Innholdsfortegnelse for 2023-11-29 i Star

The ANC’s assets, including its treasured headquarters, Luthuli House, could still be attached if the KZN-based marketing company, Ezulweni Investments, has its way. The company, through its lawyers, has vowed to continue its bid to sell off the party’s assets to recover more than R150 million owed to it by the ruling party. On Monday, Ezulweni Investments obtained a writ order from the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg, giving the sheriff of the court the go-ahead to attach the ANC’s assets. This follows Friday’s SCA ruling which upheld an earlier ruling ordering the ANC to pay up or face its assets being attached. Dismissing the party’s appeal, Judge Trevor Gorven said the ANC’s version that it had no contract with Ezulwini Investments was “utterly untenable”. This latest order follows…

There is one negative feature of South Africa’s democracy that indicates that internal party democracy is a sham because of the cancer of domination by one leader. This is ironic as political parties are supposed to be the main structures that promote democratic ideas. Invariably, every political party is led by these strong characters, some of whom have done so for decades. Can you imagine the United Democratic Movement without Bantu Holomisa or the EFF without Julius Malema? Even new parties sprouting all over the place are not immune to this. It is difficult to think about the African Transformation Movement without thinking of Vuyolwethu Zungula. And some parties are suffering from the effects of this. Take the IFP. The party is apparently going to honour its last leader, Mangosuthu…

THERE is no one in the world who can save Palestinians from Israel’s genocide. Their only hope is Allah, God Almighty. They have to pray for His divine intervention to save them from His Holy Nation and their powerful allies, the lawmakers of the world. Israel claims that it is at war with Hamas, but this looks like a well-planned massacre of the Palestinians in Gaza. The October 7 Israeli attack by Hamas was part of the plan. It needed to create some sort of war propaganda to justify its invasion of Gaza. This looks like a staged attack. Israel switched off its world-class defence system to allow the attackers to enter. The Israeli hostages are sacrificial lambs. Hamas, like the ANC, is infiltrated by a lot of spies, some…

South Africa’s National Health Insurance (NHI) fund reforms are intended to transform and re-engineer the health system in South Africa into one that actively benefits the entire population by working towards achieving universal health coverage (UHC). A universal health coverage aims to ensure that all individuals and communities have access to essential health services without facing any financial hardship or encountering catastrophic (poverty- inducing) health care-related expenditure. The NHI, as outlined in the White Paper, seeks to restructure the country’s health-care system to ensure that all citizens have access to needed health-care services without financial barriers, ultimately contributing to the progressive realisation of the right to health as enshrined in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Descriptively, the NHI has several central features, including redistribution of existing health-care resources, pooling of…

A new group of Israeli hostages were set to be freed yesterday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners as Israel and Hamas embarked on a two-day extension of a truce that has paused the devastating Gaza war. The temporary cessation of hostilities and release of captives were hailed as a glimpse of hope after seven weeks of conflict sparked by deadly Hamas attacks that prompted an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip. A source close to the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas told AFP that 10 hostages held in Gaza would be freed in return for 30 prisoners released from Israeli prisons on Tuesday in the first exchanges under the truce extension. “Lists of the 10 Israeli hostages and 30 Palestinian prisoners for the fifth day of the truce were exchanged…

OUAGADOUGOU: Jihadists carried out a major attack against an army detachment in the northern Burkina Faso town of Djibo, security sources said yesterday. The detachment in the Sahel region was the target of a “large-scale jihadist attack perpetrated by armed terrorist groups” on Sunday, a security source said, adding that the army imposed “heavy losses” on the attackers. Some soldiers were killed. The attack and the losses among the assailants’ ranks were confirmed by another security source. The source said that the attack was carried out by “several waves of armed groups”. | AFP…

CLOSING the door on load shedding is undoubtedly one of South Africa’s most urgent priorities. The load shedding crisis has had a direct impact on lower economic growth, higher levels of unemployment and a deterioration of investor confidence. Load shedding has masked some even bigger systemic issues underlying our energy crisis – the lack of reform to keep pace with international and technology trends, rapidly ageing infrastructure, especially our distribution grid, and a rapid decline in State capacity. If the systemic issues aren’t addressed, they will ultimately prolong our heavy reliance on coal power, which is at 80% despite many of our power stations being old, unreliable, and no longer economically or environmentally sustainable. As one of the most emissions- intensive economies in the world, the global decarbonisation spotlight is…

