Innholdsfortegnelse for 2021-08-29 i Sunday Independent

Child birth registration in SA remains challenging Pali Lehohla Allow me to recognise the presence and message of His Majesty King Letsie The Third. What then accompanies our appreciation are the lessons emerging from my sister-in-law’s life. Some people are born into this world, live their lives and depart without a trace. Ideally, every birth, marriage, divorce and death should be recorded. Yet they are not. The parish system used to fulfil this role by issuing baptismal certificates to confirm that a birth occurred. Modern systems of civil registration are commonplace in countries although coverage of registration of events in some remains low. The existence of this challenge became stark when we buried my sister-in-law last week, in Mafeteng Lesotho. She had passed on after a lengthy illness. She leaves…

Ezinne Ezepue Since the record-breaking success of Ramsey Nouah’s 2019 sequel to the Nollywood classic, Living in Bondage, the Nigerian film industry has been overtaken by a frenzy of remakes and sequels of classics from the 1990s. These new nostalgia-driven movies have recently proved popular among viewers, becoming top earners at the local box-office. Successful examples include Living in Bondage: Breaking Free, which has won major continental awards. Funke Akindele’s Omo Ghetto: The Saga is a sequel to Abiodun Olarenwaju’s Omo Ghetto. It’s currently the highest grossing film in Nigeria. The sequels to Kemi Adetiba’s The Wedding Party and Toke Mcbaror’s Merry Men have earned nearly as much as their prequels. Netflix has also joined in the action. The streaming company is distributing remakes of Zeb Ejiro’s Nneka the…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za HOME Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi and the department’s director-general, Livhuwani Makhode, have released a Ugandan couple detained for being in South Africa illegally due to their sexual orientation. Motsoaledi and Makhode were ordered to release Herbert Mafadi and Luzake Musana last month after they approached the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg to demand their release. The couple told the high court they would face persecution in their country and should therefore be allowed to remain in South Africa. Motsoaledi’s spokesperson Siyabulela Qoza confirmed the department had complied with the judgment ordering the couple’s release. South Gauteng High Court Judge Margaret Victor ruled in favour of Mafadi and Musana in their bid to remain in South Africa. Mafadi and Musana fled Uganda in November last year…

From Page 1 “If the ANC does not succeed in the Electoral Court there will be coalitions in municipalities. It will change the face of local government if the Electoral Court rejects their application because they won’t participate in the elections. All municipalities have collapsed because of corruption, incompetence and cadre deployment,” said Bloem. Political analyst Tinyiko Maluleke said signs of decay are beginning to manifest in the ANC and its inability to pay workers is a symptom of decay just like its inability to register for the elections properly and on time. “Both are manifestations of decay. Rampant corruption has brought us to this point where we are now discussing corruption day in and day out at the Zondo Commission. This too, is the symptom of the decay in…

Tshepiso Tshabalala In a bid to bring together diverse thought leaders in global fashion and design, tMidwest Fashion Week introduced a bespoke offering that focuses on a small group of designers across product lines. The project, dubbed Connexions, will take place in Parktown North, Joburg, in late September. According to Odysseus Shirindza, the event’s curator, who is also an art and fashion director at Gallery MOMO, the spectacular live fashion show will give designers a chance to bring their brand vision to life outside of the conventional runway presentation, as participating designers will be allocated a space to display their signature designs in the form of a static installation and a live model. “The Connexions initiative seeks to grow the already established fashion community beyond the Midwest and…

WE, the people, no longer think that when judgment is handed down, the trial is the final stage in the justice system process. Sentenced or convicted persons generally have the right to appeal against or seek review of conviction and sentence. There is no reason to think a convicted person will not exercise this right. My understanding of common law is that appeals are there to provide for a correction of possible errors of differences of opinion about the finding of the facts or about formulating or applying rules of law. Such a process is indeed an important feature of developed legal systems. The Constitutional Court (Concourt) is South Africa’s highest court when it comes to the interpretation, protection and enforcement of the constitution. The Concourt does not hear evidence…

When a friend, Sipho, arrived at the police station he thought deeply about it and decided against it as he made a U-turn. He had gone to report an incident of abuse at the hands of his spouse. But there was no privacy at the police station, he feared ridicule, as he looked around the half-full charge office. After all he was a man and men are strong, they swallow pain and never cry because they are powerful. The paradox of these stereotypes is that they lead to strong men who have embraced toxic masculinity and the same societal stereotypes create monsters and dragons who know no bounds. Many institutions in our society are to blame: religious groups, families, schools, government as well as some of our traditions. Communities have…

