Table of contents for 2022-06-06 in Cape Times

Financially stricken Tongaat Hulett’s (THL) future will likely rest with either its lenders converting debt into equity or with a recapitalisation by a major stakeholder, sources said on Friday. This was after plans for a R5 billion right issue were dented on Friday. The rights issue was to have been underwritten by Mauritius based Magister, which is owned by the controversial Rudland family of Zimbabwe, but a Takeover Regulation Panel (TRP) investigation ruled against a key shareholder resolution necessary for the deal, THL said in a statement on Friday. THL is in dire financial straits and said in April already that the rights issue may need to have been increased to R5bn from R4bn as its debt had risen to R6.8bn from R5.8bn a year before, owing to cash flow…

THE recent appointment of former Bitou Municipality manager Lonwabo Ngoqo as the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality manager has sparked widespread controversy. Ngoqo, who was appointed during a council meeting on Thursday, will replace previous city manager, Noxolo Nqwazi. Bitou Mayor David Swart said they were “surprised” that Ngoqo had emerged in another municipality after being dismissed in 2012 over allegations of financial misconduct and being illegally reappointed by the ANC in 2018. “The DA, who were in opposition at the time, opposed the appointment and the MEC for Local Government did not approve it either. “The High Court found his appointment illegal. The Bitou Municipality under the ANC lost the appeal and then appealed to the Constitutional Court. “They, in December 2021, dismissed the appeal and upheld the original High…

THE men accused of stealing millions of unexplained US dollars kept at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Limpopo farm went on a shopping spree in Cape Town, spending their loot on high performance luxury vehicles, according to former State Security Agency (SSA) director-general Arthur Fraser’s affidavit. Fraser lodged a criminal complaint against Ramaphosa at Rosebank police station last week over the money allegedly stolen by five Namibians who conspired with his domestic worker in February 2020. Ramaphosa allegedly kept large sums of money in foreign currency, estimated to be $4 million and $8m (between R62m and R120m), “concealed” under a mattress and couches at his farm in Bela-Bela, Limpopo. In his affidavit, Fraser said: “The mere fact that President Ramaphosa had large undisclosed sums of foreign currency in the form of US…

THE Constitutional Court came to a majority decision that police action following the horrific rape of Andy Kawa, in Gqeberha, was negligent. Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, says that he will not accept the ruling of the Concourt as it was not a unanimous decision. What madness is this? Did he not swear to uphold the Constitution? By his action, he is totally in opposition to what President Cyril Ramaphosa promised the nation in regard to GBV. Where is SA heading when a senior minister openly challenges the findings of the Concourt and the president’s comments? Perhaps, Cele should consider that the ANC only received a majority vote at the last election and not a unanimous 100% vote. Thus, he might want to suggest to the ANC that they should…

THE high cost of living is threatening the existence of Gaffoor Home and Charity, a Lavender Hill-based NPO established in 2019 to cater for neglected children aged between five and 12 years old. The organisation, founded by Kabeer Chiktay, is in desperate need of financial assistance to cater for the needs of the 12 children it houses. “Everything has increased, including food and electricity which have sky-rocketed, as well as the children’s medical care. “All this has taken a lot of our funding which was allocated for leisure activities. At the beginning of the year the children’s school uniforms, transport and textbooks took a larger portion of our finances than I initially anticipated,” said Chiktay. The children are provided with all their essential needs such as food, clothes, accommodation and…

STELLENBOSCH University has taken a step in the right direction with the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry into allegations of racism to be headed by retired Justice Sisi Khampepe. This is the view of one of the institution’s black female ex-employees who resigned citing entrenched and institutionalised racism after being undermined by a white contractor. She said she felt victimised and made to explain her story over and over again while the university appeared to be siding with the contractor on a technicality The establishment of the inquiry comes after white student, Theuns du Toit was filmed urinating on fellow student Babalo Ndwayana’s study material and when asked about his action replied: “It’s a white boy thing”. SU vice-chancellor and rector Wim de Villiers said Justice Khampepe would…

