Wednesday, April 10 2019

Ideas

ANALYSIS: Did Zuma ruin not only SA, but also Libya, for greed?

He needs to explain his puzzling flip-flopping during the final days of the Gaddafi regime in 2011

Ranjeni Munusamy

Associate editor: analysis

6 min read

News FREE

Experts red-flag ‘superbug’ menace stalking hospitals

Drug-resistant fungal infections are said to be on the rise, particularly in private Gauteng hospitals

Katharine Child

Journalist

4 min read

Ideas

WTF, IEC? If you let BLF on to the ballot, next it’ll be the Nazis

Andile Mngxitama's utopian fantasies have doubtless been invigorated - but don't ask him how he's going to fund it all

Tom Eaton

Columnist

2 min read

News

It’s not a Cyril train ride without a few bumps along the way

After the previous fiasco with Metrorail, the president risked getting on a train, but this one was very different

Aron Hyman

Journalist

3 min read

News

Wife-killer accused cries foul over ‘dodgy’ investigation

George Barkhuizen, who allegedly killed his wife for her insurance, claims the case was influenced by outside forces

Shain Germaner

Journalist

3 min read

News

Troubled waters after material for bridges ‘disappears’

Material to build five bridges in Eastern Cape, where six school children drowned recently, isn't accounted for

Mpumzi Zuzile

Journalist

3 min read

News

KZN’s jewel loses shine under financial burden

Pietermaritzburg has been placed under administration following years of maladministration

Bongani Mthethwa

Journalist

2 min read

News

It’s a man’s world - all in the name of health

A clinic has opened a 'man cave' to encourage males to take better care of themselves, and it's been a great success

Katharine Child

Journalist

2 min read

News

Mamma’s a little old, but she’s helping to save her species

Environmentalists are celebrating the recent hatching of four critically endangered Radiated Tortoises in the Cape

Alex Patrick

Journalist

2 min read

News

Muso’s use of Mtukudzi guitar hits sour note with family

But Ashton 'Mbeu' Nyahora says it's no big deal and, besides, the late jazz crooner's wife gave him her blessing

By James Thompson

2 min read

Two cities, two hits: killings in Cape, Joburg

A man was murdered in a residential complex in Bryanston, Johannesburg, on Tuesday while in Paarl, a man was killed outside a shopping complex, according to reports. ER24 said of the Johannesburg incident: "A man, believed to be in his 60s, was shot dead in a complex off Anslow Road in Bryanston." ER24 paramedics, along with city of Johannesburg and Life Healthcare personnel, found the man lying in the parking area of the complex with a gunshot wound to his head. Details of the incident were not yet known. Western Cape police spokesperson Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana said a murder investigation was under way after a “shooting incident that occurred this morning about 11:45am at a parking area at Van Der Lingen Street, Paarl. According to reports an unidentified man was shot and fatally wounded by unidentified suspects who are yet to be arrested. Police detectives are on the scene combing for clues.”

Drug bust accused ‘thought pills were for cancer, HIV’

Seven people accused of manufacturing and dealing in heroin and mandrax following a R50m drug bust were under the impression that they would be manufacturing tablets for the treatment of HIV and cancer. Zainudeen Abrahams, 52, Millicent Skippers, 33, Natasha September, 32, Joseph Groenewald, 39, Jamie May, 33, Stephanie Hamke, 25, and Randall Jacobs, 36, appeared in the Durban Magistrate's Court on Tuesday for a formal bail application. Defence attorneys Ridwan Sayed, representing Abrahams, and Kiran Subajan, representing the rest of the accused, read out affidavits highlighting exceptional circumstances as to why their clients should be granted bail. The affidavits revealed a common key factor: the accused were hired under the pretext that they would be working at a manufacturing plant for antiretrovirals and tablets for cancer treatment.

Man held after disabled woman found dead

A KwaZulu-Natal man has handed himself over to police after the grizzly discovery of an elderly woman's body in Phoenix, north of Durban, on Tuesday. According to police the 64-year old man handed himself over on Tuesday and allegedly told police he had murdered a woman in a house in Landbury Place. A security company, KZN VIP Protectors, discovered the body of the disabled woman on the floor. Her wheelchair was near her body. "We were called out to the house by a neighbour and upon arrival had to break the lock to gain entry," said Glen Naidoo of KZN VIP Protectors. The woman, 69, whose throat had been slit, was found dead on her bedroom floor. Police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala said the man would appear in court on Wednesday.

