Sommaire pour 2023-11-17 de Cape Times

GOLD Fields expects to meet its projected bullion production for 2023 despite shortages of key skills and other persistent challenges with the operating environment in South Africa and Australia, such as above inflation cost surges. The company said yesterday its production guidance for the full year to end 2023 remained “unchanged despite operational challenges” in the third quarter period to September 2023. Gold Fields expects attributable gold production, excluding Asanko, to be between 2.25 million ounces and 2.3 million ounces this year compared to the 2.32 million ounces produced last year. The company is also anticipating all in costs of production to range from $1 480 (R28 017) per ounce to $1520 per ounce, with an exchange rate guidance of about $1:R17 and A$1/US$0.70. Interim CEO Martin Preece said Gold…

TRELLIDOR Holdings said yesterday its primary lender had condoned covenant breaches that occurred primarily due to a decrease in the group’s financial performance for the year to June 30. When Trellidor published its annual results on September 29, it reported the covenant breaches, and that its primary lender would complete an annual review and assess the significance of the covenant breaches, upon receipt of the results. Trellidor’s board said yesterday it was pleased to announce that these covenants would be re-measured by the lender for the ensuing financial period ending June 30, 2024. In allowing the breaches, the lender considered the financial and operating plans to rectify the breaches, that the group continued to be profit-making despite its underperformance, and that no legal proceedings had been instituted against the group…

From a financial standpoint, the settlement agreement, which stipulates that British bank Standard Chartered will pay R42.7 million for manipulating the rand exchange rate, is just a slap on the wrist. This is according to two academics following the bank’s admission of liability for manipulating the rand exchange rate. Standard Chartered Bank is one of the 28 banks being pursued by the Competition Commission for manipulation of USD/ZAR currency pair by fixing bids, offers, bid-offer spreads, the spot exchange rate, and the exchange rate at the Financial Information Exchange (FIX). The settlement ended an eight-year-long litigation between the commission and the bank over the currency manipulation allegations. Citibank settled the same conduct with the commission in 2017. Standard Chartered, while admitting liability to the currency manipulation charges, also agreed to…

THE expected drop in fuel prices across the board next month will be welcome relief for South Africans planning long journeys for their end-of-year holidays. According to unaudited mid-month data from the Central Energy Fund, consumers can expect a decrease of around R1.06/litre for ULP 95, R1.05/l for ULP 93, and a massive decrease of around R2.10/l for diesel. Illuminating paraffin is also expected to drop by around R1.75/l. The Automobile Association (AA) said the decreases would add further relief to struggling consumers. “Planning for a long journey during the December/January break should begin now and should include a complete once-over of your vehicle to ensure it is ready for a long trip,” said the AA. It urged all road users to ensure their state of mind was equally…

CHILD rights organisations have called for mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis to ensure that the rights and dignity of children are prioritised and protected as the City seeks legal advice on whether to appeal an order directing the mayor to set up a trust for a child who became orphaned when his father was jailed for the murder of his mother. The trust aims to ensure that the boy continues living in his childhood home in Fisantekraal, Durbanville. The City yesterday indicated that it would appeal against their denied application to the Supreme Court of Appeal, after receiving a tongue-lashing from Western Cape High Court Judge Daniel Thulare. The boy’s father was sentenced to life behind bars for the murder of his wife, whom he had strangled, then bundled her body into…

My Big Fat Greek Taverna Costa Ayiotis Loot.co.za (R230) Melinda Ferguson Many a great potential were never realised because those bestowed with oodles of talent were happy to rot in their comfort zones. This is not the world’s greatest book, but seeing that it packs a mean punch and carries one of the focal messages in human development, perhaps it qualifies as an essential book. It shouldn’t surprise us then when life coaches inevitably put it in their arsenal of motivational tools. The reader gets the sense that writer Costa Ayiotis had meant to have fun, clearly, when he undertook the writing project that culminated in his “My Big Fat Greek Taverna, From Diplomacy to Ouzo”. A law graduate from no less a hallowed institution than Wits, Ayiotis had never…

