Innholdsfortegnelse for Sunday, January 17, 2021 i Sunday Independent

GRAFT State capture: CR ‘must come clean’ Political analyst Dr Ralph Mathekga says Molefe’s allegations are serious and place Ramaphosa at the centre of Eskom crisis MANYANE MANYANE manyane.manyane@inl.co.za THE allegations levelled against President Cyril Ramaphosa by former Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe are serious and place the ANC leader at the centre of decision-making at the embattled power utility. This is according to political analyst Dr Ralph Mathekga, who urged Ramaphosa to also appear before the Zondo Commission and give his version of events. This comes after Molefe told the Zondo Commission this week that Ramaphosa had been involved in state capture and the peddling of political influence for personal benefit. He said Ramaphosa used his position as the country’s deputy president to protect and secure lucrative coal deals…

SAPS Concerns over SAPS suspensions KARABO NGOEPE karabo.ngoepe@inl.co.za TOP SAPS officials have raised concerns about the suspension of more than 10 senior officers, saying the move was unprecedented and has weakened the police. They say they believe there are ulterior motives behind the high rate of suspensions and investigation of senior police officers for various allegations. The sources say it for the first time in the history of the country where so many members are either suspended, under investigation or being dismissed. "This is unprecedented. The organisation is being weakened and almost every week, more and more officers are being targeted," said a source speaking on condition of anonymity. Currently, about 10 senior members of SAPS are either in courts, being investigated internally, suspended or face dismissal. The list includes…

SAFTU CALLS ‘Call Ramaphosa to commission’ sAMKELO MTsHALI samkelo.thulasizwe@inl.co.za THE South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) has called on the Zondo Commission to summon President Cyril Ramaphosa to answer to the allegations made against him in connection with power utility Eskom. The labour federation also wants the directors of the mining companies Glencore and Optimum to appear at the commission. This comes after former Eskom chief executive Brian Molefe appeared at the commission on Friday, where he made damning allegations against Ramaphosa. In his testimony, Molefe said Glen-core had used Ramaphosa’s political influence to assist the company in its dealings with Eskom. He said Glencore made Ramaphosa chairperson of its partly owned Optimum Coal Mine (OCM) in 2012. Molefe also alleged that Glencore had sought to negotiate its coal…

JUDICIARY Three judges reprimanded for tard iness LOYISO SIDIMBA loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za OLD age and illness saved three retired Gauteng High Court judges from each paying R500 000 for taking too long to deliver their judgments. Judges Moses Mavundla, Ferdi Preller and Ntsikelelo Poswa were reported to the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) in 2013 by then Gauteng High Court Judge President Bernard Ngoepe. They have been ordered to issue unconditional apologies to the Judge President and the litigants in all the cases in which judgments were delayed. The JSC found that their judgments were only delivered after 12 months, and that the prolonged delays were unreasonable and constituted misconduct, but fell short of gross misconduct ”A reprimand is necessary. It will convey this commission’s expression of disapproval for the breach of judicial…

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Zulu refuses to budge on expired disability grants MAYIBONGWE MAQHINA mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za ARMAND HOUGH African News Agency (ANA) SOCIAL Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu is standing her ground in refusing to extend the 210 778 temporary disability grants that expired in December. Zulu took her stand despite pressure from a human rights group and others that she should grant an extension, even up to the end of March. There have also been calls on President Cyril Ramaphosa, asking him to intervene in the wake of long queues of beneficiaries re-applying for the grants at the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) offices. On Friday, the situation became so serious that the police used water cannons to enforce social distancing at the Sassa offices in Bellville. The human rights organisation Black…

CORRECTIONAL SERVICES Department not performing assessments, says former commissioner ROLAND MPOFU roland.mpofu@inl.co.za THE Department of Correctional Services (DCS) is accused of underplaying employee concerns and that has been blamed for the shooting of a senior manager last month. The concerns centre around the performance assessments which sources say have been going on for the past 18 years. According to a highly placed source who didn’t want to be identified for fear of reprisal, last month’s shooting was triggered by the un-addressed concerns the employee had allegedly been raising for nearly two decades. “According to the information that I have, this matter came up in 2000 regarding assessments when he was not happy with that, he raised his concerns and that was brought to the attention of the management and management…

ALCOHOL BAN ‘We’re punished for the sins of a few’ MANYANE MANYANE manyane.manyane@inl.co.za ALCOHOL consumers and traders are again up in arms over the latest liquor sales ban, saying they are punished for the sins of a few. Their cries follow President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement this week that the adjusted Covid-19 level 3 lockdown regulations would be extended. It is unclear whether the ban will be effective until the end of the month or until February 15, when the decision to close the borders will be reviewed. The complaints come against the backdrop of a court challenge by the liquor producers as well as claims that the industry has paid social media influencers to help sway public opinion in their favour. Announcing the ban of alcohol sale on December 28,…

