Innholdsfortegnelse for 2022-12-22 i Pretoria News

SINGER Bryan Adams would rather opt for a cup of tea over sex. He says he would make the choice despite his doctor telling him he should have daily intercourse. Adams, who has two daughters with his partner Alicia Grimaldi, said: “My doc says men need sex 27 times a month for a healthy prostate.” When also asked by The Guardian newspaper on Saturday if he would rather have “more sex, money or fame”, he replied: “Just a cup of tea would be fine”. He also revealed in the question and answer session with the publication that he nearly died in a skydiving accident. Asked to describe the closest he has come to death, Adams responded: “Skydiving: the parachute got tangled around my legs.” The Run to You rocker also…

A MAN who faked his chemical engineering degree, and based on the qualification, worked for Umgeni Water for eight or so years before the fraud was discovered, must pay back the more than the R2 million he earned. The High Court, sitting in Pietermaritzburg, ordered that the money had to be deducted from Sheldon Naidoo’s pension fund. Naidoo resigned from his job after it was discovered his degree was fake. He maintained that his degree was not fake and claimed that he had resigned as he had a life-threatening illness. He, however, elected to remain tight-lipped about the details of his illness. Naidoo could not explain why the University of KwaZulu-Natal said it had no record of him having obtained his BSc degree in engineering from the institution. Umgeni Water…

The leader of Black First Land First (BLF), Andile Mngxitama, has opened a case of fraud and corruption against an Eastern Cape-based construction company, SKG Africa (Pty). Mngxitama, in the company of supporters, yesterday opened a case at the Hillbrow police station. He said he has proof that SKG has been defrauding the Department of Public Works through dodgy contracts and claiming for services it has not provided. “We have successfully opened a case with police to expose fraud and corruption by white monopoly capital (WMC), while the faces of corruption continue to be black companies and black businessmen. “A case in point is Markus Jooste, the most corrupt white man in South Africa, but his face is not put in the media as the face of corruption while the…

THE Rietvlei Nature Reserve in Pretoria is not just about the wildlife such as Njozi and her cheetah cubs. The facility has a rich and interesting history – all which is revealed in a glossy coffee-table book named Rietvlei Nature Reserve – The history, the Wildlife and Other Digressions. When former Pretoria High School for Girls pupil and amateur photographer Kim Marriott, author of the book, first visited Rietvlei Nature Reserve years ago, she was surprised at the abundance of fauna and flaura in this “little gem of a reserve”. “I used to frequent the reserve to practice my photography. I noticed a number of graves and realised there was not much literature regarding the reserve.” Marriott, however, not only noticed the graves, she made it her mission to…

THE ANC’s dilly-dallying around the various reports into the Phala Phala scandal will only make things worse for the party that has proven it was ill-prepared to deal with the fallout. It now finds itself in a tight corner, and is clueless on where to begin tackling the matter because it refused to heed former president Thabo Mbeki’s advice to prepare for the worst. Instead, those among the governing party saw Mbeki as being critical of incumbent President Cyril Ramaphosa without examining and taking into account his suggestions. In fact, to say the ANC was ill-prepared to deal with the outcomes of these investigations is an understatement. You just have to look at how it continues to circle around the issue, even with reports produced by party structures. The matter…

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy headed to Washington yesterday to meet US President Joe Biden, address Congress and seek “weapons, weapons and more weapons” in his first overseas trip since Russia invaded Ukraine 300 days ago. Zelenskiy said the visit was meant to strengthen Ukraine’s “resilience and defence capabilities” amid repeated Russian missile and drone attacks on the country’s energy and water supplies in the dead of winter. His political adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, said the visit showed the high degree of trust between the two countries and offered him the opportunity to explain what weapons Kyiv needs. Biden was to announce nearly $2 billion (about R34bn in further military assistance for Ukraine that will include a Patriot missile battery to help it defend itself against barrages of Russian missiles, a senior…

