Sommaire pour 2022-01-18 de Cape Times

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za INFLATION has come out tops as one of the most pressing issues that need to be resolved by the global community in order to promote steady recovery of the world economy as central banks have started correcting their monetary policies. The virtual World Economic Forum (WEF) Davos Agenda 2022 meeting kicked off on a high note yesterday. The US has already indicated that it will start hiking interest rates in March after inflation reached a 40-year high of 7 percent in the world’s largest economy. In China, inflation has eased to 1.5 percent from a 15-month high of 2.3 percent amid efforts by the governments to secure supply as well as the re-imposition of lockdown measures in some regions as the omicron strain spread…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za SOUTH African stocks recovered yesterday after China posted an impressive 8.1 percent economic growth for 2021, but the rand faltered as oil prices rose to a 3-year high. The Chinese economy grew 8.1 percent in 2021, the fastest expansion in nearly a decade, exceeding the government's target of above 6 percent and following a revised 2.2 percent growth in 2020. The JSE All Share Index yesterday rose as much as 0.5 percent, to above 75 600 points by 3pm, lifted by oil giant Sasol, which was buoyed by the rally in global oil prices. The index closed at 75 593.47 points yesterday. Sasol rose more than 0.5 percent to R291.48 per share in the afternoon trade, before closing at…

Zama Ngcoya and Nomonde Zondi LADYSMITH residents who had to be evacuated from their homes after severe flooding in the city over the past few days, say they are devastated and have lost all their belongings. Yesterday, parts of the CBD were still under water and some residents were trying to make it across the flooded streets. The KwaZulu-Natal Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Department said that at least 70 residents were evacuated from flooded areas and moved to the Indoor Sports Centre. It said Ladysmith had received significant rainfall over the weekend, which led to the Kliprivier bursting its banks and flooding parts of the CBD. Residents, who were evacuated to the sports centre, said they wanted the government to help them find alternative accommodation. Flood victim Nonkululeko…

James Tannenberger LESLIE London’s latest response contains the same false statements about the River Club redevelopment which he has been driving over the past few years. Despite the Liesbeek Leisure Properties Trust (LPPT) having repeatedly responded to these lies with the true facts, he has continued with his misinformation campaign, which is clearly not grounded in reality. When it comes to opposition against the project, the online petition which Mr London claims has more than 58 000 signatures is completely baseless. This is because it was circulated after the transparent, legislated public participation process undertaken when the redevelopment was assessed and finally approved. It is also backed by no expert reports and has been circulated without allowing the developer to respond to the misinformation contained in it. For this reason,…

Lehlohonolo Mashigo THE Commission for Gender Equality said it had noted a study published in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology medical journal, released on January 5, which found that vaccines might cause a small change to the menstrual cycle length, but this was temporary. The commission said it was still concerned, especially if vaccination was mandatory. It said that although health experts believed this finding was not clinically significant, it would like to caution businesses and institutions against forcing employees to vaccinate and imposing harsh sanctions on them if they did not. “The commission is aware that several companies in the corporate and retail sectors have introduced mandatory vaccinations … “ It would like to warn that mandatory vaccination does not supersede the South African Constitution and its provisions. “Section 12…

Ruling is a victory over politicians riding roughshod over the rule of law IT HAPPENED. Let us all take a deep breath and recognise: an administrative disaster has been averted. Like when the car coming straight at us swerves at the last moment, or when the Covid-19 or HIV test results come back negative. The Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences (Aarto) Act and its amendment, on which the planned demerit system for traffic offences is based, will not be implemented in their current form nationwide, after they were declared inconsistent with the Constitution. Can it really be? On Thursday, the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, put the legislative responsibility for road traffic management back where it should always have been – in a shared space between Parliament, provincial legislatures, and…

The pressure on UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is facing calls to resign over a string of alleged parties held at his official residence in Downing Street during the Covid-19 lockdown, increased yesterday with fresh revelations that he reportedly attended another celebration in December 2020. According to the Mirror newspaper, Johnson attended a leaving celebration for his defence adviser Captain Steve Higham in the run-up to Christmas 2020 and gave a speech. It is understood the prime minister was there for a few minutes to thank him for his service as a small number of No10 staff briefly said goodbye. Last Wednesday, Johnson apologised for participating in a party in the gardens of his official residence on May 20, 2020, but did not explicitly admit any wrongdoing as he…

