Innholdsfortegnelse for 9/27/2020 i City Press

The cash-strapped SA Post Office is begging its own subsidiary, Postbank, for R1 billion to enable it to process 13 million social grants in a week’s time. When the Post Office took over from Net1’s Cash Paymaster Services as the primary distributor of social grants, Postbank pre-funded the grant payments and was fully reimbursed four days later by National Treasury. This was to avoid the previous situation, where Net1 was paid 10 days ahead of the payouts, banked the public money and earned interest on it during that period. But since the corporate separation of the two entities, which saw Postbank operate with greater independence and according to strict banking regulations, the Post Office has had to largely rely on its own balance sheet for pre-funding. Postbank now operates as…

Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has been caught in an audio recording reprimanding a department of home affairs investigator central to exposing the fake citizenship of several people. This is related to her investigation into former student leader Mcebo Dlamini’s citizenship. In the recording, an enraged Sisulu is heard telling Advocate Amanda Ledwaba, the director of law enforcement and special investigation in the immigration inspectorate, that it was not tradition to ask men about the paternity of their love children. City Press this week listened to the audio recording of the conversation, which took place in March, in which Sisulu discusses Dlamini’s case, whom she claims is her nephew. Ledwaba was suspended on September 14 for alleged misconduct while investigating another high-profile case – that of Kebone Masange – the…

A chief in Mpumalanga is under heavy 24-hour security protection and her mother is in hiding after tensions flared up again over the control of prime agricultural and mining land worth R261.4 million. Since 2017, seven associates, including two royal family members, have been killed in a dispute that has divided the Mkhatshwa royal family in the Mawewe Tribal Authority. Chief Khulile Mkhatshwa and her mother Eva Mkhatshwa – Queen LaMbokazi – are embroiled in a dispute with other royals over the 8 333 hectares of land under the Mawewe Tribal Authority. The land was handed over to the authority and its subjects in 2010 by the department of agriculture, rural development and land reform after a successful claim. However, there have been allegations that the provincial officials have sided…

In its research for stories to be included in South Africa’s leading heritage series, Our Story, which City Press has been running extracts from for the past few months, SA Heritage Publishers discovered a collection of writings that can only be described as a treasure trove of South African culture and history. The collection is made up of 891 writings in seven indigenous languages – siSwati and isiNdebele were not written languages at the time the works were compiled – written between 1930 and 1950 by 187 people in their mother tongues. It is estimated that there are between 15 000 and 20 000 typewritten A4 pages in the collection. The writers range from the well-known author and journalist RRR Dhlomo to a number of named but unknown South Africans.…

State-owned development finance institution the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has launched an investigation into Turkey-owned company DHT Holding Africa, which bought Cape Town Iron and Steel Works (Cisco) following allegations of financial impropriety. According to the IDC, which invested about R180 million in DHT in 2018 (including R75 million worth of shares for the workers), the company has been unable to repay the IDC loan in line with contractual obligations. IDC spokesperson Chimwemwe Mwanza told City Press that the IDC had funded the Workers’ Trust through a preference share facility to the value of R72 million, which was to be serviced through dividends that would have been declared by Cisco once it was profitable. “According to the preference share agreement, these dividends would only flow to Cisco employees after settling…

Maria writes: My brother has been married in community of property for four years and separated for two years. He is a member of the Government Employees’ Pension Fund (GEPF) and submitted forms for early retirement in May this year. His spouse filed for divorce and my brother was served with papers in September. How will this affect my brother’s gratuity payout and his annuity if the payout is done before or after the divorce is final? City Press replies: There is no GEPF rule on how to split the pension on retirement. This will be determined by the divorce agreement. The attorneys will add up the assets of both spouses and then divide that fairly, also taking into consideration other financial obligations such as maintenance for children. If the…

Recognising the growth of township economies and the role of the spaza shop industry, GlaxoSmithKline launched the Grand-Pa Spaza Academy in 2013, reaching out to microenterprises with an innovative intervention to assist with the development of basic business skills. The challenges facing these small enterprises are many and include access to resources, the perception that spaza shops are not legitimate businesses and a lack of business support networks. Added to this is an increasingly competitive environment. The Grand-Pa Spaza Academy curriculum is designed specifically for spaza shop owners – focusing on developing basic business skills, understanding the fundamentals of marketing and customer relations, as well as the effective use of resources and financial management. Since its inception in 2013, more than 1 000 spaza shop owners have benefited from the…

