Indice dei contenuti per 2021-08-13 in Cape Times

ARE YOU MORE optimistic about South Africa’s prospects today than you were at the start of the year? Given the events of the past month, it’s understandable that many of us may be feeling more despondent. But even after accounting for last month’s riots, most professional forecasters have upgraded their economic growth numbers compared to the start of the year. And many local asset managers are still sticking with their South African overweight equity and bond positions. Admittedly, these upward revisions are coming off a low base. At the start of this year the International Monetary Fund expected the country’s economy to grow by just 2.8 percent in 2021 and 1.4 percent in 2022. Subsequently, it upgraded South Africa’s growth outlook by a cumulative 2 percent over…

From page 1 than what most other undertakers are charging families for the use of PPE. “This agreement advises that any additional cost of the PPE required for the removal of Covid-19 bodies as per regulatory requirements set out in the Government Gazette, is not covered by the contract and will be passed on to the undertaker collecting the deceased from Avbob Funeral Services,” he said. Health spokesperson Mark van der Heever said the department has a contracted agreement in place with the undertakers supporting hospitals for specific services. “Anything outside of the service level agreement is at the service provider’s cost. “We kindly ask all residents to please check with their contracted service provider and with the hospital where their loved one is on what the respective responsibilities…

Francesca Villette and Ntombi Nkosi AS QUESTIONS remain over the SANDF deployment to the SABC’s Gauteng and Durban buildings, Cape Flats activists said they still wouldn’t want the army in their communities. The Communications Workers’ Union called for the withdrawal of soldiers at the public broadcaster premises, saying it curtailed media freedom. The soldiers were also deployed to guard President Cyril Ramaphosa’s official residences in Pretoria and Cape Town. As talk about the spending of State resources on the issue continues, activist in Manenberg Roegshanda Pascoe said with the fear instilled in residents during the army’s Operation Lockdown in 2019, she sympathised with journalists at SABC. “The army left us with so much trauma and human rights violations – people getting beaten up. “I really feel for the…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za MORE than a decade later the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) in Khayelitsha is still “squatting” in the Department of Social Development (DSD) offices, with more than 100 workers sharing a small space, which has led to conflict among employees from the different entities. The inefficiencies of the small office were exacerbated when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. The Cape Times reported last year about the shocking scenes of the elderly and vulnerable sleeping in the cold outside the Sassa office yet again after the agency failed to secure an additional collection facility. Now, Sassa allegedly has opted for an even smaller disused vehicle fitment centre near the local train station, which an employee said could only accommodate eight staff. “Our staff complement is more than 50…

Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za A FORMER employee of Stellenbosch University (SU) says she has been left homeless and sleeping outside the vice-chancellor’s home in the cold, after the university sent a sheriff to evict her. Gcobisa Yani said her furniture was also confiscated to settle legal costs on Wednesday. This is as Yani had accused the institution of “discrimination”, alleging that her white colleague was allocated a housing benefit while she had to pay R7 600 a month for rent during her tenure as a Listen, Live and Learn co-ordinator at the institution. SU has rejected the allegations, saying Yani did not receive a housing benefit because she was employed on a temporary contract. She said yesterday she would be sleeping outside vice-chancellor Wim de Villiers’s home until she is assisted.…

Odwa Mkentane odwa.mkentane@inl.co.za BROWNS Farm mother Siphokazi Bokili and the man charged with her rape and murder had been drinking alcohol together and she was last seen alive in the accused’s shack, according to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). A day later, on Monday morning, 34-year-old Bokili’s half-naked body was discovered in a pool of dirty water. Her throat had been slit. “Members of the community found the body and one of the community members identified the deceased and called the police and took the police to her address. “They then followed up on information of witnesses and they went to the accused’s address where the community was busy assaulting him. Police arrested the accused,” said NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila. Details of Bokili’s murder emerged yesterday after Siphamandla Ncaphayi appeared…

