Innholdsfortegnelse for 2021-07-19 i Star

BANELE GININDZA banele.ginindza@inl.co.za JULY HAS come with severe challenges for South Africa’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which have to face, in addition to an extended lockdown and widespread looting, increases in electricity charges, a hike in property rates and higher fuel prices. This as SMEs across the country, particularly in looting-hit KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, began picking up the pieces after they were wiped out when protesters helped themselves to goods. According to insights from funder Retail Capital, the lockdowns impact SMEs not only financially, but also sentimentally, because as soon as increased restrictions are put in place, there is a general hold on spending. This, in addition to having to fork out extra money for utilities and fuel, means that available income is compromised, which has a significant knock-on…

SANDILE MCHUNU sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za RETAILERS are starting to count the cost of the impact of the past week’s looting and violent protests that ravaged their outlets in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng. Pepkor Holdings said on Friday that 489 of its retail stores, or 9 percent of its overall portfolio, had been damaged and looted. The Steinhoff International subsidiary said its operations has been impacted by the civil unrest of the past week. The damaged properties include one of the JD Group’s distribution centres in Cato Ridge, KwaZulu-Natal. The JD Group operates 16 distribution centres countrywide, and its KwaZulu-Natal stores, once reopened, would be serviced in the short term from its other distribution centres. Chief executive Leon Lourens said the vast majority of the stores across their footprint were operational,…

His legal team to challenge directive for court sitting to be held digitally Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za AS tension mounts over publicly seeing former president Jacob Zuma before the Pietermaritzburg High Court for the first time, there is a simmering fight. The potentially crippling fight is over whether Zuma’s hearing should be virtual and, on the other side, is whether is such a hearing constitutionally sound or not. At the weekend, the always vocal Jacob Zuma Foundation insisted that, in a criminal trial, all accused should be present in court and, if that’s not the case, there should be exceptional circumstances to explain that. Regarding the virtual hearing tomorrow, which means no parties should, by all means, be physically present in court, the foundation said the “sensitive” hearing should be…

SONRI NAIDOO SOUTH African citizens were feeling mixed emotions about celebrating Mandela Day amid the trying times the country faced. Unemployment, poverty and gender-based violence were just some of challenges in the country. Added to this is the deadly coronavirus which has claimed the lives of many people globally. Now South Africa is forced to rebuild the ruins caused by the looting and riots in the KZN and Gauteng. On Mandela Day, good Samaritans gathered across the country to donate to those who are in need as part of the 67 minutes’ activity that citizens fulfil every year to honour former president Nelson Mandela. Mpho Masechaba and her mother volunteered their time to cook for people living in the Strydom Park informal settlement. “We have three ladies who assist…

DOES he capitulate and sprint towards the political trash heap, or does he become the formidable force that civilised South Africans want him to be? Poverty and inequality is fertile ground for fermenting criminality and corruption, and this is what the sinister forces have harnessed to create the vicious instability we are currently enduring. Mobilising the army gives us a sense of comfort ... but does Ramaphosa have the strength of character and political will to hunt down and arrest the ringleaders who have been responsible for the mayhem? Described as the “Dirty Dozen”, in a different time, they would have been rounded up and executed. |…

HITHERTO, Kaizer Chiefs were chasing the impossible dream of winning the CAF Champions League title at their first attempt in their 51-year history. In the aftermath of their 3-0 defeat by Egyptian giants Al Ahly in Morocco on Saturday night, it now seems that the dream was out of reach. Or was it? In light of the fact that after 45 minutes, neither team had scored, and that Chiefs played the second half with 10 men, perhaps it was closer than we believe. By half-time, Al Ahly enjoyed 71% possession but were unable to convert this into anything tangible on the scoreboard. It is worth noting that in many earlier round-robin matches, Chiefs were starved of possession but managed to win or draw. Sometimes, Chiefs' opponents had as much as…

