Archbishop Desmond Tutu will lay in state from today until tomorrow at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town where members of the public will have the opportunity to visit the church to pay tribute to the late Tutu and say their goodbyes. Tutu died just a day after Christmas. He was 90 years old.
Last night a public memorial to Tutu was held at the Cape Town City Hall, reports Daily Maverick, where speeches were made by the mayor of Cape Town Geordin Hill-Lewis; Western Cape Premier Alan Winde; South African politician and activist Cheryl Carolus; and Dr Mamphela Ramphele, chairperson of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu IP Trust.
While those in attendance were also treated to musical performances from the Desmond Tutu tribute band, Zolani Mahola, Fancy Galada, Ard Matthews, Jonathan Butler, the South African Youth Choir and the Gugulethu Tenors.
“The Arch took on governments, corporations, the Church and society at large, globally, around what it means when we assert that we are all created equal before God,” said Carolus.
Dean of St George’s Cathedral, the Very Reverend Michael Weeder, acted as emcee on the evening and regaled stories of Tutu’s humanity and kindness.
If you’re considering joining President Cyril Ramaphosa at the ANC’s gala dinner in Polokwane next month, you’re going to have to put your money where your mouth is and drop a staggering R1.2 million to bag a seat next to Ramaphosa.
If you want to sit with Deputy President David Mabuza, you’ll only have to drop a measly R1 million on a seat. There are four seats available at both Mabuza’s and Ramaphosa’s tables for the public to purchase.
Hosted by the Progressive Business Forum, the gala dinner will take place before the ANC’s January 8 celebrations and will serve as a fundraiser for the party, which has been extremely cash strapped over the last while.
Reports indicate that ANC staffers have only been paid their October salaries even though the party said it had paid both October and November salaries and wanted to have December salaries paid before Christmas, ANC Staff Representative Committee Chairperson Mvusi Mdala says this is not the case.
Speaking of high prices, economists expect the petrol price to decrease next month with the department of mineral resources and energy expected to announce the new adjusted petrol price on Friday. The petrol price shot over R20 a litre for the first time in history this month due to the weak rand but the local unit has since regained its footing against the dollar and the price is expected to drop below the R20 mark come the new year.
In the US, British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of accused sex-trafficker Jeffery Epstein, was found guilty on five of the charges against her in a federal court in Manhattan on Wednesday, reports Bloomberg. Maxwell was found guilty of engaging in a decade’s long sex-trafficking operation with multiple young girls, now grown women. It is believed that Maxwell engaged in these crimes along with Epstein, who died in prison while awaiting his own sex-trafficking trial. No date has been set yet for sentencing but Maxwell could face up to 65 years in prison if she is sentenced consecutively on all five counts. Her lawyers have said they have already begun working on an appeal.
On a brighter note, businessman Warren Buffet is known for famously consuming as many as five cans of Coke a day, but the Oracle of Omaha was a Pepsi man for 50 years before he switched to Coca-Cola.
After learning Buffet’s favourite drink was Pepsi-Cola Cherry, a former neighbour Don Keough, who subsequently became the president and operating officer of Coca-Cola, sent him a box of samples of Cherry Coke.
Buffet, 90, hasn’t looked back since that day and his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate owns some 10% of Coca-Cola amounting to $22 billion worth of stock.
On the currency front, the rand continues to trade on the backfoot and has lost over 2.6% in the last two days of trading to close at R15.93 last night reports TreasuryONE. “Thin markets and low liquidity could see the Rand trade above R16.00 in the short term,” comments TreasuryONE. The rand opened this morning at R15.96/$.
Here’s a roundup of the world’s top and most interesting headlines:
SA Business
15 foods that got exceptionally more expensive in 2021 – and one that got a lot cheaper – BusinessTech
Transformer explodes at Eskom’s Camden power station – Fin24
The zoom boom driving the demand for property in Hermanus – MyProperty
Global Business
Hong Kong forces last major pro-democracy news outlet to shut – Bloomberg
World nations try to balance omicron restrictions while keeping economies open – Reuters
The world in 2022: another year of living dangerously – The Guardian
Markets
Asian markets flat in quiet holiday trade – AFP
Oil rises as fuel demand holds up despite surge in Omicron cases – Reuters
Dollar, yen soft in thin trading after US equities hit record highs – Reuters/Investing.com
Tech
Delusional Elon Musk claims Tesla Robot will be ‘like C3PO or R2D2’ – TNW
The electric vehicles coming to South Africa in 2022 – Daily Maverick
The most stunning space photos of 2021 – Mashable
Opinion/In-depth
How will China change in 10 years under Xi’s common prosperity push? Citizens speak out – Bloomberg
Loss and grief in the COVID pandemic: more than counting losses and moving on – The Conversation
The Year 2021 in pictures – Daily Maverick
Video
Trash for rice: Bali’s new recycling scheme – Reuters
We’ve lost two years to Covid. It’s time to grieve. | NYT Opinion – New York Times
WATCH | ‘The only thing he taught us was love’ – Desmond Tutu’s Soweto neighbours – News24
Feature image: Wikimedia Commons
