Tabla de contenidos para 2022-11-07 en Cape Times

Questions about company’s ability to make payments of more than R345m TONGAAT Hulett creditors are expected to line up tomorrow in a meeting with the Business Rescue Practitioners (BRPs) to chalk their demands from the company in quicksand over its continuity. Reports confirmed over the weekend by the South African Cane Growers’ Association (Sasa) were that some small-scale growers supplying the Tongaat Hulett mills at Felixton, Amatikulu and Maidstone had received the overdue payment for cane delivered in September 2022. Sasa said however, commercial growers have not yet been paid, leaving the majority of the imperilled 14 642 jobs at risk. “There also remain questions about Tongaat Hulett’s ability to make timeous payments of more than R345 million at the end of November, for the more than 570…

THE Cape Town property developer, said to be central in helping President Cyril Ramaphosa’s special adviser Bejani Chauke store more than $20 million (about R363m) in cash three weeks after the Phala Phala farm scandal was exposed, has distanced himself from any involvement in the saga. Zahir Vallie, owner of ZProp, has described the claims contained in a document believed to be authored by former State Security Agency director-general Arthur Fraser as “grossly defamatory'' and “devoid of any truth”. The document forms part of UDM leader Bantu Holomisa’s submission to the independent parliamentary panel established to determine whether Ramaphosa has a case to answer over the scandal. The letter, believed to have been intended to assist the Hawks in their probe, claims that Vallie was contacted by Chauke three…

WE HAVE literally hundreds of labour laws and regulations. Laws and regulations need inspectors to oversee and enforce them. Notoriously, people will not follow the law if they believe it is too onerous or a hassle. Some of these laws and regulations are costly to implement and many of the laws and regulations in fact retard the survival and possible growth of small businesses. On a daily basis I hear from small businesses who don’t intend to follow the rules and regulations, especially after I’ve explained to them how it should be done. To make matters worse, the Department of Employment and Labour has very few inspectors. For instance, in the Western Cape we only have 218 inspectors for possibly over 100 000 businesses. Remember, every single informal business still…

WITH reference to the article by Russian ambassador to South Africa, Rogachev (Cape Times, November 2). To think that here I was feeling sorry for the Ukrainians! They should be forever grateful to their Russian saviours for coming to free them from the terrible circumstances in which they had been living. So what if thousands upon thousands of innocent people have been blasted to smithereens! Seriously, though, the real tragedy about this article is how many people are going to believe every word. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can justify what (Vladimir) Putin has done, not only to the Ukrainian people but also to his own wretched soldiers and their families.…

HAVING identified nine abalone poaching hotspots, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) has implemented a programme to combat the stripping of marine resources. Answering a parliamentary question, DFFE minister Barbara Creecy said the programme - Initiative 5 - had been implemented in four provinces. “The DFFE is currently implementing Initiative 5, the Enhanced Coordinated Enforcement programme, in terms of the Marine Protection Services and Governance Laboratory of Operation Phakisa. Joint operational plans are formulated and implemented within the four coastal provinces monthly. These operations are deployed within high-risk areas, are intelligence driven and informed by reports that are provided by intelligence agencies prior and post operations,“ the minister said. The operations are mainly short deployment bursts, DFFE said, but had been extended for longer periods to…

SEVERAL unions have rejected a 3% wage increase offer by Acting Public Service and Administration Minister Thulas Nxesi, saying it is below the inflation rate. Finance minister Enoch Godongwana announced the increase during the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), saying the 3% wage increase by government was fair and would be implemented unilaterally. Several unions in the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council have been given certificates of non-resolution. This after wage talks failed to resolve the issues at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC). Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) spokesperson, Sibongiseni Delihlazo said they had rejected the 3% wage offer. “Subsequently, we lodged a dispute together with other unions, which ended up in conciliation on October 31 and November 1 at PSCBC. Unfortunately, we could not…

