Innholdsfortegnelse for 2021-10-07 i Star

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za BUSINESS activity in South Africa expanded for the first time in three months in September as improving economic conditions drove increased activity and customer demand. The IHS Markit Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to 50.7 points in September from 49.9 points in August, buoyed by the easing of lockdown measures to level 2. The index was above the crucial 50 point mark for the first time since May, signalling a marginal improvement in operating conditions. IHS said this was mainly led by renewed upturns in output and new orders, which together account for 55 percent of the PMI weighting. It said the easing of lockdown measures to level 2 supported a slight rise in sales and drove a boost in business confidence to…

Debashine Thangevelo debashine.thangevelo@inl.co.za Grammy-nominated and multi- award-winning Ghanaian Afro dancehall and reggae superstar Stonebwoy has joined forces with South Africa’s Focalistic on a new single, Ariba. Ariba, which means “up” in Spanish is also a play on the Setswana “a re ba (tsene)” meaning “let’s take them on”. The single is an Afrobeat, Afro dancehall and amapiano-infused track that blends two of the biggest musical exports out of Africa currently. “We recorded this single in South Africa. It was inspired by a quest to merge the sounds of South African amapiano music and Ghanaian highlife and dancehall music – which came out perfectly well. “This is a very fresh sound that has never been heard in this way,” said Stonebwoy. The hitmaker described the single as a feel-good track. “In…

Thabo Makwakwa thabo.makwakwa@inl.co.za The DA in KwaZulu-Natal refuses to bow to pressure after public outcries denouncing the Phoenix election posters bearing the message, “ANC called you racists, DA calls you Heroes”. Dean Macpherson, the provincial leader of the DA told the Daily News that the posters were part of their election campaign and would be rolled out across the city of eThekwini Municipality. According to Macpherson, the posters were his party’s response to the ANC which had spent the last three months calling anyone who defended their community racist, no matter where they were. Macpherson was referring to the July unrest which saw some of the Indian community groupings targeting Africans in Phoenix, resulting in the stabbing and shooting of dozens of people in the area. “This is going across…

SONRI NAIDOO sonri.naidoo@inl.co.za DURING the trial of the murder of Eldorado Park teen Nathaniel Julies, the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court heard a shocking recording of a damning conversation between the accused police officials. This was presented yesterday by Constable Mandla Sithole, a state witness who detailed how accused number one, Caylene Whiteboy, and accused number two, Simon “Scorpion” Ndyalvane tried to conspire and change how the murder of the 16-year-old boy occurred. After Julies was shot, he was put in the police vehicle and taken to Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital where he was declared dead. Sithole recorded the conversation between Whiteboy and Ndyalvane. Ndyalvane stayed behind while Whiteboy, Sithole, and two other officers left the hospital. It is then that the officers tried to allegedly fabricate, through a phone…

SOUTH Africa’s failure to produce its own Covid-19 vaccine has exposed a capacity gap in its universities and scientific research bodies. Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Blade Nzimande made these remarks yesterday in his address delivered at the national higher education conference. Organised by Universities SA (USAf), the event brought together tertiary institutions leaders, including vice-chancellors of the country’s public 26 universities. Most of Africa’s best universities in terms of global rankings were located in South Africa. The country also boasted some of the best scientific bodies such as the Council for Science and Industrial Research. But promises of a locally-produced vaccine have not materialised. To date, there was no Covid-19 vaccine produced in Africa. This has “exposed” the local institutions and scientific bodies, Nzimande told the university leaders…

JOHN Whitlock | Germiston THE ANC has admitted to cronyism, cadre deployment, nepotism, and placing people in positions for which they are neither qualified nor experienced. A disaster. John Kane-Berman, in a recent article, stated: “This policy (cadre deployment) has been among the most ruinous of all the things that the ANC has inflicted upon this country.” The ANC argues that other governments do the same. The other governments have not bankrupted the state, nor looted vast amounts from state coffers nor irregularly spent billions. Before 1994, South Africa was an economic success, state-owned enterprises worked, and cities were clean and well run. Small towns flourished. The ANC inherited this but, after 27 years of maladministration, it de- stroyed it. The ANC has neither the intention nor ability…

“DEVASTATING revelations by whistle- blower” could describe the testimony of the admirable Frances Haugen, about the practices at Facebook and its related companies, of which she was an executive until recently. The term, derived from the phrase “blow the whistle”, seems a trivial way to describe leaking thousands of documents, with more to come, but it has become standard in America. It was first sighted back in 1934, but such underground terms are difficult to date precisely. It was seldom seen or heard in Britain, outside American crime television series. Under the regime of a strict oath of personal loyalty to the leader, that is Boris Johnson, revelations seem unlikely. Most of his secrets seem to be open anyway. Haugen stressed the wider issues that the pressures compromising people “weakened…

