Innholdsfortegnelse for 2023-02-19 i Sunday Independent

Microsoft was once the darling of internet users. At the time, this US tech giant was in almost every aspect of tech life. Internet Explorer was the default browser for many, and Windows was installed on most machines. Bill Gates was the hero of most young, aspirant leaders in technology. Then Google changed everything with its search engine. Everything went downhill from there for Microsoft. An entire movement emerged against the tech giant; to be anti- Microsoft became cool. A change of leadership from Bill Gates to co-founder Steve Balmer did not help. Enter Satya Nadella, who stood at a conference once to indicate that Microsoft had become an artificial intelligence (AI) first company. Since then, Microsoft has been working on something that has just brought the company back into…

In the world of whiskey, there is Scotch, bourbon, and regional variations like Canadian, American, and Japanese, and as a whiskey fan you would know and have tasted them, but what about the drink that started it all? Despite being the inventors of whiskey, with a legacy stretching back centuries, Irish whiskey has often been overshadowed by its younger counter- parts – even nearly fading out of existence entirely due to the hardships the small nation has faced. One of the survivors was Jameson, which remains the world’s best-selling Irish whiskey. First made at the Bow Street Distillery, Dublin, Jameson has been distilled in Cork since the 1970s. It’s made from a blend of grain whiskey and single-pot still whiskey. Another, Bushmills, is made in Northern Ireland, as it has…

We've always known that what we eat has an impact on our bodies, from lowering morbidity and mortality to lowering the risk of chronic disease. Scientists continue to find evidence that what we eat has a significant impact on the health of our brains. And as such, consuming plenty of brain foods is important. Research shows that the best brain foods are the same ones that protect your heart. Energy boosts are essential following a night of little sleep, whether to power through work, complete a successful gym session, or even run errands. While too much caffeine can cause jitteriness, some people think it’s the only way to stay alert. Our diets can have a significant impact on the structure and health of our brains. A brain-boosting diet can help…

Jimmy Nevis’s ascent into a self-aware and vulnerable pop star has been a sight to behold. His new album, Things We Don’t Talk About, sees Nevis seeking out a bold new vision. While his music has often been characterised by quirky songwriting and humorous catchphrases over his decade-long career, it’s refreshing to hear Nevis taking his boldest risk yet as he speaks on things that may otherwise be considered taboo and swept under the rug. “Last year I kind of found myself people-pleasing a lot. I come from a very conservative background like I think a lot of South Africans do. Most families will have rules, ways, customs, and lots of expectations, and I’m no different. “I just kind of decided that I’m actually not gonna be a people pleaser…

ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile’s bid to take over the post of Deputy President David Mabuza in government got a boost this week when ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told the ANC parliamentary caucus that Mashatile’s arrival at the Union Buildings was imminent. At least two independent ANC sources said Mbalula gave the caucus orders on Thursday to prepare for Mashatile’s rise, amid speculation that a group in the governing party aligned to President Cyril Ramaphosa, dubbed the “Chris Hani cabal”, opposed the move. Ramaphosa’s “indecisiveness” has also been mentioned as a factor that played into the cabal’s hands, raising hopes that Mashatile’s chances could be scuppered, said a senior ANC leader speaking on condition of anonymity. The delays started before Mashatile was sworn in in Parliament when Mbalula had to…

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is set to square off again in court against Eskom’s former head of legal, Jerome Mthembu, to challenge the overturning of its report implicating him in wrongdoing. North Gauteng High Court acting Judge Muvhango Lukhaimane reviewed and set aside the “report into the affairs of Eskom Holdings: Possible misconduct by officials or employees” dated November 12, 2019, and ordered the SIU to pay Mthembu’s costs. SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago told the Sunday Independent this week the unit would appeal the judgment. The SIU’s probe emanated from a proclamation signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in April 2018 authorising a wide range of investigations into the power utility and state-owned rail, logistics, port and pipeline company Transnet. The scope of the investigation into Eskom included maladministration in…

