Indice dei contenuti per 2022-03-30 in Cape Times

ABSA GROUP has appointed Arrie Rautenbach, currently chief executive of the bank’s retail business, as CEO, effectively immediately, the first internally appointed CEO since 2006. He fills a vacancy that had been left open since the unexpected departure of previous CEO Daniel Mminele 11 months ago. The appointment also precedes by days the handing over of the board chairpersonship, from April 1, to Sello Moloko, by Wendy Lucas-Bull. Interim CEO Jason Quinn will resume his position as group financial director. Absa said yesterday that the CEO appointment had followed a thorough recruitment and selection process completed by its board. Rautenbach has more than 25 years’ banking experience, which includes serving as the group’s chief risk officer, simultaneously also providing executive leadership for the Group Separation Programme and Group Strategy Office.…

The rand rallied back toward a 5-month high yesterday buoyed by increasing risk sentiment in spite of rising job losses in South Africa. South Africa’s unemployment rate hit a new record high of 35.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021, mainly due to job losses in manufacturing and construction industries. Anchor Capital investment analyst Casey Delport, however, said total employment partially recovered as the number of employed persons actually increased by 262 000. “This is reflective of economic activity having bounced back after the July riots,” Delport said. “However, due to a bigger increase in the labour force, the unemployment rate actually climbed from 34.9 percent to 35.3 percent in the fourth quarter.” Despite this, investors have been pouring into financial markets as the start…

A Western Cape farmer is set to receive R350 000 in damages from his pastor, who defamed him. The spiritual leader defamed him via two letters – one to his wife’s attorneys and the other to Stellenbosch University – in which he claimed the farmer often abused alcohol. The farmer turned to the Western Cape High Court where he initially claimed R500 000 in damages from his long-standing family pastor. The farmer told the court the pastor’s allegations were both harmful and hurtful towards him. He said he had been a farmer for more than 20 years in the Cape, and was also an alumni of Stellenbosch University. He had been a member of the pastor’s flock for the past seven years and they knew each other well. The defamation…

THE country’s youth are bearing the brunt of joblessness, with 66.5% of those aged 15 to 24 and 43.5% of those 25 to 34 being unemployed, the highest since the start of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) in 2008. This emerged from the Stats SA QLFS results released yesterday, sending shockwave through civic organisations and unions. Stats SA found the number of unemployed people in the country had increased by 278 000 to 7.9 million in the 4th quarter of 2021. “These changes in the labour market resulted in the official unemployment rate increasing by 0.4 of a percentage point from 34.9% in the third quarter of 2021 to 35.3% in the fourth quarter of 2021. Formal sector employment increased by 143 000 jobs between Q3:2021 and Q4:2021,…

I WOULD like to thank Dr P Delbridge for his clear, concise and well-constructed reply to the Russian ambassador’s attempt to whitewash his country’s actions in Ukraine. I read the ambassador’s article a couple of times to try to make head or tail of it, as at times, what he said was so ludicrous that it seemed he was talking about something else entirely. To say that civilians are not being targeted is complete poppycock! All one sees on television are the ruins of big blocks of apartments almost razed to the ground! Heartbreaking pictures of people wandering around in a total state of shock, having lost everything. A theatre where people had sought shelter, bombed to smithereens, and worst of all, women in a maternity hospital, heavily pregnant or…

DISCIPLINARY proceedings relating to misconduct are under way against two officials in the Premier’s Employee Relations department following a finalised investigation. The investigation included use of government vehicles, travel and accommodation expenditure and other related claims and follows as a result of former MEC Albert Fritz’s immediate dismissal earlier this month. Fritz was dismissed after an independent investigation showed credibility in the sexual misconduct allegations against him. Responding to a parliamentary question, Acting MEC of Community Safety, Anroux Marais, said approval was granted to formally charge two employees for serious misconduct. A disciplinary process is under way while two other employees remain suspended pending further investigation, Marais said. ANC spokesperson on Community Safety, Mesuli Kama, had asked Marais for an update relating to the investigation against four employees who were…

