Innholdsfortegnelse for 2023-04-11 i Pretoria News

ARCELORMITTAL South Africa’s new chairperson Bonang Mohale has called for the stabilisation of State-owned enterprises (SOE) in order for South Africa to not become “yet another failed African state”. In ArcelorMittal’s 2022 integrated annual report, Mohale who was appointed in May 2022, said behind the woeful state of the SOEs, there was “a sinister, thieving hand of State capture”. “The intent of those calling them- selves our leaders has been not about the service delivery as they profess, but to brazenly plunder the resour- ces and institutions that rightfully belong to us, the people … For the 28 years that we have been free, more than half of it has been spent in the dark. So, we have a euphemism for blackouts, which we call load shedding. Now…

THE police in Gauteng shot dead two gun-wielding suspects in yet another attempted cash-in-transit heist in Pretoria during the Easter weekend. According to police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe, in their latest success on Easter Saturday, the police intercepted a group of armed suspects along John Vorster drive in Centurion. She said during the interception, two robbers were fatally wounded during a shoot-out with the police, and three AK47 automatic rifles were recovered. According to reports, the incident comes after the police were tipped off about a planned cash-in-transit heist around Centurion and spotted the suspects at the Grey Owl Shopping Complex driving a stolen black BMW and waiting for a G4S cash van. The suspects sped off on realising that the police were on their trail, which resulted in a chase…

THE speaker of the Tshwane council, Mncedi Ndzwanana, has given in to the multiparty coalition’s legal threats to force him to convene a special council sitting to deliberate on a motion of no confidence against him. The coalition filed urgent court papers in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, against his refusal to call council meetings, to hear a motion of no confidence against himself, and to adopt budgets. Coalition partners, which include ActionSA, the DA, IFP, FF-Plus and ACDP, said they had presented Ndzwanana with petitions signed by a majority of councillors calling for a meeting to discuss a motion of no confidence in the speaker on April 12, and to table budgets on April 13. “Despite this, in a written response the speaker originally refused to issue the notices…

THE eThekwini Municipality should make sure that any tourist facility that replaces the more than 70-year-old iconic Funworld Amusement Park, at the Durban beachfront, is not an elitist project that will be out of reach of ordinary people who frequent the Golden Mile. The news about the permanent closure of Funworld went viral on social media platforms last week. It was greeted with shock and disbelief throughout the country. While most people were sad to hear of the ultimate demise of Funworld, saying it brought back happy childhood memories, Durban residents saw the closure as indicative of the deteriorating state of the beachfront and the Durban CBD. We agree with Nic Steyn, the owner of the amusement park, that the closure will indeed be a sad day for Durban, especially…

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager and injured two other people in a raid on a refugee camp near Jericho in the occupied West Bank yesterday, the Palestinian health ministry said. It comes amid surging violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in recent days, coinciding with the Muslim fasting month of Ramadaan, Jewish Passover and Christian Easter. Mohammed Fayez Balhan, 15, was killed after being shot “with live occupation (Israeli) bullets in the head, chest and abdomen”, the ministry said yesterday. An earlier statement said two people were injured by “occupation (Israeli) bullets”. The Israeli army said its forces were operating in the Aqabat Jaber camp near Jericho, without providing further details. Separately, the Palestinian Red Crescent said it had transferred one person to hospital with a bullet wound to the…

The US is assessing how the apparent leak of a trove of highly classified documents could impact national security, the Pentagon said this week. The breach, which is being investigated by the Justice Department, appears to include assessments and secret intelligence reports that touch not only on Ukraine and Russia, but also highly sensitive analyses of US allies. While the Defense Department is still reviewing the validity of photographed documents circulating online, they “appear to contain sensitive and highly classified material,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said. “An interagency effort has been stood up, focused on assessing the impact these photographed documents could have on US national security and on our allies and partners,” Singh said. The Justice Department said that it had opened an investigation. A steady…

TAIPEI: China ended three days of military drills around Taiwan yesterday, saying they had tested integrated military capabilities under actual combat conditions, having practised precision strikes and blockading the island that Beijing views as its own. Taiwan said it would “never relax” its efforts to strengthen combat readiness and would closely monitor China’s missile forces and movements of the Shandong aircraft carrier. Beijing began the drills on Saturday after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen returned to Taipei following a meeting in Los Angeles with US House of Representatives speaker Kevin McCarthy. | Reuters…