The military presence of the US in Africa is strategic and enduring. It ensures a fragmented continent, easily pliable to the West’s interests and a convenient site for the “new Cold War”. In 1965, Ghana’s former president Kwame Nkrumah published an important book, Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism, which reflected on the phenomenon of military bases. These had been commonplace during the time of high colonialism, with bases across the continent from the British base at Salisbury in former Rhodesia (present-day Harare, Zimbabwe) to the French base at Mers El Kébir in Algeria. The British and the US militaries had bases in Libya, from the Wheelus Air Base to the military posts in Tobruk and El Adem. In return for the land and the right to barrack troops…

Hannah Allam and Souad Mekhennet For months, terrorism analysts warned that Islamic State-linked militants in Afghanistan would try to turn the Biden administration’s exit into a bloody spectacle. On Thursday in Kabul, those predictions were realised. Isis-Khorasan, the Islamic State’s Afghanistan and Pakistan arm, issued a statement claiming responsibility for the suicide bombing attacks that killed 13 US service members more than 110 Afghans in an attack outside the airport. More than 1 330 people were reportedly injured. The series of blasts ripped through crowds of civilians who were clamouring for a chance to flee before the US withdrawal deadline on Tuesday. With its signature blend of complexity and cruelty, the attack was seen by many observers as a reminder to both the Americans and the Taliban that, no…

RED Bull’s Max Verstappen mastered the rain to claim the Belgian Grand Prix pole yesterday, snatching the fastest time in qualifying from surprise package George Russell of Williams. Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes will start on the second row as he goes for his 100th Grand Prix win, with Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren completing the second row. Qualifying was marred by a heavy crash in Q3 involving the McLaren of Lando Norris, whose hopes of a first ever pole bit the dust at Eau Rouge. With the Briton escaping serious injury, nine cars took to the track when the shoot-out resumed after a 40-minute red flag intervention. Fellow Briton Russell was poised to give Williams an astonishing first pole since 2001 with seconds of Q3 to go. But the young driver’s brilliant time…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za BITCOIN topped $50 000 (about R745 000) last week, continuing to rebound from a sell-off in June and last month. The Bitcoin price slipped to $47 462 on Friday. It hit an all-time high, of more than $64 000 in April, but sold-off heavily, dipping below $30 000 in June andlast month. Tougher regulatory scrutiny from Chinese authorities that forced bitcoin mining operations to shut down has fuelled the decline. The hashrate had since begun to recover as miners set up mining facilities in other parts of the world. Hashrate is the computing power used for mining. But Bitcoin has been on a steady rise since the middle of last month. Luno Africa general manager Marius Reitz said that with the latest push to $50 000…

Buhle Mbonambi buhle.mbonambi@inl.co.za I WAS at an event late last year, just before the second wave ran rampant in South Africa. Everyone was dressed to the nines, probably the first time they had worn their Sunday best in months. There were masked air kisses and elbow bumps. There were “OMG, I love that on you” comments as well as, “Pity it doesn’t fit them as well as they thought it did.” Even though I am a wallflower, more comfortable to observe the things happening around me, I tried to be as social as possible, wearing my Gwen Gill hat and greeting people I knew. My perennial alter ego in full bloom. It was then that I overheard a comment that still shocks me to the core. “I’m so sad. I…

Our Ghosts Were Once People – Stories On Death And Dying (Bongani Kona) Featuring contributions from Sisonke Msimang, Mary Watson, Karin Schimke, Hedley Twiddle, Shubnum Khan, and Malika Ndlovu, this is a poignant and thought-provoking anthology edited by Bongani Kona. The book sees these writers share portraits of grief from the personal and philosophical to the political. Their stories transform the pain of death into something beautiful so that we can find ways to live with loss. White Lotus (Showmax) Connie Britton. Natasha Rothwell. Molly Shannon. Jennifer Coolidge. These four women are the stars of HBO Max’s latest hit drama, White Lotus. A number of people spend a week at a resort called White Lotus. A couple is on honeymoon, a family is trying to reconnect, while a…

Mzilikazi wa Afrika and Manyane Manyane New City Power chief executive Mongezi Ntsokolo has been in the job for five months and there’s already uncertainty around his position. Ntsokolo was appointed to the position to run City Power’s R68.1 billion budget from the beginning of April this year. City Power spokesperson, Isaac Mangena, yesterday said the board had asked Ntsokolo to take special leave for two weeks. “The decision comes after the board meeting where media queries about his issues at his previous employer – the alleged intention by his previous employer to suspend him and subsequent separation package – were discussed. “The board felt that there may not have been proper declaration from him and requested Group Forensic Investigation Services to investigate the allegations, including issues of declarations to…

