Indice dei contenuti per 2022-05-27 in Cape Times

Five years after Parliament resolved that sign language should be an official language, the Cabinet has approved a bill that will be sent to the national legislature for processing. Addressing a post-cabinet briefing yesterday, Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele said the Cabinet had approved the publication of the 18th Constitutional Amendment Bill for public comment. Gungubele said Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola had been mandated to give notice with particulars of the proposed amendment to the Constitution. “The amendment will give recognition to sign language as the 12th official language of the country and will advance its cultural acceptance to affirm equal rights for all South Africans irrespective of their disabilities,” he said. Gungubele noted that the Department of Basic Education already recognised sign language as a…

UNDER-FIRE DA senior member and provincial legislature speaker Masizole Mnqasela has until today to provide his party with reasons why it should not suspend him. He was given 24 hours by his party to provide a written representation to provincial executive committee (PEC) chairperson Jaco Londt detailing why he should not be suspended pending the finalisation of the investigation and/or institution of a disciplinary hearing. The Hawks have confirmed that they are investigating fraud as DA caucus leader and Premier Alan Winde advised Mnqasela to step down amid the investigation. But Mnqasela refused, saying that would mean admitting guilt and he was not a thief. Last week, the DA in the province handed over documents to the Hawks for investigation after two whistle-blowers provided Winde with submissions relating to subsistence,…

PUBLIC Works Minister Patricia De Lille has released 1 144 hectares of land in the Western Cape as part of its human settlements programme. This was revealed during the Minister’s budget vote speech at the National Council of Provinces this week. “Under the human settlements programme, the planned 7 100 hectares planned for release are divided as follows: 1 144 hectares in the Western Cape, 532 hectares in the Eastern Cape, 5 160 hectares in KZN, 0.6 hectares in the Northern Cape, 50 hectares in Limpopo, 21 hectares in Mpumalanga and 258 hectares in the Free State. Cape Town mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis also yesterday announced the City had 6 500 social housing units in the overall pipeline across 50 land parcels citywide. He also approached council for approval for inner…

As Eskom woes continue, now with added sabotage to spice things up, and the revival of SAA still a very dubious deal, let’s not forget the flag debacle. Really? R22 million on a flag? Are there no priorities in government circles? None at all? As I write this, there are more floods in KwaZulu-Natal, more misery, more fuel to the ever-growing flames of discontent. So maybe Shakespeare (Richard III) was right. Have the relief funds for the very recent floods started reaching those in real need, or only into selected ANC “cadres” personal coffers? Who will ever know? And can we trust the ANC to monitor the process? Not a chance. As the now-marginalised (white) middle class we watch, with daily horror, as the ANC continues its blundering and plundering.…

THE hard lockdowns forced many desperate Capetonians out of the places they rented into establishing informal settlements in the hope of a better life. Soon after South Africa went into the lockdown, its impact could be felt by those who for years had been living as backyard dwellers, paying anything between R500 to R1 500 or more in rent. Just months into lockdown, new informal settlements mostly in Khayelitsha and Mfuleni were established overnight, with some named after the terminologies that came with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic such as, Sanitiser, Level 2, Social Distance, Covid-19 and Jerusalema (JR) named after the hit song that kept frontline workers going during the worst times in the fight against the pandemic. You may have seen some of them along…

SIFO – THE COOKING HUSBAND Sinoyolo Sifo Loot.co.za (R230) Penguin SINOYOLO Sifo is a husband who cooks. His goal: to break the gender stereotypes that surround male figures in the kitchen and encourage more men to cook. As he says, the kitchen is no longer the domain of women only, and men need to get more comfortable in the kitchen, so they can share equally in the responsibilities of day-to-day life and its demands. Using what he calls ‘the universal language of food’, Sifo: The Cooking Husband is an invitation to readers – men and women alike – to share in the joy of making memories through food. Inspired by the nostalgia of home and family, this book brings together a selection of almost 70 recipes, each one simple and…

Will the public protector impeachment case be the ANC’s downfall? When the history of ANC misrule in post-apartheid South Africa is written, the impeachment of the public protector will certainly be its Waterloo moment. Daily, there are new revelations about ANC corruption that has direct, damaging consequences in general on the functioning of our state institutions, and in particular on the administration of justice. Sadly, members of the judiciary have been ensnared into collaboration with the supposed New Dawn President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has used state institutions to destroy his political enemies under the pretext of eradicating corruption and restoring public confidence in government institutions. Empirical evidence outlined here shows that members of our judiciary have enabled the capture of state institutions by the Ramaphosa-led faction of the ANC. What…

