Indice dei contenuti per 2023-08-25 in Cape Times

Cape Town’s own, academic, author and poet, Athol Williams, has received the Mayor's Medal for Extraordinary Bravery. Williams was honoured for his whistleblowing about US-based consultancy Bain&Co that formed a central plank of the Zondo Commission’s investigations, which found Bain’s involvement with Sars was unlawful. Bain has been banned from competing for government contracts in both the UK and South Africa, and Williams was involved in both campaigns. Bain&Co has maintained it repaid all fees to Sars plus interest. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis yesterday awarded several people or associations who served a community with a high degree of dedication and sacrifice. Among them was Williams, who was awarded in the category of Extraordinary Bravery. “Our city’s history is marked by the contributions of some truly remarkable people – men and women…

Already-powerful body will now represent 46% of world’s population The expansion of BRICS – from five to 11 countries, including Ethiopia and Egypt – will allow Africa to have a greater influence on the group’s decisions regarding trade and geopolitics. There was a positive response to the announcement yesterday by President Cyril Ramaphosa that the two African countries, along with Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), would be part of the bloc that represents the Global South. BRICS will now represent 46% of the world’s population and an even greater share of its economic output. Announcing the outcomes of the 15th BRICS Summit that ended in Johannesburg yesterday, Ramaphosa said BRICS was made up of a diverse group of nations. “It is an equal partnership of…

What does your donor retention and loyalty manager role at MSF entail, and how do you maintain strong and lasting relationships with individual donors? At the core of my role is the responsibility to keep MSF SA donors inspired and engaged to stay committed to supporting our operational projects through their financial resources. Fund-raising is teamwork; as a team, we aim to ensure MSF supporters and donors are kept informed about MSF work, cultivated to know why their donation matters, engaged in sharing their view about what they enable us to do, and showing transparency and accountability about the impact their donation has within Southern Africa and beyond. We do this through different stewardship and loyalty campaigns, bringing the project work to the donor by sharing direct stories from our…

The Eastern Cape High Court in Makhanda has ordered the government to go back to the drawing board and develop a new and comprehensive safety and security plan for long-distance bus operator Intercape. Judge John Smith handed down a final order on Tuesday, compelling respondents, including Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga, Eastern Cape Transport MEC Xolile Nqatha and the SAPS, to develop steps they intended taking to ensure that reasonable and effective measures were in place to provide for the safety and security of the bus drivers and passengers. Judge Smith said the vagueness of the current action plan sent the wrong message to perpetrators of violent crimes against the operator. “In my view, the action plan developed by the MEC does not accord with the purpose and objective of the…

Children In Mind – Their Mental Health In Today’s World And What We Can Do To Help Them Jenny Perkel Loot.co.za (R631) Wits University A psychologist’s guide for parents, caregivers and health care practitioners to the emotional challenges facing children and their parents today. Current research shows that certain childhood mental disorders are diagnosed more frequently today than in previous generations. Many of today’s children and teenagers are more unhappy, anxious and distressed than young people used to be. In this highly informative book, child psychologist Jenny Perkel explores in depth why this might be so, highlighting what modern-day South African children and adolescents are experiencing and the environment in which they are being raised. Children in Mind presents a broad range of up-to-date findings from psychological, neurobiological, genetic, psychiatric,…

The Second Murderer: A Philip Marlowe Mystery Denise Mina Loot.co.za (R587) Mulholland Books Denise Mina’s new Chandler homage, The Second Murderer, is billed as the first attempt by a female author to recreate Marlowe. I guess that’s true. Pioneering feminist hard-boiled novelists Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton channelled Chandler and his contemporary, Dashiell Hammett, in their respective groundbreaking VI Warshawski and Kinsey Millhone mystery series, which debuted in the early 1980s, but neither author cared to resuscitate Marlowe himself. As literary reincarnations go, Mina’s novel is uneven. There are scenes, such as the one describing Marlowe entering an office building near Skid Row in 1940s Los Angeles, in which the cadences and world view and those tricky similes are spot on. But other passages disrupt the illusion: They crack under…

ONE of the greatest moments in Springbok rugby history came against the All Blacks during a World Cup. The 1995 edition in South Africa saw the “Rainbow Nation” unite to inspire Francois Pienaar’s Boks to a memorable victory over New Zealand in the final at Ellis Park. It required a drop-goal from Joel Stransky in extra time to secure the Webb Ellis Cup to send Mzansi into delirium, and we will forever recall that Saturday afternoon in June. But to be honest, the Boks don’t have the best record against the All Blacks at the World Cup. Apart from the 1995 final, they have lost three other matches and won just once – a meaningless third-place play-off in 1999. In the 2003 quarter-final in Melbourne, South Africa lost 29-9, while…