During all of former president Jacob Zuma’s troubles with the law, he and his supporters have not once paused to consider whether he actually does have a case to answer. Theirs has been a festival of conspiracies, with Zuma being the target of multiple forces – both domestic and international. In their quest to defend their man, Zuma’s supporters attacked any person and any institution holding him to account, deeming them enemies and counter-revolutionaries. The judiciary, whose duty and responsibility is to adjudicate matters that come before it, has not escaped the ire of Zuma’s brigands. Over the past 15 years, judges have been attacked by Zuma’s supporters, either individually or as a collective. During his years as president, relations between the executive and the judiciary plunged to an all-time…

Sit down... Sometimes “under the blankets” actually means one has a mild cold. This is what we gathered this week after Cyril Ramaphosa’s right-hand man Jackson Mthembu sought to quell any expectations by trade unions that they could meet the president to discuss their grievances. Mthembu said Ramaphosa was “really sick” and “under the blankets”. Poor presidency spokesperson Tyrone Seale was left with the massive headache of undoing Mthembu’s panic-inducing comment. Seale clarified that the president had a common cold, and Cereal was later seen attending and addressing several virtual meetings. Sit down, Jackson. What was that? South Africa has become one long movie scene. We know that from the almost daily videos of cash-in-transit heists – the big weapons, stolen cars and explosions as cash vans burn away and…

After reading the 2019 University of Cape Town (UCT) report compiled by its internal ombudsperson, as well as the damning findings of the special panel convened to investigate the circumstances that led to the July 2018 suicide of Professor Bongani Mayosi, who was dean of UCT’s faculty of health sciences, and a series of articles in local media, I’m reminded of a bullfight. Once the bull has been darted, wounded, taunted, exhausted and disorientated after making innumerable charges at the matador’s cape, there comes a point at which it finally turns and faces its adversary, with the only movement being its heaving, bloody flanks. It is believed that this is the first time the bull can actually see and identify its tormentor. This final confrontation is known as the “moment…

Being the most successful South American player at a club that finds much of its influence in the South Americas fills Mamelodi Sundowns defender Ricardo Nascimento with pride. The Brazilian has won six trophies since joining the club in 2016. Nascimento had the most auspicious start to his career at Sundowns as he won the CAF Champions League only a few months after his arrival. He went on to win the CAF Super Cup, three league titles and, most recently, the Nedbank Cup. “I am grateful to have found cup success with Sundowns since I arrived here. As a Brazilian, it feels good to be winning with a team that gets much of its influence from back home in Brazil,” Nascimento told City Press. “It’s the most success I have…

Just five days after Barry Hendricks was reinstated as acting president of the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), his fellow board members have, once again, laid into him. They were angry at Hendricks for missing the board meeting on Friday, the first since his return. In a letter to Hendricks, signed by Sascoc’s acting CEO Ravi Govender, the board members expressed their unhappiness about his absence. They said they had wanted to appraise him “of recent events and hand over … the organisation’s business back to you”. When he was approached for comment yesterday morning, Hendricks was still unaware of the letter. But he said it gave him a “feeling of déjà vu” – back to March and April and the weeks before his suspension. Hendricks said that…

Having guided Tanzanian giants Simba SC to the quarterfinal stage of the CAF Champions League a few seasons ago, Patrick Aussems is convinced he can at least turn Black Leopards into a contender for trophies in the PSL. Aussems and the club have confirmed that he is their new coach. The 55-year-old is set to arrive in the country next week to begin his job after he agreed to a three-year contract with the Venda, Limpopo-based outfit. “I’ve always wanted to work in South Africa and I’m excited about starting my work. The PSL is the best league in Africa in terms of organisation, media coverage and infrastructure,” Aussems told City Press from France. He left Simba last year and will take over from Morgan Shivambu and Mongezi Bobe, who’ve…

A company implicated in an alleged asbestos looting scheme in the Free State and Gauteng paid Deputy State Security Minister Zizi Kodwa a total of R180 000 in several tranches between 2015 and 2017. This week, Kodwa confirmed receiving the money from Blackhead Consulting, but said it was a matter between “friends”. Kodwa said his friendship with Edwin Sodi, the CEO of Blackhead, started in 2015. City Press has seen evidence that Kodwa received the money in eight tranches between the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2017. He would not explain what the payments were for, but said that, at the time, he was stationed at the ANC headquarters in Luthuli House and could not have been in a position to influence any government tenders for any benefits.…

