Sommaire pour 2023-03-15 de Cape Times

AT the current trajectory of high level blackouts in the country, this year is on schedule to be the worst year on record, and will have a significant impact on businesses, consumers, and food production prices, say energy experts. A Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) report indicates that, up until now, last year had been the worst year of load shedding. However, experts say Eskom’s continuing maintenance breakdowns and the need for additional capacity, combined with alternative stages of between 4 and 5 or higher, mean South Africans are in for a tough year ahead. The report, “Statistics of utility scale power generation in South Africa 2022”, released last month, said that last year, there was load shedding for 3 773 hours with an upper limit of 11…

A RUSSIAN woman who was declared a prohibited person after she was found in possession of a fraudulent work visa, has won her court bid against the Department of Home Affairs with costs, to remain in the country pending her application for status. “The second respondent (Director General, Department Home Affairs) is directed to authorise the first applicant, in terms of section 32(1) of the Act, to remain in the Republic pending her application for a status, and such authority shall be given within 10 days of being served with this order,” Western Cape High Court Judge Matthew Francis ruled. The woman arrived in South Africa in 2010. She was sought out in Moscow, Russia, to be a dancer at the Mavericks Revue bar in Cape Town and, to that…

FINANCE and Economic Opportunities MEC Mireille Wenger has set aside R1.1 billion to ramp up the province’s energy security and decrease reliance on Eskom over the next three years. She made the announcement during the tabling of the 2023/24 provincial budget themed the “budget of action” in the provincial parliament yesterday. Wenger’s R242.31bn budget includes R39.82bn allocated to boost economic growth and to create opportunities; R4.76bn for safety and R170.91bn allocated for wellbeing, including on key services such as Education and Healthcare that the province will spend over the three-year Medium-Term. “The single biggest threat we face right now, which compromises our collective future, is the ‘missing in action’ stable supply of electricity, upon which all else rests,” Wenger said. She added that R11.5 million would be used to develop…

OFTEN when people think of ethics, they think of rules for distinguishing between right and wrong. In most cases, this is how ethics are defined: a set of norms for conduct that distinguishes acceptable and unacceptable conduct. The recent events at the City of Tshwane have once again prompted the public to ponder about the ethical behaviour of the political leadership in the metro, and given the manner in which the whole debacle around Dr Murunwa Makwarela was handled by both his party and council, we ought to ask ourselves: What is wrong with us as a society? Are we so ethically bankrupt that we have lost our conscience? Do ethics have a barometer? Corruption Watch stressed that for the past decade, South Africa’s government has failed in its efforts…

SurvivOrs of Cyclone Freddy clung to dwindling hopes of finding missing relatives yesterday after the storm slammed into Malawi for its second strike on Africa in a record-setting rampage. At least 190 people in the impoverished country have died since Freddy smashed into southern Africa at the weekend, just weeks after it made a deadly hit in late February, according to a provisional UN toll. Many have died in mudslides that have washed away makeshift homes in the country’s commercial capital, Blantyre. Despair settled on Chilobwe, a township on the city’s outskirts that accounts for around half of the victims. Drenched in rains that have been falling for days, survivors milled about in disbelief, looking at flattened houses and structures. Many believed there were still people trapped underneath the muddy…

Poorer countries are losing healthcare workers to wealthier ones as the latter seek to shore up their own staff losses from the Covid-19 pandemic, sometimes through active recruitment, the World Health Organization said yesterday. The trend for nurses and other staff to leave parts of Africa or Southeast Asia for better opportunities in wealthier countries in the Middle East or Europe was already under way before the pandemic but has accelerated since, the agency said, as global competition heats up. The WHO has added eight extra states to its list of vulnerable countries which was last published in 2020: Comoros, Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, East Timor, Laos, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. About 115 000 health-care workers died from Covid-19 around the world during the pandemic but many more left their professions.…

ATHENS: Flights to and from Greek airports will be grounded tomorrow when air traffic controllers and civil aviation workers walk off the job to join a 24-hour nationwide strike over the country’s deadliest train crash on record. On February 28, a passenger train with more than 350 people on board collided head-on with a freight train, killing 57 people and injured dozens. The general strike, called by the country’s largest private and public sector unions, is the latest in a series of protests against a political system that has ignored calls by unions over safety measures. All flights will be halted on March 16 and only overflights, emergency and search-and-rescue flights will take place. | Reuters…