Ukraine said yesterday that the war in the east of the country had hit its fiercest level yet as it urged Western allies to match words with support against invading Russian forces. Moscow’s troops are pushing into the industrial Donbas region after failing to take the capital Kyiv, closing in on several urban centres including Severodonetsk and Lysychansk. Russian forces also shelled Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, killing four residents, after Moscow’s efforts to capture the north-eastern hub were repelled by heavy battles early in the war. Britain and Germany both said yesterday that Russian President Vladimir Putin must be defeated in the conflict, now in its fourth month, but Kyiv called on the West to supply more heavy weapons for its outgunned forces. “The fighting has reached its maximum intensity,”…

Twitter agreed to pay $150 million (about R2.3 billion) in a settlement related to allegations that the platform gave advertisers some user information that was supposed to be employed to strengthen account security, US authorities said this week. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice accused Twitter of taking phone numbers or email addresses provided to tighten privacy and then letting advertisers use the details to make money. In a five-year period ending in 2019, more than 140 million Twitter users gave phone numbers or email addresses to the San Francisco-based service to help secure accounts with two-factor authentication, regulators said. The security technique involves augmenting passwords with one-time codes sent by text or email messages. Without telling users, Twitter let advertisers use the personal information to…

New York: Israel has told the US it was responsible for the killing of an Iranian Revolutionary Guards colonel last week, The New York Times reported this week. Colonel Sayyad Khodai was shot dead on Sunday by a gunman on the back of a motorcycle as he sat in a car outside his home in Tehran. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has vowed to avenge the killing, and the Revolutionary Guards blamed it on “elements of global arrogance” – a reference to the US and its allies, including Israel. The Times reported a source saying that “Israel has informed American officials that it was behind the killing”. | AFP…

Tehran: The death toll from the collapse of a tower block in southwestern Iran rose to 18, state media reported yesterday, making it the country’s deadliest such disaster in years. A large section of the 10-storey Metropol building that was under construction in the city of Abadan, Khuzestan province, crashed to the ground on Monday, with initially dozens feared trapped. Officials said that 37 people were rescued from the rubble and taken to city hospitals for treatment. The provincial judiciary said at least 10 people were arrested, including the mayor and two former mayors, accused of being “responsible” for the collapse. | AFP…

ONE could argue fairly that 2022 – when looked back upon by future generations – could be the watershed year when South African women’s rugby finally built a strong foundation upon which to erect its legacy. Spear-headed by SA Rugby’s high-performance manager for women, Lynne Cantwell, the women’s game – with director of rugby Rassie Erasmus in the wings – finally seems to have a roadmap, purpose and objective. Yesterday, Cantwell gave an update on where the national teams – the Sevens and the XVs - are currently as they both prepare for showpiece events in the coming months. “Preparations are going really, really well,” said Cantwell. “The XVs go into camp for two Tests for the Africa Cup in June, two against Japan in July and two at home…

CRICKET SA granted 10 ‘high performance’ contracts to players in the women’s pipeline yesterday including to Andrie Steyn, Raisibe Ntozakhe and Nadine de Klerk who were part of the reserve unit at the recent World Cup in New Zealand. A fourth player, Anneke Bosch, who missed out on the tournament because of a broken thumb, was also the recipient of a contract, which forms part of the development pipeline for the national women’s side. Cricket South Africa (CSA) has today announced the players that have been awarded high-performance contracts ahead of the 2022/23 campaign as part of the development pipeline that caters towards the Momentum Proteas. The contracted squad falls under the CSA high-performance structure, with the players closely monitored and going on to represent the SA Emerging side, while…

THE eThekwini Metro municipality has returned a staggering R909 million allocated for infrastructure grants funding to the National Treasury in a period spanning over five years. This was revealed by Co-operative Governance and traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma when she was responding to parliamentary questions from DA MP Dean McPherson related specifically to the municipality. “The total amount of R908.7m was recorded as unspent conditional grants by the National Treasury. This amount has since returned to the National Revenue Fund,” Dlamini Zuma said. “This amount excludes the grants allocated for operational purposes, unconditional grants, indirect grants and the roll-over approved amount of R44.2m,” she said. The minister also revealed that a total of R14.7 billion was transferred to the eThekwini Metro over the last five years. Her replies showed…

