the abuse of due process during the worst of times when over 25 000 coronavirus infections have been recorded – the highest ever in a single day. Last year on July 3 there were 8 170 recorded infections. On July 3 this year it shot up to 24 270. In this context we have the Zuma challenge. As our president, you have to show what a friend stated, that you have the ability to lead SA robustly, as the country is, literally, gasping for breath. My friend echoed that, “we need to see…

DUNCAN DU BOIS | Bluff APART from the responses of religious groups to the prospect of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (Pepuda), it appears there is little understanding of the revolutionary consequences this legislation heralds (The Mercury, July 2). While ostensibly amending the measures concerning hate speech, discrimination and harassment, the crux of the act is its stipulation that equal opportunities must be matched by equal outcomes. Whereas nature knows no equality, so it is that equal outcomes among humans given equal opportunities and benefits do not naturally occur. Despite that, the act will criminalise institutions, employers and individuals where outcomes have not been uniform. The effects of Pepuda cannot be overstated since it outlaws any form of comparison, dissent, distinction, discernment and…

Tshego Lepule tshego.lepule@inl.co.za A WINE body will argue in the Western Cape High Court on Wednesday that provinces should be given authority to allow for off-site alcohol sales. Vinpro, which represents over 2 600 wine and grape producers, lodged an urgent application last week to lift the ban on the sale of alcohol under Covid-19 level 4 restrictions. SA Breweries (SAB) has also launched its own application challenging the government’s fourth ban on the sale of alcohol, but is awaiting a hearing date. Vinpro’s lawyer, Charles van Breda, said the application seeks to give Western Cape Premier Alan Winde authority to deviate from regulations to allow the sale of alcohol for off-site consumption. In the alternative, the premier should at least be consulted about the imposition, extension or lifting of…

JAMES MAHLOKWANE james.mahlokwane@inl.co.za THE South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) is set to declare a dispute and request a strike certificate after the collapse of wage negotiations. The union said salary and wage negotiations for municipal workers under the auspices of the SA Local Government Bargaining Council collapsed as a result of the continued “arrogance” of the SA Local Government Association (Salga), which represented the country’s 257 municipalities. Samwu said that with negotiations failing to yield results members had gone back to their original demands for a single year salary and wage agreement; a R4 000 salary increase for all workers under the auspices of the bargaining council; a R15 000 sectoral minimum wage; and a R3 500 housing allowance for all workers. The demands include calls for an…

Kelly Jane Turner With over 3.3 million people vaccinated in South Africa this week, it will be the turn of those employed in the SAPS to get their shots next. The Covid-19 vaccination roll-out programme for police officers will kick off today with officials and SAPS personnel to lead the launch. Police Minister General Bheki Cele together with acting Minister of Health Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane and the national commissioner of the SAPS, General Khehla Sitole, will form part of the first group to receive their vaccines. Last month, Cele told Parliament that the pandemic had claimed the lives of 636 police officers, including uniformed members and support personnel across departments, since it began while 29 334 had recovered after contracting Covid-19. Starting from Thursday, the SAPS plans to vaccinate over…

At least 45 people were killed and 50 injured yesterday when a Philippines military aircraft carrying troops crashed and burst into flames after missing the runway in the country’s south, officials said. Nearly 100 people, most of them recent army graduates, were on the C-130 Hercules transport plane which was trying to land on Jolo island in Sulu province around midday. President Rodrigo Duterte’s office said it was “deeply saddened” by the event and is “praying for the safe recovery of the passengers.” Some of the soldiers were seen jumping out of the plane before it hit the ground and exploded into flames, said Major-General William Gonzales, commander of the Joint Task Force-Sulu. It was one of the country’s deadliest military aviation accidents. “This is a sad day but we…

Empty oxygen cylinders are piling up almost as fast as bodies in the city of Khulna, which has become Bangladesh’s coronavirus hot spot in a dire new surge. The government has ordered a strict week-long nationwide lockdown in a bid to halt the spread of Covid-19, but Khulna’s hospitals cannot cope. Neither can relatives of the dead. Mohammad Siddik leaned against empty cylinders under a hospital porch, tearfully telling relatives in phone calls that his 50-year-old brother had died. The 42-year-old businessman brought his brother to hospital as his condition deteriorated. But there was no bed and no oxygen, he said. The south-western district bordering India’s West Bengal state has seen a sharp rise in coronavirus infections blamed on the more contagious Delta variant, which was first detected in India.…

NEW DELHI: At least six people were injured due to an explosion in a chemical factory in Palghar district in the Indian western state of Maharashtra, while about 30 workers managed to escape the blast, national media reported yesterday. The blast took place at the weekend in the air handling unit at the plant of Bharat Chemicals company, which produces paracetamol and other chemicals, The Times of India reported. There is no clear information on what caused the blast. The police classified it as an accident, according to the newspaper.…

Mihlali Baleka mihlali.baleka@inl.co.za As if the year couldn’t get better for Veli Mothwa. Fresh from being nominated as one of the best three goalkeepers in the Premiership last season, Mothwa was appointed as Bafana Bafana captain for the Cosafa Cup. Mothwa became a professional with Baroka FC in 2013. But due to limited game time he left the club in 2016 to join Gqeberha-based side Chippa United, where he failed to make a single appearance for the Chilli Boys in his first two seasons. His fortunes changed two seasons ago after the departure of Patrick Tignyemb. He (pictured right) played 21 matches as Chippa avoided relegation on the last day of the season. Last term, Mothwa’s outstanding goalkeeping earned him the No 1 jersey and captaincy role. But in…