Mexico City: While dismissing the US State Department’s travel advisories for Americans to avoid holidays in Mexico, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said his country was safer than the neighbouring nation. The advisories issued on March 10 which include “do not travel” warnings for Mexican states marred by drug violence, came after the kidnapping of four Americans in Matamoros who were attacked by gunmen believed to be linked to the Gulf cartel. Two of the Americans and a Mexican died in the incident. Lopez Obrador said the advisories were part of “a campaign” against Mexico, mainly by “conservative” US politicians. | IANS…

A LEGAL battle is looming between the City of Tshwane’s multiparty coalition bloc and the ANC-led coalition, after 69 ballots of DA councillors were disqualified during council speaker’s election on Monday night at Tshwane House. Sole African Transformation Movement (ATM) councillor, Mncedi Ndzwanana, backed by the EFF and ANC, emerged as the new speaker. This was during a drama-filled special council sitting, where he contested for the position against ActionSA’s Kholofelo Morodi. Morodi was backed up by multiparty coalition partners, which included her party, the DA, FF+, ACDP and IFP. In total, 211 councillors cast their votes during the secret ballot and Ndzwanana won by 105 votes while Morodi got 37. At least 69 votes belonging to the DA were declared spoiled by the Independent Electoral Commission of SA (IEC)…

‘When I arrived, I found the nurses striking. I found granny in a bad state.’ THE family of Kathrine Nkosi believes she is one of the victims of the Nehawu strike. Her family said had it not been for the strike, Nkosi, 69, would have received medical care at Thelle Mogoerane Regional Hospital and would have been alive. Granddaughter Simphiwe Mchunu said her grandmother got sick in the past few weeks. She was first taken to Bertha Gxowa Hospital in Germiston but transferred to Thelle Mogoerane Hospital. Tests were run and she was told she had kidney stones. On March 2, a surgery to insert pipes to clear out the infection was performed. Last Monday, when Mchunu went to visit, she found that her grandmother’s health had improved. “On Tuesday,…

With just under a month to go before runners from around the globe gather to beat their personal bests at the world’s most beautiful marathon - the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon (TTOM) - the real race is on to raise much-needed funds for local causes. After a prolonged knock from Covid-19, mass participation events are again going strong, and organisers and participants are determined to surpass 2019 charity fundraising numbers. Since its inaugural edition in 1970, TTOM has sold out annually, and this year the race’s charity fundraising target is an impactful: R1 million. As an official fundraising partner since 2018, South Africa’s premier online fundraising platform GivenGain is again empowering runners to #RunforCharity and meet this mark. So far, participating runners have raised just under R500 000 for the…

THE City will go head-to-head with the EFF in the Western Cape High Court on Friday as the municipality has taken legal action to ensure the party do not threaten businesses or cause any disruptions during their planned national shutdown. The City filed an urgent interdict application yesterday with mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, stating that while the party and other participants have a right to protest next Monday, attempts to incite or participate in looting, vandalism, and disruption will not be tolerated. The interdict aims to ensure the organisers and participants stay within the confines of the law and permit them to march to the national Parliament buildings to hand over a memorandum. “Cape Town will be open for business as usual, and authorities are well prepared and equipped to deal…

WHILE the grieving family of 10-year-old Denecke Persence, whose body was found in a canal in Macassar on Sunday has asked to be given space, police have not ruled out the possibility of questioning more people over her death. Police spokesperson FC Van Wyk said three people had since been taken for questioning in connection with the incident. “An inquest case was registered for investigation. A post-mortem will be conducted to determine the cause of death. “Three persons were taken in for questioning, however they cannot be linked to the case as yet. The investigation into the matter is still ongoing and more people can be taken in for questioning as the investigation unfolds,” said Van Wyk. Denecke was last seen sitting near the taxi rank on Musica Avenue waiting…