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis said yesterday he was praying that the Good Friday agreement signed 25 years ago that largely ended violence in Northern Ireland can be “consolidated” to benefit the people of all of Ireland. Francis made the comment about the 1998 agreement, which has come under strain following Britain’s exit from the EU, in his address on Easter Monday to tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square. This week’s commemorations will be attended by US President Joe Biden, reflecting the vital role the US played in brokering the agreement. | Reuters…

Banyana Banyana fought hard to come back from 3-0 down but lost 3-2 to Serbia in an international friendly in Stara Pazova yesterday. Serbia, ranked 35th in the world, made a fast start and were three goals to the good after only 22 minutes. Defender Violeta Slović scored the opening goal in the eighth minute, and Milica Mijatović, who plays for Italian Serie A club Fiorentina, made it 2-0 in the 16th minute. In the 22nd minute Jovana Damnjanović, a striker for Bayern Munich in the German Frauen-Bundesliga, scored. This stung Bayana into all-out action and they managed to undo Serbia's vice-like grip on the match. Some smart inter-play between Hildah Magaia and Jermaine Seoposenwe found an opening in the opposition defence but the latter was fractionally wide of…

DURING the last week of March the prominent European Patent Office (EPO) issued its annual Patent Index of 2022. Since the registration of new patents generally provides an early insight into the latest innovation and inventions, the index offers some interesting information regarding the innovation performance of countries. One of the main benefits of patent registration is that it provides legal protection for new inventions and ideas, allowing inventors and businesses to protect their intellectual property and commercialise their innovations. It is this protection that often encourages entrepreneurs and investors to invest in research and development, as it provides a mechanism for companies to recoup their costs and profit from their inventions. Patents further facilitate the dissemination of knowledge and technology, as they require inventors to disclose the details of…

‘They will take all means necessary in order to avoid the conclusion of those inquiries’ THE Labour Court in Johannesburg voiced its dismay at the “now familiar and habitual abuse of the urgent court by employees, especially those who occupy senior positions in all spheres of government, particularly in municipalities. “These employees, after being placed on prolonged periods of precautionary suspensions and when called upon to answer to the charges of misconduct, will take all means necessary in order to avoid the conclusion of those inquiries,” Judge Edwin Tlhotlhalemaje said. This was during a judgment following an application by a senior officer at the Maquassi Hills Municipality in the North West. The officer, who is not named as he is still facing charges of severe misconduct and dishonesty, turned to…

A WOMAN from Winterveldt, north of Pretoria, says she is reeling after being sexually assaulted while in a store at Soshanguve Plaza last week. The woman, whose identity has been withheld due to the nature of the crime, said the incident took place on April 1 while she was doing her monthly shopping. She said she was in queue to pay for her items when, about 15 minutes in, she noticed a man wearing shorts, sandals and a T-shirt, standing too close to her. She said she initially thought nothing of it, but as she kept moving in the queue he continued to move too close to her. “Every time the queue shifted a bit, I would move forward trying to get away from him, but he would also move…

The Special Investigative Unit (SIU) has asked President Cyril Ramaphosa not to set up a commission of inquiry into Prasa as proposed by the Zondo Commission, but rather to allow the law enforce- ment agency to institute a probe. This was revealed by SIU head advocate Andy Mothibi, who outlined his unit’s plan to combat fraud and corruption which had resulted in the government and state institutions losing billions, due to fraudulent procurement practices. Mothibi said the SIU had managed to blacklist more than 34 companies – since its sting operation in 2017. The SIU had also blacklisted several directors of these companies – something that has been lacking in several government departments and agencies. Mothibi has now set his sights on Prasa. “We wrote to the president…

She is dubbed “The National Wife” on social media for her robust portrayal of Hlomu in the popular telenovela, The Wife. Mbalenhle Mavimbela is one of the characters that have kept viewers glued to their screens, evoking different emotions about her character. She has also been lauded for her breakthrough performance alongside Bonko Khoza and then Wiseman Mncube as Mqhele Zulu. Their tainted love story compelled Hlomu to choose between a life of uncovering the truth and a life of hiding it as she transformed from a passionate investigative journalist into the matriarch of the Zulu brothers’ crime family. Speaking of her role, she said: “When people see me, they still see Hlomu and still talk about how Hlomu has touched them. “I’ve had a couple of people cry when…

