Sommaire pour 2022-05-12 de Cape Times

FRAUD, maladministration by banks, the closure of bank accounts and repossessions were among the serious complaints lodged to the Ombudsman for Banking Services (OBS), as the service awarded more than R19 million back to consumers. Ombudsman Reana Steyn said the number of complaints adjudicated by the OBS increased by 7% compared to 2020. “Over 10 330 complaints were referred to the banks in 2021 compared to the 8 389 cases in 2020,” she said. Steyn advised that in 73% of the matters resolved by her office in 2021, the findings were in favour of the banks. Through her office’s intervention, concerned banks were held 100% liable for the complainant’s claims in 15.9% (1 276) of 2021 complaints. In 4.5%, or 363 of these complaints, the banks were found partially liable.…

KwaZulu-Natal’S department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) has said the cost of damages to public and private infrastructure after last month’s floods added up to R25 billion. The department said the devastation was difficult to comprehend, with 445 lives lost, including: • 386 in eThekwini • 31 in Ilembe • 7 in Ugu District • 4 in King Cetshwayo • 3 in Harry Gwala • 2 in uMgungundlovu • 2 in uMzinyathi It said 48 people were still unaccounted for, while the lives of 77 600 people had been severely disrupted, 7 286 homes were destroyed and 12 062 homes partially destroyed. Cogta MEC Sipho Hlomuka said R1bn had been allocated to the province to deal with flood-related damage. “We have not received the allocated funds.…

A COMBINATION of good weather, an improved equipment reliability programme and increased human resources has cleared vessel backlogs at the Cape Town Container Terminal. Transnet’s provincial managing executive, Andiswa Dlanga, said the terminal’s productivity had seen record-breaking shift performances. “Vessels are now able to berth on arrival after several months of implementing a foolproof plan that kept on being sabotaged by bad weather… The terminal’s productivity has seen record-breaking shift performances. “In mid-April, there were a few records of over 4 000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) loaded and offloaded within a 24-hour period, with ship working hours going up to 68 against a target of 50. “In an environment like ours, safety cannot be compromised. For the team to achieve such great feats with zero incidents over an extended period…

A 19-YEAR-old Claremont pupil has been arrested for allegedly bringing a gun to school. The pupil was arrested on Tuesday at about 1pm, after Claremont SAPS received a tip-off about a pupil with a firearm at a school in the area. “The members proceeded to the school and searched all the males in the mentioned classroom and their belongings, but could not find anything,” police spokesperson FC Van Wyk said. After they left the school, they received a call to say that a pistol was found hidden behind a compartment in the room next door. Officers returned and retrieved the firearm, Van Wyk said. “Further investigation led them to a 19-year-old learner who acknowledged that he was the one with the firearm. “He was subsequently arrested for the possession of…

Democrats in the US Senate were due to lead a vote yesterday to codify the right to abortion into federal law in a bid to pin down Republicans on the deeply divisive issue ahead of crucial midterm elections, even though they expect the measure to fail. The move comes amid a political firestorm ignited by a leaked draft opinion that showed the Supreme Court’s conservative majority prepared to overturn Roe v Wade, a landmark 1973 ruling guaranteeing abortion access nationwide. Chuck Schumer, leader of the Senate’s Democratic majority, told colleagues the vote would be “one of the most consequential” in decades, describing the draft opinion as “one of the worst court decisions ever”. “Before the day is over, every member of this body will make a choice: vote to protect…

Cyber experts are urging Africa to up its game in the face of criminals targeting the continent’s fast-growing internet economy with scams and theft. “The issue of cybersecurity has to be raised to the core duties of the state,” Chadian economist Succes Masra said at a cyber conference in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s economic hub this week. “If you do that, you will get follow-through. There’s incomplete awareness about this problem, and we have to speed things up.” Half a billion people in Africa are connected to the internet, according to Interpol – a figure that in raw numbers places the continent ahead of other regions such as South America or the Middle East. Major attacks on the internet itself are very rare in Africa, the most spectacular being a brief…

