Indice dei contenuti per 2023-08-16 in Cape Times

FINTECH-focused digital consumer financial solutions group HomeChoice International (HIL) grew operating profit 25% in the six months to June 30 in a challenging consumer environment and lifted its dividend 9% to 70 cents per share. HIL’s fintech business grew revenue 29% to R872 million with its operating profit up 44%. Digital revenue now comprises 57% of group revenue. The fintech operations offer financial services and retail products to more than 1.7 million mobile-savvy, mass-market, mainly women customers in South Africa, as well as payments products through 2 570 retail partners with more than 5 900 points of presence country-wide. Retail sales operation sales fell 26% to R594m at its 14 stores, a setback after it had started to recover post the Covid pandemic, but credit…

CONCERN over the exclusion of the public’s comments on the controversial Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Bill led to MPs staging a walkout yesterday, forcing deliberations in Parliament to abruptly adjourn. The meeting was scheduled to consider and adopt the draft report on the public hearings concerning the bill. DA members Baxolile Nodada and Marina van Zyl, along with ACDP MP Marie Sukers, staged the walkout before the deliberations could begin. Van Zyl said they had raised “very specific” questions regarding discrepancies in the numeric reporting, which showed numbers that were inconsistent in the report. “The number of submissions received during the public hearings are only 4 733, which, according to point 9, are only the written submissions. “The report further states that of the 26 593 public views, 20…

A DURBAN resident has lodged a criminal complaint with police against Western Cape Premier Alan Winde and DA federal leader John Steenhuisen over statements made against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Srinivasen Naidoo said Winde allegedly engaged in action that was prima facie evidence of an act of terrorism by calling on Putin’s arrest if he set foot in the Western Cape. In April, Winde tweeted that if Putin set foot in the Western Cape during the BRICS Summit, the provincial government would arrest him. “If the South African Police Service is not instructed to act, we will,” he tweeted. Naidoo said Steenhuisen publicly supported Winde’s stance. In an affidavit seen by the ‘Cape Times’, Naidoo called on the police to investigate allegations of terrorism. He lodged a criminal complaint on…

A CHOICE to retrieve a key from between a woman’s breast or pepper spray her instead in a bid to obtain the key, has cost two police officers. The officers were subsequently convicted of assault and slapped with a hefty fine. But on appeal the pair were vindicated, as the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, overturned their convictions and cleared their names. Judge Nomonde Mngqibisa-Thusi, on appeal, said the idea to retrieve the key from the woman’s breasts was clearly too “ghastly” for the officers. They were commended for not going this route. The judge found they had acted in self defence when they opted for the pepper spray route, which the judge said consisted of minimum force. Officers Jimmy Manasa and Majozi Phakula were earlier sentenced to a fine of…

TO MARK National Organ Donor Awareness Month, organ recipients at Tygerberg, Groote Schuur and Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital have shared how their surgeries and the ongoing medical care by the hospitals have changed their lives. Over a 10-year period, the hospitals have performed over 659 adult and paediatric transplant surgeries, which include heart, kidney, cornea and liver transplants. Groote Schuur Hospital patient, Dr Dominique Brand from Oranjezicht, received her liver transplant from the hospital in 1993, when she was 10 years old. Brand, now 39, has gone to live a full life and is a proud PhD holder. She also owns a research, monitoring and evaluation consultancy. “This year, it will be my 30-year liver transplant anniversary. “In the last few years, I have started to enjoy running…

A KHAYELITSHA rape survivor and her family have fled their home out of fear for their safety as they blamed the police for not doing enough to protect them. Jessica Wani, a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, was raped on Friday by a man known to her in Ilitha Park. Wani said she and her partner were sleeping when the suspect and his friend barged in and proceeded to rape her before setting her shack alight with her inside. “My partner had to watch while I was being raped and violated, he (attacker) even asked me to wash my private parts with water, seemingly to get rid of the evidence. “After he was done, he forced my partner to go knock at the main house where my family was…

Over the past few weeks, there has been growing discontent over the distribution of funding at various South African universities. The issue at hand is the funding debacle at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). In this piece, I critique the shortcomings of NSFAS and its effects on the wellbeing of students that depend on it. As such, my position within this editorial is one of a fellow student who empathises with the affected students, many of whom are solely dependent on NSFAS for their studies. It is very alarming that seven years from #FeesMustFall, we find ourselves discussing access to higher education and the affordability barrier. Even more baffling is the utter disregard of students. A quick history: In 2018, NSFAS was converted to a bursary scheme to…