ACCLAIMED artist and activist Haroon Gunn-Salie this week took audiences through the journey of the concept and creation of his jarring Crying for Justice installation of 118 graves, spelling the word ’justice’ from a bird’s-eye view, near the historic gallows at the Castle of Good Hope. During a virtual public discussion on Monday evening, Gunn-Salie said the site-specific installation is made up of 118 graves excavated into the landscape, symbolising the 117 known activists killed in detention by apartheid security forces. The last grave is to acknowledge activists killed in detention, but who remain unaccounted for. The installation spells the word Justice, as a reverberating call to continue the fight for truth, justice and accountability in post-apartheid South Africa, and for the prosecution of those responsible for these politically-motivated crimes…

IT IS very rare to see South African politicians doing their job diligently, without fear or favour. That’s why Home Affairs Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi’s recent drive to deal decisively with the country’s illegal immigration challenges took many by surprise. Since late last year, Motsoaledi has personally led an aggressive campaign against illegal immigration. It targeted the country’s busiest ports of entry, including the Beitbridge Border Post. As expected, he was accused of xenophobia. But the campaign seems to be bearing fruit. In a sting operation last week, the police arrested a Pakistani man and 27 others in Krugersdorp for allegedly dealing in fraudulent passports. Of those who were nabbed, 14 were foreign nationals and 14 were South Africans, according to the Hawks. The police added that the syndicate would…

Russia will “radically” reduce its military activity in northern Ukraine, including near the capital Kyiv, after “meaningful” talks in Istanbul, Moscow’s negotiators said yesterday. “Given that the talks on the preparation of an agreement on the neutrality and non-nuclear status of Ukraine have moved into a practical field … a decision has been made to radically … reduce the military activity in the areas of Kyiv and Chernigiv,” Russia’s Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin said. Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky said there had been a “meaningful discussion” and Ukrainian proposals would be put to Russian President Vladimir Putin, adding Putin could meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “We have agreed on … a solution, according to which the meeting of the heads of state is possible simultaneously with the foreign ministers initialling…

A Chilean man appeared in court in France yesterday accused of the murder of his Japanese ex-girlfriend, Narumi Kurosaki, who disappeared in 2016 in a high-profile case that has gripped three continents. Nicolas Zepeda, who denies killing Kurosaki, was extradited from his country to France in 2020. Kurosaki, a brilliant scholarship student then aged 21, arrived in eastern French city Besancon in 2016 to learn the language. She disappeared on December 4. Her former boyfriend Zepeda, whom she had broken up with a year before, was the last person to see her alive. Prosecutors allege that Zepeda was unable to deal with the couple’s break-up, coming to Besancon to kill Kurosaki in her student dorm room before dumping the body in the forests of the rugged Jura region. But so…

Singapore: The top court yesterday dismissed a mentally disabled Malaysian man’s last-ditch appeal against a death sentence, with his family saying they were “devastated” and “shocked” by the ruling. Nagaenthran K Dharmalingam was arrested in 2009 for trafficking a small amount of heroin into the city-state and handed a then mandatory death sentence the following year.He was originally scheduled to be hanged in November. Supporters say he has an IQ of 69 – recognised as a disability – and was coerced into committing the crime. But authorities have defended his conviction, saying that legal rulings found he “knew what he was doing” at the time of the offence.…

Colombo: The Sri Lankan government has approved a proposal to pay an allowance of $17 (R248) to low-income families for two months in view of the festive season. Minister of Energy Gamini Lokuge told the media that the government has identified about 3.1 million low-income families to receive the allowance, which is akin to a bonus for the upcoming Sinhala and Tamil New Year, according tot Xinhua news agency. The minister added that the government had the necessary funds to provide the allowance.…

SOUTH Africa have always been happy to drop their spinner. Heck, the Proteas have gone to the sub-continent, stared at a pitch that screamed ‘pick another spinner’, selected just one spinner and then had that one spinner bowl 81 overs out of 185 in a Test match. Keshav Maharaj did get a little bit of help at the SSC in Colombo in 2018, with Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram sharing 19 overs. South Africa’s post-isolation philosophy has been to back their quicks, even when the conditions aren’t suitable. So, it is no surprise that in that same period, the Proteas have never started a home Test with two front-line spinners. However, might history be made at Kingsmead this week? Elgar, now captain, wasn’t giving much away on Monday. The usual…

SOUTH Africa’s unemployment rate is likely to remain the highest in the world for the foreseeable future as economic woes force the number of jobs created to be outpaced by the size of the labour market. Data from Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) yesterday showed 278 000 more people joined the ranks of the unemployed in the last three months of 2021, raising the jobless rate to yet another record high. Stats SA said the country’s unemployment rate rose by 0.4 of a percentage point to reach the dreaded 35.3 percent in the fourth quarter, up from 34.9 percent the previous quarter. This means that there were 7.9 million people of working age actively looking for work who had no jobs at the…

