Innholdsfortegnelse for 2022-08-04 i Pretoria News

Johann Mettler told not to hire incompetent senior managers as he takes over as Tshwane boss NEW Tshwane city manager Johann Mettler has been warned by the ANC against hiring incompetent senior managers. The former Nelson Mandela Bay city manager is expected to preside over the appointment of senior managers in the coming six months. The multi-party coalition in Tshwane recently came under fire for having acting managers in positions such as a chief financial officer, a governance support officer, a chief of emergency services, a group head in the office of city manager and a group head for city strategies. The ANC said: “We caution him not to fall for the trap of appointing friends of the DA-led coalition because they have a lot of incapable individuals who want…

THE Constitutional Court has ruled that non-citizens of this country are not permitted to be admitted as legal practitioners in South Africa. The court overturned an earlier ruling that had declared the Legal Practice Act unconstitutional where it only allowed South African citizens or permanent residents to be admitted as lawyers. The legal battle by foreign nationals who wanted to be admitted to the legal profession in South Africa was among others sparked by Lesotho nationals Relebohile Rafoneke and Sefoboko Tsiunyane. They had obtained their LLB degrees in South Africa and also completed their articles and vocational training. Their applications to be admitted as attorneys of the high court were dismissed because they are neither South African citizens nor permanent residents, as required by section 24(2)(b) of the Legal Practice…

THE Mpumalanga government has praised the province’s tourism agency for obtaining a clean audit for the first time since the 2007/8 financial year. The Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency was launched by the then premier Thabang Makwetla in December 2006. It came about following the merger between the Mpumalanga Tourism Authority and Mpumalanga Parks Board. In 1998, the tourism board was embroiled in an international scandal involving an MEC and two executives from its board. The three were fingered in issuing promissory notes allowing the use of 32 provincial game parks as collateral for international loans amounting to more than R300 million. The documents had been issued without approval from the Reserve Bank, Treasury or the Cabinet. The deal was later reversed after the MEC admitted to signing the documents,…

THE Tshwane Metro Police Department has urged the public to take note of marches taking place in the heart of the nation’s capital today. The first march has been convened by the ANC to raise awareness against the recent killing of people in taverns as well as gender-based violence. The marchers will gather from 10am at Jubilee Park in Sunnyside and proceed to Jorissen Street, turning left onto Leyds Street to reach SAPS Sunnyside. The roads that will be affected are Troye, Celliers and Leyds streets. The participants are expected to disperse from SAPS Sunnyside at 1pm. Tshwane Metro Police Department spokesperson Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba said their officers would be deployed to monitor the march and all affected streets. He advised motorists to avoid affected streets and use alternative…

THE SA Schools Act outlawed corporal punishment at schools 26 years ago. The law makes anyone who contravenes it guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a sentence that could be imposed for assault. The Western Cape Education Department has removed a Bella Vista Primary School teacher following allegations she hit pupils with a plank, and threatened their parents A parent is reported to have removed their daughter from the school in January when they found out about the alleged incidents. It is a cause for concern that it took the intervention of the Witzenberg Justice Coalition to get the teacher removed by pressuring the provincial department. It is also shocking that teachers engage in this illegal activity to maintain discipline in the classrooms. In fact, it is…

The parents of a 12-year-old UK boy yesterday appealed to European judges to maintain his life support, in another high-profile medical ethics case for Britain. Archie Battersbee was due to have his life support at the Royal London Hospital ended yesterday. But his parents are seeking a last-ditch ruling from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to keep him alive. “As directed by the courts, we will work with the family to prepare for the withdrawal of treatment, but we will make no changes to Archie’s care until the outstanding legal issues are resolved,” said Alistair Chesser, for the hospital’s governing trust. Archie’s mother, Hollie Dance, found her son unconscious at home in April with signs he had placed a ligature over his head, possibly after taking part in…

Hong Kong: Hong Kong’s new leader John Lee received a salary bump that would make him among the world’s highest-paid politicians, according to figures provided by his office yesterday, even as the government announced this week that the financial hub’s economy has tipped into a technical recession. The former security chief, 64, who assumed office in July, is paid HK$452 200 ($58 000) a month, and will receive an entertainment allowance of over $10 000 as well. His salary is a step-up from that of his predecessor Carrie Lam, who used to earn around $54 000 a month. This means Lee earns more than US president Joe Biden, whose annual salary is $400 000. | AFP…