PUBLIC Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan and SA Airways (SAA) are accused of risking reputational damage and wasting public funds by bankrolling state-owned, low-cost airline Mango’s business rescue, but refusing to give its sale the green light. In their urgent North Gauteng High Court application, Mango, a wholly owned subsidiary of SAA under business rescue since 2021, and Sipho Sono, the business rescue practitioner, have cited Gordhan, the national carrier, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and National Treasury, among others, as respondents. Mango and Sono accuse Gordhan, SAA and Godongwana of abuse of process through their conduct. They want the High Court to declare that they submitted a valid and complete application to Gordhan in terms of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) for the sale of Mango, and a declaration that…

BEYOND any doubt, abuse against children remains a crucial challenge in South Africa. The government’s attempt to mitigate and eliminate child sex abuse and child pornography has been delayed by slow efforts, corruption and the country’s deteriorating infrastructure. Under Section 18 of the Children’s Act 38 of 2005, an individual under the age of 18 is considered a child and can only be considered an adult upon reaching the age of 18. According to the Films and Publications Act 65 of 1996, child pornography is any photograph taken, depicting an individual under the age of 18, engaged in sexual conduct or display of genitals which amounts to sexual exploitation. The posting of nude footage of children online constitutes child pornography, regardless of the reasons behind the action. What repulses South…

The consequences of the Just Energy Transition (JET) experimentation could be vast for South Africa and its future. However, nothing is surprising about the broken test tube economic experiment, writes Siyabonga Hadebe TWO most significant events are relevant in explaining and contextualising the darkness that covers South Africa like a sheet of clouds, such as the Morgenthau Plan and the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) of the Bretton Woods institutions in the 1980s. In the aftermath of World War II, there was a plan by the victors under the leadership of the US to de-industrialise Germany and Japan by turning them into agrarian societies. The American Morgenthau Plan of 1944 was first introduced in 1944 but only accepted in 1947. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the intricacies of this…

Chiefs and Pirates may not be using swords but they’ll need their wits about them when they compete to ensure the ball is not fumbled and dropped. DUELLING is banned, but Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates will fight to the bitter end when they clash in a DStv Premiership encounter at the FNB Stadium next Saturday. Soccer writer Matshelane Mamabolo got two former players – Tlou Molekwane and Tlou Segolela to share their memories of this great clash and their views on what they foresee transpiring in the latest instalment. TLOU MOLEKWANE (Kaizer Chiefs – 2009 to 2012) MY FIRST DERBY “It was a Vodacom Challenge match in Port Elizabeth (P.E.) and Pirates had a very strong team with the likes of (Thulasizwe) Mbuyane, Teko (Modise) and Katlego Mashego. I…

While there are countless romantic places to choose from around the world, there’s something about an African honeymoon experience. It varies from soft-sand beaches to expansive savannahs bursting with wildlife. African honeymoon destinations are as diverse as the continent itself and can be experienced as stand-alone destinations or in combination. Stephanie Aboujaoude, senior area director, marketing and communications, Middle East & Africa, of Radisson Hotel Group, which is rapidly expanding across Africa, shares her insight on the top romantic spots in Africa. Morocco The country offers newlyweds some of the most special honeymoon experiences. Choose from indulgent hammams; luxurious, hidden riads embellished with elaborate design details; fine dining in historic palaces; sweeping coastline and mesmerising deserts. With so much to offer, Morocco is a paradise of exploration that will…

Khadija ADDA-REZIG Conceived as an aid for the absent-minded, AirTag sensors are being diverted towards more sinister ends, with manufacturer Apple facing anger – and lawsuits – over their use as a stalking tool. The silver and white gadget the size of a large coin is “an easy way to keep track of your stuff”, the Apple website boasts. Customers can attach it to their keys, a wallet or a backpack. When linked to a smartphone app, a $29 (R530) AirTag helps users detect their belongings’ real-time location in case they get lost, but the transmitter can also trail the humans carrying the items, sometimes without their knowledge. That’s what happened to singer Alison Carney in June last year, when she found an unknown AirTag in her bag while preparing…