Rescued Gaza lions find Free State home

After spending their lives in a war zone, two lions are on their way to their ancestral home in Africa. The lions from Rafah zoo, in the Gaza Strip, are due to land at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Wednesday, a day later than originally planned. Their new home will be at Lionsrock, near Bethlehem in the Free State where they will join more than 100 other big cats rescued by the charity Four Paws. Forty-seven animals from the Rafah zoo were rescued by Four Paws at the weekend and taken 300km to Jordan by road. "The rescue mission was originally scheduled for the end of March but had to be postponed due to ongoing unrest in the region," said Four Paws. The charity's vet, Amir Khalil, said it had been a huge challenge to examine and load 47 animals, which include monkeys, porcupines and wolves, in four days.

Tiny beetle wiping out SA trees

A beetle that carries a fungus that rapidly kills trees – thousands of oak and maple trees in Johannesburg, George, Knysna, Durban and Pietermaritzburg have already been wiped out – has now invaded Somerset West, the City of Cape Town warned on Tuesday. It said the destructive polyphagous shot hole borer (PSBH) beetle had infested a "limited number" of London plane and sweetgum trees in Somerset West, about 45km away. Microbiologist and beetle expert Wilhelm de Beer said recently: "We have never had a beetle so devastating in SA." The beetle from Southeast Asia and about the size of a sesame seed, has been detected in every province except Limpopo he said, declaring it a "national emergency".

One of Clifton’s last vacant sites under hammer

One of the last vacant sites in swanky Clifton - on the Cape’s Atlantic Seaboard - is set to go under the virtual hammer on Wednesday. The prime elevated 455m² plot is among 70 properties which will be auctioned off in BidX1 South Africa’s first on-line auction. According to the 2018 Africa Wealth Report, published by AfrAsia Bank and New World Wealth, property prices per square metre for Bantry Bay and Clifton were the most expensive in South Africa, at around R86,500, while Nettleton Road in Clifton remained the poshest address in the country.

World

Brexit can’t escape history. That’s why it’s bound to fail

Local MPs in EU member states have a track record of helping reverse voters’ democratic decisions

By Tim Stanley

4 min read

World

Shock tactic gets old folks’ memory back to level of a 20-year-old

Electric stimulation used to reconnect brain circuits in technique that may also help Parkinson's sufferers

By Sarah Knapton

2 min read

World

Is Japan ready for a female emperor? Well, time is running out

Attitudes to female rule are shifting as the fate of the imperial family rests on a 12-year-old prince

By AFP

3 min read

World

‘Indian Downton Abbey’ takes on British ‘colonial amnesia’

The sweeping historical TV drama is set at a time when India was ‘up for grabs’

By AFP

3 min read

Russia says it ‘threatens no one’ in the Arctic

Moscow’s military and economic developments in the Arctic do not threaten other countries, Russia’s foreign minister says, and they ensure the ‘security of the country’. He added territorial conflicts would be peacefully resolved. Some in the US command have warned about Washington’s vulnerabilities in the north. – AFP

Uber sets scooter wheels in motion in Europe

Uber launched in Madrid its first electric scooter rental service in Europe through its subsidiary, Jump. Madrid has authorised 22 companies to provide shared electric scooters as part of its push towards more environmentally friendly transportation. Uber already provides scooters for rent in the US. – AFP

Thai cave rescue divers take even deeper plunge

Three divers who helped rescue a Thai soccer team last year have made a discovery in Vietnam where they explored a tunnel that could expand the footprint of the world’s largest cave. The team crawled into a pit in the Son Doong cave, believed to connect to nearby chambers. If the tunnel connects to another cave, it would make Son Doong ‘easily the largest cave in the world, and it would never be overtaken’. – AFP

‘Egg boy’ has fame and a warning in his basket

Aussie teen William Connolly, lauded worldwide for egging a far-right senator who made offensive comments about the Christchurch mosque attacks, has been let off with a police caution. Connolly’s act drew support around the world, with a GoFundMe page raising more than Aus$80,000 to help with any legal fees and ‘more eggs’. Police said the senator had also escaped charges for fighting back. – AFP

Cast your vote! And smile for Netanyahu’s cameras

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu faced criticism after activists from his right-wing Likud party brought cameras into polling stations in Arab-majority neighbourhoods. The main Arab party filed an urgent complaint to the elections committee after videos emerged appearing to show Likud observers being caught with small cameras while working in polling stations. Netanyahu said cameras would ensure there was no voter fraud. – AFP

Sand martin’s nests smothered in nets

Migrating sand martins that roost in the cliffs of Norfolk, Britain, have found their nests covered in netting by the local council. Experts say nests are vital for bird populations that call Britain home. Videos show the birds sitting on the netting and fruitlessly pecking at it as they try to return to their homes. The netting was put up to stop animals from nesting and prevent cliff erosion. – Telegraph Media Group Limited (2019