DELTA Property Fund, a black-managed and substantially black-owned real estate investmen trust (Reit) with a significant sovereign underpin, says it is making steady progress in whittling down its debt through non-core asset disposals as it posted its interim results for the period ended August 3, 2023. It said yesterday that its debt of R3.1 billion, which was mainly on a month-to-month basis was renewed, positively impacted the group’s weighted average debt maturity by 73%. In addition, Delta concluded a revolving credit facility of R37.5 million with Nedbank, which would be utilised for working capital, capital expenditure and tenant installations. The board of directors had taken a decision to dispose of Delta’s minority shareholding in the Grit Real Estate Income Group to reduce debt. “To ensure a timeous disposal,…

Mörda’s recent South African Music Awards wins have whet his appetite for even more. The popular musician took home two gongs for Best Dance Album and Remix of the Year at the awards last week in Gauteng. Taking to Instagram, he said he appreciated those who supported and contributed to the success of his Asante album. “I now know God is good all the time. To my family and friends, thank you, thank you for giving me the wind I needed in my sail. At times I felt like perhaps all I had was music in this life.” The musician also thanked the artists who allowed him to use their studio and those who took a “gamble and worked on this album with me”. “Your faith in me is graciously…

EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu failed yesterday in his bid to stop Parliament from considering the report of the ethics and members’ interest committee that found him guilty of breaching the code of MPs. The same applied to former transport minister Dipuo Peters when she too wanted her report not to be considered. Shivambu and Peters were among seven MPs who were found to have breached the code of MPs in October. National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said she received a letter from Shivambu asking that the complaint against him be removed from the order paper because it was before a court. “A similar letter was received from his lawyers asking for the matter to be referred back to the committee for proper investigation,” she said. Mapisa-Nqakula said she also…

The supermarket industry is saturated. One on every corner bombarding prospective shoppers with price reductions reflected on glossy pamphlets. The only loyalty that exists today is that as a customer, maximise your buying power by seeking specials. As things stand, supermarkets are amorphous, unfriendly places where the owners are nowhere to be seen. Gather all the pamphlets you can. Decide on what you want. Then, go from supermarket to supermarket and conclude your monthly purchases, picking the “eyes” out of their offerings. If you are diligent, you will probably save as much as 35%. The days of loyalty are dead. Just look after the pennies in your pocket.…

The UN Climate Change Conference for this year, COP28, will be held from tomorrow to December 12. The conference highlights the urgent need for action to protect the Earth’s environment. We can see the impact of climate change, for example, through increasingly severe weather patterns, in our country and other parts of the world. According to a UN Development Programme report, the consequences of even a 2ºC increase in global temperature will include: coastal flooding displacing 180 to 230 million people; water shortages affecting 1.8 billion people; and will put 220 to 400 million people at risk of contracting malaria. It is the Bahá’í view that the protection and preservation of our environment should be viewed, not only in technical and economic terms, but also as a moral and ethical…

The City of Tshwane has yet again suffered another technical glitch affecting a prepaid vending system, causing frustration among thousands of customers using it to purchase electricity. Last month, the municipality reported that some prepaid customers with the third-party vending system could not buy electricity owing to migration of the current prepaid meters from one system to another. According to the municipality, the system has been online and off-line interchangeably since November 25 and unable to connect with the outside network. Municipal spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the City’s Information and Communication Technology and Energy and Electricity departments were attending to technical challenges affecting the system’s operation. “The technical team has been working on this matter until the late hours of Sunday night, frantically trying to find a lasting solution. “We…

HEALTH NGOs have been admitted as friends of the court in a landmark court case which takes on a US pharmaceutical company over cystic fibrosis (CF) treatment in South Africa. The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and Doctors without Borders (MSF), both represented by Section27, have been admitted by the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, as amici curiae (friends of the court) in the compulsory licence application for access to the life-saving drug called Trikafta. The drug is not available in South Africa, but where it is available, it is priced at over R5 million a year for patients, who need to take it for the rest of their lives. The case is an application for a compulsory licence brought by Cheri Nel, a South African with CF, against Vertex Pharmaceuticals…

Messages of support and love continue to flood in for Bulelwa “Zahara” Mkutukana after it was announced that she was hospitalised after complaining of pain. Mkutukana’s family and team said she was admitted to hospital for a week. “We wanted to take this opportunity as a family to express gratitude for the outpouring of love, support, and compassion for our dearest Zahara since the recent media articles about the nature of her health. “For your kindness and concern, and because we know you love Zahara, we wanted to give you an update on our daughter’s health. Zahara has been admitted to the hospital for a week following complaints about physical pains. “The doctors are working diligently, and we await further updates from them.” The family refuted rumours that have been…