Berlin: EU-wide guidance on requiring masks for air travel will be lifted from next week, the bloc’s aviation safety agency said yesterday, as the pandemic eases in Europe. The EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said that under the new guidelines, masks were no longer considered essential for all flights and airports. Nevertheless, national regulators and airlines will still have scope to demand face and nose covering by passengers and staff, it noted. “From next week, face masks will no longer be mandatory in all cases. For passengers and air crews, this is a big step forward in the normalisation of air travel,” said EASA executive director Patrick Ky. | AFP…

THE Gauteng government looks set to send more South African students to study medicine in Cuba despite the drastic decline of local medical students studying there. This was the response of the Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi in a written reply to questions by the DA’s health spokesperson Jack Bloom. The number of Gauteng students studying medicine in Cuba has declined from 264 in 2019 to 25 last year, but the Gauteng Health Department insists that more students will be recruited for the programme despite paying R316 000 annually for each student. According to Mokgethi, there were 264 students in Cuba in 2019, 114 in 2020, 25 in 2021 and 25 this year. But Mokgethi says “the implementation of the SA Cuba Binational Agreement was continuing, and more students were…

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has described the decision by MPs to forge ahead with her impeachment proceeding as ‘totally unacceptable’. Mkhwebane has been served with a 30-day notice to make a written representation, MPs were told yesterday. She also has to indicate whether she would need the services of a legal practitioner by next week, the day her other application seeking to halt the process, due to resume in the Western Cape High Court. The window will be opened this Friday for members of the public to submit written evidence that disputes or supports Parliament’s action. This emerged after the parliamentary committee tasked to conduct the inquiry met to consider an update on litigation and make a decision on the way forward. Briefing MPs, legal adviser Siviwe Njikela said since…

Castanets, colourful ruffled dresses and sensuous, stylised movements will be on display as authentic flamenco from Spain takes to the Artscape stage for three shows only from June 3 to 4. Direct from Seville, Spain, the production From Triana to Granada showcases the incredible talent of eight young artists of the Foundation Cristina Heeren of Flamenco Art, who were winners of the renowned “Talento Flamenco ACCIONA” contest. Brought to South Africa by the Consulate-General of Spain and the Cristina Heeren Foundation of Flamenco Art, with the support of the Embassy of Spain, it is directed by the great flamenco dancer and choreo- grapher Luisa Palicio. It highlights several different choreo- graphies in which the talents and qualities of each of the participating artists are respected and underlined; virtuosos who through…

A FIFTY-five-year-old convicted paedophile has been arrested for allegedly raping a 12-year-old boy with down syndrome in Strand. According to provincial Community Policing Forum (CPF) board chairperson Fransina Lukas, she received a call late on Saturday informing her about a child who was allegedly sexually molested. “Other children saw the incident through a window in his house and reported it. “I escorted the child and his mother to the police station where we opened the case. “He has been harassing children in the community for a long time. “The man is a convicted paedophile who served about 15 years in jail for a similar offence. “He was reintegrated back into society and does the same thing. “This shows he has not been really rehabilitated. People like him don’t belong in…

The Hawks’ and the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) apparent lack of appetite in concluding investigations involving President Cyril Ramaphosa’s allies does little to help restore the public confidence that these law enforcement agencies should be enjoying. Instead, it adds to negative perceptions and gives credence to allegations of interference in investigations involving the president’s opponents. Take, for example, the criminal investigation against Eastern Cape premier and re-elected ANC provincial chairperson Oscar Mabuyane and his Public Works MEC Babalo Madikizela, both heavily implicated by a public protector report which found that funds meant to be used to ferry mourners to the memorial service of Struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela ended up personally benefiting the two and the ANC. It is worth mentioning at this stage that Mabuyane’s win over Madikizela for the…

More than 2.8 million courses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 oral antiviral treatment Paxlovid have been made available at pharmacies around the US, with the Biden administration working to improve access to the drug. As Paxlovid has become more widely used, some patients have reported that Covid-19 symptoms recurred after completing treatment and experiencing improvement. Dozens of individuals have reported rebounding Covid-19 symptoms on social media or to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after taking Paxlovid, but Pfizer suggests the experience is rare. Pfizer has said that from more than 300 000 patients it is monitoring who received the five-day treatment, around 1-in-3 000 – about 0.03% – reported a relapse after taking the pills. That is a lower rate than Pfizer saw in its Paxlovid clinical trial, where about…

