Inhaltsverzeichnis für 2023-05-26 in Cape Times

THE Ahmed Kathrada Foundation has slammed DA leader John Steenhuisen, accusing him of attempting to use Struggle stalwarts’ contributions in a “crude vote-catching and fear-mongering” exercise. This follows a campaign rally in Durban, where Steenhuisen visited Chatsworth, an area mainly populated by members of the Indian community, and delivered a speech titled “It’s time for a Defiance Campaign against ANC race quotas”, criticising the proposed Employment Equity Amendment Act. Steenhuisen spoke about how “Uncle Kathy”, with family roots going back to the Indian state of Gujarat, went on to play a seminal role in the fight against racial segregation. “He was sent to jail for his defiance campaign before he was even 20 years old. Many years later, he was sentenced to life imprisonment as part of the Rivonia trial.…

“A FAMILY that kept to themselves in a house behind high walls with a lot of cameras.” This is how the four people who were found murdered in Constantia were described yesterday. Residents of the affluent suburb were left in shock after the bodies of the four people, believed to be of Bulgarian descent, were discovered yesterday morning. According to police spokesperson Andrè Traut, at about 8.20am, the bodies of two females and two males, estimated to be aged between 40 and 50, were To page 2…

A SOUTH African family stuck in a Costa Rican jungle are desperately seeking help to return home, after they contracted a serious parasitic disease called papalomoyo (Leishmaniasis). The World Health Organization) explained that Leishmaniasis, locally known as “papalamoya”, is spread by the bite of infected sand flies. It causes skin lesions on the body, and can cause serious disability. Audio-visual artist Lazlo van Leeuwen, also known as “Junglelaz”, 33, and his family of four have been happily living in the Talamanca mountains. However, now they have no choice but to return to South Africa as funds for treatment are running out. “We decided to move at the start of the pandemic to embrace off-grid life, grow our own food, have our own water supply, energy from solar panels and it…

Cold Blooded Liar Karen Rose Loot.co.za (R240) Headline Publishers He lies about everything. Except for murder. Colton Driscoll is a compulsive liar. But there’s one thing his psychologist Sam Reeves fears he is telling the truth about: murder. Concerned his patient has committed an awful crime and that the life of another girl could be under threat, Sam calls in an anonymous tip to the San Diego Police Department. Detective Kit McKittrick works homicide in the hope that one day she will find out what happened to her foster sister, Wren. When a tip comes in from an anonymous caller, it leads her to the body of a girl whose murder has the hallmarks of a serial killer who has been at large for almost 20 years. Will detective…

The easing of Covid-19 restrictions in China in early December 2022 has already provided a boost to economic recovery with the Chinese economy growing by 4.5% year-on-year (y/y) in the first quarter after a 2.9% y/y gain in the fourth quarter. Base effects will probably mean that the second quarter 2023 will grow by 6.5% y/y, if not higher, as the comparison will be with the second quarter 2022, when the Chinese economy only expanded by 0.4% y/y. The base effect is already evident in the April 2023 data with retail sales jumping by 18.4% y/y after a 10.6% y/y gain in March and a 3.5% y/y rise in February. This boost is in part due to the $2.6 trillion of excess savings Chinese consumers accumulated during the Covid pandemic.…

Kurds opposed to President Tayyip Erdogan fear victory for him in Türkiye’s presidential election could reinforce a crackdown the state has been waging against them for years, alarmed by a surge in nationalist rhetoric ahead of Sunday’s vote. Kurds, who make up around a fifth of Türkiye’s population, have been seen as potentially crucial to the opposition’s hopes of ending Erdogan’s 20 years in power – a reign in which he first courted but then cracked down hard on Kurdish groups. But the momentum is with Erdogan going into Sunday’s vote after the first round gave him a lead over the opposition’s Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who trailed despite the backing of six parties and the endorsement of the pro-Kurdish HDP party. For some Kurdish voters, the stakes couldn’t be higher as…

Net migration in the UK hit a record 606 000 last year, official figures showed yesterday, heaping pressure on the government, which has pledged to cut dependency on foreign labour. Responding to the figures, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described legal immigration levels as “too high”. “It’s as simple as that and I want to bring them down,” he said. Measures announced earlier this week to tighten the number of international students allowed to bring their families with them would have a significant impact, he added. Immigration has long been a key political issue in the UK and was one of the main battlegrounds of the Brexit referendum in 2016, which saw the country leave the EU. In 2021, net migration – the difference between the number of people…

SEOUL: South Korean and US forces began their largest joint live-fire exercises yesterday, simulating a “full-scale attack” from North Korea, South Korea’s defence ministry said. About 2 500 troops from the South and the US took part as the five-day exercise began near the border with the North, the ministry said. Multiple tanks, howitzers and fighter jets were also involved. Last week, North Korea’s state media reported that leader Kim Jong-un had approved final preparations for the launch of the North’s first military spy satellite. Analysts say the satellite will improve North Korea’s surveillance capability, enabling it to strike targets more accurately. | Reuters…

