Sommaire pour 2022-03-07 de Cape Times

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za OIL COMPANIES have no concerns about meeting local demand through import fuel at this stage, in spite of worsening industry risk factors that have included Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, industry representative bodies said on Friday. The South African Petroleum Industry Association (Sapia) said in response to Business Report’s questions that at this stage there were no concerns relating to imported fuels, and there was sufficient storage infrastructure to handle additional volumes from imports as required from the end of this month, following the recent announcement of the “pause” in production and possible sale of Shell and BP’s Sapref refinery, South Africa’s biggest refinery, south of eThekwini. “The only concern would be attri- buted to vessel delays due to weather conditions, however these are managed,” Sapia said. The…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za Foul smells and hundreds of dead fish washing up at the mouth of the Milnerton Lagoon have left residents in the area deeply concerned. The Milnerton Central Residents Association (MCRA) claim the problem has to do with continuing and frequent discharges of large volumes of poorly treated effluent from the Potsdam Wastewater Treatment Plant into the Diep River over the past months. Last Friday, about 500 dead fish washed-up at the mouth of the lagoon. The city is investigating the incident. The dead fish were found by residents following widespread complaints of foul smells around the area. The MCRA wrote to mayoral committee member for water and sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, calling for urgent help. The association’s spokesperson, Caroline Marx, said an independent water test carried out last…

Kailene Pillay kailene.pillay@inl.co.za Analysts have come out in support of an in-depth probe into alleged discriminatory practices by the country’s banks, ahead of the Competition Commission hearings today. Just last month, the Sekunjalo Group filed a petition with the Equality Court where the company alleges discrimination by various banks following their decision to cut ties with the Group. Gardee Godrich Attorneys, representing more than 6 000 South Africans, has also applied to intervene in the proceedings, and will seek certification to bring a class action suit against South African banks and financial institutions for alleged racial and other discrimination. The Sekunjalo Group has also approached the Competitions Commission to probe alleged collusion between the banks. Lawyer Zelna Jansen said the current system was regarded as “the lesser evil” compared…

Philip Greenlees | Pinelands REGARDING Wednesday’s Cape Times, “Comment” column by Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo, it took just the first two paragraphs to realise that this had to have been written by someone who is antipathetic towards democracy. The whole commentary was knitted together with the usual clichés, like “imperialist regime”, “imperialist expansion”, “bourgeoisie”, “oppressive” and so on. Not very creative, Mr Mashilo. Remember the CCCP (USSR)? In this case, I’d like to offer Cloying Clichéd Communist Publiciser as an alternative. Finally, perhaps my understanding of politics is lacking, but how does Mr Mashilo, as a member of the SACP central committee, reconcile his communist leanings with his desire for “genuine democracy”?…

Andy Winsauer THE dilemma facing the DA is obvious and understandable when it comes to the matter of Sovereign Independence for Western Cape. Clearly, the stated aim of the DA is to play on the national stage, and it fears alienating its supporters outside of the Western Cape should it “openly” support independence. The Western Cape, however, is the DA’s core supporter base, which obviously wishes to strengthen again before the 2024 National Government elections, especially after its dismal performance in the recent Local Government Elections where only 799 911 people voted for the DA throughout the Western Cape. The submission by the DA late last year of a private member’s bill intended to have the law surrounding provincial referendums updated and brought into line with the Constitution is of…

FAROUK ARAIE | JOHANNESBURG THE entire world is going through cataclysmic events, from The Pacific to the Atlantic. The rapid acquisition of arms from Global Intelligence Institutions in these volatile regions bodes ill for the peace and stability of the planet. In all these global conflicts, $100 billion has been channelled through to all the combatants. The world as a whole has not been at peace since 1914, and is not now at peace. All this is an unfortunate legacy of the 20th century world wars, but also of wars, increasingly powerful machinery of mass propaganda, and of a period of confrontation between incompatible and passion-laden ideologies which bring into today’s conflicts a crusading element comparable to that seen in religious conflicts of the past. Armed conflicts…

