Innholdsfortegnelse for 2022-10-31 i Star

Power utility needs R72bn in the next 5 years to upgrade high voltage lines ESKOM’S quest for a R72 billion injection over the next five years to upgrade more than 2 890km of extra high voltage lines and 60 transformers may hit a snag as the power utility does not inspire the confidence of international funders. Eskom’s Managing Director for Transmission, Segomoco Scheppers said on Friday the entity is placing a strong focus on the implementation of these projects over the next five years. “The analysis carried out reflects a requirement of approximately R72.2bn will be required to expand and strengthen the transmission grid over the next five years,” he said. Scheppers said: “This requires that some challenges beyond Eskom’s full control, such as the lead time to…

The nominees for the African Social Media Star for this year’s People’s Choice Awards have been revealed. The eight names were announced recently, with several of Mzansi’s favourite personalities receiving nods for the upcoming awards. The awards recognise some of the most iconic and influential people on the continent of Africa. Actress Ama Qamata, reality TV star and businesswoman Dr Shauwn Mkhize, media personality and reality star Khanyi Mbau and digital content creator Sphokuhle Ntshalintshali, have made the list. The ceremony is set to take place on Tuesday, December 6, and will be broadcast live from Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California. Actor and comedian Kenan Thompson will host the awards for another year. Reacting to the nomination, Blood & Water actress Qamata said: “I am so honoured and humbled…

THE Directorate of Priority Crimes Investigations is investigating a case of fraud by EOH in relation to the liquidation of one of its subsidiaries in 2019, Mehleketo Holdings. The Investigating team of The Star broke the story on November 30 last year when investigations revealed that a week before EOH, through another of its subsidiaries, Impact HR, represented by ENSAfrica, applied for the liquidation of Mehleketo, and between November 13 and 15, 2019, EOH paid Mehleketo R144 242 022 which the subsidiary immediately refunded to EOH. EOH CEO Stephen van Coller, when asked to explain the transactions by The Star last year said that this was a process of cleaning up the EOH balance sheet by consolidating inter-company loans and transferring it to EOH. Van Coller also…

THE mood on Saturday in Sandton was festive, laced with an undercurrent of unease as this year’s Pride March went ahead. A 3 000-strong crowd braved the streets, in spite of the terror warning to avoid large gatherings in Sandton issued by the US embassy and echoed by the French, Canadian, UK and Australian embassies. When the news broke of the threat, the LGBTIQA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer, Asexual, Other) community was on high alert. The first Pride March since the pandemic was at threat due to a foreign government alert. A community of parents of transgender and non-binary children – supported by the non-governmental groups, Iranti and Matimba – had planned to participate in the march. Messages poured in via WhatsApp that parents were scared and…

The best interests of Nelly the dog have been the subject of a legal battle in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg. Two neighbours who had joint custody of the dog were in a tug-of-war on visitation rights to the animal. The two families had joint ownership of Nelly, whose breed was not mentioned in the judgment, while they lived in Roodepoort. One then relocated to Cape Town and wanted Nelly to visit by plane. The other neighbour maintained this was too taxing for Nelly. Shaun Smith and Sheena and Pawel Smolak were previously neighbours and together took care of Nelly until Smith relocated to Cape Town. Smith launched an application to exercise his co-ownership rights over Nelly. According to him, the Smolaks have denied him co-ownership rights. In…

Designated protected areas for wildlife – such as national parks – are the world’s principal conservation strategy. But this model to conserve wildlife in Africa is increasingly coming under pressure. Changing climates, volatile economies and political systems, conflicting sentiments around wildlife management practices (like trophy hunting) and unpredictable events, such as pandemics, are just some of the threats that undermine conservation efforts. Many protected areas didn’t fare well during the pandemic, particularly across Africa. Ailing economies and restricted travel reduced the funding and tourism revenues on which many parks depend. As a result, half of surveyed parks across 19 African countries reported reductions in the protection of endangered species, field patrols and anti-poaching measures. These impacts bring into question the resilience of protected areas where conservation is funded by donations,…