LYON: French authorities have opened a case against Interpol president Ahmed Nasser al-Raisi of the United Arab Emirates over accusations of torture and arbitrary detention by two Britons who were detained in the country, a source said yesterday. They accuse al-Raisi of having ultimate responsibility as a senior interior ministry security official. They filed the complaint under France’s principle of universal jurisdiction. This means al-Raisi could be detained if his visits the country. Interpol’s headquarters are in the French city of Lyon. | AFP…

BEIJING: China hit back yesterday against what it called “irresponsible” comments by the head of the World Health Organization, who described the country’s uncompromising and increasingly painful “zero Covid” policy as “not sustainable.” The policy has placed hundreds of millions of people across dozens of cities under various degrees of movement restrictions, most dramatically in Shanghai, causing significant economic damage in China and beyond. Officials in Shanghai, now in its sixth week under a sweeping lockdown, said half the city had achieved “zero Covid” status, but restrictions would remain in place. | Reuters…

LOME: Eight soldiers were killed and 13 wounded in an attack in northern Togo yesterday, the government said, marking potentially the first deadly raid on its territory by Islamist militants who have killed thousands in neighbouring countries. A group of heavily armed gunmen ambushed an army post in the Kpendjal prefecture near the border with Burkina Faso, the government said. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. The government blamed “terrorists”. Security analysts said the attack was likely carried out by a local al-Qaeda affiliate that is based in Mali but in recent years has spread south into Burkina Faso. | Reuters…

THE INSTITUTE of Directors in South Africa (IoDSA) has slammed SAA for appointing Professor John Lamola as the executive chairperson and chief executive of the soon-to-be-privatised airline. SAA’s board appointed Lamola to the position last month, to assume his duties from May 1, following the departure of interim chief executive Thomas Kgokolo after a year at the helm. IoDSA said yesterday that Lamola’s appointment to the dual roles suggested that the state had not learned the lessons of the past few years regarding the importance of good governance. IoDSA chief executive Parmi Natesan said the Zondo Commission’s reports had shown that governance lapses in terms of appointments, oversight and accountability were some of the fundamental causes of the implosion of our key state-owned enterprises, among them SAA. Natesan said it…

FORMER minister Zweli Mkhize’s lobbyists believe reports of his imminent arrest are part of an elaborate scheme to influence public opinion and to hide a political plot to abuse law enforcement agencies to get him arrested and charged to eliminate him from the ANC presidential race. Recent media reports suggested that an arrest relating to the Digital Vibes scandal was imminent, saying that law enforcement authorities were in the final stages of an investigation and there was a possibility this could lead to criminal charges. Mkhize, who is now an ordinary MP, in his bid to become president of the ANC at the national elective conference in December, has significant support in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, say his supporters, with branches in support of him coming from eThekwini and…

2 tbsp (30ml) olive oil 1 onion; peeled and finely chopped 3 carrots; peeled and grated 1 celery stick; finely chopped 1-2 garlic cloves; peeled and crushed 1 cup (250ml) brown lentils 2 packs (500g) Romanita tomatoes 2 cups (500ml) vegetable stock 1 tbsp (15ml) fresh oregano; chopped or 1 tsp (5ml) dried oregano Pinch of sugar Salt and pepper For the cheese sauce: 2 tbsp (30ml) butter 2 tbsp (30ml) cake wheat flour 1½ cups (325ml) milk ⅓cup (80ml) mature cheddar; grated Pinch of ground nutmeg Salt and pepper For the lasagne: 1 punnet (400g) mixed mushrooms Sliced lasagne sheets ½ cup (125ml) ricotta cheese Heat oil in a pan and fry onion, carrot and celery until soft, about 5 min. Add garlic, lentils, tomatoes, vegetable stock, sugar, oregano…