A BEAUTIFUL plant species discovered in a conservation area on the Agulhas Plain has been confirmed to be a new fynbos species called Cyrtanthus novus-annus, Latin for Nuwejaars. The pretty pink and white flowered plants have only been found in two locations, both on the Nuwejaars Wetlands Special Management Area (NWSMA) in the Overberg, close to the most southerly tip of Africa. With fewer than 250 plants in total, covering an area of less than 5km², it’s likely that the new Cyrtanthus will be classified as Endangered on the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) Red List once assessed. According to Cyrtanthus expert Dr Dee Snijman, who described the new species” “The species epithet honours the recent restoration of biodiversity in the Nuwejaars Wetlands area.” This conservation area covers 47…

THE Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has found in favour of tuna and swordfish fishery company, Penglides, which had submitted an appeal to the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries regarding a fishing vessel, a day late. The matter was also remitted back to the Western Cape High Court. The issue before the SCA was whether the appeal lodged by Penglides, who had applied for fishing rights for the period 2005 to 2015, that entitled it to catch tuna, challenged the decision of the department, was served a day late, under circumstances where the last day for service was a Saturday and the offices of the department were closed on that day. According to court documents, on or about January 25, 2017, the department decided on the allocation of fishing…

I did not know whether to laugh or cry after reading the article: “Eskom plans to rope in veteran engineers amid skills deficit at utility” in Business Report on May 23. After the election in 1994, the ANC made it very clear that skilled white staff was not needed in the new regime. Such proficient people were either enticed to leave by means of generous packages, or were forced out by having their working lives made difficult. Why the ANC did not retain their services to pass on knowledge to those willing to learn is lamentable. Instead, they resorted to nepotism, cronyism and the employment of so-called cadres to fill the vacated posts, creating, 28 years later, the ruinous results we witness today. Imagine how South Africa would have progressed…

Bitter Orange Tree Jokha Alharthi, translated from Arabic by Marilyn Booth Loot.co.za (R295) Scribner UK IN 2019, Omani author Jokha Alharthi won the International Booker Prize for Celestial Bodies. Her multifaceted generational story, translated from the Arabic by Marilyn Booth, offered English readers a rare look at Omani literature, particularly Omani fiction by a woman. The second of Alharthi’s novels to be translated into English, Bitter Orange Tree, arrives this month. As before, the author continues to demonstrate a deep sympathy for the ways women suffer and survive the vicissitudes of a society that gives them little agency. And fans will recognise Alharthi’s fluid treatment of chronology and setting, once again gorgeously translated by Booth. Alharthi, who earned a PhD at the University of Edinburgh and now teaches in Oman,…

THE FUGITIVES – A Glebelands hitmen crime thriller Nathi Olifant Loot.co.za (R240) Protea Book House WHEN a former assassin, Zikhona, wakes up next to a dead body in an affluent Johannesburg suburb, she knows of only one person who can clean up her mess – Uncle Zenzele. The incident unravels ghosts of the past, forcing the Z Gang to crawl out of their Mozambican hideout. It is not only Zikhona’s situation that is intricate but the gang’s wealth back home is threatened by the torching of their taxis. They are also about to lose their millions through the elaborate laundering syndicate of a murderous underworld mobster while also nursing a terminally ill member. Zenzele resorts to the only thing he knows best – guns, treachery and dark powers – while…

China recently celebrated the 70th anniversary of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade. Addressing this council as well as the Global Trade and Investment Promotion Summit, President Xi Jinping called for fairness and justice for business communities across the globe. The Chinese president insisted on inculcating win-win co-operation and went further to state that the world should “uphold true multilateralism, embrace a global governance vision featuring extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and mobilise resources from across the world, to meet global challenges and advance global development”. Yet, in the face of a global economy recovering from Covid-19, one of these global challenges that hampers global development is international debt. During the height of Covid-19, several multilateral institutions, including the G20, devised mechanisms that would provide…