South Africa is in the midst of perhaps the most important national movement since lines of voters formed in the first democratic election in 1994. The vaccination roll-out is a watershed moment. Considering the stakes, this moment in our history has the potential to make or break the future of our country. With more than 1 300 vaccination sites already set up across the country, the need to accelerate the roll-out has never been more crucial than it is at this moment. Now that all South Africans over the age of 18 are eligible to get the jab, we should be well on our way to achieving that fabled “population immunity” our president set our sights on all those months ago. Of course, our government does have a central role…

Several temples in Thailand’s historic city of Ayutthaya were underwater yesterday, as monsoon rains flooded the country. More than 40 temples in Ayutthaya, home to ancient Buddhist temples, ruins, and monuments, have been affected by the floods. At one of the temples, monks paddled small boats through water that ranged from thigh deep to neck level. Tropical Storm Dianmu caused flash floods in 32 the 76 provinces, killing nine people and affecting 300 000 households. A new storm is forecast for next week. | Reuters…

THE INSTITUTE of Directors in South Africa (IoDSA) has sent a list of recommendations to the Zondo Commission on how to improve directorship in the country. In an eight-page letter to the commission, IoDSA chief executive Parmi Natesan told Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo that testimony before him strikingly demonstrated how important a role directors played in creating and maintaining well-governed organisations and how dire the consequences were if they did not discharge this critical responsibility appropriately. She said a failure of boards, both in the public and the private sectors, to understand or practise their governance role or fulfil it adequately lay at the heart of state capture. Natesan is hoping the IoDSA recommendations will form part of the final report, which was due out in October before the…

DISGRACED former property mogul Jason Rohde, who killed his wife Susan in July 2016 in cold blood in a luxury Stellenbosch hotel, will have to hand himself over to the authorities to start serving his prison sentence. Rohde was earlier sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for his wife’s killing and for the obstruction of justice, as he had made her killing look like suicide. He was granted bail pending the outcome of his appeal before the Supreme Court of Appeal. While his murder conviction stands, he will serve five years less than his initial sentence as the Supreme Court of Appeal has reduced the sentence to 15 years. Rohde appealed his murder conviction and his sentence. He maintained that his wife had committed suicide and that he had nothing to…

Itumeleng Mafisa itumeleng.mafisa @inl.co.za THE AFRICAN Transformation Movement (ATM) is warning against “fruits of a poisoned tree” as the party discusses on the nominees for the position of chief justice. “The ATM notes that indeed there is a varied mix of candidates, some of whom have a demonstrable track record of showing courage, integrity and commitment to the African values which South Africa desperately needs, whereas the same cannot be said about others.” The party said Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane was an example of a nominee who stood their ground firmly and held members of the executive accountable without fear or favour, despite various attacks on her. “She has shown that she can stand for justice even if it personally costs her financially – including threats in her own life,”…

Morgan Bolton morgan.bolton@inl.co.za There was a moment, around the 56th minute, in the Springboks’ victory over the All Blacks on Saturday, that the heart skipped a beat. In those few minutes, Bok captain Siya Kolisi contested a breakdown and was hit by counterpart Ardie Savea. Kolisi thereafter lay prone on the field, immobile, and for the briefest of instances, time seemed to stop. “I was so shocked and freaking out,” said Kolisi of the injury earlier this week. I have never been so scared on a rugby field. I was getting so many messages afterwards, and obviously it was scary for (my wife) Rachel and everyone back home as well. But, thankfully, I am fine. I’ve never been so scared in a rugby game before. I thought there was something…

Emerging digital fashion stores are tapping into a growing market – digitally generated outfits that stores photoshop onto a customer’s photos or videos to be posted onto Instagram and elsewhere. Soon they are likely to become a way to dress your avatar when interacting in online games and meeting places. Outfits on digital fashion store DressX range from $25 hats to dresses for hundreds of dollars. “Every brand in the future will be on board with digital fashion,” said co-founder Daria Shapovalova. | AFP…