KINSHASA: The Democratic Republic of Congo has asked the spokesman of the UN peacekeeping mission, Monusco, to leave the country, blaming him for stoking tensions that led to deadly protests last week. Thirty-six people, including four UN peacekeepers, were killed last week as hundreds of protesters vandalised and set fire to UN buildings in several cities in the DRC’s east. Civilians accuse the mission, which has been active for more than a decade, of failing to protect them from militia violence that has long plagued the region. The government said that the spokesman, Mathias Gillmann, had made “indelicate and inappropriate” statements. | Reuters…

San Francisco: Twitter has now dragged tech investors and entrepreneur friends connected to Elon Musk in the $44 billion (about R742bn) takeover deal that has been terminated by the Tesla CEO and a legal trial is set to begin from October 17. Twitter’s legal team, in a subpoena in the court, has asked for “extensive requests for communications, including checklists, timelines, presentations, decks, organisational calls, meetings, notes and recordings” related to the deal’s financing. The top investors mentioned in the subpoena include David Sacks, who helped Musk with the formation of financial services firm PayPal. Twitter’s legal team has also gone after Tesla and SpaceX board member Stephen Jurvetson, and investors Jason Calacanis, Keith Rabois and Joe Lonsdale, general partner at VC firm 8VC, who called Twitter’s subpoenas sent to…

THE people of Zithobeni showed courage and good citizenry when they busted three men who were allegedly stealing a mini-substation transformer in Bronkhorstspruit. This is according to Tshwane MMC for Utility Services and Regional Operations Daryl Johnston, who thanked the community for taking a firm stand against theft of critical infrastructure. Johnston has complained in recent weeks about the series of attacks on the City’s infrastructure, particularly vandalism, theft and sabotage. The City has said there might be a group of people deliberately damaging infrastructure to place the metro under pressure and deny the people service delivery. Johnston referred to damage to substations in Soshanguve and Bronkhorstspruit and attacks on staff who switched off electricity to some areas to prevent damage to infrastructure during load shedding. “The City of Tshwane…

The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) has hailed the decision by the Eastern Cape ANC to recall the troika of Amathole District Municipality, describing the move as in the best interests of service delivery. The troika was made up of executive mayor Nceba Ndikinda, council speaker Nondumiso Mgidlana, and chief whip Nonceba Mfecane, who is also a former mayor of Mbhashe Local Municipality. In a brief statement, the ANC Eastern Cape said: “The Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) of the ANC in the Eastern Cape has resolved to recall the executive mayor, speaker and chief whip of Amathole District Municipality with immediate effect. “The decision has been taken after due considerations and assessment by the ANC PEC on the challenges faced by the District Municipality. All affected parties have been…

AN AWAITING-trial prisoner and accused murderer’s application to have his trial heard at the Western Cape High Court instead of the Pollsmoor Circuit Court has failed. Mikyle Davids, who faces a string of charges relating to gang activity, argued that the Pollsmoor Circuit Court, where his trial is set to be heard, did not “have the look and the feel of a proper high court” and violated his “presumption of innocence”. He is one of seven co-accused. “He is unhappy about having to be tried in the Pollsmoor Circuit Court because this court is on prison grounds and part of the prison building,” Davids’ councel, Bashier Sibda, said. He said that even if a free-standing court was within the prison precinct, Davids would still object as Pollsmoor had a bad…

March on Union Buildings contrasts with today’s challenges HISTORY reminds us of the 20 000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on August 9, 1956, calling for the free movement of black women in South African urban areas. This act illustrated the sisterhood bond that the early feminist thinkers aspired to since women from different backgrounds and races participated in the march. The women who participated in the protest challenged the systematic oppressive and racist rules of the apartheid regime. As one reflects on this phenomenon, one recognises solidarity among the women of 1956, which dispels the perception that women cannot unite for a common cause. It also creates the illusion that South African men and women are comrades in the struggle since they fought against colonialism and…

South-east Asian nations yesterday urged restraint over Taiwan after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island prompted an enraged China to vow “punishment”. Pelosi’s dramatic trip to Taipei, defying stark threats by China, overshadowed a meeting of Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) foreign ministers in Phnom Penh, which had been expected to focus on the bloody crisis engulfing Myanmar. Asean spokesperson Kung Phoak, Cambodia’s deputy foreign minister, said ministers at the closed-door talks – meeting face to face for the first time since the pandemic – had expressed concern over “growing tension in the Taiwan Strait”. “We hope that all sides will try their best to de-escalate the tension there, avoid actions that may contribute to the escalation of tension, and engage in dialogue,” Kung Phoak said.…