Consequences of failing to dare when the moment calls for it are disastrous A RECENT report in the Mail & Guardian of March 10-16, about R41 million disappearing into thin air, caused me to think deeply about what has been my observation about the wastage of potential that this land has for its people – the Zulu nation. South Africa is one country. What affects people in the eastern escarpment or the western shores, the northern corridors adjoining the Limpopo River, bordering Zimbabwe and Mozambique, or the southernmost tip of Africa, near the Cape Agulhas – all of these affect me. Now one may say you are so far removed it is none of your business. Shenanigans must cease. Against the backdrop of the shenanigans going on there, and…

Alphabet Inc’s Google yesterday unveiled a flurry of artificial intelligence (AI) tools for its email, collaboration and cloud software, taking aim at Microsoft Corp days before its rival is expected to make a similar announcement. In a replay of last month’s duelling chatbot launches by the tech giants, Alphabet touted a “magic wand” for its popular Google Docs software that can draft a marketing blog, training plan or other text, then revise its tone at users’ discretion, a company official demonstrated to reporters. Microsoft, meanwhile, has teased a Thursday event about how it is “reinventing productivity with AI,” which is expected to showcase its competing Word processor. Alphabet also said its AI will be able to summarise message threads in Gmail, craft slide presentations, personalise customer outreach and take meeting…

New York: Rock pioneer and poet Lou Reed began writing a book in 2009 on an art at the heart of his lifestyle: tai chi. But the project went unfinished, remaining a collection of scattered notes when the groundbreaking musician died in 2013 aged 71, after complications from a liver transplant. Those unpublished writings, including conversations with his fellow artists, friends and tai chi practitioners, come out this week, a decade after his death. The Art of the Straight Line features essays and riffs by Reed, a meditation on his three decades as a tai chi practitioner. | AFP…

NEW DELHI: Lahore in Pakistan jumped more than 10 places to become the city with the worst air in the world in 2022, an annual global survey by a Swiss maker of air purifiers showed. IQAir said Chad in central Africa had replaced Bangladesh as the country with the most polluted air last year. Lahore’s air quality worsened to 97.4 micrograms of PM2.5 particles per cubic metre from 86.5 in 2021. Hotan, the only Chinese city in the top 20, followed with PM2.5 levels of 94.3. The next two cities were Bhiwadi, on Delhi’s outskirts (92.7), and Delhi (92.6). Chad had an average of 89.7, Iraq, the second most polluted air for a country, averaged 80.1. | IANS…

Hanoi: Vietnam’s Health Ministry has urged medical facilities to be vigilant for suspected cases of streptococcus suis, a bacteria that comes from pigs, after a number of human cases were found over the past few months, local media reported yesterday. Since the beginning of the year, a number of streptococcus infections have been recorded across the nation and the majority of cases have involved people eating pork products such as blood pudding, or those who slaughter pigs. Patients often need long-term, expensive treatment. Once people become infected with the virus, the disease leads to septic shock, coma and multiple organ failure. | IANS…

Bjorn Fortuin may have felt at one stage of his career that he was always set to be the groomsman. No matter how well he did at domestic level – and even when he did get a rare opportunity in international cricket – he was never quite going to be the premier spinner for the Proteas. Fortuin even worked hard at his batting, with the second arrow in his quiver now elevated to a higher level in a bid further his chances of regular recognition. But with Tabraiz Shamsi and Keshav Maharaj ahead of him in the white-ball queue – and Senuran Muthusamy also propelled to the Proteas Test side alongside Maharaj and Simon Harmer – the odds lengthened even further for Fortuin. Timing, is everything, though, and while it…

The Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon (TTOM) has announced a R1 million media partnership with Independent Media. The partnership with Independent Media means that runners and supporters of the globally iconic Two Oceans Marathon can now look forward to the best of sports and news reporting on all facets of the event. While all sister titles in the stable will cover the event, the journalistic fire power will be led by Cape Town’s best-selling morning daily newspaper, the Cape Times, and IOL. The Cape Times has entrenched itself as the standard-bearer of reliable local and international news in the Western Cape region since 1876. Cape Times assistant editor Liesl van der Schyff said: “The Cape Times and Independent Media’s partnership with the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon has proven to be a…