Odwa Mkentane odwa.mkentane@inl.co.za THE suspects who shot and killed a 19-year-old in Khayelitsha while he was sitting in a garage with a friend are yet to be apprehended. The man was shot and killed on Saturday night by unknown suspects driving a grey Avanza. The friend of the deceased managed to escape unscathed. Police spokesperson Andre Traut said: “At around 8.30pm a 19-year-old man was shot and killed in Apple Close Khwezi, Khayelitsha, by an unknown suspect who is yet to be arrested.” Neighbour, Siphesihle Mlungu, said the community needed night patrollers to curtail escalating crime in the area. “We heard gunshots but I thought it was just people being naughty as usual. “After a minute I heard people crying and that is when we went out to see what…

Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za A DA councillor could be hauled before the Electoral Court following allegations she made public – before official release of the results – a list of the number of votes received by candidates who contested last year’s local government elections in her ward. Ward 110 councillor Shanen Rossouw is alleged to have violated the electoral code by sending the voting results list to a community activist prior to official finalisation and publication. But City of Cape Town Speaker, Felicity Purchase, said the results published by Rossouw were already made public and were unaudited. Social justice activist from Retreat, Owen Simons, who was a campaign manager for an independent candidate for Ward 110, Aubrey Robinson, alleged at the time that Rossouw had sent him the confidential form to…

NEW regulations to replace the country’s State of Disaster Act could come into effect in the next few weeks, just more than two years after the first case of coronavirus was detected on South African soil. It has been a trying time for the country with restrictions and limitations put in place to contain the spread of a virus that has claimed lives, led to untold economic upheaval and changed the way humanity views pandemics. The call for vaccination against the pandemic remains as strong as ever, with research showing that the more people vaccinate, the more the country can open up the economy and the more social interaction there can be. Football lovers want the reintroduction of fans into the stadiums, and a weekend protest illustrated this desire –…

Russia presented a new condition for a revival of the Iran nuclear deal at the weekend: A US guarantee that the sanctions that have been imposed on Moscow for invading Ukraine won’t be applied to Russian trade and investment with Iran. The demand, made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, threatens to derail talks to restore the 2015 deal just as diplomats in Vienna hoped to finalise an agreement by early next week. Lavrov told a news conference that Russia was ready to accept a draft document restoring the deal. But he said there were “problems that have appeared recently from the point of view of Russia’s interests.” Under the new agreement, the Biden administration is expected to lift sanctions on Iran imposed by then president Donald Trump…

A boat carrying more than one hundred Rohingya refugees, including dozens of children, landed on the coast of Indonesia’s westernmost province Aceh early yesterday, police said. The vessel, which sailed from a Rohingya camp in Bangladesh, arrived on a beach in Bireun district. It was carrying 114 people, including 58 men, 21 women and 35 children aged under 15 years old, police said. “We will conduct a general health check up and Covid-19 rapid antigen tests for these foreigners,” local police chief Mike Hardy Wirapraja told AFP. He said they would later be transferred to neighbouring Lhokseumawe district which has a shelter for refugees. Police found out about the arrival after some local fishermen reported that a boat filled with Rohingya people had landed on the beach. The boat…

OUAGADOUGOU: Burkina Faso’s interim president Paul-Henri Damiba has approved a new government that includes the same defence minister who served under former president Roch Kabore before he was ousted in a military coup, an official decree showed at the weekend. Damiba was inaugurated days ago as transitional president for three years, after leading a group of officers to oust Kabore in January. They said they were motivated by frustration about mounting violence by Islamist militants. The new government of 25 ministers includes Defence Minister General Barthelemy Simpore, who has retained the position he held under Kabore, according to the decree.…

