Innholdsfortegnelse for 6/28/2020 i City Press

The Eastern Cape healthcare system has collapsed, say doctors and healthcare workers who are employed in the province. “We are sitting with a situation where patients are lying in the corridors of hospitals like Livingstone in Port Elizabeth and are dying, and there may soon be a similar situation Dora Nginza in Zwide,” a doctor told City Press’ sister publication, Rapport. “Many of them need oxygen, but there is not enough for everyone. So, those without oxygen are fighting those who do have it to try to ‘steal’ it. Sick people are fighting each other. It is literally a ‘survival of the fittest’ situation. It is awful,” said the distraught doctor. Another doctor said the maternity unit of Dora Nginza hospital was close to collapse. “There are not enough hands…

In the article “Chief’s widow on the run: ‘They want my son dead’” (City Press, March 17 2020), we published the following statement regarding Comfort Ngidi: “Ngidi was one of the founders of the Friends of Jacob Zuma campaign in the mid-2000s and remains a strong supporter of the former president.” This statement is false as Ngidi was never a founder of the Friends of Jacob Zuma campaign and we could not therefore use the inference to conclude that he remained a strong supporter of the former president. City Press retracts the statement and apologises to Ngidi for the inconvenience caused by the reporting.…

A new healthcare framework has been proposed to resuscitate the country’s ailing private healthcare sector, which has been dealt a huge blow by the outbreak of the Covid-19 coronavirus as patient numbers in hospitals and private practices have plummeted. The framework aims to kill two birds with one stone by keeping private practices afloat and sustaining the unified public-private response to the pandemic that has been envisioned. The Progressive Health Forum (PHF) – an advocacy network of influential clinicians and health activists – has mobilised 15 000 private doctors, specialists and allied health professionals to meet the Covid-19 challenge. It has achieved this by proposing a new financing framework and working with the country’s four largest private medical sector associations and organisation. The initiative seeks to ensure that the private…

The Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (Fita) is considering appealing the Pretoria High Court’s ruling after it failed in its bid to have the ban on the sale of tobacco products overturned on Friday. Fita had argued that cigarettes should be viewed as essential on the basis that tobacco is addictive. Chairperson Sinenhlanhla Mnguni believes that they made good and logical arguments, which the court did not consider. “We are disappointed in the judgment considering that we put together [forward] a very strong argument to show that the ban of the cigarettes [sales] should be lifted. Obviously, we feel not enough weight was put on those arguments that we put forward,” Mnguni said. He told City Press that Fita’s legal team was weighing up their options and considering whether to…

South African mining boss Bridgette Motsepe-Radebe, who has been implicated in a multibillion-rand money laundering case in Botswana, says she is hurt each time the names of her relatives – President Cyril Ramaphosa and Patrice Motsepe – are mentioned whenever the case comes up. Motsepe-Radebe, wife of former Cabinet minister and now presidential envoy Jeff Radebe, said this was not only about Ramaphosa, who is married to her sister, Tshepo, and her mining mogul brother Patrice, but her entire family and its legacy. “It hurts me when my family name is dragged into this mess. They are always bringing up my brother [Patrice] and who my sister is married to [Ramaphosa]. I am an individual and have made myself a name as a businessperson, especially in the mining sector. We…

Eastern Cape Education MEC Fundile Gade (pictured) fears that 16 pupils who have escaped from Makaula Senior Secondary School before getting their Covid-19 coronavirus test results – some of which have turned out positive – could infect more people. Gade believes the close to 300 pupils in the Alfred Nzo district who have tested positive for Covid-19 could have contracted the virus before schools reopened. Gade said this on Friday during a visit to Makaula school, where 204 people, including 172 pupils, teachers and non-teaching staff such as school hostel workers, had tested positive. The MEC expressed concern about a group of 16 pupils who escaped from the school before they got their test results, and 105 other pupils they could have infected. He said the pupils, who had not…

Poverty-stricken families, living in lockdown because of the Covid-19 coronavirus, have been battered by increased food prices. And now they face the double whammy of hikes in transport and electricity costs. These families’ income is the national minimum wage of R3 500 – 50.9% of which covers transport costs to and from work and electricity. The SA National Taxi Council announced last week that fares would increase with effect from Wednesday, despite the government’s industry-wide R1.135 billion relief measure. Taxi owners rejected the relief package, which would amount to about R5 000 per owner and instead demanded R20 000 each. The imminent hikes, said the Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity Group in its June report, would deepen the food crisis that most households were experiencing. It was estimated that the…