US lawmakers pounded Facebook this week, accusing chief executive Mark Zuckerberg of pushing for higher profits while being cavalier about user safety, and they demanded regulators investigate whistleblower accusations that the social media company harms children’s mental health and stokes divisions. Zuckerberg, hours later in a public Facebook post, defended the company, saying the accusations were at odds with Facebook’s goals. “The argument that we deliberately push content that makes people angry for profit is deeply illogical,” he wrote. “We make money from ads, and advertisers consistently tell us they don’t want their ads next to harmful or angry content. And I don’t know any tech company that sets out to build products that make people angry or depressed.” During a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing, whistleblower Frances Haugen called for…

By Kieran Canning Premier League matches are once again being played in packed stadiums after Britain’s successful Covid-19 vaccine rollout – but the reluctance of many players to get jabbed is proving a headache for football authorities. The UK has one of the highest overall virus death tolls in the world, at more than 137 000, but more than 82% of over-16s have had two doses of the vaccine, according to the latest government figures. The rapid rollout has enabled the easing of restrictions on large gatherings, with a welcome return of supporters to football grounds. However, although no official figures have been offered by the Premier League, reports suggest only seven of England’s 20 top-flight clubs have more than 50% of their squad fully vaccinated. “It’s low, not just…

Liam Karabo Joyce liam.joyce@inl.co.za South African Grammy winner Wouter Kellerman and four-time Grammy nominee David Arkenstone have collaborated on a new album. Titled Pangaea, the name of the supercontinent that existed before it broke apart to form the existing continents, the connected symbolism is that the music calls for unity in these divided times and for a culture of valuing the earth and nature. The album comes hot off his SAMA win for Best Classical/ Instrumental Album for his 2020 release, We’ve Known All Times. The duo started working on the album last year, thanks to lockdown. “David and I had been talking about doing something together for a long time, and having live concerts cancelled presented us with the opportunity to start creating together. The world has become such…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za ACTIONSA’s legal challenge to the decision by the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) not to include the party’s name in the local government elections ballot papers is scheduled to be heard by the Electoral Court tomorrow. Former Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA has candidates in six municipalities across the country – in Joburg, Pretoria, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Newcastle and KwaDukuza – but only its logo, and not its name, appears on the ballot paper prepared for the November 1 municipal polls. The party is taking the IEC to the Electoral Court in Mangaung on an urgent basis to overturn the commission’s decision to exclude its name from the ballot papers. In papers filed in the Electoral Court, ActionSA wants the IEC’s decision to exclude the party from the…

Mayibongwe Maqhina mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za AUDITOR-GENERAL Tsakani Maluleke has made damning findings against the Department of Defence for incurring irregular expenditure of R2.1 billion, in the 2020/21 financial year. The department obtained a qualified audit opinion because Maluleke was unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence on sensitive projects’ expenditure and related investments. “I was unable to determine whether any adjustments were necessary to sensitive projects expenditure included within the expenditure of R14.26 bn and investments for special defence activities included in the investment amount of R182.16 million,” she said. Maluleke disclosed this in her 10-page audit report tabled in Parliament, along with the department’s annual report. In her report, the A-G also found that the department did not fully record irregular expenditure. “This was due to inadequate systems to detect,…

As South Africa entered level 1, with more businesses opening and exploiting the new normal, we need to be vigilant and see how we can create more jobs for everyone’s benefit. Many employers have realised that productivity is not reliant on workers being present at work and, in many cases, virtual platforms have created a more efficient structure. It is not necessary to do business with people in the same town, city or country only. We are expecting enormous growth in outsourcing functions to jurisdictions across the world. Future employees with other language skills will find themselves well placed when applying for jobs servicing other countries. It must, however, be remembered that employment in South Africa remains subjective to our labour legislation, regardless of whether the clients are abroad. Many…

CHULUMANCO MAHAMBA chulumanco.mahamba@inl.co.za THE HIGHLY anticipated Feather Awards, which celebrate personalities and individuals who either represented, inspired, or celebrated the LGBTI+ community, are now in their 13th year. The nominees for the 2021 Feather Awards were announced on Tuesday, and the event will take place on November 11 at the Market Theatre. The colourful 2021 list of nominees is composed of personalities and individuals from various industry sectors including entertainment, politics, lifestyle, sport and business this year. Each nominated individual or organisation, in one way or the other, has either represented, inspired, or celebrated the LGBTI+ community with excellence and distinction over the past 12 months. This year’s theme for the awards is Queer Lives Matter, in line with the global conversation that seeks to address the multiple array…