THE political discourse in South Africa is currently so dominated by a transformation agenda defined largely by Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE), that other functions of development have been neglected, especially during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the multitudinous global shocks as scarce resources are “re-prioritised” to mitigate their effects. This includes cultural and sports transformation, which are equally important imperatives in the sports-mad South African psyche for a frontier nation that in the space of more than a century of straddling colonialism, apartheid and democracy, witnessed perhaps three of the most iconic incidents in sporting history. The first was the ludicrous hubris during the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1899-1902 when a Boer general sent a letter to the leader of a besieged British garrison, offering a temporary truce so…

Three Chinese astronauts docked at the country’s space station yesterday, a state broadcaster said, marking a new milestone in Beijing’s drive to become a major space power. The trio blasted off in a Long March-2F rocket at 0244 GMT from the Jiuquan launch centre in north-western China’s Gobi desert, said broadcaster CCTV. The team is tasked with “completing in-orbit assembly and construction of the space station”, as well as “commissioning of equipment” and conducting scientific experiments, state-run CGTN said on Saturday. The spacecraft docked at the Tiangong station after about “seven hours of flight”, CCTV reported. Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace”, is expected to become fully operational by the end of the year. China’s heavily promoted space programme has already seen the nation land a rover on Mars and send…

President Vladimir Putin warned yesterday that Moscow will strike new targets if the West supplies long-range missiles to Ukraine and said new arms deliveries to Kyiv were aimed at “prolonging the conflict”. If Kyiv is supplied with long-range missiles, “we will draw the appropriate conclusions and use our arms... to strike targets we haven’t hit before,” Putin said. In extracts of an interview on Rossiya-1 television, Putin did not specify exactly which targets could be hit nor the exact range of the missiles to which Moscow would react. But his comments came just days after the US announced it would supply Ukraine with Himars multiple launch rocket systems. Himars is a mobile unit that can simultaneously launch multiple precision-guided missiles up to 80 kilometres away. Putin said that there was…

ABUJA: A Nigerian man was burnt to death by a mob in the capital Abuja on Saturday following an argument with a Muslim cleric, police said. Police said Ahmad Usman had an argument with an unidentified cleric, which turned violent. Police took him to hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. “The heated argument degenerated into an outbreak of violence that led to the murder and setting ablaze of Usman by the enraged mob mobilised by the clergy numbering about 200”. Last month, a female student was beaten to death and set on fire by fellow students who said she had posted “blasphemous” statements in a student Whatsapp group. |…

Rabat: Morocco yesterday began welcoming an influx of its citizens living in Europe after the pandemic led to a halt in what has been called one of the world’s biggest cross-continental migrations. The last such effort in the summer of 2019 saw 3.3 million people and more than three quarters of a million vehicles cross the Gibraltar Strait. The North African kingdom is just 14km from the coast of Spain. Spain has also announced it will put in place special measures for Moroccans from June 15 for two months. Spain’s government has called the seasonal migration “one of the biggest flows of people across continents”.…

RECENTLY there have been several articles and reports, across the media, decrying banks’ practices and behaviour. Society’s disquiet about banks is not new, but appears to be on the increase, yet has received little or no attention from authorities. Tito Mboweni’s recent revelations, carried in the local media, blaming banks for the collapse of the government’s Covid-19 Loan Guarantee Scheme, added to the already negative perceptions about banks. Such news isn’t shocking to most citizens, perhaps only to President Cyril Ramaphosa who is said to have joined one of the meetings, only to have his plea for more lending rejected. His own organ of state, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), party to this guarantee scheme, is said to have instructed banks to lend as usual despite the once-in-a-century crisis.…