Witnesses to the Texas school shooting rampage yesterday questioned the late police response to the massacre, as bereaved parents said they pleaded for officers to storm the building and stop the bloodshed, to no avail. As the town of Uvalde mourned 19 children and two teachers killed in America’s latest mass shooting, Jacinto Cazares, whose daughter Jacklyn died in Tuesday’s massacre, said he raced to Robb Elementary School in the small town of Uvalde when he heard about the shooting. “There was at least 40 lawmen armed to the teeth but didn’t do a darn thing (until) it was far too late,” Cazares said, joining other parents saying they urged police to act more forcefully, as the US’s worst school shooting in a decade unfolded. “The situation could’ve been over…

MADRID: A Spanish court has dismissed an appeal from Colombian singer Shakira and ratified a prior decision, which saw “sufficient evidence” for her to stand trial over alleged tax fraud, a court document showed yesterday. Prosecutors claim the singer failed to pay up to ¤14.5 million in tax on income earned between 2012 and 2014. They argue that Shakira, 45, was living in the Spanish northern region of Catalonia during those years, although the Colombian star’s representatives have said she moved to Spain in 2015 and has met all her tax obligations since then. The court still has to formally set a date for the trial. | Reuters…

MADRID: Spanish health authorities reported 25 new cases of monkeypox yesterday, bringing the total tally of infections in one of the main hot spots of the recent outbreak to 84. The Health Ministry, which now considers all non-human-origin pox infections as monkeypox after a positive test – while before only counting those confirmed by sequencing – also said there were 73 suspected cases. Minister of Health Carolina Darias said that Spain would buy monkeypox vaccines as part of the EU joint vaccine purchases and confirmed that the west African strain, which has a fatality rate in about 1% of cases, was the one detected in Spain. | Reuters…

Paris: The former president of the Louvre museum in Paris has been charged with conspiring to hide the origin of Egyptian archaeological treasures which investigators suspect were spirited out of the country during the Arab Spring uprisings in the early 2010s. Jean-Luc Martinez was charged Wednesday after being taken in for questioning along with two French specialists in Egyptian art, who were not charged. The case was opened in July 2018, two years after the Louvre’s branch in Abu Dhabi bought a rare pink granite stele depicting the pharaoh Tutankhamun and four other historic works for €8 million. | AFP…

AMATEUR hunter, Johan Coetzee, has been ordered to pay compensation to professional hunter, Izak Rust, after he shot Rust in the foot which resulted in a below-the-knee amputation. The order was made in the Western Cape High Court this week, years after the incident in July, 2014, when it was a matter of life and death for Rust who had to undergo the amputation after he was shot in the foot with his own hunting rifle. While on a hunting trip with his family at a farm in the Eastern Cape, Rust had rented his Ruger M77 Mk 2 calibre 30-06 Springfield to Coetzee, and had argued that Coetzee – who had never handled a rifle or hunted before – was negligent as he handled the rifle recklessly. “(Coetzee) handled…

ACTIVISTS and advocacy groups had to scrabble for accommodation, warm clothes and food for a number of homeless people this week after law enforcement took their belongings as winter sets in. The City has again been slammed for the alleged abuse of by-laws to harass homeless people after it confiscated tents and belongings of people in the CBD, allegedly without notice. Ndifuna Ukwazi’s Zacharia Mashele said there were three incidents last week where officers fined and confiscated the personal belongings of more than 20 families living on the street. “Concerned residents have also reported law enforcement officers, and in one instance, a private security company, intimidating families. These actions were conducted in terms of the City of Cape Town’s controversial Streets, Public Places and Prevention of Noise Nuisances By-Law, despite…

THE highly contested B97 minibus taxi route between Mbekweni in Paarl and Bellville will remain closed for a further four months as of today. This as no agreement had been reached between conflicting taxi associations, the local Paarl Alliance Taxi Association, which is affiliated to Congress of Democratic Taxi Association (Codeta), and Cape Amalgamated Taxi Association (Cata) Boland who both claim rights to operate on the route. In July 2021, a number of taxi related shootings took place along the affected route with passengers killed and others wounded. According to Mobility MEC Daylin Mitchell, representatives of the taxi industry and the authorities did not reach an agreement on May 23 in order to reopen the route before Thursday the expiring date. He said: “Tensions between the conflicting taxi associations in…