Mogadishu: At least five people were killed and 11 others wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance of a military training facility in the Somali capital. Odowaa Yusuf Rageh, Chief of Defence Forces, said the Somali National Army foiled the attack, preventing the bomber from reaching his target, Xinhua news agency reported. “The bomber did not achieve his goal during the attack on the General Dhagabadan military training centre. “The troops thwarted him from reaching his target. We have launched investigations to find the motive behind it,” Rageh told the Somali news agency on Saturday night.…

Abuja: As China begins to hold back financial help to the world, countries like Nigeria and other African nations seem to be stuck in limbo. Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa is set to decelerate from 4.1% in 2021 to 3.3% in 2022 as a result of a slowdown in global growth, rising inflation exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, adverse weather conditions, a tightening in global financial conditions, and the rising risk of debt distress, according to World Bank. China’s rolling back on loans would thaw growth in Africa and cannot be allowed by most investors, said Charles Robertson, the Global chief economist at Renaissance Capital Limited, citing Nigeria’s Legit.ng. According to German insurance giant Allianz, China might no longer be interested in providing Africa with the same amount of…

ECONOMISTS are pessimistic about the manufacturing and mining figures expected out on Thursday due to severe load shedding in September. Energy analysts have also questioned the repurposing of Eskom’s Komati Power station for a solar and wind project funded by the World Bank of up to R9 billion. Eskom and the World Bank separately announced on Friday that the Komati power Station, which was effectively closed last week after reaching its end of life, would be re-purposed for solar, wind and battery storage capacity. This would also help retain the town’s economy by upskilling workers that are residents. The new Komati power station will include the provision of 150MW of solar, 70MW of wind and 150MW of storage batteries. The World Bank said the project would also create opportunities…

THE ANC electoral committee has announced that, ahead of the 55th elective conference next month, all candidates campaigning for positions in the National Executive Committee (NEC) will have to declare their funders and financial records. Speaking to Independent Media yesterday, electoral committee secretary Chief Livhuwani Matsila said the new instruction was a way of avoiding allegations of vote buying like during the 2017 elective conference. In a letter addressed to all ANC NEC members, provincial secretaries, regional secretaries, branch secretaries, and members in good standing penned by former SA president and electoral chairperson Kgalema Motlanthe, and copied to ANC treasurer-general, Paul Mashatile - candidates would have to declare their financial records for campaigns for NEC positions. The letter reads in part: “All candidates and their campaign teams must keep…

The death toll from yesterday’s plane crash in Lake Victoria in Tanzania has jumped to 19, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said, after the Precision Air flight with dozens of passengers aboard plunged into water while approaching the north-western city of Bukoba. “All Tanzanians are with you in mourning the 19 people who lost lives during this accident,” Majaliwa told a crowd after arriving at Bukoba airport, where the flight was scheduled to land from financial capital Dar es Salaam. Regional authorities and the airline said that 26 survivors out of the 43 people on board flight PW 494 had been pulled to safety and taken to hospital in the lakeside city in Kagera region. It was not immediately clear if the 19 victims included rescuers who drowned or whether the…

THE unwarranted ruthlessness on former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan is truly unacceptable and needs to be condemned. The cowardly attack on Khan, besides being undemocratic and cold-hearted, is un-Islamic. There is no reason to become vulgar, rude or violent, for that matter, when dealing with opposing views or opinions or ideological differences. The attack on Khan violates the fundamental beliefs of the Islamic way of life. Islam is based on the principles of monotheism, servant and accountable leadership, to spread good, forbid evil, helping the less privileged. Therefore violence has no place in the life of a Muslim. Hence, this act of violence on Khan in Pakistan, land of the pure or noble people, is embarrassing to me as a Muslim. Individuals may differ in their willingness to support…

POLICE in Gqeberha have implemented a 72-hour activation plan following the gruesome murder of six people in New Brighton in the early hours of Saturday. The bodies of the deceased were discovered by neighbours who alerted police. Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said a case of murder (with six counts) will be investigated by the provincial organised crime investigation unit in Gqeberha. “It is alleged that between 1am and 2am neighbours heard gunshots and at about 6.45am, when they went to check on their neighbour’s house in Ramba Street, they found the door open. On further investigation, the bodies of four people, one female and three males, were found lying in the lounge. Another female was found in the kitchen and one in the bedroom. The female in the bedroom…

