Innholdsfortegnelse for 2021-11-14 i Sunday Independent

INTERNATIONAL Fraud Awareness Week – recognised from November 15 to 21, 2021 – is of particular relevance to South African small and medium enterprises (SMEs) considering the extent of economic crime in the country and the significant threat it poses to local businesses. According to a recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Global Economic Crime and Fraud Survey, about 7 percent of South African companies who were defrauded in some way over the past 24 months lost in excess of R740 million, with 4 percent reporting direct losses of more than R1.5 billion. Most recently, South Africa has faced its own pandemic above and beyond Covid-19 – a cybercrime pandemic with a dramatic spike in internet-based offences and bank detail fraud. One of the most common…

Wesley Diphoko In RECENT days, South Africans have felt the true impact of challenges at Eskom. Many have been without electricity for more hours than before. This has affected their quality of life in business, education and health. It has become clear that South Africans will have to find alternative methods to keep going while Eskom develops a long-term solution. In view of this, over the next few weeks, BizTech will be taking a look at how people across the world have coped with similar challenges, starting with California in the US. Hundreds of thousands of homes in California lost power early on recently as windy, dry weather increased the risk of fire, prompting the electric utility, PG&E, to shut down the grid to avoid any chance…

Debashine Thangevelo debashine.thangevelo@inl.co.za So I added AppleTV+ to my streaming options this week. As ridiculous as this may sound, I wanted something different to sink my teeth into. And I found two choices. The first one was The Oprah Conversation, where the queen of talk show had a sit down with Will Smith to discuss his memoir, Will. When it comes to tell-alls, Oprah has the Midas touch. Not going to lie though, I want to get my hands on the book now. And then I stumbled onto the crime drama Truth Be Told, which is based on Kathleen Barber’s novel, Are You Sleeping, with Octavia Spencer, Kate Hudson and Mekhi Phifer as the leads. The second season dropped recently. Spencer is one of my favourite actresses. Like Viola…

More famous men are wearing dresses: from actor Billy Porter on the red carpet to singer-songwriter Harry Styles on the cover of Vogue. They have prompted much commentary, both positive and negative, leading fashion commentators to ask if frocks might become a regular part of men’s sartorial landscape. At this year’s Met Gala, racing car driver Lewis Hamilton wore a white lace dress over a black suit and singer Troye Sivan wore a simple black gown. More recently, rapper Lil Nas X wore a purple suit with a matching train to the MTV Video Music Awards and a Cinderella-style gown at an earlier award ceremony. The trend signifies a return to ancient sartorial norms, when more androgynous clothing was accepted and, indeed, required. Such clothes were not “dresses” as we…

The demise of FW, Frederik Willem de Klerk leaves one empty of emotion. One never knows whether to laugh or cry. His death at his Fresnaye, Cape Town, home on Thursday aged 85 leaves no middle ground. A trained attorney, he had no qualms as Apartheid South Africa’s Minister of National Education and Planning denying black students the right to study at the so-called white universities. When he went to pray, it was at the Dutch Reformed Church, better known as the ‘National Party at prayer’ at the height of Apartheid. Many believe that such a man had a Damascus moment when he released Nelson Mandela and unbanned all political parties, setting the country on the path to democracy. Another half believe that he had no option, lest history left…

Manyane Manyane manyane.manyane@inl.co.za COVID-19 vaccines are not mandatory in South Africa and yet some employers have started firing or retrenching unvaccinated employees and the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) director Cameron Morajane has confirmed that so far they have received 10 referrals which they have “redlined”. Last month, the Labour Department ruled that companies which make Covid-19 vaccinations mandatory for their staff would have to compensate their workers should they suffer side effects, illness or death from the jab. And President Cyril Ramaphosa had declared in one of his “family meeting” statements that Covid-19 vaccines are not mandatory. But he clearly left the door open for individual companies and establishments to formulate their own policies. Discovery - one of the largest medical aid scheme administrators in SA -…

