Índice para 2022-04-29 em Cape Times

From page 1 He alleged a meeting was held with people in the house alongside two senior officials and Nkosi-Malobane – resulting in tampering of the scene prior to Mosia’s arrival. This was why Teffo believed Mosia only collected and took photos as directed to by Ndlovu, he said. This was refuted by Mosia, insisting he had no such knowledge. The defence also wanted to know why no photographs were taken of the second bedroom where the victims were allegedly kept when forensic evidence was being collected. Teffo insisted Khumalo and the others were not there when the forensic expert arrived, but at the Mulbarton home Khumalo shared with the soccer player. Teffo said evidence will be led that the shooting was just after 7pm, but Mosia was only called…

Black working-class communities are bearing the brunt of the electricity crisis, new research which explores “energy racism” has found. The report titled “Energy Racism: The Electricity Crisis in South Africa” by the Centre for Sociological Research and Practice (CSRP), which is part of the Department of Sociology at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), found that strategies have been developed to “rob the victims of apartheid of their access to a safe, clean, reliable, and affordable supply of energy”. The research was conducted in the black working-class township of Soweto and sought to explore the experiences, responses and solutions of members of this community to the energy crisis. Researchers explain that South Africa’s energy system is based on the exploitation of cheap black labour. Historically, black workers provided the cheap labour…

AT JUST five years old, having already survived three open-heart surgeries, Moegamat “MG” Gallant had already known different songs of praise recited at the mosque “as if he was born with it”. And this year, Gallant, also endearingly known as the Champ or Fighter, will proudly celebrate three decades as Mu'athin (one who renders the call to prayer) at the Al-Jaamiah Mosque in Stegman Road, Claremont. Gallant, 40, from Yorkshire Street in Lansdowne is also the life coach and head of sport at Groote Schuur High School, and has faithfully conducted his bilal work - referred to as voor werk in die masiet (front line duties in the mosque). This includes rendering the call to prayer, other items are famously known as the Kaapse poedjies (Cape Malay version of daily…

Take Your Breath Away Linwood Barclay Loot.co.za (R235) HQ IT’S always the husband, isn’t it? One weekend, while Andrew Mason was on a fishing trip, his wife Brie vanished without a trace. Most people assumed Andy had got away with murder, but the police couldn’t build a strong case against him. For a while, Andy hit rock bottom; he drank too much, was abandoned by his friends, nearly lost his business, and became a pariah in the place he had once called home. Now, six years later, Andy has put his life back together. He’s sold the house he shared with Brie and moved away for a fresh start. When he hears his old house has been bulldozed and a new one built in its place, he’s not bothered. He’s…

A CONVICTED and sentenced Wynberg shoplifter will return to court to ensure the correct questions are asked, so as to not compromise his rights and that “gaps” in the line of questioning are filled. This comes after the matter was automatically reviewed by high court acting judge Constance Nziweni, who also set aside the sentence of one year’s imprisonment. Salamdin Mohadin, who pleaded guilty to the charge of theft, had stolen various items from a chain store in Maynard Mall, Wynberg, in July last year, and during court proceedings admitted to having stolen shopping bags, 500ml shower gel, a cake, 2kg sugar, fabric conditioner and cheese. According to Judge Nziweni, there was a gap in the line of questioning by the magistrate in the lower court, saying she was “left…

THE DA has been requested to be consistent in their spirit of compassion and “willingness” to assist long-term residents facing eviction in communities. Nearly 300 people, mostly Sassa old-age grant recipients who have lived for more than a decade in Paradise Park Holiday Resort, Vermont, in the Greater Hermanus area, now face eviction. On April 20, the Western Cape High Court ruled in favour of a developer and gave the families three months to vacate the premises. Paradise Park Holiday Resort’s former owner sold the site to the developer due to financial challenges emanating from the cost of a court battle with the municipality regarding compliance. According to the papers, the former owner stated that he terminated all lease agreements in 2016. Some people vacated the premises while others…