IT IS A case of there being many mansions in my father’s house. If it were not so, I would have told you. Yet, when you knock on that door, you are told many are called but few are chosen. South Africa is facing a serious crisis of skills and it is constraining its journey out of poverty, inequality and unemployment. Statistics exhibit a disturbing trend in the post-apartheid state. The proportion of skilled labour across all ages among black people is not low and has stagnated throughout the 30 years since 1994. The trend is most depressing among blacks youth aged between 15 and 24, where the proportion of the skilled in employment has stagnated and started regressing in the past three decades. Among white people, the proportions have…

Food delivery services are simply amazing, as they deliver food directly to your doorstep without much effort. Before the smartphone explosion, people would have to call a restaurant to order food. Now, thanks to advances in mobile technology and the wide development of on-demand food delivery apps, we can quickly and easily place orders via the app and have our food delivered wherever and whenever we wish. All you have to do is use your smartphone and find the best apps for ordering food around your area. Each food app has many restaurants and cafés and places to choose from. And what makes them so easy to use is you can order food from these joints and eat from the comfort of your home. And if you thought food delivery…

Being in the media space, it was a difficult week to focus on anything other than AKA. Social media, print publications, and online platforms were saturated with news updates on the back of his violent murder last Friday. Apart from some grandstanders in the celebrity fraternity (cough: Nota Baloyi and Slik Talk), the mood in Mzansi was understandably sombre and it wasn’t helped by the conspiracy theories and finger-pointing of armchair detectives. I tried to distract myself with Truth Be Told, which returned to Apple TV+ for a third instalment. If you haven’t watched this crime drama, which is based on Are You Sleeping by Kathleen Barber, I will say Octavia Spencer makes for a formidable anchor as Poppy Parnell, an investigative reporter behind a hit true- crime podcast. She…

Confusion reigned on Friday over the suspension of UCT vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng. In a new twist to a long leadership controversy, it was reported that the council offered to drop all claims against her if Phakeng agreed to early retirement – but she refused. Asked late on Friday whether the vice-chancellor had been suspended, council chair Babalwa Ngonyama said: “No, that’s not correct. She is not suspended.” Most major media outlets reported that Phakeng had been suspended or was about to be. UCT was also buffeted last week by student protests over fees and accommodation problems, prompting the university to shut down and move classes online. An agreement over early retirement would halt an investigation into governance concerns that rocked UCT – one of Africa’s top universities – during…

The South African Post Office (Sapo) and mobile network operator Telkom are set to retrench staff despite President Cyril Ramaphosa’s struggle to fulfil his promise of creating millions of jobs. Sapo is retrenching 6 000 workers and Telkom is set to retrench 15% of its workforce. This comes while millions of South Africans remain jobless despite the president’s promise to create more than 6 million jobs since he took office in 2018. Admitting his failure, Ramaphosa referred to unemployment as a “crisis” which remains one of the government’s priorities during his recent State of Nation Address. He said so far, only one-and-a-half million jobs were created. He said to address the challenge, the Employment Tax Incentive (ETI) has been expanded to encourage businesses to hire more young people in large…

BUSINESSES in the recycling sector are set to get a boost following the launch of an initiative that will create jobs and sustainability for the industry. Petco, is a recycling company that encourages design conversion, collection and recycling of plastics, has established a business development programme aimed at empowering small, black-owned recycling companies to create jobs and improve the long-term sustainability of South Africa’s recycling value chain. Petco’s programme will provide mentorship and training as well as infrastructure, equipment and funding support. Through the programme, entrepreneurs can grow their post-consumer waste collection volumes and run their businesses more efficiently with structured training and mentorship. Petco CEO Cheri Scholtz said the original programme was scheduled to launch in KwaZulu-Natal in early 2023 and was expected to roll out across South Africa…

