Innholdsfortegnelse for 2022-11-18 i Pretoria News

SOUTH African markets followed global peers and ended yesterday in the red as investors continued to fret about how the looming global recession would affect appetite in local stocks. The JSE All Share Index fell 0.62% to 72 155.29 points by close of trading, mainly pushed down by tech stocks and resource-linked companies. South32 led the losses in the commodity stocks, losing 4.39% to R46.58 per share followed by Thungela Resources and Anglo American Platinum which lost 4.02% and 3.26% to R246.60 and R1 621.40 per share, respectively. The JSE’s shine darkened after the US markets also tumbled, with the Dow Jones losing 200 points and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq falling by more than 1% each. Investors have been worried over the prospect of an economic downturn…

THE provision of public health services to millions of South Africans is expected to grind to a halt following a pledge by public service sector unions to involve medical doctors and nurses in their national shutdown strike on Tuesday. In past years, these unions affiliated to Cosatu, the Federation of Unions of South Africa, and the South African Federation of Trade Unions allowed medical professionals, especially those providing services at ICU and emergency units, to report for duty normally, but the rules have now changed. According to union leaders, their change of attitude was prompted by the government’s recent unilateral implementation of a 3% salary increase, which came into effect yesterday. Union leaders say this constitutes blatant disregard for collective bargaining. All public sector unions affiliated to the three federations…

THE Tshwane metro police department members managed to recover a truck that had been hijacked in Bronkhorstspruit. Department spokesperson Senior Superintendent Isaac Mahamba said the officers were doing patrols on the R25 highway on Wednesday when they came across a man who alerted them that his truck had just been hijacked by four males driving two vehicles. The members pursued the suspects in the direction provided by the truck driver. With the help of a tracking company, the officers gave chase until they found the truck abandoned at the R104 Road. The truck was recovered with all its belongings, but the suspects were not found.. In a separate incident, the department’s drug unit members have arrested three drug dealers, also on Wednesday. Two of the suspects were arrested in a…

CUSTOMARY law and women in leadership positions came under the spotlight in a Limpopo high court during the ongoing legal battle over the throne of the Nesengani clan in Vuwani. One of the family members said she was excluded as heir to the throne on the basis of being a woman. Princess Thifhelimbilu Nesengani said the fact that she was not considered for the throne was because she was a woman and that this amounted to gender discrimination. Prince Douglass Nesengani was identified as the heir to the throne and it was recommended to Premier Stan Mathabatha that he be appointed as senior traditional leader of the Nesengani traditional community based on the culture, traditions and customs of the Nesengani royal family. Princess Thifhelimbilu, meanwhile, said that had she been…

Unisa has warned the public about fake enrolment posters purporting to come from the university. The poster purports to recruit or lure unsuspecting learners who wish to become Unisa students into a qualification enrolment scam. The poster, which has been circulating on social media platforms and shared many times, is dated November 14. It advertises places in programmes including Bachelor of Education Senior Phase, Social Work, Higher Certificate in Law, Higher Certificate in Tourism Management and Bachelor of Law. Unisa called on its prospective students and other stakeholders not to fall for such scams. “The poster does not come from the university. It is fake news. Unisa encourages students and other university stakeholders to directly communicate with the university on contact details available on its official website,” said spokesperson Edgar…

Chinese President Xi Jinping scolded Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in an on-camera dressing down at the G20 summit, an unusual public spat that could further complicate strained relations between the countries. Video recorded by reporters at the Bali summit for world leaders this week showed Xi appearing to upbraid Trudeau after details of talks between the two leaders were leaked to the media. Trudeau had raised with Xi the issue of what he called Chinese “interference” with Canadian citizens after Ottawa in recent weeks accused Beijing of meddling with its democratic and judicial systems. In the clip captured on the sidelines of the Indonesian summit, Xi tells Trudeau through an interpreter: “Everything we discussed has been leaked to the papers. That is not appropriate. And that’s not the way…

Fresh Russian strikes hit cities across Ukraine yesterday, officials said, the latest in a wave of attacks that have crippled the country’s energy infrastructure as winter sets in and temperatures drop. The new barrage came with snow falling for the first time this season and after officials in Kyiv warned of a cold spell approaching. The salvoes of Russian missiles this week came as officials announced good news yesterday on the extension of the agreement allowing Ukraine to export grain through the Black Sea, which aims to help the global supply of food. Yet the fresh strikes have pounded Ukraine and come on the back of another stark battlefield setback for Russian forces, which retreated from the southern city of Kherson. “Two cruise missiles were shot down over Kyiv. Information…