THE PASSENGER Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has committed to ambitious plans to reduce its irregular expenditure by 2024. It told Parliament yesterday of a litany of problems, including heavily vandalised infrastructure, lack of qualified personnel in all tiers, sullied procurement systems, encroachment of its infrastructure as well as high diesel expenses. Appearing before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), Minister Fikile Mbalula, acting board chairperson Leonard Rama- tlakane and acting chief executive David Mphelo acknowledged poor audit outcomes over three years and a R1.9 billion loss in 2020/21, with operating costs at R15.5bn. “The Covid-19 pandemic exposed Prasa to many risks, especially in emergency procurement, which inevitably resulted in some cases of corruption in the systems. “Prasa is not generating sufficient revenue and will have to…

BARLOWORLD’S Russia and Mongolia Caterpillar operation, Equipment Eurasia, is experiencing restricted trading due to supply chain disruptions, some cancellations among customers, and certain assets might need to be impaired. The group said in a trading statement of its operations in Russia and Mongolia: “The situation is fluid, and the team needs to be adaptable to ensure compliance with emerging regulatory changes that impact us both internally and externally.” The share price surged 5.1 percent to R112.55 yesterday morning, a slight recovery from the about R148 it reached until the middle of February, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Barloworld management said they expect restricted trading conditions to continue, despite a record firm order book. “We anticipate further cancellations once the full extent of sanctions, supply chain disruptions and recent announcement by…

CIVIL society groups have welcomed the Gauteng High Court’s decision to delay the analogue switch-off, which was set to take place tomorrow, by at least three months. The news follows an outcry by civil society after Communications and Digital Technologies’ Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the switch-off would not be delayed despite over two million households that had still not been registered to receive an STB (set-top box) for the migration. The migration begins with the “switch-on” of the broadcasting digital transmission signals and ends with the “switch-off” of analogue. While the switch-off was postponed to June 30, acting Judge Henry Msimang ruled in the favour of the minister, noting that: “It is in the interest of the country, the economy and for South Africans in general that the Digital Migration…

THE regulations gazetted last week by the Department of Health add more unnecessary obstacles to the tourism, travel and hospitality sector and its growth in South Africa. It is clear that the government has a concerted plan to retain the dominating control it currently enjoys under the state of disaster, beyond the state of disaster. This is clear when analysing these regulations; restrictions that have over time been shown to be ineffective in countering Covid-19 are included. An example is the requirement for any traveller leaving South Africa to have in their possession a valid vaccination certificate or negative PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) test taken not more than 72 hours before departure, regardless of the requirements of their destination country. The same imposition exists for travellers entering the country. This…

Current push for this source of energy fails to acknowledge marginalised groups THE ANC government’s insatiable appetite for oil and gas may not last. Persistent attempts by Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe to win a quick victory on the cheap call for South Africa to ensure the security of its energy supply through gas, nuclear and coal resources continue to face major resistance as the country transitions to low-carbon emissions. But his nauseating luring of foreign investors and exhortation for unity by African states on the hydrocarbon front are escalating. And despite the incredible heroism of the majority of people opposing the threat to the environment in communities earmarked for mining, it’s still more likely than not that the exploration and exploitation of fossil fuels flags will eventually…

FRANKFURT/LONDON: Russia said it would work out practical arrangements by tomorrow for foreign companies to pay for its gas in roubles, raising the probability of supply disruptions as Western nations have so far rejected Moscow’s demand for a currency switch. President Vladimir Putin’s order last week to charge “unfriendly” countries in roubles for Russian gas has boosted the currency after it fell to all-time lows when the West imposed sweeping sanctions against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. “No one will supply gas for free. it is simply impossible, and you can pay for it only in roubles,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters yesterday. The move has drawn strong criticism from European countries, which pay for Russian gas mostly in euros and say Russia is not entitled to redraw…

SAO PAULO: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was discharged from hospital yesterday morning after spending the night there for tests, the Globo News channel reported. Communications Minister Fabio Faria said that Bolsonaro had been admitted to hospital in Brasilia on Monday after feeling abdominal discomfort, but added that he was “all right”. Bolsonaro, 67, who was stabbed in the abdomen during the 2018 presidential campaign, was absent from an evening event organised by the Republican Party which he had been slated to attend.…