Tokyo: Two athletes have tested positive for coronavirus in the Tokyo Olympic Village after a team colleague was also infected, officials said yesterday, raising fears of a cluster just days before the opening ceremony. The first cases involving athletes in the Village came a day after a member of their entourage returned the first positive test in the complex, which will house thousands of athletes. The three infections were revealed as competitors fly in from around the world for the pandemic-delayed Olympics, which are facing significant opposition in Japan due to their Covid risks. Tokyo 2020 spokesman Masa Takaya said the three cases “were from the same country and sport”. They are “isolated in their rooms and Tokyo 2020 is delivering meals to them”, he said, adding that the rest…

LONDON: Former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has been appointed host of an hour-long prime time show from Monday to Thursday at 7pm. Farage got the job just days after the struggling GB News’s programming chief, John McAndrew, reportedly resigned in the wake of a viewer backlash over presenter Guto Harri’s decision to take the knee on air to support black players who faced racial abuse on social media after England’s defeat in the Euro 2020 final. Farage pledged not to take the knee on the show.…

Monrovia: Between 15 and 17 people were missing after a vessel sank off the coast of south-eastern Liberia, the West African state’s government and coastguard said yesterday. Search and rescue operations were ongoing, a coastguard official said at a news conference in the capital, Monrovia. He added that some people had been rescued on Saturday night as the ship was sinking. The head of Liberia’s Maritime Authority, Eugene Lenn Nagbe, told reporters that the vessel in question had earlier been placed “under detention orders” because it was unseaworthy. Liberian daily FrontPage Africa reported on Saturday night that 21 people were aboard the vessel and a rescue operation began after it sent out a distress call.…

COBUS Reinach made his Springbok debut in 2014 but has just 15 Test caps to his name. That is a bit of an injustice to a man as talented as the former Sharks scrumhalf, who now plays his club rugby for Montpellier in France, after a lengthy stint at Northampton Saints in England. He missed out on selection for the 2015 Rugby World Cup, with Rudy Paige getting the nod as the third No 9 behind Fourie du Preez and Ruan Pienaar. It looked like he was going to be overlooked for the 2019 edition as well, with Faf de Klerk and Herschel Jantjies having emerged. But he was brought into the Bok mix by coach Rassie Erasmus that year, and made it count as he scored…

Economists not expecting Reserve Bank to raise interest rates at MPC meeting Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za THE SOUTH African Reserve Bank (SARB) is expected to keep interest rates unchanged at 3.5 percent this week as consumers continue struggling with rising fuel and electricity prices. The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will this week announce its interest rates decision following a unanimous decision to keep them unchanged in May. SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago, however, warned that the implied policy rate path of their projection model indicated an increase of 25 basis points in each of the second and fourth quarters of 2021. Inflation is forecast to be moderate at around 4.9 percent in June from 5.2 percent in May, above the SARB’s 3 to 6 percent target range,…

OPEC IS AT it again – or to be exact, two of its eminent constituent members are. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the de facto owners of Opec and the United Arab Emirates, the third-largest producing power in that group, are mulling over the possibility of a discord. At its conclusion, yet uncertain, it must permit for the recognition of the UAE as a powerful broker within the brotherhood without wresting the reins of control from Riyadh. The inevitable consequence of so much sabre-rattling has been the sharp increase in the oil price. From the depressed West Texas Intermediate oil contracts priced below zero in early 2020 to a staggering $75 per barrel in mid-July, so many questions are bound to follow. The reasons for the stand-off, rhyming quite close…

ITUMELENG MAFISA SOWETO residents have been warned to be careful of scammers who are trying to take advantage of those trying to help the Defend Our Malls campaign. This comes after one of the faces of the campaign, Nhlanhla Lux, said a fake Facebook account had been created in his name with the culprits asking people for money to drive the campaign to defend the last standing mall in Soweto, Maponya Mall. Lux is part of a group called the Soweto Parliament, the group in a community organisation aiming to empower Soweto residents. Lux told the public not to send money to people on Facebook pretending to be him. “We are a cashless organisation and we do not ask people for money. People should be aware of that. We…