THE hefty sentences for former Post Bank employees who were convicted of defrauding the bank of R6 million have been reduced. The eight employees, including their ringleader, were sentenced in 2015 to an effective 1 680 years combined. This was after the South Gauteng High Court found the nine guilty of defrauding Post Bank, forgery and uttering, money laundering, and stealing money from accounts, as well as racketeering. Isaac Ditlhakanyane, an enterprise owner and the ringleader, was sentenced to 50 years behind bars for colluding with the other eight employees to open six fraudulent accounts and depositing fraudulent pension payouts and stolen cheques. Ditlhakanyane, who stole R2.2 million from Post Bank, was convicted on 76 counts. Thabang Motaung, who was a branch manager of Pinegowrie Post Office, was convicted…

IF YOU want to kick off your reading year with something refreshing, you might want to pick up Jarred Thompson’s newly released novel “The Institute For Creative Dying”. This novel explores mortality and the interconnectedness of all forms of being in a unique, bold and imaginative way. Northcliff is a central setting in the book. The speculative fiction work is about a retreat centre based in Northcliff Ridge and the basic premise of the novel is a group of strangers who are invited by two facilitators – the Mortician and Mustafa. They are invited to this retreat centre to experience a different approach to mortality because each of these strangers suffers from chronic and terminal diseases. These facilitators take these strangers through different therapies, promising that on the other side…

SUSPENDED public enterprises director-general Kgathatso Tlhakudi says he is ready to assist the investigation by Parliament’s standing committeeon public accounts (Scopa) into the sale of SAA, if only to “help South Africans connect the dots and hold Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan accountable”. Tlhakudi told the Sunday Independent that as a public servant and a citizen, he was obliged, when requested, to assist the legislative arm of the state and “the matter of SAA is important as it sets a precedent on how public assets are disposed of”. “It is therefore important that transparency, integrity, fairness and public value enhancement inform the process. Unfortunately, these critical values did not reflect in the SAA disposal process. The public deserves to know who benefits from this compromised process, and Parliament is…

THE new City of Tshwane administration faces an estimated R5 million defamation lawsuit over media comments by outgoing mayor Randal Williams that ex-CFO Umar Banda should face a criminal investigation over poor audit outcomes. Williams’s comments were published in an IOL article on January 6 under the caption, “Randall Williams says criminal charges will be laid against former chief financial officer Umar Banda ... ” He said “the poor quality of the financial statements is a flagrant violation of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA)”. In contrast, Robert Cameron-Ellis, the City’s chair of the independent audit and performance committee, broke ranks with Williams and warned in a Moneyweb article on February 7 that “no one person, but rather officials who couldn’t care less and political leaders who serve in council…

Someone in one group of researchers that I belong to once said: “Sooner the ANC will see Xolani Dube as an enemy the way he is brutal in undressing the ANC and exposing their failures.” Was that person wrong? Th ANC in its February 13 statement was politically intolerant and unfair. Is Dube not a South African citizen and a resident of KwaZulu-Natal, besides being a political analyst, activist, researcher and commentator? Suppose Dube and his followers or members of whatever new movement they might have formed had acted illegally or against the laws of the country. Should that have been the case, the Criminal Procedure Act would have been applied to them. So what gives the ANC the right to say or claim that only people who fought against…

Earlier this week, it was stated artist Steve Hofmeyr was “booted off” an MSC Cruise and removed from the artist line up scheduled for the entertainment on the cruise. Hofmeyr took to Facebook and posted a boiling-hot message about MSC Cruises. He shared his opinion about the cruise and how it left a bad taste in his mouth. In the post, written in Afrikaans, he said: ‘’I am reading (literally) thousands of angry opinions about MSC’s apathetic attitude towards their passengers.” Hofmeyr adds MSC had made it impossible to get your money back. He further explained he was not paid any cancellation fee after being removed from the list. However, Thango Gombiza, MSC Cruises spokesperson, told News24 they were not responsible for the payment and that Lefra Productions, the organiser…

As ChatGPT shows that artificial intelligence (AI) has become incredibly advanced, tech billionaire Elon Musk has warned that AI is one of the biggest risks to the future of civilisation. According to CNBC, Musk was one of the co-founders of OpenAI, the US firm which developed the popular generative AI chatbot ChatGPT. “It’s both positive or negative and has great, great promise, great capability, but with that comes great danger,” Musk told attendees at the World Government Summit in Dubai, UAE, when he was asked about how he sees technology developing 10 years from now. ChatGPT is an advanced form of AI that is powered by the GPT-3 large language model. It is programmed to recognise human language and generate responses based on massive amounts of data. Moreover, Musk said…