For the first time in the history of the US, two Indian-American presidential candidates locked horns over the country’s foreign policy in the Republican party’s first presidential debate. Former president Donald Trump was notable for his absence at the debate but was due in Atlanta yesterday to present himself to authorities following his indictment for his attempts to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election. On Wednesday night, Nikki Haley, 51, accused Vivek Ramaswamy, 38, of supporting America’s foreign adversaries and abandoning its friends, and said that her GOP rival lacked foreign policy experience. Asserting that a win for Russia is a win for China, Haley said that Ukraine is the first line of defence for the US, something that she said Ramaswamy did not understand. She said he wanted…

LONDON: Britain will host a global summit on artificial intelligence at the old home of Britain’s World War II codebreakers in November as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pitches Britain as global leader in guarding the safety of the fast-developing technology. The summit will take place at Bletchley Park, the site in Milton Keynes where mathematician Alan Turing cracked Nazi Germany’s Enigma code, the government said yesterday. Executives from tech companies, government officials and academics will meet to discuss, in part, how to prevent AI being used to spread misinformation during elections and the use of the technology in warfare, an official said. | Reuters…

NEW YORK: US federal authorities this week charged two men with running a money-laundering scheme that handled more than $1 billion in illegal transactions, including moving hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency for North Korean government hackers. The charges filed in a Manhattan federal court accuse Roman Storm of Washington state and his business partner, Roman Semenov, a Russian citizen, of laundering money and violating sanctions through their business Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency “mixer” that allegedly moved money for the Lazarus Group, a sanctioned North Korean cybercrime organisation. | Washington Post…

London: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should have declared his wife’s stake in a company that was set to benefit from government cash, a parliamentary watchdog declared yesterday. Sunak vowed “integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level” when he came to power. But in a year in office, he has received a police fine for not wearing a seatbelt, on top of another for breaking Covid-19 lockdown rules when he was finance minister under Boris Johnson. Critics have said Sunak is out of touch with ordinary voters struggling with rising costs. | AFP…

UN SECRETARY-General António Guterres has reiterated his support for reforms to the UN Security Council and the entire Bretton Woods system to make them relevant to contemporary global political and economic developments. Speaking on the last day of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, Guterres said: “Today’s global governance structures reflect yesterday’s world. They were largely created in the aftermath of World War II, when many African countries were still ruled by colonial powers and were not even at the table. “And this is particularly true of the Security Council of the United Nations and the Bretton Woods institutions. For multilateral institutions to remain truly universal they must reform to reflect today’s power and economic realities, and not the power and economic realities of the post- Second World War.” Multipolarity without…

THE National Department of Health said it noted with concern allegations of patient bill manipulation at private hospital group Mediclinic, but said it was not in a position to investigate private hospitals as they remained relatively unregulated. This while it engaged with the Council for Medical Schemes to direct regulated medical schemes to investigate. In an email from an anonymous source, the person identifying themselves as a whistleblower said they worked as a clinical case manager and coder, and alleged that at the hospitals, patients’ conditions were manipulated to either bill at an ARM (alternative reimbursement model), or coding was used to “carve an account out” to bill for services where the loss would be too significant for the hospital. “Case managers are also expected to ‘open’ in-hospital accounts for…

PUTTING a man in prison for two years and eight months, with 37 court appearances for housebreaking and theft, only to have the charges withdrawn against the accused, will cost the taxpayer more than R3.3 million. The High Court in Pietermaritzburg has ordered the minister of police to pay the man damages. The court found the police acted with malice and that there was a strong indication the police had fabricated evidence to ensure that Mdunyiswa Mtolo remained behind bars and his bail application was refused. Any chance of him being released on bail was eradicated when the magistrate was told he had another charge pending against him, which was not true. Mtolo was arrested by the SAPS on September 12, 2011, on two counts of housebreaking with intent to…

AFTER a City council meeting was disrupted yesterday, by protesting EFF members calling on safety mayco member JP Smith “to go”, the party condemned the “manhandling” of one of its members – a woman. The City council sitting descended into chaos moments after mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis made his opening remarks, when the EFF members held up banners calling on Smith to vacate office. The party called for the release of taxis impounded by the City. The EFF was ejected out of the sitting by the City’s law enforcement officers and the removal became physical when a scuffle occurred. The EFF said it “deeply condemns” (Speaker Felicity), Hill-Lewis and the DA, for allowing the metro police “to manhandle councillor (Lungiswa) Ntshuntshe in the month of women”. The ANC said…