Thirapatheegadu Ezekiel Reddy, known as Teddy, lives in KwaZulu-Natal with his wife, Lynette, and their children, Nell and Benjamin. | Jennifer Crocker THE TEAROOM Gretchen Haley Loot.co.za (R 215) PENGUIN Teddy is the owner of The Tearoom in the small town of Sendleni. It’s a popular spot with locals and visitors to the town. Teddy is the main cook and he only has two dishes a day on his menu, always delicious. He’s a friendly man, with a wife who tends towards being hysterical and presenting a different face to friends outside the home than she does with her family. The Tearoom is staffed by a small team who work together well, among them the enigmatic Yogi, who makes the greatest samoosas and rotis, and Mafika, who is a dab…

When it appears that in South Africa the clowns have replaced the ringmasters, what comes to mind is that we must rate as one of the most enthralling soap operas the world has witnessed in the last two decades, if only they were interested enough to be watching. Much like that old saying goes, “If you tell the same lie enough times, it has a very good chance of being believed as fact”. And so we look at the melee of inconceivable things going down, from just today’s headliners in the Mercury, and wring our hands in disbelief. “The Medupi explosion may cost up to R40bn”. Now we know why this happened, as the reason for this avoidable explosion and delay it has caused in the long awaited progress in…

Philippine national Maya and her husband lost their low-paying jobs in the United Arab Emirates early in the Covid-19 pandemic, and with it their work visas and health insurance. Now they say they face a mounting bill of daily immigration fines because their 1-year-old child remains undocumented, as the hospital is withholding the birth notification required to get a certificate until the couple settles a 14 000 dirham (about R56 000) bill. Dozens of women have told the Do Bold non-profit organisation, which promotes migrant workers’ rights, that they had not obtained birth certificates in the UAE as at late last year. The group said many cited unpaid hospital bills as the cause. Other reasons included being unable to provide valid marriage certificates or visas. Do Bold said the issue…

WASHINGTON: Meghan Markle was very upset to learn that her name was not on the initial list of invitees for the 60th birthday of ex-US President Barack Obama last week, according to writer and royal biographer Angela Levin. “I am told that despite claiming she was unable to attend, Meghan desperately wanted to be the special guest at the Obama’s amazing party,” Levin said. The celebration took place at the Obama residence on Martha’s Vineyard, an island in Massachusetts. To comply with Covid-19 restrictions, the number of invitees had to be reduced to 475 people. | Sputnik…

MOGADSHU: The AU’s peacekeeping mission in Somalia said it was investigating reports that civilians were killed during a gunfight between the mission’s troops and al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab fighters. Dozens of people protested outside a Mogadishu hospital where the remains of victims had been brought, vowing to fight the AU Mission in Somalia, Amisom. Amisom said the incident occurred on Tuesday after an ambush, while its soldiers were on patrol in the Lower Shabelle region. Residents reported that seven civilians were killed on a farm 120km from Mogadishu. Amisom said it was investigating the incident. | Reuters…

ALLAHABAD: Thousands of stranded Indians were rescued yesterday from flooded villages along the Ganges after the river rose above its danger level in the country’s most populous state. The waterway surged to 2m above normal in the city of Allahabad, which has experienced its worst flooding in decades after days of torrential rain. Across Uttar Pradesh state more than 600 villages were reportedly cut off by the rising waters, prompting a major rescue effort by authorities. A district magistrate in Allahabad said that 225 boats had been sent out to help people trapped on rooftops and the upper floors of their homes. He estimated 4 500 people had been rescued in and around the city. | AFP…

From page 1 Mgobozi said the army deployment to crime-ridden areas in Cape Town was completed last year. “To this effect, the SANDF soldiers are currently deployed in Cape Town and its surroundings to conduct patrols as part of the recently commissioned Operation Prosper, aimed at supporting members of the SAPS following violent unrest in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. “These internal deployments are aimed at safeguarding national key points as well as strategic areas of importance, including the official residence(s) of the Head of State with an exception of private residence(s) as informed by the security assessment prior to deployments,” he said. This week, political analyst Lukhona Mnguni said national key points should at all times be afforded the requisite security. Mnguni added that given the unrest of the…