FINANCE Minister Enoch Godongwana does not quote renowned poets when tabling his Budget Speech in Parliament, nor does he bring an aloe vera plant to convince us of the resilience of the economy. Instead, Godongwana prefers to dive straight into the crux of the matter and churn out the growth forecasts, tax revenue forecasts and expected government expenditure for the years ahead, without pretence at fattening the cow before slaughter. Wednesday will be no different as Godongwana will climb onto the podium at the Cape Town City Hall and inform the country, without flattery, that the economy is not performing well. With the energy crisis far from being resolved, dysfunctional municipalities and calamitous natural disasters, Godongwana’s Budget has to extend social spending on the back of dwindling tax revenues as…

Shoes can elevate your look and they speak volumes about your personality. They also reflect your style, mood, attitude and more. Often, people are judged by the shoes they wear. If you want to leave a strong impression, a versatile shoe collection can do the job, adding depth to your personality. Take things into your own hands and start building a fantastic shoe collection today. Kuldeep Singh, the founder and CEO of San Frissco, a footwear brand, outlines the collection of shoes you should own and what they convey. Sneakers Sneakers are the most frequently worn shoes these days. They are comfortable, cosy and stylish. They convey a relaxed vibe. Sneakers usually represent a happy, sporty, and comfortable attitude. They are best paired with casual outfits, so if you…

I recently watched the Charmed reboot on DStv Catch Up. Now I grew up watching the late ’80s offering with Shannen Doherty, Holly Marie Combs, Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan and loved every single episode of the supernatural offering. The reboot was bleh. The cast wasn’t compelling and the premise was average, at best. I feel the same way about Netflix’s Lockwood & Co, which has a Fantastic Beasts-meets-The Secret Circle feel about it. The eight-episode offering feels like amateur hour with Anthony Lockwood (Cameron Chapman) and George Karim (Ali Hadji-Heshmati) welcoming the latest member, Lucy Carlyle (Ruby Stokes), to the team. Anthony is a bit of an attention- seeker and can’t help himself as he tries to establish them as the best in the supernatural business. George is a…

A WORLD re-imagined, notwithstanding the obvious strides of human endeavour to stake a claim on anticipated futures, can be a dreadful proposition indeed. Artificial intelligence (AI) – as a modern-day craft now a part of faculties at the tertiary level - propel scholars, budding scholars and scientists alike to experience “new life” ahead of its actual dawn. Education is exciting when it is applied to life as a science. And, for its part, science is incredibly fascinating as it is based on studies and empirical findings thereof. In other words, most scholars are rejuvenated by science because it is evidence-based. The challenge about futures re-imagined could be that, unlike laboratory-tested experiments, AI moves at a speed until recently unimagined, probing times ahead and attempting to live those times in the…

GOVERNMENT entities dealing with the Phala Phala investigation lied over communications with Namibian counterparts. The Sunday Independent can reveal its report on the legal letter sent to the Department of Justice on July 23, 2020, asking for mutual assistance was swept under the rug. Today we can exclusively reveal the contents of the letter from the Ministry of Justice in Namibia to South African justice minister Ronald Lamola. This comes despite Lamola’s spokesperson, Chrispin Phiri, in June 2022 having said: “We can categorically state that, to date, there is no official record of this specific request.” The letter, seen by Sunday Independent and dated July 23, 2020, states that it is a “request for mutual legal assistance in a criminal matter from the Republic of South Africa: suspected money laundering…