Gambian authorities have foiled a military coup attempt and arrested four soldiers plotting to overthrow President Adama Barrow’s administration, the government said yesterday. The Gambian Armed Forces High Command arrested four soldiers linked to the alleged coup after a military operation on Tuesday, it said. Coup attempts are not uncommon in the Gambia, a tiny West African country of 2.5 million almost entirely surrounded by Senegal, which is still reeling from more than two decades under former president Yahya Jammeh marked by authoritarianism and alleged abuses. Jammeh himself seized power in a coup in 1994 and foiled several attempts to overthrow him before he lost an election in late 2016 to Barrow. The army is in pursuit of three other alleged accomplices and investigations are ongoing. | Reuters…

Ramallah: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has announced that a broad campaign to provide international protection for “the defenceless Palestinian people is about to launch”. Abbas made the remarks during a joint meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) executive committee and his Fatah movement’s central committee. “We will launch the campaign … to provide international protection for the defenceless Palestinian people in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza,” Abbas said, adding that the campaign would “confront the racist practices of Israel, and in light of the formation of an extreme right-wing government”. | IANS…

SAN FRANCISCO: Billionaire Elon Musk said he would step down as chief executive of Twitter Inc once he finds a replacement, but will still run some key divisions of the social media platform. Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter in October has been marked by chaos and controversy, with some investors questioning if he is too distracted to also properly run his electric vehicle automaker, Tesla Inc. This is the first time Musk has mentioned stepping down as chief of the social media platform, after Twitter users voted for him to resign in a poll. | Reuters…

THE Tshwane metro police department drug unit this week pounced on drug dealers who operated in a bakery in Hammanskraal that was being used as a front to package drugs. MMC for Community Safety Grandi Theunissen said members of the unit made a significant drug bust to the value of more than R500 000 when they arrested four suspects between the ages of 35 and 50 for possession of crystal meth, heroin and cat. He said the suspects were detained at the Hammanskraal and Temba police stations. Their arrest was made after the metro police received a tip-off, and the drug unit conducted an operation. Theunissen said: “They found a bakery being used as a front to package drugs. While they were there, the owner arrived with crystal meth that…

THE driver of a getaway car involved in a late-night chase from Pretoria East to Sunnyside is suing the City of Tshwane for R2 million in damages for the “shock” and “pain” he had to endure. During the chase, a Tshwane metro police department officer fired 15 shots at the vehicle. The events of August 26, 2017, as explained to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, by both Rodney Ramahala and the officers who gave chase that night, resembled a scene from an action movie. Ramahala told the court that his BMW at all times outstripped the metro police’s Ford Focus8888 that they used in the chase. But this did not prevent an officer emptying his firearm at the vehicle to force Ramahala to stop. Ramahala’s peaceful night quickly turned into…

The SACP and Cosatu appear to have abandoned their intention to challenge the ANC in the general elections in 2024. The ANC’s tripartite alliance partners have instead appealed to re-elected ANC leader and incumbent State President Cyril Ramaphosa to swiftly act to unite all before the polls. Adding more to the irony, in September during Cosatu’s 14th national congress in Kempton Park, SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila said his party would decide on whether to contest elections on its own this month, but that has yet to happen with only nine days left to the end of the year. Commenting after the ANC held its national elective congress at Nasrec, both Cosatu and SACP appeared to have changed their minds towards the governing party and are now forging better relations.…

IN A bid to reduce red tape, the City of Tshwane has introduced an e-Tshwane portal for applications of land development and building plans. Residents and businesses can now use the online portal service to submit application forms with the required supporting documentation. The online portal for the service has gone live with the digitisation of building plan applications and processing, including related application forms. The applications are related to approvals of building and site development plans, including applications for provisional authorisation to erect structures. People can also apply digitally for permission to use a building before a certificate of occupancy has been issued. The portal can also be used to submit application forms for the agreement or permission of included parties, complaints for, application for encroachment into servitude areas,…

