Indice dei contenuti per 2022-12-20 in Cape Times

from page 1 Hope the Future founder, Vanessa Nelson said: “I found in the work that I do that girls gravitate towards men through them having absent fathers – because mom is playing the role of both mother and father, and as a mother you are not always able to step into the role completely as a father. “The girl has a void; they fall into a trap with a guy. Because they have absent fathers, they are vulnerable.” She added that many teenage pregnancies were as a result of statutory rape but not enough was being done to address the issue. The Growing Up Without A Father South African Foundation’s (GWFSAF) Dr Charley Pietersen said the problem of absent fathers was a global pandemic. “I believe the education system…

SMALL Business Development Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams yesterday outlined some government interventions aimed at improving conditions for small medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs). Speaking at the networking business breakfast of the ANC Progressive Business Forum, Ndabeni-Abrahams said policy decisions on small business development would stay the same regardless of who was elected at the ANC national conference. She, however, said they needed to make sure that they improved the regulatory environment for SMMEs and cut the red tape. “Most of our informal traders are complaining that municipalities charge them ridiculous amounts, as a result, they are not able to trade legally and therefore miss out on certain opportunities that they can enjoy and also exclude some of the people that want to get into that space. We believe there is a…

EASTERN Cape Health MEC Nomakhosazana Meth has lost her court bid to appeal a mother’s plans to sue over her child who has cerebral palsy and for her own emotional shock, five years after the birth at an Eastern Cape hospital. This after Supreme Court of Appeal Acting Judge Mahendra Chetty ruled that the Bisho High Court correctly concluded that the mother’s personal claim for damages had not prescribed at the time when the summons was served. “The appeal is dismissed,” Judge Chetty said. The mother of the child born at the St Barnabas Hospital in Libode, Eastern Cape in May 2012 had instituted a claim for damages on behalf of her child for an amount of R29 106 761. The claim was for damages – allegedly as a result…

As four suspects linked to Golden Arrow Bus Services (GABS) robberies are due to spend the festive season behind bars, the company has hailed the recent conviction of three people involved in crimes also associated with bus attacks. Police made a breakthrough on December 5 when they tracked down suspects aged between 31 and 42 believed to have been the masterminds behind a string of robberies on GABS vehicles around Khayelitsha. Their alleged modus operandi was boarding the bus under the pretence of being passengers and then proceeding to rob the bus driver and passengers at gunpoint. They appeared again in the Khayelitsha Magistrate’s Court on December 14. GABS general manager Derick Meyer said a collaboration including the police and the City resulted in the arrests. “The successes have been…

WHO IS Helen Joseph? As part and parcel of answering that question Peter Joyce (1999:126) says: “Anti-apartheid campaigner. A graduate of London University, Joseph taught in India before coming to South Africa.” Where did it all begin? Was it a coincidence? It began with her service as an information and welfare officer in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force during World War II. That was followed by her interest in being a social worker, which exposed her to some realities of South African life. She was involved in a trade union and ended up being under the influence of Solly Sachs, Johanna Cornelius and Anna Scheepers - all steps in the development of her political activism. She was neither a spectator, a cheerleader nor a backbencher, but in the forefront…

A UN summit yesterday approved a landmark global deal to protect nature and direct billions of dollars toward conservation but objections from key African nations, home to large tracts of tropical rainforest, held up its final passage. The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, reflecting the joint leadership of China and Canada, is the culmination of four years of work toward creating an agreement to guide global conservation efforts through 2030. Delegates were able to build consensus around the deal’s most ambitious target of protecting 30% of the world’s land and seas by the decade’s end, a goal known as 30-by-30. However, division over how to fund conservation efforts in developing countries led to intense negotiations to the end. With China holding the COP15 presidency, Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu…

