Indice dei contenuti per 2023-02-23 in Cape Times

Budget provides for a R254 billion debt relief intervention in a bid to turn the tide on the utility’s financial position ESKOM will not be spending capital on any greenfield projects for the next three years as part of the conditions attached to the R254 billion debt relief intervention provided by the government in a bid to turn the tide on the utility’s financial position. Instead, the struggling power utility will focus on maintenance of the existing generation fleet to improve the availability of electricity, while additional new generation capacity will be derived from independent power producers and the southern African power pool. These are some of the conditions attached to the large-scale debt relief arrangement announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana yesterday during his Budget Speech in Cape…

FORMER Mayco member for water and sanitation Zahid Badroodien, who has expressed his eagerness to return to the position, anxiously awaits the outcome of a disciplinary process over an electricity meter that had been tampered with at a house belonging to him. The disciplinary hearing, which officially started in November 2022, was closed to the public and concluded on February 8 during which both the City and Badroodien’s lawyers made their closing statements. Badroodien faced three charges: breach of Cape Town electricity supply by law; breach of code of conduct for councillors; and gross misconduct of the breach of code of conduct for councillors. According to reports, an investigation conducted by a law firm on behalf of the City found that while there was “no evidence to suggest that either…

State to absorb R254bn of more than R400bn debt ESKOM’S debt relief, a diesel levy refund for food manufacturers, and solar panel tax incentives were the major announcements made by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana as part of the government's efforts to deal with the country’s energy crisis. Delivering his Budget Speech yesterday at the joint sitting of Parliament, Godongwana announced that the government was absorbing R254 billion of the more than R400bn debts of Eskom over the next three years. He said the debt relief would ease the pressure on the entity’s balance sheet and enable it to invest in transmission and distribution infrastructure. “It will also allow Eskom to conduct the maintenance required to improve the availability of electricity,” the minister said. Godongwana said the debt relief measure would…

WIDE smiles and a palpable excitement filled the children’s ward at Victoria Hospital yesterday when the DHL Stormers dropped by for a visit. The paediatric ward came to life as the players interacted with patients. The visit, done with an aim to lift the spirits of patients and staff, was warmly welcomed by Tamzin Plaatjies, a mother of twins, from Parkwood in Grassy Park. “I haven’t been here long, but this was really a welcome visit by the players who took time out to come spend time with us. “It is already challenging being admitted to hospital with both my infant babies and this was a nice way of bringing smiles to our faces and taking our minds off the worry that we already experience,” said Plaatjies. Joyce Thomas, from…

More space is needed for people at a cost of nature and their activities lead to pollution By the end of May 2023, following February’s elections, Nigeria will have a new president. Among the many duties of the person who takes over is an appraisal of the nation’s performance and its commitment to protecting the environment. Nigeria is a signatory to many international conventions on environment-related treaties. Nigeria’s biological and physical environments – in particular, its forests, inland waters and coastal waters – have been affected by its population growth. This rise in population has led to growing socio-economic needs. These include residential buildings and more physical infrastructure, such as roads, hospitals and schools. More space is needed for people, at the cost of natural environments; and people’s activities have…

I AM fully aware that many of us taxpayers in this country can only view from the sidelines the realities of the ANC government’s array of failures resulting from the incompetence of those deployed to run many of our land’s municipalities and to the ineffectiveness of many of its appointed representatives to sit on the well-paid seats of Parliament. And as such, from the sidelines, the state president’s tardiness in reshuffling his Cabinet seems to be nothing more than an admission that he has nothing better to choose from in his stodgy lifeless ANC. Harry Wiggett | Fish Hoek…

A woman stripped of her British citizenship after travelling to Syria as a teenager to marry an Islamic State group fighter yesterday lost her legal battle to reverse the decision. The ruling from Judge Robert Jay means that Shamima Begum, 23, cannot return to the UK from her current home in a refugee camp in northern Syria. While the court determined that it was for the minister to make the decision, it also said that some of Begum’s arguments had merit. Begum was 15 when she left her east London home for Syria with two school friends in 2015. While there, she married an IS fighter and had three children, none of whom survived. In February 2019, she said she was left stateless when Britain’s then interior minister Sajid Javid…