THE FW De Klerk Foundation has expressed concern that there were deliberate plans to eliminate the Afrikaans language, despite the fact that it is one of South Africa’s spoken languages. The foundation’s Tyla Dallas said there were about 7.4 million people in South Africa who spoke Afrikaans. It was also the third most spoken language in the country. Dallas claims that deliberate attacks on Afrikaans have occurred since the dawn of democracy. “The erosion of Afrikaans is gathering momentum despite the protection that all South Africa’s official languages are supposed to enjoy. Section 30 of the Constitution assures South Africans’ rights to use the language and participate in the cultural life of their choice,” Dallas said. Last year, there were shocking allegations that some students were forbidden to use Afrikaans…

Covid-19 has had profound implications for the “role of business in society”. One of them is the pandemic’s effect on companies’ sustainability strategies. These are efforts to avoid companies’ harmful impacts on the environment and communities, and to enhance the positive impacts. The pandemic may cause companies to cut costs and restrict their sustainability strategies. Alternatively, the crisis may focus managers’ attention on the dependence of their business on broader social systems. And it may bring about a willingness to collaborate to address shared problems. We explored this issue by studying how 25 companies responded to the pandemic in four African countries: Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria and South Africa. We discovered that crises could either restrict or strengthen companies’ sustainability efforts. Their reactions depended on how different contingent factors interacted with…

ESKOM has become an interesting topic for deliberation and discussion. And we all have our views. My view is that we have a dilemma of indecision. Should we fix, replace, go solar, or go nuclear, etc. We cannot focus on all options and get nowhere. There are differing views. All with merit I am sure, but someone needs to make an educated decision – otherwise we will be dithering to nowhere. This, it seems, is what is happening. We need focus. I was very impressed with the view of the new Eskom board member, Mr Nyati. I concur with his view that we should fix what we have in the short term, that is we must have a base load capacity. Fix the operational problems like coal supplies. Get extremely…

Canada has processed an all-time high of 4.8 million visa applications in 2022, nearly twice the 2.5 million processed during the same period last year, according to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). On a monthly basis, Canada is now processing more visitor visa applications, reducing its pandemic backlog by nearly half-a-million applications in just four months. In November alone, over 260 000 visitor visas were processed, in contrast to the 180 000 applications that were processed in 2019 at the same time. “Our government has reduced its pandemic backlogs by nearly half a million, while also processing a record -breaking number of immigration applications this year. Our actions are ensuring that we can continue to welcome and support newcomers who come to Canada to work, study, visit, or settle…

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin yesterday inaugurated the Kovykta natural gas field in eastern Siberia that will allow Russia to increase its exports to China amid soaring tensions between Moscow and the West. “We are launching the unique Kovykta gas field, the largest in Eastern Siberia. Its recoverable reserves are 1.8 trillion cubic metres of gas,” Putin said. Russia does not have pipelines to transport gas from its Western Siberian and Arctic gas fields that have served Europe to China, but a decade ago began efforts to develop new fields and build the Power of Siberia pipeline to deliver to the rapidly expanding market. | AFP…

Bogotá: Colombian rebel group ELN has ended the forced confinement of 10 000 people in the northwest of the country, President Gustavo Petro said yesterday. The lifting of the armed strike in the Choco region followed ELN’s announcement of a “ceasefire” for the Christmas and New Year’s holiday period. ELN, the National Liberation Army, is in peace negotiations with Colombia’s new leftist government, and Petro, a former urban guerrilla, has vowed to negotiate with armed groups. Colombia has suffered more than half a century of armed conflict between the state and left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and drug traffickers. | AFP…

Berlin: Former tennis superstar Boris Becker said he relied on “blood brothers” to protect him in a British prison and said his life was threatened twice. The 55-year-old German was deported to Germany after being released last week, having served eight months of a two and a half year sentence for flouting insolvency rules by hiding £2.5 million (R52m) of assets and loans to avoid paying debts. The former tennis world number one said the nights in Wandsworth Prison were “atrocious”. He said he was fortunate to have forged close ties with a group of inmates he termed “blood brothers” as two prisoners on separate occasions had threatened him. Becker said he would remain in contact with those who protected him. Becker said the sound of the cell door closing…