Israeli troops yesterday advanced their campaign to destroy Hamas in Gaza, fighting gun battles and taking control of a key port a day after a raid on the territory’s main hospital. The ground campaign has taken aim at key sites like Gaza government buildings and infrastructure, but also the Al-Shifa hospital that Israel says sits atop a Hamas command centre, a charge the group denies. Bombardment thundered and gunfire rattled in besieged Gaza, AFP live video showed, while Israel’s ambassador to the UN branded as “meaningless” a UN Security Council resolution calling for “extended” pauses in fighting. The Israeli army said yesterday its troops had taken “operational control” of the port at Gaza City in the territory’s north, showing at least a dozen tanks and groups of soldiers massed on…

NAIROBI: Kenyan MPs yesterday voted to support a request to deploy hundreds of police officers to Haiti in a UN-approved mission aimed at helping the Caribbean nation tackle gang violence, a televised broadcast from Parliament showed. In July, Kenya pledged to offer 1 000 police officers after Haiti appealed for international help with security personnel to assist in its battle against gangs blamed for spiralling violence. But in early October an opposition party went to court and got an order suspending the deployment. It claimed the plan did not involve public participation and was also unconstitutional because only the military could be deployed outside the country. | Reuters…

NEW DELHI: Toxic smog gripping New Delhi grew more intense yesterday as farm fires raged in nearby fields despite a court-ordered ban, making India’s capital the world’s most polluted city again. Pollution levels have risen since earlier this week after a brief respite and further mitigation measures are being discussed, but a plan to make rain via cloud seeding to battle the smog has been pushed back due to unfavourable weather. The city held the top spot on a real-time list of the world’s most polluted cities yesterday, with an air quality index of 509 around noon, according to Swiss group IQAir which categorised the air quality as “hazardous”. | Reuters…

More than 1 500 earthquakes have hit Iceland since early Tuesday as officials have warned that a volcanic eruption remains imminent. The 1 500 earthquakes that hit the country on Tuesday and Wednesday were preceded by 900 earthquakes on Monday. Researchers have detected sulfur dioxide, which can cause breathing issues and irritate the eyes. The high presence of sulfur dioxide indicates magma is likely near the surface. The Icelandic Meteorological Office warned that the likelihood of an eruption “remains high” and that the current status is unchanged from recent forecasts. Matthew James Roberts, the director of the Service and Research Division at the Icelandic Meteorological Office, described a “thin sliver of magma” more than 15km long that is making its way to the surface in the town of Grindavik in…

Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper Ronwen Williams believes the club’s recent success on the continent could further the prospects of Bafana Bafana. The South African men’s national team begin their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign at the weekend, and are looking to kick-start their journey with an injection of positivity. Bafana will welcome Benin to the Moses Mabhida Stadium tomorrow (3pm kick-off) before jetting off to Rwanda for their second match in Group C on Tuesday. The 31-year-old shot-stopper saved a penalty against Al Ahly in the semi-final of the African Football League (AFL), and Brazilians went on to eventually clinch the inaugural title. Before their final match against Moroccan giants Wydad Casablanca, Sundowns had to muscle their way past Petro de Luanda from Angola and Al Ahly, one of the most…

Life Healthcare is bumping up its South African capital expenditure for the year to September 2024 to R2.1 billion to purchase a hospital it currently leases as well as spending on product development for its Life Molecular Imaging (LMI) unit. In the year to the end of September 2023, Life Healthcare invested R1.5bn, up from R1.4bn year earlier, in capital expenditure covering continuing operations. Of this, maintenance capex for the year under review amounted to R1.2bn while growth capex stood at R366 million. “In FY2024 we plan to spend R2.1bn on capital expenditure in SA, including R350m on the purchase of a hospital property currently leased. We also plan to spend R200m on capex for LMI, largely earmarked for investment into LMI’s product pipeline development,” the company said. The planned…

EMIRA Property Fund declared an interim dividend of 61.74 cents per share that was 7.1% lower than that declared at the end of December 2022, but the payout was bang on forecasts made at the end of the last financial year, CEO Geoff Jennett said yesterday. In this context, “we are okay with it,” he said in an interview. Portfolio metrics had improved across all sectors, reflecting increased stability and “giving us cause for cautious optimism that the market is nearer to bottoming out and may be poised for upside.” The group also met key strategic targets through the period. Distributable earnings for six months to September 30 fell to R310.6 million compared to R378.7m for the prior period, primarily because the current period excluded interest income from…

