Innholdsfortegnelse for 2022-07-20 i Star

IT WAS the first day of rehearsal for the most anticipated Tony award-winning production, Ruined by Lynn Nottage, when the news broke on Monday, July 11, of the tragic death of one of their cast members, Busisiwe Mokoena Lurayi. According to the family’s official statement, Lurayi was found by her father, Freddie Mokoena, in her daughter’s bedroom on Sunday, July 10. She was 37. The cause of death is yet to be announced. Lurayi was to take the lead as Mama Nadi in the thought-provoking new play Ruined, set to make its South African debut in August, as part of the Market Theatre‘s Women’s Month celebrations. In a conversation with IOL Entertainment, the show director Clive Mathibe said the cast was devastated. “They were all looking forward to working with…

AN inquest docket has been opened by police after a 44-year-old Pretoria man went missing at Hartbeespoort Dam during a family birthday celebration last week. The man disappeared into the water after his canoe capsized. He was caught in fishing nets about 100m from shore. The incident happened on Thursday night, and it was reported that an extensive search for the missing man was in full swing. National Sea Rescue Institute Hartbeespoort Dam station commander Arthur Crewe said: “Together with the Strategic Rescue Unit, we are continuing to assist police in their ongoing search. “At 8.10pm on July 14, National Sea Rescue Institute Hartbeespoort Dam duty crew were activated following reports that a man had gone missing in the water near Eagle Waters Broedestroom. “National Sea Rescue Institute Hartbeespoort Dam,…

MANDELA Day was punctuated by the end of a great life. The great Don Mattera passed away, aged 87. “Bra Zinga”, as Mattera was known to many of his contemporaries and those close to him, has been described variously as a poet and an activist. But to many of us who were close enough to him for him to call us “my laaitie”, we knew that he was much more than that. In his younger days in Western Native Township, now called Westbury – where he was a prolific soccer star for Sophiatown African Morning Stars and, later, a gang leader – Mattera was known as a no-nonsense klevah (streetwise) who disciplined those he considered to be out of order. He bliksemmed those who were ill-disciplined so hard that his…

MOST South Africans have begun making their mark to celebrate Madiba Month in multiple ways that impact several communities in efforts to ignite hope in the spirit of Nelson Mandela. With everyone extending their humanitarian hand, the Central Gauteng Lions chief executive officer Jono Leaf-Wright has made his 67 minutes count at the Wanderers Stadium in Joburg, where he was one of 450 people ensuring some families would be fed. His cricket players came out in numbers to lend a helping hand – along with all partners, who were at the ground to help pack food parcels. Leaf-Wright, who has been involved in the world of cricket for more than a decade, shared with The Star the essence of Mandela Day. “Today is just a magnificent day. It is a…

“RoBBEN Island has produced more millionaires and billionaires than any university in South Africa”, read a social media post I received from numerous sources on WhatsApp. This post was so significant that even Herman Mashaba, president of ActionSA, received the forward, commented and re-posted it on social media. Although Mashaba linked the post to university education, most of the ordinary people that received the post interpreted it to be about the rampant corruption among some of South Africa’s political elite. Regrettably, Robben Island, recognised as a key part of South Africa’s freedom history, is being linked to dishonesty, moral decay and leaders who carry out unethical and corrupt governance. State corruption has taken hold with utter disregard for the Constitution, the rule of law, the working class and democratic values.…

The minister of police has admitted publicly that the Alexandra police unit is under-resourced and its capabilities less than acceptable. The police’s inability to respond promptly to the recent spate of murders, and apprehend the perpetrators, reflects that a sense of urgency has not been instilled in the officers. This is a national issue, as all police precincts face management missteps, unable to render high-quality policing. Feeling safe has become a myth. No doubt Minister Bheki Cele and his top team need to do some serious soul-searching about whether they can stem the ineptitude across rank and file, or whether an experienced team of “top cops” should be brought in to sort out the SAPS mess. Accepting failure could be the beginning of a better future for a police service…

US PRESIDENT Joe Biden cannot by any stretch of the imagination pretend to be oblivious of America’s despicable role in Israel’s suppression of Palestinian human rights. Neither can he deny America’s putrid historic legacy of overarching protection of Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine and settler-colonialism – all illegal under international law, yet blindly pursued by his administration to this day. To arouse Biden from his slumber, Israeli human rights group B’Tselem erected a number of billboards in the Occupied West Bank drawing his attention to the elephant in the room: Israel’s apartheid status. It is thus stunning and extraordinary for him, as so-called “leader of the free world”, to not only deny the existence and practice of apartheid against Palestinians in a regime he declared as his “home”, but to…