Manyane Manyane manyane.manyane@inl.co.za Former president Jacob Zuma’s legal battles are costing him an arm and a leg. And to make matters worse, he no longer enjoys the privilege of a state war chest to foot his legal bills. His foundation this week reached out to the public asking for donations to help pay the mounting bill. “We humbly request donations support to help cover the legal fees of our patron,” read the plea put out on Twitter. The plea comes as Zuma continues to receive treatment for an undisclosed medical condition. The stay at the hospital follows his incarceration for contempt of court after he defied a Constitutional Court order to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture. Prior to commencing his 15-month jail sentence at…

From Page 1 Ntsokolo was retrenched from Eskom in December 2018. A forensic investigation is said to have uncovered how he failed to declare his business interests in two companies that had multimillion-rand contracts with the power utility. But Ntsokolo’s version is different from this assertion. “My tenure, and those of other executives, ended with retrenchment as the utility sought to save costs. The only regret in the professional relationship was the inconclusive investigative processes of accusations of maladministration and conflict of interest against myself. “The lack of substance and truth to the allegations has led to neither organisational nor criminal charges proffered against me to date. The allegations and investigation had no material impact in my departure through the retrenchment door.” The Sunday Independent understands that City Power will…

Don Makatile don.makatile@inl.co.za As the Methuselah of the press in the country, I’m always averse to reading the narcissism of fellow scribes couched as memoirs. The most accommodating I can be is to bury my head in the Sunday papers. I’m glad I made an exception with this book, Comrade Editor: On life, journalism and the birth of Namibia, partly because of the easy flowing prose and a huge bout of sentimentality. Of course I was not going to read Gwen Lister but I remembered the byline from many years ago when bravery in journalism was a tool of the trade. Born in the Eastern Cape, the child of an itinerant Barclays Bank employee, after her father’s posting she’d return to Windhoek, the capital of the then South West Africa…

Tshepiso Tshabalala The DA in Gauteng has raised concerns over burglaries and vandalism at numerous schools in the province. The party said more than R2 million worth of crucial resources have been lost and over 1 000 schools have opened cases as a result of these criminal activities. This was revealed when Gauteng MEC for Community Safety Faith Mazibuko responded to questions from the DA MPL Khume Ramulifho this week. Ramulifho said that the party was concerned about the low arrest and conviction rates considering the high number of reported cases. He also said these criminal activities occur during school holidays, thus the party proposed that the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) should prioritise safeguarding schools by installing fencing, CCTV cameras and hiring security personnel and link the schools with…

I may not have been one of the women partaking in the 1956 march, but I can only imagine what it must have felt like. When women come together to achieve a common goal, the possibilities are endless. The closest I would be to such wisdom would be when Papa brought home a copy of the Sowetan from work. Mampone, my grandmother, would make me read almost every page out loud and translate the stories to her in Sesotho. I only found out much later in my teens that my gran was previously employed as a healthcare worker, and she could read and write English. A tad bit too late, I must add, because at that stage, I could read and translate a tabloid, including specials at OK – a…

ON JULY 12, the unrest in Durban caused a devastating chemical inferno when a warehouse was set alight. The warehouse was rented by Mumbai- based multinational UPL, an agrochemical manufacturer and marketer with an annual turnover of $5.4 billion (about R80bn). The UPL fire raged for 10 days. Immediately, residents in the surrounding areas started complaining of polluted air. As firefighters, unaware of the warehouse contents, fought the flames, the contaminated run-off found its way into the Ohlanga River, the uMhlanga lagoon and beaches north of Durban. Dead fish and shellfish littered the beaches and surfers started to complain of rashes. As more of the chemicals entered the river and lagoon, turning them an eerie bright blue, eThekwini municipality was forced to shut its northern beaches. By the time the…

Chad Williams Chad.Williams@africannewsagency.com With nearly three quarters of Sierra Leone battling to access electricity, Jeremiah Thoronka, 21, saw an opportunity to power up the West African country, literally step by step. He is a Commonwealth Youth Award Winner, UN Millennium Fellow, Global Teen Leader, Student Energy Fellow, and the founder of Optim Energy, an innovative energy start-up that uses kinetic energy and vibration to generate clean, affordable and accessible energy. Thoronka is an innovator, researcher, entrepreneur, energy and environmental enthusiast with a passion for making life easier for thousands of people in Sierra Leone. Thoronka is the young entrepreneur who runs an initiative that provides energy to more than 10 000 people, with the aim of lifting 100 000 people out of energy poverty within the next five years. In…