When the video assistant referee picked up that Manchester City’s Fernandinho handled the ball in the area against Chelsea at Stanford Bridge on Thursday, Willian stepped up to take the spot kick. Presumably, that was the moment most Liverpool fans, players and officials must have thought: “Cometh the hour, cometh the man.” And Willian certainly was their man – the Brazilian international gave Ederson no chance to stop the goal and City no chance of catching Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table. With seven games to go, the Reds have an unassailable 23-point lead over City, thus answering the question of who would be the 2019/20 Premier League champions. But several questions remain. With football worldwide being driven mainly by money, clubs are desperate to qualify for…

Some of us were not surprised by the turn of events at last week’s Safa national executive committee (NEC) meeting, which resolved to dump the association’s two vice-presidents. The writing was always on the wall for Ria Ledwaba and Gay Mokoena, who can’t claim they didn’t see their axing coming. Those who were ditched before them often say that, once you disagree with Safa president Danny Jordaan, your days are numbered. Ledwaba and Mokoena are not the first to bite the dust, and surely won’t be the last. It’s either you toe the line or you are out. Ask former Safa vice-presidents Elvish Shishana, Lucas Nhlapo, Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana and Mandla “Shoes” Mazibuko. Where are they now? But since that big Charles Dampsey betrayal of South Africa during the bidding…

Outgoing Southern Kings chairperson Loyiso Dotwana, whose company was relieved of its majority shareholding of the Eastern Cape franchise by SA Rugby this week, says he would love to be involved in rugby again, provided that the game changes the rules of engagement with private equity partners. SA Rugby’s taking over of the running of the franchise on Monday comes after the majority shareholder of the Pro14 franchise, the Greatest Rugby Company in the Whole Wide World (GRC), failed to meet its contractual commitments on acquiring the shareholding. Monday’s takeover marks the end of an unhappy 18 months at the helm of the franchise for Dotwana’s company. It has ended a fraught spell in charge, bedevilled not only by an acrimonious relationship with minority shareholders Eastern Province, but also by…

De Klerk still has not accepted that apartheid was evil. During the negotiations in the lead-up to South Africa becoming a democracy, his government continued to massacre people, probably in an attempt to derail the talks Zille has upped the ante by suggesting that the democratic state has passed more discriminatory laws than that of the apartheid regime. She does not understand the struggle for freedom and seems to suffer from apartheid amnesia Our critical mission is – and always has been – to build a nonracial, nonsexist and democratic society for all. We have fought for a long time to achieve this. In the early days, we did this in our struggle for freedom. More recently, we have had to be kind, generous and encouraging to those who do…

It has been a dark week for South Africa. Employment data have revealed that a full 30% of the workforce is jobless, with the expanded measure at 39%. Figures for the Covid-19 pandemic quarter are expected to push this closer to 50%. Finance Minister Tito Mboweni this week laid bare government’s empty coffers – economic contraction of 7.2% for this year, with debt servicing costs expected to consume 21c of every rand the country spends. Of all that is left, 50% will be used to pay civil servants. Crucially, gross national debt is projected to balloon to almost 82% of gross domestic product by the end of this financial year. Mboweni’s supplementary budget on Wednesday came across as an exercise on how to rob Peter to pay Paul, with allocations…

The past three months have been challenging for South Africans. There were many firsts as we began our “new normal”, staying safe in our homes, as the government requested. In this way, health authorities could get facilities ready for the expected winter surge in infections and also help to delay the spread the Covid-19 coronavirus. The number of infections in South Africa, compared with countries that delayed implementing lockdowns, have been far fewer. It could have been a lot worse. With limited movement, people started doing more in their homes. With restaurants closed, suddenly the number of “chefs” mushroomed. As gyms were closed, people converted their living rooms, garages and yards into home gyms or jogging tracks. By day, living rooms were converted into classrooms for the little ones to…

SAA staff are being offered extremely generous severance packages – averaging R580 000 each – at a total cost of R2.2 billion that is due to come from taxpayers’ pockets. This includes retrospective increases and incentive bonuses, but is still not enough for several unions. The offer comes at a time when companies which did business with SAA will be lucky if they see 7.5c on every rand that the bankrupt airline owes them. The debt amounts to about R11 billion in total and creditors may have to give up any hope of ever seeing the money they are owed. The debt, however, excludes that to banks, which is guaranteed by the state. The acceptance of the severance packages is a prerequisite for the approval of SAA’s rescue plan, according…

