Innholdsfortegnelse for 2023-02-17 i Pretoria News

A 44-YEAR-OLD man has been arrested in Mpumalanga for the alleged possession of a Ford Ranger double-cab bakkie, which had been reported stolen in Protea Glen. Mpumalanga police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said the vehicle was recovered in a joint operation by SAPS and vehicle tracking company Cartrack. “The law enforcement agencies in Mpumalanga seem to be conquering the battle against theft, robbery and hijacking of vehicles in the province. This is evident by the arrest of a 44-year-old male suspect,” Mohlala said. Credit should be given to the Middelburg flying squad and the tracking company which managed to gather information regarding the Ford Ranger double-cab bakkie that had been reported stolen in Protea Glen, Mohlala added. He said “crucial” information was shared with SAPS members from the Middelburg flying…

MPUMALANGA Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Mandla Msibi has partly blamed individuals illegally selling land to desperate home-seekers who eventually build near river banks, which resulted in the disaster seen in the province during the recent floods. Yesterday, Msibi addressed the media on the extent of the damage alongside Ehlanzeni District mayor Jester Sidell and Mbombela executive mayor Sibongile Makhushe- Mazibuko. The three politicians reported that the infrastructure damage incurred from the flash floods was estimated at around R300 million and included damage to roads, bridges, schools, clinics, houses and a police station. Affected local municipalities in the low-lying Ehlanzeni area include Nkomazi, Mbombela and Bushbuckridge. South Africans were taken aback when videos of a crocodile that escaped a flooded river in Matsulu outside Mbombela circulated on social media,…

THE OUTGOING Pretoria mayor, Randall Williams, was found guilty of instructing officials to support his executive decision on an unsolicited bid, but there was not enough evidence to fire him. He resigned voluntarily, despite being cleared of all allegations of corruption against him. This was said by Gauteng DA leader Solly Msimanga during his presentation of the “Real State of the Province Address” yesterday. While Msimanga gave a detailed account of his party’s intention to turn around the fortunes of the Gauteng government and ultimately govern it, he made no mention of the near collapse of the DA-led coalition government in Ekurhuleni, the end of the DA-led coalition in the City of Joburg, and the turmoil and ultimate resignation of Randall as mayor of Pretoria. Instead, he mentioned his party’s…

SINCE AKA’s death last Friday, many on social media have been speculating that his upcoming album Mass Country might never see the light of day. However, fans will be delighted to hear that the album will be released on February 24 as previously planned. This was confirmed by the Forbes family yesterday in a media release and posted on AKA’s social media platforms. “With the nation engulfed with the grief of the tragic and untimely passing of Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes, the Forbes family have acknowledged the outpouring of support and love from South Africa and beyond,” read the release. “The family continue to celebrate the life of their son. To honour his legacy, they are choosing to continue with the release of the Mass Country album on…

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday defended a currency swop that sparked protests and cash shortages, but ordered old, small denomination 200 naira notes to remain in circulation in a bid to ease scarcities. Nigeria has been struggling with a shortage of physical cash since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) began to swop old bills of the local naira currency for new, redesigned ones, leading to a shortfall in banknotes. The scarcity of cash has triggered violent protests in major cities as angry and frustrated bank customers attacked and vandalised banks and blocked roads. The weeks-long cash crisis has intensified days before Nigerians go to the ballot box on February 25 to elect a successor to Buhari, who steps down after two terms in office. In…

The World Health Organization (WHO) said an outbreak of Mpox (monkeypox) remained a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). The WHO officially declared in July 2022 that the Mpox outbreak outside of the traditional endemic areas in Africa had already turned into an emergency. Its experts acknowledged the progress in the global response to the outbreak and a decline in the number of reported cases. However, a few countries continued to see a sustained incidence of cases, while other regions were likely to have under-reporting of confirmed cases. The current global risk of the Mpox outbreak is assessed as moderate. | IANS…