AMMAN: The global economic crisis has pushed UNRWA, the UN agency that delivers basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees, into a “danger zone” that could result in it no longer being able to fulfil its mandate, the agency’s head said yesterday. UNRWA said spiralling costs were pushing many of the 5.7 million registered Palestinian refugees in the Middle East to unprecedented poverty levels. Multiple crises that had hit the region had been worsened by the war in Ukraine. UNRWA provides aid relief in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. The renewal of the agency’s mandate for three years will be put to a vote at the UN. | Reuters…

Seoul: North Korea fired one short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) into the East Sea yesterday, its first missile provocation in a little over a week, said the South Korean military. It said it detected the launch from the Wonsan area in Kangwon Province. The launch came after North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui warned that the North would take “fiercer” military actions if the US stuck to its commitment to use the full range of its military capabilities to defend its allies. US President Joe Biden reaffirmed that pledge during a recent trilateral summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Phnom Penh. | IANS…

Evan Roos has waited so long for a second Springbok cap that he even packed down in a new position in training ahead of tomorrow’s Test against Italy in Genoa (3pm kick-off). “I can cover at No 7, and if needed at six – and I even scrummed at lock today! I’m a bit short, but if they need me there, I’ll scrum – they must give me 21-inch studs and I’m there … I am trying to focus on eight as my main role, and seven secondary,” the Stormers star said this week. The 22-year-old Roos was one of the standout players in the Cape side’s journey to the United Rugby Championship title, and many rugby pundits clamoured for him to go straight into the Bok starting line-up against…

The six South African finalists in this year’s Patrón Perfectionists Cocktail Competition have been announced and they now prepare to go head-to-head in the pursuit of being crowned as the ultimate cocktail perfectionist in the country. The national culmination of the competition will see the top six pour their hearts and skills into two challenges that will test their understanding and creativity in crafting a great and unique tequila cocktail. As part of the first leg of the competition, entrants were challenged to demonstrate their skills and expertise by creating a cocktail inspired by their hometown. The hometown hero cocktail required them to blend Patrón silver tequila with their culture by using ingredients from a prescribed list. The entries were judged on appeal, appearance inspiration, and originality. Here’s what you…

Rich Mnisi, one of South Africa’s most loved fashion designers, has launched a new collection. The brand debuted its Spring/Summer 23 collection at The Guaranty Trust Fashion Weekend, which took place in Lagos, Nigeria, November 12-13. Titled “Black”, the collection is apparently about celebrating blackness. “Our latest collection speaks on one’s journey of embracing and accepting their being. It is a celebration of blackness in its purest form. An exploration of darkness blinded by the halo of one’s experiences trying to find refuge in a Westernised culture.” Some key pieces from the collection include wide-leg pants with a matching shirt, a short babydoll dress and a cape – all in pink. The designer also dropped a range of T-shirts as part of the “Me & My Girls” series, where he…

DESCRIBED as an advanced research institution safeguarding democracy and countering anti-democratic narratives, the Centre for Analytics Behavioural Change (CABC) appears to be another gibberish propaganda that only works when it’s injected with funds to character-assassinate whoever it has been directed and paid to target. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the CABC, with the assistance of its sponsors, crept to prominence through one of its publicly declared projects aimed at mobilising narratives favourable to Covid-19 vaccines as Africa was sceptical to take the jabs. The self-appointed monitors of narratives aided by local and foreign media houses, including Daily Maverick and News24, made it clear that they had “the capacity to dedicate capabilities that can track, monitor and analyse online narratives and, most importantly, respond to them in real-time”. According to the CABC,…

The MMC for Environment and Agriculture Management, Katlego Mathebe, will launch a waste management campaign titled Re Kaofela at Wonderpark Shopping Centre today. The campaign is aimed at clamping down on illegal dumping and littering in the City of Tshwane. Loosely translated as working together, the Re Kaofela campaign will encourage residents to join forces with the municipality in the fight against illegal dumping. The launch comes on the back of the revelation that the City had spent at least R143.6 million in the last financial year on clearing illegal dumping sites. Recently, the metro issued a warning to illegal dumpers that it was lobbying to enforce by-laws with heavy fines for transgressors. Mathebe said: “The fight against illegal dumping is one which cannot be won by the City single-handedly…