Infrastructure projects are not a miracle cure that will put South Africa’s sick economy back on to the road to recovery. Infrastructure investments of more than R2.3 trillion that government hopes to realise over the next 10 years are less than what’s been spent historically on buildings, roads and other projects, says Lullu Krugel, chief economist at PwC. At an infrastructure symposium this week, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that 88 of about 276 projects were ready for investment. Expenditure on infrastructure in South Africa has declined significantly over the past few years in order to make up for gaps caused by lower-than-expected tax collection and policy changes such as free tertiary education. According to the national development plan, the target for infrastructure expenditure was 10% of GDP per year. However,…

• R1 million mortgage with 180 months left • Three-month holiday @ R9 650 = R28 590 • Extra months to repay: 14 months (now 194 months) • Extra interest cost: R106 000 Option 1: After 12 months • Increase by 5%: R9 650 to R10 133 • Pay off within 175 months • Extra interest cost: R1 930 Option 2: After 12 months • Increase repayment by 1% per year • Pay off within 171 months • Extra interest cost: R0 Source: Maya Fisher-French THEUNS KRUGER, Graphics24…

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Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, the minister of small business development (pictured), has filed a civil suit against her former employer, Ba-Phalaborwa Local Municipality in Limpopo, to clear her name and avoid possible prosecution following a damming high court judgment implicating her in an allegedly inflated tender in 2009 when she was municipal manager. In papers filed on Thursday, Ntshavheni said Ba-Phalaborwa municipal officials had deliberately misled the court in their submission that she had entered into an oral agreement with Makwande Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors to increase the amount of their professional services contract and their scope of work. “The court was misled into pronouncing a judgment or order [in respect of the alleged oral agreement] which, but for the fraud or misrepresentation, it would not have done,” she said, adding…

The battle for the kingdom of AbaThembu is far from over – and it got more heated this week when the acting king’s services were terminated by Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane. The premier confirmed on Monday that he had sent a letter to Azenathi Dalindyebo, terminating his services and requesting him to vacate the throne. But Azenathi is not taking it lying down and will challenge the decision to oust him in the Mthatha High Court. The letter, seen by City Press, flew in the face of a decision taken by the AmaDlomo Royal Family on June 12 to appoint Azenathi as the permanent king of the AbaThembu. Nkosi Mgudlwa, Azenathi’s spokesperson, confirmed that the provincial government had withdrawn a state vehicle, a Jeep SUV, cellphones and other allowances.…

I don’t consider myself a football man, mainly because the first sport I ever played was cricket. Other factors – like the pointlessness of trying to control a ball with your feet, a “manly” aversion to faking injury to draw a foul and a struggle to make sense of why South African fans bring cabbage to games – only came in later, with the discovery of rugby sealing the deal. Yet, for 30 years, I’ve supported the same football team religiously (spoiler alert, it’s not Kaizer Chiefs, who lured me in as an impressionable youngster in the late 80s by selling me dreams through the peerless Doctor Khumalo and lost me by selling funeral policies). At this juncture, I should probably explain that I don’t dislike the game. For a…

This week the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon became the latest major South African road race to be knocked out because of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic. However, the organisers have confirmed that a planned virtual race will still go ahead on October 18. Since the Covid-19 outbreak, most sporting codes have turned to this “virtual” phenomenon to compensate for events that have had to be cancelled altogether. A virtual race allows participants to run at any location – even in their own gardens or on a treadmill – at their own pace. In terms of timing, most virtual races utilise gadgets such as smartphones and smartwatches, fitness watches and activity trackers as the runners’ personal timing chips. At the end of the race, the runners link their data to their profiles…

What difference do you think sportspeople can make to address the gender-based violence scourge in the country? I am raising a daughter who is turning 10, and I get so worried when I watch news reports of women and children being raped and killed at this alarming rate. Sometimes I look at my daughter playing in the garden and say to myself: ‘My child, the world is cruel out there.’ So I think, as football players, we can follow the example of how the clubs at top European leagues supported the global #BlackLivesMatter movement by carrying the message on their shirts. We, too, can have ‘enough is enough’ on our jerseys to say we are concerned about gender-based violence. For me, that would be a perfect message if the PSL…

In the past few weeks, the world has been agog with the surge of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, a spirited campaign that advocates the fair and just treatment of black bodies. Even though the campaign is not new, what is different this time are the concrete steps which different institutions have taken in acknowledging black pain and proposing remedies to combat the prejudice which black people continue to experience in almost every aspect of their lives. In light of this, entertainment streaming service Showmax decided to remove a catalogue of Leon Schuster’s films from its library. Unsurprisingly, this brave move by Showmax attracted much disdain on various social media platforms, with many lamenting the fact that Schuster was only a comedian, a court jester of sorts, using humour to force South…