THE fact that a husband said “I do” at the altar but, a week later, while on honeymoon on an island, humiliated and belittled his wife and then kicked her out of their house two months later, has come back to haunt him. The oncestarry-eyed bride is claiming more than R800 000 from her estranged husband. The parties are embroiled in divorce proceedings and thus cannot be named for legal reasons. The first claim is based on fraudulent misrepresentation; she said when he had put the ring on her finger, he knew he no longer wanted to marry her. As a result of the “fraudulent misrepresentation,” she had incurred economic losses as she had spent R331 342.36 on the wedding. Her second claim is for the impairment of her reputation…

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa signed off on the National Qualifications Framework Amendment Act in August 2019. The act states that criminal prosecution may result if someone “falsely or fraudulently claims to be holding a qualification or part-qualification registered on the NQF or awarded by an education institution, skills development provider, Quality Council or obtained from a lawfully recognised foreign institution”. This week, the Special Investigating Unit said it was probing new Public Service and Administration Minister Noxolo Kiviet after Fort Hare University officials implicated her in qualifications fraud. After matric, Kiviet allegedly skipped undergraduate studies, registered and obtained an honours degree in administration and master’s degree in public administration. In the past, then SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng was found by then public protector Thuli Madonsela to have lied about…

Shockwaves from Silicon Valley Bank’s (SVB) collapse triggered big moves in bank shares yesterday as investors fretted over the financial health of some lenders, in spite of assurances from US President Joe Biden and other global policymakers. An indicator of credit risk in the euro zone banking system leapt to its highest since mid-July, as worries about contagion risks from the collapse of two US banks compounded investor concerns about the impact on lenders of rising interest rates. The VIX volatility index, Wall Street’s “fear gauge”, neared six-month highs overnight, although futures pointed to a higher Wall Street open and European bank stocks recovered from falls earlier yesterday. US regional banks bounced in pre-market trading after recent brutal losses, with shares in First Republic Bank FRC.N up 58%, a day…

Pakistani police and supporters of Imran Khan fought pitched battles outside the former prime minister’s home in Lahore yesterday, wounding several on both sides, ahead of his expected arrest, a government spokesperson and witnesses said. Police hit Khan supporters in baton charges and lobbed tear gas canisters, some of which landed on the lawns of Khan’s house. “We will arrest Imran Khan today and present him in court,” said Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah. A lower trial court in the capital Islamabad had issued the arrest warrant for Khan for unlawfully selling state gifts while in power from 2018 to 2022, his aide Fawad Chaudhry said. Khan aide Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the former prime minister had secured “protective bail” from a court. Khan has been demanding a snap election in…

London: British MPs will next week quiz former prime minister Boris Johnson over whether he lied to them about “Partygate”, in a probe that could trigger his removal as a member of parliament. Johnson has denied in parliament that he or his staff had breached his own Covid-19 lockdown laws by holding boozy gatherings in Downing Street. But police issued fines to dozens of aides after a criminal probe, and Johnson became the first serving UK prime minister found to have broken the law, over one of the gatherings. Johnson resigned as prime minister in July 2022 after being dogged by the lockdown breach claims and other scandals.A committee said the evidence so far undermined Johnson’s pleas of innocence to the House of Commons. Johnson has insisted the report vindicated…

BRUSSELS: Buildings across Europe could be renovated to cut emissions and save energy after the European Parliament yesterday approved a bill that aims to lower households’ energy bills and wean EU countries off Russian gas faster. Buildings account for 40% of the EU’s energy use, and most are heated by fossil fuels. The proposed new rules could require millions of buildings to be upgraded using methods such as insulation or efficient heating systems. Of 637 MPs present, 343 were in favour of the new rules which would require all EU buildings with a G energy performance certificate – the worst-performing 15% per country – be renovated this decade. | Reuters…

Alejandro Garnacho has vowed to come back “stronger than ever” after being ruled out for Manchester United and world champions Argentina due to an injury suffered against Southampton on Sunday. The 18-year-old forward was withdrawn 17 minutes after stepping off the bench in the second half of United’s 0-0 draw following a challenge by Southampton’s Kyle Walker-Peters. Garnacho, who left Old Trafford on crutches, said on Instagram that he will miss “upcoming games” for United, and will not be joining up with Argentina’s squad for friendlies against Panama on March 23 and Curacao three days later. “It is difficult to put into words how I’m feeling right now,” the Under-20 international wrote. “Unfortunately I will not be able to help my team and teammates in the upcoming games in what…