Top leaders of Afghanistan’s Taliban were holding discussions yesterday about how to respond to a US drone strike in Kabul that the US said killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, three sources in the group said. The US killed Zawahiri with a missile fired from a drone while he stood on a balcony at his Kabul hideout on Sunday, US officials said, the biggest blow to the militants since Osama bin Laden was shot dead more than a decade ago. The Taliban have not confirmed Zawahiri’s death. Officials of the Islamist group, long-time allies of al-Qaeda, initially confirmed the Sunday drone strike but said the house that was hit was empty. “There are meetings at a very high level on whether they should react to the drone strike, and in case…

BEIRUT: The World Bank accused Lebanese politicians of being cruel by asserting that deposits in the country’s collapsed banking sector are sacred, saying such slogans “flagrantly contradict the reality” in a report yesterday. Lebanon is in the third year of a financial meltdown that has left eight in 10 people poor and which the World Bank says is deliberate. Lebanese politicians often say depositors’ rights must be preserved in any plan to address losses of some $70 billion (about R1.2 trillion) in the financial system, even as their savings have lost 80% of their value due to the collapse. | Reuters…

Beijing: Three people were killed and six others wounded in a knife attack Wednesday at a preschool in southeast China’s Jiangxi province, police said. A “gangster wearing a cap and mask” stormed the private school in Anfu county, police said in a statement published on China’s Twitter-like Weibo. The 48-year-old suspect is still at large. In a video of the scene shared by state-run Beijing Daily, a police officer can be seen carrying a tiny child in his arms to an ambulance. Mass violent crime is rare in China, which strictly prohibits citizens from owning firearms, but there has been a spate of mass stabbings in recent years. | AFP…

ROYAL AM chief executive officer, Sinky Mnisi, has elected to break his silence over a number of topics surrounding himself and the club, refuting allegations that he was placed on suspension. Mnisi's name has been touted about in numerous sagas that have clouded the club in recent weeks, leading to him calling a press conference in his personal capacity yesterday at the OR Tambo Premier Hotel. “I remain CEO of Royal AM Football Club but I have decided to take special leave to allow the allegations by the media against me to slow down," he said. “You want to know whether I’m resigning, no, no! I’ve informed the president, I’ve sent an email to the club that I’m taking a special leave. Everything negative is attributed to me. When…

THE DOMESTIC currency market weakened slightly yesterday as South Africa’s energy crisis continued while the announced increase in global crude oil output in September failed to allay investors’ uncertainty over the pace of US rate hikes. Opec and its allies (Opec+) yester- day agreed to raise their oil output by only 100 000 barrels per day in September. The recommended increase misses market expectations after US President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia last month and called on the Opec+ cartel to pump more crude in a bid to ease high energy prices in the US and Europe. The 31st Opec and non-Opec ministerial meeting noted with particular concern that insufficient investment into the upstream sector would impact the availability of adequate supply in a timely manner to meet growing…

THE HEAD OF commercial banking at Sasfin who started out as a teller in a bank is offering support to entrepreneurs in South Africa. Armed with a degree in economics and mathematical statistics, Andile Hote has walked a long journey from the rural parts of the Eastern Cape to working in the country’s leading financial institutions. “Knowing that my work supports entrepreneurs, the South African economy and job creation leads my approach to every deal we do at Sasfin. I come from those values – I know what they mean to our clients,” Hote told Business Report. Hote says that South Africans’ famed resilience has truly been put to the test over the past two years, between Covid-19, electricity shortages, unrest, increase in fuel prices, interest rate hikes and climate…

SECTION27 has urged the Department of Education in the North West to place a school caretaker on the register of sexual offenders following his conviction for sexually assaulting two siblings. The organisation welcomed the findings of a disciplinary inquiry held by the department to immediately dismiss a school caretaker after he was found guilty of sexual assault. The incidents involved siblings, both minor pupils, who were sexually assaulted by the school caretaker in different incidents beginning in 2015. The principal and school governing body failed to act against the caretaker. Section27 spokesperson Pearl Nicodemus said the sexual assault of learners by teachers and school officials was widespread in South Africa. She said the findings of this disciplinary inquiry offered some justice to the affected learners. “While we welcome and even…

