Table of contents for 2024-06-13 in Mercury

The KwaZulu-Natal government has declared oThongathi a disaster area, estimating that the storms which devastated large parts of the province last week caused damage worth more than R1.3 billion. The eThekwini Municipality accounts for more than R480 million of the damage. Heavy winds and rain last week led to the deaths of 12 people, and 7 000 households were affected, leaving survivors to rebuild their destroyed or damaged homes. Recovery and relief efforts continue as the government and NGOs remain in areas providing relief with basic necessities. Yesterday, the National Department of Human Settlements delivered the first batch of building material that will benefit about 674 households at eMagwaveni in oThongathi. Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) spokesperson Sboniso Mngadi said the government, in collaboration with social partners…

THE battle for political control of KwaZulu-Natal intensified yesterday after the IFP announced it has agreed to be part of a coalition government that involves the ANC, DA, and NFP. However, rumours surfaced yesterday afternoon following a meeting between National Freedom Party president Ivan Barnes and uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) leader, former president Jacob Zuma, indicating that the IFP splinter party might join forces with the MKP and the EFF to form another coalition. Such a coalition means the legislature could be tied, with each coalition having 40 members. IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa revealed that the party has been speaking with the DA, ANC and NFP to form a provincial government. Hlabisa said that during the meetings between the four parties, the IFP had put forward the name of IFP…

THE tornado that tore through oThongathi and adjacent areas was probably the most powerful atmospheric force to hit southern Africa in recent history. The sheer destruction of the area bears testimony to the brute power of this immense and scary event. The entire globe is facing unprecedented destructive weather patterns on land, at sea, in the air and in the upper strat osphere, probably caused by warming climatic conditions. The severity of the absolute destruction witnessed in oThongathi will repeat itself in the years ahead, part of a recent series of yearly flooding disasters and epic tropical storms that have engulfed and overwhelmed KwaZulu-Natal. We in South Africa are ill-prepared and ill-equipped to face huge natural disasters. There are many powerful natural and unnatural events that could rock our nation;…

ANC-NEW plus MKP plus EFF equals ANC-old. It will still represent overflowing sewage, potholed roads, load shedding, water problems, unemployment and surging crime. A coalition of the three makes no sense. It’s going backward. A coalition of the ANC, DA, IFP and ActionSA makes more sense. But the ANC must only shift to the right on condition that the government continues its strong pro-Palestine and Russia stance and design a black economic empowerment policy that benefits all blacks, not only a few. And white monopoly capital is good: it paid for and is the enabler of trillions in taxes over the past 30 years which paid for ANC looting, the SA Social Security Agency, teachers, nurses, doctors, and all kinds of other government expenditure. Can President Ramaphosa provide leadership like…

The concept of a freeport – an area where normal tax and customs rules don’t apply – has existed for centuries. Over time, different terms have emerged. They include export processing zones, free trade zones, special economic zones and industrial free zones. West Africa has 29 free zones, spanning 11 countries. Examples in west Africa are in Togo’s capital, Lomé, and Liberia’s capital, Monrovia. The success of freeports in growing local manufacturing and economies is exemplified by countries like Malaysia and Singapore. The success can be replicated in west Africa under the right conditions. What is a freeport? In his book, Elements of Port Operations & Management, shipping and export scholar Alan Branch states that a freeport is a free trade zone. Imports can enter with simplified customs documentation without…

More than 49 people were killed and dozens injured after a fire broke out at dawn in a building housing nearly 200 foreign workers in Kuwait, officials said yesterday. Forty-three people were injured, the health ministry said, in the blaze in the Mangaf area south of Kuwait City which is heavily populated with migrant labourers. Soot blackened the exterior of the six-storey building which housed 196 workers, according to information given to the minister by their employer. Oil-rich Kuwait has large numbers of foreign workers, many of them from South and Southeast Asia, and mostly working in construction or service industries. According to a source in the General Fire Department, the victims suffocated from rising smoke after the fire broke out on the ground floor. Forensic teams are working at…

HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s Security Bureau said yesterday that it would use powers in a new national security law against six self-exiled activists living in Britain, including cancelling their passports, after they fled the China-ruled city. Hong Kong authorities have outlawed more than a dozen overseas activists based in the US, Britain and other countries. A bounty of HK$1 million (R2.4m) for information was also offered. The new measures for the six in Britain prohibits providing them with funds and cancels their business dealings in Hong Kong. The bureau criticised British politicians, NGOs and media for “discrediting” the Hong Kong government. | Reuters…

THE COEGA Development Corporation (CDC) has embarked on a range of complementary and innovative business activities to diversify its income streams and become more sustainable and less reliant on support from the fiscus. The CDC operates the special economic zone (SEZ) outside Gqeberha, which is in the 22nd year of an 80-year development phase. It has so far attracted 60 investments. The 11 new investments for the year to March 31 were despite the environment of load shedding, logistics issues, growing geopolitical tensions globally and low economic growth, and it has made Coega the best-performing SEZ in Africa in terms of new investments, said the CDC’s head of marketing, Dr Ayanda Vilakazi. Speaking during a media tour of the facilities this week, he said that with such a long development…

THE INTERNATIONAL Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that current poli- cies and investments in the sub- Saharan Africa region were not sufficient to ensure universal access to clean cooking by 2030, with the number of people without access to clean cooking in the region increasing, largely due to the rate of population growth outpacing access to clean cooking. This comes as estimates from the IEA and the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicate that 1.8 billion people globally will still lack access to clean cooking by the end of the decade. According to the IEA’s Energy Progress Report released yesterday, the number of people without access to electricity increased for the first time in over a decade, as population grew – mostly in sub-Saharan Africa – at a higher rate…

THE legal action by the expelled uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) founder Jabulani Khumalo to reclaim the leadership of the party has been found to be so appalling that he has been sanctioned by the court for abuse of court process. The Electoral Court yesterday dismissed the application by Khumalo to be reinstated as the party leader. Khumalo had taken the matter to the apex court, alleging he had been fraudulently removed as party leader. He was replaced by former president Jacob Zuma. The MKP recorded huge success at the polls on May 29 and is now the third largest party in the country, and the biggest in KwaZulu-Natal. At the heart of the dispute before the electoral court is a letter sent to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC),…

STAND by for the Moonrush. A growing number of countries and companies have the lunar surface in their sights in a race for resources and space dominance, says Rebecca Morelle, the BBC Science editor. Are we ready for it?. Images have been beamed back to Earth of China’s flag unfurled on the Moon. It’s the country’s fourth landing there. In the past 12 months, India and Japan have also set down spacecraft on the lunar surface. In February, US firm Intuitive Machines became the first private company to put a lander on the Moon. Nasa wants to send humans back to the Moon, its Artemis astronauts aiming for a 2026 landing. China says it will send humans to the Moon by 2030. And instead of fleeting visits, the plan…

THE Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) held its 14th ordinary quarterly meeting on Friday at the Constitution Hill Precinct in Johannesburg, and adopted two apex reports, the inaugural South African State of Climate Action Report and the Just Transition Financing Mechanism Report. In deliberating over reports, the commission emphasised the need to respond tangibly to the glaring science and signs, as well as the daily experiences of many South Africans over a range of climate-related phenomena and increased frequency of extreme weather events like droughts and floods. These, it noted, called on everyone to respond to the climate crisis with a sense of urgency and redoubled effort. The maiden report, which is the PCC’s first assessment of climate action in South Africa, presents a snapshot of the country’s progress towards the…

AS THE jostling to become part of the new South African government begins, it is unfortunate that the issue of race is coming to the fore. In particular, for the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), the left wing of the ANC and, of course, the EFF with its racist-in-chief leader Julius Malema, race has become the one and only reason given for rejecting the DA. I would ask Malema to explain the mathematics that gives the DA about 20% of the vote, when only 8% of the registered electorate are white. Even allowing for the possibility that there was a greater turn-out of white voters than black (I have not seen the figures for the breakdown of the voting pattern), the fact remains that over half the DA votes must…