Sydney: Australian towns devastated by deadly flooding over the past week prepared for further intense weather yesterday, with expected downpours halting volunteer recovery and clean-up efforts. The national weather bureau warned of severe thunderstorms and major flooding in the state of Queensland, where 11 people died in the past week’s floods. Flash flooding is forecast for the major city of Brisbane, home to 2.6 million people. Heavy rains, large hailstones and damaging winds were also expected to hit further south in the state of New South Wales, including the town of Lismore.…

Banele Ginindza banele.ginindza@inl.co.za ESKOM’S deferral of the project to replace steam generators at Koeberg’s Unit 2 will save the economy billions of rands as loadshedding and outages in the high demand winter season would have been catastrophic, both pro and anti-nuclear supporters said yesterday as the utility bears the cost of postponing the refurbishments to August next year. Eskom on Friday announced Eskom will defer the replacement of three steam generators at Unit 2 of Koeberg nuclear power station so that the unit can return to service in June as scheduled. The unit, which was shut down on January 18 for refuelling and extension of life which includes the replacement of three steam generators, was scheduled to return to service. What is concerning is Framatome (French company) had…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za SUPPORTING the plight of a pensioner and her family from Simondium between Paarl and Franschhoek, farmworker organisations Women on Farms and the Ubuntu Rural Women and Youth Movement took to the streets outside the Marlenique Estate to protest against her poor living conditions and alleged plans to get her off the property. The protest on Friday was in light of allegations that the widow was being “systematically” displaced after 42 years of living on the farm, after she was relocated from a three-bedroomed house to a one-bedroomed dwelling for nine people, including children. Women in their numbers stood with placards reading “Stop farmworker evictions”, “Disrupt racial status quo”, “Enough is enough” and “Our land, our lives”. The 64- year-old former farmworker had lived on the farm…

Zelda Venter and Siphokazi Vuso THE finding that anti-apartheid activist Dr Neil Aggett was killed by members of apartheid regime’s security police has again revived calls for justice for all murdered Struggle martyrs. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said it was giving serious attention to the investigation and prosecution of those behind Aggett’s murder. Johannesburg High Court Judge Motsamai Makume ordered on Friday that officers who were still alive and knew how Aggett had died be investigated for their possible roles in his death. He set aside a prior judgment of the inquest in 1982, which had found that Aggett had committed suicide, saying that inquest was “a massive cover-up for what really happened”. Judge Makume found that all evidence led during the reopened inquest had pointed to the fact…

MOHAMED SAEED | Pietermaritzburg I REMAIN deeply concerned about the growing violence between Ukraine and Russia. What is even more disturbing is the racist media coverage by some Western journalists. It seems parts of the media feel it is fine to use bigotry language and statements to cover Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The narrative that is being manufactured by these racist individuals is that wars belong to “uncivilised” places like Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East or Africa but not in civilised places like Europe and North America. What kind of reporting or analysis is this where European or Western life is considered more important? Similarly, Palestinians defending their homes and land from the Zionist occupiers are labelled terrorists and Ukrainians defending their country are called heroes. Moreover,…

MICHAEL BAGRAIM | Highlands Estate I REFER to your March 4 edition “Blow to young pharmacy owner’s dream”. It is heartbreaking to read this story of pharmacist Mahintsho. When I first read about the opening of his pharmacy, I applauded the great move and certainly prayed for his success. It is unfortunately a tragic closure. His pharmacy being on the doorstep of those that can’t afford to travel makes an enormous difference. There must be something that we in civil society can do to help this young man. I know that an independent pharmacy is nightmarish to the extreme. My dad was a pharmacist who in the end had to close because it was impossible to compete with the large chains. To this day, I support an independent…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za NEARING 300 days since the disappearance and alleged brutal torture of her son, Charmaine Curtis from Tafelsig in Mitchells Plain said she hopes that justice will be served, as she yearns for closure. Curtis’ son, Vinchernico Theron, who would have celebrated his 21st birthday next month, disappeared without a trace on June 7 last year after he had allegedly been kidnapped after spending the night at a friend’s place. Since Theron’s alleged kidnapping and assault, 11 people have been arrested and appeared before the Mitchells Plain Magistrate’s Court. “(Today) we commemorate nine months since his disappearance and the incident. I have been counting down the days since he disappeared. “The case will appear again later this week but we are hopeful that we will head to high…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za THE Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has been slated for alleged non-payment of contract educators at some schools. A teacher from a school in Muizenberg, who asked not to be named for fear of victimisation, shared her frustration at working without pay for about two months and her school having to resort to assisting her with an advance. “About six different posts were made available to the school in December. “The new contract from the WCED came into effect on January 1. However, to date we have not received any salary. “Previously I was a teacher under the school governing body and paid by it. “We don’t know what the delay is. Even the school doesn’t know.” She said last Monday when she called the WCED an…