The happy voices of children ring out as they play in front of an old concrete building covered in countless bullet marks located in a corner of a metropolitan park in Higashiyamato, Tokyo. The building was formerly an electrical substation. It now serves as an important relic from the past that illustrates the horror of warfare through its woeful appearance caused by damage amid air raids during World War II. According to the Higashiyamato city government, the electrical substation was constructed in 1938. The facility transformed and supplied electricity to the adjacent Hitachi aircraft plant in Tachikawa, which built engines for warplanes. Toward the end of the war, the substation became an air raid target for US forces and was bombed three times in 1945. It is said the air…

DUBAI: Three fuel trucks exploded, killing three people, and a fire broke out near Abu Dhabi airport yesterday in what Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group said was an attack deep inside the United Arab Emirates. The Houthi movement, which is battling a Saudi-led coalition that includes the UAE, has frequently launched cross-border missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, but has claimed few such attacks on the UAE. Three people – two Indians and a Pakistani – were killed and six wounded when three fuel tanker trucks exploded in the industrial Musaffah area near storage facilities of oil firm ADNOC. The move could heighten tensions between the UAE and Iran.…

Victoria Beckham has launched a “timeless monogram” for her Pre-Autumn 2022 collection and explained her process. The Spice Girl turned high fashion designer thinks the “challenge” she set herself of incorporating her initials “VB” into her Pre-Fall 2022 collection was a success though she was previously sceptical. Discussing her designing process with Vogue’s Anders Christian Madsen, the 47-year-old fashionsta said: “Most of my starting points in designing are things that I don’t like. And I don’t like monograms, so I really enjoyed that challenge. “And actually, this is now in my personal wardrobe and I’m really excited to wear it. It’s elegant, it’s chic. I think it’s going to feel quite timeless, so it’s something I can continue through the season.” The star described herself – and her fashion and…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za AS THE National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa) public hearings into the proposed 20.5% electricity price hike by Eskom kicked off in the Western Cape yesterday, the question on everyone’ lips was: ”How can already hard-pressed South Africans afford the increase? Eskom approached the court seeking semi-urgent relief to force Nersa to consider its revenue application for the 2022/23 financial year, and to set timelines for processing the application in terms of the Fourth Multi-Year Price Determination (MYPD4). Its application is for a total revenue application of R279bn, R335bn and R365bn for 2023, 2024 and 2025 respectively. Cape Town mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis was among 10 objectors who made oral submissions at the virtual hearing for the province yesterday, largely rejecting the increase. He said: “We reject…

Leslie London Mr (James) Tannenberger’s misrepresentations regarding our opposition to the River Club development continues, despite our previous factual rebuttals. Contrary to Tannenberg’s assertions, opposition to the development is broad-based: more than 58 000 petition signatories; 24 public leaders writing letters of support, 11 Khoi entities listed in the affidavit from the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Traditional Indigenous Council (GKKITC) and 60 First Nation entities, civic associations and NGOs supporting the application to grade the Two Rivers Urban Park for provincial heritage status. The River Club is located in an environmentally sensitive area as confirmed in the City’s Environmental Management Department (EMD) appeal against the Environmental Authorisation, which cited “the ecological importance and sensitivity of the watercourses and wetlands of the River Club.” The fact that the site has been infilled…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za THE Brackenfell police officer accused of raping a 26-year-old woman was admitted to a medical facility yesterday – hours before we was expected in court, after he apparently fell sick at the weekend. The Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) arrested the man on Friday – the day he returned back from a short trip outside the province. The officer, whose identity is now known by the Cape Times, was expected to make his first court appearance at the Bluedowns Magistrate’s Court yesterday, but fell ill on Sunday night, a source said. Ipid spokesperson Grace Langa said the accused was admitted to hospital and the matter was postponed. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the case was received yesterday but the accused was still in hospital.…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za FOR nearly 12 years, Ottery residents have pleaded with the City to do something about a dangerous intersection in their suburb. They say vehicles turning from Link road into Ottery Road are at high risk of being hit by fast oncoming traffic and there have been many accidents at the intersection, dubbed by one resident "the corner of hell". Over the past three years, resident and activist Keith Blake has been in contact with the City’s senior traffic engineer in an effort to have the matter resolved, but to no avail. In correspondence dated August 2020, the official said there was no budget to do anything “at this stage”. In November that year, the official added: “Further, I have requested the District Roads Infrastructure Management Department to…