It was another first for the North-West University (NWU) and a day that will live long in the memory of all those who attended it. On June 1, the NWU held its inaugural Gauteng open day at Supersport Park in Centurion. Learners from schools from across the province were in attendance to get their first taste of what the NWU has to offer. More than 30% of the NWU’s students hail from Gauteng, and the province plays a critical role in the make-up of the NWU, which is one of the biggest universities in the country. With each step like this open day, the NWU becomes stronger, more relevant and better positioned than ever before. The event also formed part of the university’s celebrations of its 20th year of existence…

Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu has launched four Catchment Management Agencies (CMAs) to assist in improving water supply management with the Pongola and Umzimkulu areas in northern KwaZulu-Natal expected to benefit. Mchunu, speaking at Durban’s International Convention Centre yesterday, said the CMAs would ensure that South African rivers were cleaner. “These agencies are crucial in ensuring the protection and sustainable management of our water resources; facilitating participative management; good water governance; and integrated planning at the local level,” he said. Mchunu said that the National Water Act provided for the establishment of CMAs to enable local stakeholder involvement in local water resource management at catchment-level. “The role of the CMAs is to ensure water resources in water management areas are protected, used, developed, conserved, managed, and controlled in a…

SOUTH Africans will tomorrow observe the swearing-in of MPs to form the 7th administration. The event at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) is preceded by attempts to interdict the sitting over allegations of widespread rigging during the May 29 elections. Among the MPs to be sworn in will be the group that has already undermined the oath they took during the previous administration. We are referring to ANC MPs who chose a party line above the interests of the country when they voted against a resolution to adopt the s89 panel report into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala saga. A brief reminder: The panel led by respected retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo was established by then National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Maphisa-Nqakula. It came to the conclusion that Ramaphosa…

Dozens of migrants detained by UK police before the start of controversial deportation flights to Rwanda have been released on bail, lawyers said yesterday. The government said last month it had detained an unspecified number of migrants after MPs ended months of parliamentary wrangling and passed a law allowing some asylum seekers to be deported. But after calling a general election for July 4, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak conceded that deportations would only take place “after the election” if he was re-elected. Duncan Lewis Solicitors said that a tribunal had “rightly assessed them to not carry a risk of absconding”. Rwanda, home to 13 million people, claims to be one of the most stable countries in Africa. But rights groups accuse veteran President Paul Kagame of ruling in a climate…

Seoul: Doctors at major hospitals in the South Korean capital, Seoul, and its nearby areas are to stage indefinite walkouts, while medical professors are expected to join a planned strike by community doctors next week. The move came as professors at 40 medical schools were set to decide whether to join the planned strike, set for next week, by community doctors. However, emergency rooms and treatment for critically ill patients at the eight hospitals won’t be affected. Despite protests by trainee doctors, the government finalised an admissions quota hike of 1 500 students for medical schools late last month, first increase in 27 years. | IANS…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shared new guidelines this week to help fight the rise of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The guidelines advise using a preventive antibiotic, doxycycline post- exposure prophylaxis (doxy-PEP) to stop syphilis, gonorrhoea and chlamydia. The CDC recommends doctors talk to gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (TGW) who’ve had at least one bacterial STI in the last 12 months about using doxy-PEP. It suggests offering doxy-PEP along with other sexual health measures like counselling, STI screening and treatment, vaccines, and help with HIV prevention and care. The CDC’s Jonathan Mermin, MD, director of the National Centre for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, emphasised the importance of new STI prevention tool called doxy-PEP, especially…

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal yesterday recalled Mxolisi Kaunda from his position as eThekwini mayor. Kaunda had faced two motions of no confidence in the municipality, but survived both with his party’s backing. In a statement, the ANC said Kaunda was being redeployed to Parliament’s National Council of Provinces (NCOP) as the party ushered “in a new era following the national and provincial elections; we are identifying key areas that require urgent focus”. “We strongly believe that, with his experience, Mxolisi Kaunda has an important role to play in the NCOP. “We extend our appreciation to him for his dedication during the most difficult period, such as the ravaging floods, the outbreak of Covid-19 and many other challenges. “Equally, we thank him for serving the people of eThekwini with dedication,” the…