THE way land resources – soil, water and biodiversity – are mismanaged and misused threatens the health and continued survival of many species on Earth, warns a stark new report from the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). UNCCD’s evidence-based flagship Global Land Outlook 2 (GLO2) report, five years in development with 21 partner organisations, and with more than 1 000 references, is the most comprehensive consolidation of information on the topic ever assembled. It offers an overview of unprecedented breadth, and projects the planetary consequences of three scenarios through 2050: business as usual, restoration of 50 million square kilometres of land, and restoration measures augmented by the conservation of natural areas important for specific ecosystem functions. The report has been released before the UNCCD’s 15th session of the Conference…

Millions of workers staged a crippling strike in Sri Lanka yesterday, adding to pressure on President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his ruling family to quit over the country’s worst economic crisis. The island nation of 22 million people has been hit by months of acute shortages of food, fuel and medicines, prompting widespread protests. But yesterday’s nationwide strike was the first time the entire country had been brought to a standstill since the demonstrations began, with both state and private sector employees taking part. Public transport was stopped and teachers quit school while shops and offices closed, police and regional officials said. Rajapaksa invited leaders of his party to discuss the crisis today, but former coalition partner the Sri Lanka Freedom Party said they would not attend and told him to…

Moderna has asked US regulators to authorise its Covid-19 vaccine for children under the age of 6, which would make it the first shot against the coronavirus available for under 5s. The Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer and BioNTech is authorised for children 5 and older. But their trial results for 2- to 4-year-olds showed a weaker immune response than in adults, forcing the study to be extended to test a third dose. Moderna recently released data showing its vaccine was safe and generated a similar immune response in young children as for adults, which was the goal of the study. The Omicron variant, which has been shown to be more likely to evade vaccine immunity than earlier versions, was predominant during the paediatric trial. The drugmaker said two doses were…

The Hague: The use of deepfake technology is gaining ground in the criminal underworld and should be targeted as a priority, Europe’s policing agency warned yesterday. The ability to coerce people online, or to create entirely new personas, could be used to devastating effect in the wrong hands, Europol said. It released a 23-page report looking at how artificial intelligence and deepfake technology could be used to erode trust in authority and official facts. “Experts fear this may lead to a situation where citizens no longer have a shared reality, or could create societal confusion about which information sources are reliable,” it said. Businesses too were at risk. | AFP…

Addis Ababa: Ethiopian peacekeepers from the war-torn Tigray region, who are refusing to return home, are victims of rebel “propaganda”, the defence ministry said, following the soldiers’ request for political asylum in Sudan. More than 500 UN peacekeepers from Tigray who were deployed to Abyei, a disputed border region between Sudan and South Sudan, have asked Khartoum for asylum, citing fears for their safety. The conflict between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front has widened ethnic fissures in the country, with Tigrayan officers accused of colluding with the rebels. | AFP…

KAROOOOO, which provides on- ground data analytics and business intelligence reports for businesses, in its first year as a Nasdaq listed company lifted revenue 20 percent, the result mainly of 16 percent subscription revenue growth. The group, which owns 100 percent of Cartrack, 100 percent of Carzuka and 70.1 percent of Picup, said yesterday that the number of subscribers was up 17 percent to 1 525 972, bolstered by the revenue from Carzuka (R67 million) and Picup (R42m). A 60 US cents dividend was declared. “Our decade-plus track record of growth, sustained profitability and a highly cash-generative business model, coupled with consistent innovation and strong customer acquisition, continues. “At the end of 2022 we had more than 88 000 commercial…

THE statue of the late Black Consciousness Movement founder, Steve Biko, which stands in front of the East London City Hall in the Eastern Cape has been defaced. The statue, which was erected to commemorate Biko’s contribution to the anti-apartheid Struggle, was unveiled in the city in 1997. It has been vandalised twice in two years. Buffalo City Municipality spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said: “We have noted with disappointment the vandalism of this iconic Municipal asset. “This is a very important statue that carries historical value for educating locals but for tourists as well. It’s a cowardly crime. “We have also noticed that other municipal assets like an electricity power station unit along Cambridge road are painted in similar fashion. “We are working with law enforcement agencies who will hopefully activate…