SEOUL: It looked like the apocalypse had hit, one witness said – an evening of panic and disarray that would have sounded like a scene from a horror movie on any other Halloween. The bodies of several lifeless people were sprawled on the ground in the Itaewon neighborhood on Saturday night, their shirts pulled over their faces after rescuers checked for acute injuries, videos reviewed exclusively by The Washington Post showed. Bodies lay across the ground near the Atelier club, steps from the narrow alley where a crowd crush led to more than 150 deaths. People frantically performed CPR in the area, with police running in and out of the scene. One man had a red soccer jersey pulled over his face as he was treated with a defibrillator. A…

MOSCOW: The US decision to listen to Russia’s security concerns could be a platform for the conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Joe Biden, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday. “The desire of the US to listen to our concerns; to return to the December-January conditions … what the Russians are offering may not satisfy us, but maybe it is worth sitting down at the negotiating table,”… Peskov told Russian broadcaster Rossiya 1. On December 17, Russia unveiled proposals to the US and Nato on security guarantees, which stipulate the alliance not expand into Ukrainian territory. | Sputnik…

INDIA 133/9 Yadav 68; Ngidi 4/29, Parnell 3/15 SOUTH AFRICA 137/5 Miller 59*, Markram 52; Singh 2/25) South Africa won by five wickets IN case anybody assumed South Africa were actually going places at the T20 World Cup, Temba Bavuma was there to issue a stark reminder: “We don’t like that tag (favourites). We’ll keep flying under the radar. It’s important we keep improving and that’s exactly what we are doing.” And there was even more of that cold-blooded honesty to come from the captain. “Our batting line-up is in good form – barring myself,” Bavuma said. The last line was particularly poignant after yet another failure by the skipper yesterday. Considering how well his team are playing, particularly after their epic five-wicket victory over tournament favourites India at a…

A first-half header from Marcus Rashford – his 100th goal for Manchester United in all competitions – was enough to earn his side a 1-0 victory over West Ham United in the Premier League on Sunday. After making a slow start to the match, United burst into life in the 38th minute when Rashford powered a bullet header into the net on the end of Christian Eriksen’s sublime cross to give the home side the lead. Veteran forward Cristiano Ronaldo, making just his third league start of the season, wasted a golden chance to double United’s lead early in the second half, firing wide from a good position, before West Ham upped the ante. The visitors piled on the pressure as the match wore on, but found United goalkeeper David…

Khaya Mthethwa is back on the music scene with a new album just in time for the festive season. The pastor and dad of one, who took a social media break to focus on himself, spoke to IOL Entertainment about his new-found image. Mthethwa recently launched his latest album called Art & Worship (Live), where he sings about his hiatus and surviving the pandemic through the context of worship. “I recently released an album and took time to reflect and take stock of my life and just disengage from things I would have normally done, so that I could dig deep in retrospection and get inspired, listen to people’s stories and really get into my own head and connect with things that have happened in my life or to those…

FORMER minister of finance Tito Mboweni has called on black professionals and other structures to develop their own industries and markets. Mboweni, one of the speakers at the Black Management Forum’s 20-year anniversary of the Sandton branch, was speaking during a gala dinner held at the Maslow Hotel in Sandton on Friday evening. The forum, established in 1976, is one of the oldest black leadership interest groups advocating for the representation of black leaders in the private sector and public sector. Mboweni also said the incapacity of the public sector needs to be resolved if the country is to implement service delivery that impacts positively on the lives of ordinary people. “How long are we going to be the modern-day hewers of wood and drawers of water? “Our forebears were…

From page 1 When the President’s Fund was established a number of states and individuals donated handsomely. “But, as with most of the TRC’s recommendations such as prosecuting offenders who did not receive amnesty, government’s follow-through has been lacklustre at best,” said Herron. He added that by failing to follow through on the TRC’s recommendations on both prosecutions and redress, the state had abandoned the values that underpinned Dullah Omar’s vision that “we could not forgive perpetrators unless we also attempt to restore the honour and dignity of the victims … ” When it comes to individual reparations, Lamola said regulations providing for the payment of the once-off final reparation grant of R30 000 to TRC-identified victims of gross human rights violations were published in the Government Gazette on November…