ASHFAK MOHAMED NTANDO Mahlangu had only recently decided to compete in the long jump at the Tokyo Paralympics, and the decision paid dividends when he claimed a gold medal in the T63 class yesterday. In addition, he produced a world-record jump on two occasions in the T61 category – with the final being a combined class of T61 and T63 for double amputees – leaping to 7.02m in his first attempt and then 7.17m in his final jump. It was a memorable night for Team South Africa on the athletics track, as Anrune Weyers also grabbed a gold medal in the women’s 400m T47 class in a time of 56.05 seconds, providing the country’s first two podium finishes in Tokyo. Mahlangu was initially only running in the 200m T61 category…

PEP Guardiola ruled out signing a striker before next week’s transfer deadline after Manchester City rubbed salt into Arsenal’s wounds with a 5-0 thrashing yesterday to inflict the Gunners’ worst start to a league season since 1954. City’s week had been dominated by transfer speculation as Harry Kane confirmed he will remain at Tottenham this season with Spurs unwilling to sell the England captain. Cristiano Ronaldo was then rumoured to be making a sensational move to the Etihad, but opted instead to return to Manchester United. Yet, even without the injured Kevin De Bruyne and with Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez on the bench, City showed the wealth of attacking options on offer to Guardiola as Ferran Torres scored twice, while Ilkay Gundogan, Gabriel Jesus and Rodrigo were also on…

Wesley Diphoko wesley.diphoko@inl.co.za Shoprite Holdings has announced its cashierless store, Whitey Basson’s grand vision which includes the expansion of high-speed digital systems. According to the book Fortunes: The rise and rise of Afrikaner tycoons, Basson considers Amazon one of his favourite companies. It was therefore no surprise when his company announced a system that was inspired by Amazon Go – the first cashierless store in the world. Amazon Go is a chain of convenience stores in the US and the UK, operated by the online retailer. The stores are partially automated, with customers able to purchase products without being checked out by a cashier or using a self-checkout station. When a similar concept was announced in South Africa it raised unemployment concerns. Some wondered what would happen to cashiers if…

Ben Bierman SOUTH African women entrepreneurs do more than just create jobs – they contribute significantly to human-capital development. This was highlighted in the inaugural South African Women Entrepreneurs Job Creators Survey, which featured responses from 913 women entrepreneurs in the country from November 2020 to April 2021. The results showed that 80% of women entrepreneurs have invested in employee training in the past 12 months. Another point of interest that the survey brought to the fore was the fact that female employers prioritise factors like work-readiness and soft skills over an academic or vocational qualification. This finding is encouraging – as it shows that female entrepreneurs are willing to look beyond hard skills and see that candidates have the potential to learn and grow in their roles. It’s an…

Debashine Thangevelo Debashine.thangevelo@inl.co.za During our Zoom video chat this week, I could have sworn that I was chatting with Vivica A Fox’s younger self from like 30 years back. Aside from her unmistakable exuberance, sylphlike and fresh-faced, she belied her 57 years. I guess it’s true what they say, “Black don’t crack!” In fact, don’t take my word for it, go check out the social media pictures of her recent birthday pool bash. The interview started on a zestful note. She said: “Hello, there darling. It’s top of the day from LA and I’m awake for ya’ll.” With only 10-minutes on the clock, I wasted no time in diving right into it and asked the actress-turned-producer about finding her niche with The Wrong movie franchise. She explained: “The franchise literally…

Roland Mpofu roland.mpofu@inl.co.za The call by Limpopo Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba to deny citizens the right to buy liquor until they are vaccinated against Covid-19, has been described as misguided and tantamount to apartheid laws. Health Minister Joe Phaahla this week hinted at moves to make vaccination mandatory as vaccine hesitancy sees fewer-than-expected people lining up at vaccination sites for shots. Last week, Ramathuba startled many with her proposal. She said the government was grappling with Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy and such a move would help change attitudes. But Cosatu and the SA Council of Churches (SACC) find this logic unconvincing. Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said such proposals from senior government officials were misguided. “This level of intolerance and victimisation is reminiscent of the old order that we rejected and replaced…