DR THABISI HOEANE | Pretoria SO WHAT is really new? We know that the international financial world is rotten to the core and politicians who dabble in its perversion are simply scoundrels. The recently released “Pandora Papers” merely assert these sad facts. For decades these so-called offshore investments have been a cesspool of criminality where those who are savvy work the capitalist system and manipulate it to their advantage. They hide behind all sorts of spurious arrangements by investing in these so-called tax havens, forming “shelf companies” to hide their ill-gotten wealth. They range from downright tax dodgers to thieves who are masquerading, especially in countries of the South, as politicians stealing millions from their poor countries and depositing them in countries such as the Virgin Islands, which…

Peter Bachtis | Benoni The international outage of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram created debilitating anxiety among at least 3.5 billion users, around the planet. Most of mankind have become slaves to devices and the related social media frenzy of wanting to constantly be attached. Humanity has gradually left us, leaving us to communicate with texts and voice notes – dialogue is now done remotely, without emotion or personal contact. Collectively we are doomed and those six hours of complete social media blackout left many not knowing what to do with themselves. Sadly, exploding technology is heralding the demise of mankind unless governments take firm action to curtail this new age diabolical phenomenon. There is no easy answer as we all succumb to becoming robots.…

THE World Health Organization is under fire after allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse surfaced last month. More than 50 women accused aid workers from several organisations of crimes that took place during the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 10th Ebola outbreak. In response, the WHO launched an independent investigation. The investigation identified 83 alleged perpetrators, including 21 individuals who worked for the WHO. It detailed failures of leadership by those responsible for the Ebola response and those in charge of addressing employee and partner malfeasance. The WHO case is just the latest in a long list of sexual exploitation scandals within the UN and humanitarian systems since the 1990s. The UN and humanitarian systems, of which the WHO is part, have sought to address the issue for decades. This has…

German Benjamin List and Scot David MacMillan won the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry yesterday for developing tools for building molecules that have helped make new drugs and are more environmentally friendly. They share the 10-million Swedish crown (R1.7bn) prize for work on asymmetric organocatalysis, which the committee said is“an ingenious tool for molecule building”. “Organic catalysts can be used to drive multitudes of chemical reactions,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said. | Reuters…

Nearly four years ago, French President Emmanuel Macron made a historic speech in the heart of the Sahel, where he vowed that France would never again interfere in its former colonies. His address at a university in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, was heralded by Paris as the death knell of the decades-old strategy by which France meddled in Africa, often supporting strongmen who backed French interests. But in the run-up to a summit tomorrow, showcased as a reset for French-African ties, some of the 800 students who listened to Macron’s 2017 address say they are disappointed today. “The feeling is one of disillusion. It’s been four years since these much-trumpeted promises, but very few of them have been followed up,” said Lassina Kambou, now aged 23. Doctoral student…

A BOXING sketch in felt pen by the late Muhammad Ali sold for more than $425 000 at an auction in New York on Tuesday of his little-known art works, some of which went for many times over estimates. The sketch, called “Sting Like a Bee” and drawn on paper in 1978, was the most sought-after work among more than 20 paintings, drawings and sketches by the former heavyweight champion that reflected Ali’s interest in religion, social justice and his own career. It carried a pre-sale estimate of $40 000 to $60 000. “Ref, he did float like a butterfly and sting like a bee,” reads the speech bubble from a boxer knocked out by an opponent whose arms are raised in victory. Ali famously used the phrase to describe…

Ashfak Mohamed ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za AT last, Caster Semenya will have her say, in her own words. South Africa’s double Olympic champion in the 800 metres has announced that she is busy writing her autobiography, which will be published by renowned American publishers W.W. Norton & Company, who are based in New York. Semenya’s rise from relative obscurity in Limpopo to an 18-year-old world champion in 2009, and later claiming gold medals at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics Games, is sure to be a fascinating and inspirational tale in a book titled Silence All the Noise, which was announced to American media this week, with no release date as yet. The now 30-year-old has had to endure years of unfair discrimination from various quarters in athletics due to the naturally…

HUGO Broos may not last long as Bafana Bafana coach, but what he said this week should be repeated so that South African football administrators, club owners and coaches should listen and absorb. “Now in Europe, when we are speaking about African football, we are speaking about Senegal, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Ghana, and we never speak about South Africa, never. Sponsors? Who is interested in sponsoring SA football right now? There is no interest,” Broos said, taking a broad swipe at the SA football landscape which puts clicks on social media above actual progress on the field. The video earlier this week of Royal AM owner Shauwn Mkhize dishing out cash to players was disturbing. Many of the players looked uncomfortable. What was the aim of that? It’s hardly…