I would like to remind you that you are endowed with superpowers. While you might not feel powerful or think of yourself as powerful, you are. It comes with your humanity. The superpowers to which I refer have nothing to do with money, status or what are generally considered necessary to be influential. Most importantly, they cannot be taken from you. You can only give them away. When you use them, by giving them away, they are immediately replenished so you will never run out. You have the superpower of friendship. This is the capacity to reach out to people with kindness and a welcome. You have the superpower of generosity – the power to give of your time and talents to others and the ability to share what you…

THE central question of any revolution, including the South African national democratic revolution, is the question of state power. Since the democratic breakthrough of 1994, the SACP has endeavoured to build a national democratic developmental state that will benefit workers. This endeavour has been challenged by a range of factors, among others, the contestation of other class forces within the alliance, subjective errors, corruption and indecisiveness of the ANC-led government in implementing some of the pro-working class policy decisions. Since the democratic breakthrough of 1994, the SACP has been a “party of governance” because of being part of the ANC-led alliance, but not a governing party as such. The SACP has been campaigning on the basis of a single ANC electoral list. The SACP was always active in seeking to…

Sanlam’s 2023 claim statistics for sickness and disability show over 60% of claims came from clients under 45. Sanlam said it paid out R10.7 billion in claims across both Sanlam Group Risk and Sanlam Risk and Savings, including 21 896 claims. According to Sanlam, a notable trend in its 2023 risk and savings claim statistics was the prevalence of claims from younger clients, particularly in the areas of sickness and income protection. “Two-thirds of sickness-and disability income claims came from individuals younger than 45. Additionally, more than half of all severe illness claims (57%) were for clients younger than 55; for women this was 70%. “Some 62% of disability claims came from people younger than 55, in their prime working years; for women, this sits higher, at 70%. “In 2023,…

A WAR of words between controversial diamond dealer Louis Liebenberg and well-known private investigator Mike Bolhuis, has turned into a legal battle. Liebenberg this week turning to court for an “extremely urgent” order that Bolhuis immediately remove “defamatory” postings made on social media regarding himself (Liebenberg) and his wife, Dezi. The diamond mining mogul said the host of postings, made on May 28 on Bolhuis’s Facebook page, was derogatory and depicted himself and his wife in an extremely negative light. The postings were done on the eve of the elections, in which Liebenberg stood as an independent candidate. Bolhuis had in the past done work for Liebenberg, but their relationship had since soured. In an affidavit before the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, Liebenberg said he accepted that he was a…

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday that Hamas had proposed numerous changes, some unworkable, to a US-backed proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, but that mediators were determined to close the gaps. The proposal outlined by US President Joe Biden envisages a truce and a phased release of Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians jailed in Israel, ultimately leading to a permanent end to the war. At a press conference with Qatar’s prime minister in Doha, Blinken said some of the counter-proposals from the militant group administering Gaza had sought to amend terms that it had accepted in previous talks. Negotiators from the US, Egypt and Qatar have tried for months to mediate a ceasefire in the conflict – which has killed tens of thousands of…

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have flocked to the Saudi holy city of Mecca for the hajj pilgrimage, unfolding this year in the shadow of the Gaza war. One of the world’s largest annual religious gatherings officially begins tomorrow, and Saudi officials are trying to keep the focus on prayers. The Gulf kingdom’s minister in charge of religious pilgrimages, Tawfiq al-Rabiah, warned last week that “no political activity” will be tolerated. The hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, must be performed at least once by all Muslims with the means. As of late Monday around 1.5 million pilgrims had arrived in Saudi Arabia from abroad, most of them by air, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. Last year saw more than 1.8 million people complete the hajj rites,…

The Port Natal Junior Masters contestants displayed remarkable resilience this past weekend at Queens Bowling Club, facing icy showers on Saturday and blustery winds on Sunday. Despite the challenging weather, the young athletes demonstrated exceptional skill and determination, particularly the new Junior Masters champion, Awongiwe “Wonke” Somtseu. For Somtseu, this victory was the culmination of a five-year Junior Masters journey, which began with a bronze medal in the 2020 championship. Somtseu, a 25-year-old bowler from Stella Park, has shown steady progress over the years. He secured bronze again in 2021, then advanced to silver in 2022 and last year. This year, he clinched the gold, cementing his status as a top competitor. In the tournament’s sectional play, Somtseu ended on the same points as his club mate Travis Finestone, but…