MINISTER of Sport, Arts and Culture Zizi Kodwa announced a new Boxing SA (BSA) board at a media briefing in Pretoria yesterday. Only one member of the former board, Sakhiwe Sodo, was retained on the new 7-member board, which will take office on December 12. Their term will end in 2026. It has come as no surprise that the controversial former board was sent packing. Last week, they came under fire from Parliament’s portfolio committee on sport, arts and culture. After listening to the board, parliamentarian Tshepo Mhlongo persuaded Kodwa to take firm action against the boxing regulatory body. He said BSA’s acting CEO, Nsikayezwe Sithole, and Sodo, BSA’s sanctioning committee chairperson, misled the House when responding to the questions. Another member of the portfolio committee, Eugene Mthethwa, was also…

In 2017, when Zimbabwe’s late and longest-serving president, Robert Mugabe, was being deposed for his authoritarian conduct, he told the Zimbabwean army that guns should not lead politics. “The principle is that politics shall always lead the gun and not the gun politics,” he said. I was therefore perplexed to see former City of Joburg mayor Thapelo Amad posing with a big automatic machine gun, declaring support for Hamas, the terrorist organisation that attacked Israel on the morning of October 7. In his post on social media platform X which has since been deleted, Amad declared his undying support for Hamas while displaying a flag and a rifle. “We stand with Hamas, Hamas stands with us, together we are Palestine, and Palestine will be free,” he wrote. Amad is one…

Sierra Leone information minister Chernor Bah said yesterday that attacks on several locations in the capital Freetown on Sunday were a failed attempt to overthrow the government. Thirteen military officers and one civilian have been arrested following the incident, he said. Gunmen attacked a military barracks, a prison and other locations on Sunday, freeing about 2 200 inmates and killing more than 20 people, said authorities in the country. By Monday calm had returned. “The incident was a failed attempted coup. The intention was to illegally subvert and overthrow a democratically elected government,” said Bah. “The attempt failed, and plenty of the leaders are either in police custody or on the run. We will try to capture them and bring them to the full force of the laws of Sierra…

London: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cancelled a meeting with Kyriakos Mitsotakis because his Greek counterpart failed to keep a promise not to publicly dispute ownership of the Parthenon Marbles, the UK leader’s spokesperson said yesterday. An angry Mitsotakis cut short his visit and headed back to Greece, after the meeting scheduled for yesterday was pulled. The sculptures were taken from the Parthenon temple at the Acropolis in the early 19th century by British diplomat Thomas Bruce, the earl of Elgin, and are now on display at the British Museum. Athens maintains the marbles were stolen. | AFP…

Jakarta: Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano located in the waters of the Sunda Strait erupted yesterday, spewing an ash cloud of about 1km high, an official said. The volcano’s Observation Post Officer Anggi Nuryo Saputro said the eruption occurred for 130 seconds, with the wind heading north. Since it first emerged in June 1927, Anak Krakatau’s volcanic activity has been on the rise, making its body larger and taller, up to 157m above the sea level. Its activity has increased significantly since April last year, which raised its dangerous status to the third highest level. | IANS…

Banyana Banyana’s mentality and experience will be tested in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) qualifiers against Burkina Faso tomorrow and on Monday. Banyana have been the best team in Africa in recent months, setting records by winning the Nations Cup and reaching the World Cup last 16 for the first time. But now that they are top, the challenge is maintaining all that they’ve achieved and doing even better. Sure, they’ve improved already, progressing to the third round of the Olympic qualifiers after beating the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) 4-1 on aggregate last month. However, the last round of the Wafcon qualifiers should pose their biggest challenge yet, with Burkina Faso a potential banana skin. Speaking during the announcement of her 24-member squad at Safa House last…

GLOBAL decarbonisation commitments and actions by South Africa’s trade partners in their transport sectors has caused a need to transform the manufacturing of vehicle and components from internal combustion engines (ICE) to new energy vehicles (NEVs). The consequences of the global energy transition are not only felt in the energy sector, but all other sectors of the economy, and the transition to NEVs is one of the many moving pieces in South Africa’s pursuit of a just energy transition. Specifically, the EU and the UK, major importers of our vehicles, have set targets for phasing out all new sales of internal combustion engine passenger vehicles by 2035. However, impacts to outlaw the manufacturing of ICE vehicles will begin to sting the vehicle manufacturing industry even before 2035 as the operational…