Hundreds of thousands of people, survivors of bloody militia attacks, are battling trauma and life in camps for internally displaced people (IDP) in Ituri, a north-eastern province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, following decades-long conflicts. For decades, conflicts have been taking place in this part of the country, where hundreds of thousands of people have had no choice but to flee their homes and take refuge in IDP camps scattered across Ituri. According to a report by the UN, about 1.9 million people are displaced within Ituri. Buma Annie, a 36-year-old woman who has been internally displaced since last year, lives in the Kigonze camp in Bunia, capital of Ituri province. Born and raised in a small village, she recalled the day when she escaped by the skin…

KABUL: Tajikistan is interfering in the internal affairs of Afghanistan, Abdul Ghani Baradar, the acting deputy head of the Afghan government, said. “Tajikistan interferes in our affairs, for every action there is a reaction,” Baradar said in an interview with al Jazeera TV channel. Earlier this month, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon suggested creating “a security belt” around Afghanistan to prevent the potential expansion of terrorist groups. A day earlier, a Taliban official said the movement had sent thousands of fighters to the Afghan province of Takhar, which borders Tajikistan. He said this was needed to counter security threats.…

WHILE the battle for Ithala Bank to become a fully-fledged State-owned bank with a right to compete with the big five banks escalates, the KwaZulu-Natal legislature doubts Ithala would be able to acquire its permanent banking licence by the end of next month, which is the cut-off date. The bank has been struggling for about 10 years to obtain a permanent banking licence and as a result, it had, up to now, been operating with a renewable Banking Licence Exemption Notice, which is renewable every 12 to 24 months. The temporary licence limits the activities of the bank, which was established by the then KZN government, leaving bigger banks to still control the sector. The executive managers of the bank, which is an entity owned by the KZN Department of…

MIPIM, the world’s major international real estate event in Cannes, France, which ended on Friday, signalled a return to normality after the Covid health crisis. Under the shadow of a Russian- Ukrainian war, Mipim’s recovery from a two-year Covid break revealed good news amid clear global difficulties. Both listed and unlisted companies worldwide were represented at the event. There are many lessons for the South African property market, despite the visible lack of any African repre- sentation. For Inospace, it further validated the value we see in the industrial and logistics sector, which is booming worldwide with growing investor and tenant demand. More critically, we have also experienced strong rental growth in industrial units, and this seems to be a global trend in most first and second-tier investment destinations. A…

MPs have agreed to continue with impeachment proceedings against Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane despite her threats to mount a legal challenge to block the process, pending court proceedings. Members of the ANC in the section 194 committee appointed to oversee the impeachment also backed the move to continue. They argued that there was no court interdict before them that would warrant the halting of the process. Mkhwebane is squaring up against President Cyril Ramaphosa after he had initially wanted her to provide reasons, within 10 working days, why she should not be suspended. But Mkhwebane said she would challenge that decision because Ramaphosa was conflicted. However, members of the committee said Parliament was within its powers to bring Mkhwebane before the inquiry, despite the legal tussle with Ramaphosa. They said…

THE CARTEL-like conduct of South African banks amounts to the throwing of stones while living in a glasshouse. This is how Ayo Technology Solutions (AYO) chairperson, Dr Wallace Mgoqi, described the banks’ move to shut down Sekunjalo and related entities’ banking accounts. In an interview with Independent Media’s investigations unit, Mgoqi revealed that Nedbank had terminated his personal bank account last month. “This was purely because of my association with (Sekunjalo chairperson) Dr Iqbal Survé, as is the case with the other companies. The basis for it has always been from the banks’ side that it is due to the association with Survé.” Mgoqi, however, points out what he calls Nedbank’s utter hypocrisy, referring to Part 1 of the Zondo Commission Report, which reveals how Nedbank, in particular, was reported…

YOUR Friday edition “I’m independent, says Justice Zondo” refers: I practised labour law over many years and interacted with the majority of the labour court judges. One of those judges, Justice Zondo, always impressed me with regard to his integrity, independence and level-headed approach. Judge Zondo was not only strongly independent but had no problem with regard to “speaking truth to power”. My experience has been an incredibly positive one over many years. I believe that I am quite a good judge of character and despite me being occasionally on the receiving end of Judge Zondo’s sharp tongue, I have always had the absolute faith that not only was he correct both in law and equity, but also doing the right thing for both litigants. We as a…