ITUMELENG MAFISA THE SA Police Union (Sapu) says its members are gearing up for a strike following a breakdown of talks in the public sector wage talks. The union’s general secretary, Peter Ntsime, said the union had already declared a dispute and balloting was supposed to be completed to enable members to legally go on strike. He said the current unrest had disturbed the balloting process but union members who were able to take part in the process had indicated that they wanted to go on strike. "We had our NEC on Friday and quite a lot of our members indicated that we have to go on strike. The only challenge that we are facing now is that the three critical provinces which are the biggest in our movement…

Mashudu Sadike A SUSPECTED looter has been captured, severely assaulted and tortured by Limpopo taxi drivers in the latest incident of vigilantism and mob justice sparked by the unrest in Kwazulu-Natal and Gauteng. Taxi drivers immersed the bleeding man in a tank of cold water in full view of the public after he was allegedly caught stealing a chair at a furniture shop in the Polokwane CBD on Thursday, witnesses said. The man, whose name is known to the Pretoria News, was caught by members of the public and assaulted before being handed over to the police. In a video circulated on social media, the 27-year-old man can be seen sitting naked in a tank full of cold water at the taxi rank. According to witnesses, the taxi drivers…

I AM very sorry to hear of the terrible and large-scale losses due to the looting, robbing, thieving and vandalism. None of us were prepared for such large-scale ransacking of retail outlets, warehouses and shopping centres. I could not believe how shocking and shattering the damage was to our communities, especially to lives, properties and businesses. It is difficult to understand the emotional and mental feelings I pray the Almighty will help all put their lives back in order. Together with the effects of Covid-19 and the unfortunate situation, as a community we have to make the best out of the state of affairs and support each other in the process of getting through these defining moments. May the Almighty replace the losses of all who have suffered losses or…

WE OFTEN talk about the need for change and wonder what kind of change can bring lasting joy and fulfilment in our lives. In addition, we wonder whether there is a higher and a nobler purpose in life than devoting it fully to pursuit of material aspirations. A fulfilling and purposeful life, in the Baháí view, would have two aspects: our individual intellectual and spiritual development as well as contributing towards the betterment of society. A fulfilling and purposeful life is a result of progressing materially and spiritually, together and simultaneously. One of the most powerful tools that can contribute towards the fulfilment of our life’s purpose is education. However, we need to examine the currently-practised educational approach in the light of its contribution to individual growth, as well as…

WHEN constitutional democracy is under strain, how should we view disagreement among judges in a court of (supposed) last resort? Two weeks ago, South Africa’s Constitutional Court handed down judgment in two cases with high political stakes. First, it was Acting Deputy Chief Justice Khampepe, who read the court’s reasons for its punitive order sentencing former president Jacob Zuma to 15 months’ imprisonment. This was for contempt of its earlier order directing him to comply with the summonses and directives issued by the Zondo Commission. Two days later Justice Chris Jafta delivered the court’s withering critique of Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s disregard for both the facts and the law in her findings and remedial action against President Cyril Ramaphosa in relation to campaign donations. The outcome of each case is…

Thai police used rubber bullets, teargas and water cannon against protesters in Bangkok yesterday as demonstrators defied Covid-19 restrictions to call for Premier Prayut Chan-O-Cha’s resignation and mark the one-year anniversary of a pro-democracy movement. The kingdom is facing its worst Covid-19 wave, registering daily case records as hospitals buckle under pressure from the numbers of affected patients. Exacerbating the toll has been the government’s slow procurement of vaccines, which has drawn criticism as Thailand’s economy reels from increasingly severe restrictions on businesses. Defying rules prohibiting gatherings of more than five people, protesters piled mock body bags flecked with red paint near the intersection of the capital’s Democracy Monument. “We will die from Covid if we stay home; that is why we have to come out,” shouted a protest…