Cash-strapped citizens are not prepared to pay more in income tax and the suggestion to the Minister of Finance is that he creates a new income source through the tourism sector. Enoch Godongwana will be delivering the 2023 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) on Wednesday and the Chartered Institute for Business Accountants (CIBA) is hoping that the minister will not further burden taxpayers. Nicolaas van Wyk, CIBA CEO, determined to get taxpayers behind him, launched a petition to reduce personal income tax in the upcoming budget speech, and almost 30 000 have so far agreed with him. “The South African tax base is very small, and they are already carrying a big tax burden. “They are carrying millions of people on their shoulders, slogging long hours, not spending time…

OVER the next five years, R1.5 trillion will be invested through the Just Energy Transition Investment Plan into South Africa’s economy in new frontiers such as green hydrogen, electric vehicles and renewable energy. The “Hydrogen Valley” project has been hailed as a beacon of light in the darkness of the transition to a low-carbon, sustainable economy, despite the declaration of the national state of disaster being declared amid devastating power outages. Expert at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr (CDH) commercial law firm, Jackwell Feris, claims that although this movement may not directly support or alleviate the load-shedding crisis, it may do so indirectly. “Any excess renewable energy produced for hydrogen production, if available, could be diverted to deal with energy poverty or the energy crisis in South Africa,” Feris said. Margo-Ann Werner,…

BURIED deep in the Eastern Cape High Court judgment this week that exonerated Premier Oscar Mabuyane from the public protector’s findings is a footnote recorded by the judge citing compelling evidence for the police or the Hawks to investigate the source of the funds that contributed to Mabuyane’s home renovations. Judge Jannie Eksteen noted that the evidence of suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane in respect of the payment of R1.1 million by the Mbizana Local Municipality to a company called Mthombeni “does indeed give rise to serious concern and was worthy of investigation by the SAPS or the DPCI (Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation)”. “As a fact, the matter was referred to the DPCI (Hawks). They have investigated the matter as they are entitled to do and they have been…

POLICE Minister Bheki Cele continues to be under fire as the country’s crime levels escalate. Calls for his axing are intensifying following the release of crime statistics. Political parties and anti-crime activists believe Cele has lost the fight against crime and called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to get rid of him. They said a new minister was urgently needed to come up with fresh ideas to combat crime. The latest crime statistics for the fourth quarter, presented by Cele on Friday, showed an increase in all major categories. Violent contact crimes such as murder and sexual offences have increased. Cele said 7 555 people were murdered between October and December last year, which is an increase of 696. He said arguments, road rage and provocation were the top causes. Cele…

AS THE year begins, it is marked by students flocking back to educational institutions across the nation. The beginning of the year has already been characterised by protests over student housing, among other issues, at various tertiary institutions, including two prominent Western Cape universities. A student representative council member at UCT attributed the protests to issues including fee blocks and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). At UCT, protests by students rendered the road inaccessible. At the University of the Western Cape (UWC), students protesting this week were calling for a concession for students to be registered, irrespective of their historical debt. Situations such as inadequate and disorganised student housing have been a ubiquitous challenge in recent years. Many students have recounted walking unfamiliar areas late at night, and…

THE Springboks will start preparing for the 2023 rugby season in Cape Town today although only with a squad of 14 players. This is the first of several training camps set up in the World Cup year and will involve off-field alignment sessions as well as on-field training sessions to prepare the players from a rugby and physical perspective. Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber and SA Rugby’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus will oversee the camp that will end on March 10. Thereafter the Boks will return to their respective franchises for the backend of the United Rugby Championship (URC) and the play-offs of the European Champions Cup. “All of these players come off an important resting period, so the next three weeks will be crucial to ensure that they return…

Different generations approach travel differently, especially incoming younger generations. They’ve got varying priorities, values, and overall outlooks on what they want to get from their travels. Gen Zs, the generation born between 1997 and early 2012, are a highly adaptable age group, with the oldest turning 26, and the youngest 11 this year. It’s the Gen Z traveller that is redefining what it means to travel and that, in turn, will affect the economy, businesses and people across the globe. According to David Shevil, group head of marketing for Premier Hotels & Resorts, the Gen Z travel segment has increased by as much as 30% from previous years, and they’re seeing more Gen Z travellers and guests searching their website for travel deals. These young travellers prefer solo travel…