THE second leg of Rivers of Living Waters Church leader Bishop Bafana Stephen Zondo’s sex trial began this week in the North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria. However, this time the evidence of one of his alleged victims will be heard behind closed doors. The prosecution applied to Judge Papi Mosopa to order that the evidence of the woman be heard in camera due to medical reasons. Prosecutor Jennifer Cronje handed a medical letter to the court, and although she did not elaborate on the reasons for the witness to testify behind closed doors, it is understood that the reasons are stress-related. Advocate Piet Pistorius, who represents Zondo, did not object. This means the evidence of the alleged second victim will only be heard by the judge, prosecution and defence team.…

AFTER weeks of tests following the deaths of 21 Enyobeni Tavern patrons, the preliminary toxicology report by the Eastern Cape Department of Health, shows the cause of death is still inconclusive as evidence suggests possible methanol poisoning with little to no definitive proof. Yesterday, and after three weeks of waiting, director-general for clinical services at the Eastern Cape Department of Health, Dr Litha Matiwane, said the preliminary toxicology report revealed methanol poisoning as the possible cause of death for the 21 pupils who died at a “pens down” party at the tavern in Scenery Park, East London. The findings are in the toxicology report from a Cape Town laboratory. Dr Matiwane said the long overdue report about the death of the under-age victims was a preliminary one as they were…

RENOWNED South African novelist Zakes Mda and African American scholar Professor Molefi Kete Asante have been conferred with honorary doctorates by the University of the Witwatersrand. The university bestowed honorary doctorates on the two giants in African literature and African studies respectively yesterday during its second cluster of graduations this year. The university said Mda and Asante were ambassadors of African excellence through their work. Asante, born Arthur Lee Smith, was honoured for his life-long commitment to African-centred scholarship and philosophy, as well as his influence and intellectual thought from and on Africa and the African diaspora. He is the professor and chair in the Department of Africology and African American Studies at Temple University, Philadelphia, in the US, where he founded the PhD programme in African-American Studies. Asante is…

From page 1 “This poses a very serious risk to our democracy, media freedom and freedom of expression. Closing the bank accounts of Independent Media means depriving its collective audience of more than 10 million readers of their daily news, and along with it, their right to know. “It will also lead to their voices being silenced and depriving them of their right to contribute to dialogue … your decision, whatever the reasoning, borders on censorship,” read the communique. Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, in his final report on the State Capture Commission, critically recommended that there be laws protecting clients before banks shut their accounts. Should Standard Bank be allowed to see its threat through, it will result in a significant reduction of competition in the media space, and a…

There is a debate raging about whether South Africa is a failed or failing state. This suggests that our democratic government is failing to govern the country. Nelson Mandela must be turning in his grave. But I digress. Does SA have intelligence? Who is the intelligence minister? Is he or she competent? Not at all. In our beloved country, incompetent Cabinet ministers are rewarded for their incompetence. In July last year, violence erupted in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. Businesses were looted and more than 300 people lost their lives. Where was our intelligence? Since the started of the month, citizens have been dying through the barrel of a gun. Over the past few weeks, killers are targeting revellers in taverns, shooting at them randomly. Where is our intelligence? Our intelligence seems…

As we commemorated July 18 – designated by the UN as Nelson Mandela International Day – we were reminded that one of the aspects that made Nelson Mandela an internationally respected figure was the attitude he had towards serving others. To contribute towards building a happy and united family, a just and peaceful community, and a better world, by serving others, is a source of honour. The Bahá'í Writings state that “the honour and distinction of the individual” consist in being “a source of social good”, and justice, peace, and security will only be established in the world when all people “become united and co-ordinated in service to the world of humanity”. Serving humanity, with pure intentions, in addition to the positive results for those helped, also enriches our own…

President Cyril Ramaphosa needs to understand that being asked to account is far from being bullied, as he claims, unless he thinks he is immune to being asked difficult questions. Perhaps being treated with kid gloves by his comrades in Parliament and in the ANC has made Ramaphosa forget what true accountability means. His remarks at the recently concluded 15th SACP national congress that former State Security Agency boss Arthur Fraser’s criminal complaint against him and other “related matters” were an effort to stop him from renewing and uniting the ANC are in stark contrast to the president who preached about a clean, transparent and accountable government after occupying the country’s highest office. Ramaphosa has repeatedly refused to come clean on why millions of US dollars were hidden in furniture…