This IS THE final article in a series on planning for retirement, focusing on the different phases of this important chapter of life. The first article looked at pre-retirement planning considerations, the second looked at navigating the transition phase of retirement, and the third explored the active or “go-go” phase. In the fourth article, we looked at the passive phase of retirement, and the fifth article covered the late retirement phase and the often opposing goals of having a lasting income and leaving a legacy. In this article, we provide a holistic review of the five phases of the retirement journey and some of the important takeaways from each. Retirement is a significant milestone that requires careful planning and preparation, preferably throughout your working years. Achieving a comfortable retirement requires…

WHATSAPP will charge users if they want to keep their old photos and messages exceeding the limit of 15GB of free storage. The Meta-owned company warned its billions of users that their content will now count towards their 15GB of free Google Photos storage if they have an Android device, and if they exceed that figure, customers will need to fork out for additional memory. In a blog post, Google's community manager warned of the impending change, writing: “As an important heads up, WhatsApp backups on Android will soon start counting toward your Google Account cloud storage limit, similar to how WhatsApp backups are handled on other mobile platforms. WhatsApp backups on Android will continue to work, as long as you have available space within your Google Account storage. If…

PARLIAMENT plans to improve its capacity and planning for the participation of the public in law-making processes after it recently reported the cancellation of some public hearings. Yesterday, Secretary to Parliament Xolile George told the programme committee that scheduling and capacity for public hearings were attended to as a matter of urgency. “We have prioritised positions that are extremely urgent, and public participation and committees is one of those areas,” said George, adding that they would like to provide a report at next week’s meeting on practical steps being taken. He made the comment when the administration provided a report to the committee on the cancellation of some public hearings. Parliament has had public hearings for the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill and Independent Municipal Demarcation Bill cancelled due to what…

SA calls on ICC to probe war crimes The ANC has indicated its intention to back a parliamentary motion calling on the government to close the Israeli embassy in South Africa and suspend all diplomatic relations with that country until it agrees to a ceasefire and commits to binding UN-facilitated negotiations. This was just hours after President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed that the South African government had put through a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the Israeli government. “We cannot sit back and watch the genocidal actions of the Israeli regime. President Ramaphosa has stated clearly that the ANC-led government as well as the ANC does not condone any form of violence directed at citizens. We welcome the fact that in this intervention South Africa is not alone…

Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport officials have shut four illegal traditional initiation schools across the metro. The schools were situated in Nyanga, Gugulethu, Philippi and Khayelitsha. According to Cultural Affairs and Sport MEC Anroux Marais, the department was now pursuing criminal charges against the school owners for ignoring a served notice to close down. “The Customary Initiation Act stipulates that all customary initiation schools must register with the relevant provincial department and sets out how these registrations must take place. The four schools concerned did not follow the process. “As the act requires, officials from the Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport visited each of the sites and served them with notices that they had two calendar days to close. Unfortunately, despite receiving these notices,…

The Most Evil Of Them All - When Narcissism Turns Deadly Sam Human Loot.co.za (R224) Penguin MOST serial murderers stem from abusive or neglected childhoods, and/or are potentially predisposed to various genetic, sociopathic or schizophrenic afflictions, rendering the root cause of their murderous behaviour a complex, lethal combination of factors. What is less credited, however, is the role of pathological narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) in the making of a serial killer. Narcissistic rage, sexual narcissism, necrophilia and cannibalism are all driven by a need to control and satisfy a grandiose sense of entitlement for personal pleasure, and of those, narcissistic rage is possibly the most dangerous factor of all in the understanding of serial rape and murder. The book explores the experiences of various serial murderers, both well…

I HAVE been reading several articles by pro-Israeli Saffa groups to try and understand the case for Zionism. But a common denominator I found is the lack of compassion towards the suffering and dying Palestinians, and in particular, the children of Gaza. The total number of dead children stands at a staggering 4 500, with more than 1 000 still buried under the rubble. The Palestinian Ministry of Health has released the names and ID numbers of the deceased to combat Western atrocity propaganda. Many pro-Israelis have placed the blame on Hamas, citing that the militant group started the war on October 7. They go on to mention that Palestinians voted for Hamas in 2006 as a means to justify the collective punishment of Gaza. All commentators, including a…

