Innholdsfortegnelse for 2022-06-07 i Pretoria News

Michael B. Jordan has reportedly split from Lori Harvey. The Black Panther actor and the 25-year-old beauty are both said to be “completely heartbroken” after ending their romance after a year and a half, though it is unclear why they have decided to go their separate ways. A source told People magazine: “Michael and Lori are both completely heartbroken. They still love each other.” The 35-year-old actor had been “ready to commit” to Harvey for the long term before they decided to split. The insider added: “Michael matured a lot over the course of their relationship and was ready to commit for the long term. “He let down his guard with her, opening up emotionally in a romantic relationship for the first time. “They had great times together and brought…

Rape and murder accused Mpho Godfrey Nemoghovhani, 40, was found guilty and sentenced to two life imprisonment terms by the high court in Polokwane. Nemoghovhani’s sentencing came after an incident that occurred on June 27, 2009, where the 40-year-old man was offered a place to sleep by the victim’s mother at her house in Khopo village. “The victim’s mother left her 11-year-old daughter with the accused, who was with her colleague, sleeping in separate rooms. During the same night, at about 9.30, the suspect noticed that the mother was not at home. He then raped the girl and strangled her to death,” said Limpopo police spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Mamphaswa Seabi. “The police were notified and initial investigations ensued.” Preliminary investigations pointed to the visitor, who was arrested on June 29, 2009.…

THE Republican Conference of Tshwane has disputed the City of Tshwane’s statement that water in Bronkhorstspruit and surrounding areas is good for human consumption. This comes after MMC for Utilities and Regional Operations Daryl Johnston’s oversight visit to Bronkhorstspruit Water Treatment Works last week. Following the visit, Johnston said: “The City ran tests on the water at the reservoir and the water being provided from our treatment plant. The results showed that the water from these supply sources is potable.” He, however, expressed concern regarding the quality of water tested at various points in the water distribution network, saying it indicated that damage to the network was causing the problems. But the Republican Conference’s sole councillor in Tshwane, Lex Middelberg, accused Johnston of not telling the truth that the water…

We are all making significant changes to the way we live so that we can reduce our environmental impact. The products we use, how we travel, and even what we eat are all decisions that need to be made with sustainability in mind. As we celebrated World Environment Day on Sunday, we need to deepen public awareness of the need to preserve and enhance the environment. While as individuals we should all be doing our bit, change of course largely needs to be driven by governments and organisations. Thanks to the Green Deal in 2019, individual nation states and the businesses operating within them are now obliged to step up in the fight against climate change, and meet the EU’s pledge of becoming the first carbon neutral continent by 2050.…

Survivors of an attack by unknown assailants on a Roman Catholic church in Nigeria lay weeping and writhing in pain at a local hospital yesterday after suffering what a doctor described as lacerations, bullet wounds and blast injuries. At least 50 people including children were killed, according to reports, during the attack on St Francis Catholic Church in the town of Owo, which took place during Sunday mass as worshippers were celebrating the Christian holiday of Pentecost. Police have yet to release a death toll. “Immediately they entered and started firing everywhere, so many people,” said Alex Michael, who was shot in the leg while protecting his children by hiding them under chairs. He appeared dazed as he sat on his hospital bed. Around him were other survivors, many with…

THE death toll after a ferry sank in Indonesian waters rose to 19 yesterday, after a 10-day search-and-rescue operation was called off, authorities said. The KM Ladang Pertiwi ran out of fuel and sank in bad weather while sailing through Indonesia’s Makassar Strait in South Sulawesi province on May 26. News of the accident only reached officials two days later, prompting a search-and-rescue operation that involved local fishermen and tugboats passing through the strait. Authorities rescued 31 passengers and crew, found four bodies and declared 15 missing before the search effort concluded. The ship’s captain, who survived the sinking, was named last week as a suspect for transporting passengers without a permit, while the ship’s owner was named as a suspect for hiring crew without the proper qualifications. Fishermen were…

WASHINGTON: Three people died and 14 were injured following a shooting outside a nightclub in Chattanooga, Tennessee at the weekend. Two people died from gunshot wounds and a third died after being hit by a vehicle on Sunday, Chattanooga police said. Investigators believe there were multiple shooters. Murphy said the shooting was an “isolated incident” with no ongoing threat to public safety. Last weekend, six teenagers were shot in downtown Chattanooga during a confrontation. The latest shooting in Chattanooga was reported only hours after gunmen opened fire at a crowd in a popular nightlife area in Philadelphia, killing three people while injuring 11. | Xinhua…