The Lions are on a four-match unbeaten run and should be full of confidence with the momentum they have built, but now they must do something they have not achieved in over a year – claim a South African franchise scalp. The Joburgers’ last victory over a SA team in the United Rugby Championship (URC) was on December 4 last year, when they beat the Stormers 37-19 in Cape Town. Since then, they have failed on every occasion, losing to the Cape-based side and the Sharks twice, and the Bulls three times. In the next week or so, they will have two opportunities to put that bugbear to bed when they first face the Sharks and then the Stormers. To do so, they will have to show their psychological strengths…

RE-ELECTED ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe has admitted live on television that he knew of people who were buying votes or using money to influence the election of officials during the 2022 ANC national elective conference. The conference started on December 16 and concluded on Tuesday, with a new crop of Top 7 officials elected and announced. On Tuesday morning, Mantashe was given a 16-minute television interview on eNCA, where he answered questions from news anchor Tumelo Mothotoane, who asked him about rumours that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s re-election campaign ran into the millions. This came against the backdrop of the ANC’s electoral committee issuing strong warnings against any advertising and branding of T-shirts, caps, vehicles, pamphlets, posters, or other printed material to promote candidates. Notably the committee, led by former ANC…

The mother of a boy born more than 10 years ago at an Eastern Cape hospital may proceed with her R29 million in damages claim against health authorities after it transpired that her son suffers from cerebral palsy. The woman, who cannot be named to protect her son’s identity, for years never imagined that her son’s condition was related to the treatment rendered to her and the baby following his birth at the St Barnabas Hospital. It was only years down the line, when she met another mother with a child suffering from the same condition and heard her story, that she began questioning whether the hospital staff were perhaps negligent during birth, which resulted in her child’s condition. On the other mother’s advice, she went to see a lawyer,…

DITSOBOTLA local municipality in the North West province made news headlines, from work stoppages to parallel council structures. The ANC-led Ditsobotla council was dissolved following in-fighting that led to two parallel municipal councils operating in the municipality, with two mayors, two speakers and two chief whips. In the December 14 by-election, the ANC lost its majority in the council by five seats and was rendered below 40%. The EFF increased its seats by four, snatching two wards from the ANC. In the dissolved council, the ANC had had a majority of 21 seats, but these were reduced to 16 in the by-election. The ANC won 15 wards and one proportional representative (PR) seat, taking its total seats to 16 in the 39-seat council. The EFF won two wards from the…

There does not seem to be an end in sight for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s woes. Despite a convincing win at Nasrec this week, the Phala Phala matter does not appear to be going away, with the African Transformation Movement (ATM) filing an application to the Western High Court requesting that the courts grant the party an opportunity to challenge the recent decision by National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula denying the Section 89 report a secret ballot. On the other hand, the Hola Bon Renaissance (HBR) Foundation says it opposed President Cyril Ramaphosa‘s application to the Constitutional Court to have the Section 89 report set aside. The foundation said it has been observing the developments around Ramaphosa’s application following the presentation of the report by the chairperson of the independent panel,…

THE Department of Social Development has cautioned that vulnerable citizens were at risk of abuse during the festive season. It said the country during this time experienced an increase in acts of violence against the most vulnerable – children, older persons, women and persons living with disabilities. In this regard, Minister Lindiwe Zulu urged parents and caregivers to ensure the safety of their children by knowing their whereabouts at all times. She said perpetrators preyed on vulnerable children. In promoting the 365 days comprehensive child protection campaign, she said everyone had a responsibility to ensure children were safe and protected. “Elder abuse is also a major cause for concern, as it comes in many different forms such as physical abuse, emotional abuse or financial abuse, and most of the time…