LOS ANGELES: Britney Spears said she would not perform again while her father retained control over her career, and said the conservatorship she has been under for 13 years had “killed my dreams”. “I’m not gonna be performing on any stages anytime soon with my dad handling what I wear, say, do, or think,” the singer wrote in a lengthy Instagram post. The pop star’s father, Jamie Spears, has sole control of his daughter’s $60 million (R868m) estate under the court-appointed conservatorship.…

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised yesterday that the government would take climate change more into consideration when shaping national policies. She spoke at a news conference after making a trip to the flood-hit state of Rhineland-Palatinate to assess the scale of damage caused by extreme weather conditions, which have been blamed on global warming. Merkel said the devastation she saw in the village of Schuld was “terrifying”, “eerie” and “surreal”. “Germany is a strong country and we will stand up to the forces of nature in the short term, but also in the medium and long term, by shaping a policy that will take the nature and climate more into consideration than we did in recent years,” she said.…

Sandile Mchunu sandile.mchunu@inl.co.za RICHEMONT reported a strong first quarter of its 2022 financial year with 129 percent sales growth in the three months to end June boosted by the performance of jewellery maisons and the specialist watchmakers. The group said almost all its opera- tional regions reported triple-digit growth in sales during the quarter. Jewellery maisons and specialist watchmakers were the best performers after reporting sales growth of 142 percent and 143 percent respectively. The group’s 2020 first quarter was severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to a triple-digit growth in sales during the current quarter, with the exception of Asia Pacific, online distributors and online retail, where sales grew by double-digits. “The other business area, mostly composed of our fashion and accessories Maisons, also…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za GOVERNMENT’S proposal to enable companies to produce up to 100 megawatts (MW) of electricity for their use and on-selling to the grid might not be a blue swan after all, as Eskom and energy experts confirmed the utility would still have to charge higher tariffs to keep its boilers going. The utility would also have to make up for the revenue lost as South Africa’s intense energy users, the most diligent revenue generators, cut down on Eskom supplies as they utilise their own generation capacity. “There needs to be a cost reflective, transparent tariff structure to address issues like Eskom being the supplier of last resort and wheeling across our networks. “This would be the same for similar situations on the municipal networks,” Eskom confirmed this…

| Sisonke Mlamla ORGANISATIONS representing the rights of prisoners said the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) should ensure that prisoners understand having the jab is not using them as guinea pigs to test the effects of the Covid-19 vaccination. Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola will officially launch the Correctional Services vaccination roll-out programme at the Johannesburg Management Area, today. Lamola’s spokesperson, Chrispin Phiri, said both officials and inmates would receive vaccines. Phiri said vaccination for the majority of officials commenced on Thursday. However, the vaccination of inmates would commence today at the 90 approved vaccination sites in correctional centres across the country. South African Sentenced and Awaiting Trial Prisoners (Sasapo) chairperson, Phindile Zweni, said the inmate population should have been vaccinated together with the roll-out programme of…

Goitsemang Tlhabye goitsemang.tlhabye@inl.co.za THE arrest of Ubuntu Wealth Management chief executive, Qhawe Sithole, for allegedly taking part in the looting in uMhlanga, KwaZulu-Natal, has sent shockwaves across social media. Sithole was arrested last week after he was stopped at a police roadblock in Durban, with officers finding his Jeep Wrangler loaded with a washing machine, bar stool, alcohol, bicycle and other items. The founder and chief executive of the Pretoria-based group has been suspended by his company. Its chief operating officer, Mangaliso Nxumalo, said the group’s management were due to meet Sithole at the weekend, but by yesterday no report about a meeting had been received. Th Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) said it had removed Sithole from its database after his suspension by the company’s board. FSCA spokesperson…