The death toll from heavy rains that devastated coastal areas of Brazil’s south-eastern Sao Paulo state reached 48 people, official figures showed yesterday, but dozens were still missing as search and rescue efforts continued. “We are working with a tally of at least 38 missing people,” Sao Paulo Governor Tarcisio de Freitas said as weather forecasters cautioned more rain was expected later in the day. Massive downpours have caused landslides and flooding since last weekend in coastal towns of Brazil’s richest state, so far hit by more than 600mm of rain, the highest cumulative figure ever in the country. The number of casualties rose from 46 reported a day earlier, the Sao Paulo state government said. The city of Sao Sebastiao, some 200km from Sao Paulo, bore the brunt of…

LONDON: The Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney have joined forces to record a song together for the rock band’s upcoming new album, a spokesperson for the Stones said yesterday. Hollywood industry publication Variety said the former Beatle had recorded bass parts “for a forthcoming Rolling Stones project being helmed by 2021 Grammy producer of the year Andrew Watt”. It said the recording sessions were done in Los Angeles recently and that McCartney’s ex-bandmate, Ringo Starr, was “also slated to play on the yet-to-be-announced album”. A spokesperson for the Stones confirmed McCartney “guests on bass on one song” for the album, which will be released later this year. He said Starr had not been involved. Last month, Stones guitarist Keith Richards told fans “there’s some new music on its way”. The…

PARIS: A teacher was stabbed to death by a 16-year-old pupil yesterday at a Roman Catholic high school in the town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz in south-western France, officials said. The Spanish-language teacher, a woman, was 50, local newspaper Sud Ouest said. Police arrested the pupil, who told another teacher he was possessed and had heard voices that instructed him to attack the teacher, according to local media. Pupils fled after the stabbing, the paper said, citing two pupils who were in the classroom and witnessed the attack. The attacker stood up during a lesson and walked to the door, before turning around and stabbing the teacher, they said. | Reuters…

THE RAND strengthened slightly toward R18.14 against the dollar yesterday, after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana delivered a market-friendly Budget on the back of deteriorating economic outlook. Godongwana’s Budget Speech reiterated the government’s commitment to debt stabilisation, and a primary surplus. He beat down on a well-trodden path of fiscal consolidation, forecast lower budget deficits in the medium term, despite the debt stabilising at higher levels and economic growth weakening amid the ongoing Eskom power crisis. In this regard, he said the government planned to take on more than half of Eskom’s debt over the next three years to help strengthen the power utility’s balance sheet and operations, and enable it to restructure. Eskom welcomed the financial relief afforded by the government but indicated that it would study the details of…

FINANCE Minister Enoch Godo- ngwana has slashed South Africa’s economic growth forecast for 2023, citing the impact of the intense electricity supply shortages as the single biggest risk factor. Although South Africa’s economy is estimated to grow by 2.5% in 2022 from a previously forecast 1.9% on the back of the stronger-than-expected rebound in the third quarter, persistent power cuts have dimmed the outlook in the medium term. Eskom’s deteriorating electricity generation capacity is expected to worsen further this year after the power utility implemented record levels of load shedding in 2022, with 207 days of rotational power cuts compared with 75 days the year before. Delivering his 2023 Budget Speech inCape Town’s City Hall, Godo- ngwana said the lack of reliable electricity supply was the biggest economic constraint. Godongwana…

THREE more state-owned entities – SAA, the Land Bank and South African Post Office (Sapo) – have received bailouts totalling about R8.5 billion in the 2023 Budget. Yesterday, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana allocated R1bn to SAA to assist the carrier with the business rescue process. Godongwana also allocated R2.4bn to Sapo. “Allocation of R1 billion to SAA will assist the business rescue process and the R2.4 billion to the Sapo to implement its turnaround plan will reduce contingent liabilities,” Godongwana said. “The allocations for these state-owned companies will be accompanied by strict conditions to ensure sustainability, accountability and transparency. “If the conditions are not met, the money will not flow,” he said when tabling his Budget. Godongwana also said the Land Bank remained in financial distress and the process to…