THE African Transformation Movement (ATM) has asked Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane to investigate President Cyril Ramaphosa over the $4 million robbery at his Limpopo farm, in what a political analyst says is a sign that the president’s ability to “fool the public into believing that he was South Africa’s messiah against corruption” is crumbling. ATM president Vuyo Zungula penned a two-page letter requesting Mkhwebane to look at allegations that more than $4 million (about R60 million) kept in cash at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala Game Farm in Limpopo was stolen in February 2020. The concealed robbery surfaced last week when former State Security Agency head Arthur Fraser laid charges of defeating the ends of justice, kidnapping and torturing suspects, and bribery against Ramaphosa. In his letter, Zungula requested Mkhwebane to investigate…

WITH the cost of living being the headlines, President Cyril Ramaphosa would do well to look at history in Africa. President Kaunda of Zambia raised the price of mealie meal and was out of office the following day with riots on the copper belt. Former Rhodesia prime minister Ian Smith subsidised the price paid to grain farmers to grow the crop. The result was full grain silos and he gained votes. President Ramaphosa hasn’t made it clear by his “actions” who to support – the poor or the rich?…

IT IS not a coincidence that we see a criminal case opened against a country’s sitting president and that of the ANC. Noting the above, we can see a lot is at stake. Not at all, the ANC is going for its elective conference in December, so if charged, you remain ineligible to contest elections. It is with no doubt that it will be a roller-coaster ride for us to watch. For those charged after the set date, their charges will need to be examined for what they are. Furthermore, a revised process is to be implemented, in my view, to prevent double standards. The reality of the situation started when the step aside rule was reviewed and made operational. This weekend we noted one member of the ANC in…

THE School Governing body (SGB) of Heathfield High School has urged the school community to allow a mediation process, established to bring stability, to run its course. Learning has been disrupted by ongoing protests at the school for more than 13 days and escalated when two acting principals were deployed at the school by Western Cape Education Department. Disgruntled pupils demonstrated at the principal’s office, demanding that they leave. The unrest stems from the firing of principal Wesley Neuman, which came into effect on May 20 after he announced his decision to decline the WCED’s demotion offer. A disciplinary committee had found Neuman guilty on six charges of misconduct emanating from his refusal to reopen the school in June 2020, during the Covid-19 peak. In a letter to the school…

THE four vigilante taxi drivers convicted for the brutal murder of a suspected thief who was beaten and hanged at the Lwandle taxi rank in 2014 face possible life imprisonment. Thandowani Nkomo, Howard Mboto, Victor Mbanda and Masithembi Bongani were convicted for the kidnapping, assault and murder of Wanda Njotini in the Strand Regional Court. Nkomo, Mboto, Mbanda and Bongani were part of Khupa, a police forum-type association established between 2012 and 2013 in Lwandle, Strand. Bongani was its chairperson. The group assisted the police with tracing and apprehending suspects and helped community members with reporting crimes to the police, and acquiring information from the community that would help with crime-solving. After some time, the association further evolved and members started to apprehend suspects, accusing them of crimes committed without…

THE process of dehumanisation, degrading, discrimination, and disrespecting of black people has continued in this country after 1994. Even the democratically elected government could not be a safe haven for black people. Black people have been called names, beaten up, told they are useless, buried alive and killed. How ironic that the majority, oppressed under colonialism and apartheid, are still discriminated against under the democracy they achieved through their votes after the Struggle. Where is the government, the tormented people elected, relevant Chapter 9 institutions and the courts of law? The wrong precedent was set by not effectively and holistically punishing the white boys who beat up a black boy, Lindelani Khanyile, yet Andrew Babeile was sent to jail for defending himself against a gang of white racist boys and…

Cambodians voted in local elections yesterday as a fledgling opposition movement sought to claw back support and mount a challenge to the party of longtime leader Hun Sen. Authorities under the ruling Cambodian People’s Party have in recent years moved to crush dissent with more than 100 opposition members jailed under charges including treason, prompting international criticism of Hun Sen, who has ruled for 37 years. The new Candlelight Party, which largely regroups the former main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party that was dissolved by a court, hopes for a good showing at the commune level that will translate to national-level success in next year’s parliamentary elections. Lines of people queued in polling stations amid heightened security before polls closed at 3pm local time. “For our local governance, we want…