From P1 Manala said the reasons for the boys’ roadside drop-off were still unknown, and could not be commented on until the evidence and circumstances around the kidnapping and the boys’ return were more apparent. Social media speculation linked controversial businessman Zunaid Moti with the Moti family, but it was soon revealed that there was no connection between the namesakes, be it personal, professional or familial. A member of the Nirvana community said she looked forward to seeing the family return to being active within the community when life returned to normal. “The Moti family have always been active and respected members of Nirvana, and we miss seeing them around town or the boys out on their bicycles. That being said, as a community it is our mandate to pull…

Roland Mpofu roland.mpofu@inl.co.za The Gauteng Health Department has come under fire from the DA for its failure to spend more than R1 billion of its budget over the past financial year. According to DA health spokesperson MPL Jack Bloom, the department failed to spend R1.1bn of its total budget of R58.8bn in its 2020/21 financial year, from April 1, 2020 to March 31 this year. The information was disclosed in the department’s recently tabled 2020/2021 annual report. Bloom said this was a massive amount of money that should have been used to help hospitals overwhelmed at the time by Covid-19 cases, when lives were lost that could have been saved with more staff and equipment. “District Health Services had an underspend of R407 million, and Central Hospital Services failed to…

Amanda Maliba amanda.maliba@inl.co.za Thursday evening had to be the busiest night in Jozi. From the Feather Awards that took place at the Market Theatre to Kelly Khumalo celebrating the launch of the live DVD version of her The Voice of Africa (TVOA) album, the atmosphere was generally charged with celebrations. Among the many festivities that set Jozi ablaze was the celebration of the much anticipated second season of Giyani: Land of Blood, that made its return to the small screens at the beginning of this month after a successful first season run. The creators invited a handful of guests to gather for the celebration, at one Sandton hotel’s quaint gardens where the spectacle went down. And just as the invitation promised “a once in a lifetime Giyani experiential event”, they…

Lesego Makgatho lesego.makgatho@inl.co.za Given the climate of gender-based violence (GBV) and never-ending racism in South Africa (and globally), it is imperative that we share stories, encourage dialogue and spread awareness on women empowerment and the true meaning of equality. One such writer who contributes to the global discourse around GBV and highlights issues faced by women across the world is British-Indian author and visionary Shaheen Chishti. Chishti reflects on these systematic issues in his debut novel, The Granddaughter Project, by narrating the tale of three women from different parts of the world and how their struggle against the men in their lives unites them. The story follows the lives of three women who receive letters from their respective grandmothers. The letters act as a medium for these random girls…

EARLIER in the week, the unprecedented massive rolling blackout preoccupied all of us. It was such a frustratingly painful situation, particularly in that the blackouts happened right at the time matriculants and other students were set to commence their examination sessions. It is understood that Eskom, now, is under white “excellence” after black managers like Brian Molefe and Matshela Koko were removed after the New Dawn of President Cyril Ramaphosa. But the white excellence of the “dawn” has brought us darkness at an unprecedented scale. And it’s not over yet. Apparently, even the ruling party is irked by this “excellence” to a point that its poor showing in the recent municipal elections is attributed to the poor electricity supply by Eskom in our communities. But I am concerned about the…

Social media has widely shared former Ghanaian president John Mahama’s concession speech following his humbling defeat by his rival Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in 2016. The sharing of the speech is both timely and mischievous. It is timely in that it coincides with the outcome of South Africa’s municipal elections. It is mischievous as it attempts to compare the response of President Cyril Ramaphosa to that of the erstwhile Ghanaian president. While Mahama is contrite, Ramaphosa comes across as petulant and in denial. Be that as it may, Mahama’s response to defeat provides valuable lessons for the ANC, or any party for that matter. The first lesson is that the African voter, “though mainly uneducated and simple, is more sophisticated than we thought”. Losing parties must take to heart that voters…

