Pretoria News Weekend Saturday, April 17, 2021

SPERM DONOR ‘NOT A DAD’ Parental rights are not a given, says expert ZELDA VENTER zelda.venter@inl.co.za BEING a sperm donor does not automatically give a person parental rights, a KwaZulu-Natal University law expert has warned. Professor Donrich Thaldar this week assisted the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, as a friend of the court in an application by a Pretoria sperm donor, who dearly wants to have contact with his 5-year-old son. The man, who may not be identified in terms of an order by Judge Jody Kollapen, is in the first leg of his application asking for reasonable access to his son, pending an investigation by the Family Advocate’s office into what is in the best interest of the boy. The sperm donor’s goal is to later apply for guardianship over…

R4 700 CAR IS FAKE NEWS THIS WEEK, social media was buzzing with news that you could own a Bajaj Qute compact car for R4 700, broken down into easy instalments of R150 a month if you couldn’t fork out its full asking price. The trending topic is in fact fake news. You cannot purchase a new Bajaj Qute for less that R5 000 in South Africa, particularly not a new one or one that’s in operational condition from the importer. Bajaj’s Qute was launched in 2013 in India as an alternative to the traditional Tuk Tuks that are used in that part of the world to ferry tourists and locals to and from destinations in congested cities. It’s based on a motorcycle and is not allowed on highways. The…

UNIONS THREATEN TO STRIKE Public servants reject wage freeze LOYISO SIDIMBA loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za PUBLIC servants have rejected the government’s offer not to increase their salaries this year and are threatening to strike as they do not want to be made scapegoats for rampant corruption, fraud and mismanagement. The government finally responded this week to the trade unions representing public servants’ demands for a consumer price index (CPI), which is projected to be 3.1%, plus 4% pay hike, among other benefits. In its response, the government offered its employees a “0%” wage increase for the 2021/22 financial year. The Public Servants Association (PSA), which represents more than 235000 state employees, reacted angrily to the government’s offer. ”The response was utterly disappointing and an insult to labour as it only responded positively to…

NELLIE’S FUNERAL Dad stresses Tembe was not suicidal LIAM KARABO JOYCE liam.joyce@inl.co.za NQOBILE MBONAMBI African News Agency (ANA) RAPPER AKA’s late fiancée Anele “Nellie” Tembe, 22, was not suicidal, nor did she take her own life, her father Moses Tembe said at her funeral. Tembe’s funeral took place at the Durban International Conference Centre yesterday and was live streamed on YouTube. She died after an incident at the Pepperclub Hotel in Cape Town where she fell from the 10th floor. Police have opened an inquest docket. Her body arrived in Durban on Wednesday. Only 100 people were allowed at the funeral because of Covid-19 regulations. At the service, family friend and businessman Sandile Zungu shared her father’s emotional letter about the type of person Tembe was, saying she knew what…

RENEWABLE ENERGY Call for hybrid solution for power crisis VAL BOJE val.boje@inl.co.za IMPLEMENTATION of renewable energy technologies in line with the government’s commitment to transition to a low-carbon economy and ensure security of our energy supply is gaining momentum, with a big shift expected over the next 10 years. Recently, Minister of Minerals and Energy Gwede Mantashe announced the opening of a new bid window of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme which aims to procure 1 600MW of wind and 1 000MW of solar capacity. The programme is a mechanism under which private developers bid for the rights to build new electricity generation projects and sell the electricity to Eskom. In addition, the government announced a programme to fast-track the provision of 2 000MW energy from a…

DEVASTATED AT LOSS ‘We loved Lufuno dearly’ say family JONISAYI MAROMO African News Agency (ANA) LUFUNO Mavhunga’s brother Kenneth recounted the six-hour trip he undertook from Pretoria to Limpopo on Tuesday after the teenager allegedly took her life following incidents of bullying and attacks went viral. “Lufuno was the last daughter of our family. She was loved by everyone in our family, but more than anything, Lufuno was a human being. “Lufuno was created in the image of God, like all of us. When we saw Lufuno, we should have seen God. We should have seen the image of God,” Kenneth said when he addressed the memorial service yesterday. “Her life was taken so early. As a family there were a lot of things that we were still expecting…