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday held developed nations responsible for large-scale carbon emissions. “India is making this effort while its role in climate change is negligible,” Modi said, marking World Environment Day. “Large modern countries of the world are not only exploiting more resources of the earth, but maximum carbon emission goes to their account.” Modi said the average carbon footprint of the world is about 4 tons per person per annum while the figure of India is about 0.5 ton per person per annum. |…

Beijing: China will gradually lift Covid-19 restrictions this week, city officials said. After some easing in recent days, the Chinese capital – which reported 19 new infections yesterday – announced residents would start returning to work from today and schools would reopen from June 13. China is wedded to a zero-Covid strategy of hard lockdowns, mass testing and long quarantine periods to wipe out clusters as they emerge. That strategy has meant restrictions on movement in major cities including Shanghai and Beijing, a metropolis of 22 million people where a resurgence led to just under 2 000 infections.…

PYONGYANG: The eight short-range ballistic missiles launched by North Korea yesterday towards the Sea of Japan flew 110-670km with a maximum altitude from 25-90km, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The launches were carried out from the Pyongyang Sunan International Airport, the city of Kaechon in the South Pyongan province, the Tongchang-ri test site in the North Pyongan province, and from the city of Hamhung in the South Hamgyong province, the South Korean military said. “The US and South Korean intelligence agencies are carefully analysing additional information,” the military added.…

Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa has ordered UCT to ensure all Stuurman family members are involved in the reburial of the remains of nine individuals kept at the institution. The skeletal remains were unethically obtained by the university’s medical school between 1926 and 1931. They were found during an archiving audit of the university’s skeletal collection in 2017 by the institution’s Dr Victoria Gibbon, the curator of human remains at the faculty of health sciences. A 2019 statement from the university said nine of the individuals were brought to the university by a medical student from Kruisrivier Farm, Sutherland, in the early 20th century. The remains were scheduled for reburial in Sutherland in the Northern Cape in September 2020, but a row erupted when two factions of the…

DUNOON residents want the suspects arrested over the gruesome killing of Abongile Mafalala to be denied bail when they appear in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court today. Mafalala was beaten, stabbed and set alight by a mob in Parkwood last week. The 31-year-old Bolt driver was allegedly transporting people in the area when he was wrongfully accused of child kidnapping. His family said they were still coming to terms with his death. “It is the brutal manner in which he died, that the family is struggling to come to terms with. But we are taking it a day at a time and we are thankful for the support from our community,” the family said. Dunoon resident Thobeka Pikini said they wanted justice to be served. “We will attend the court case…

NO, IT is real and affects us all who are living in this beautiful country we call “home”. Not a day goes by without us hearing about rape, kidnapping, hijacking, murder, robbery and the like. What type of society have we turned into? These are not just criminals, they are our children. Where did we go wrong that we allowed them to become ruthless savages? What structures are in place to protect society, prevent crime, and to correct these beastly behaviours. Is life behind bars the only solution? What role is the SAPS playing? Their duty is to protect the public against imminent danger. Must community members be required to walk the streets to safeguard their neighbourhoods –- putting their lives at risk? Is this not the role of…

THE government’s aim of investing R2.2 billion in managing protected areas, restoring ecosystems, removing alien species and preventing wildfires will create at least 48 982 work opportunities in rural areas, says Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Minister Barbara Creecy. She made the remarks as part of commemorating World Environment Day 2022 yesterday, in the aftermath of the recent flooding in KwaZulu- Natal, the Eastern Cape and parts of North West where hundreds of people were killed and thousands of homes and livelihoods destroyed. “Our White Paper on Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biological Resources is on its way through the Cabinet system and will soon be released for public comment,” she said. “Waste and pollution are among the greatest threats to the health of our environment. Through the revised National Waste…