Islamabad: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has claimed that Farah Khan, a friend of former first lady Bushra Bibi, was involved in perhaps “Asia’s largest money-laundering scandal”. PML-N leaders played an audio clip involving a property tycoon as purported evidence of the “corruption being done by Imran Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, and Farah Khan” when the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf was in power, reports said. Punjab government spokesperson Ataullah Tarar and PML-N provincial information secretary Azma Bukhari alleged that Farah Khan “ruled over the entire country from her office in Punjab” and accumulated “assets worth billions of rupees”. Tarar alleged that she used to “approve transfers and appointments” of government officials in Punjab against hefty payments which were spent on diamonds that were sold in Dubai. He alleged that information about…

Dwaine Pretorius is working “on a few different plans and strategies” ahead of the upcoming five-match T20I series against India but is not prepared to show his hand just yet. South Africa’s designated death bowler was clinically efficient at the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates last November, utilising a variety of slower balls and sticking to a line wide outside of the stump. These tactics forced opposition batters to look for boundaries primarily on the off-side, but with a well-set field it proved hugely effective with Pretorius picking up nine wickets in South Africa’s five matches. Even more importantly to his team’s cause, he conceded less than seven runs to the over. These performances enabled Pretorius to fulfil a career “bucket list” when he was picked up…

The final round of the Currie Cup takes place this weekend and there is going to be a nervous jostling for places in the semi-finals, especially for the Sharks, who could end up losing out on the play-offs. In a top-of-the-table clash, the Free State Cheetahs host the Bulls in what amounts to a shoot-out for the No 1 position, which is so valuable because it means hosting a final should the No 1-ranked side win their semi-final. The Cheetahs have a home-ground advantage but they need to get back on the horse after losing two in a row following a long unbeaten run. The Sharks are on a losing streak and have to end it away to Western Province if they hope to squeeze into fourth place at the…

THE new chairperson of the ANC in Tshwane, Eugene “Bonzo” Modise, has a daunting task of uniting the region following disappointment expressed by party members who threatened to interdict the elective conference at the weekend. Aggrieved members who protested outside Indaba Hotel in Fourways, where the elective conference was hosted, claimed they were being excluded from participating as voting delegates of their respective branches. Their threats to obtain a court interdict to halt the conference were never carried out after the provincial executive committee (PEC) and the regional task team came on board to resolve their issues. But Modise said the task of the incoming regional executive committee (REC) would include uniting the party in the region. He said members who were unhappy with the conference outcome would be expected…

AS COVID-19 fears recede among tourists and other travellers, the latest Stats SA release for the tourist accommodation industry shows that the sector continues to gradually recover. The sector was one of those hardest hit by the pandemic shock as lockdown restrictions and loss of confidence drove business and leisure travel down sharply. The statistics showed that income from accommodation increased by 83.3% in the first quarter of 2022 compared with the first quarter of 2021, and that the main contributors to this increase were hotels and other accommodation, including Airbnb stays. Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke said that measured at current prices, the income for the sector increased by 110.6% in March 2022 when compared with March 2021. “Income from accommodation increased by 87.6% year-on-year in March 2022, the result…

State stumbles from mess to mess, each one somehow overriding the last ANOTHER triumph for the hide-and-seek act played by politicians dodging their responsibility to get South Africans out of unemployment, poverty and the many other social ills in our society. Another round of disappointment passes as details of government inefficiency are revealed in the departmental budget votes in legislative bodies, the latest reports on unemployment and crime statistics, and the painful lived experiences of citizens due to failed election promises. The latest employment data, released on May 31 by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), laid bare the dire state of the economy. While showing that economic activity is broadly normalising from the Covid-19 shock following the removal of most major lockdown restrictions, the returning company profitability is lukewarm. Simultaneously,…

Moscow yesterday condemned the rejection by several European countries of a request for Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s plane to pass through their airspace, forcing him to cancel a trip to ally Serbia. “This was a deprivation of a sovereign state of the right to carry out foreign policy,” Lavrov said. Bulgaria, Macedonia and Montenegro refused a request from Russia for Lavrov’s plane to pass through their airspaces on the way to Serbia because of sanctions imposed over Moscow’s military action in Ukraine. Lavrov had been due to hold talks with top officials in Belgrade, one of Moscow’s few remaining allies in Europe since the launch of the offensive in late February. Lavrov described the move as “outrageous”, insisting that Moscow’s relations with Belgrade would not be “destroyed”. He said Moscow…