Narrow political interests preventing true openness and inclusion WHEN the current fighting over the appropriate scope of the legislation to include independent candidates into all our legislative bodies stops, Parliament and civil society organisations must help independent candidates and political parties serve our democracy as neighbours again. We now know that prospective independent candidates mean to intensify their fight against political party invasion of their right to be members of all legislative bodies, with determination and bravery. In that fight, they must have support. We cannot fail to admire fellow South Africans as they take up advocacy weapons to defend their political rights as citizens against meaningless aggression of self-imposing political parties meant to be merely vehicles for the enjoyment of political rights. But what does support mean? Most South…

GENEVA: The number of people fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has topped 1.5 million, making it Europe’s fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II, the UN said yesterday. “More than 1.5 million refugees from Ukraine have crossed into neighbouring countries in 10 days,” the UN High Commissioner for Refugees tweeted. The UN described the outflow as “the fastest growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II”, having reported on Saturday that nearly 1.37 million refugees had fled. UN officials said they expected the wave to intensify further as the Russian army pressed its offensive, particularly toward the capital Kyiv. Hungary, Moldova, Romanian and Slovakia have all seen Ukrainian refugees arrive. Record numbers of refugees headed into Poland from Ukraine with the total number expected to…

TOKYO: Lawyers for former Nissan Motor Co executive Greg Kelly, handed a suspended sentence over the carmaker’s then chairman Carlos Ghosn’s pay, appealed against the ruling in the High Court on Friday. The previous day, the Tokyo District Court sentenced Kelly, 65, to six months in prison, suspended for three years, for under-reporting Ghosn’s executive remuneration in financial reports. Prosecutors had sought a two-year jail term for Kelly. Nissan announced on Friday it will not appeal against the court’s ruling fining the company 200 million yen (R26 billion).…

The UN has officially warned of rising seas in the Gulf Coast of the US due to melting polar ice caps, collapsing fisheries and toxic tides. The coming years are predicted to ravage the environmental treasure which has fallen victim to human-led wreckage and political mismanagement. The UN has released its Climate Change report for 2022, detailing the human-caused climate crisis and its damaging effects on the environment, and human health and wellbeing. The Gulf is responsible for a majority of the US nation’s offshore oil and gas. The Gulf of Mexico has lined the pockets of oil and gas tycoons with more than $1 trillion since 2017. The Gulf’s economic boom in the oil and gas industry, combined with the conservative political majority in surrounding states, hasn’t done much…

ADEN: Yemen’s Houthi movement has signed an agreement with the UN to deal with a decaying oil tanker threatening to spill 1.1 million barrels of crude oil off the war-torn country’s coast, a Houthi official said. UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said last month that there was an agreement in principle to shift the oil from the tanker Safer to another ship. He gave no timeline. The Safer has been stranded off Yemen’s Red Sea oil terminal of Ras Issa for more than six years, and UN officials have warned it could spill four times as much oil as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster off Alaska.…