BEIRUT: Several dozen Lebanese protesters attacked banks in a Beirut suburb yesterday, while blocking roads protesting against informal restrictions on cash withdrawals in place for years and rapidly deteriorating economic conditions. At least six banks had been targeted as the Lebanese pound hit a new record low. A bank in Badaro smouldered as firefighters sprayed water, while riot police stood nearby with shields. Since 2019, Lebanese banks have imposed restrictions on withdrawals in US dollars and Lebanese pounds that were never formalised by law. This led to depositors seeking access to their funds through lawsuits. In many cases, force was used. | Reuters…

Madrid: Spanish MPs have given final approval to a law granting paid medical leave to women suffering severe period pain, becoming the first European country to advance such legislation. The law, which passed by 185 votes in favour to 154 against, is aimed at breaking a taboo on the subject, the government has said. Menstrual leave is offered in only a small number of countries across the globe, among them Japan, Indonesia and Zambia. The legislation entitles workers experiencing period pain to as much time off as they need, with the state social security system, not employers, picking up the tab for the sick leave. | AFP…

POLICE have arrested a group of four men who have been allegedly targeting members of the LGBTQIA+ community in Gauteng. National police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said the suspects were arrested at a restaurant in Parktown. “Thabo Ndlovu, 33, Ndumiso Mahlangu, 27, Sibusiso Tshabalala, 27, and Elson Nyati, 25, have appeared in the Booysens Magistrate’s Court. Each of them is facing a charge of hijacking, kidnapping and extortion,” she said. Mathe said the men would utilise a dating app for the LGBTQIA+ community to target and lure victims to secluded places, kidnap and then rob them. “On February 12, 2023, a 26-year-old man who had been chatting to one of the suspects was lured to an area where he was hijacked, kidnapped and robbed of his personal belongings, including bank cards.…

IN LIGHT of the recent killing of multi-award-winning rapper AKA, the SABC’s Blain Herman sat down with kwaito legend Eugene Mthethwa to discuss gun violence and killings in the entertainment industry. Speaking on his show It’s Topical, which was dedicated to the fallen star, the anchor said: “The murdering of musicians, the latest, the beloved Kieran Forbes, AKA, shot and killed in Durban, he was just 35- years-old … condemnations coming in quick and fast, described as a ‘senseless killings’ … we also lost two other musicians, Vusi Ma R5, DJ Sumbody.” Joining Herman in studio was music legend and Trompies frontman Eugene Mthethwa. When asked about what he made of the killings, he said, “We can’t enjoy our hard-earned freedom. It’s a sad situation. People are getting robbed in…

This week’s visit by Chinese Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan can only strengthen ties Following Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s visit to Africa earlier this year, now Africa has the pleasure of welcoming another distinguished guest: Chinese Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan is visiting South Africa. Together with Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa, Vice-Premier Sun co-hosted the third meeting of the China-South Africa high-level People-to-People Exchange Mechanism (PPEM) yesterday. Launched in 2017, PPEM has been an important platform for exchanges of ideas and experiences in the fields of education, culture, health, sports, and youth affairs. The initiative has helped to deepen understanding between the two nations and promote people-to-people exchanges, which is vital for the development of a healthy and prosperous relationship. The visit presents a great opportunity for South Africa to…

The launch of a replacement spacecraft to retrieve a Nasa astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts from the International Space Station after their ship suffered a massive coolant leak late last year “is under review,” Nasa said this week, as engineers worked to figure out the cause of a leak affecting a second Russian spacecraft. Earlier this week, after discovering the second leak on a Russian cargo ship that does not fly people, Russian space agency officials said they were pushing the launch of the replacement craft to March to give them additional time to investigate the problem. But Nasa did not put a date on when the replacement ship would be sent to the space station and said that it was working with engineers from Roscosmos, the Russian space agency,…

Vatican City: The resignation of a pope should not become the norm within the Catholic Church, and that prospect is not “on my agenda”, Pope Francis has said. Francis wrote a resignation letter two months after becoming pope in 2013 in case of future health problems. “However, this does not at all mean that resigning popes should become, let’s say, a fashion,” said Francis, 86, in an interview. He cited the surprise resignation in 2013 of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who “had the courage to do it … due to his health … I, for the moment, do not have that on my agenda,” he said. | AFP…