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron vowed to keep up military support for Ukraine during a surprise visit to Kyiv announced yesterday with the West’s attention focused on the Middle East. Former prime minister Cameron was in Kyiv on his first visit abroad as foreign minister of the UK, which has been a staunch military and political ally of Ukraine since the Russian invasion. “We will continue to give you the moral support, diplomatic support, the economic support, but above all, the military support, that you need not just this year, and next year, but for however long it takes,” Cameron said during a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “Russia thinks it can wait this war out, and that the West will eventually turn its attention elsewhere. This could not be…

MADRID: Spain’s lower house of parliament yesterday voted to make Pedro Sanchez prime minister for another term, ending a protracted deadlock after an inconclusive general election in July. His Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) had reached separate deals with a number of regional parties to earn their backing, including a contentious bill on amnesty for Catalan separatists that has sparked protests across Spain. Sanchez’s bid garnered 179 votes in favour and 171 against, with no abstentions. The “nays” stemmed from the conservative People’s Party, the far-right Vox and the People’s Union of Navarre’s lone MP. | Reuters…

SAO PAULO: Brazilian authorities confirmed this week that they were investigating a federal judge who made mistakes in a ruling that was written using artificial intelligence, saying it was the first such case in the country. The National Justice Council, an oversight body for the courts, summoned Judge Jefferson Rodrigues to explain how he came to publish a decision strewn with legal errors formulated by online AI tool ChatGPT. Rodrigues included incorrect details on previous court cases and legal precedent in his ruling, wrongly attributing past decisions to the Superior Court of Justice, according to case records. | AFP…

Bank and wealth management group Investec lifted its interim dividend 14.8% to 15.5 pence (R353) per share in its first half after successful client acquisition strategies, loan book growth and benefits from the high interest rates. The lender also yesterday announced it intended to launch an equities trading platform called Clarity, with the aim of competing in a market currently dominated by EasyEquities, and which would offer competitive fees, but a launch date has so far not yet been provided. CEO Fani Titi said the macroeconomic backdrop had been difficult characterised by high inflation, elevated global interest rates and persistent market volatility. “Our client franchises reported solid performance while the results also reflect the conclusions of the strategic actions over the past 18 months. Our balance sheet remains strong and…

THE right to personal freedom is highly prized in our society and the deprivation thereof is regarded by the courts as a serious injury, a judge said in ordering the Ministry of Correctional Services to pay R1 million in damages to a former inmate who was unlawfully arrested while on parole. Nkosana Leso turned to the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, where he claimed damages against the Department of Correctional Services for his unlawful detention of just more than two years. The court on an earlier occasion found that the department was wrong in detaining him again following his parole. The only reason he was thrown back into court – only months after his release on parole – was that he had lost the GPS device he was fitted with…

A THIRD suspect arrested in connection with the murder of activist Loyiso Mabandla Nkohla is set to appear in the East London Magistrate’s Court today. Hawks spokesperson, Siyabulela Vukubi, said the 39-year-old was arrested yesterday in Peddie in Eastern Cape and is expected to appear in transit in the court. “His arrest emanates from an incident on April 17, 2023 where Mabandla (Nkohla) was killed in a hail of bullets at Philippi railway station. “It is believed he was targeted for his role in talks to clear Metrorail’s Central Line, where families had built their homes,” said Vukubi. This follows a breakthrough on Monday when the Hawks confirmed the arrest of a second suspect, Mziyanda Mdlungu, 38, following a trace operation which led them to Kathlehong, Tshawane. Next week on…

A PROMISING stride has been made in the battle against multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR/RR-TB), as clinical trial results from the endTB consortium show evidence to support the use of four new improved regimens that could see treatment time reduced by by up to two-thirds. The team, led by Doctors Without Borders, Partners In Health (PIH) and Interactive Research and Development, and funded by Unitaid, formed the endTB consortium and began this Phase III randomised controlled trial in 2017. MDR/RR-TB is a disease caused by a TB bacterium resistant to rifampicin, one of the most powerful first-line antibiotics, plus/minus resistance to isoniazid. The endTB regimens represent alternatives for short MDR-TB treatment and complement the use of another effective, shorter MDR-TB regimen, BPaLM, which is not suitable for certain populations. The endTB trial…