Shane Warne's genius was often on full high-colour display when he faced the Proteas. IOL Sport's chooses five epic performances by the Australian "Sheikh of Tweak". 7/56 & 5/72: Second Test, Sydney, January 2-6 1994 Proteas fans may remember this match as "the Fanie de Villiers Test" but prior to the "Vinnige Fanie" heroics it was Warne's brilliance that had placed South Africa in that perilous position. His match haul of 12/128 was a career best. The Aussies may not have won the Test but it was a clear warning of the stranglehold Warne would have on the Proteas for the next decade and more. 5/75 & 6/34: Second Test, Sydney, January 2-5 1998 Warne ensured South Africa's return to the scene of their famous victory four years earlier…

South Africa’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has denied he made public his now infamous 62-minute video critique of the performance of the match officials after the first Test against the British & Irish Lions last year. Erasmus was found guilty of misconduct by an independent committee in November and suspended from all rugby for two months, while he may not be involved in match-day activities with the Springboks until September. "People think I leaked that video. I didn't. Who leaks something like that? Why would I screw up my whole career to do that?" Erasmus told Sportsmail. The 2019 World Cup-winning coach claims he made the video after repeatedly trying to engage referee Nic Berry, without success, on issues he wanted clarity on from the 22-17 first Test loss…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za A CAPE Nature field ranger who was dismissed in July 2017 after she took a quad bike outside the boundary of a reserve, has been vindicated after the Labour Court found her behaviour during that time to be linked to a later diagnosis of bipolar disorder. The ranger had 16 years of service, and was dismissed by the Western Cape Nature Conservation Board on July 17, 2017, after being found guilty of a number of charges. These included gross negligence after she, in April that year, took a quad bike which got stuck outside the boundary of the reserve, where she then abandoned it without making any arrangements to have it collected and without reporting it to her manager. The facts regarding the charges were not seriously…

Odwa Mkentane odwa.mkentane@inl.co.za TEN-year-old Siyavuya Mabhece, who recently published a book called Enough! Stop Bullying, says she wants to inspire people to stand up for themselves and live their truths. “Kids my age are always shy and can’t speak or share what is happening in their lives because of the environment we or they live in. “I am always inspired by my mother and father. “What my mother would always say is that I must inspire others and be myself in whatever the situation is. “I have never been bullied but that does not mean I must sit down and watch them being bullied, which is my friends. “The importance of being me is that I am raised by people who are able to stand up for themselves and everyone…

Kevin Meineke | HOUT BAY I REFER to the article, “Lift ban on Russia today or face boycott”, Cape Times, March 4. How sad it is that SA decided not to support Ukraine at the UN by the act of abstaining from voting against Russian aggression. SA’s ambassador to the UN, Mathu Joyini, speaks loftily about “upholding humanitarian law, human rights and territorial integrity”. What a farce! Of course, we all know that the ANC received assistance from Russia during the Bush War, so this is payback time, irrespective of the human suffering taking place in Ukraine. Irrespective of how Russia supported the ANC, SA should be ashamed of itself for this subjective abstention.…

Olwethu Ndyinini | Ashton IT HAS been six years since Fees Must Fall protests flared up across the country. The protests fired up hope and optimism among the downtrodden and the poor. Suddenly, there was a belief and concrete demonstration of the notion “the people shall govern”, in this case, in a literal sense. During the protests, some of which I attended, one of the points driven home was the fact that the activists were fighting their “parents”. Now, the notion of parents meant something different to each activist depending on political affiliation and standing (social) in society. For example, to those who were then affiliated to Sasco the parent would colloquially be the ANC and to other more affluent students the reference of “parent” would refer…

Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za A GUGULETHU mother of two has managed to revive her dying business with the help of the R350 social relief distress (SRD) grant. Sisanda Vanqase is among the hawkers selling vetkoek, meat and chips near the busy Gugulethu taxi rank throughout the week. When her business hit a financial blow at the beginning of the pandemic, she said she thought she would never be able to trade again. “I started my business in 2012 to take care of my family. I am unemployed and jobs are scarce. “Everything was going well but at the beginning of the pandemic, I had to stop selling because I had no money to buy the stock I needed for the business,” she said. Vanqase said when she heard about the SRD…