THE process for nominating and electing ward committees in the City of Tshwane has been scheduled to start in January. This is according to council speaker Dr Murunwa Makwarela, who reminded residents about the importance of ward committees, saying they would promote and enhance community involvement in the affairs of the municipality. Makwarela said the nominations and election process followed the promulgation of the City of Tshwane ward committees by-law, which came into operation from December 14. He was elated that the new development would allow for the establishment of ward committees in all 107 wards in Tshwane in terms of Section 73 to 78 of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act. “This is truly an auspicious moment, as the City of Tshwane has been functioning without ward committees for…

China is looking for educational equilibrium to empower regional development As a country with a large population and a vast territory, China regards co-ordinated regional development as a national initiative and a determined quest of the Communists. It is in the process of implementing a strategy of co-ordinated regional development that China has achieved an unprecedented overall victory in the battle against poverty, with 98.99 million rural poor people all lifted out of poverty. Since the 18th Party Congress, the regional policy system has been adjusted in accordance with objective economic rules, and the construction of a power system for high-quality development has been accelerated. China has gradually formed a development pattern in which the East and West regions interact positively, and the gap between public services and people’s…

Hundreds of young women were stopped by armed guards yesterday from entering Afghan university campuses, a day after the nation’s Taliban rulers banned them from higher education in another assault on human rights. Despite promising a softer rule when they seized power last year, the hardline Islamists have ratcheted up restrictions on all aspects of women’s lives, ignoring international outrage. Journalists saw groups of students gathered outside universities in the capital, Kabul, barred from entering by armed guards and shuttered gates. Many, dressed in hijabs, were also seen standing in groups on roads leading to the campuses. “We are doomed. We have lost everything,” said one Kabul student, who asked not to be identified. The Taliban authorities wanted to “suppress” women, said Setara Farahmand, 21, who was studying German literature…

At least five people were killed and more than 70 000 rushed to evacuation centres in Malaysia after monsoon-triggered floods inundated the country’s north, authorities said yesterday. More than 31 000 people have fled their homes in Kelantan state while more than 39 000 residents have been evacuated to temporary shelters in neighbouring Terengganu after flooding began over the weekend, the official Bernama news agency said. Emergency services officials said a total of five people had been killed. “The water levels reached almost 3m,” said Muhammad Ameenudin Badrul Hisyam from Kuala Krai district in Kelantan, as he cleared debris from his home after a nearby river overflowed and forced his family to flee. Local media reported that four people died in Kelantan when three sisters were electrocuted while wading in…

LONDON: Thousands of ambulance workers in England and Wales walked out over pay yesterday, increasing the strain on a state-funded health service a day after nurses went on strike, as the government advised the public to avoid taking risks. The government said the strike would result in fewer ambulances on the road, with only the most urgent cases such as heart attacks prioritised. Unions have asked for a raise above inflation, which stood at 10.7% on the consumer price measure in November. The army has been put on standby to help drive emergency vehicles, but soldiers will not have all the powers to provide clinical care. | Reuters…

Sydney: A man whose boat capsized in stormy seas off Australia’s north coast was rescued yesterday after he survived for almost 24 hours in shark- and crocodile-infested waters by clinging to a bit of wood. The Queensland man was found floating in the Torres Strait 2km from his upturned dinghy by an air rescue crew. He was “clinging to some flotsam”, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, and was winched to safety. The man, who was not named, had “departed Getullai Island and failed to arrive at their destination by the expected time”, the authority said. There are nearly 300 islands off the northern tip of Australia. | AFP…

The French Football Federation (FFF) has condemned the online racist abuse directed towards their players, and pledged to take action after they were targeted as the team lost to Argentina on penalties in Sunday’s World Cup final in Qatar. The BBC reported this week that France forward Kingsley Coman and midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni were subjected to online racist abuse after missing their penalties in the final. Argentina keeper Emiliano Martinez saved Coman’s effort from the spot, while Tchouameni shot wide as France failed to retain the title they won in 2018. “Following the World Cup final, several players of the French national team were subjected to unacceptable racist and hateful comments on social networks,” the FFF said on Twitter. “The FFF condemns them, and will file a complaint against their…