Shannon Ebrahim shannon.ebrahim@inl.co.za FORMER president Frederik Willem De Klerk was lauded on the global stage for his role in the transition to democracy, culminating in him being a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize alongside former president Nelson Mandela in 1993. The accolades he received worldwide for being a “visionary” who made the necessary compromises to realise majority rule, led to his almost hero status abroad in the narrative about the South African transition. But in all the noise, what has been largely ignored is the role De Klerk played on the State Security Council (SSC). His legacy is not only as Madiba’s peace partner, but also as one of the handful of senior officials who sat on the SSC which gave the orders to have anti-apartheid activists “permanently removed”…

AUSTRALIA and New Zealand meet today in the Twenty20 World Cup final in Dubai. AFP Sport looks at three memorable cricket clashes between the two neighbours: 1974 Christchurch New Zealand beat Australia by five wickets -- For nearly 30 years, New Zealand were simply ignored by Australia, who didn’t consider them worthy opponents. That changed in the 1970s and most specifically in 1974 when, with star batsman Glenn Turner making a hundred in each innings, New Zealand recorded their maiden Test victory over Australia with a five-wicket win at Christchurch's Lancaster Park. 1981, Melbourne Australia beat New Zealand by six runs -- The scoreline may not jog many memories but the word ’underarm’ will surely will. What might have been a forgettable third final of the one-day series produced one…

| Reuters FORMULA One stewards fined Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen $57,250 yesterday after he touched and examined the rear wing of title rival Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes following Sao Paulo Grand Prix qualifying. On the other hand, stewards sent Verstappen’s rival, title contender Hamilton from first to last in the line-up for yesterday’s Sao Paulo sprint race after his Mercedes car’s rear wing failed a technical inspection. The 100km sprint determines the starting grid for today’s grand prix in Brazil, with the seven times champion already facing a five-place drop in that race after an engine change. Verstappen, who leads Hamilton by 19 points with four races left, qualified second for Saturday’s 100km sprint race that determines the starting grid today at Brazil’s Interlagos. After the session on…

Kenneth Chikanga kenneth.chikanga@inl.co.za A BUSINESSMAN who grew up helping his parents brew traditional Zimbab- wean beer is one of three entrepreneurs behind the Masau Craft Distillery (MCD) in Krugersdorp which aims to put African beverages on the world map. MCD chief executive and master distiller Lameck Garonga, chief financial officer Blessed Magagada and sales and marketing manager Bongiwe Mo- khemisa said they had struck the sweet spot with Masau and are on course to producing a genuine African whisky by 2027. “Our spirits will not be available in retail shops anytime soon. We strongly believe in social distancing and saving lives and we encourage responsible drinking of our alcoholic beverages while we isolate with friends and family,” Garonga said – adding that anyone could now order oline – and they…

The Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports, together with Microsoft and digital cultural heritage company Iconem, has unveiled a digital reconstruction of ancient Olympia, the site of the original Olympic Games, as it stood more than 2 000 years ago. A website and app enable anyone to take a virtual guided tour through 27 sites, among them the ancient Olympic Stadium, a gymnasium where athletes trained, and temples devoted to the Greek gods Hera and Zeus. The basic models of the buildings were constructed using hundreds of thousands of images taken with traditional cameras and drones and stitched together using AI technology, according to Microsoft. The models were then enhanced with information from archaeological research to help viewers understand what the sites would have looked like at the time. “This…

The cover of Emily Ratajkowski’s essay collection, My Body, is all text. There’s no photo of the actress and model, whose star –and notoriety – rose after she performed what looked like a nonchalant topless dance for Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines video. She went on to appear in David Fincher’s Gone Girl and launch a swimwear line which she promotes to her 28 million Instagram followers. A text-only cover is unusual for a book by a celebrity, but it aligns with Ratajkowski’s intentions. “I wanted to be able to have my Instagram hustle, selling bikinis and whatever else,” she writes in her introduction, “while also being respected for my ideas and politics and well, everything besides my body.” She wanted, in other words, to challenge an either-or fallacy of womanhood:…