FOR a chemical engineering student at UCT, friends have become an immense support system, even sharing food with him so he does not go to bed hungry or to the exam room on an empty stomach. Mulalo Max, a third-year student who is eligible for the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), checks his phone whenever it vibrates in the hope that he has finally received an SMS telling him that money has been deposited into his account. He is among more than 4 000 UCT students still waiting to receive their November allowances. “I was supposed to get the allowance … I think on November 1, because that’s when others received theirs. Judging from the national group we are in, it seems like there are many other students who…

Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos was a bit cheeky this week when talking about his team’s chances of qualifying for the 2026 Fifa World Cup. “It’s 21 years ago that for you South Africans, you last qualified for the World Cup. In 2010, it was a little present, because you were the country that organised it. It is time that South Africa qualifies again for such a big tournament,” the Belgian mentor said this week ahead of tomorrow’s qualifier against Benin in Durban. Of course, Broos is correct, as Bafana didn’t have to qualify for the 2010 edition as they were hosts. So the last time they were successful in the gruelling qualification process was for the 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea, emulating the Class of 1998. That…

A fire that erupted in the office of a coal company in northern China has killed 26 people, state media said yesterday, raising the death toll for the latest in a series of deadly accidents in the coal industry. President Xi Jinping urged the authorities to ensure more safety measures are put in place to avoid such incidents. At least 38 people were injured in the blaze, which broke out at the four-storey Yongju Coal Industry Joint Building in the country’s top coal-producing hub of Shanxi. Calls to the company were not answered. State broadcaster CCTV initially reported that the fire had killed 11 people and injured at least 51. All mining firms in Lishi district, were asked to suspend production, state media reported, citing local emergency management bureau. |…

LONDON: Britain has authorised a gene therapy that aims to cure sickle-cell disease and another type of inherited blood disorder for patients aged 12 and over, the country’s medical regulator said yesterday becoming the first in the world to do so. Casgevy is the first medicine to be licensed that uses the gene-editing tool CRISPR, which won its inventors the Nobel Prize in 2020, Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said. The medicine is administered by taking stem cells out of a patient’s bone marrow and editing a gene in the cells, with the modified cells then infused back into the patient. | Reuters…

US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed yesterday to open a presidential hotline, resume military-to-military communications and work to curb fentanyl production, showing tangible progress in their first face-to-face talks in a year. Biden and Xi met for about four hours on the outskirts of San Francisco to discuss issues that have strained US-Chinese relations. Simmering differences remain, particularly over Taiwan. Two governments plan to resume military contacts that China severed after then-House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022. Biden said he and Xi agreed to high-level communications. But Biden said later that he had not changed his view that Xi is a dictator. Xi told Biden that the negative views of the Communist Party in the US were unfair. Biden and…

KOLKATA: Australia are through to an eighth ICC World Cup final, while South Africa’s 31-year wait for a place at the big dance will continue for another four years. That’s the bare bones of a pulsating semi-final at Eden Gardens last night as the Proteas went down by three wickets. Everything in-between was high-octane drama that had close to 50 000 spectators on the edge of their seats. It was by no means a perfect exhibition of one-day cricket, but it’s often these classics that are strewn with error and exhilaration in equal measure. Pressure has a way of making even the most seasoned players do strange things. But ultimately it was Australia who pitched up at the races and were ready to charge out of the stables from the…

KOLKATA: Size matters. Certainly in the case of Eden Gardens. Especially for a Gardens first-timer like myself, with the cavernous stands that envelope this iconic ground seemingly reaching all the way to heaven. It certainly is a place that’s reserved for the cricket gods, such as Indian captain Sourav Ganguly. Yesterday, it flung open its doors to Australia – who won their first World Cup title here in 1987 – and South Africa to script another chapter in its legacy-filled history. South Africans came from far and wide to offer their support to the Proteas, while hoping to bear witness to history in the making. Pat travelled all the way from Johannesburg. He had just returned from Paris, where he watched the Springboks reclaim the Rugby World Cup. “Ek bring…