I HAVE had an interest in the census of our country from childhood, maybe influenced by the biblical stories and my need for a sense of inclusion. Last year, homelessness excluded me from this euphoria. According to Statistics South Africa’s #getcounted campaign, the homeless were to have been included in the census, yet I was not. My journey of homelessness ended when I moved into my own apartment in March 2022. I tried to use the online census form, which was not user-friendly. My newly built complex was not on the map, but ironically, the nearby cemetery was. I then discovered that I had to add the address where I spent a specific night in February 2022. At that time, I was still living in a second-phase shelter with 40…

While the City’s mayoral committee (Mayco) decision to give the green light to the proposed exemption of properties under R5 million from paying rates on the first R450 000 of the property value has been welcomed, the move has also been criticised as coming years too late. The Mayco further passed a proposal for pensioners and social grant recipients to benefit from rates rebates, by raising the upper qualifying limit from R17 500 total monthly household income to R22 000, with effect from July 1. Final proposals would be reflected in the City’s 2023/24 budget that will be tabled to council next month for public participation. “We are increasing the rates exemption for all properties under R5 million. The first R450 000 of the property value will now be rates-free,…

In the week that our country celebrated Armed Forces Day, it was maybe appropriate that two of our BRICS allies, Russia and China, engaged in joint navy drills with us off the east coast of South Africa. Armed Forces Day is held annually on February 21, the tragic day when the SS Mendi steamship sank on its way to France during World War I in 1917. This year, the day was commemorated in Richards Bay, on the east coast of South Africa. One is not sure if it was by design or coincidence, but the day before Armed Forces Day, the 42nd Chinese naval escort fleet, consisting of the guided missile destroyer Huainan, the missile frigate Rizhao and a supply vessel, also arrived in Richards Bay. The drill, code-named Mosi-2,…

THE Department of Tourism was prepared to spend R1 billion trying to promote tourism, but with Formula E Grand Prix taking place in Cape Town this week, it is a wonderful opportunity to display the wonders of Cape Town to many million viewers around the world, who will be watching the race on TV. However, the squatters still occupy the area outside the tennis courts in Sea Point, which will certainly be in focus during the race, and will surely detract visitors from deciding to visit Cape Town. It is obvious, more could have been done to place these homeless people in an area that is not constantly being shown on TV. However, it does appear that some action has been taken to limit the amount of what can only…

China pledged to deepen co-operation with Russia yesterday while US President Joe Biden discussed security with leaders of Nato’s eastern flank, highlighting geopolitical tensions as the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine approaches. In Ukraine, schools took their classes online for the rest of the week for fear of an upsurge in Russian missile attacks a year on from Moscow’s February 24 all-out assault, which failed to topple the government. Making the highest level visit to Russia by a Chinese official since the countries signed a “no limits” partnership weeks before the invasion, China’s top diplomat, Wang Li, told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Beijing was ready to strengthen ties. A time of crisis required Russia and China “to continuously deepen our comprehensive strategic partnership”, Wang said. Putin said he…

The death toll in Madagascar from tropical cyclone Freddy has risen to four, the government said yesterday, as the storm moved west across the island nation toward mainland Africa. Freddy made landfall in southeastern Madagascar late on Tuesday with gusts of wind of up to 180km/h flooding the area and ripping roofs off houses. Its arrival came nearly a month after storm Cheneso killed 33 people and forced thousands from their homes in Madagascar. The government’s National Office of Risks and Disasters revised the death toll up to four from one earlier. The storm has displaced 11 047 people, flooded 2 276 houses and destroyed another 2 267, it said. After traversing Madagascar, Freddy could reappear in the Mozambique Channel, strengthening before making landfall in Mozambique and then potentially moving…

NABLUS: Israeli troops killed at least 10 Palestinians, including at least three gunmen and three civilians, and wounded over 90 others during a raid on a flashpoint city in the occupied West Bank yesterday, witnesses said. The Islamic Jihad militant faction said two of its Nablus commanders had been encircled by Israeli troops, triggering a clash. Explosions sounded and youths pelted armoured troop transports with rocks. Palestinian sources said the two Islamic Jihad commanders were killed along with another gunman. The fatalities also included at least three civilians. Ninety-seven Palestinians were injured, six of them critically, local medics said. | Reuters…