THE Department of Social Development is set to scrutinise nearly 100 000 civil servants after they were found to be among thousands of officials that benefited from social grants last year. This emerged after 66 480 reviews were conducted on the grants civil servants received and R12.6 million recovered since the department revealed that 177 801 civil servants received social grants, including 11 589 recipients of child foster grants as at July 2021. Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu was asked about the number of public servants found to have qualified for the grants that they received, and those that did not qualify. She was also asked about the amount of money recovered from the culprits and the disciplinary action taken against them. In her two separate replies, Zulu said payment…

Published by Bookstorm and available at Loot.co.za (R220) THE DIAGNOSIS In February 2004, when David was about 20 months old, we visited a developmental specialist. We had to wait two agonising, soul-stealing months before we secured an appointment with her. When I close my eyes and cast my memory back to that fateful day, I can still see her sitting behind her large desk as she delivered the diagnosis that destroyed the more or less normal path we thought we were taking. The outcome of this visit turned into a surreal nightmare from which there was no escape. What she gave us was not merely a diagnosis, it was more like a death sentence. In a perfectly calm, matter-of-fact voice, she uttered this dreadful news and advice: “He will never…

BEACH MURDER Michael Ledwidge Loot.co.za (R249) Headline publishing A HIGH-society wedding party stirs up new evidence in an unsolved murder in this explosive and twisting thriller from the number one best-selling co-author of James Patterson’s Michael Bennett. When Terry Rourke is invited to the spare-no-expense beach wedding of his hedge fund manager brother, he thinks that his biggest worry will be flubbing the champagne toast. But this isn’t the first time Terry has been to the Hamptons. As the designer tuxedos are laid out and the flowers arranged along the glittering surf, Terry can’t help but take another look at a decades-old murder trial that rocked the very foundations of the town – and his family. He soon learns that digging up billion-dollar sand can be a very dangerous activity.…

To raise funds for former Paralympian and shark attack survivor Achmat “Sharkboy” Hassiem, Melkbosstrand resident Jon Vickers is undertaking seven Robben Island crossings in seven days. Funds raised by Vickers, 45, will go towards the care of Hassiem, who has been in a coma for eight months due to complications after having surgery on his back last year. Vickers, who started his first crossing on Monday, and hopes to complete his final crossing on Sunday, aims to raise R50 000. “Achmat has done so much for the community since his shark attack, in terms of motivational speaking, charity drives and also being a Paralympian, “I just felt that someone who has done so much for the country and his community, it’s about time we do something for him now,” said…

LUTHANDO Mncuntula, who was among the demonstrators at a council meeting yesterday, has alleged that his left arm and four fingers were broken after being manhandled by a law enforcement police officer. Mncuntula said he was chased out of the council meeting where the Unlawful Occupation by-laws were being protested. “We were having a peaceful demonstration during the council meeting at the Civic Centre when law enforcement forcefully removed us. As a citizen, I have a right to protest or voice my rights. “A few firefighters came to me because they could see something was wrong. They called an ambulance but later they said there were no ambulances to quickly assist me. So I had to take myself to the hospital,” said Mncuntula. He said the main reason for the…

StatSA will continue to collect census data from households in the Western Cape for an additional two weeks until May 14. The extension follows a strong response by residents of the province to the call to get counted. “StatsSA data collectors will be visiting communities with low response rates across the province. Almost 1.1 million households in the province have completed the census questionnaire since data collection began in February,” Stats SA said yesterday. “With over 600 000 households yet to be visited, Western Cape households that have not been counted are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity.” All personal information collected for the purpose of the census is kept strictly confidential. “Census information is essential for determining the funding allocation to provinces and municipalities. Census data…

India is facing its worst electricity shortage in more than six years just as scorching temperatures force early closures of schools and send people indoors. Extreme heat parched large swathes of South Asia this week after India’s hottest March on record, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to warn of rising fire risks as the country heats up too much too soon. Local authorities in the worst-hit states are struggling to juggle power cuts and growing pressure on health services. In the capital New Delhi, temperatures have soared past 40°C for several days and are forecast to linger around 44°C until Sunday, with peak summer heat still to come before cooling monsoon rains arrive in June. Maximum temperatures recorded in six districts in West Bengal were at least 5°C above normal,…

ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday he hopes his visit to Jeddah will herald a new era in ties with “brotherly” Saudi Arabia, as the regional rivals hold the first high-level visit in years after intense efforts to repair strained ties. Erdogan’s visit, at the invitation of Saudi King Salman, is part of a drive to mend ties that included dropping a trial over the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018. Turkey’s economy has been ailing for years and a lira crisis last year due to an unorthodox monetary policy backed by Erdogan sent inflation soaring above 60%. This was worsened by the war between Ukraine and Russia. | Reuters…

Paris: A French policeman has been charged with involuntary manslaughter after shooting dead a driver who sought to evade police and a passenger in Paris on Sunday, hours after Emmanuel Macron celebrated his re-election as president nearby, a judicial source said. The 24-year-old officer used his assault rifle to try to stop the car as it hurtled towards his colleagues on Pont Neuf bridge, claiming that he acted in self-defence. But prosecutors determined it was more likely that the officer had responded with excessive force. Around a dozen rounds were fired, with “five or six shots hitting the occupants,” according to a police report. | AFP…

Washington: The fossils of three ichthyosaurs, giant marine reptiles that patrolled primordial oceans, have been discovered high up in the Swiss Alps, and include the largest ever tooth found for the species, a study said yesterday. With elongated bodies and small heads, the prehistoric leviathans weighed up to 80 metric tons and grew to 20m, making them among the largest animals to have lived. They first appeared 250 million years ago in the early Triassic, and a smaller, dolphin-like subtype survived until 90 million years ago. But the gigantic ichthyosaurs, which comprised most of the species, died out 200 million years ago. | AFP…

From page 1 The implicated public servants have completed debt acknowledgement forms to enable Sassa to recover the debt. “This information has been shared with each province and affected government departments for them to be able to take appropriate action,” she said. “To date, Sassa has not received any reports of the outcomes of these processes.” DA MP Mimmy Gondwe said her party sent a fresh set of parliamentary questions to Zulu and acting Public Service and Administration Minister Thulas Nxesi requesting the names and other details of the 3 268 public servants that received social grants they were not entitled to in order to lodge criminal complaints against them. “Failure to enforce consequence management on this glaring abuse of taxpayer money will only serve to entrench and perpetuate a…

THE Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has filed an application to review and set aside the National Energy Regulator of South Africa’s (Nersa) decision to grant three Karpowership independent power producer (IPP) generation licences. Outa executive director, advocate Stefanie Fick said: “It is submitted that Nersa has displayed a cavalier attitude towards statutory compliance and public concerns throughout its decision-making process to award generation licences to Karpowership. “The decisions to award the licences to Karpowership for generation at Coega, Saldanha Bay and Richard’s Bay respectively were irrational, unreasonable, and taken without regard to relevant considerations …” Other arguments included concerns around the Karpowership IPPs compliance with environmental legislation. The Green Connection has also launched an application in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria seeking to review and set aside the…

The Heist Men Andrew Brown Loot.co.za (R199) Penguin But, as we meet Andile Xaba, the on-the-ground man in charge of the heists, at a heist, we are also introduced to the grim reality that the crimes are run by shadowy men and syndicates. Xaba makes for a fascinating character. He has had the benefits of a good education, paid for by his domestic worker mother’s liberal employees. He’s even spent a year at law school in Johannesburg, but with no support, apart from a bursary, his is the sad story of so many students who have been allowed places in universities with no thought of where they will live and who will support them. It makes his leaving university and entering the shadowy world of heist men even the more…

Chasing Marian Amy Heydenrych, Qarnita Loxton, Pamela Power, Gail Schimmel Loot.co.za (R215) MacMillan The book is focused on another well-known author; the top-selling international writer Marian Keyes. In the book, four diverse people come together with a crazy plan – they hear the writer will be visiting the country and decide, come hell or high water, they are going to meet her. Jess is a mother on the brink of divorce and disintegration; Ginger is a granny who is happily widowed; Matt is a sensitive young man who is almost qualified as a psychologist, and Queenie is a Cape Town librarian whose boyfriend is far from present. In this quirky and hugely entertaining novel about four strangers, two cities and a chance online meeting: you’ll find a cohesive story that…