KWAZULU-Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala’s suggestion that foundations that provide commentary on political issues should also disclose their donors, should be given serious consideration. Speaking to hundreds of ANC members at the party’s provincial January 8 event in Mpophomeni township in Howick on Sunday, Zikalala said that if the country was serious about rooting out corruption, its focus should go beyond the government and political parties. “If we are to deal with corruption, let’s deal with corruption not in a selective approach. We must deal with corruption in the whole of society and in all areas. As the ANC, we want to support the policy that political parties must declare the donations they get. “But equally, these foundations that are named after our glorious leaders that we salute must equally declare…

Geneva: The Covid-19 crisis is continuing to hit jobs hard around the world, the UN said yesterday, warning it could take years for employment levels to reach pre-pandemic levels. In a new study, the UN’s International Labour Organisation revised its previous forecast that the global employment market will make a nearly full recovery from the virus this year. Blaming the impacts of Covid variants, such as Delta and Omicron, and uncertainty around how the pandemic will evolve, it now projects a significant deficit in working hours this year compared to before Covid-19 emerged. “Global labour markets are recovering from the crisis much more slowly than we previously expected,” ILO chief Guy Ryder told reporters, warning that the outlook “remains fragile”. “We are already seeing potentially lasting damage to labour…

LOS ANGELES: Denzel Washington knows he’s “only got so much time left”. The 67-year-old actor admitted the death of his mother Lennis last June has made him question his purpose as a human being so he is determined to “contribute” as much as he can with his life. He said: “That’s become clearer for me recently. It came to a head this year. I buried my mother. “And then I started to understand that you’re only here for a time and then you’re out. I’ve only got so much time left. But I’m excited about the future.”…

Millions of Americans hunkered down as a major winter storm hit the eastern US with heavy snow and ice knocking power out for an estimated 190 000 customers early yesterday. The National Weather Service (NWS) said the storm was bringing a miserable combination of heavy snow, freezing rain and high winds, affecting the south-east and coastal mid-Atlantic before moving up to New England and southern Canada. A swathe from the upper Ohio Valley north to the lower Great Lakes region could expect more than 30cm yesterday, it warned. “Heavy snow and ice accumulations are likely to produce hazardous travel, downed trees, and power outages for portions of the eastern US,” it said. In all, more than 80 million people fell under the winter weather alerts, US media reported.…

TEHRAN: Iran has arrested a niece of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, her brother and activists said, months after she took part in a celebration praising the widow of the ousted shah. Farideh Moradkhani, who has gained prominence as an anti-death penalty activist, was detained by security forces, her brother Mahmoud Moradkhani told London-based Iran International TV. “We are very worried, we now know she is in Evin Prison in Tehran and under the control of the ministry of intelligence,” he said. There were no details over why Moradkhani, the daughter of Khamenei’s sister, had been suddenly arrested.…

BRUSSELS: The European Commission has welcomed a referendum held by Serbia at the weekend to improve judicial independence, although a senior EU official said it regretted that Serbs in Kosovo were banned from voting. The Serbian parliament scrapped the turnout mandate allowing a simple majority to decide the outcome. The country’s electoral body said that, with 35% of ballots counted, almost 62% backed the constitutional changes which focused on the election of judges and prosecutors. The turnout exceeded 30%. Only mainland Serbia voted in the ballot.…