Baghdad: The Duchess of Edinburgh travelled to Iraq this week, meeting politicians and feminist activists in a rare visit by a British royal to the war-scarred country, Iraq’s presidency said. The last time a British royal visited Iraq was in 2006 when the late Prince Philip visited a base for British troops as part of the US-led invasion three years earlier. Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, spent two days in Baghdad, where she met President Abdul Latif Rashid and his wife Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmed. The visit by the wife of King Charles’ youngest brother, Edward, was done in secret. The duchess delivered a written message from King Charles III. She also met Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani. The duchess gave a speech at a conference on women’s rights organised by…

THE Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) was expected to open its residence doors for students next week following an abrupt evacuation amid violent protest actions. The call for students to return on June 2 to their respective residences and for the resumption of academic activities came as student leaders from universities across the country issued an ultimatum to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme over funding concerns. Mid-year exams at some of the tertiary institutions were also expected to begin next week. CPUT was the most recently affected by violence, having been forced to shut down campus activities. The university’s spokesperson, Lauren Kansley, said initially the student recess period was expected to start on June 24, however, it was brought forward and began on Wednesday. It would end next…

A SINGLE honeybee that landed on Gugulethu resident Vuyo Myoli’s lap has inspired a unique business venture in one of the township’s most notorious neighbourhoods. Amid grim unemployment rates released by StatsSA on Tuesday, Myoli’s BeezMove honey is a beacon of hope in his community of Barcelona informal settlement. Myoli said his neighbours thought “keeping bees in the township was crazy”. “I have always had love for bees, I had questioned how they made honey since I was very young. “This love, coupled with curiosity, is what drove me to start BeezMove, a business which farms bees and sells organic honey. “People view bees as scary and unimportant but they are actually very important in the ecosystem, and part of my vision is to teach young people this skill. I…

A PENSIONER from Ottery is still in shock after a dog attack that landed him in hospital for nine days. On April 7, at about 7am, Adriaan Rossouw, 65, closed his gate and walked up the road to feed his neighbours’ animals, when he was attacked by two Rottweilers from another premises. “There were two dogs outside the premises. I was walking on the road when they started to attack me left right and centre all over my body. “I was trying to defend myself but nothing helped. I screamed in agony for about 10 minutes; no one reacted at that house. “A woman at another house then heard me and notified people in the community group. “After a few minutes, a man came with a 4x4 between me and…

TIME Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov was this week announced as the winner of the 2023 International Booker Prize. It’s the first time a novel originally published in Bulgarian has won the prestigious prize. In the book, eloquently translated by Angela Rodel, a “clinic for the past” offers a promising treatment for Alzheimer’s sufferers: where each floor reproduces a decade in minute detail, transporting patients back in time. But soon the past begins to invade the present. An unnamed narrator is tasked with collecting the flotsam and jetsam of the past, from 1960s furniture and 1940s shirt buttons to scents, and even afternoon light. But as the rooms become more convincing, an increasing number of healthy people seek out the clinic as a “time shelter”, hoping to escape the horrors…

A stalwart of the labour movement and business, he always put South Africa first AGE and experience never really prepare one for the loss of dear friends and colleagues. For South Africa the recent passing of Dr Dennis George is a tragedy, as we have lost yet one more soul of the soil who fought the good fight and helped us realise freedom and democracy. For me, it has been quite a blow, coming so soon after saying goodbye to my lifelong friend, Dr Wallace Mgoqi, who also recently left us. Dennis’s passing is yet another timely reminder of the fragility of man and the need to make the time we have been allocated on this Earth, matter, and there can be no question that he made his allotted period…

Ukraine said yesterday it would open more embassies in Africa and stage a summit with leaders from the continent, where Russia is also carrying out a diplomatic offensive. “We have recently adopted our first African strategy and intensified our political dialogue with many countries on the continent,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the AU’s forerunner. Kuleba is on a tour of Africa, where he made an appeal from Addis Ababa on Wednesday to Ukraine’s “African friends” to end their declared neutrality in the war. He visited Rwanda yesterday. Russia has ties with African countries, including their present-day leaders, that can be traced to the Cold War, when the Soviet Union cast itself as an anti-colonialist defender. A Russia- Africa summit, the…

Tokyo: A woman and two male police officers were killed in a shooting and stabbing attack at a farm in central Japan yesterday. A suspect, a farmer in his 30s, was holed up inside a building in the semi-rural area around the city of Nakano, after the incident, which also left a fourth person injured, reports said. The woman was stabbed and the two police officers were shot in the afternoon attack. The officers were inside a patrol car and the attacker placed the weapon against a window of the vehicle and fired twice. Another man was injured in the attack but could not be rescued because he was too close to the building where the suspect has taken shelter. | AFP…

Islamabad: Three policemen were injured in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province yesterday when unidentified gunmen opened fire at a polio immunisation team. The cops were deployed for the security of polio workers during a door-to-door campaign to vaccinate children when they were attacked, police said. The polio team was safe and the immunisation drive has been temporarily suspended. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. A five-day anti-polio drive in 12 districts of the province kicked off this week, aiming to vaccinate over 3.5 million children under 5. Pakistan is one of the two remaining countries with polio. | IANS…