FINANCE Unemployed struggle to obtain grants to put food on the table TSHEGO LEPULE tshego.lepule@inl.co.za FOR many, the beginning of the year is called “Januworry”. Add Covid-19, unemployment and difficulty in receiving UIF grants, and loan sharks run rife. Nine months after losing his job and after 10 frustrating visits to the Department of Labour, Nkosana Sukwana is yet to receive a UIF payout. Sukwana is among the thousands of people who have stood in long unemployment queues which snake around the buildings where the department has offices. The queues have become a regular sight, more so since Covid-19 has laid waste to the economy. As the bills pile up and schools resume soon, desperate people are taking loans to make ends meet. Sukwana, 35, lost his job in April…

OBITUARY Courageous crusader for truth Sunday Independent news editor Solly Maphumulo, victim of Covid-19, remembered JOVIAL RANTAO sIMpHIWE MbOKAzI African News Agency (ANA) SOLOMON Mavis Maphumulo arrived in the City of Gold as a rough diamond - seemingly unpolished at a cursory glance but nonetheless a priceless gem inside. From get go, Solly, as we fondly called her, exuded the humility of a lamb, the determination of a tiger and the bravery of a lion - all to fulfill her dream of becoming a journalist at one of the country’s leading newspapers - The Star. And nothing was going to come between Solly and her dream. Years later, as we now write her story, we know that nothing did. Bright eyed and bushy tailed, Solly sat at a corner desk,…

Do not dismiss Dr Emmanuel Taban’s effective Covid-19 solution without scientific basis DR PALI LEHOHLA COVID-19 is not only a health pandemic but it has caused a hitherto unprecedented economic meltdown globally last seen in times of WWI and WWII. The population of the world then was 1.8 billion and 2.4 billion respectively. With the size of the population at more than three times what it was in 1945, at 7.8 billion today, the scale of the pandemic has no comparator. The benefit of the pandemic to heightened alertness to the use and application of science cannot be underestimated. It was, however, reassuring when a media briefing session was held with promise for such vaccines coming in the first quarter if not in the second quarter. Another not so well…

COMMENT Proposed Covid-19 strategy ‘an aspirational goal’ SHABIR A MADHU SOUTH Africa has an estimated population approaching 60 million. To achieve herd immunity against Covid-19, the government recently set the ambitious goal of vaccinating 67% of the population – roughly 40 million people. According to the outline of this plan, this would be achieved within 2021. But is this ambitious target even feasible? In my view the proposed Covid-19 strategy is not a strategy, but rather an aspirational goal. And an unrealistic one at that. The elephant in the room is that the government has set a target of immunising two thirds of the population, but it hasn’t as yet secured the 80 million doses this would require. This is what we know. South Africa had committed to purchasing enough…

HOMELAND SECURITY US on edge as Trump presidency nears end US LAW enforcement officials are gearing up for pro-Trump marches in all 50 state capitals this weekend, erecting barriers and calling in their National Guards to try to prevent the kind of violent attack that rattled the nation on January 6. The FBI has warned police agencies of possible armed protests at all 50 state capitols starting yesterday until President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday, fuelled by supporters of President Donald Trump, who believe his false claims of electoral fraud. Michigan, Virginia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Washington are among the states that have activated their National Guards to strengthen security, while Texas took the step of closing its Capitol yesterday. Steve McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said…

Peacekeeper dies as tanker strikes mine BAMAKO: A UN peacekeeper has died in Mali after his vehicle struck a mine, the head of the UN mission in Mali (Minusma), Mahamat Saleh, Annadif said. The peacekeeper’s tanker truck, which was part of a logistics convoy, drove over the mine near the town of Tessalit, in the northern Kidal region, on Friday afternoon. A another peacekeeper in the vehicle has been seriously injured. While securing the site of the incident, peacekeepers detected a second explosive device and neutralised it. Mali’s centre and north have experienced regular flare-ups of violence and attacks in the wake of a 2012 military coup that saw separatist rebel groups and later al-Qaeda associated militants take control of the region. French and African military operations, alongside the Malian…

COMPETITORS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF DODGY PRIVATE POLICY CHANGES WhatsApp rivals flourish SAM SPILLER sam.spiller@inl.co.za POPULAR messaging service WhatsApp’s controversial privacy policy changes led to competitors such as Telegram and Signal seeing a growth spurt as consumers searched for alternatives. WhatsApp’s policy changes have also prompted discussions and action from the government as governments elsewhere in the world scrutinise the policy of the Facebook-owned apps. The Information Regulator announced it met regarding the revised policy and was engaging Facebook SA about the matter. “The Regulator will be analysing whether the terms of service and the privacy policies indeed differ and whether the privacy policy,” it said. On January 7, WhatsApp’s 2 billion users were confronted with a notification about updates to its privacy policy. The updates included how the app as…