21c The amount out of every R1 that government will spend this year on interest from debt incurred 7.2% The percentage by which the economy will contract this year R761.7 billion The new consolidated budget deficit R54.4 billion Cuts to government departments’ budgets R12.6 billion Cuts to local government budgets Source: National Treasury 0 The amount of tax increases in the supplementary budget 87.4% Government debt as a percentage of GDP by 2023/24 R145 billion Extra funds required from the budget to combat Covid-19 R13.8 billion Cuts to provincial budgets Gauteng The province that gets the lion’s share of reprioritised provincial budget allocations Graphics24…

The Covid-19 jobs slaughter figures for the second quarter of the year are still to come – and they are almost certain to be more frightening than anything we have seen so far. According to some estimates, the second Covid quarter will send the official unemployment rate from 30.1% to 50%. And this will most likely trigger even more frantic calls for unity, for “the country” – defined as government, business, labour and the community at large – to join a grand social compact. “We’re all in this together,” is the continually repeated cry. We are certainly all in the mess together, but by no means on an equal basis. And the call for unity emanates mostly from a political and business elite cushioned from the harshest effects of an…

City Press apologises to the North West Gambling Board for neglecting to clarify that the Gobodo Forensic and Investigation report, quoted in the story Bribery allegations at North West Gambling Board published on January 28 2020, was a draft. The draft report stated that millions of rands had been “squandered through misconduct, fraud and gross negligence” by the board. The Press Ombud also reprimanded the paper for inaccurately stating that the Goldrush Casino Group’s licence was not renewed in January last year. The Ombud dismissed the board’s other complaints that the story was one-sided, inaccurate and that the paper had published the draft report on its online platform. • Visit www.presscouncil.org.za for the full finding…

Nomsa Xulu* feels guilty because she eats at school, while her younger sister – who is still at home – has stopped learning due to lack of food and data. Xulu is a Grade 12 Gauteng pupil and a beneficiary of meals delivered through government’s feeding scheme, the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP), which her sister is unable to benefit from. The demand for the delivery of meals through the programme to all pupils, including those not back at school, forms part of a court action launched on June 12 by Section27, a public centre which seeks to achieve substantive equality and social justice, on behalf of civil society group Equal Education (EE). The case is scheduled to be heard at the Pretoria High Court on Thursday. EE, in part,…

The Catholic Church in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape is still haunted by fear and anxiety after five nuns succumber to the Covid-19 coronavirus early this month. Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of the Diocese of Mthatha, said 17 other nuns at the Missionary Sisters of the Precious Blood at Glen Avent in Mthatha, were in their second week of quarantine after testing positive for the virus. Sipuka said his office had also been affected after his personal assistant tested positive for the virus. He said his own results came back negative. “My personal assistant tested positive last week so we have all been tested now and thank God about those results which have come back negative, myself included. “But my office, the office of the bishop, is still closed and we…

It is said all shall be equal before the law. But a victim of a hit-and-run incident, in which a son of a senior prosecutor was allegedly involved, does not belief so. Masixole Jack (41) remembers vividly how, in November last year, he was struck by a vehicle allegedly driven by the son of a former acting director of public prosecutions in the Eastern Cape. Jack told City Press that he was waiting on the yellow line to cross a street in Grahamstown (now Makhanda) when a black Corsa bakkie hit him. The accident left him with a fractured right leg, resulting in a permanent iron bar having to be fitted to allow him mobility. More than six months later, Jack is still waiting to face the man who caused…

Conflict of interest could have led to the breakdown of relations between the church and the board chairperson of the embattled Bishop Bavin School at a time when the school was desperately looking for investors. The school, which is located in Bedfordview, east of Johannesburg, closed its doors last week and sent staff packing following financial constraints. City Press has learnt that at the peak of discussions to salvage the school from collapse the Anglican Diocese of Johannesburg took a decision to retire four non-executive directors. But only former board chairperson Adri Grobler decided to resign. This church’s decision came after it allegedly picked up that there was undisclosed conflict of interest in a deal which was tabled by a “new third entity” which could have possibly saved the school.…