TOKYO: Nearly 900 flights in Japan were cancelled and 240 000 people were ordered to move to safety as a slow-moving typhoon crossed Japan’s main island of Honshu not far from the ancient capital of Kyoto, cutting off power to tens of thousands of homes. Typhoon Lan, approaching from the Pacific Ocean, made landfall early yesterday at the southern tip of Wakayama prefecture, about 400km south-west of Tokyo, bringing heavy rain and powerful winds across a wide swathe of central and western Japan as it moved north. Authorities issued flood and landslide warnings as rivers rose to the top of their banks, with parts of some bridges washed away. | Reuters…

ISTANBUL: Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a key figure and possible future leader of Türkiye’s political opposition, said yesterday he was set to run again for mayor in local elections set for March. “As I have said many times: who wins in Istanbul also wins in Türkey. Success in Istanbul would take one to very important spots in national politics,” Imamoglu, who runs the country’s largest city, told reporters. Imamoglu was not picked as the opposition leader in May national elections. However, he is seen as one of its best hopes to unseat President Tayyip Erdogan in the years ahead. | Reuters…

The Libyan capital’s most powerful armed factions battled in several districts overnight on Monday and into yesterday morning in the city’s worst violence this year, raising fears of a wider escalation. Dark smoke hung over parts of the city early yesterday and the sound of heavy weapons rattled through the streets, a Reuters journalist in Tripoli said. Residents reported fighting in different parts of the capital. The Health Ministry appealed to citizens to donate blood to help casualties. Usama Ali, a spokesperson for the ambulance service, said 19 people had been injured and 26 families evacuated. The clashes between the 444 Brigade and the Special Deterrence Force, which both backed the interim Government of National Unity during brief battles last year, shatter months of relative calm in Tripoli. Libya has…

THE ANC Youth League (ANCYL) said yesterday it would “never apologise” to Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan for positions it has taken on policy matters. “The ANC will not be censured by anybody and it will definitely never apologise for the positions it has taken on policy questions. “We have been very clear that we are against any form of privatisation of SOEs and all the network industries that we are seeing they want to be sold,” said the league's secretary-general, Mntuwoxolo Ngudle. Ngudle said they noted what was happening at Eskom and Transnet, as well as the sale of SAA, and that they were against the defunding of Denel and other strategic SOEs. “We are not going to be censured. We are an elected structure and we are going…

Ex-fisheries boss Siphokazi Ndudane’s ‘whistle-blower status violated’, says lawyer THE administration of justice has once again come under the spotlight following the arrest of former Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) deputy director-general Siphokazi Ndudane for apparently “failing to report fraud”, while no action has been taken against President Cyril Ramaphosa or his Phala Phala farm employees over their failure to alert the police to the theft of millions of rands in US dollars. Ndudane’s lawyers were also outraged by the bail amount of R100 000 for what they described as a non-custodial charge. This follows her appearance in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court this week on two counts of Contravening section 34 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (PRECCA), 2004 (Act 12 of 2004).…

MITCHELLS Plain crime fighting activists have hailed the conviction of one of the Cape Flats’ most notorious drug syndicate leaders, Fadwaan “Vet” Murphy. Murphy was recently convicted under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca), and is expected back in the Western Cape High Court on August 21 for pre-sentence proceedings. His conviction came following the marathon five-year long trial, in which he faced 229 charges in terms of Poca and the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act. The State had argued how Murphy conducted unlawful activities consisting of the planned, continuous and repeated dealing in drugs and money laundering. Lentegeur Community Police Forum chairperson Byron de Villiers said Murphy’s conviction was a step in the right direction in the fight against gangs and restoring dignity in communities in and around…

THE Minibus-Taxi Task Team (MBTTT) has hit a bumpy start with the SA National Taxi Council’s (Santaco) last-minute withdrawal from a meeting yesterday, and local government officials proceeding “in the interest of doing as much foundation work as possible”. The task team held the first of 14 meetings on Monday and was supposed to meet again yesterday. However, the taxi industry pulled away to engage with their members. At the heart of the matter was the continuous impoundment of minibus taxis by the City. About 14 taxis were seized at the weekend. The taxi industry expressed its unhappiness, but the City defended their action, saying it was done within the terms of their agreement and that Santaco had to inform operators to avoid confrontation between enforcement staff and the drivers.…