ECONOMY Africa’s Great Green Wall aims for fresh growth THIN LEI WIN reuters GROWING up in a village in Burkina Faso, Georges Bazongo remembers his parents and neighbours cutting down trees each year to expand their farmland so they could “grow enough food for our families to eat”. He also noticed some trees becoming drier in the drought-prone region, an indication too that the soil was deteriorating as heavy rains washed away its fertile layer. Some of his relatives moved to Ivory Coast in search of a better life, Bazongo, 48, said. But things started improving a decade ago when the government and environmental groups helped villagers understand the causes and risks of their degraded land, said Bazongo, director of operations at international charity Tree Aid. About a quarter of…

TV SERIES ‘Sex and the City’ reboot without Samantha? LISA BONOS SEX and the City fans couldn’t help but wonder: What would a reboot of the popular HBO show look like? Seventeen years after the show concluded, we’re about to get an answer: On Sunday, HBO Max announced three of the four best friends would be getting back together for a 10-episode reboot called And Just Like That… What will it be without Kim Cattrall playing publicist Samantha Jones, the friend who was always pushing the rest to be more adventurous? Here’s a big clue: Sex has vanished from the show’s title. Fans of the HBO hit, which ran from 1998 to 2004, expressed their displeasure on Twitter, responding with GIFs of Samantha saying “that’s just stupid”, wondering…

INJURY TIME STUART HESS stuart.hess@inl.co.za OH GOLF... SO the orange buffoon will be out of the White House by Wednesday. He’s already been kicked off his beloved twitter, facebook and instagram. In New York, they don’t want his name attached to the ice-skating rink in Central Park and a golf course in the Bronx. The PGA in the United States is also severing ties, withdrawing hosting rights for the 2022 US PGA tournament from the Bedminster Club in New Jersey, which the orange balloon owns. It does beg the question: why has that taken so long? But this is golf. Gary Player is still accepting awards at the White House as if its an honour to get one from that doughnut, while Justin Thomas reckons its okay to use a…

SPORT TV GUIDE Today Cricket: ANZ Bank Super Smash: Canterbury Kings v Wellington Firebirds, 12.05am, ACT, GSD; Canterbury Magicians v Wellington Blaze, 3.55am, ACT, GSD; Momentum One Day Cup: VKB Knights v Hollywoodbets Dolphins, 9.45am, GSD, CRI: Test Series: Australia v India, Fourth Test, Day 2, 1.50am, CRI; Big Bash Twenty20: Sydney Sixers v Perth Scorchers, 9.35am, VR1 Golf: PGA Tour: Sony Open in Hawaii, Day 2, 2am, GOL Rugby: Heineken Champions Cup: Exeter Chiefs v Toulouse, 5.10pm, ACT; Montpellier v Wasps, 9.55pm, RUG Soccer: Premier League: Wolves v West Bromwich Albion, 1.30pm, EPL, SSM (2.15pm), , EPL; West Ham United v Burnley, 4.30pm, EPL, SSM (4.45pm); Leeds United v Brighton & Hove Albion, 4.55pm, VR3; Aston Villa v Everton, 7pm, EPL, GSD, SSM (7.15pm); Leicester City v Southampton, 9.30pm,…

COVID-19 Lehohla slams MAC over vaccines MANYANE MANYANE and AMANDA MALIBA FORMER Statistician-General Pali Lehohla has launched a scathing attack on the government’s Ministerial Advisory Committee of health experts (MAC), saying they dismissed without scientific basis a Covid-19 medical solution discovered by local pulmonologist Dr Emmanuel Taban. Calling on the MAC to review its decision, Iris Bajabulile Conochie, the co-founder of the Mpumalanga-based company, said the firm’s potential coronavirus pharmaceutical intervention was stymied by senior government officials despite a CSIR study having confirmed its capability to inhibit the growth of the Sars-CoV-2 virus and subsequently recommending animal and human trials in October last year. Lehohla told Sunday Independent that Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize’s advisors rejected Taban’s therapeutic bronchoscopy procedure in November last year even though it had already cured…