The past two years have been a roller coaster ride for actress Sophie Ndaba, who has had to deal with rumours that she had died, a fight against diabetes and losing her businesses, which led to her falling into depression. She felt like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, and recalls those days as some of her darkest. But she had to remain strong and put on a brave face publicly because she did not want people to feel pity for her. “It was the toughest two years of my life and, in the process, I lost myself. I would wake up in the morning and my whole body would be numb and aching. I had to witness people whom I thought were my friends…

An engineer in the Mpumalanga department of education has gone into hiding after receiving death threats for blowing the whistle after he discovered that R25.6 million had been spent on “aesthetic” work at six schools. In a sworn statement, the department’s chief civil engineer, Mfanelo Mbanjwa, said contractors were supposed to fix infrastructural defects in 14 schools, but they mainly only tiled floors, painted walls and installed ceiling boards. They then charged exorbitant fees, even though their work did not correspond with the department’s memo regarding what they were expected to fix. The contractors were supposed to repair major defects that made schools unsafe, such as blocked pipes, damaged roofs and ablution facilities. Mbanjwa has since reported the matter to the Hawks. City Press has seen his affidavit, deposed at…

Elements Available on all streaming platforms ••••- Mukheli is a reserved person – private though friendly, which suggests a high EQ comes with her book smarts. Her debut kicks off with a song that sounds like what “Netflix and chill” feels like. On Say It, she implores her lover to profess his love for her. The new-era ballad is two minutes and 41 seconds long, and one can only hope that the muse for this record obliged. A sweeter-sounding request for affection has not before been recorded. The production is a little like something from Drake’s primary beatsmith Noah “40” Shebib, with vocal tracks laid on top of each other like there are multiple voices fighting to be the focal point, all of them Mukheli giving you different pitches, letting…

The national energy regulator, Nersa, has concluded a secret settlement agreement with its former CEO, Chris Forlee, months after he was suspended. Officially, Forlee’s last working day was July 31, but Nersa only recently informed the stakeholders that he had left. Neither of the parties was this week willing to confirm whether Forlee was paid out for the remainder of his contract, which was set to expire at the end of next year. Forlee was suspended in March. Nersa said he faced charges of allegedly increasing his own salary and approving contracts of 36 small-scale, green power projects. However, before the disciplinary hearing took place, the parties reached a settlement. According to Nersa, it will now begin the process of recruiting a new CEO. In the meantime, its head of…

MPHO WRITES: I recently read that one can combine or add car finance on to a home loan. Is this indeed so with all banks, and is it a good idea? CITY PRESS REPLIES: Home loans are usually the cheapest form of financing and it may seem like common sense to use this lower interest rate to pay for shorter-term debt like car finance. In theory, you save money by paying a lower interest rate, however, most people forget that a car is generally financed over five years, whereas a home loan is usually financed over 20 years. If you end up paying off your car over the period of your home loan, you will pay significantly more. Let’s look at an example – suppose you want to buy a…

Dylan writes: I am planning to buy a 2020 Nissan Navara for R440 000. They are giving me this deal at almost R65 000 less than the current retail value. I will put down a R35 000 deposit and have a 35% balloon payment. The repayment period is over 72 months at 10.2% interest. I plan to sell the car in three years, and estimate the retail value in three years, based on current models, to be about R370 000. Is this an advisable option? City Press replies: On this basis, your instalment would be about R6 000 a month. This means that, after three years, you would have paid R251 000 to the bank, including instalments and your original deposit. You would still owe R147 000 of the principal…

The ANC in Gauteng is the latest governing party structure to reject the finding of the integrity commission. It is becoming an all too familiar pattern, as Deputy President David Mabuza, David Masondo and others accused of bringing the party’s name into disrepute did the same. The provincial integrity commission made findings on health MEC Bandile Masuku, clearing him on the corruption charges, but saying he should have exercised more oversight in the department when it was disbursing large emergency contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE). Unfortunately, the commission does not have the final word on the rulings, which are still subject to approval by the national or provincial executive committees. This allows for politics to sneak into what should be neutral findings made by an independent body of veterans.…

A necessary debate has been raging regarding the proposed changes to the names of places and structures, which are throwbacks to colonialism, as initiated by the Eastern Cape Provincial Geographic Names Committee. For the city of East London – eMonti – which is located within the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, the main motivation for the change of this and other colonial names was set forth by mayor Xola Pakati. To paraphrase, Pakati argues that changing East London’s colonial name back to its original name will ensure the restoration of the dignity of African people, who, through the process of violent wars of dispossession and genocide, were forcefully subjugated to the violent rule of the British and, later, the Afrikaners. As part of this process of annihilation of the African communities,…