Seoul: North Korea has conducted an “important final-stage” test at its rocket launching facility on putting a military reconnaissance satellite into orbit, with a plan to complete preparations for the project by April next year, it was reported yesterday. The test was conducted at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground to “evaluate the capabilities of satellite photography and data transmission system and ground control system”, North’s official Korean Central News Agency said. The country fired a vehicle carrying a “test-piece satellite” at a lofted angle to an altitude of 500km, it said. The Sohae rocket launching facility is in Tongchang-ri, not far from the border with China. | IANS…

Washington: At least 36 people were injured, 11 seriously, when severe turbulence hit a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Phoenix to Honolulu on Sunday, officials said. Flight HA35 “encountered severe turbulence” shortly before landing in Honolulu, the airline said. The Airbus A330-200 was carrying 278 passengers and 10 crew members. A total of 36 people, including three crew members, were treated in hospital for nausea and minor injuries, said Jim Ireland, director of Honolulu Emergency Medical Services. Hawaiian Airlines said there had been unstable weather conditions in Hawaii recently but severe turbulence was “relatively uncommon”. | AFP…

THE Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) has only been able to recover R12 090 to date after about R6.4 million of Community Works Programme (CWP) stipends were irregularly paid to non-qualifying government employees. According to Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, this involved about 534 government employees in 62 national and provincial departments. “The total unconfirmed maximum amount of Community Works Programme stipends paid to possible non-qualifying government employees for the period April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2020 was R6 300 997,” said Dlamini Zuma. She said Cogta’s director-general Avril Williamson wrote to the directors-general and heads of department of all 62 departments in January to investigate the matter. Dlamini Zuma said to date 25 departments had responded to all findings and 37…

OF the more than one million births recorded for 2021, over 60% were registered without the details of fathers. This is according to the Recorded Live Births 2021 report released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) yesterday. A total of 1 087 526 births were registered in South Africa in 2021. Of these, 949 757 (87,3%) were births that occurred and were registered in 2021 (current birth registrations), while 137 769 (12,7%) were births that occurred in the previous years but were registered in 2021. Of the total of 949 757 children born in 2021, there were 498 573 boys and 491 056 girls. Teenage pregnancy also remained an ongoing concern, with a total of 45 257 births by mothers aged 17 years and young. Of these, 42 were births…

THE independent panel constituted to probe governance issues at UCT is set to start its work no later than January 23 next year. The panel led by the retired president of the Supreme Court of Appeal, Justice Lex Mpati, is tasked to investigate an alleged breach of governance by vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng and council chairperson Babalwa Ngonyama. This is after the departure of deputy vice-chancellor of learning and teaching, Associate Professor Lis Lange, who claimed in a letter to the Senate that she was forced out. The university has seen instability, claims of cabals, race, abuse of power, meetings collapsing and most recently, reports of a new complaint sent to council against Phakeng from a suspended executive director. In another dramatic turn of events Pheladi Gwangwa was removed as…

SIYABONGA Makhonkxa was 17 years old when he was raped by unknown men on his way home from a party in the Eastern Cape. Makhonkxa, who recently marked his 18th year living with HIV told the Cape Times he had been sharing his story in the hope of inspiring others to believe that there is life after contracting the virus. A night of fun turned tragic after he was offered a lift while walking home from a party. “I attended a student event at a university in the Eastern Cape with my friends. Unfortunately I lost my friends at the party and could not find them. “After long hours of waiting I made a decision to walk home, thinking I would catch a taxi along the way. “But I couldn’t…

TWO BETTING companies have been partially successful in getting an interdict against a self-confessed gambling addict who alleges that they cause youth and other people to become compulsive gamblers and addicts. Raging River Trading, which trades as Betway South Africa (Betway) and offers online betting and gambling products, and Osiris, which provides ancillary services to Betway, took Claudius Gouws to the Western Cape High Court to prevent him from publishing any defamatory allegations against them. Self-confessed betting addict Gouws had been a Betway client since July 2019 and wanted to have his account closed after the platform rejected his cash-back, or rebate, request. An adjusted offer was made to Gouws, according to the applicants, with the aim of improving his betting experience, which Gouws accepted and his account was reopened.…