Kailene Pillay and Zintle Mahlati Former president Jacob Zuma’s close friendship with the Gupta family “blindsided” many as he was “the ultimate leader” of the ANC and the country at that time. This was said by President Cyril Ramaphosa, who believed state capture was a “well-organised project” that influenced policy and legal processes and offered protection to those involved. Ramaphosa, who concluded his testimony at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture yesterday, said they were “blindsided” by Zuma’s friendship with the Guptas. Facing his final day of testimony, Ramaphosa was questioned on key Gupta lieutenants who were appointed at state-owned enterprises (SOEs) Transnet and Eskom and how this went unnoticed by himself and others. Evidence heard previously at the inquiry revealed government contracts worth over R57 billion were awarded…

Staff writer THE reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the Manenberg serial cat killer has been increased to R7 000, as autopsy reports this week confirmed the brutality of the person or persons behind the killing of 37 animals. The Animal Welfare Society (AWS) of South Africa yesterday said they received the independent post-mortem reports on the cat cadavers, sent to the Western Cape Government Veterinary Laboratory, on July 30. “Based on the Veterinary Pathologists comments and observations, we can now confidently state that the vast majority of cats were maliciously and brutally killed by a person or group of individuals,” the AWS said. According to the post-mortem reports, one of the cats, a female, died as a result of severe blunt force…

Francesca Villette francesca.villette@inl.co.za JUDGMENT has been reserved in local firefighter Adam Damons’s legal challenge of the City’s promotion policy and how it affects him. The Constitutional Court yesterday heard Damons’s argument for a promotion to the rank of senior firefighter, despite having a physical disability sustained in 2010 while on duty. His legal counsel, advocate Zixolisile Feni, argued for provision to be made for Damons to be promoted, saying it would be unfair for him to be unable to advance as a firefighter because of injuries sustained while on duty. “One swallow does not make a summer. We are not saying that the City must promote disabled firefighters, we are saying the City must ... promote this firefighter, Damons, because Damons was injured at work. “We are not saying that…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za MORE alleged taxi-related violence is brewing in Citrusdal, on the West Coast, over the transportation of farmworkers – with two men shot and killed on Wednesday morning. Police spokesperson Andrè Traut said the circumstances leading to the murder of two men, aged 34 and 43, were under investigation. According to Traut, the men were killed in a bus, by unknown suspects, at about 5.40am in Voortrekker Road, Riverview. “The incident occurred at a pick-up point of farmworkers and the possibility that it is linked to the ongoing taxi tension in the province cannot be excluded. No arrests have been made as yet.” Farmworker activist Billy Claasen said the battle to ferry farmworkers to Mouton Citrus, and other areas, has been building since last year and urgent intervention…

| OWN Correspondent VIRUS-PROOF YOUR SMALL BUSINESS Douglas Kruger Loot.co.za (R72) PENGUIN THE past two decades were among the most prosperous in history, with over a billion people lifted out of extreme poverty. Then 2020 hit, and, along with it, the coronavirus pandemic. The effect on economies will be extreme. What can small businesses do to survive the Covid-19 crisis? Business coach and author Douglas Kruger provides actionable answers, with a list of 50 practical ways your business can survive – and even thrive – during this time of uncertainty. Business survival entails a simple formula. You must achieve and maintain profits over costs. There are a remarkable number of creative things you can do to stay on the right side of this equation, provided you don’t lose…

| OWN Correspondent GET ME TO 21 Gabi Lowe Loot.co.za (R232) MFBooks AFTER an extraordinary four-year battle, Gabi Lowe lost her beautiful, talented 20-year-old daughter, Jenna Lowe, on June 8, 2015, to pulmonary arterial hypertension, a rare degenerative lung disease, following a double lung transplant. Jenna was young, bright and articulate. She was LEAD SA’s Youth Hero of the Year in 2015. Her death was mourned by thousands of people whose lives she had touched. During her short but full life, Jenna and the Lowe family raised much-needed awareness around the rare and devastating disease, highlighting the dire need for access to medication and organ donors locally. Although desperately ill, Jenna became the face for organ donation in South Africa, through the hugely successful #GetMeTo21 campaign in which she…