UCT student Kialan Pillay will not only graduate with first-class honours this week, but is set to further his studies at one of the most prestigious institutions in the world, the University of Oxford. The 21-years-old will graduate tomorrow with a Bachelor of Science honours majoring in Computer Science. He has achieved a 91.2% grade point average, has been awarded three class medals that recognise the top student in a course, and produced the best Honours research project. Pillay achieved all of this while also working as a software engineer at Amazon Web Services. “It’s been a little over three months now and I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience as a full-time engineer, having interned during my academic career,” he said. Pillay, from Westville in KwaZulu- Natal, was dubbed the…

When I decided to study abroad, I set my sights on Africa, hoping to explore my cultural heritage and to confront the comforts of my American life more critically. I was very against studying in the Global North – I desired an experience that centred on non-Western culture and tradition. When I told a friend I would be studying in South Africa, I was met with unexpected derision: “So, you’re going to Europe.” Naturally, my heart sank. In truth, my friend gave voice to a lingering concern that South Africa wouldn’t be able to give me the authentically African experience I craved. I had an image in my mind of Cape Town that I couldn’t shake, reflecting a common narrative that South Africa is a lone nation of white settlers…

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth made her first public appearance in five months yesterday when she joined the royal family and other dignitaries at a memorial service to her “remarkable” husband Prince Philip, who died last year. Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, who was by his wife’s side for more than seven decades, passed away at their Windsor Castle home in April, two months shy of his 100th birthday. Only 30 mourners were able to attend his funeral service then due to strict coronavirus rules, which meant the queen poignantly sat alone as her husband of 73 years was lowered into the Royal Vault of St George’s Chapel of the castle. Yesterday’s service of thanksgiving at London’s Westminster Abbey was a much bigger event, with the queen joining her son and heir,…

LOS ANGELES: Beyoncé’s Oscars performance was “pre-taped” to ensure “nothing was left to chance”. The 40-year-old singer was joined by her 10-year-old daughter Blue Ivy as she kicked off the Academy Awards on Sunday with a rendition of Be Alive from King Richard, and now an ABC executive has weighed in on the decision. Speaking to Billboard, Rob Mills of the broadcaster’s parent company Walt Disney Television, said: “It was pre-taped. I think that as you can see, Beyoncé clearly had a really amazing vision for that song, and I think it was just making sure nothing was left to chance.” She was introduced by Venus and Serena Williams – who were in attendance for the ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood – and she was joined by a…

Kano: At least seven people were killed in an attack on a major Nigerian railway line after gunmen detonated a bomb on the track and opened fire on the halted train. About 970 passengers were onboard the train linking the capital Abuja with the city of Kaduna when gunmen blew up the tracks and started shooting into the coaches before the army arrived to repel them, a security source said. Sources at Kaduna’s 44 Army Hospital said seven bodies of the victims of the blast were kept at the hospital. Twenty two victims were also being treated at the hospital. The Nigerian Railway Corp said services on the Abuja-Kaduna route had been “suspended”.…

BEIJING: Beijing strongly opposes the US bill aimed at increasing competitiveness with China and is determined to protect its interests, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a briefing yesterday. On Monday, the US Senate approved a bill aimed at making the US more competitive with China in the economy and security. “The bill ignores the facts, exag-gerates the theory of the Chinese threat, incites the development of a strategic rivalry with China, is replete with Cold War and zero-sum thinking, and goes against the desire of sectors of the public in China and the US to strengthen co-operation,” Wang said.…

The much-anticipated MetroWired Legends Golf Day held at the Bryanston Country Club yesterday was a huge success, with several footballers, coaches and prominent businesspeople from various sectors gracing the event. President of the South African Football Association (Safa), Danny Jordaan, hit the first tee shot of the day. The 96 Legends Golf Day is one of the many celebratory events that will be held around the country as part of honouring our 1996 heroes who lifted South Africa’s only Africa Cup of Nations title. “This was planned about a year ago to mark the 25th year of winning the trophy, but due to Covid, we were unable to celebrate this last year,” said Jordaan. “We are really delighted that the day has finally come and we are able to celebrate…