On Saturday, an email bearing the news that the Southern Kings had decided to go into voluntary liquidation slid into my inbox. As one of many emails being churned out by the SA Rugby communications machine that day, there was an everyday feel to the missive. Except that it was also effectively announcing that 58 Kings people – 36 players and 22 staff members – had lost their jobs less than a week before payday. This after said players and staff – who had already had to deal with delayed salaries in April – claim they were repeatedly given promises about their remuneration being safe from the carnage that frequently envelopes the franchise. These voluntary liquidations (the fact that they are elective is instructive) happen so often in South African…

Gastón Sirino  Age: 29 Nationality: Uruguayan Position: Attacking midfielder Joined: 2018 Titles: Absa Premiership (2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20), Telkom Knockout (2019) and Nedbank Cup (2020). Mauricio Affonso  Age: 28 Nationality: Uruguayan Position: Striker Joined: 2019 Titles won: Telkom Knockout (2020). Affonso was recovering from injury in Uruguay when Covid-19 hit, leading to the ban on international travel. As a result, he was unable to rejoin his team-mates as Sundowns went on to lift the league title and Nedbank Cup. José Alí Meza  Age: 29 Nationality: Venezuelan Position: Striker Joined: July 2018 Titles won: Absa Premiership (2018/19 and 2019/20), Telkom Knockout (2019) and Nedbank Cup (2020).…

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Free State officials are no longer willing to fall on their swords to protect former Free State premier and ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and former Free State human settlements MEC Mosebenzi Zwane. Former Free State economic development MEC Mxolisi Dukwana has come out saying that the likes of Magashule and Zwane should take full responsibility for a number of incidents of wrongdoing that occurred while they were part of the provincial executive. Dukwana’s comments come after Zwane this week testified at the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture, where he pleaded his innocence and ignorance regarding the R1 billion housing scheme that occurred between 2010 and 2011. Zwane first said that he was unaware that the appropriate procurement processes were not followed and embarrassingly admitted to being oblivious to…

“I’ve won! I’ve won!” shouted an excited Presley Chweneyagae after he scooped the outstanding lead actor award at the fourth Royalty Soapie Awards this weekend. Chweneyagae (39), who plays gangster Thuso “Cobra” Mokoena on the popular Mzansi Magic telenovela The River, was among the winners announced on SABC1 last night. The ceremony was hosted by comedian Mpho Popps and dazzling radio personality Lerato Kganyago. Chweneyagae, the star of the Oscar Award-winning movie Tsotsi, won for his outstanding performance for that role at the Black Movie Awards in Los Angeles in 2006. He told City Press yesterday that there was nothing as fulfilling as waking up every morning and doing what he loved – acting. “For me, acting is like any other job. I am not a celebrity, I am just…

Mothers who have just undergone Caesarean section at Frere Hospital in East London are allegedly made to sleep on mattresses on the floor while they wait for their babies in the intensive care unit (ICU), and are left to tend to their own wounds. Instead of recovering comfortably on hospital beds, the mothers are made to sleep on mattresses in a small hospital room, where it is also impossible to practice social distancing. City Press has seen pictures purported to have been taken in the hospital room where a group of women can be seen on mattresses on the floor in a cramped room, some wearing what seem to be hospital gowns. In one picture, two women are sitting next to each other, one of them eating what looks like…

Nonprofit organisations (NPOs) are a critical component in most informal townships or rural settlements, offering empowering services that either upskill, educate or provide nutrition for those with no other source of assistance. However, if the Covid-19 pandemic – which has blitzed through the country, infecting more than 600 000 people and killing more than 16 000 – has proven anything, it’s that no sector has been left unaffected, least of all the NPOs destitute communities rely on. The Diepsloot Foundation in Johannesburg – an education and skills training organisation serving this vast, poverty-stricken township that largely lacks basic services such as running water, sewerage systems and refuse removal – is one of 179 NPOs concerned about the future effects of Covid-19. COLLATERAL DAMAGE Aldon Karshagen, the foundation’s managing director, this…