Former Bihar Chief Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha chief Jitan Ram Manjhi said yesterday that the liquor ban implemented in the Indian state had led to increased corruption among the police. Manjhi, the 78-year-old veteran Dalit leader, said that instead of banning liquor in the state, awareness must be spread among the people about not consuming it. “In a state like Bihar, awareness among people is more important than prohibition. The state government has banned liquor in Bihar. In the garb of a liquor ban, police personnel wrongly implicate poor people and earn crores of rupees. “It has turned into a money-making tool for police personnel in Bihar and encouraged corruption in the department,” he said. “We often see mass deaths due to the hooch tragedy in Bihar. It is…

DUBLIN: Ryanair is requiring South African passengers to prove their nationality before travelling by completing a test in Afrikaans, a language used by just by 12% of the South African population. Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, which does not operate flights to and from South Africa, said it required any UK-bound passengers from the country to fill in the questionnaire due to a high prevalence of fraudulent South African passports. “If they are unable to complete this questionnaire, they will be refused travel and issued with a full refund,” the Irish airline said. Ryanair said it would apply to any South African passport holder flying to Britain from another part of Europe on the carrier. | Reuters…

LOS ANGELES: Users have to pay more than $100 00 (R1.5 million) to fully upgrade a Diablo Immortal character via microtransactions, analysts say. Legendary Gems, a currency used in the game, and to customise avatars afterwards, cannot be earned by players who do not part with real cash to obtain them. Analysts suggest that to get a character fully levelled-up would cost $110 000 worth of Legendary Gems, which cannot be purchased outside of Legendary Crests, the game’s version of loot boxes. Reddit users say more upgrades are only available when players get their 5-star gems to Rank 10, which is thought to cost up to $40 000. | IANS…

It is a massive week for South African rugby as the Stormers and Bulls square up to the might of the Irish in two mouth-watering United Rugby Championship semi-finals, one in Dublin on Friday night and the other in Cape Town on Saturday. Quite obviously, Stormers coach John Dobson is sitting prettier than his Bulls counterpart Jake White, as they contemplate Ulster at Cape Town Stadium and Leinster at the Aviva Stadium, respectively. This was reflected in their early week utterances, with Dobson saying the Stormers just need to stick to what they do best to have a good chance of winning, while White was almost plaintively appealing to the officials to be kinder to the visiting teams in this competition. You can understand the Bull coach’s trepidation after Leinster…

Rafael Nadal would probably not have played any Grand Slam other than the French Open with the chronic foot injury that needed numbing injections in Paris, the 14-time Roland Garros champion said yesterday. The Spaniard's record-extending triumph on the Paris clay earned him an all-time best 22nd men's singles major with a 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 crushing of Norway's Casper Ruud and put him two titles clear of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. It was the 'most unexpected' of his French Open titles, Nadal said yesterday after limping into the scintillating salon of a central Paris hotel. Asked if he would have played any other Grand Slam with the injury that forced him to have injections to numb his foot, Nadal said: "Probably not. "We have been through a lot of…

A relieved Joe Root said the England Test captaincy had taken a toll on his personal health after he guided his team to a memorable five-wicket win against New Zealand on Sunday in his first match since relinquishing the role. The 31-year-old stepped down as captain in the aftermath of England’s 1-0 series defeat in the Caribbean in March, which came on the heels of a disastrous 4-0 loss against Australia in the Ashes. “It had become a very unhealthy relationship, to be honest - the captaincy and me,” Root said after his unbeaten 115 helped England chase down 277 at Lord’s and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. “It started to really take a bad toll on my own personal health. I couldn’t leave it at the…

GAUTENG police commissioner Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela commended the multidisciplinary team which conducted a take-down operation in KwaZulu-Natal yesterday in pursuit of Mbuso Ndabazovela Biyela – dubbed Gauteng’s most wanted suspect. Biyela, who had been linked to eight cases including the murder of a police officer in October last year, was killed in a shootout with police this morning. “The team that traced Biyela to Sahlumbe (Ematsheleni) village in Weenen, KwaZulu-Natal, comprised of provincial members from serious and violent crimes, a tracking team, Soweto district crime intelligence, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal tactical response teams,” Gauteng police spokesperson Brigadier Brenda Muridili said. “The team approached the house where Biyela was hiding, but when he spotted them he started firing. Biyela was fatally wounded. None of the members sustained injuries.” She said the team…

The former couple convicted more than eight months ago of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm as well as child neglect are still awaiting sentencing. The sentence procedures of the mother, 24 and father, 26 were postponed on several occasions as the advocate representing the man fell ill. Yesterday the North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, once again postponed the matter, to July 19, because the advocate has since been diagnosed with cancer. Judge Hennie de Vos urged the father to consider obtaining a new defence counsel to represent him in making submissions regarding the sentence the court is due to deliver. The judge said told the victim’s father that it was in his interest and in that of the little victim to try to sort out his…