Banda Aceh: At least 69 Rohingya refugees, many of them women and children, landed on Indonesia’s west coast yesterday in a wooden boat, the UN refugee agency said. The vessel came ashore at a beach in Indonesia’s western-most province of Aceh, according to UNHCR official Oktina Hafanti, with one passenger saying some died during the voyage. It was the sixth Rohingya boat to land in Indonesia since November. Around a million Rohingya are estimated to be living in refugee camps in Bangladesh after they fled persecution in Myanmar in 2017. Thousands risk their lives each year on long and expensive sea journeys trying to reach Malaysia or Indonesia. | AFP…

BANGKOK: One of 12 boys rescued after two weeks trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand in 2018 has died in Britain where he was attending a soccer academy, his former teacher said this week. Duangpetch “Dom” Promthep was captain of the Wild Boars team whose extraction by international divers and Thai navy SEALs captured huge global attention. The circumstances of 17-year-old Duangpetch’s death were not clear. The news was shared on social media by a Buddhist monk who taught the boys in Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai province. Once rescued, the boys’ story was the subject of books, documentaries and films. | Reuters…

Just days after making her grand return to the stage with her stellar performance at the Apple Music Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show, the make-up mogul is the cover star for British Vogue, along with her family. The global superstar may not be giving her fans new music but she is certainly letting them in on her family life with her partner and son. Rihanna and British Vogue debuted the March 2023 cover on Wednesday. The singer walks hand-in-hand with her rapper boyfriend A$AP Rocky, who holds their son. This is not the first time the world is getting to see Rihanna’s son. In December, Hollywood Unlocked exclusively obtained the first snaps of her first-born child after paparazzi took pictures of him when they were shooting the images for British…

GAUTENG commissioner of police, Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela has saluted a law enforcement team which arrested four suspects who were found with three reported hijacked vehicles in Wattville, Ekurhuleni. The three vehicles had been hijacked in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. “On Sunday, police received information about suspects who were in possession of hijacked motor vehicles,” Gauteng police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo said. “The team consisted of SAPS highway patrol unit, Johannesburg Metro Police Department K9, Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department’s special task team, the Road Traffic Management Corporation and Guerilla Tactical Service.” The information led the law enforcement team to a house in Watt- ville, Ekurhuleni, where three suspects were found allegedly trying to remove the tracking device from a Renault Kwid. The Renault Kwid had been hijacked in Vosman, Mpumalanga province,…

THE death toll of the Limpopo N1 bus crash that claimed lives of commuters on Monday evening has risen to 22 after another body was discovered by police divers yesterday morning. Department of Transport and Community Safety spokesperson Tidimalo Chuene said divers went back to the scene at the Phandanama River to search after a family reported to the police that they could not locate a loved one who was on the bus. The bus, from Mabirimisa Bus Services, was in a head-on collision with a cash-in-transit van, leaving 22 confirmed dead and 60 injured by yesterday afternoon. The injured were taken to Siloam and Elim hospitals. The police have alleged that the van was trying to overtake another vehicle on the N1 outside Louis Trichardt in Limpopo. The bus…

FORMER DA leader Mmusi Maimane has set his sights on a return to Parliament and having his party, Build One South Africa, represented in all nine provincial legislatures. Yesterday, Maimane unveiled his party policy to take over the government after the 2024 national elections, and announced eight provincial candidates for the premier-elect positions, one of them former SABC radio DJ Big-Boy Moagi of North West. Moagi was formerly the spokesperson of North West ActionSA provincial leader Kwena Mangope. Maimane, a former parliamentarian, described his party as the new kid on the block, saying there was no doubt in the minds of South Africans that they needed a new kind of politics to build a prosperous future, not only for the small elite who grew rich under apartheid, or the small…

MULTI award-winning rapper Ntokozo Mdluli, known as K.O., has shot down continued speculations and theories surrounding the murder of Kiernan “AKA” Forbes. Social media has been a hub of speculation since the release of the CCTV footage of the night Forbes was shot dead in Durban in the presence of his friends. As the speculation grew louder on different social platforms, the Forbes family also urged people to refrain from spreading malicious information. K.O. said he had been working in the studio with AKA before his murder was announced and further condemned the ongoing theories surrounding his death. “Stop playing with innocent people’s names and lives for clout unless you have proven facts and motive! My lawyers have rightfully summoned one of you already. We’re all hurting and mourning, but…