TailPiece TENNIS-COVID CASES ON PLAYER FLIGHTS LEAVE AUSTRALIAN OPEN BUILDUP ThE build-up to next month’s Australian Open was thrown into disarray on Saturday when 47 players were forced into two weeks of strict hotel quarantine after coronavirus infections were reported on two chartered flights carrying them to Melbourne. Two dozen players and their staff landed from Los Angeles to go into quarantine after an aircrew member and a passenger, who was not a player, tested positive for COVID-19. A further 23 players arriving by a chartered flight from Abu Dhabi met a similar fate after another non-player passenger was found positive, the organisers of the year’s first grand slam said in a statement. The players will “not be able to leave their hotel rooms for 14 days and until they…

GRAFT Ramaphosa “must appear before zondo” attitude on the part of Eskom on the deal that had been proposed and had been supported by various levels of management when I arrived at Eskom, is absolutely correct. I am not ashamed of this change in attitude that occurred when I arrived. “I was having Eskom’s interests and those of the country at heart. What was happening was wrong on many fronts and was literally going to financially ruin Eskom,” he said. “The Glencore position would have seen an inequitable situation. The poor and most vulnerable in the country would subsidise the dealings of the rich. There was no way that I could, with a clean conscience, attend public meetings and shout from the rooftops that Soweto residents needed to pay their…

New show seeks to reunite ’Abandoned’ adults with family AMANDA MALIBA amanda.maliba@inl.co.ca ABANDONMENT in Mzansi is one of those very sore issues in many communities that leaves lasting scars in the victims. In a bid to tackle the issue, Mzansi Magic's newest show, Abandoned seeks to delve straight to the importance of South Africans knowing their roots, and reuniting adults who were abandoned by a parent or parents at a young age by tracing them and reconciling the two parties. Unlike similar shows that have placed a heavy focus on fathers who have left their children, Abandoned zooms into the mother, allows the parent to engage on reasons for leaving and seeks to reunite the family. The show is presented by seasoned actress Phumeza Mdabe, who reveals that she went…

ACCUSES PRIVATE SCHOOLS OF WANTING TO SELF-REGULATE Enforce school guidelines – Cosatu sAMKELO MTsHALI COSATU wants the government to enforce the new guidelines on the re-opening of schools, saying it should not be “persuading” them, as the rule of law should apply equally to all citizens. This comes after the Department of Basic Education delayed the reopening of schools by two weeks in order to monitor the severity of the coronavirus. The labour federation agreed with the statement by Basic Education Deputy Minister Makgabo Reginah Mhaule that private schools that have already reopened would be persuaded – with the assistance of the National Alliance for Independent Schools Association – to follow the new protocols, while those private schools that had not reopened would be persuaded not to reopen. Mzwandile Matthews,…

Chaos outside Cape Sassa offices NATHAN ADAMS nathan.adams@inl.co.za SOCIAL Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu says it was painful to watch police using water cannons on crowds waiting for grant payouts in Cape Town in the Western Cape. Zulu has admitted she watched as the police used water cannons on the elderly and people with disabilities outside Sassa office in Bellville on Friday. It was “painful” to watch but the police had no other choice, said Zulu, who has come under fire for the “mishandling” of temporary disability grants which were stopped at the end of December. The DA wants the minister held accountable in Parliament for the Sassa grant debacle as people queued and spent the night outside government buildings this week. The party has written to Mondli Gungubele, chairperson of…

COVID-19 Undertakers claim KZN government let them down NOKWANDA NCWANE KWAZULU-NATAL undertakers have called on the government to help them carry the extra costs they continue to incur due to the high demand for their services because of the rapid increase of Covid-19-related deaths. This comes as the province battles to cope with the second wave of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 6 000 people and infected 273 452 as of Friday. Authorities also announced that the country’s cumulative Covid-19 figures exceeded 1.3 million, with 14 880 new cases and 1 062 690 recoveries. As Covid-19 took its toll on healthcare practitioners and the families of the victims, some undertakers accused the government of expecting them to carry the burden of the virus while marginalising them. Linda Ngema,…

GEM OF A JOURNALIST From rural village to front pages BALDWIN NDABA baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za SOUTH African journalism has lost one of its most priceless members – the vibrant and energetic Solly Maphumulo, who passed away as a result of a Covid-19-related illness. It is unbelievable that Solly succumbed to this pandemic, or to be precise, a natural death. I had expected the worst since her arrival in journalism. When Solly joined The Star in the early 2000s, she appeared naive, and it was probably because she came from KwaMaphumulo, a rural village in KwaZulu-Natal. Unknown to us, a gem had arrived. At the time, black journalists, except for a few, mostly editors, occupied junior positions in the newsroom. She also came at a time when female journalists were leaving in droves,…