But will he act decisively, and how much damage will his detractors do? TURN on the radio or scroll down your phone, and the big headlines belong to the ANC’s 55th elective conference and the leadership contest that has returned the Cyril Ramaphosa slate to power. But when this latest version of the political circus drops off the front pages, another story is set to take its place. This one will hang around for most of the period leading to the 2024 national and provincial elections, specifying the terms of public office horse trading from the top in the Union Buildings down to the bottom at the municipal level, and possibly once more deciding Ramaphosa’s future as the country’s president. Under South Africa’s political system, Ramaphosa will lead the ANC…

China yesterday reported its first Covid-19 deaths since loosening its hardline containment policy, as hospitals and crematoriums struggle with an outbreak authorities say is impossible to track. The country is pressing ahead with unwinding its zero-Covid policy, with people in one megacity now told they can go to work if they are visibly ill. Official case numbers are widely considered unreliable following the end of mandatory mass testing. Fears are mounting of a wave of infections in poor rural areas during the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays. Authorities reported two virus deaths in the capital Beijing, where fear of Covid has emptied streets and stripped pharmacies of medications. Millions of unvaccinated elderly Chinese remain vulnerable to the disease. Accounts from strained hospitals and crematoriums suggest the true toll of the…

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s navy has rescued 104 Rohingya adrift off the Indian Ocean island’s northern coast, an official said yesterday, as members of the Muslim minority continue to escape violence in Myanmar and hardship in Bangladesh refugee camps in the wake of last year’s military coup in Myanmar. The boat was first detected by the Sri Lanka Navy when it was 3.5 nautical miles from shore. A search and rescue operation was launched to tow the vessel to a harbour on Sunday night. It had 104 Myanmar nationals aboard a small trawler suspected to have originated from Myanmar and was heading to Indonesia when it ran into engine trouble in rough seas. | Reuters…

SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter users voted in a poll for Elon Musk to step down as chief executive of the social media platform, in a backlash against the billionaire less than two months after he took over. About 57.5% votes were for “Yes”, while 42.5% were against the idea of Musk stepping down as the head of Twitter, according to the poll the billionaire launched. More than 17.5 million people voted. Musk said he would abide by the results of the poll, but did not give details on when he would step down if results said he should. | Reuters…

KwaZulu-Natal has once again returned empty-handed from the ANC’s 55th national elective conference. This is after the province failed to rally enough numbers to upstage Cyril Ramaphosa as president, and put Dr Zweli Mkhize in his place. KZN also could not find an amicable solution that would have ensured that Mdumiseni Ntuli emerged as secretary-general. A number of observers have said this might be tribalist, as Zulu-people did not make it to the party’s Top 7. This is a repeat of 2017’s 54th conference, where no Zulu member was elected to top positions. Some KZN delegates said they had no hard feelings about being omitted, but Bheki Mtolo, ANC provincial secretary for KZN, dismissed this. “We have always answered comprehensively and correctly that there is no law that says KZN…

LAST-MINUTE horse trading during the ANC elective conference, which ends today, saw Gauteng and Limpopo change their plans, which apparently sent presidential hopeful Zweli Mkhize’s campaign up in smoke, paving the way for the re-election of Cyril Ramaphosa as ANC president. “GP and Limpopo pulled a DD on us,” said a source, alluding to how outgoing deputy president David Mabuza had ditched Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, ensuring that Ramaphosa was victorious at the 2017 conference by swinging the Mpumalanga vote at the last minute. Despite going into the conference with the Phala Phala scandal hanging over him, Ramaphosa secured 2 476 votes compared to Mkhize’s 1 897. “It looked very good on Saturday night before voting, and then Ramaphosa’s campaign people started to panic. The president called (Ronald) Lamola and…