Paris: Participants at a global conference yesterday urged the international community to find better safeguards against online disinformation and hate speech. The two-day meeting was hosted by the UN’s cultural fund to brainstorm how to best vet content while upholding human rights. Unesco warned that despite its benefits in communication, social media platforms relied on algorithms that “often prioritise engagement over safety and human rights”. Filipina journalist Maria Ressa said social media had allowed lies to flourish. She said that, at the height of online campaigns against her for her work, she had received up to 98 hate messages an hour. | AFP…

IN NOVEMBER 2021 the new Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said he was “the new sheriff in town, and he would tackle the outlaws”. In February 2022, he proclaimed that the time had come to round up the posse to take down South Africa’s criminals. In February 2023 he reported slow but steady progress in rounding up the criminals, which is why since taking the helm of South Africa’s public finances he has empowered law enforcement by increasing their budget allocations. Riding at his side to combat the wild west of South Africa’s dodgy dealings, came his posse: Team Treasury, the South African Revenue Service (Sars), the National Prosecuting Authority, and also the big guns – the extended help from international agencies such as Interpol and tax authorities from around the…

SOUTH Africa’s debt burden will cross the R5 trillion mark for the first time in history over the next three years, mainly due to the R254 billion partial take-over of Eskom debt, which will reflect on the national balance sheet henceforth. This was revealed by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana as he warned of the risks to the fiscal outlook when he tabled his 2023 Budget Speech. These risks include a worsening of the economic outlook, a further weakening of the finances of State-owned companies, and an unaffordable public-service wage agreement. Godongwana said if these risks were to materialise, they would require the government to make difficult budgeting trade-offs. “For these reasons, we must continue exercising fiscal restraint,” he said. “Accordingly, government non-interest spending will be kept below the…

The 2023 Budget presented by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in Parliament yesterday has made no provision for public service wage increases as wage negotiations had only started this month. Instead, Godongwana said the wage negotiations have just begun and his Budget did not want to pre-empt the outcome of the talks with the labour unions. “Nevertheless, this and future wage negotiations must strike a balance between fair pay, fiscal sustainability, and the need for additional staff in front-line services,” he said. Godongwana told the media at a briefing earlier that labour unions had at their summit last indicated against him putting a figure in the Budget before negotiations took place. “We agreed to start early, but for a number of reasons we could not,” he said. The minister said cashback…

There would be no pressure to increase taxes to raise funds to accommodate the R350 grant in the Budget ahead of the 2024 general elections. This was the view of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana yesterday in reply to media questions at a briefing prior to his delivery of the 2023 Budget. The Budget he tabled extended the R350 grant until March 2024. “The Budget for an election is this one, 2024 is too late to deal with elections. “Now, if you are saying we will have pressure to raise taxes next year for this election, I don’t think so,” he said. Delivering his Budget, Godongwana said R66 billion was allocated to social development over the medium term with R36 billion to fund the extension of the Covid-19 Social Relief of…

The SA Weather Service (Saws) has warned that tropical cyclone Freddy is expected to re-intensify after making landfall in Madagascar on Tuesday. This came as the storm was on course for southern Mozambique, and then north-eastern South Africa, including the lowveld and escarpment areas of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. Madagascar’s government suspended schooling and transport in the path of Freddy, which caused a storm surge, ripping roofs off houses and killing at least one person. Freddy made landfall along the eastern coastline of Madagascar, just north of Mananjary, at around 7.30pm on Tuesday evening. The relatively compact storm was a low-end category 2 tropical cyclone, Saws said, just before making landfall, with winds of 150km/h and gusts of up to 180km/h. “Freddy weakened significantly due to the rugged terrain it encountered,…

Two self-confessed drug pedlars will face fresh prison sentences after the Western Cape High Court found they were sentenced incorrectly in a lower court and that the fines they paid were “not in accordance with justice”. The high court took the two separate matters of the foreign national men on special review from the Laingsburg Magistrate’s Court. According to the judgment, the senior magistrate found that the trial magistrate committed an error during the sentencing proceedings of both accused, found guilty and in contravention of the Drug Trafficking Act. Lesotho national Trymore Muridzo was arrested on September 14, 2020, on the N1 near Laingsburg after he was stopped by the police, who searched the truck and found 14.2kg of cannabis valued at R28 400 that he was transporting. Muridzo…