AFRICA, like other emerging markets, has generally had a bad press in the global media. Covering Africa is still dominated by a cornucopia of centuries-old stereotypes – some still based on colonial and racial metrics – relating to conflict, coups, terrorism, poor governance, corruption, poverty and natural disasters. Africa’s compelling stories and successes are often lost in translation because they do not fit the narrative. Could changing the news narrative on Africa, for instance, attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) into the continent as Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the president of the African Development Bank, maintains? The Business in Africa Narrative Report published in February underpinned “research that there is a correlation between increased media visibility and higher investment flows”, and concludes that “there is an overemphasis on the role of…

The death toll from a suicide attack at a Shia mosque in north-west Pakistan rose to 62 overnight as police said they would try to identify the bomber from two severed feet found at the scene. Police also released CCTV footage of Friday’s attack showing a man dressed in a traditional shalwar kameez tunic shoot two police officers as he entered the mosque in the Kocha Risaldar area of Peshawar, around 190km from the capital, Islamabad. He then detonated a suicide vest packed with ball bearings that ripped through the building, crowded with people just moments before Friday prayers were due to start. The Islamic State group have claimed responsibility for the attack. “There are seven bodies beyond recognition including two amputated feet which we believe are of the bomber,”…

LOS ANGELES: Uma Thurman is “fascinated” by Arianna Huffington. The actress, 51, plays the Huffington Post founder in Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber. She said: “I don’t know her well, but I know her enough to like her. I met her back when she was starting the Huff Post with some journalist friends and I had dinner at her house.” The Kill Bill star also revealed how deeply she studied Arianna’s mannerisms, in addition to her accent, to portray her in the show. “I spent many hundreds of hours listening to her being interviewed, listening to her speak in discourse... “She’s been parodied by some of the most brilliant comedians. So it was kind of a matter of wanting to keep her thought process and her sense of humour.…

GUIYANG: Fourteen trapped people were confirmed dead following a coal mine accident in southwest China’s Guizhou Province, the local authority said yesterday. The accident occurred at about 8.40am local time on February 25 due to the collapse of a mine shaft roof at Sanhe Shunxun coal mine in Zhenfeng County, Bouyei-Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Qianxinan, according to the rescue headquarters. Rescue work finished yesterday noon as the bodies of the trapped workers had been retrieved. Further investigation into the cause of the accident is under way.…

Jerusalem: Israeli police shot dead a Palestinian youth yesterday after he stabbed and wounded an officer in East Jerusalem’s Old City. The police said in a statement that the 19-year-old approached two police officers stationed at one of the gates of East Jerusalem’s walled Old City, reported Xinhua news agency. The suspect “pulled out a knife and stabbed one of them”, the statement said, adding that other police officers at the scene “responded by firing at him and neutralising the terrorist”. One of the officers was slightly injured by the stabbing, and one was wounded as the police opened fire at the suspect, the police said.…

Morgan Bolton morgan.bolton@inl.co.za THE trip to Bloemfontein was a calamity for the Lions as the union’s horror year continued to unfold - lightning and thunder might have threatened the match at one point, but it was the Free State Cheetahs who struck with shock and awe. Despite the horror that unfolded at Free State Stadium, there is still a glint, tiny as it is, of hope on the horizon that could resuscitate the flailing Lions. The Joburgers were embarrassed ... EMBARRASSED ... in their 66-14 loss to the Cheetahs on Saturday – their biggest defeat in the history of the Currie Cup. They shipped 10 tries, scoring only two, and were completely dominated in almost every aspect of the encounter: Territory, possession, meters made, clean breaks, gain-line carries, passes, offloads…