TikTok is an addictive, one-stop shop for on-demand entertainment, but it doesn’t have to be mindless. The app is full of useful tips for everyday life, including travel hacks. Once the algorithm realises that you are into travel content, your feed will start filling with dreamy drone footage of far-off destinations alongside tips and tricks for making your trips cooler, cheaper or more comfortable. Not all hacks that rack up views are good, of course. We combed through some popular posts offering travel tips to find out if they’re worth your time. Our thoughts: Nifty trick TikTok user @nolimitua found a loophole that allows travellers to bring an extra bag on their flights without paying an additional fee. Because airlines don’t impose fees on pillows, @nolimitua recommends using a zip-up…

Baldwin Ndaba baldwin.ndaba@inl.co.za THE families of the five former Transkei teenagers who were brutally murdered in a SADF raid authorised by former president FW de Klerk 28 years ago are still wondering why former president Nelson Mandela accepted a Nobel Peace Prize along with a murderer. Yesterday, Sigqibo Mpendulo, the father of the twin boys Samora and Sadat Mpendulo, 16, who were killed in the deadly raid, recounted the pain he suffered after witnessing the bodies of his own children and relatives Mzwandile Mfeya, Sandiso Yose, both aged 12, and Thando Mthembu, 17, riddled with bullets, in one of the bedrooms in his Northcrest home in Mthatha on October 8, 1993. Mpendulo was reacting to De Klerk’s death after succumbing to cancer at his Cape Town home on Thursday. On…

From Page 1 “I am sitting with 5000-plus com-plaints already of people being forced (to vaccinate) and human rights being infringed. They (workers) are threatened with dismissals and with all kinds of things,” Van der Merwe said, adding that his campaign started with all the companies that had instituted a mandatory vaccination for their employees. “We also have complaints of injuries coming through where people were forcefully vaxxed. Some are now suffering from organ failure, strokes and other illnesses. In Secunda, (a petrol company) forced its contractors to vaccinate and the people became sick. “There seems to be nearly 4 000 people that have been affected by vaccine injuries. And there are about 3 000 more people that I have to sift through and see if it’s a real vaccine…

Staff Reporter South Africa is a culturally diverse country, well known for its diversity, and is widely considered the melting pot of nations from around the world. But every now and then it appears that we don’t know much about one another as we should, and it is for this reason that Viceroy is promoting cultural learning with Conversations on Culture sessions. Colonisation, globalisation and the more recent digitisation have played a significant role in the modernisation of our society, therefore affording us different ways of doing things. So, what is the current relevance of African culture and values to contemporary society, and what is the purpose of certain cultural rules? Viceroy Brandy, a brand deeply rooted in local cultural heritage, is embarking on a journey to help create an…

Robin Adams robin.adams@inl.co.za Students at The Management College of South Africa (Mancosa) have been telling Independent Media about their nightmare experiences with the organisation. And you don’t have to look very far for the negative reviews – the internet is awash with bad press for the private higher learning institution. Facebook, Twitter, and even more so on Hellopeter, where there are as many as 80 pages dedicated to Mancosa. Mancosa has been around since 1995 and has more than 10 000 enrolled students countrywide. Many of the students who we spoke to admitted they were fearful about adding their names to their claims, for fear of being targeted by Mancosa. “I still have to deal with them next year,” said one. Most sang a similar tune: “Avoid Mancosa at all…

For a man honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize for ending apartheid, former president Frederik Willem de Klerk’s death this week should have evoked a collective sense of a profound loss of a South African statesman. Yet, across the racial divide and for different reasons, his legacy is shrouded in sentiments of betrayal, complicity in apartheid atrocities and his refusal to acknowledge, until very late in his life that, indeed, the UN was unambiguous in declaring apartheid a crime against humanity. Having taken the bold step in 1990 to abolish apartheid, unban liberation movements and free political prisoners including Nelson Mandela, De Klerk spurned an opportunity to secure his place in history as a bold leader who sacrificed the narrow, racist interests of his own tribe to pave the way…