Edwin Naidu The launch of a Microsoft Innovation Hub in Queenstown, Chris Hani District Municipality economic hub, highlights the importance of a public private partnership in addressing the country’s socio-economic ills and bridging the digital divide, said Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane. Speaking at the Microsoft Virtual Innovation Hub Eastern Cape Launch, Komani Health Resource Centre, Komani (formerly Queenstown), in the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality, the premier said he was also pleased that Walter Sisulu University as a tertiary institution was a strategic partner in this project. “Clearly, this shows that our universities are no longer ivory towers as they used to be in the past, far removed from the harsh socio-economic difficulties that continue to torment the masses of our people on a daily basis,” he said during the…

Amanda Maliba amanda.maliba@inl.co.za Phinel Sefatsa, better known as DJ Finzo, is not only a TV star, as part of the cast of Moja Love’s latest reality show Giants of the City, but he is also a blossoming DJ in the streets of Bloemfontein, Free State. The 37-year-old hails from the small town of Senekal, in the East of Free State, having to fight extra hard to achieve his dreams against the odds of social stereotypes about dwarfism. “It was definitely not easy growing up with dwarfism. Remember during those times, our communities were not educated enough about disabilities and how to deal with them, effectively. “There were some people who were nice, and of course some were not. But, growing up with strong faith-based parents, I was able…

August affords an opportunity to reflect on the emancipation of women as a crucial aspect of national liberation. It is important to note that male chauvinism and all the myriad forms of women’s oppression do not suddenly disappear on the morning of the revolution. The oppression of women is older than virtually every form of exploitation and bondage, it has existed throughout man’s entire recorded history. It permeates every single aspect of human life and is so ingrained in every human being that the average person is largely unconscious of its pernicious effects. Patriarchy, or male domination, emerges as a historical development, not a natural fact, and it can only develop historically when men have the power and resources to control the lives of women. The oppression of women is…

THE pandemic struck a decisive blow to the 2021 Local Government Elections. The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) faced a “damned if you do, and damned if you don’t” choice. Such dilemmas are called Hobson’s Choice. The options were 1) continue with the election as scheduled and possibly enable national super-spreader events or 2) delay the elections and defy our Constitution. That the IEC chose the latter is public knowledge. The pandemic notwithstanding, the IEC faces further challenges persuading voters, particularly the youth, to return to the ballot box when the elections eventually occur. Voter disenchantment is progressively eroding participation. The youth stayaway could even become habitual, with dire consequences for our future democracy. It is comforting that our IECs integrity remains intact as analyses reveal that the voter…

A FEW days after the Taliban militants stormed into a defenceless Afghan capital, Kabul, India reacted in its own way. The government of Narendra Modi, which had been kept out of the loop by the countries that are negotiating with the Taliban, chose to be circumspect about the geopolitical blitz that the world witnessed in Afghanistan. His party and its noisy front organisations hysterically attacked the Islamic extremists as if they had entered India. In the state of Uttar Pradesh, which goes to the polls next year, the saffron-robed Hindu monk, Yogi Adityanath, promptly announced the setting up of an anti-terrorist police squad at Deoband, the town in which the famous Muslim seminary known to be the ideological forebear to the Taliban nestles. Though there is no threat coming from…

Mihlali Baleka mihlali.baleka@inl.co.za GOLDEN ARROWS (1)(1) Dlamini 6’ MAMELODI SUNDOWNS (0)(1) Safranko 86’ PAVOL Safranko came off the bench to score a late equaliser for Mamelodi Sundowns who kept alive their aspirations of winning the MTN8 after their 1-1 draw with Golden Arrows in the semi-final first leg at a wet and windy Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium. Despite dominating local football for the last nine years, winning almost all the trophies on offer, the Brazilians have never won the top eight competition since it was renamed 14 years ago, having been previously known as the SAA Supa8.…

Mark Keohane mark.keohane@inl.co.za CRICKET South Africa’s new leadership were given an opportunity to action their words when it comes to their supposed fight against racial discrimination but chairperson Lawson Naidoo’s words are proving to be hollow and his silence in the wake of Mark Boucher’s admission earlier this week has been deafening. Naidoo, a few months ago, was appointed as Cricket South Africa’s delegate to the ICC but any prospect that a change in leadership would bring about a change in attitude at CSA was blown away this week with Naidoo’s voice nowhere to be heard, despite Proteas coach Boucher admitting in affidavits that he was part of the playing group that called coloured national teammate Paul Adams ‘brown s**t’. Boucher attempted to explain it all away by blaming CSA…