Worshippers are writing a new chapter of the national story TO the pleasant surprise of many people of faith, Easter in South Africa is still the great Christian festival of hope and rebirth. Improved church attendance in most denominations offers faith-based leaders several reasons to be cheerful about the future. This trend is consistent with the observation that thousands of churches have been experiencing significant attendance fluctuations since the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. These low church attendance numbers register at a time when the nation seriously needs a new crop of people of faith, to sustain the moral regeneration efforts that continue to hold together our broken and wounded people. Remarkably, amid fluctuations in church attendance numbers, however, a religious success story is changing the shape and enriching the…

Russian forces pressed attacks on front line cities in eastern Ukraine yesterday, while Ukrainian officials played down a report that Kyiv had had to amend some military plans ahead of a counter-offensive due to a leak of classified US documents. The Russians were pounding Ukrainian positions around besieged Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region and other cities and towns with air strikes and artillery barrages, Kyiv said. The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces said the Russians were destroying buildings and positions in Bakhmut in “scorched-earth” tactics. Russia’s assault on Bakhmut, a small city on the edge of a chunk of Russian-controlled territory in Donetsk, has for months been the focus of the biggest battle of the war, now in its second year. The Ukrainian military said fighting was heaviest along…

MARSEILLE: French rescue workers have found four bodies in the rubble of buildings in the southern city of Marseille that collapsed after an explosion, police said yesterday. Officials had said earlier that they had identified eight people missing in the wake of yesterday’s explosion, which destroyed two residential buildings and caused a third to partially collapse. The cause of the blast is still unknown. Five people were taken to hospital with serious injuries. Rescue operations were continuing with “care and determination” and 40 buildings near the site have been evacuated, housing minister Olivier Klein said. The collapse caused a fire which has complicated rescue efforts and which continued to burn yesterday. | Reuters…

LAHORE: At least four people were killed and 15 injured by a bomb blast in Pakistan’s south-western province of Balochistan, officials said. The bomb, yesterday, targeted a police vehicle in a busy market in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, home to several separatist and Islamist insurgencies. Police said a probe suggested the explosion was caused by an improvised device planted on a motorcycle. Pakistan has been battling a years-long insurgency by militants in Balochistan who are demanding a bigger share of the province’s wealth, as well as attacks by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, the Pakistan Taliban. No group has yet claimed responsibility foe the attack. | AFP…

NEW DELHI: The Dalai Lama, the Tibetans’ 87-year-old spiritual leader, apologised yesterday after footage showed him asking a young boy to “suck my tongue” at a public event. “A video clip has been circulating that shows a recent meeting when a young boy asked his Holiness the Dalai Lama if he could give him a hug,” said a statement on the exiled leader’s Twitter account, which has 19 million followers. “His Holiness wishes to apologise to the boy and his family, as well as his many friends across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused.” The statement said the Dalai Lama leader “often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way … He regrets the incident”. The video, which has 1 million views on Twitter,…

Golden Arrows must be savouring the prospect of meeting newly-crowned Premiership champions Mamelodi Sundowns at a time when they are firing blanks. Arrows host a vulnerable Sundowns tomorrow in a Premiership fixture at the Princess Magogo Stadium. On Sunday, lowly Swallows FC came away with a valuable point from a 0-0 draw against the Brazilians. It was a terrific result for the embattled Swallows because the relegation axe has been looming overhead for some time. Days prior to the clash against Swallows, Sundowns were also held to a 0-0 draw by 10-man Cape Town City. This must be very encouraging for the seventh-placed Arrows, whose objective is to cement a top eight berth. Swallows have been languishing in the league doldrums all season and they shocked all and sundry by…

Arsenal’s failure to end their Anfield hoodoo by throwing away a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 away to Liverpool on Sunday has opened the door for Manchester City to snatch the Premier League title away from the Gunners. Mikel Arteta’s men still lead by six points at the top of the table, but for the first time in nearly two months City have the destiny of the title back in their own hands. City have nine league games remaining to Arsenal’s eight and home advantage when the two teams meet at the Etihad on 26 April. Since losing to City in mid-February, Arsenal have belied their relative lack of experience in a title tussle. A run of seven consecutive league victories contained the mixture of late winners and routine wins…