A WEST Coast school has prevented a pregnant matric candidate from writing her first National Senior Certificate (NSC) exam. The Western Cape incident emerged yesterday when DBE director-general Mathanzima Mweli, joined by national assessments chief director Rufus Poliah, briefed the media about the progress of this year’s NSC exams. Mweli said the exams were proceeding well, but serious concerns emerged about threats to the running of the national exams that included service delivery protest action and load shedding. “A pregnant candidate was not allowed to write the English FAL P1 examination at one of the centres in the Western Cape. Another candidate was denied access to the exam room due to non-payment of school fees at an independent centre in the Free State, a matter that is under investigation,”…

The National Freedom Party condemns the blatant assassination attempt on former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, who was shot when his protest convoy came under attack. Violence can never be the solution to solve political differences. We need to support every person’s right to protest and to disagree with the government. This should be an inalienable right in every country. The NFP is concerned by reports that the current Pakistani prime minister and other senior officials were behind the attempted assassination. These reports are deeply troubling, and as a country we need to condemn any political violence carried out by any state against political opponents. These actions should be condemned with the contempt they deserve. The NFP calls for calm amid rising tensions and appeals to the current political leaders…

The UN’s COP27 climate summit kicked off yesterday in Egypt with warnings against backsliding on efforts to cut emissions and calls for rich nations to compensate poor countries after a year of extreme weather disasters. Just in the past few months, climate-induced catastrophes have killed thousands, displaced millions and cost billions in damages across the world. Massive floods devastated swaths of Pakistan and Nigeria, droughts worsened in Africa and the western US, cyclones whipped the Caribbean, and unprecedented heatwaves seared three continents. The conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh comes in a fraught year marked by Russia’s war on Ukraine, an energy crunch, soaring inflation and the lingering effects from the Covid pandemic. But Simon Stiell, the UN’s climate change executive secretary, said he would not be…

New Delhi: With the air quality deteriorating in the national capital, the Delhi traffic police have also pulled up their socks along with Delhi transport department officials to ensure that trucks, apart from those carrying essential items, do not enter the city. According to a senior traffic police official, air quality management measures have been escalated in Delhi. Traffic police bike patrol teams and mobile prosecution teams had been deployed in the field to implement the measures. “The Deputy Commissioners of Police (Traffic) are in touch with their counterparts in neighbouring states to ensure cohesive action,” the official said.…

WASHINGTON: Former US president Donald Trump said yesterday he doubted the country could survive the two remaining years of President Joe Biden’s term, alluding to the failures of his administration. “This country – I don’t know if it’s going to live for another two years, that’s what is happening. So you’ve got to get out and vote for this man (Republican candidate Mehmet Oz). He is a good man,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. Trump stressed that the US “has never been so bad as it is right now”, noting Washington’s weakening standing in the world. “It’s never been in this position.…

TAXPAYERS are coughing up more than R130 million for the salaries of 305 suspended civil servants, including 57 senior managers, who are sitting idle at home. This emerged in parliamentary responses by Acting Public Service and Administration Minister Thulas Nxesi, to questions posed by DA MP Mimmy Gondwe. In his response, Nxesi said there were 305 civil servants who were on suspension with full pay and the cost to the government was over R130m(R130 964 676) as at June. “The number of senior public servants on precautionary suspension is 57,” he said. Nxesi’s responses showed that 226 civil servants were on suspension in the nine provinces and taxpayers were paying close to R100m (R90 707 330) million towards their salaries. The national departments were paying R40 257 345m in salaries…