The sad reality of divorce is that in most cases people who get divorced will be compelled to reduce their standard of living. Where the available means of support is not adequate to maintain both people according to their former standard of living, each person has to scale down his or her budget, a judge has said during divorce proceedings before him. In this case, the wife, who hardly worked before and had few qualifications, told a Northern Cape High Court judge that she had applied for at least 45 different jobs, but had not been invited to a single interview. The judge commented that, through no fault of her own, it was unlikely given her age and work experience that she would ever find work. He ordered that her…

EVEN though South African universities’ global standing has dropped slightly, seven of the country’s universities have managed to continue holding the flag high in the 2022/23 Best Global Universities ranking. These institutions managed to squeeze their way into the top 500 universities spot in the ninth annual US News & World Report Best Global Universities rankings. Since an increasing number of students end up enrolling in universities outside of their own country, the Best Global Universities rankings were produced to provide insight into how universities compared globally, focusing specifically on institutions’ academic research and reputation overall and not on their separate undergraduate or graduate programmes. The report looked at 2 000 top institutions, up from 1 750 last year, spread across 95 countries, calculating the rankings using the…

SOUTH Africa continues to have a thriving primary and secondary government debt market, despite its sluggish long-term growth forecast, infrastructure challenges and growing public debt. This has been underpinned by our well-functioning fiscal and monetary policy system that supports stable yields – in its long-term bonds. South Africa’s bond market plays an integral role in supporting the stability and development of our country’s financial market. And it has an impressive track record, reaching yields as high as 12% in the past two years, while outperforming those of other emerging bond markets (including China, Brazil, India and Mexico). Our bond market became a global pace setter last year, with a return of 8.7%. Investing in a bond fund will afford investors the added protective layer of South African innovation – following…

A few years back, the City of Johannesburg lost three mayors – Geoff Makhubo, Jolidee Matongo and Mpho Moerane – through death. All were ANC members. May their revolutionary souls rest in peace. Interestingly, Sello “Dada” Morero served as Joburg mayor for a month or so. Fortunately, Morero is alive. This reminded me of Des van Rooyen, who served three days as finance minister. If it were a joke, we would be laughing. Since the past elections, the city has had three mayors – Dr Mpho Phalatse, Morero and Phalatse again. Phalatse was recently reinstated by the court. Already, there is a plan to oust her. Thanks to the coalition phenomenon. In Ekurhuleni, the DA’s Tania Campbell was ousted as mayor last Wednesday. Ekurhuleni will soon have a new mayor,…

The death of Mahsa Amini, who died in police custody in Iran last month, has become a catalyst for protests across that country. Women, in response to the injustice of her death, have burnt their hijabs in rebellion against the strict clothing laws. Local security forces have clashed with these civilians, in their attempt to re-establish social order. Aside from the police brutality, the Iranian government has imposed an internet blackout to help disrupt the communication channels of those who seek to act in rebellion. An internet blackout, in the case of Iran, was used as a tool to disrupt communication between rebellious protesters. The case of Iran is not an isolated one, internet blackouts have emerged as a state’s apparatus for social order. In the case of Zimbabwe, the…

ADDIS ABABA: African Union (AU) Commission chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has condemned the deadly terrorist attack in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. The “horrific terrorist attack killed more than 100 innocent civilians and wounded many more”, he said. Twin car bomb explosions targeting Somalia’s Education Ministry on Saturday killed at least 100 people and injured more than 300 others, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said yesterday. The fatalities are likely to rise as government offices, hotels and restaurants are near the bombing site. Faki urged the international community to redouble support to Somalia to defeat terrorists. | Xinhua…