Formula One leader Max Verstappen led from start to finish as he won the Austrian Grand Prix for Red Bull in front of an orange army of fans, powering 32 points clear of Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton in the championship yesterday. Seven-time world champion Hamilton was a distant fourth, behind Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas in second and McLaren's Lando Norris in third. It was the fifth win in a row for Red Bull. Verstappen, who started from pole position for the third straight race and has now won on three successive weekends, also set the fastest lap to take his tally to 182 points after nine rounds. Hamilton has 150 and Red Bull are 44 points clear of Mercedes in the constructors' standings. "The car was on rails," said Verstappen of…

LIONS versus Lions – great excitement! Would the ref be in top hat and tails, whip in hand? No, this wasn’t quite the sawdust ring but we did get a marvellous conjuring show, put on by the British and Irish Lions in a display of silky, close to magical, passing and interplay, especially from the back of the line-out. Our own Lions – Emirates Lions – had their moments, and they fought bravely, but eventually were swamped in a deluge of inventive class. Yes, they had players missing as they are with the Bok squad, but they are a senior provincial side and it’s disquieting to see them go down 56-14. One has a sense that the northern hemisphere has adapted better to the Covid-19 lockdown than we have. There…

COLIN BURGER Assagay JACOB Zuma has been sentenced to a jail term by the apex court in our land. Zuma is an ordinary citizen and must abide by the court’s findings. Case closed. Yet he and his family encourage violence and civil unrest when the law-enforcement agencies need to carry out their constitutional duties in arresting him because they state that Zuma will not abide by the Constitutional Court’s findings. This is typical of the attitude that has prevailed throughout Zuma’s “9 lost years” of being in the presidency. It is both shameful and rebellious from a man who swore to uphold the Constitution not once, but twice. What a legacy that will go down in history – the first president in democratic South Africa to have been found guilty…

SAMAOEN OSMAN | Cape Town Nelson Mandela dedicated his life to transforming South Africa, but he changed the entire world. He taught us that an unflinching devotion to hope can triumph over any tyranny, no matter how powerful. Let’s come together to celebrate his life with a giant message of gratitude – for the courage he embodied, the injustice he righted, and the gift he gave us to believe that within each of us lies the power to make the world a better place. Then pledge to honour him by celebrating Mandela Day just as he’s taught us – through public service. This quote from Mandela has inspired many people in their fight for a better world: “I am fundamentally an optimist. Part of being optimistic is keeping…

Thami Magubane thami.magubane@inl.co.za COUNCILLORS in the Msunduzi Municipality are taking senior staff to task over the municipality’s poor performance, recommending that managers should not be paid performance bonuses. Councillors in the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (Mpac) tabled its oversight report for the 2019/20 financial year last month. It was adopted by the full council but that does not mean the bonuses will not be paid as the performance assessment is a legal process and Mpac’s views are only a recommendation. In its report, Mpac said it was highly concerned about the municipality’s poor performance, and based on this it recommended that performance bonuses should not be paid. It would affect only employees who are on performance contracts. The issue of performance at senior management level has also been raised…

Q: The CCP has presided over a notably successful foreign policy that has seen the emergence of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. What have been the greatest benefits of these initiatives for your country? A: The Belt and Road initiative is a major strategic decision made by China to actively respond to the complex and severe international economic situation and the profound adjustment of the global economic structure on the basis of overall consideration of domestic and international situations. It is committed to realising cross-border connectivity all over the world, which is consistent with the focus of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), namely practical co-operation, advancing trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation based on connectivity, and narrowing the economic development gap between countries…

Rescue workers have saved 19 people after a large landslide in the Japanese city of Atami, Shizuoka prefecture, while two people were confirmed dead, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said yesterday. “To date, the death of two people has been confirmed, another two are injured. Several people are missing. Nineteen people have been saved. Damage was caused to 130 houses,” the prime minister said. There was an increasing risk of flooding and landslides in other regions due to continuous rains, Suga said. “Please, keep a close watch on weather forecast updates and information about evacuation recommendations in order to avoid approaching dangerous areas and to be able to ensure your own safety fast,” he said. The landslide was caused by heavy rains along the Pacific coast of Japan on…

The US’s pillaging of eastern Syria appears to be continuing unabated, with the Syrian media reporting yesterday that over 45 vehicles loaded with wheat and oil have left the Rmelan area in north-eastern Hasakah province, heading for the unofficial al-Waleed border crossing with Iraq. The convoy of vehicles included 45 trucks and a tanker. At the same time, a separate convoy of 27 vehicles loaded with supplies and equipment came through the same crossing and made their way to Rmelan to support the US forces stationed there. The news comes less than 24 hours after a separate incident during which 37 tankers carrying oil illegally pumped from the Syrian region of Jazira and several trucks and refrigerators carrying unknown cargoes made their way for the al-Waleed crossing. SANA’s sources…

HONG KONG: The Hong Kong police said yesterday that its national security department (NSD) had taken over a case in which a police officer was assaulted on Hennessy Road in Causeway Bay. On Thursday, an attacker used a knife to wound a male police officer and then committed suicide. The police classified it as attempted murder and suicide. The police said initial investigations revealed that this was a lone wolf-style act of domestic terrorism in which the attacker was believed to be radicalised by fake information, but added that other possibilities could not be ruled out.…