Global warming represents an existential threat to civilisation THOSE emigrating to distant shores in the wake of recent unrest in the country might want to think twice, given the latest UN report from the Intergovernmental panel on climate change. Those who perceive that the grass is greener on the other side might want to consider the warnings of extreme weather patterns in the next decade or two. Scientists are predicting extreme cold conditions in Europe and North America, as well as much wetter conditions in the North, which is not good news for those who find rainy Britain dreary. It is hard to imagine Northern US and Canada being much colder than they are, when current temperatures can reach -40ºCs with the wind chill in mid-winter. For the sake of…

WHEN casting an eagle-eye view over the Royal AM Football Club saga, it emerges that the Premier Soccer League's Disciplinary Committee (DC) must shoulder the blame for the turn of events that later caused irreparable damage to the image of SA football. In January, before a match between Polokwane City and Sekhukhune United kicked off, the latter protested. When the DC entertained the protest Polokwane was found guilty and forfeited the three points since they won the match 1-0. Instead of completing the process, the DC ended the hearing. The club which protested should have been awarded the points. It is not known why the DC did not complete the process by awarding Sekhukhune the points Polokwane forfeited. Experts say there is also no conceivable reason why Sekhukhune was not…

Blazes raged across northern Algeria yesterday as the country observed a national day of mourning for dozens of people killed in the latest wildfires to sweep the Mediterranean. The country has been in the grip of devastating fires since Monday that have claimed 69 lives – 41 civilians and 28 soldiers. Soldiers and civilian volunteers have joined firefighters on multiple fronts in the effort to extinguish the blazes that have been fanned by windy and tinder-dry conditions. In Tizi Ouzou district, the area with the highest casualty toll, entire sectors of forest went up in smoke. Villagers forced to evacuate to escape the flames began trickling back to their homes, overwhelmed by the damage. “I have nothing left. My workshop, my car, my flat. Even the tiles were destroyed,” one…

MIAMI: Soccer star Lionel Messi’s signing-on fee at Paris St Germain includes some of the French club’s cryptocurrency fan tokens, in the latest big name endorsement of new digital assets. The Argentine, 34, left Spanish side Barcelona and signed a two-year contract with Qatari-owned Paris St Germain (PSG), with an option for a third year, this week. PSG said yesterday the tokens were included in his “welcome package”, estimated at €25 million (about R433m). The club did not disclose the proportion of tokens in the package, but said the amount was “significant”. Fan tokens are a type of cryptocurrency that allow holders to vote on minor decisions related to their clubs. Among clubs to launch tokens this year are English Premier League champions Manchester City and Italy’s AC Milan. Socios.com,…

Jerusalem: Deadly rocket and mortar fire on Israeli cities by Palestinian militant groups in Gaza during a May conflict constituted war crimes, Human Rights Watch said yesterday. The New York-based rights group analysed attacks from Gaza that resulted in the deaths of 12 civilians in Israel and injuries to dozens more. Rockets that misfired or fell short also killed or wounded “an undetermined number of Palestinians in Gaza”, the group said. It added at least seven Palestinian civilians had been killed. The rockets were launched during an 11-day conflict. Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem rejected the accusation. | AFP…

MIHLALI BALEKA mihlali.baleka@inl.co.za IF there is a time for Mamelodi Sundowns to stamp their authority in the MTN8, it is now. That is the belief of Manqoba Mngqithi who’s had to watch the Wafa Wafa cup slip through their fingers in the last seven years. Sundowns have dominated domestic football for the last eight years, winning multiple trophies, including championships. The MTN8 is a low-hanging fruit with only four wins needed to walk away with the R8-million prize money. However, this first and most rewarding domestic trophy of the season has eluded them, their last triumph dating back to 2007. That wasn’t because they didn’t care about it or embraced the ‘slow starters’ tag. Instead, there were contributing factors to their shortcomings, such as having a short pre-season as they…