As its political stalemate festers, Libya risks sliding back towards civil war with diplomacy at a standstill, politicians thwarting progress towards elections and military leaders, including eastern commander Khalifa Haftar, threatening violence. A move by forces aligned with the Tripoli government this week to blockade a meeting by a legislative body, a bout of deadly fighting in August and Haftar’s warnings of a new war all underscore the risks. New UN envoy Abdoulaye Bathily warned this week that “some institutional players are actively hindering progress towards elections”. In Tripoli, many people fear that gridlock raises the chances of violence, which has flared several times in the capital this year and always risks escalating into wider conflict. The prospects of more conflict are also high for an inattentive world. War could…

More than 150 countries have now signed up to a global pact to reduce methane emissions, 50 more than signed on when the initiative launched last year, the US and EU said yesterday. The pledge to cut emissions of greenhouse gas 30% this decade is seen as critical to global efforts to limit global warming to 1.5°C. China and India, the top two methane emitters, have not signed up for the pact. The EU’s climate policy chief, Frans Timmermans, said yesterday at the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, that a lot of work was needed to turn a draft of a COP27 deal into something the nearly 200 countries at the climate summit can agree on. The draft document repeats many goals from last year’s UN climate talks while leaving…

Washington: The US will have a divided government for the next two years as the Republican party finally secured the House of Representatives this week after polling in midterm elections closed. Democrats will control the Senate and the White House. The days of ambitious legislation for infrastructure, climate change and health-care extension are over. Republicans have threatened to launch congressional investigations into the Biden administration’s handling of the migrant crisis on the southern border and of the Afghanistan exit. They also plan to probe his son Hunter Biden’s business dealings when the senior Biden was vice-president. | IANS…

Los Angeles: Oscar-tipped actor Brendan Fraser will not attend next year’s Golden Globes ceremony, he said this week, four years after he publicly accused the former head of the awarding body of sexual assault. The 1990s star has raked in plaudits for his role in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale. But even if his performance as a 250kg English professor does score him a Globes nod, he will not attend the January event, organised by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. “It’s because of the history I have with them. And my mother didn’t raise a hypocrite,” he said. | AFP…

The upsetting truth has been coming for some time and now that it’s here, it’s time for those in power in South African football to accept it and seek to improve our game going forward, no matter the cost. After Bafana Bafana lived up to expectations by failing to qualify for the World Cup, all eyes were fixed on other nationalities to represent the DStv Premiership at the showpiece event in Qatar, starting on Sunday. Strangely, our hopes were put on Ghana, who shadily booted us out of the qualifying group stages before beating Nigeria in the play-offs. The masses were rallied behind Orlando Pirates’ Richard Ofori to make the final cut in Ghana’s squad and be the only player from the PSL in the Middle East. But that didn’t…

FORMER US president Donald Trump has lambasted his country’s government for adopting questionable global reforms on energy, which he said threatened the economic stability of their nation insofar as energy security was concerned. He was addressing his Republican Party supporters at the launch of his campaign to run for president in 2024. Once elected, his first mission, he said, was to reverse energy deals that his successor President Joe Biden made to align with what has been termed the Just Energy Transition Partnership involving a number of countries, including South Africa. Countries like France, Germany, the UK, US and EU have promised to pump billions of dollars into South Africa’s energy move from coal. South Africa has so far receieved a R10.7 billion loan from France and Germany. According…

IT WAS an early Christmas for the beneficiaries of a previously warring communal property association when they finally received tractors and equipment to get their farming projects off the ground. The Matsamo communal property association in the Kaalrug Estate in Nkomazi, Mpumalanga, received the R33 million worth of implements from the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform on Monday. The association, among South Africa’s biggest land claims covering hundreds of hectares, had been embroiled in disputes. It finally resolved to work together to create jobs and sustainable development in the community. The Matsamo association was formed in 2007 and the farms were acquired mostly in 2010 and 2011. Most of the farms transferred belonged to then TSB Sugar, now RCL, and other individual companies. “This is an early…