Moti has big plans for African Chrome Fields, ‘his baby’, and a hi-tech aluminothermic factory as a cash cow BUSINESS tycoon Zunaid Moti, the founder of the Moti Group, may have recently stepped away from the group’s multi-billion-rand helm to allow for fresh leadership and growth, but he has a double-pronged strategy to generate further wealth. The Moti Group is a private family- owned investment group of roughly 250 companies, with interests in a wide range of industries such as property development, car financing, aviation, mining and beneficiation. While Mikaeel Moti, the executive chairperson, and the former director-general of the National Treasury, Dondo Mogajane, the CEO of the Moti Group, restructure the family-owned business and beef up corporate governance, Moti is doubling down on African Chrome Fields, one of…

HARMONY Gold and its partner Newcrest Mining have signed a framework Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the independent state of Papua New Guinea (PNG) for the joint multi- billion dollar Wafi-Golpu project. In a statement, Harmony said the MOU was an affirmation of their intent to proceed with the Tier 1 Wafi-Golpu Project, subject to the finalisation of the permit process, and approval by both the Harmony and Newcrest boards. Harmony and Newcrest each own 50% of the project through their respective subsidiary WGJV (Wafi-Golpu Joint Venture) participant companies. Harmony Gold CEO Peter Steenkamp said the MOU was important to progress with the permitting of the Tier 1 Wafi-Golpu Project, one of the world’s premier, undeveloped copper-gold deposits. “I wish to thank Prime Minister James Marape and his government for…

When you’re dressed up for an interview or a formal meal, the last thing you need is an overwhelming urge to scratch your head, knowing that a shower of white flakes will follow, landing on the black or navy blue shirt you carefully picked out, causing much embarrassment. Beyond gender, age, and ethnicity, dandruff is a medical condition that has managed to unify more than half of the adult population worldwide. According to Medical News Today, the fungus Malassezia, which feeds on dead skin cells produced naturally during the development of new skin and sebum (the oily substance secreted by the sebaceous glands on our head), is what causes this irritating scalp condition. Despite being a typical component of the scalp, this microbe becomes troublesome when a fungus feeds on…

The City of Tshwane was late yesterday unable to confirm the estimated time for electricity restoration to large parts of the metro. In one of the updates, it said the N4 eastbound had been reopened for traffic after powerlines collapsed onto the freeway on Sunday night. The 132kv powerlines fell on the N4 freeway at around 9pm on Sunday night which resulted in a power outage affecting large parts of Pretoria East and North. The city lost 300 megawatts of power following the incident. At least seven powerline structures collapsed and were badly damaged. Further investigations by the City found that three pylons were vandalised, which caused the powerlines to collapse and fall on the road. Earlier yesterday, Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink said criminals were now targeting the steel that…

COMMUNITY members of Giyani in Limpopo are outraged after another woman was killed in suspected gender-based violence (GBV) over the Easter weekend. Mbaula village residents ave vowed to go to the Giyani Magistrate’s Court in their numbers to ensure the suspect, due in the dock today, does not get bail. The suspect, 28, is accused of murdering his girlfriend Happy Nxumani, 27, from the village of Majeje. Limpopo police said Nxumani was stabbed to death at Mbaula village in the early hours of Saturday. Colonel Malesela Ledwaba said Nxumani allegedly went to a local tavern demanding that her boyfriend – the suspect – return home with her. On arrival at their house, the couple got into an argument, which resulted in Nxumani being stabbed in the upper-body with a sharp…

THE net is closing on high profile individuals and companies who fleeced more than R1 billion from the National Lotteries Commission funds as more civil litigations and criminal prosecution looms. This was revealed by the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU’s) head advocate Andy Mothibi during a briefing session with the media last week on progress on their investigations into fraud and corruption at commission. Mothibi said more than 15 000 non-profit organisations and non-profit companies were under investigations for allegedly colluding with former executives of the commission to loot funds from the commission over the years. But he confirmed that at the moment, his unit had put its primary focus on 100 of those companies and seizure and forfeiture of assets including arrests may take place in the next few days.…