THE experience of the 2019 Netball World Cup will have a major bearing on the SPAR Proteas when they host this year’s iteration in Cape Town, according to Khanyisa Chawane. Four years ago, the Proteas made it all the way to the semi-finals of the showpiece event, where they lost 55-53 to Australia. They subsequently lost to England in the bronze medal final, and it will be that exposure to the coalface of knockout netball that will help the Proteas make even more improvements this time around. For that is the objective of the team, the 27-year-old admitted in an exclusive interview with Independent Media this past week – to have a medal hanging around their necks. Said Chawane: “Having played a semi-final at the previous World Cup, you know…

Have your say on proposed changes to the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill that involve criminalising parents PARENTS who keep their children out of school could soon be fined or slapped with jail time up to 12 months. The sanction is one of several proposed changes to the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill, which seeks to amend the South African Schools Act of 1996 and the Employment of Educators Act of 1998. The portfolio committee on basic education will host public hearings on the bill in the Western Cape this weekend. Among the key amendments that the public will be able to comment on include: criminalising parents who do not ensure their children are in school; allowing schools to sell alcohol outside of school hours; holding school governing bodies more…

A MAGISTRATE who allowed her personal interests to interfere with an eviction judgment, has resulted in the case being remitted to a district court to be heard fresh by a new presiding officer. According to a finding by Western Cape High Court Judge Ashley Binns-Ward, acting magistrate Venice Burgins erred in her judgment concerning the eviction, after she shared social media posts “that it was a matter of personal concern to her”. According to the judgment and record, Burgins was adjudicating over an eviction application made by Communicare against occupiers of an apartment in Brooklyn. Burgins dismissed, with costs, the eviction application made by Communicare. Judge Binns-Ward, said: “The matter was not an issue on the papers in the eviction application, but it is evident from her social media posts…

The Playlist Melina Lewis Loot.co.za (R240) Protea Book House Since publishing her first book in 2018, Melina Lewis, has gone on to write six books, including a tween trilogy, and finally her seventh book – The Playlist – is ready for the South African public. It's a physical journey that the two main characters, Jack and Maria, must undertake across southern Africa. It is also a personal journey for each of them through addiction and loss, and ultimately an evolution of love. “The story really is about the process that each of us has to take to work through our own ‘stuff’ to make it through to the other side,” explains Lewis. “The journey that my two characters take and the music that accompanies this expedition are so important. I…

I AM just one more of South Africa’s unwanted white people and, according to anyone, I am racist. I do however wish this country to be as great as its potential. Unfortunately with the way the ANC government runs the country, there will be nothing left to be great. The main problem, is that there are no consequences. The criminals are protected and encouraged, we have wasted so much taxpayers’ money in court proving that there is corruption and yet I see no action; no one pays for their crime. The government talks a lot and promises a lot, but does nothing as far as I can see. The ANC government says they are trying to fix the problems. Where? I don’t see what has actually been done. Eskom and…

THE Stormers were the best-supported team in their Super Rugby days, but to be honest, there wasn’t much to shout about. The furthest they had gone in the competition was the final in 2010, where they lost to the Bulls at Orlando Stadium in Soweto. What hurt their fans most were the numerous semi-final and quarter-final defeats, when so much more was expected. That is part of the reason that the current team under coach John Dobson are so popular. Not only did they actually win a trophy by clinching the United Rugby Championship title last season, but the way they went about it was impressive. They played exhilarating attacking rugby, unearthed new stars such as Manie Libbok, Evan Roos and Hacjivah Dayimani, and went out of their way to…

Sporadic clashes between Sudan’s army and a paramilitary force spilled over into yesterday, puncturing the relative calm in the capital Khartoum and raising the risk of a week-long truce deal crumbling as concerns grew over a humanitarian crisis. The ceasefire, monitored by Saudi Arabia and the US, was reached after five weeks of warfare in Khartoum and outbreaks of fighting in other parts of Sudan, including the long volatile western region of Darfur. The fighting – a power struggle between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – has forced more than 1.3 million people to flee. The army has taken cover in Khartoum’s streets. Militia also besieged Zalingei, capital of Central Darfur State, the UN said. Telecommunications have been cut off and gangs have attacked hospitals, government…

Lilongwe: The Malawian government has enforced the relocation of refugees and asylum seekers back to the Dzaleka Refugee Camp despite protests from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The Ministry of Homeland Security has extended the exercise to other districts in the central and northern regions of the country. The ministry said this was in line with the country’s encampment policy which prohibits refugees and asylum seekers from living outside the designated camp. The UNHCR said it was concerned about the arrest and detention of 377 refugees and their forced relocation to the camp, home to more than 50 600 refugees. | IANS…

BEIJING: The Chinese government has rejected claims that its spies are penetrating Western infrastructure, calling the joint warning issued by the US and its allies a “collective disinformation campaign”. The Chinese foreign ministry said that alerts issued by the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand were intended to promote their intelligence alliance, known as the Five Eyes – and that it was Washington that was guilty of hacking. This follows warnings about the activities of a Chinese hacking group known as Volt Typhoon, which focuses on critical infrastructure, including communications links that tie the US to the Pacific. | Reuters…