Morgan Bolton morgan.bolton@inl.co.za ARGENTINA cannot rely on their past glories to defeat the Springboks this weekend in their opening match of the Rugby Championship, coach Mario Ledesma warned yesterday after naming his matchday 23 for the encounter. Last year, Los Pumas managed to stun the rugby world by beating the All Blacks for the first time in their history, and also secured two draws against Australia to finish the Tri-Nations in second-place. As recently as last month they defeated Wales – albeit a team bereft of their best player who were in South Africa on British & Irish Lions duty – but these triumphs will mean little, according to Ledesma, if they are not done on a consistent basis. Said Ledesma: “We didn’t set out last year to be…

Lender Investec commits to greater environmental transparency Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za INVESTEC yesterday committed to being more transparent with regard to its lending and investment decisions in relation to climate change. This comes as shareholders are slowly pulling away from environmentally unsustainable investment practices such as fossil fuels. The group’s climate risk-related disclosure has received 99.9 percent shareholder approval, the most significant climate-change shareholder resolution for a JSE-listed company to date. The financial services company’s resolution, tabled ahead of its annual general meeting last week, explicitly required the company to take action to address greenhouse gas emissions associated with its lending and investment portfolio. Disclosed in the integrated annual report released yesterday, Investec committed to comply with the goals of the Paris Agreement within its annual report and financial statements…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za THOSE aged 50 years and older have accounted for 68% of hospital admissions and 87% of Covid-19-related deaths in the province during the third wave. Provincial health officials, during their weekly briefing yesterday, said it was the reason it remained essential that those in the 50-plus age group be vaccinated as soon as possible. “Please do not wait for your second SMS. “Please walk in as soon as possible to get your first dose of your Covid-19 vaccine,” Premier Alan Winde said. Meanwhile, health head Dr Keith Cloete said they were seeing an average of 3 100 new Covid-19 diagnoses a day. “There are 44 506 active infectious cases. “This is 5 228 more active cases (13%) in the last week. The risk of being exposed to…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za ACTIVISTS took to the streets yesterday to further call for the reduction of electricity tariffs, saying South Africans are already struggling to survive in the Covid-19 pandemic. Following a protest outside an Eskom office in Bellville yesterday, the Equal Rights Forum’s Noluthando Jack said: “We have been receiving endless complaints about people struggling to keep up with high electricity tariffs, so this action has been a long time in the making. Electricity is a basic right, now people have to choose between food and electricity. “This march is calling for Eskom, the City and national government to do something because all three are responsible for these high tariffs and we want them to come up with a solution that suits all South Africans, not only the rich.…

Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za SEVERAL undertakers are at loggerheads with funeral service provider Avbob in Maitland, accusing the company of exploiting poor families by allegedly charging clients extra for personal protective equipment (PPE) for the deceased at Groote Schuur despite these being provided for by the hospital. But Avbob has refuted the allegations, describing them as part of a campaign to discredit the service provider. Undertakers United Front co-ordinator Pastor Kenny McDillon said they had tried to reach Groote Schuur Hospital management to report the matter but were told there was nothing the hospital could do. “All our refusals and nagging has resulted in nothing but Avbob making huge amounts of money off poor families that we must now charge and this makes us the enemy. “However, the body bags that…