THE year has been long and challenging for most – and the Roode- poort Krugersdorp SPCA has been experiencing extremely trying times. The Roodepoort Krugersdorp SPCA is one of the oldest in the country, founded in 1945. At any given time, it has more than 100 puppies and adult dogs and 50 kittens and cats in its care. The facility also cares for owls, horses, farm animals, chickens and reptiles that are surrendered or abandoned. The MTN summer #WINdfall concept of delivering “wins” to those most in need across the country brought much-needed relief to the Roodepoort Krugersdorp SPCA when a surprise donation of pet food, treats, beds, blankets, dog and cat toys, leashes and cleaning supplies were delivered. MTN also handed over a cheque for R50 000 towards the…

New strategies for development of China's education, science, technology, talents The report delivered by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to the 20th national congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) outlined a vision for the nation as a modern socialist country, holds high the great banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics and is strategically situated and profound. The discussion about education contains new ideas, new strategies, new connotations, and also puts forward new requirements. In past reports, like those delivered at the 18th or 19th national congresses, education was usually embedded in the module about improving people’s well-being and quality of life. This time, however, education, scientific and technological innovation, and talent development have been deployed systematically and synergistically, highlighting the importance of the strategies of invigorating the country through…

The southern Chinese city of Guangzhou is setting up makeshift hospitals and quarantine sites with capacity for nearly 250 000 beds for Covid-19 infections, officials said yesterday, as cases across the country hit their highest level since April. China is battling Covid-19 outbreaks in numerous major cities, including Chongqing and the capital Beijing, while it takes steps to try to ease the burden of its strict zero-Covid-19 policy, which has caused severe economic damage and widespread frustration nearly three years into the pandemic. In the hard-hit central city of Zhengzhou, authorities said they would investigate the death of a 4-month-old whose father said she was denied timely treatment while they were in central quarantine, the latest such case to stir online anger. Guangzhou, a manufacturing hub home to 19 million…

YANGON: Myanmar’s military rulers granted amnesty to Sean Turnell, an Australian economist and former adviser to democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, among nearly 6 000 prisoners to be freed to mark a national holiday, state media reported yesterday. Turnell and former British ambassador to Myanmar, Vicky Bowman, had been freed and had left Myanmar by plane, officials said. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military’s coup in February last year, when it arrested civilian leaders including Suu Kyi, ending a decade of tentative democracy. Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government said yesterday that the world should not be duped by the junta. | Reuters…

Tehran: At least five people were killed and 10 others injured in a drive-by shooting attack on a market in the south-western Iranian city of Izeh this week. Armed assailants driving two motorcycles on Wednesday opened fire on people as well as police and security forces in Izeh’s central market in Khuzestan Province, Tasnim news agency quoted Khuzestan’s deputy governor for security affairs Valiollah Hayati as saying. He said three young men, one 9-year-old girl and a 45-year-old woman were killed in the attack, adding that some of the wounded were in critical condition. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. | IANS…

LOS ANGELES: Rapper Akon believes Kanye West’s recent offensive outbursts are part of a plan to become US president. The Gold Digger hitmaker, who has changed his name to Ye, has sparked outrage over the last month with a string of anti-semitic remarks and the wearing of a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt during Paris Fashion Week, and though his behaviour has resulted in him losing various contracts, his friend thinks he is employing a “brilliant” tactic to win over voters that would otherwise back Donald Trump’s bid to return to office in 2024. Akon said: “This the brilliant side of him. What is his next plan? To run for office. Who was his main endorser? Trump. In order for Kanye to have a shot, he needs to have a piece…

It will be another nine months before Rassie van der Dussen’s left forefinger functions properly again. But for now he can bat, and as far as the Proteas are concerned, that is all that matters. Van Der Dussen had his first serious innings in almost three months yesterday, spending around two hours at the crease in Potchefstroom, to score 45 for the DP World (Gauteng) Lions in their 4-Day Series clash with the North West Dragons. Van der Dussen injured the finger while fielding during the second Test against England in Manchester. The knuckle was effectively shattered when struck by the ball and he still can’t straighten it, but it’s good enough to bat. “I was expecting a lot more pain and discomfort, but it actually went Okay,” he said…