THE MARKET gave Bidvest the cold shoulder, sending its shares 10% lower, after the services, trading and distribution group delivered a voluntary trading update for the four months to October 31, 2023, saying its performance was “muted”. Yesterday the share had tanked nearly 10% to close at R244.07 on the JSE. Year-to-date the share is up 26.41%. Bidvest CEO Mpumi Madisa said: “Group performance was muted during the first four months of FY24. Whilst the expected slowdown was signalled previously, the actual volume and margin drop, particularly in the consumer-facing activities, was greater than anticipated.“ Overall, revenue growth slowed as activity, off a high base, was diluted by contracting durable consumer spend, volume reduction in some sectors and increased price competitiveness. Travel and hospitality as well as commercial demand for…

SOUTHERN Palladium yesterday posted the appointment of mining expert Roger Baxter as the chairperson of the board, commencing on January 1, 2024. Baxter was CEO of the Minerals Council South Africa for more than eight years from May 2015. He recently retired from this position. In that role he played a key part in guiding the country’s mining sector to achieve an improved safety record with a significant focus on the implementation of mine site solutions based on the adoption of leading global safety practices. Baxter also led the complete brand rejuvenation, reputation enhancement and modernisa- tion of the Mineral Council into becoming a much more effective, strategically driven, agile, assertive and capable organisation. Baxter was the founding chairperson of the World Platinum Investment Council – a position he continues…

THE South African State Security Agency (SSA) has distanced itself from a purported intelligence report suggesting that there was a possible “judicial capture” of the country’s leading judge. On Monday, United Democratic Alliance (UDM) leader, General Bantu Holomisa raised concerns about the possibility of “judicial capture” after a leaked report purportedly authored by former spy boss Thembisile Majola, who resigned this month, surfaced. Holomisa revealed that he had written to the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence following a damning report on judicial corruption in the country’s justice system. Holomisa said the report made shocking revelations implicating high-up individuals in corrupt practices, adding that the allegations in the 54-page report should be investigated. “We wrote to the Joint Standing Committee on Intelligence about a damning report on judicial corruption…

As the world marks the start of 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children Campaign, so do organisations in South Africa. Among them are members of the South African Military Health Service of the SANDF, who this week celebrate their Prestige Week, during which they will run a programme with various themes. They will have members executing activities through various corporate and sporting activities, to culminate in an awards evening on December 1. Gender-based violence awareness campaigns, they explained, will be held at the Pretoria Military Sports Club, the Pebble Rock Golf and Country Club, and the CSIR, to feature corporate awards evenings. This comes as they join the worldwide 16 Days of Activism campaign which began on Saturday, and runs until December 10, which is…

The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), working under the banner of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI), has officially opened applications for the second phase of the National Youth Service (NYS) programme. The NYS is a paid community service initiative designed by the NYDA to provide opportunities to young South Africans between the ages of 18 and 35 years who struggle to find jobs due to a lack of work experience, qualifications, or a matric certificate. The first phase of the NYS delivered 47 234 service opportunities to unemployed youth. Nicholas Hlabane, 23, from Baloyi Village in Limpopo, completed his community service at Matome Malatji High School. With his NYS stipend, Hlabane purchased equipment to open his own internet café. Abel Baloyi, a 31-year-old from Witten, Limpopo, used his skills…

The call to redirect attention to pressing issues has gained momentum on social media, with many calling for fruitful discussions that will aid the stability of the country. This conversation has been sparked by recent news that on Monday, a well-known broadcaster would be hosting the self-proclaimed doctor “Dr Lani”, who used his platform to propagate fake news following claims of being a certified doctor. Many have criticised the radio station, saying it has devolved into populism and mediocrity. Given the station’s reputation as a reliable broadcaster, many assumed it would focus on urgent issues that afflict the country and methods for maximising the use of social media platforms for worthwhile content. Different views have been shared, with followers suggesting issues such as the high rate of unemployment, load shedding…

BEIJING: Eleven people died in an accident at a coal mine in China’s northeastern Heilongjiang province yesterday, state media outlet CCTV said. The accident occurred at 3pm at the Shuangyang coal mine of Heilongjiang Longmei Shuangyashan Mining Co, and is initially believed to have been caused by a rock burst. The cause of the accident is under investigation. Rock bursts happen when pent up energy stored in rock causes it to violently fracture. China’s coal mines have seen a string of deadly accidents this year despite repeated government calls for stricter enforcement of safety standards, as miners seek to step up coal output. | Reuters…

NAIROBI: Kenya’s High Court yesterday declared unconstitutional a 1.5% levy intended to fund affordable housing that was imposed as part of a finance law adopted in June, but later stayed the ruling until January 10 to allow for the government to appeal. The law, which also doubled the fuel tax and increased the top income tax rate, sparked violent protests in July by opponents. The court said the government had not provided a rational explanation for why it had imposed the housing levy only on workers with employment in the formal sector. | Reuters…