IT WAS a bleak long weekend for students of Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University after they were frustrated by delayed funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). The Ga-Rankuwa students have not been paid their allowances by the scheme since January, and this saw them taking to the streets in protest. The scheme last week promised that it would have made the payments to students by Thursday, but it was not yet clear to the Pretoria News if the payments were processed owing to the holidays. Three Student Representative Council (SRC) members and one student were suspended due to the protests. It is understood that they included the president and secretary-general of the SRC, together with the chairperson of Oral Health. The protests started last week, at which…

Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) have huge potential to sustain cattle during droughts. With the high frequency and intensity of droughts that have befallen southern Africa, it is essential to look for sustainable interventions that provide sufficient water for cattle during droughts. Cattle losses deepen poverty levels, food insecurity and cause emotional trauma among households in communal production systems. Most rural communities face water challenges from the drying out of water sources or dilapidated water infrastructure. Communities have been keeping cattle for centuries and have gained experience from centuries of droughts. Our communities, therefore, have the information, skills and techniques to mitigate and adapt to droughts. It is vital to tap into this. A collaborative study by the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), University of Venda and Water Research Commission to explore…

A plan by the Ethiopian government to disarm regional forces has sparked protests and a deadly clash in the northern Amhara region after some residents said they feared disarmament might force them to give up territory that Amhara now controls or leave them vulnerable to ethnic attacks. At least four people, including two Ethiopian aid workers, were killed in the town of Kobo after the federal military clashed with a volunteer civilian Amhara militia known as Fano. One resident said members of the uniformed Amhara force did not take part in the fighting but that many left town to avoid being disarmed. The Ethiopian military spokesperson, government spokesperon and regional spokesperon for Amhara did not return calls seeking comment. The confrontations come at a delicate time for Prime Minister Abiy…

A number of masked people attacked a police vehicle with petrol bombs and other objects at a parade opposing the Good Friday peace accord in Londonderry, police said yesterday, a day before US President Joe Biden visits Belfast. A photograph showed four young people in the mainly Irish nationalist area of Creggan throwing petrol bombs at an armoured police vehicle, which was covered in flames on one side. The crowd dispersed afterwards and police said nobody was injured. Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement that largely ended three decades of sectarian bloodshed in Northern Ireland. There is still some sporadic violence by small groups opposed to peace. Britain’s MI5 intelligence agency late last month increased the threat level in Northern Ireland from domestic…

Rome: Italy’s coast guard said it was trying yesterday to rescue 1 200 more migrants aboard two boats on the Mediterranean after saving about 2 000 already over the weekend. The rescue of about 800 migrants aboard an overloaded fishing boat was ongoing, it said. The boat was located in Italian waters more than 190km south-east of Syracuse, in Sicily. The the operation involving three patrol boats and a merchant ship was described as “complex”. A second fishing vessel carrying 400 migrants and also in Italian waters had been intercepted by the coast guard at the southernmost tip of Sicily, after sailing from North Africa. | AFP…

Washington: Five people were killed and at least six others hospitalised following a shooting targeting a bank yesterday in downtown Louisville, in the US state of Kentucky, according to police who said the assailant had been neutralised. The incident triggered a massive police deployment outside the Old National bank building. CNN reported that some people took refuge in the bank vault, contacting police from inside. Yesterday’s mass shooting in Louisville was the 146th of the year according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, defined as incidents in which four or more people were shot or killed. | AFP…

The search for the whopping R7million winner’s purse starts in earnest this weekend when the Nedbank Cup quarter-finals are played. The action kicks off on Saturday when giant-killers Dondol Stars host two-time Nedbank Cup champions Orlando Pirates at Peter Mokaba Stadium. Stars, the Gauteng ABC Motsepe League side, have seen off two Premiership teams in this year’s competition. They defeated SuperSport United 2-1 in the last 32 and edged AmaZulu on penalties in the last 16. Dondol Stars midfielder Relebogile Molefe is the team’s dangerman. He scored against SuperSport and has the physical attributes to cause Pirates problems. What he might lack in technique he makes up for in physicality and will give the Buccaneers a bruising afternoon. Dondol Stars is the third team from the Safa structures to reach…