Innholdsfortegnelse for 2023-03-24 i Pretoria News

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za A MOTHER-in-law has lost her legal bid to challenge the validity of a marriage certificate which her daughter-in-law had obtained 20 days after the death of her son. According to the mother, her son was never married to the woman, and as the mother to the potential groom, she never gave consent to the marriage. She also asked the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg to cancel the marriage certificate because according to her, the marriage negotiations never reached conclusion and the marriage was not celebrated in accordance with customary law. The court, however, concluded that there was indeed a binding marriage. This order followed hot on the heels of another similar case in KwaZulu- Natal earlier this month, where a mother also wanted the court to declare that…

Industry titans Thomas Gumede and Lungile Radu’s first telenovela under their production company, Parental Advisory Productions, is set to air on e.tv in April. Nikiwe will occupy the 6.30pm slot, currently occupied by re-runs of Durban Gen, which was cancelled in January after a channel review. The new drama tells a tale of what it means to be “hood rich”, following the lives of the Radebe family, witnessing the rise and fall of a family empire based in the surrounds of Diepkloof Extension, Pimville and Orlando in Soweto. “Imagine inheriting all the wealth in the world, having power and influence in the palm of your hands, only to have it all stripped away from you by your own family,” read the statement from e.tv. The story concept was developed by…

The BANK of England yesterday followed the Federal Reserve and the Swiss National Bank in hiking interest rates, as policymakers ploughed on with their fight against inflation in the face of the instability that rippled through the global banking system this month. Investors had questioned whether the central banks could press on with tightening policy after the collapse of two US lenders earlier this month triggered turmoil in banks around the globe, ensnaring one of Europe’s biggest banking names in 167-year-old Credit Suisse. After its eleventh straight hike, the BoE said it had noted the “large and volatile moves” in financial markets, but that Britain’s banking system remained resilient. “The (monetary policy committee) will continue to monitor closely any effect on the credit conditions faced by households and businesses, and…

French workers angry with President Emmanuel Macron and his plan to raise the pension age blocked access to a terminal at Paris’s main airport yesterday as part of a nationwide day of protests, forcing some travellers to get there on foot. At Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport and across the country, wildcat actions by small groups of protesters blocked roads and access to schools and universities, while protesters gathered. Near Toulouse, in the south-west, plumes of smoke were seen rising from burning piles of debris blocking traffic on a highway. Union activists also blocked the train tracks at Paris’s Gare de Lyon station. Opinion polls have long shown that a majority of voters were opposed to delaying retirement age by two years to 64. Voters were further angered by the government’s…

PYONGYANG: What to wear to an intercontinental ballistic missile launch? For Kim Ju-ae, the daughter and heir apparent of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, it appears to be this season’s Christian Dior. The girl, who is about 10 or 11, was seen attending yet another missile launch with her father last week – a Hwasong-17, capable of reaching the US mainland, that Pyongyang said it fired to demonstrate a “tough response posture” to ongoing US-South Korea military drills. Kim Ju-ae wore a black quilted jacket. South Korean broadcaster TV Chosun reported that it looked exactly like one being sold by French luxury fashion house Christian Dior. It wasn’t clear if the jacket is real or a knock-off, but it’s a bold state-ment in an impoverished nation that is,…

London: A 28-year-old man was remanded in custody yesterday accused of attempting to murder two elderly men who were set on fire after leaving mosques in the UK. Mohammed Abbkr, 28, from Edgbaston in Birmingham, was placed in custody by the city’s magistrate’s court after the attacks last month and earlier this week. Abbkr, originally from Sudan, will next appear at Birmingham Crown Court on April 20. Abbkr allegedly sprayed a substance on the two men outside or near mosques they had attended and then set them alight, in west London on February 27 and Birmingham on Monday. Police are appealing for video footage for the investigation. | AFP…

SOUTH Africa’s top rugby players will be celebrating if a proposal to shift the Rugby Championship to March is approved. Currently, the big hitch to SA’s move to the northern hemisphere at the provincial level is that it means no time off – the Sharks, Bulls, Stormers and Lions play all 12 months of the year, while the Springboks host an incoming tour in June, play the Rugby Championship until October, before concluding with a November tour to Europe. So it makes sense that SA Rugby is reportedly trying to convince Sanzaar to shift the Rugby Championship to a slot much earlier in the year. This would engineer a mid-year break for the top players. The Sydney Morning Herald says that Argentina is backing SA’s attempt to create an off-season…

In a perfect world, developing good habits such as working out, eating well and reading more, would be as simple as scrambling eggs. Unfortunately, that’s often not the case. The brain is continually looking for ways to reduce effort, which is why habits develop, say scientists. Left to its own devices, the brain will try to turn practically any routine into a habit. This is because habits allow our minds to ramp down more often. This effort-saving instinct is a huge advantage. Have you ever wondered what happens to our brains when it turns a decision into a habit? Changing behaviour can be complex because people are creatures of habit and the things they do are the behaviours they want to do. A journal entry on “The art of forming…