THE attempted assassination of former Pakistani prime minister, Imran Khan, is not an isolated incident. It is a well choreographed event designed to trigger a deadly civil war in Pakistan. Under this sinister scenario as chaos engulfs the nation, the warlords of the next world order, intervene and remove Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. These invisible global forces, were behind the hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, they played a cardinal role in the the murder of Benazir Bhutto. They got rid of General Zia Ul Haq in a carefully planned air crash that killed him and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Akthar Abdul Rehman. Regime change and assassinations are the instruments The West uses to intimidate and cement its global interests in a volatile word. 2022 will…

MAKING the nation proud, the South African youth Kung Fu team came home with a total 10 medals, including eight gold, one silver, and one bronze following a successful feat at the Botswana Kung Fu Championship. The young athletes all trained by Shifu Muhammad Junaid M.J Li Chafeker arrived back in the country on Thursday, following two full days of competition in various disciplines including San Da (Chinese kickboxing full contact), Taolu forms, and group team events. Competing countries included host nations Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Mozambique. From the province, the winners - all athletes from the M.J.Li Kungfu Foundation - included Muhammad Saifullah Chafeker (son of M.J.Li), winning five gold medals, Sinawo Yola winning two gold medals and one silver, Muhammad Raihan Abdullah winning two gold…

POPULATION increases cannot be an “excuse” for inadequate resources, as the issue is not a new one, women and children advocacy groups say. This as the Police Ministry gave an update last week about resourcing of provinces and police stations. It was said that the high influx of interprovincial migration to Western Cape and Gauteng has largely contributed to policing resources being strained in these provinces. Many new informal settlements have formed in communities since 2020 impacting human and other resources at police stations, the Police Ministry said. The Western Cape recorded 458 749 people who settled in the province by 2022, an increase from 161 436 in 2016. National chief financial officer, Puleng Dimpane said budget priorities included an additional R100 million for the GBV action plan and Family…

THE re-election of rapist Jeffrey Donson as Kannaland mayor and fraudster Werner Meshoa as his deputy can best be described as a devastating blow to the country’s fight against gender-based violence. The two were once again elected to occupy the higher echelons of the struggling Western Cape municipality having been booted from their executive posts earlier this year through a motion of no confidence. How their party, the Independent Civic Organisation of SA (Icosa), continues to field them as the most suitable candidates for these positions is an indictment of how serious this organisation is in ridding itself and the municipality of criminals. But they are not alone in resurrecting Donson and Meshoa’s political careers. Their return last month was made possible by the Kannaland Independent Party (KIP) which…

KANO, Nigeria: A group of 21 children who were abducted by gunmen last week from a farm in north-western Nigeria’s Katsina state were freed and reunited with their families on Saturday, police said. Kidnapping has become endemic in recent years in Katsina – the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari – as roving gangs of armed men abduct people from schools, hospitals, roads and farms and demand ransom cash from their relatives. Three of the captives’ parents told Reuters the children, aged between 8 and 14, were released after parents paid a ransom of 1.5 million naira (R60 000), but police spokesperson Gambo Isa denied a ransom had been paid.…

MILAN: Italian authorities yesterday allowed minors and people in need of urgent medical care to disembark from a German-flagged vessel in the Sicilian port of Catania, the NGO running the ship said. Several vessels holding almost 1 000 migrants have been at sea off Italy for more than a week awaiting permission to dock from the country’s right-wing government that took office last month. On Friday, Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the German-flagged ship with 179 people aboard would be allowed to release minors and those with health issues, adding the boat and the rest of those onboard would then be sent out of territorial waters.…

The US is privately encouraging Ukraine to signal an openness to negotiate with Russia, The Washington Post reported, as the State Department said Moscow was escalating the war and did not seriously wish to engage in peace talks. The newspaper cited unnamed sources as saying the request by American officials was not aimed at pushing Ukraine to the negotiating table, but a calculated attempt to ensure Kyiv maintains the support of other nations. US and Ukrainian officials acknowledged that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s ban on talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin had generated concern in parts of Europe, Africa and Latin America, where the war’s effects on costs of food and fuel are felt most sharply, the Post said. “Ukraine fatigue is a real thing for some of our partners,”…