The Tshwane Bahlali Dudula is set to mobilise again and visit industrial areas to demand real and co-ordinated intervention measures to address the displacement of young South Africans from the economy. The organisation’s David Ratladi told the Pretoria News that after protesting in Rosslyn and Silverton, some companies reacted positively and absorbed young people. He said Nissan and the South African Breweries in Rosslyn created jobs for local young people, even though some companies had not yet reacted positively. Others went to court and obtained interdicts over the demonstrations and demands. He said the reality was that there were over 70 000 foreign nationals in these manufacturing companies, while scores of South Africans with qualifications were sitting at home in the townships doing nothing with their lives. “Over and above…

Breastfeeding gives children the best start in life and should always be the first choice for babies. There is no other food that can substitute for the lifelong benefits of breast milk. Breastfeeding is a life-saving intervention that can prevent malnutrition in all its forms, as it provides essential, irreplaceable nutrition for a child’s growth and development. However, breastfeeding rates in South Africa remain stubbornly low at 32%, still far from the World Health Assembly’s global target of at least 50% exclusive breastfeeding by 2025. As South Africa joins the annual global World Breastfeeding Week commemoration from August 1 to 7, it should thus be prioritised, now more than ever, and be anchored as part of good nutrition, food security and the reduction of inequalities. The theme for this year,…

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky dismissed the importance of the first grain export shipment from his country since the Russian invasion, saying it was carrying a fraction of the crop Kyiv must sell to help salvage its shattered economy. His comments came as an inspection of the ship was completed in Turkey before it continued to its final destination in Lebanon under a deal aimed at easing a global food crisis. The ship, Razoni, departed from Ukraine’s Odesa port on the Black Sea on Monday carrying 26 527 tons of corn to Lebanon’s Tripoli. This followed a UN-brokered grain and fertiliser export agreement between Moscow and Kyiv last month – a rare diplomatic breakthrough in a drawn-out war of attrition. But Zelensky said more time was needed to see whether other…

Men, especially those who are married and have a degree, have a high probability of outliving women, reveals a statistical analysis spanning 200 years across different countries. Challenging the notion that men don’t live as long as women, the study, published in the open access journal BMJ Open, showed that between 25% and 50% of men have outlived women. The study showed married men with a degree have an advantage over unmarried women educated only to high school level. Couples influence each other’s health, and this is particularly true for men, who benefit more than women from being in a stable relationship, pointed out researchers from the Syddansk Universitet in Denmark. The team studied sex differences in deaths in 199 populations from every continent over a period of 200 years.…

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden is to sign a second executive order to address the recent Supreme Court decision to end the nationwide constitutional right to abortion, as he faces pressure from fellow Democrats to be more forceful on the issue. His first order directed the federal health department to expand access to medication abortion and ensure that women who travel for abortions are protected. On Tuesday, Biden’s Justice Department sued Idaho to block a state law that it said imposes a “near-absolute ban” on abortion, marking its first legal challenge to state abortion laws since the Supreme Court ruling in June. | Reuters…

LOS ANGELES: Johnny Depp’s assistant said the actor allegedly kicked Amber Heard in the head, according to unsealed court papers. Text messages sent in 2014 from the actor’s then-employee Stephen Deuters are said to have detailed how the actor apparently attacked the actress, 36, onboard a private jet. Mention of them was barred from the former couple’s defamation trial but has been made public in a tranche of 6 000-plus pages of unsealed documents from the case. Deuters reportedly texted Heard about Depp: “He was appalled, when I told him he kicked you, he cried.” According to the documents, Depp, 59, remorsefully texted Heard about the incident. | Bang Showbiz…

FOR months South African sports journalists were speculating on Benni McCarthy’s pending move to one of the Soweto giants until both clubs filled their coaching vacancies with different coaches. All along, McCarthy’s business manager Rob Moore kept a low profile. But now that the former Bafana Bafana marksman has joined English giants Manchester United, Moore reveals Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates never approached them. McCarthy recently sealed a move to Old Trafford where he will take up the role of first team coach and will work alongside new club manager Erik ten Hag to usher the Red Devils into a new era of glory. Prior to his appointment, McCarthy had been heavily linked with moves to Chiefs or Pirates following his exit from AmaZulu late last season. McCarthy, a childhood…