The Only Survivors Megan Miranda Loot.co.za (R240) Quercus Publishing A thrilling mystery about a group of former classmates who reunite to mark the 10th anniversary of a tragic accident – only to have one of the survivors disappear, casting fear and suspicion on the original tragedy. A decade ago, two vans filled with high school seniors on a school service trip crashed into a Tennessee ravine, a tragedy that claimed the lives of many classmates and teachers. The nine students who managed to escape the river that night were irrevocably changed. A year later, after one of the survivors dies by suicide on the anniversary of the crash, the rest of them make a pact: to come together each year to commemorate that terrible night. To keep one another safe.…

Time running out for Ramaphosa to swop ideology for action IT IS HARD to overstate how dire the unemployment crisis has become lately. The crisis has been so bad that positive coping mechanisms have not just raised hopes for the potential changes likely to occur after the 2024 national and provincial elections, they have led to a widespread rethink of the wisdom of our past political choices in entrusting politicians in government with our precious votes. High unemployment is such a waste of resources that no one interested in efficiency and the advancement of our constitutional democracy can be complacent about it. Nobody wants to be jobless. No wonder the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey, published by Statistics South Africa on August 15, is dominating the news and even drowning…

Crash investigators yesterday picked through the wreckage of a jet said to have been carrying Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin that crashed with no survivors, two months after he led a mutiny against the army leadership. Investigators opened a criminal probe but there was no official word on what may have caused Wednesday evening’s crash, or even official confirmation of Prigozhin’s death beyond a statement from the aviation authority saying he was on board. The Kremlin and the Defence Ministry also made no comment on the fate of Prigozhin, 62, head of the Wagner mercenary group and a self-declared enemy of the army top brass over what he said was its incompetent prosecution of Russia’s war in Ukraine. President Vladimir Putin made a virtual statement to a summit of the…

UK doctors and railworkers are embarking on a fresh round of strikes, continuing months of damaging industrial action that’s hobbled public services and hurt the British economy. Senior doctors in England started a two-day walkout yesterday, prolonging a dispute over pay that their union, the British Medical Association, argues has suffered more than a decade of real-terms cuts. Before their action ends, about 20 000 railworkers with the RMT union will strike over pay and conditions, affecting 14 train operators from just after midnight tomorrow. The twin strikes illustrate the ongoing headache PM Rishi Sunak faces in trying to draw a line under the UK’s worst period of worker unrest since the late 1980s, while also clamping down on rising prices. Sunak has argued that excessive pay deals will…

DAKAR: At least five people were killed and eight injured when a building collapsed in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, an official has said. It was not clear what caused the building collapse, or how many people were inside when disaster struck this week in the Dakar suburb of Rufisque. An official from the interior ministry at the scene, Birame Faye, said firefighters pulled five lifeless bodies from the rubble. Eight survivors were taken to hospital. Investigations were under way. Residents said that the collapse could have been linked to construction in an adjacent building. Senegal’s booming builing sector is poorly regulated. | Reuters…

EIN GEDI: A landslide at a popular Israeli nature reserve near the Dead Sea killed a boy and injured at least eight people yesterday. Police rescue efforts were assisted by the military, which sent helicopters to assist with the evacuation of casualties. Some of the injured, who had been trapped under rocks, were flown to hospital. “You could see rocks the size of cars falling down,” said Yonatan Bar David, who was at the Ein Gedi site with his family. He was unharmed but two of his children had minor injuries. Rockfall warnings are common in Ein Gedi, a hiking site known for its springs and waterfalls. | Reuters…

PARLIAMENT wrapped up the grilling of the last batch of candidates vying for the position of public protector, with deputy to incumbent Busisiwe Mkhwebane coming under heavy scrutiny from the opposition parties. The interviews, held over two days, will result in the ad hoc committee nominating a person for appointment, by making a recommendation to the National Assembly. The preferred candidate will require 60% of the votes in order for his or her name to be forwarded to President Cyril Ramaphosa for appointment before the end of Mkhwebane’s term in October. Yesterday’s interviews saw Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka’s past regarding her probe into the Phala Phala scandal and her stint at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) come back to haunt her. The opposition parties did not spare her any…

NURSING was never a job for recently appointed Bishop Lavis Community Day Centre (clinic) manager, Sr Bronwyn Piedade. “It’s always been a calling. I come from an impoverished community, Manenberg. I know what our community needs and what people go through. Because of this, I’ve always performed my duty from the heart. “It’s about going that extra mile for the client with your staff to ensure better service delivery for all. If we remain committed to our clients’ care, we can build healthier communities,” she said. Her journey in healthcare began at Groote Schuur Hospital in 1981 where she served as an enrolled nursing assistant. Since then, she has worked at healthcare centres including the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital as a professional nurse and in facilities in Elsies…