OPINION Time has come to correct democratic hypocrisy LETEPE MAISELA “THE revolution will not be televised/ Will not be televised/Will not be televised/Will not be televised/The revolution will have no rerun, brothers/The revolution will be live…” With apologies to Gil Scott-Heron, this revolution of January 6, 2021 was televised. It had commercial breaks and instant reruns. The African-American poet and entertainer must be turning in his grave. President Donald Trump addressed his band of bandits and urged them on like General Custer did back in 1876, when he blew the bugle to make his last stand at the Battle of Little Bighorn. This time, however, in the 21st century, it started at a rally at the Ellipse, a park near the White House in Washington DC, in support of Trump,…

ICYMI | IOL.CO.ZA DEATH BY A THOUSAND CUTS GLOBAL SECURITY DEMO Challenges are what make life interesting, overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.JOSHUA J MARINE American author WHEN Donald Trump on Wednesday became the first president to be impeached twice, he did so as a leader increasingly isolated, sullen and vengeful. GONZALO FUENTES Reuters…

JAPAN Suicide cases jump 16% in second Covid-19 pandemic wave, study finds SUICIDE rates in Japan have jumped in the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly among women and children, even though they fell in the first wave when the government offered generous handouts to people, a survey found. The July-October suicide rate rose 16% from the same period a year earlier, a stark reversal of the February-June decline of 14%, according to the study by researchers at Hong Kong University and Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology. “Unlike normal economic circumstances, this pandemic disproportionately affects the psychological health of children, adolescents and females (especially housewives),” the authors wrote in the study published on Friday in the journal Nature Human Behaviour. The early decline in suicides was affected by such…

Aftershock rattles as quake toll climbs JAKARTA: A 5.0-magnitude aftershock rattled residents yesterday in an Indonesian province where at least 45 were killed and more than 600 injured in a shallow earthquake. Friday’s quake in West Sulawesi province toppled dozens of houses, trapping people beneath the rubble. The death toll rose to 45 yesterday, including 36 in the provincial capital, Mamuju, according to the local search and rescue agency. “Further aftershocks are expected, so we advise residents to remain calm and alert,” Raditya Jati, spokesperson for the National Disaster Management Agency, said. The hardest-hit towns were Mamuju and Majene. The earthquake displaced more than 15000 people and triggered at least three landslides, blocking roads linking Mamuju and Majene. Shallow earthquakes are up to 70km deep. dpa…

FOREIGN AFFAIRS ISRAEL Apartheid on the West Bank with SHANNON EBRAHIM Reuters ARCHBISHOP Desmond Tutu, numerous ANC stalwarts, former US president Jimmy Carter, and UN investigators have so far led the charge on the international stage that Israel is an apartheid state. But this week an unprecedented report was released by Israel’s most highly respected human rights organisation, B’Tselem, that clearly makes a case for why the world needs to see Israel for what it is – an apartheid state. Israel, which usually smears any criticism of its policies as antisemitism, will have a hard time using the slur against the country’s leading human rights group B’Tselem, which has provided ample backing for its conclusions. While the creation of an apartheid state has been long in the making, B’Tselem explains…

Black-owned group ready to assist with vaccine GIVEN MAJOLA given.majola@inl.co.za A BLACK-owned diversified health solutions company has pledged to use its network of 3000 registered nurses, who will travel throughout the country, and to provide over 150000 vaccinations per day, given the right conditions. AfroCentric this week said it would use its resources to help meet the National Department of Health’s phased approach for delivery, in partnership with the private sector, for the 1.25million front-line health-care workers prioritised for Phase 1 and 16million essential workers and high-risk people prioritised for Phase 2. AfroCentric chief executive Ahmed Banderker said the group was working closely with the government to procure Covid-19 vaccines as soon as they were approved by the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority and had the infrastructure to rapidly distribute…

REAL NUMBERS The deafening silence of pharmaceuticals on Covid-19 treatment PALI LEHOHLA THE PROCUREMENT of Covid-19 vaccine has dominated the news with some three distinct voices emerging against the use of the vaccine, the hoarding of vaccines from countries that have more than their fair share and the availability of forms of treatment that are cheaper and very effective against deafening silence by governments and big pharmaceuticals. A person of influence who has come under the lens is Bill Gates and what interests he has in vaccines. These have deepened discussions on the role of capital, capitalism, statehood and countries first. Canada, for example, has procured ten times the number of doses compared to their population. So in the midst of the pandemic some are taking and accumulating more even…

PODCAST ‘Remember When’ is the healthy nostalgia we need BUHLE MBONAMBI buhle.mbonambi@inl.co.za THERE was a time last year where I just couldn’t consume new content. Not that I wasn’t trying. I was. Almost daily I would choose whatever streaming platform I wanted, to pick a show and watch. Most times I would sigh, switch off and find myself gorging on another marshmallow. I just wasn’t able to watch or listen to anything new. Everything felt like a trigger for the uncertainty that was 2020. I would see people on social media raving about a particular show and of course, I would rush to try to catch an episode so that I could be part of the zeitgeist. And yet the second something in the show elicited an emotional reaction that…