AS THE conflict in Tigray hits the one-year mark, the fighting on the ground show no sign of abating. Since hostilities began on November 4, last year, when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF) offensive against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the rapidly evolving turn of events has defied premature predictions of a short war and swift victory for both sides. Instead, the civil war has broadened and deepened beyond the northernmost Tigray region, spilling into neighbouring Afar and Amhara regions, unfolding against a deteriorating humanitarian situation, mounting death toll and multiplication in the numbers of internally displaced persons and refugees. The latest reports from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimate that more than 400 000 people are living in…

Top Communist Party leaders wrapped up a key meeting in Beijing by passing an important resolution on the country’s past, state media said this week, which is expected to cement President Xi Jinping’s grip on power. Xi, the uncontested leader of the world’s most populous nation, had been heading a pivotal plenary of the ruling party’s top figures since Monday in the Chinese capital. Some 400 members of the powerful Central Committee passed China’s resolution on “Major Achievements and Historical Experience of the Party’s Centennial Struggle” – only the third ever such resolution in its 100-year history. The previous two resolutions were issued under former leaders Mao Zedong in 1945, and Deng Xiaoping in 1981. The lengthy declaration called for upholding “the correct view of party history”, said official news…

Two executives from Swedish company Lundin Energy have been charged with complicity in war crimes committed by Sudan’s regime between 1999 and 2003, Sweden’s Prosecution Authority said this week. Swiss national Alex Schneiter, who was vice-president in charge of operations at Lundin Oil as it was known at the time, and Sweden’s Ian Lundin, chief executive from 1998-2002, are accused of having been complicit in war crimes with the purpose of securing the company’s oil operations in southern Sudan.…

PROFESSOR Joan Elizabeth Means Khabele passed on at her home in Austin Texas on the October 11. She was aptly described as an activist, adventurer, educator, and entrepreneur. She was also a sociologist, historian and genealogist who loved seeking knowledge of the past to inform the future. And she was a wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister and friend to many. Forty-five years ago, the student roll of the National University of Lesotho was just about 700. African studies and maths for humanities were two compulsory first-year courses for all students in social sciences and humanities. The classes for these courses were usually very large and had to be conducted in the lecture theatre, which took up to 200 students. Khabele had the burden of lecturing to 200 students. Not only…

Beads and fabrics have been essential to dressing in Africa for many generations, and a young fashion entrepreneur from Ghana is now seeking to project these on the global stage. With her nascent fashion enterprise, Joyce Owusu uses Ghanaian and African beads and wax prints for attractive accessories and exquisite clothing that seek to tell the African fashion story in a wholly new way. With her love for beads, Owusu left her paid job in 2016, just four years after graduating from the Ghana Institute of Journalism. She started Purple Trendz Ghana Couture, which became one of the brands of choice among Ghanaians at home and abroad. “I started playing with beads in 2012 during my national service. I was only having fun, so when I decided to move it…

It is truly remarkable the way in which our President Cyril Ramaphosa guided South Africa through the recently troubled times. This includes financial, social and political aspects all occurring before and through the Covid-19 era. The Covid-19 programme that he started and maintained was internationally acknowledged. The result of our recent local elections is a sign that political changes have occurred. Again, much of the credit must go to our president. We understand that “alliances” have to be formed after the poll results became known, with two parties, namely the ANC and the DA, coming out on top. The point of this communication is to suggest a new name for the coalitions or “alliances”. If accepted, it may well substantially strengthen the formation of such a body. The suggested name…