The construction of the Makhaza police station could help lessen the burden of violent crime faced by overstretched officers at Harare police station, which recently recorded a 51.3% murder rate and was among the top five stations with high murder rates in the country. The 4th quarter crime statistics released on Friday showed sharp spikes in crime from January to March 2022. Kraaifontein, Delft and Lingelethu West, also in Khayelitsha, saw an increase, while there was a decrease at Nyanga, Mfuleni and Samora Machel stations. Parliament’s standing committee on police chairperson, Tina Joemat-Pettersson, said the increase in murder, gender-based violence and femicide cases was extremely concerning. “Some of the commanders of the top five police stations have to come to the committee and explain their high crime rates,” she said.…

THE WORLD Health Organization (WHO) last week said the less lethal nature of the Omicron variant in relation to the Delta strain and the protection people have from prior infections and vaccination may lead to a drastic drop in the number of deaths from Covid-19 in Africa. At least 350 000 people lost their lives on the continent due to the pandemic in 2021, and WHO modelling shows that 22 563 will succumb to the pandemic in 2022 if current variants and transmission rates remain the same. The continent was ravaged by the coronavirus in 2020 and 2021, and the fact that it has many of the world’s weakest national health systems meant that many cases went undetected and the cause of death was often not identified. This remains the…

DHAKA: At least 49 people died and hundreds were injured after a fire sparked a huge chemical explosion at a shipping container depot in Bangladesh, officials said yesterday. The toll was expected to rise, with some of the more than 300 people injured in serious condition, officials said, while volunteers reported that there were more bodies inside the smouldering, wreckage-strewn facility. The fire started late on Saturday at the depot in Sitakunda, which stores around 4 000 containers, many filled with garments destined for Western retailers. The facility is about 40km from the major southern port of Chittagong. The blaze caused containers holding chemicals to explode, engulfing firefighters, volunteers and journalists in an inferno, hurtling people and debris through the air, and turning the night sky a blazing orange.…

A volcano in the eastern Philippines spewed a huge, dark cloud yesterday, prompting evacuations from ash-covered towns while authorities warned of possible further eruptions. The blast from Bulusan volcano in rural Sorsogon province lasted about 17 minutes, shooting a grey plume up at least one kilometre, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology. No casualties were reported, but authorities raised the alert level to one on the five-level system, indicating “low-level unrest”. A group of 14 hikers and four local guides were midway down the 1 565-metre mountain, unaware that an ash cloud was shooting up on the other side of the mountain, a civil defence official said. “All of them got down safe and sound.” The local government of Sorsogon, about 500km south of Manila, said 10…

TOKYO: Yachtsman Kenichi Horie has become the world’s oldest person to sail solo across the Pacific Ocean without making stops when he entered the Kii Channel off Wakayama Prefecture on Saturday. Horie, 83, began his voyage on March 27. The crossing took 69 days. Sixty years ago, he became the first person in the world to complete a solo sea voyage across the Pacific, sailing from Japan to the United States in 1962, at the age of 23. This time, the journey was in the other direction, with him setting off from San Francisco aboard the almost 6m long Suntory Mermaid III. Horie crossed the finish line between the Kii Hinomisaki Lighthouse in Wakayama Prefecture and the Ishima Lighthouse in Tokushima Prefecture at 2.39am on Saturday after sailing about 8…

PARIS: About 5 000 people were left without electricity in France because of a thunderstorm, French power grid operator Enedis said. An orange alert level was issued for 65 departments in France on Saturday night amid heavy rains. Enedis said that 5 000 people were left without power across France on Saturday night. BFMTV reported that the Eiffel Tower was struck by lightning on Saturday night. French photographer Bertrand Kulik captured the moment and posted photos on social media. The official Eiffel Tower website said that since its birth in 1889, it has “attracted” lightning numerous times and there are on average five impacts every year. |…