The University of Pretoria has condemned all forms of discrimination, including racism and religious intolerance, and promises to take necessary steps against anyone found to be in breach of its anti-discrimination policies. This comes after the South African Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS) at the university complained that for the past few weeks it was subjected to a barrage of hostile and discriminatory statements and actions. It said this culminated in a sit-in protest aimed to exclude the Jewish student representative body from working with the student representative council (SRC). Spokesperson for the university Rikus Delport indicated that the university was committed to providing a safe space where all students, regardless of race, sexual orientation and religious beliefs felt welcome. SAUJS spokesperson Charisse Zeifert said students partnered with the SRC…

Tshwane Council speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana has been asked by the Gauteng acting MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Faith Mazibuko, to provide a comprehensive report as to why the municipal council has not yet elected an executive mayor. This comes after Ndzwanana on Wednesday adjourned a special council meeting “until further notice” to allow him time to seek legal advice regarding the removal of Cope’s sole councillor, Justice Sefanyetso, from council. Sefanyetso’s deployment in council attracted controversy after he was accused of having two IDs and a criminal record, leading to his recall from council minutes after he was introduced as new councillor to replace Dr Murunwa Makwarela. Makwarela, who was elected as Tshwane mayor on February 28, subsequently resigned under a cloud after it emerged that he furnished…

Award-winning rapper YoungstaCPT and producer Shaney Jay have once again teamed up to deliver a pure hip hop classic with their project Suffer For Beauty. The two first teamed up on Dreams Don’t Pay Bills, which YoungstaCPT describes as a pandemic project, and now, on their new project, they look at the aftermath of those years. “I’m happy we’re getting to flex a bit more and show people Dreams Don’t Pay Bills wasn’t all we were able to create,” said YoungstaCPT. Jay has been working with the Y?GEN collective since 2020 and since then his sound has even scored himself his first-ever award nomination for producer of the year at the 2022 SA Hip Hop Awards “It’s always great working with Young because at the end of every session I…

LIVING close to green spaces like parks and greenhouses has been proven to improve health and quality of life. Our interdisciplinary research on Integrative Green Infrastructure Planning (Grip), which is aimed at improving green and open space planning in Pretoria, revealed that staying close to green areas, practising urban agriculture or house/community gardening, relaxing in park areas and planting trees can provide several benefits to human health and social well-being. However, our cities keep expanding daily, with green areas shrinking in size. This contention between green spaces and the need for shelter – one of our basic human rights – is one of the challenges faced by local authorities. Everyone deserves a roof over their heads and, at the same time, access to green spaces is good for our health.…

An Indian court yesterday found opposition leader Rahul Gandhi guilty of defamation for a 2019 campaign trail remark implying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a criminal. Modi’s government has been widely accused of using the law to target and silence critics, and the case in the premier’s home state of Gujarat is one of several lodged against his chief opponent in recent years. Gandhi, the leading face of the opposition Congress party, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment but immediately granted bail after his lawyers announced their intention to appeal. The case stemmed from a remark made during the 2019 election campaign in which the 52-year-old had asked why “all thieves have Modi as (their) common surname”. His comments were seen as a slur against the prime minister, who…

Advertisers are seeking any assurances from TikTok, the viral app that helped usher in a wave of short-form video across social media, as the Chinese-owned company again faces a potential ban in the US over national security concerns. TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew was to testify before Congress yesterday, and advertisers would be watching closely, several ad agencies said. TikTok’s US ad revenue was expected to reach $6.83 billion this year, from $780 million in 2020. The app, which is owned by China’s ByteDance and is popular among younger users, now has 150 million monthly users in the US, it said. The company faces growing calls from lawmakers who are pressuring the Joe Biden administration to ban the app over concerns that Americans’ user data could fall into the hands…

JERUSALEM: Israeli MPs yesterday passed a law to make it harder to declare Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unfit to serve, the first in a series of laws comprising the far-right government’s controversial judicial overhaul plan. The bill was approved despite warnings from Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who said the law would shield Netanyahu from being ousted over his graft trial. Under the new law, a prime minister can only be forced to step down if three-quarters of ministers confirm so due to physical or psychological incapacity. The vote came hours before Israelis launched another day of nationwide protests against the judicial overhaul. | Xinhua…

ADDIS ABABA: The Ethiopian government said yesterday that it had appointed a senior official in the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) as head of an interim government for Tigray after a peace deal ended a brutal two-year conflict. The announcement comes a day after parliament removed the TPLF from an official list of terrorist organisations, a move it said would help bolster the November 2022 agreement between the rebels and the federal government. There was no immediate response to the announcement from the TPLF. The agreement had stipulated the establishment of an “inclusive” interim regional administration until elections could be held. | AFP…

SOUTH Africa’s Under-23s hopes of qualifying for next year’s Olympics were dealt a minor blow yesterday as they played out a 1-1 stalemate against Congo at the Dobsonville Stadium. It was the visitors that broke the deadlock in a tight first half through attacker Bissila Mabiala, the big man capitalising on poor positioning by the home side’s defence in the 43rd minute. The Congolese put together a couple of decent passes in the middle of the park before a ball outside saw a quality cross played on the blind side of the Olwethu Makhanya at centre-back and Mabiala capitalised, heading into the bottom corner. Thapelo Maseko, who was South Africa’s best player, found the all-important equalising goal, assisted by second-half substitution Mduduzi Shabalala, in the 69th minute.…