SOCCER Astute Ncikazi’s tactics reap reward for sharp unbeaten Arrows ESHLIN VEDAN GOLDEN Arrows continued their good form in the DStv Premiership this season by recording a 1-0 win over Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila at the Princess Magogo Stadium in KwaZulu-Natal yesteday afternoon. Velemseni Ndwandwe, playing in his 50th game for Abafana Bes’thende continued his good form by notching his fourth league goal of the season in the 19th minute and giving his side the lead. Arrows play has been pleasing on the eye this season and they have often punished opposition teams on the counter attack. They had a good opportunity to double their lead just three minutes later after Sifiso Mlungwana’s distributed ball reached the path of Knox Mutizwa but TTM keeper Brighton Mhlongo did well to deny the…

EPL Liverpool a reality check for hunters Man U - Solskjaer MANCHESTER United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes todays Premier League match at champions Liverpool will be a test of his team's title credentials. Leaders United have 36 points from 17 games, three more than second-placed Liverpool before the blockbuster clash at Anfield and Solskjaer backed his team to extend their advantage with a victory on the back of their superb form. Solskjaer's side are unbeaten in 11 league games and have dropped only four points in that spell. "We know that we can beat anyone, anywhere on any given day. So to be able to go into a game like this, feeling if we play to our best that we can win, is a good feeling," Solskjaer told reporters…

Tail Piece ‘GO FOR IT,’ SAYS FIRST PERSON VACCINATED IN INDIA’S COVID-19 CAMPAIGN Hospital cleaning worker Manish Kumar became the first person in India to be vaccinated against COVID-19 on Saturday, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched one of the world’s largest immunisation campaigns to bring the pandemic under control. Kumar received his shot at Delhi’s premier All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), one of 3,006 vaccination centres established around the country. Reuters…

EDITOR’S NOTE A great newshound with a heart of gold zINGIsA MKHUMA zingisa.mkhuma@inl.co.za WE RECENTLY lost Solly Maphumulo. The late news editor of the Sunday Independent died last week due to complications related to her contraction of Covid-19. My heart bleeds for Solly’s family, her mom, sister, brothers, and her friends. I know it takes effort, love, faith, hope, prayers, tears, strength and many sacrifices for a mother to raise an African child and to nurture her into what Solly finally became – a great newshound with a big heart of gold. Solly, like many children from poor black families, represented the hope and aspiration of her parents, siblings and her community. It is the norm in many of our African families, once a child has overcome all the ills…

MZWANDILE WANDI NZIMANDE Memory of Loxion Kulca co-founder AMANDA MALIBA amanda.maliba@inl.co.ca THE death of Mzwandile ‘Wandi’ Nzimande, 44, a local designer and co-founder of popular streetwear and lifestyle brand Loxion Kulca, has gripped the hearts of many South Africans. He died this past Wednesday, from the deadly Covid-19 virus that has claimed more than 35 000 lives in South Africa to date. This week alone, South Africa recorded extremely high numbers of deaths due to the virus, with an all-time high of 806 deaths on Wednesday and 712 on Thursday. Nzimande’s death was confirmed by Kaya FM that Wednesday evening, where he was also a resident DJ known as DJ 1D. The celebrated multi-talented star leaves his wife Hlapho and three daughters Senzi, Zandi and Zwelethu. He is described as…

PSYCHOLOGY Mother of 2 pens book on beating the blues LESEGO MAKGATHO lesego.makgatho@inl.co.za MENTAL health coach and neuro-linguistic programming practitioner Laura Makhafola has laid bare her story of depression and abusive relationships in her new book, Through Hell But Not Consumed. The book also reflects on her life experience of surviving multidrug-resistant TB (MDR TB) and two suicide attempts. In the book, Makhafola reveals how she overcame her life struggles and uses her story to encourage those going through life’s predicaments to soldier on and never give up. She reminds readers that all hardships are not permanent, with the aim of giving them hope. Structured into 15 chapters, she begins her storytelling from the earlier years of her life, letting one in on the kind of child she was at…

PROVINCE’S POOR PLANNING WAS EXPOSED BY COVID-19 SECOND WAVE, DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE SAYS Gauteng health department ‘caught with pants down’ ROLAND MPOFU AND KARABO NGOEPE SIMPHIWE MBOKAZI African News Agency (ANA) AS THE Covid-19 infection numbers continue to skyrocket throughout the world and country, the Gauteng government has allegedly been found wanting and forced to play catchup. This is according to the DA's shadow MEC for health in the province, Jack Bloom, who this week said Gauteng was behind schedule in terms of completing hundreds of promised beds. Bloom said the province's poor planning was exposed by the second wave. He said the much-needed beds to cope with the wave were put in less populated areas instead of where the need is highest. “Why build extra beds at Jubilee Hospital (in…