Optimum Coal Mine’s business rescue practitioners are running against time to finalise a solid plan to save the company, but critics are wary that the new plan still bears the Guptas’ fingerprints. Tomorrow, the practitioners will present to the Optimum creditors the fourth business plan since the rescue process started in February 2018, in which a proposal to convert into equity the debt Optimum owed to Centaur Ventures – another Gupta-linked company – will be tabled for a vote. The proposed debt-to-equity conversion includes the creation of a new company, New Optimum, with share classes. All creditors and workers would have to agree to the plan and would be issued A- and B-class shares. Creditors and workers will be paid over six years. Some Optimum creditors, except Eskom, the SA…

Nicole writes: I went into debt review in 2017. My Edgars account is paid off. I have R500 left on my Wesbank account. I had a dispute on my credit card and have not paid it for more than three years. Is there a way to get a clearance certificate for these accounts and therefore be removed from debt review? David O’Brien of Meerkat Debt Counsellors replies: When you apply for debt review, the accounts included in the process are listed on the form 16 application, and then subsequently on the court order. All of the listed accounts need to be “resolved” for a clearance certificate to be issued. The debt counsellor, and sometimes the credit bureaus, will require a settlement letter for each of the loans that were listed…

A weak leader puts not just himself in jeopardy, but also the whole country and, often, generations to come. Some people are ideal challengers, but once they get to the dizzy heights, they get giddy and become a great disappointment. The Egyptian pharaoh Djedhor comes to mind. It is unclear where he eventually died, but some Egyptologists say he perished in Persia, where he was living in exile. Others think that he died in his homeland after being taken back there in chains. Djedhor made a terrible mistake – he introduced money to Africa. He wanted to launch a military campaign against the Persia-controlled territories of Palestine and Phoenicia. He thought that, because his father and predecessor, Kheperkare Nakhtnebef, had defeated the Persians in the Nile Delta, he could simply…

Author Dr Alexander Beresford, associate professor in African Politics at the University of Leeds, and others have borrowed an anthropology concept of productive liminality to explain our potentially indefinite suspended state of “authoritarianism and democracy”. This as the “Ramaphoria” moment in South Africa diminishes, corruption is rampant and shows no sign of slowing, and the liberation movement in power is becoming the spitting image of our former oppressors. The concept seeks to describe a situation in which a society is in a liminal status, wherein a transition to democracy and socioeconomic “revolution” remains forestalled; on the other hand, this liminality is instrumentalised to justify the one party’s (the ANC’s, in our case) extraordinary mandate. This sole mandate is characterised by two things. First, the idea of an incomplete project of…

In 2008, Uefa launched a programme aimed at “social responsibility” in the game of football. It had four main strands: fighting against racism, increasing and improving access for fans with disabilities, promoting health through physical activity and improving intercultural dialogue among fans. The ambassadors for the campaign were former Italian World Cup referee Pierluigi Collina and former Netherlands international player Clarence Seedorf. Included in the mix was respect for match officials, which, in my opinion, has fallen way short of the campaign’s original objectives. One only has to watch the games today at any level to see that there isn’t much respect from players for each other, or for the referees and their assistants. For example, how many times have you witnessed a player almost pleading with the referee to…

This week saw a new generation of coaches break on to the country’s football scene. Days after Arthur Zwane and Dillon Sheppard were installed as Gavin Hunt’s lieutenants at Kaizer Chiefs, Maritzburg United followed suit with the appointment of Delron Buckley and Rowen Fernández as assistants to Eric Tinkler. Zwane, Sheppard, Buckley and Fernández are all former professional players – and are all in their forties. It was also heart-warming to see the return of former Bafana Bafana captain Lucas Radebe to Safa as part of its technical committee. For a long time, former players who aspired to be coaches have been shunned by most local clubs, especially in the elite league. Influential and prominent figures such as Radebe were often overlooked for key roles because they were viewed as…

Despite their small victory in the arbitration case, Mamelodi Sundowns are not yet off the hook. Sundowns were charged with “fielding” an ineligible player, defender Tebogo Langerman, in the Nedbank Cup final against Bloemfontein Celtic a fortnight ago. Langerman was included as a reserve in the match-day squad despite being on suspension. He was almost introduced later in the game, but the team was reminded of his suspension and abandoned the substitution. Celtic lodged a protest when they realised the infringement a few minutes before the match ended. The case went for arbitration on Friday before Advocate Gcina Malindi, who found that Celtic’s complaint was invalid. The PSL’s rule – under protests and complaints – states that: “The protesting member club will lodge a written objection to the fielding of…