Mpiletso Motumi mpiletso.motumi@inl.co.za SOUTH African media personalities have added their voices where it matters most. As the country starts to recover from the week-long looting and unrest, celebrities, including actors and actresses from Muvhango, singer Nandi Madida and many others, took to the streets to help with relief efforts. Madida worked with the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) to help feed 200 people who have been displaced due to the violence last week. In a post she shared on her social media page, Madida said there were many issues in the country that needed urgent attention and solutions. “We can achieve much more once we have rectified the issues at hand and have our leaders actually prioritise the country and its citizens.” Mandela Day acted as a call…

Numbers can be either truthful or misleading if manipulated. It is for this reason that we have state organs to provide truthful, reliable and useful information in numbers. These numbers don’t come cheap but are gathered at taxpayers’ cost. The profound question to be asked: What is our government doing with them? Some 64% of blacks, 41% of coloureds, 6% of Indians and 1% of whites are poor. What has the democratic government done to redress this glaring injustice since 1994? The current protests were definitely sparked off by the arrest of former president Jacob Zuma but they were fuelled by the endemic problem of inequality. Disgruntled blacks are asking themselves, what did we get killed, maimed, arrested and exiled against apartheid for? So, in dealing with the sensitive, serious…

Prince Charles FRENCH social psychologist Gustave Le Bon describing the process of de-individuation in his 1895 book, The Crowd: A study of the Popular Mind, argues that “the masses have never thirsted after truth; they turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusion is always their victim. An individual in a crowd is a grain of sand amid other grains of sand, which the wind stirs up at will”. This characterisation is befitting of the situation playing itself out in South Africa where political elites in their battle for power resort to inflaming and using the impoverished majority as proxies; and conveniently disappearing…

MANDELA Day 2021 will be marked for several reasons this year. On the upside, the coalescence of true community spirit across the country, bearing testament to former president Nelso Mandela’s legacy of ubuntu. The downside – the lawless unrest that prompted this united effort. Since 1994, we have never experienced the kind of despair, destruction, and volatility we are faced with now. The decision of the Constitutional Court to imprison former president Jacob Zuma, was a watershed moment for the country, ultimately leading to violent protest. Morphing into wholescale looting, the protests placed a strain on food and medical supply chains, as well as destroying property, loss of lives and the threat of further unemployment. To counter, the SAPS and the SANDF were deployed to marshal the unrest.…

Syrian regime artillery fire killed seven civilians including three children in the country’s last major rebel bastion of Idlib, a Britain-based war monitor said yesterday. The shelling hit in the village of Ehsim late on Saturday in the south of the Idlib region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. A family member said visitors had gathered to congratulate a male relative on getting married when the shelling struck their home. Earlier in the day, rockets fired by pro-government forces killed six civilians in the village of Sarja, including three children and a rescue worker, meaning at least 13 were killed in total in Idlib on Saturday. The shelling in Ehsim came hours after President Bashar al-Assad took the oath of office for a fourth term, pledging to “liberate”…

NEW YORK: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on the international community to expand efforts to achieve justice for all. “As we reflect on the suffering of all victims and survivors of grave crimes, I encourage all states to ratify the Rome Statute. “I call on the international community to drive forward efforts to achieve accountability and justice for all,” he said on the Day of International Criminal Justice, observed on July 17, the 23rd anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute, the founding of the International Criminal Court, which aims to end impunity for the perpetrators of serious crimes of concern. Accountability for these crimes “is central to our commitment to peace, security, human rights”.…

TEHRAN: Iran insisted on Sunday that a prisoner swap deal has been agreed with the United States, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said, a day after Washington denied such an agreement had been reached. “’Outrageous’ = the US denying simple fact that there IS an agreed deal on the matter of the detainees. Even on how to announce it,” Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a tweet. “Humanitarian swap was agreed with US & UK in Vienna-separate from JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action)- on release of 10 prisoners on all sides. Iran is ready to proceed TODAY.” The US on Saturday accused Tehran of an “outrageous” effort to deflect blame for the impasse in the nuclear talks and denied that any deal had been reached.…