EDUCATION Rostec college students’ long wait for qualifications LESEGO MAKGATHO lesego.makgatho@inl.co.za STUDENTS from a private college in Johannesburg have been left in limbo after having completed their studies, but with no qualifications to show for it. Rostec College students in Johannesburg have raised concerns over the institution’s legitimacy following delays in the issuing of certificates. Students who have completed their one-year course in Tactical Road Operations through the college have told Sunday Independent they have been waiting for more than a year for their certificates, hampering their ability to apply for jobs. Mandla Ramashile, 20, said he had completed his one-year course in Tactical Road Traffic Operations with the college in 2019, but was still waiting for his certificate. “I completed my course in December 2019, but I, and many…

A fine news editor ROLAND MPOFU roland.mpofu@inl.co.za FOR the past two months I got to know the late Solly Maphumulo as our news editor. I will forever cherish that short period. Maphumulo was friendly but strictly professional when it came to work-related matters. I remember one story we worked on, titled: “R350 grant battle at post office”, about violent scenes outside the Orange Farm post office where the grant beneficiaries jostled to have access to their money. Maphumulo asked where the pictures were and I said: “It wasn't safe for us to take one”. She said “Okay. Wigwala.” Which meant you are a coward. This shows how fearless she was as a journalist. Maphumulo added: “Before a journalist leaves the office it’s important to know if that is a story…

WHEN FIGHTING A PANDEMIC, A DYNAMIC AND ROBUST COMMUNICATION STRATEGY IS NOT AN OPTIONAL EXTRA It’s time to d itch the ‘family meeting’, Mr President TINYIKO MALULEKE ALL the platitudes about being science-led, all the clichés about obtaining a balance between lives and livelihoods, all the lockdowns, all the president’s mournful “fellow South Africans” exhortations, all the follow-up ministerial briefings and all the glittering PowerPoint vaccine roll-out strategy presentations will come to nought; if President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Cabinet do not craft a dynamic, responsive and robust communication strategy, urgently. Until now the government appears to be stuck on an announcements-model of communication – epitomised by the bi-weekly ‘family meetings’ in which the president briefly appears on our TV screens to read out a speech. This is then followed…

EDITORIAL Zulu needs to answer for Sassa grants chaos THE Sassa grant debacle this week, which led to beneficiaries, some among the most vulnerable in our society, queueing overnight outside government offices and sleeping on flimsy, cardboard boxes on the pavement, is egregious. More than 200000 desperate people around the country who qualify for temporary disability grants were forced to reapply for the lapsed grant which was stopped at the end of December. Many of these applicants probably used this meagre stipend to help provide for their families and put food on the table. Other applicants in the long queues also included people who had become eligible for pensions, as well as the mothers of babies born during the lockdown. In Cape Town, the situation was exacerbated on Friday when…

Little sign of compliance with virus safety at home SINCE the first case of Covid-19 was recorded in South Africa, many sectors have faced devastation from the virus. Covid-19 has proven that it is not only just a respiratory disease, but a social and economic one too. A lot of teaching and learning time was lost last year when schools had to be closed. Once again we saw how privilege allowed those who could carry on learning online to benefit, and those who just languished at home without access to data missed out. Some teachers and schools were ill-equipped for the reality of learning from home. But, as the virus continued to kill the old and the young, rich and poor, many township streets were a buzz of activity like…

The People Germany’s CDU elects Laschet as Merkel’s successor in runoff BERLIN: Electing Armin Laschet, pictured left, as the leader of Germany’s ruling party was the “right choice” for its future and policies, CDU member and ex-lawmaker Heinrich Zertik told Sputnik. Earlier yesterday, Laschet, the premier of the most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, was elected as the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), beating Friedrich Merz in a runoff. The party’s online congress took place in the run-up to a planned departure by Angela Merkel, pictured right, after the elections. “We had strong candidates, but the delegates have made their choice. This is my chief, I myself live in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. I believe that the delegates made the right choice for the development of the…

RUSSIA Ally of poisoned Kremlin critic Navalny jailed MOSCOW: Pavel Zelensky, a member of the Anti-Corruption Foundation team of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, was jailed by a Moscow court yesterday until February 28 on charges of inciting extremism on the internet, according to a court statement. His detention by the Presnensky District Court comes a day before Navalny’s planned return to Russia since being poisoned in August and evacuated to Germany, where he has been recuperating. Zelensky was detained on Friday, the head of Agora, a human rights group, said on social media, and will now spend more than a month in pre-trial detention. His case revolves around a tweet posted last October, Agora cited the camera operator’s lawyer as saying. The tweet contained a photo of Irina Slavina, a…