Sleep-in being staged at Concourt building APARTHEID victims have lost hope following alleged injustices and false promises from President Cyril Ramaphosa that they would be compensated. This as more than 20 years after establishing the President’s Fund, victims, survivors and their families remain poor and hopeless, saying the ANC-run government is uncaring. Khulumani Support Group national organiser Nomarussia Bonase said some members of the group had been having a sleep-in outside the Constitutional Court precinct since October 18. She said it was not their first sleep-in; they had another one in April. They did not leave until Justice Minister Ronald Lamola addressed them. For the current sleep-in, Bonase said no one had yet seen them. She said the people were suffering and desperate to get help. In 2021 the group…

Malawian singer Onesimus has once again created an extraordinary Afrobeat jam. Onesimus has had large success in Malawi and throughout Africa, where he has been dubbed ‘Prince Of Malawi’. He has been widely popularised as a pop singer, and his new venture into Afrobeat has been well received by his followers. Onesimus started singing at the age of 13. He fell in love with the craft and he toured Malawi performing in various concerts and small shows. Onesimus is also a seasoned dancer who was part of a dance group that won The Sprite Dance Competition in 2006. Onesimus has had many successful collaborations with well-known artists like Vusi Nova, Tekno and Fredokiss. A clear indication that this superstar has made the right move by trying his hand at secular…

With reference your article on Thursday, about the De Oliveira family’s problems with Standard Bank’s Standard Trust Limited (STL), my wife died a month before his father and I am still waiting for my inheritance. About two weeks after informing STL of her death, I received a computer-generated letter of condolence. Ten days later, I received another computer-generated letter of condolence. Even at this early stage I knew what sort of incompetents I was dealing with. Either its has a sick sense of humour or it does not keep records of what it sends to a customer. (I use the word “customer” rather than client because only professionals have clients rather than customers.) After three months of nothing happening, my lawyers got involved and found that STL had not…

“Why are there so many traditional healers lately? It seems to be fashionable lately,” has become a contentious question among many people on social media and other platforms of social engagement. While on the face of it this appears to be a plausible concern, I, contend it brings to light the extent to which colonial beliefs are still deeply entrenched in our social structures notwithstanding the urgent need for the decolonial project to be fully realised. The consequences of imperialism and colonialism in modern-day South Africa have led numerous communities to view African Spirituality as a secondary belief system and at times taboo, as opposed to it forming an integral part of our belief system and way of life. We must contend with the fact that colonialism and imperialism alienated…

UNDERDOGS Kaizer Chiefs made the form book look like a comic strip as they outplayed their high-riding arch rivals Orlando Pirates in front of a capacity 93 000-crowd at FNB Stadium on Saturday. Former players have often said that form is irrelevant when it is Soweto Derby time. That notion rang true on Saturday for the 176th version of the fabled clash. Pirates arrived at the match after wiping the floor with the star-studded Mamelodi Sundowns a week earlier when they won 3-0 in dashing style. Many former players also predicted another stalemate after 28 of 73 league matches since 1985 have ended in draws. It required something special to separate the teams, and the Chiefs duo of Yusuf Maart and mastermind Khama Billiat contrived the magic moment. At a…

Khartoum: Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of the Sudanese capital yesterday, demanding a return to civilian rule, AFP correspondents said. Raising Sudanese flags and posters of activists killed during pro-democracy protests, thousands of youths marched on the presidential palace in central Khartoum. Demonstrators chanted against military rule and erected barricades in North Khartoum and Omdurman, an AFP correspondent said. In the eastern city of Kassala, some “800 young men and women” came out to demand civilian rule, eyewitness Hussein Mohamed Shahed told AFP. | AFP…

The rugby world has begun the annual end-of-year international season, which sees the heavyweights of the northern hemisphere host the superpowers of the south over four successive weekends. And with the World Cup creeping up, this period is hugely important as the teams jostle for psychological advantage while testing combinations. It is, indeed, going to be a delicate balancing act because while you want to build winning momentum and confidence, this period is also the perfect opportunity to test players in the heat of international rugby. The Springboks, for instance, play world No 1 Ireland this weekend, then go to Marseille to play the favourites for the World Cup, hosts France. They have a semblance of a breather against Italy, although let’s not forget the Azzurri recently beat the same…