Dieketseng Maleke dieketseng.maleke@inl.co.za CAPITAL & Regional, the UK convenience, and community-focused shopping centre real estate investment trust (Reit), yesterday said it saw positive operational momentum with a solid performance over the festive trading period, as it considers resuming dividend payments later this year. The JSE-listed company issued an update on its trading and rent collections. The Reit said it would provide further details when the group announced its results for the year ended December 30, 2021, on Tuesday, March 8, 2022. Capital & Regional chief executive Lawrence Hutchings said: “Our Community Shopping Centres have continued to see positive operational momentum with a solid performance over the Christmas trading period. “Footfall continues to significantly outperform the national index while leasing activity and occupancy were maintained, which is a credit to our…

Gerry Cupido geraldine.cupido@inl.co.za If the beehive thought that Beyoncé had the most Instagram followers, they would be disappointed to know that she doesn’t. She has fewer followers than Kim Kardashian and believe it or not, Kim has even fewer followers than her baby sister Kylie Jenner. Having reached, and now surpassed, the 300 million followers mark, Jenner is officially the most-followed woman on Instagram. This makes the young businesswoman the third most-followed account on Instagram. The official Instagram page tops the “most followers” list, with Cristiano Ronaldo coming in second with his 390 million followers. Behind the soon-to-be mother of two is soccer legend Lionel Messi with 300 million followers and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson with 289 million followers. Her famous sister Kardashian isn’t too far behind with her 278…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za LAWYERS for Human Rights has once again stressed that no child may be prevented from attending school simply because they do not have a birth certificate, ID, permit or passport. Thandeka Chauke, a lawyer at the organisation, said that under the Constitution, every child in South Africa had the right to go to school, irrespective of whether they had documentation. “We urge the Department of Basic Education and schools to ensure that no child is turned away or disadvantaged due to lack of documentation. “We further urge the Department of Home Affairs to accelerate efforts to ensure all children in South Africa are documented and have full access to their rights,” Chauke said. Karabo Ozah, director at the Centre for Child Law, also reaffirmed that all children,…

Marsha Dean marsha.Dean@inl.co.za IT’S ALL systems go as around 1 million pupils in the province get ready to attend their first classes of the 2022 academic year and if indications are anything to go by, things should run smoothly for the most part. However, the persistent headache of overcrowding remains, as the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) continues to grapple with late applications and an influx of pupils from other provinces. WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the number of unplaced pupils in the province who applied in 2021 had reduced to just 469 Grade 1 learners and 2 620 Grade 8 learners. This is in comparison to December 2020 when 4 624 Grade 1 learners were unplaced, and 8 765 Grade 8 learners were without schools. The figure could change,…

Staff Reporter REFLECTING on varied exorcist and cleansing rituals, the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz Mocaa) yesterday announced an exhibition and programming schedule for Shooting Down Babylon, a large-scale retrospective exhibition by South African multimedia artist Tracey Rose. Derived from the title of Rose’s iconic installation Shooting Down Babylon (The Art of War) (2016), the retrospective will interrogate several themes, including repatriation, recompense and reckoning, and epitomises the wide-ranging medium and concerns prevalent in Rose’s practice. The body of work is also an investigation around post-apartheid legacies and liberation movements, and uses the body – often Rose’s own body – as a site for protest, outrage, resistance and pertinent discourse. “Very few artists have the genius and thematic agility that South African-born Tracey Rose has. She is able…

Odwa Mkentane odwa.mkentane@inl.co.za STRUGGLING train commuters want Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula to prioritise poor areas that have been left without the service for almost three years. They say his whirlwind inspection of the Cape Town Northern Line and the provincial Rail Management and Traffic Control Centre in Bellville yesterday showed that the government was more concerned about areas that were less affected by the absence of the service. Mbalula was joined by Transport and Public Works MEC Daylin Mitchell, and senior members of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa). It came after most of the corridors, including the Central Line, were shut down. Speaking at a press briefing yesterday, Mbalula said that four more new train sets were expected to be rolled on to the City’s railway lines in…

Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za NINE universities could be hauled before the courts over their mandatory vaccine policies as the newly-formed Universities Alliance SA (Uasa) is preparing for a legal challenge against the institutions. The organisation, whose aim is to represent the interests of university students and staff who are against the vaccine mandates, said it had sought the best possible legal team to tackle the issue, which requires both “scientific and constitutional arguments”. The organisation said plans were under way to take action against the universities. Stellenbosch University (SU), UCT and UWC are among the nine universities. The directors of Uasa said the non-profit company was dedicated to defending the rights of staff and students at South African universities. “We stand for bodily autonomy, individual rights, and freedom of choice, and…

WHEN the Greeks invented the term “democracy”, they never envisaged that as time passed, stronger and more powerful nations would manipulate, even mutilate it in such a way and to such an extent as to suit their own narrow understanding of it. This is exactly what has now culminated in what the world’s two most powerful nations, the Americans and the Chinese, are doing, having created their own narrow “American” and “Chinese” democracies. Did the American founding fathers foresee that their great country would also become the Judas goat of the world? It should be mentioned at the outset that the great British statesman, Winston Churchill, warned that until such time as mankind finds something better to replace democracy with, it remains the best political system, fraught as it is…

At least 17 people have died in separate attacks by armed groups in the DRC’s troubled north-eastern province of Ituri, local sources and monitors said yesterday. A militia group called the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (Codeco) on Sunday ransacked the village of Mabanga in Djugu territory, “killing six people, including four women”, said Ngandjole Assani, a representative of local grassroots groups. In Irumu territory farther south, members of Codeco and a group called the Patriotic and Integrationist Force of the Congo on Sunday attacked the village of Kokonyangi,. “Eleven bodies were found and 10 other civilians were injured,” said Jonas Lemi Zorabo, a traditional leader in the Babao-Bokoe area. A US-headquartered monitoring group, the Kivu Security Tracker, said nine people died in Kokonyangi. The armed forces in…

DUBAI: On the first day of the Australian Open, the world’s best male tennis player was taking selfies with fans at a Dubai airport arrivals gate. Instead of warming up for his first scheduled match on centre court at Melbourne Park in front of thousands, Novak Djokovic was 11 600km away, agreeing to photos with a handful of fellow travellers. “Hey mate, sorry about what’s happened,” one man said as he lowered his mask for a snap with Djokovic, who kept his own mask on as he waited just off the airbridge for his entourage to exit the plane. The world number one flew out of Melbourne late on Sunday after the Federal Court upheld a government decision to cancel his visa, capping days of drama over the country’s Covid-19…

KIEV: After last week’s unsuccessful peace talks between Nato and Russia and the Kremlin deploying some 100 000 soldiers along the Ukrainian border, officials accused Russia of a “hybrid war” following a cyberattack. According to news broadcaster Al Jazeera, Ukrainian government websites and computer systems were defaced after being infected with malware at the weekend. The cyberattack comes after the Kremlin’s security demands were unmet by Nato during talks held at the security alliance’s headquarters in Brussels. US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman warned if Russia invades Ukraine, “there will be significant costs and consequences”.…

SUVA: Around 80% of power has been restored in Tonga’s capital city of Nuku’alofa, but internet connections remain disrupted after the violent volcanic eruption on Friday and Saturday. The island nation is sending naval boats to outlying islands to assess the damage from the eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano and the consequent tsunami over the weekend. No casualties were reported on Tonga’s main island of Tongatapu, which is covered by ash, with several houses damaged, while significant damage was reported along the western coast of Tongatapu, including resorts and the waterfront of the capital.…

THE semi-finals of the DStv Compact Cup will take place on Saturday with Coastal United set to lock horns with Dinaledi, while Warriors will square off with Amabutho. Below we look at five players that could rise to the occasion. KEAGAN DOLLY – WARRIORS The Kaizer Chiefs midfielder enjoyed a fruitful return to local football last year following his time at French Ligue 1 side Montpellier. He was so good that he was also recalled to the national team by coach Hugo Broos. Dolly will be eager to continue where he left off last year by also standing out in the Viewers’ Choice Cup. And that’s why he’ll have to ensure that he’s at his best when it comes to dribbling, making runs, decision-making and passing accuracy. TEBOGO…