SIX GAUTENG provincial government departments, including Health and Education, incurred unauthorised expenditure of more than R1.6 billion in the last financial year which ended on March 31, 2022. These were the shocking revelations placed before Gauteng’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) where the six departments were named. Some of these departments used funds budgeted for savings to buy goods and services. It emerged that as of March 31, six departments within the provincial the government incurred unauthorised expenditure as follows: • Economic Development R 16.7 million. • Health R653.9 million. • Education R935.8 million. • Social Development R29 million. • Human Settlements R7.1 million. • Infrastructure Development R30.3 million. Yesterday, the DA’s spokesperson on Scopa, Ina Cilliers, said the unauthorised expenditure to the tune of R1.6 billion was placing…

THE reality faced by some South African children was a concern to the Department of Social Development, especially teenage pregnancy. Speaking in KwaMbonambi in Richards Bay recently at the official closing of this year’s Child Protection Week Education and Awareness Campaign, Minister Lindiwe Zulu said it was one thing to have a very good Constitution with all the necessary protection but it was another when they went into communities and saw what children faced. “Today we are closing the week which was opened in the Eastern Cape and the message, in particular, is one where we have to deal with what can we do as government as societies and as communities to deal in particular with teenage pregnancies,” she said. Zulu said that it was a difficult situation where children…

Child maintenance defaulters who quit work as a way of dodging their obligations have something coming their way. The South African Law Reform Commission, the body responsible for legal reforms in the country, has recommended that the Maintenance Act be amended to allow for attachment of a portion of pension benefits of such defaulters. The same should apply to those retiring or dismissed from work. “It is the commission’s view that the Act should regulate the issue of future maintenance and give the maintenance court the power to make an order for future maintenance,” said the discussion paper, titled The Review of the Maintenance Act. “To make this possible the definition of ‘maintenance order’ in the Act needs … to include a provision that should a maintenance debtor resign, retire…

THE Competition Commission needs to investigate the alleged unethical conduct of Comair after angry customers accused the airline of using a sale to raise funds a day before it grounded flights. Last week Comair, which operates Kulula and British Airways flights in the country, announced that it had suspended all flights with immediate effect. However, the move elicited angry reactions from its customers who accused the airline of unethical behaviour by selling tickets at discounted prices before cancelling all its operations. Kulula had offered a winter warmer sale with up to a 30% discount on flights between May 31, 2022, and November 30, 2022. It is unacceptable for airlines that account for roughly 40% of the low-cost flight market in South Africa to behave in such a questionable manner. An…

Mexico’s president’s refusal to attend a US-hosted summit because of disputes over the guest list highlights how Latin America’s leftists are pursuing an increasingly independent foreign policy from Washington. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had said he would not go to the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles this week led by US President Joe Biden unless all governments in the region were asked. Yesterday, he followed through as Washington said it was not inviting its antagonists, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, on the grounds of human rights and democratic shortcomings. Lopez Obrador’s firm line over the past few weeks won backing from other left-leaning governments across Latin America eager to stand up to Uncle Sam, fanning diplomatic tensions just as Washington tries to re-engage with its southern neighbours. Luis…

MANILA: The Philippines has evacuated over 200 residents to temporary shelters after Bulusan volcano in Sorsogon province spewed ash and steam on Sunday, blanketing nearby towns and villages with ash, authorities said yesterday. Mark Timbal, spokesperson for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said evacuation was under way to convince families to leave the area within the 4km danger zone. The Philippine Coast Guard said it helped evacuate 58 families in Juban town after Sunday’s “phreatic eruption”. The volcanology institute said Bulusan volcano continued to emit steam yesterday, and the institute recorded 29 volcanic earthquakes for the past 24 hours. | Xinhua…

LONDON: A rare 1679 violin made by renowned Italian craftsman Antonio Stradivari is headed for auction next month where it could fetch up to $11 million (R169m). The “Hellier” Stradivarius “is the finest inlaid violin ever made by Stradivari and one of the finest Stradivarius instruments in existence”, said auction house Christie’s, offering it as the top lot in its July 7 “The Exceptional Sale”. Engraved with ivory diamonds and finished with a golden varnish, Stradivari kept the instrument for 55 years, selling it in 1734 for £40 to Samuel Hellier of Wombourne, England. Of the roughly 1 100 instruments Stradivari made, only around a dozen are embellished with decoration, Christie’s said. | Reuters…