CARRYING around 230 000 tons of crude oil, the tanker Castillo de Belvere rounded the Cape in frightful weather in 1983. She altered course to follow the usual route to Europe, bringing her beam-on to the heavy sea that cracked plating on her starboard side. When she was north-west of Dassen Island, inert gas in her ullage spaces (above the oil cargo in her tanks) escaped, explosive gas from the cargo gradually filling space. A spark, perhaps caused by steel wrenching against steel at the cracked plating, brought the inevitable explosion and enormous fire, the inferno spreading on the sea’s surface as the oil slick spread. The tanker broke in half, the stern section sank while the forward section up-ended with the bow pointing to the sky and remained afloat.…

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s counter-terrorism unit yesterday announced the arrest of an alleged Islamic State (IS) loyalist suspected of planning an attack on the headquarters of the police’s security division. The man was detained in a raid on his house outside the capital Jakarta on Monday during which an IS flag, ammunition and 16 weapons were discovered, mostly handguns and modified air rifles, according to Aswin Siregar, spokesperson for Indonesia’s Densus 88 counter-terrorism taskforce. The suspect, an employee with a state railway company, told authorities of his plan to attack the police facility, but gave no time frame or motive, Aswin said. | Reuters…

HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s population rose 2.1% from the middle of last year to June this year, provisional government figures showed yesterday, marking the first significant uptick since a downward trend began in 2020 due to stringent Covid-19 measures. The number of people living in the city increased by 152 000 in the period, pushing the special Chinese administrative region’s population to 7 498 100 at mid-2023. It was the highest figure since 2019 when the city’s mid-year population hit 7 507 900. The government attributed the rise to the relaxation of Covid-19 measures since the second half of 2022 and the resumption of normal travel between Hong Kong, the Chinese mainland and the rest of the world. | Reuters…

Donald Trump has been indicted on charges of racketeering and a string of election crimes after a sprawling, two-year probe into his efforts to overturn his 2020 defeat to Joe Biden in the US state of Georgia. The case – relying on laws typically used to bring down mobsters – is the fourth targeting the 77-year-old Republican this year and could lead to a watershed moment, the first televised trial of a former president in US history. Prosecutors in Atlanta charged Trump with 13 felony counts – compounding the legal threats he is facing in multiple jurisdictions as a firestorm of investigations imperils his bid for a second White House term. Eighteen co-defendants were indicted in the probe, including Trump’s former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who pressured local legislators over…

Military chiefs from the West African bloc Ecowas will meet in Ghana tomorrow and on Friday to discuss possible intervention in Niger, military and political sources in the region said yesterday. The meeting – originally scheduled for Saturday but then postponed – came after Ecowas leaders last week approved deployment of a “standby force to restore constitutional order” in Niger, whose president was toppled on July 26. Their summit, held in the Nigerian capital of Abuja last Thursday, also reaffirmed the bloc’s preference for a diplomatic outcome. President Mohamed Bazoum’s election in 2021 was a landmark in Niger’s history, ushering in the country’s first peaceful transfer of power since independence from France in 1960. His ousting unleashed a shock wave around West Africa, where Mali and Burkina Faso – likewise…

Captain Millie Bright says England thrive in big games and will not be intimidated by the Sydney crowd when they face Australia in their Women's World Cup semi-final today. England have been in this position before in 2015 and 2019, losing 2-1 on both occasions, with a third-place finish their best World Cup so far. But coach Sarina Wiegman led them to the European title last year on home soil and Bright said they were well prepared to handle another blockbuster game in front of an expected 75 000 partisan fans at Stadium Australia. "We are just super-excited to play in front of a really intense full stadium. That's what we want, that's what we expect now," the 29-year-old defender said yesterday. "At these big tournaments, especially a semi-final, we…

The amount of young players in the Proteas white-ball squads displays South Africa’s intention to widen the talent pool and adjust to the ever-dynamic cricket landscape. The world of cricket has changed immensely following the inception and success of the IPL and many other franchise T20 tournaments around the world. The success of these leagues has tested every country and to this day, every nation continues to adapt to the change. At the moment, almost every month of the year has one major global T20 tournament and that means more often than not, each country’s top players have offers to play in these leagues and earn big paychecks. This leaves the smaller countries, including SA, with no choice but to release players and to also schedule their international season in…