THE NATIONAL Treasury is preparing a Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) Circular dealing with the relief strategy regarding more than R50 billion debt owed to Eskom by municipalities. This was announced by Deputy President Paul Mashatile yesterday in Parliament during his maiden oral questions session in the National Assembly. This government intervention was first announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in his Budget Speech last month when he said Eskom would provide incentivised relief to municipalities whose debt was unaffordable. Mashatile said the MFMA Circular was expected to be released later this month, with implementation expected to start on April 1. “Under the National Treasury, the Multidisciplinary Revenue Committee is continuing with its main task of ensuring that all municipal debts are co-ordinated, tracked and resolved on an ongoing…

POLICE in Mpumalanga are investigating vicious attacks on EFF protesters during Monday’s national shutdown in townships outside Mbombela. According to provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala, the separate attacks took place in Pienaar and Msogwaba and left one person hospitalised. “Cases of assault with intention to cause grievous bodily harm and unlawful discharge of a firearm were registered on Wednesday at the Pienaar police station. The cases were registered separately by different complainants. “The first is a 45-year-old man, who alleges that at around 8am on March 20 he was on his way to meet (protesters) who were planning to submit a memorandum. “When he arrived, he found one person being beaten. He was also assaulted and managed to run away. While he was running away shots were fired. He…

It has long been intervening in the internal affairs of other countries At a time when the world is in turmoil and faced with numerous global challenges, the US has once again positioned itself as a “leader of democracy” by hosting the second “Summit for Democracy”. However, in the process of pushing for a single or absolute model of democracy and using democracy as an instrument or weapon in international relations, the US has purposefully stoked bloc politics and confrontation, which is none other than a breach of the spirit of what democracy stands for. The summit is essentially about creating division. The US, obsessed with power politics, stubbornly engages in zero-sum games and clings to a Cold War mentality. Since its birth, the “Summit for Democracy” has been nothing…

A London jury yesterday found Nigeria’s former deputy senate president guilty of plotting to harvest a street trader’s kidney for his sick daughter, in the first UK case of its kind. Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and a doctor, Obinna Obeta, 50, were found guilty at the Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, of conspiring to exploit the young man from Lagos for his body part. The Ekweremadus’ daughter Sonia, 25, shed tears as she was cleared of the same charge after jurors deliberated for nearly 14 hours. It was the first time organ harvesting conspiracy charges had been brought under the UK’s 2015 Modern Slavery Act. The maximum sentence is life. Sentencing was adjourned until May 5. In Britain, it is legal to donate a kidney but…

GENEVA: Twitter chief executive Elon Musk said yesterday that countries should not “cede authority” to the World Health Organization (WHO). “Countries should not cede authority to WHO,” wrote Musk, whose Twitter account has more than 132 million followers, in response to right-wing Australian senator Malcolm Roberts criticising the WHO. “Countries aren’t ceding sovereignty to @WHO,” director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted in response. “The #PandemicAccord won’t change that. The accord will help countries better guard against pandemics,” he said. | Reuters…

The Hague: Ukraine and the International Criminal Court yesterday signed a deal for a field office to probe war crimes, days after the tribunal issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin last week, saying he was allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine. Russia said the warrant was “void”, and that it was not a member of the court. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned this week that attempts to arrest Putin on the ICC warrant would be seen by Moscow as a “declaration of war”. Russia has opened a criminal probe into an ICC prosecutor and ICC judges. | AFP…

SHANGHAI: More than 400 people lost their billionaire status last year, most from China, as global monetary tightening, Covid-19 disruptions and Beijing’s crackdown on major tech companies hurt the super wealthy, a ranking of the world’s wealthiest showed. China lost 229 billionaires from the Hurun Global Rich List 2023, accounting for more than half of the 445 people who disappeared from the list, which ranks moguls with a minimum net worth of $1 billion, the Hurun Report said yesterday. The world’s second biggest economy also added 69 new billionaires to the list. The number of billionaires in the world was down by 8%, while their total wealth dropped 10%. | Reuters…

BAFANA Bafana coach Hugo Broos believes his team can repel Liberia when the two nations meet in a Group K Africa Cup of Nations qualifier at Orlando Stadium tonight. One of South Africa’s trusted stars, Percy Tau, is looking fresh and sharp following a worrying spell with Egyptian giants Al Ahly last year. After joining Al Ahly from Brighton & Hove Albion in 2021, a lot was expected from Tau when he reunited with mentor Pitso Mosimane, and Tau started off well in the land of the Pharaohs, but a string of injuries and the departure of Mosimane saw him slide down the pecking order, subsequently missing out on Bafana’s matches last year. These included Bafana’s European tour, 2024 Afcon qualifier against Morocco – where they lost 2-1 – and…