“You are brave, you are the only one that has come in here.” So said a gun-toting man to New Somerset Hospital nurse Sr Diane Seale, who managed to disarm him after he he allegedly shot and and killed two patients and wounded police constable Donay Phillips, who later also succumbed to his wounds. Ahead of International Nurses Day commemorated today, Seale recalled the moments she managed to calm down the former cop Jean Paul Malgas. On Saturday evening, May 7, she was busy with her routine handover process when a call was received by a colleague in distress. “I could hear her screaming and my colleague who had answered the phone informed me that there was an altercation on the second floor.” Seale told her colleague that she should…

THE Beaufort West Municipality council suspended three senior managers accused of misconduct during a special council meeting yesterday. Director of Infrastructure Denwin van Turha, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Nomfundo Ntsangani as well as the Municipal Manager, Jackson Penxa were suspended after “failing” to make representations on why they should not be suspended. The municipality said instead of making their representations, they gave mayor Gideon Pietersen “very arrogant letters”. They also accused the officials of failing to comply and perform in terms of the financial recovery plan (FRP) approved by the Western Cape Government last month. “The independent investigation will now be implemented. In 30 days council will sit again to decide if it is necessary to charge or not,” they said. Penxa said he would consult his legal team…

Ukrainian forces reported battlefield gains yesterday in a counter-attack that could signal a shift in the momentum of the war, while Kyiv shut gas flows on a route through Russian-held territory, raising the spectre of an energy crisis in Europe. Following days of advances north and east of the second-largest city Kharkiv, Ukrainian forces were within several kilometres of the Russian border yesterday, one Ukrainian military source said on condition on anonymity. Before the advance, Russian forces had been on the outskirts of Kharkiv, 40km from the border. The gains appear to be the fastest that Ukraine has achieved since it drove Russian troops away from Kyiv and out of the country’s north at the beginning of April. If sustained, it could let Ukrainian forces threaten supply lines for Russia’s…

Sri Lanka’s embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa pledged yesterday to give up most of his executive powers but stopped short of yielding to demands for his resignation over the country’s economic crisis. The 72-year-old, in his first address to the nation since the start of a month-long protest campaign calling on him to quit, said he would announce a unity government in the coming days. He did not name the successor of his elder brother, Mahinda Rajapaksa, who stepped down as prime minister to clear the way for a new cabinet. “I will work to give more powers to parliament and activate the key elements of the 19th amendment to the constitution,” he said, referring to democratic reforms he overturned soon after his 2019 election. Rajapaksa’s pledge to reinstate the amendment…

Moscow: Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina has left Russia, she said, after disguising herself as a food delivery courier to escape police. Alyokhina joins thousands of Russians who have fled their country since President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on February 24. In September, Alyokhina was sentenced to one year restricted movement while protesting in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, but last month authorities moved to convert her sentence into real jail time. In an interview with the New York Times this week, Alyokhina, 33, said she dressed up as a food courier to avoid the Moscow police that were staking her out and left her cellphone behind so she couldn’t be tracked. Then a friend drove her to the border with Belarus and a week later…

TUSCON: Arizona was preparing for its first execution since 2014 yesterday, with an inmate convicted of killing a student scheduled to be put to death eight years after the state carried out its last lethal injection, described by lawyers as botched. Clarence Wayne Dixon, convicted of stabbing and strangling Arizona State University student Deana Bowdoin in 1978, was scheduled to die at 10am local time at the state prison in Florence, Arizona. Lawyers for Dixon asked the US Supreme Court to halt the execution on grounds of insanity, a request which justices denied without explanation. | Reuters…

Seoul: A senior official in South Korea’s new government was in hot water yesterday after apparently endorsing conversion therapy while trying to apologise for previously comparing homosexuality to mental illness. South Korea’s conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol, who was sworn in Tuesday, is an avowed anti-feminist who on the campaign trail promised to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality. His newly appointed religion and multicultural secretary, Kim Seong-hoi, was forced to apologise this week over a 2019 Facebook post where he said homosexuality is “a type of mental illness”, and he appeared to endorse gay conversion therapy. | AFP…