A NORTHERN Cape women’s rights organisation says allegations of extortion levelled against it by a mining company are an extreme measure to deflect from the issue of mining on their land without consent. This comes after at least 27 activists, affiliated to WoMin African Alliance, were arrested on Women’s Day on charges of public violence while protesting against copper mining company, Copper 360, that they accuse of extracting copper from their land. The land was expropriated and returned to the community earlier this year under the Concordia Communal Property Association (CCPA). Chief executive at Copper 360, Jan Nelson, said “nobody has stolen land from the community”, alleging that “criminal elements” from Concordia have made threats against the mining company and its staff. “The Concordia community holds the surface rights to…

from page 1 that Ramaphosa did not report a case of theft at his Phala Phala farm to the police in 2020, but instead informed his head of protection services Major-General Wally Rhoode of the security breach. Further enquiries to the Hawks regarding the Phala Phala robbery investigation were not answered by deadline yesterday. ATM leader, Vuyo Zungula, said: “The South African government needs to start being deliberate in their pronouncements as far as witness protection is concerned because if we carry on with this path, we will not have any mechanisms of accountability. “The issue raises questions about the consistency of justice and the treatment of whistle-blowers as it could deter others from reporting wrongdoing for fear of facing legal consequences themselves. “The ATM is on record standing on…

THE Garden Route SPCA is investigating the cause of death of several calves that were found in Bartelsfontein, off the N2 outside Mossel Bay last week. The carcasses were found on the side of the road in varying stages of decomposition. The SPCA said it launched an investigation after receiving a distressing photo of the calves’ carcasses on social media. “Earlier this week, we visited the farm in question to assess the situation first-hand. “Subsequent to our investigation, a formal warning has been issued in light of welfare concerns,” the SPCA said. The association said it would be conducting follow-ups to ensure strict adherence to the warning. “This incident sadly underscores the repercussions of the practices within the dairy industry, particularly concerning bull calves. “As an organisation dedicated to the…

Gender equality in education, employment contribute to economic growth, development August is Women’s Month, a time to reflect upon and evaluate the progress women in South Africa and BRICS have made over the past 67 years. On August 9, 1956, 20 000 South African women representing all communities marched to the apartheid government offices in the Union Buildings in Pretoria. For the past 67 years, August 9 has been commemorated as Women’s Day in South Africa. It marks the day the women of South Africa stood up to the apartheid regime to protest the extension of pass laws to African women. On July 31, 2014, the Women’s Movement in South Africa, in conjunction with government, declared August Women’s Month. This declaration was in response to the ongoing struggles…

Paris: Two American tourists were found sleeping off a heavy night in the heights of Paris’ Eiffel Tower after dodging security the night before, the monument’s operator said yesterday. Security guards roused the men “in the early morning” as they were making their rounds before the French landmark’s 9am opening time, publicly owned Eiffel Tower operator Sete said. They “appear to have got stuck because of how drunk they were,” Paris prosecutors said. The inebriated Americans had spent their illicit night under the stars in a spot normally closed to the public between the tower’s second and third levels, but “did not pose any apparent threat”. | AFP…

Yangon: Myanmar authorities have arrested nearly 150 Rohingya suspected of trying to flee the country. This was according to an official yesterday. The mainly Muslim Rohingya are seen in Myanmar as interlopers from Bangladesh. They are denied citizenship and require permission to travel. The military launched a crackdown on Rohingya in 2017, and thousands now risk their lives each year making perilous journeys from camps in Bangladesh and Myanmar to reach Muslim-majority Malaysia and Indonesia. The 127 Rohingya men and 18 women were arrested on Friday near the village of Waekhami in southern Mon state. | AFP…

RESCuers searched yesterday for people feared missing in floods and landslides that have killed at least 65 in India, including 11 who died in the collapse of a popular temple. Days of torrential downpours have washed away vehicles, demolished buildings and destroyed bridges in the Himalayas. Flooding and landslides are common and cause widespread devastation during India’s treacherous monsoon season, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity. At least 52 people have been killed in Himachal Pradesh since Sunday, with thousands more stranded after disruptions to roads, power lines and communication networks. “The suffering of those affected cannot be relieved with money, but the government will provide all possible help to them in this hour of distress,” state chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said in a…

Kevin De Bruyne could be out of action for up to four months after suffering a hamstring injury in the opening Premier League game of the season, manager Pep Guardiola said on the eve of their Uefa Super Cup clash against Sevilla. The Belgium international left the field in the 36th minute of City’s 3-0 win at Burnley on Friday. De Bruyne, who was left out of City’s squad for their Super Cup game, also limped off during the Uefa Champions League final in June and Guardiola confirmed the midfielder had suffered a recurrence of the same injury. “It’s serious. We have to decide surgery or no surgery, but he will be out for a few months,” Guardiola told reporters on Tuesday. “(A decision on surgery will be taken)…