The IFP would like to remind President Ramaphosa of one of the many promises made during his recent SONA. He explained: “The state of disaster will enable us to provide practical measures that we need to take … Where technically possible, it will enable us to exempt critical infrastructure such as hospitals and water treatment plants from load shedding.” Mr President, that was 13 days ago, and it seems nothing has changed for the better. We urge you to call on Eskom to urgently liaise with water authorities across KZN and to prioritise these promised exemptions. Narend Singh | IFP MP…

NO CARING government can take pride in the fact that thousands of graduates are settling for social grants due to a lack of job opportunities. That can be best described as a disaster waiting to happen, just as we saw during the July 2021 KZN and Gauteng unrest, which claimed the lives of more than 300 people. Any nation’s hopes and aspirations are largely carried by its youth. Ours is becoming hopeless. That is why it makes for alarming reading that more than 700 000 graduates have applied for the R350 social relief of distress (SRD) grant since the start of the year. Of the more than 13.5 million applications the SA Social Security Agency had received for the SRD grant as of the end of January, about 716 000…

At least two people were killed and more than 50 are missing, Chinese state media reported, after an apparent collapse at a coal mine in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region yesterday. State broadcaster CCTV said a collapse occurred at a mine in the western part of the Alxa League region. Other outlets and government agencies described it as a “landslide”. “Currently, the incident has caused the deaths of two people and injured six, with 53 missing,” CCTV reported. A social media video, purportedly posted by a coal truck driver, appeared to show loose rocks cascading down a slope, kicking up clouds of brown dust that engulfed several vehicles. “The whole slope has collapsed ... How many people must be dead from that?” a male voice can be heard saying in…

WINDHOEK: US first lady Jill Biden arrived in Namibia yesterday on the first stop of a five-day Africa tour, part of a push by the US to strengthen its ties on the continent. Biden landed in Namibia’s capital Windhoek before heading to Heroes’ Acre, a war memorial with the first lady of Namibia. Her trip would focus on education, health and empowering youth and women. Biden will also go to Kenya where she will hear from those affected by drought and food insecurity. The Biden administration is planning visits to Africa this year to counter the influence of China and Russia on the continent. | Reuters…

New York: Ilyasah Shabazz, the daughter of murdered black civil rights activist Malcolm X, said she was suing the FBI, CIA and the New York City Police Department for her father’s killing in 1965. Shabazz, 60, was at the site in New York where he was shot dead 58 years ago. She was 2 when she saw three armed men shooting at her father as he was preparing to speak at a Harlem auditorium. Shabazz said US officials concealed evidence that they “conspired to and executed their plan to assassinate” her father. Benjamin Crump, the lawyer representing the family, said they intend to file a wrongful death lawsuit seeking damages in the range of $100 million (R1.8 billion). | IANS…

New York: A US judge has ruled that victims of the 9/11 terror attacks were not entitled to seize $3.5 billion (R 63.6bn) in assets belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank. Judge George Daniels said he was “constitutionally restrained” from approving access to the funds, which are frozen in the US, as this would amount to a ruling that the Taliban were Afghanistan’s legitimate government. He said the US government did not recognise the Taliban, which meant US courts did not have the power to do so either. “The Taliban, not the former Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, must pay for the Taliban’s liability in the 9/11 attacks,” Daniels added. | IANS…

LIKE a fine wine England bowler James Anderson appears to be improving with age and the 40-year-old seamer is back on top of the ICC Test rankings for the sixth time in his illustrious career. At 40-years and 207 days Anderson has knocked Australian paceman Pat Cummins off his four-year perch to become the oldest player to top the ICC Test rankings. Anderson, who has taken more test wickets than any other fast bowler in history, played a key role in England’s 267-run victory over New Zealand in last week’s first Test in Mount Maunganui, England’s 10th win in 11 Tests. His seven wickets took his career total to 682 and for the first time since his maiden series in 2003 his average is now below 26. Anderson shows no…