Becoming Men – Black Masculinities in a South African Township by Malose Langa Wits University Press R308 at Exclusive Books A study by Professor Malose Langa has been converted into a book that examines generally accepted characteristics of masculinity in South Africa and how this predominantly toxic outlook can be dismantled. Becoming Men follows the lives of 32 young men Langa met while they were in high school 12 years ago, and we find out whether they were able to find success or succumb to the difficult circumstances of a life lived in the Joburg township of Alexandra. Langa is a senior lecturer and associate professor of psychology at Wits University. He’s also a psychologist specialising in psycho-legal work centred on his LLB degree. During the virtual launch of the…

Thanks to the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak, the vast majority of sportspeople have found themselves sitting on their hands for the past few months. Not so for South African sprinter Henricho Bruintjies, who has not only found something to do, but also appears to have stumbled across his next career. A week ago, Bruintjies, one of the country’s five sub-10-second 100m sprinters, told the Tuks website that he had used the time to begin work as a fitness trainer, a decision that had been a long time coming, but one that was expedited by the national lockdown. “Last year I didn’t run so well and I ended up not making the money I’m used to making,” Bruintjies, a one-time South Africa record holder in 2015 (9.97s), explained. “So I decided to…

The International Football Association Board is the body entrusted with making changes to the Fifa laws of the game on suggestions sent in from people and organisations. But some of the recent changes are downright ridiculous and have caused more trouble than they are worth. Let me give you a couple of examples. LAW 10 – DETERMINING THE OUTCOME OF A MATCH GOAL LINE TECHNOLOGY (GLT) AND VIDEO ASSISTANT REFEREE (VAR) Yes, it happened in a recent English Premier League game between Aston Villa and Sheffield United. Sheffield United thought they had scored a legitimate goal, and they had. The ball was carried over the goal line by the Aston Villa keeper, but the goal was not allowed. Why? Referee Michael Oliver was seen pointing to his GLT “watch”, which…

Some Safa regions have accused the association’s council members of hypocrisy. The regions are up in arms after it emerged that last weekend’s council meeting took a resolution to write off debts to the regions, but the executives agreed to pay themselves honorariums, which were due since 2018. This was the same meeting that resolved to remove vice-presidents Gay Mokoena and Ria Ledwaba from their positions. According to a council member, the written-off debt to the 52 Safa regions is believed to be about R38 million, although it could be more, while the honorarium is said to be about R4 million. The member said the previous honorarium had been about R117 000 per member since 2015, and 2018 could have been 50% of that amount. There are 36 members in…

It is the same script every year. DA federal chairperson Helen Zille sends out a flurry of tweets in which she either questions the democratic dispensation, regrets having elevated black people to the leadership of the DA, or extols the virtues of colonialism and insists democracy is no different from the apartheid era. Most people, especially black people, are hugely offended and the DA sort of disagrees with her, but lacks the guts to distance itself completely and condemn her behaviour. There is no longer any point in highlighting how hurtful her tweets are. She simply does not care and, in fact, doubles down after every criticism. But we are now beyond the point where we must simply try to debate with her. The DA has to show leadership and…

As June comes to an end, it is worth reflecting on a number of historical and cultural issues associated with the month. The first is the June 16 1976 massacre of African children in Soweto. The second is the shocking murder of women by men during this month. The third is that June is traditionally a period during which boys are initiated into manhood. Much has been said about how bravely African children resisted the imposition of Afrikaans on Africans with little regard for the philosophical implications of their resistance. Kenyan philosopher Ngugi wa Thiong’o has captured the philosophical significance of languages in many of his books by noting that languages are not only instruments of communication, but also carriers of culture. Wa Thiong’o has also observed that, by imposing…

IMF AID Roger Baxter, CEO of Minerals Council SA, said the government had previously indicated that it would borrow R95 billion from international financing institutions. But Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, put it at about $7 billion (or about R125 billion) in his budget speech on Wednesday. In a news conference, Mboweni said the money would be borrowed from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the New Development Bank (Brics bank), which had given South Africa a $1 billion loan already. SOEs According to the budget document: “The pressure on the national fiscus requires fundamental changes to the manner in which the government supports these institutions ... reforms will be implemented in the near future.” Although the Land Bank received R3 billion, a striking omission…

On these pages, we warned readers against taking the three-month payment holiday offered by the banks unless you had no option but to do so. This is because the interest is capitalised and, like most holidays, it ends up costing you more than you realise. According to Thozama Mochadibane, head of customer delight at Nedbank Home Loans, says that, by the middle of March, up to 35 000 Nedbank clients had opted for some debt relief measure or payment holiday because of either temporary reduced income or no income at all. While the relief helped clients get through the tough months, Mochadibane points out that this could have far-reaching consequences, especially for home loans. Once you are back on your feet, you need to consider options to ensure that your…