ACCUSED murderer and former cop, Richard Smit, is not welcome in Strandfontein if he is granted bail. These were the submissions of Strandfontein CPF chairperson Sandy Schuter who took the stand yesterday in bail proceedings for Smit, accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend, Natasha Booise. Smit appeared at the Piketberg Magistrate’s Court yesterday where he faces a charge of murder, two counts of attempted murder, discharging a firearm in a built-up area, and handling a firearm while under the influence of a substance which has an intoxicating or narcotic effect. National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila said Schuter took the stand and testified about the Strandfontein community who felt they were not consulted about the possible relocation of Smit if he was granted bail. “The accused provided his…

IN TREVOR Noah’s book, Born a Crime, he details how his very existence was criminal given that he was the child of a white Swiss father and a black Xhosa mother, which was illegal given the apartheid laws that were in effect at the time of his birth. While today in the post-apartheid era people can no longer be born a crime, many South Africans are unable to survive without taking illegal actions, effectively criminalising their very existence (“enforced informalisation”, as labelled by the Sustainable Livelihood Institute). Consider a young unemployed person from an informal settlement. That settlement is likely illegal, as it was built on land the inhabitants do not own. The zoning is unlikely to permit multiple residential structures, and the houses do not have approved building plans…

The US yesterday accused Russia of planning to stage fake independence votes to justify its conquest of territory in Ukraine, as Russian forces stepped up their assault on the east. More than two months into an invasion that has flattened cities but failed to capture the capital, Kyiv, Russia has mounted a push to seize two eastern provinces in a battle the West views as a decisive turning point in the war. Although Russian troops were pushed out of northern Ukraine last month, they are heavily entrenched in the east, and also still hold a swathe of the south that they seized in March. The US mission to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said the Kremlin might attempt “sham referenda” in southern and eastern areas it had…

The Chinese megacity of Guangzhou yesterday cancelled hundreds of flights and began testing 5.6 million people over one suspected Covid-19 case, part of an escalating battle across the country to extinguish the virus. China is facing its worst outbreak since the peak of the first wave in early 2020, with eastern Shanghai recording dozens of daily deaths and the capital Beijing sealing off whole areas where handfuls of cases have been detected. Under its zero-Covid policy, China has used lockdowns, mass testing and travel restrictions to stamp out infections. The strategy is under strain, with the highly transmissible Omicron variant punching through health controls. Rolling virus restrictions, including a weeks-long lockdown of virtually all of Shanghai’s 25 million residents, have damaged the economy, causing backlogs at the world’s busiest container…

York: Britain’s Prince Andrew was this week stripped of his status as a freeman of the city of York because of his associations with convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. At an extraordinary meeting of York City Council in northern England, councillors voted unanimously to withdraw the honour that was conferred on him in 1987. Sexual abuse allegations levelled against Queen Elizabeth II’s second son, which he settled out of court in the US earlier this year, and his associations with Epstein and Maxwell were “incredibly serious and cannot be ignored”, Liberal Democrat councillor Darryl Smalley told the meeting. He said the prince should also have his official title, the Duke of York, removed. References to “Freemen of the City of York” date back to Anglo-Saxon times…

LONDON: Britain has delayed imposing its full post-Brexit import controls on goods from the EU again, pushing it back until the end of next year, saying it did not want to add to fast-rising inflation. Britain left the EU’s single market in January 2021 and has delayed full implementation of border controls due to worries about port disruption and Covid-19. The government said yesterday that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the leap in global energy costs were hitting supply chains still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. British port operators said they had built border control posts, and wanted to know if they could start to bulldozer the facilities. | Reuters…

ORLANDO Pirates co-coach Mandla Ncikazi was left frustrated after his troops spurned a chance to move closer to second place after playing out to a 0-0 draw against Chippa United at Orlando Stadium on Wednesday. Had the Sea Robbers won the game, they would have been just two points adrift of second-placed Royal AM. Second place in the Premiership grants a club the right to play in next season’s Caf Champions League. “It was a match we should have won. We dropped two points. It was valuable points that we needed, but when you miss chances like we did, you won’t win matches,” said Ncikazi. Pirates’ lack of consistency is a problem that has haunted them for more than a decade, so much so that they have not won the…