In what could be a taxi industry-related murder, three men were killed in a hail of bullets at the weekend in Khayelitsha. The Site C community, which has seen a lot of violent crime, including mass shootings, was on Saturday night rocked by the killing of three men that also left a bystander wounded. Detectives assigned to the provincial Taxi Task Team are now investigating the circumstances that led to the incident. According to provincial police spokesperson Andrè Traut, local police officers were alerted to the shooting on the corners of Idada and Nyebelele streets at about 8.15pm. He said upon their arrival at the scene, the bodies of two men were discovered with gunshot wounds next to a Toyota Quantum taxi, while the third body was found inside the…

MOTORISTS who find themselves on the roads this festive season should drive with extreme caution and observe the rules of the road so that the number of fatal crashes is drastically reduced. KwaZulu-Natal always records the highest number of road deaths in South Africa, and this statistic should be reversed. Law enforcement authorities, traffic officials, taxi and truck operators should work extra hard to stop the unnecessary carnage on our highways. It is very concerning that seven people were killed in a collision between a minibus taxi and truck near the Bergville Interchange on the N3 in the direction of Durban on Sunday. The crash happened between the Bergville Interchange and Tugela Toll Plaza. While the police are investigating the cause of the crash, it is understood the minibus overturned.…

Judges in London yesterday ruled that the UK government’s controversial plan to deport failed asylum seekers to Rwanda was lawful, after a legal challenge by migrants and campaigners. Former prime minister Boris Johnson brought in the proposal to try to tackle record numbers of migrants crossing the Channel from northern France by small boats. But it triggered a wave of protests from rights groups and charities, and last-gasp legal challenges successfully blocked the first deportation flights in June. Several individuals who arrived in small boats and organisations supporting migrants brought a case at the High Court in London for a judicial review of the policy, claiming it is unlawful. The judges acknowledged that the issue had stirred public debate but said its only remit was “to ensure that the law…

RIGA: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy yesterday asked Western leaders meeting in Latvia, including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, to supply a wide range of weapons systems. Zelenskiy spoke on a video link, addressing a meeting in Riga of leaders of countries in the Joint Expeditionary Force. The British-led grouping is made up of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. While Western allies, led by the US have been supporting Ukraine with funding, military training and deliveries of air defence systems and other weaponry, Kyiv has said still more was needed. | Reuters…

Canberra: More than 200 people have fallen ill with many hospitalised in a widespread food safety incident across multiple Australian states. The people are believed to have suffered symptoms after eating baby spinach, and four major supermarket chains in Australia have taken down the contaminated products from the shelves, reports said yesterday. The Food Standards Australia New Zealand has made a national recall of the contaminated baby spinach products. The initial possible symptoms include delirium or confusion, hallucinations, dilated pupils, rapid heartbeat, flushed face, blurred vision, and dry mouth and skin. | IANS…

The Bulls have made no bones about it: They will field their strongest possible team against the Stormers later this week - if Jake White is to be believed - and the Cape-based side will have to consider their options quite carefully when they pick their matchday 23 for the encounter. It’s not like White has been entirely transparent in recent weeks regarding his team selection. Before their narrow victory over Lyon in the Champions Cup, the Bulls coach floused – deceived if you will – all and sundry when he spoke convincingly about fielding his best team for the tournament, only to select fringe players for that match and then also the subsequent defeat away to Exeter Chiefs this past weekend. He could be playing similar mind games this…

Forty-eight teams, three host countries, and potentially more than 100 games. After successfully staging the most compact World Cup in history, Fifa is now preparing to organise the biggest. The dust had barely settled on Sunday's World Cup final before attention turned to the gargantuan figure of 2026 looming on the horizon. For the first time, football's greatest tournament will be held across three host nations - the US, Canada and Mexico. The tournament will notably see an expansion to 48 teams, up from the current 32-team format that has been in place since 1998, and double the number of teams that took part in the last World Cup held on US or Mexican soil. The enlarged competition represents a triumph for Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who made expanding the…