SOUTHERN suburbs residents who have been lobbying the City for a traffic light to alleviate congestion at the Mocke Road/De Waal Road intersection, have to keep holding their breath as a solution might not be on the table any time soon. For several years, the Princess Vlei Civic Association, representing residents from Punts Estate, Heathfield, Southfield, Elfindale and Windsor Park, have complained to the City about daily traffic congestion during peak hours. Association chairperson, Enver Manneveld, said residents needed to use the roads for access major freeways like the M3 and M5. “During peak time, in the morning and evening, we struggle to get out of our area with cars piling up because De Waal Road is so backed up and there are no traffic lights coming out of our…

Domestic Terror – Intimate Partner Violence In South Africa Nechama Brodie Loot.co.za (R240) Kwela Books In fatal domestic violence, the killing act is usually not the first time violence is used against a partner. It’s just the last. Every day, more than three women in South Africa, on average, are murdered by their male intimate partners. This book looks at the stories of South African women who were subjected to unimaginable periods of fear and terror, who endured sustained physical, emotional and psychological attacks, all at the hands of men. Dr Nechama Brodie explores decades of brutal domestic violence and coercive control and she examines women’s changing rights and current legal protection.…

SHOULD the need ever arise, skimming the top 1cm off the Gariep Dam will provide more than enough water for fracking. Much more is lost through evaporation on a typical summer day, according to hydrologists from Free State University. They released a report more than 10 years ago containing some simple calculations aimed at bringing perspective to scary sketches of the Gariep Dam being ‘pumped dry’ by gas companies exploiting the Karoo’s natural gas resources by means of fracking. Reacting to Karoo residents angered by the suggestion that, instead of using sea water for the process, water from the Gariep River or big dams could be used, they compared the amount of water used for irrigation as well as the annual evaporation rate and the amount that runs into the…

India began exploring the moon’s surface with a rover yesterday, a day after it became the first nation to land a craft near the largely unexplored lunar south pole. Pragyan – “Wisdom” in Sanskrit –rolled out of the lander hours after the latest milestone in India’s ambitious but cut-price space programme sparked huge celebrations across the country. “Rover ramped down the lander and India took a walk on the moon!” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, yesterday. The six-wheeled, solar-powered rover will amble around the relatively unmapped region and transmit images and scientific data over its two-week lifespan. The successful touchdown of the Chandrayaan-3 (“Mooncraft-3”) mission came just days after a Russian lander crashed in the same region. It also comes four years…

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has threatened to round up Roman Catholic faithful who visit a global pilgrimage site in his country, accusing them of “worshipping poverty”. Every year thousands of people, many travelling for days on foot, visit Kibeho in southern Rwanda where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to three schoolgirls four decades ago. But Kagame, himself a Catholic, lashed out at the pilgrims after more than 20 000 attended a Catholic mass in the hillside town on Assumption Day, August 15. In an address to a youth conference this week, he said: “I thought that when you pray, you are praying for what can help improve your lives, praying to get rich and get out of poverty. No one must worship poverty ... If I ever…

Peshawar: The owner and operator of a stricken cable car that dangled over a Pakistan ravine for more than 12 hours have been arrested after repeatedly ignoring safety warnings, police said yesterday. Six teenage boys were among eight people left stranded hundreds of feet in the air when two of the three chairlift cables snapped on Tuesday, leading to a daring rescue mission that brought them to safety. “The initial notice was issued to the owner in June, followed by a second notification served in August,” police said. The owner had received directives to refurbish the machinery, enhance the quality of the chains and obtain a safety certificate. | AFP…

LOS ANGELES: Star Trek actor William Shatner has been spending time exploring the new frontier of artificial intelligence (AI). The actor best known for playing Captain Kirk in the series talked with ProtoBot, a device that combines holographic visuals with conversational AI, and grappled with philosophical and ethical questions about the technology. “I’m asking ProtoBot questions that ordinarily a computer doesn’t answer,” Shatner said. “A computer answers two plus two, but does ProtoBot know what love is? Can ProtoBot understand sentience? Can they understand emotion?” The device was developed by hologram technology provider Proto Inc with conversational AI developer CodeBaby. Shatner is a paid adviser for Proto. It is hoped the device will be used by educators, scientists and businesses. | Reuters…

Temba Bavuma’s Proteas are set to face Afghanistan and New Zealand in Cricket World Cup warm-up matches in Thiruvananthapuram, southern India. Time for talk has gone as preparations for the World Cup heat up six weeks away from the showpiece event, which is set to take place in India from October 5 to November 19. The International Cricket Council have announced 10 official warm-up fixtures as the teams’ final preparations for the tournament. The warm-up games will take place from September 29 to October 3 across three venues in India – Guwahati, Hyderabad and Thiruvananthapuram. The Proteas are scheduled to face off against Afghanistan and New Zealand on September 29 and October 2 respectively. This will provide South Africa with the right intensity going into the World Cup…