There is much to be said about Cricket SA and their decision to withdraw the Proteas men’s team from a one-day international series in Australia in favour of hosting a domestic T20 tournament, but my focus is instead on the Proteas Women’s team. For the past two years, Hilton Moreeng’s side have been the darlings of the nation. They were virtually the single ‘feel-good’ factor during the period when the beleaguered Cricket SA were desperate for any positive news. Unfortunately, the wheels are coming off in spectacular fashion on the current tour of England. It was always going to be a testing examination, particularly due to the multi-format nature, with the Proteas playing their first Test in over eight years. But it is not only the disappointing results – the…

THE FINANCIAL markets were jittery yesterday ahead of the release of consumer inflation data, which is expected to show that the cost of living in South Africa has accelerated further. The rand danced around the R17-to-the-dollar mark as investors adopted a wait-and-see approach to South Africa’s upcoming headline inflation figure. Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) will publish the consumer price index (CPI) for June today amid historic highs in the US and Europe, which have propelled fears of the onset of a global recession. Inflation data globally continues to show an uncomfortable rise owing to rising energy and food costs, with the US printing a higher-than-expected inflation number of 9.1 percent last week. South Africa’s consumer inflation also quickened by more than expected to 6.5 percent year-on-year in May,…

Standard Bank has expressed its intention to shut the banking facilities of the country’s largest independent media organisation, Independent Media, reneging on its submission to the Competition Commission that it would not close the Sekunjalo Group company bank accounts. The lender’s move, which smacks of extreme disrespect for the courts, comes after the Sekunjalo Group was granted an interdict against Nedbank, in a prelude to the main case in the Equality Court, in which the presiding judge found the Sekunjalo-related entities had been subjected to different treatment – discrimination. In so finding, Judge Mokgoatji Dolamo also found that there was just cause for Sekunjalo’s main application at the Equality Court to proceed, for all banking accounts to remain open and for any that were closed to be immediately reinstated. Sekunjalo…

ADVOCATE Dali Mpofu said he would argue at the end of suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s impeachment inquiry that anything said by former investigator Tebogo Kekana should be taken with a pinch of salt. “If it is to be taken, actually, it should not be taken at all because you are an unreliable witness,” Mpofu said. He made the statement when he was cross-examining Kekana following his testimony at the inquiry yesterday. On Monday, Kekana insisted that the idea of nationalising the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) was an idea that came from Mkhwebane, but Mpofu said the idea was influenced by the interaction Kekana had with SARB director Stephen Goodson. “The idea came before we discussed with Goodson,” Kekana said, adding that he did not know what motivated the…

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the most common type of lupus, is a complex and chronic autoimmune disease (lifelong) that many in South Africa know little about. When a foreign and threatening speck enters or develops in the body, the immune system kicks into high-gear and eliminates the threat. But what happens when one’s own immune system becomes hostile, perceiving healthy cells as a potential hazard and thereafter attacking organs such as the skin, brain, kidney, lungs - even the joints and blood vessels? This is lupus - Latin for “wolf”, or as Sam Baker from Kera News relates in an article “A Cruel Mystery”. Lupus is not at all contagious, it is the result of genetics and environmental factors. Women however make up about nine out of ten diagnoses, ages…

It has been a heart-wrenching week since the news of the passing of the esteemed thespian Busisiwe Mokoena Lurayi, who was lauded for her remarkable body of work. The prolific actress was pronounced dead at her residence in Johannesburg on July 10. Family, friends and the entertainment industry gathered at the Market Theatre in Newtown in an emotionally charged service at which Lurayi was remembered for her fiery energy and her dedication to her craft, among many other things. Those who stood at the podium expressed how they felt robbed of a great talent on the screen, particularly in light of Lurayi’s immeasurable contribution to the arts. Her family took mourners on a trip down memory lane, highlighting how as a young child she had always shown her humorous trait…

Reports of looming global food insecurity resulting from the conflict in Ukraine has put Africa’s food insecurity and agricultural vulnerability in the spotlight. Even as an agreement was reached in Turkey to break the blockade of grain imports through Black Sea ports, after intense quiet diplomacy, the conflict in Ukraine exposed the African continent’s disastrous dependency on wheat, maize, sunflower oils, and fertiliser imports. Despite hosting 60% of the world’s arable land, Africa is a net importer of food and major agricultural inputs. Last week the Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres tweeted, “Today in Istanbul, we have seen a critical step forward to ensuring the safe and secure export of Ukrainian food products through the Black Sea,” which will mitigate global food insecurity, particularly in Africa. This agreement…