Russia rained missiles on Ukraine yesterday and struck its largest oil refinery, Kyiv said, while the head of the Wagner mercenary group predicted the long-besieged city of Bakhmut would fall within a couple of months. Following a pattern of heavy bombardments after Ukrainian battlefield or diplomatic gains, Russia launched 36 missiles in the early hours, Ukraine’s air force said, after Nato alliance officials met the previous day to plan more support for Kyiv. About 16 missiles were shot down, it added, a lower rate than normal. The missiles triggered air-raid sirens and landed all over Ukraine, including its largest oil refinery, Kremenchuk, where the extent of damage was not immediately clear. “Another massive missile attack by the terrorist state on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine,” the Defence Ministry tweeted. Ukraine said…

International rescue missions rushed to Türkiye and Syria after massive earthquakes that struck the region last week left nearly 40 000 dead, tens of thousands injured and an unknown number trapped in the rubble. There are more than 9 000 foreign nationals from over 80 countries conducting search and rescue operations and offering humanitarian assistance in the quake-hit zone, according to the Turkish foreign ministry. Among those who mounted extraordinary recovery efforts is an 82-member Chinese search and rescue team, which has so far pulled out six survivors from the rubble in a week, defying the odds. “There are some differences between search and rescue at home and abroad,” said Zhao Yang, a team member working in the Antakya district of the southern Hatay Province. “First, we need a comprehensive…

BERLIN: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy joined Hollywood actor Sean Penn by video link yesterday at the opening of the Berlinale, Europe’s first major film festival of the year, as it spotlights the fight for freedom in Ukraine and Iran. The 73rd annual event, the most politically minded of the three big European cinema showcases, marked the Russian invasion’s first anniversary as well as anti-regime protests in Iran with new feature films and documentaries. Penn appeared on stage at the opening gala and introduced Zelenskiy. The two-time Oscar winner, who was filming in Kyiv at the start of the Russian onslaught, will today premiere Superpower, tracking Zelenskiy’s transformation from comedian to president to war leader. “Zelenskiy was two completely different creatures from one day to the next,” Penn said about the…

DUSHANBE: A series of avalanches has killed 10 more people in eastern Tajikistan, the Central Asian nation’s government said yesterday, bringing the death toll over the past two days to 20 and forcing hundreds of families from their homes. Most of the avalanches hit the Gorno-Badakhshan autonomous region, which borders China and Afghanistan, and where more than 400 households have been relocated from dangerous areas. Avalanches have hit homes as well as roads, the government said, and all international traffic has been suspended. The mayor of provincial capital Khorog urged its 30 000 residents to stay at home as heavy snow and rain fell. | Reuters…

MAMELODI Sundowns will have to guard against complacency when they visit Coton Sport in their second game of the CAF Champions League’s group stage tonight. The Brazilians started their group stage campaign on a high note last weekend, beating Sudanese champions Al Hilal 1-0 in Group A - which also boasts the African Club of the Century, Al Ahly. That result set them up nicely for their trip to Cameroon, having flown out of Johannesburg on Wednesday. The African title has been Sundowns’ only missing piece of the puzzle in recent years as they won five league titles in a row, including a domestic treble last season. The last time Sundowns won the continental crown was in 2016 under coach Pitso Mosimane, but a lot has changed since then, as…

FORMER Bafana Bafana and Bidvest Wits defender Buhlebuyeza Mkhwanazi says he has no regrets about walking away from football and focussing his energy on his religious calling. Yesterday, Mkhwanazi revealed the staggering amounts he was earning at Wits before Jesus “took it away for my soul to be saved”. Having joined Wits in his early 20s, Mkhwanazi worked his way into being a first-choice defender at the club. In 2018, his contract was renewed by the now-defunct Clever Boys for three years as he became one of the highest paid players at the club. In an Instagram post yesterday though, Mkhwanazi, who has represented Bafana Bafana 21 times, put up a copy of that contract, showing the money he was supposed to earn monthly. “1.0 The club employs the footballer…