HEALTHY Living Alliance (Heala) and the Centre for Communication Impact (CCI), a health and social behaviour change and communication organisation, together with their partners have lambasted finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s silence on their repeated calls to hike the so-called “sugar tax”. Food Policy Project manager at the CCI, Selaelo Mabela, says: “We are determined to continuously raise awareness and consciousness about the food that we eat and the ingredients it contains. We undertake this work as part of our endeavour to push back the frontiers of hunger and poverty across the length and breadth of our inequity-riddled country.” Heala head Nzama Mbalati says the government’s failure to increase and expand the health promotion levy to include ultra-processed food in its Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) on Thursday risks…

Don Makatile don.makatile@inl.co.za Those whose pastime it is to take potshots at the ANC posit that, from time immemorial, the black political elite have never been interested in the economic emancipation of the masses. Their aim, the critics insist, has always been to secure their narrow class interests. From newspaper articles to academic treatise, the elites stand accused of never seeking to derail the white colonial system to replace it with economic freedom for the indigenous people but to collaborate to secure for themselves a place in the white sun. “I did not join the Struggle to be poor” is used to buttress the point. But a tour of this book negates this narrative and illustrates, with examples and facts, that the quest for economic freedom “in our lifetime”…

FW de Klerk himself claimed in his last public statement: “It is true that in my younger years, I defended separate development as I never liked the word apartheid. I did so when I was a member of Parliament, and I did so as I became a member of Cabinet. Afterwards, on many occasions, I apologised to the South African public for the pain and indignity that apartheid has brought. Since the early ’80s, my views changed completely – it was as if I had a conversion. And in my heart of hearts, (I) realised that apartheid was wrong.” But today, many South Africans speak with anger and bitterness about De Klerk’s role as the last apartheid president and what they call his “manipulations” during our negotiated transition to…

Rim Taher LIBYA’S decade of violence has scarred not just the bodies but also the minds of many of its people, creating a mental health crisis the country is ill-equipped to handle. Tripoli resident Mayada Mohamad was 10 years old when protests broke out against dictator Muammar Gaddafi, quickly spiralling into an armed uprising that toppled him and flung the North African country in- to chaos. In 2019, she quit high school because of yet another round of fighting. Today, she rarely goes outside. “Leaving the house is really hard because as soon as I do, I feel weak, my heart starts pounding, I get dizzy and I feel like I’m falling over,” she said. The family home lies on the road between the capital and Tripoli airport, a key…

A court in military-ruled Myanmar jailed American journalist Danny Fenster for 11 years on Friday, his lawyer and his employer said, dealing a blow to US efforts to secure his release. Fenster, 37, the managing editor of online magazine Frontier Myanmar, was found guilty of incitement and violations of immigration and unlawful associations laws, his magazine said, describing the sentences as “the harshest possible under the law”. He is the first Western journalist to be jailed in recent years in Myanmar.…

Ashfak Mohamed ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za THEY made heavy weather of it at times, but the Springboks – sparked by a Makazole Mapimpi brace – eased to a 30-15 win over a gritty Scotland at Murrayfield yesterday afternoon. Left wing Mapimpi continued his record of scoring against every nation he’s faced with a try in each half – both of them fabulous efforts – with the second touchdown putting the Boks into a 15-10 lead that they never relinquished. But the South Africans again made life difficult for themselves in clear conditions in Edinburgh by battling to convert possession and territory into points in the first half. Captain Siya Kolisi, as he did against Wales last week, again opted for kickable penalties to be booted into touch instead of going for the posts,…

Clinton Moodley While It is hard to plan meals when one doesn’t know what to expect from an aeroplane menu (some airlines allow you to download menus for long-haul flights on their website) or when flight attendants will serve them. That, coupled with the generous serving portions, makes it difficult for travellers to stay healthy on flights. Here are some tips to stay healthy on your next flight: Monitor what you eat As tempting as it may seem to indulge in the three-course plane meal, one should moderate eating if not used to eating large portions. Eat the way you would at home. If the meal is too big, ask the flight attendant if smaller meals like sandwiches or wraps are available. Alternatively, eat what you can and leave the…