YOUR May 24 edition, “African Day an opportune occasion for us to take stock”, refers: Professor Ursula van Beek makes an interesting argument and does seem to have faith that there is “under current of oneness as a nation”. Unfortunately, if it is business as usual and the voting public return the ANC to power in 2024, this positivity will quickly vanish into thin air. We’ve had 28 years of destruction. It would be madness to believe that after 28 years of theft and incompetence, there’s going to be a change of heart in the ANC. Hopefully, South Africans will be able to turn the tables and give a clear message that it can’t be business as usual and we need completely new leadership in our country.…

NICOLE – The true story of a Great White Shark’s journey into history Richard Peirce Loot.co.za (R128) Struik SHARKS are among the most persecuted animals on Earth. Nicole’s blockbuster story lifts the lid on the shocking details of the trade in shark fins, and raises awareness of the plight of sharks in the 21st century. In November 2003 a female great white shark was tagged near Dyer Island off South Africa. Her tag popped up in February 2004, just south of Western Australia. The shark, later to be named Nicole (after shark enthusiast Nicole Kidman), had swum an epic 11 000km. Scientists were even more surprised when she was identified back in South Africa in August 2004 – she had covered 22 000km in less than nine months, using pinpoint…

THE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR Tony Parsons Loot.co.za (R229) Century LANA and Roman Wade have fled the city for a little corner of paradise, exchanging their flat with its unhappy memories for a small honey-coloured house among the rolling green hills of Oxfordshire. Their new home, set in a residential Close known as The Gardens, is their dream and their new neighbours are charming. So why is Lana feeling so uneasy? Lana and Roman may seem like an attractive, popular couple. But they are also a couple with a secret; a secret buried in the life they have left behind, a secret they have shared with no one. But their new neighbours – these charming, affluent men and women in The Gardens – have secrets of their own. Terrible secrets; unimaginable…

Eleven newborn babies died in a hospital fire blamed on an electrical short circuit in the western Senegalese city of Tivaouane, authorities said yesterday. Diali Kaba’s mother woke her up yesterday morning with terrifying news: there had been a fire at the hospital in their town in Senegal where Kaba’s 2-week-old daughter was being cared for, and 11 babies were dead. The two women rushed to the Mame Abdou Aziz Sy Dabakh hospital together and Kaba was allowed in to find out if her child was among the victims, while her mother, Ndeye Absa Gueye, waited anxiously outside. “I have my grand-daughter here, she has been here for two weeks. I have come to see if she is one of them,” she said. A few minutes later, Kaba emerged in…

The death toll from four bombs that ripped through minibuses and a mosque in Afghanistan has risen to at least 16, officials said yesterday, with some of the attacks claimed by the Islamic State group. A UN expert called on Taliban authorities to probe Wednesday’s attacks and a series of previous deadly blasts that targeted members of the minority Shia and Sufi communities. At least 10 people were killed when three bombs placed on separate minibuses exploded in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, a health official and police said. The Balkh health department said three women were among the 10 killed in the blasts. Hours after the explosions the Islamic State group (IS) said on Telegram that its “soldiers” were responsible. Later, one other bomb exploded inside a mosque in…

London: Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey, 62, is facing sexual assault charges in the UK, police and prosecutors said yesterday, after a review of allegations against him. The two-time Oscar winner was artistic director of The Old Vic theatre in London between 2004 and 2015. Allegations against him first emerged in the wake of the #MeToo movement. That prompted a probe by London’s Metropolitan Police, and a review by The Old Vic of Spacey’s time there. The Crown Prosecution Service said it had “authorised criminal charges” against the actor “for four counts of sexual assault against three men”. The Met said that the first two counts date from 2005 in London, and concern the same man, who is now in his 40s. The third is alleged to have happened in London…

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Imran Khan disbanded a protest march by supporters yesterday after clashes with police outside parliament, but threatened that they would return unless an election was called within six days. Khan had rallied thousands of supporters to Islamabad, with plans to occupy sensitive parts of the capital until Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif gave in to his demand for new polls, but Khan told his followers yesterday morning to step back, while delivering a fresh ultimatum. “I’m giving you six days. You announce elections in six days,” Khan said from atop a truck after he and thousands of his supporters reached the city. | Reuters…