Sex workers move online to make living AMBER COURT amber.court@inl.co.za TRACEY ADAMS African News Agency (ANA) SEX workers who are struggling to make a living during the Covid-19 pandemic are turning to the internet to make money as virtual sex is not only lucrative but safer. OnlyFans, a London-based content subscription service, provides its content creators, sex workers in this case, with a website to earn money from clients who subscribe to their specific content. Although content creators can use the service to showcase their art, music or any other talents, it has become a site for adult entertainment and performance to bloom. A Cape Town sex worker who did not want to be named uses the Only-Fans website to make a living. “The initial start of lockdown resulted in…

ICYMI | IOL.CO.ZA WHATSAPP DATA BREACH Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart — and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.STEVE JOBSDeceased co-founder of Apple As WhatsApp faces intense scrutiny over its upcoming data and privacy policy, another user data violation has been reported, this time on the WhatsApp on Desktop (Web) application, allegedly exposing personal mobile numbers via indexing on Google Search.…

Tractor sales plough ahead GIVEN MAJOLA given.majola@inl.co.za TRACTOR sales in South Africa increased a massive 24 percent in December, suggesting a recovery in the agricultural sector. The SA Agricultural Machinery Association (Saama) this week said tractor vendors sold 432 units last month compared to 349 sold in the comparative period the prior year. Saama chairperson Karel Munnik said that basis tractor sales in 2020 rose 9 percent on the full calendar year compared to 2019. “In December there were three combine harvester sales, the same as in December last year,” Munnik said. “For the full calendar year combine harvester sales were 25.0 percent up on the previous year.” Agriculture has proved resilient in the face of Covid-19 against most sectors of the economy that have recorded massive declines. Last year…

BIZ 101 The best survival tips for businesses in 2021 BEN BIERMAN IF YOUR business made it through 2020, you have survived one of the biggest collective economic crises of our generation. But, as the national lockdown level 3 is extended, it is important to reflect on why some proved more resilient than others, even within the same industry and region. In this sense, the past year has provided invaluable insight for businesses. Here are survival tips for 2021. Information In the fog of the crisis, reliable information has proven vital to business survival. Businesses who cultivated solid sources of information such as news organisations, business associations and carefully-selected individuals within their networks, were able to withstand the considerable misinformation polluting social media. This, in turn, enabled calm and accurate…

STARS TANYA OBREZA Aries (March 21 - April 20) This week Mars provides a financial and intellectual boost. Right now your imagination’s firing, and so is your energy. Just make sure the left hand knows what the right is doing - whether it be yours or someone else’s. Other cosmic forces might try to slow professional progress, but Aries determination wins through. Taurus (April 21 - May 20) If there’s to be any conflict, look to relationships. Mostly because the planets are meddling where they shouldn’t. Even so, take this chance to express unresolved anger - but in a constructive way. As peace returns towards late week, you again head in a positive direction. But if still feeling unsure, sympathetic friends lend a comforting shoulder. Gemini (May 21 - June…

CRICKET Luus ready after lessons in class from teachers Ruz and Van Niekerk ZAAHIER ADAMS MUZI NTOMBELA BackpagePix THE Indian Premier League has often been credited for the growth and development of men's cricketers all around the world. Former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis is a case in point. Du Plessis regularly references the influence former India skipper and Chennai Super Kings master tactician Mahendra Singh Dhoni had on his leadership style. It should therefore be no surprise that Proteas Women's team stand-in captain Sune Luus would have learnt similar lessons from legendary former India captain Mithali Raj during their time together at the Velocity in the recent Women's T20 Challenge played in the United Arab Emirates. "Mithali's been in the game for so long, been in various situations as…

CRICKET Farce can’t stop Dolphins and Knights reaching Momentum Cup semis STUART HESS stuart.hess@inl.co.za THE Dolphins and Knights qualified for the semi-finals of the Momentum One-Day Cup, after the final rounds of matches in the Pool A of the competition were decimated by bad weather in Potchefstroom. An already challenging season for cricket in South Africa, descended into virtual farce with just two matches completed in the Pool A of a competition, in which the schedule had to be readjusted and the teams put into a bio-secure environment in Potchefstroom. The rain may have been welcomed by the local farmers, but it did nothing for Cricket South Africa which has already had to postpone the Four-Day Series while also pushing back the start of amateur cricket in the country owing…