Odwa Mkentane odwa.mkentane@inl.co.za THE disciplinary hearing at Table View High School, following a fight between two learners, allegedly over a stolen cellphone, will continue next week. A video of the two pupils involved in the scuffle went viral on social media, showing one being beaten to the ground outside the premises of the school on July 29. The disciplinary process commenced on Wednesday. Western Cape Education Department (WCED) spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the disciplinary hearing is ongoing and the outcomes will be communicated once finalised. “The pupil’s suspension has come to an end, according to policy, however, the pupil has not returned to daily school attendance and is receiving educational support at home. The victim was present at the disciplinary hearing. He was not at school today, as it is…

| Julian Richfield THE SKIPPER’S DAUGHTER Nancy Richards KARAVAN FROM her many years of broadcasting, few would be unfamiliar with the voice of Nancy Richards. With her new book, The Skipper’s Daughter, we get to enjoy Nancy’s writing as well. Back in 1988, on board a flight from Cape Town to Johannesburg, Nancy asked her mother: “So, tell me what happened?” It was a question she had been wanting to ask her mother all her life. “What happened in Australia with your father and Ron and that little boat?” Her mother, Nancy Brooks, was 16 when she went to sea with her father. She signed up on July 2, 1938 as captain’s clerk for a shilling a week on the SS Nailsea Manor. Leaving from Birkenhead in Liverpool, the…

Mark Keohane Annelee Murray’s portfolio with the Springboks was that of public relations, but as her book, The First Lady of Springbok Rugby, details, her role and contribution to the success of the Springboks was so much more than a structured job spec. Many in the team called her the mother of the Springboks, but she wasn’t always too fond of that one. ‘It makes me feel a bit too old,’ she jokes, but as John Smit, the 2007 World Cup-winning captain, so eloquently writes in his foreword, she was without a doubt “The First Lady of Springbok Rugby”. I was privileged to author Annelee’s 20-year journey with the Springboks and the book is a delight and an inspiration. If you are a Bok supporter, you’ll love it because…

The Taliban took over the police headquarters in Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city, yesterday and also seized another key district capital just 150km from capital Kabul. An AFP correspondent filmed the Taliban flag flying over the police HQ in Herat, while the insurgents tweeted “the enemy fled... Dozens of military vehicles, weapons and ammunition fell into the hands of the Mujahideen”. More details of the Taliban’s presence in the city were not immediately available, but it has been under siege for weeks. Herat, about 150km from the Iranian border, is home to veteran warlord Ismail Khan, who for weeks has been rallying his forces to make a stand against the Taliban. Earlier, the interior ministry confirmed the fall of Ghazni, which lies along the major Kabul-Kandahar highway and serves as a…

From travel to technology, employers across the globe are offering four-day weeks as incentives to woo workers after the Covid-19 pandemic upended their working patterns. Debate over the so-called “Scandinavian model”, which holds that productivity will rise if working hours are dropped, is not new but it has gained traction during the Covid-19 crisis not only among companies but also the public sector and politicians. In Europe, Spain’s left-wing government is considering its own version to help its economy, while public administrations in Denmark and Iceland have already adopted four-day weeks. With retail and hospitality now among the sectors struggling to attract and retain staff as economies recover from the crisis, many companies are introducing shorter weeks, the president of global staffing group Adecco said. While there is widespread scepticism…

Athens: All 18 people including three children on board a British-flagged yacht were rescued yesterday after it sank during strong winds off the coast of the Greek island of Milos, the coastguard said. “The 18 shipwrecked, all Greeks, are safe and have been transferred to the island of Milos,” an official from the coastguard’s media office said. Three patrol boats, a passenger ship and two helicopters took part in the rescue operation in the Aegean, supported by two other choppers. Winds of up to 40km/h were recorded yesterday in the area where the yacht sank, 16 nautical miles from Milos, a Cyclades island popular with tourists. | AFP…

Abuja: Oil giant Shell has agreed to pay around e95 million (R1.6bn) to communities in southern Nigeria over crude spills in 1970, the company and the community’s lawyer said on Wednesday. The decision is the latest involving OPEC-member Nigeria’s oil-producing south where local communities have long fought legal battles over oil spills and environmental damage. The company said that the spills were caused by third parties during Nigeria’s 1967-70 civil war when much damage was done to oil pipelines and infrastructure. In January, a Dutch court ordered Shell to compensate Nigerian farmers for spills. | AFP…