Tabla de contenidos para 2022-06-03 en Cape Times

GLOBALLY, inflation has soared in recent months, as evidenced by the latest print of 8.5 percent in the US. Whether this is due to years of quantitative easing and low interest rates or base effects post-lockdown (which may have an impact on the longevity of high inflation) is currently of little interest to consumers. South Africa has not been immune to rising global inflation, with domestic inflation edging higher. The South African Reserve Bank has increased short-term interest rates by 1.25 percent off the lows, with the latest increase of 50 basis points announced in the most recent Monetary Policy Committee meeting. From an investor perspective, the questions are: Do certain asset classes perform better in inflationary conditions, and if so, can reasonable investment returns still be achieved?…

THE National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has remained tight-lipped on whether or not it would be investigating alleged wrong-doing by commodity company, Glencore. This is in light of a $1.186 billion (R18 461bn) settlement the company entered into with the US Department of Justice after pleading guilty to several charges of corrupt practices in dealing with foreign governments. “As a matter of policy the NPA does not comment on investigations,” NPA spokesperson, Mthunzi Mhaga said. This development comes a week after Glencore admitted to a decade-long scheme along with its subsidiaries to make and conceal corrupt payments and bribes. It follows a co-ordinated resolution with criminal and civil authorities in the US, UK, and Brazil. Glencore pleaded guilty and agreed to pay more than $1.1 billion to resolve the US…

For the love of animals, Sandra Cheung is gearing up to embark on an epic journey to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in hopes of raising R15 000 for the Johannesburg SPCA (JSPCA). The money will go towards the care and treatment of abandoned, unwanted and abused animals taken into the organisation’s care. From Johannesburg, Cheung, 36, will be travelling to Tanzania on July 2 and will start trekking the mountain 5 895 metres above sea level on July 3. She has been volunteering at the JSPCA for three years and serves as a board member. She also works full time as a finance manager. “I love animals, especially dogs. Helping animals is really close to my heart and something I am passionate about. “Kilimanjaro has always been on my to-do list,…

SERIAL rapist, Mehlodi Robert Baloyi, 21, has been sentenced to two life terms by the High Court in Polokwane after he was convicted of raping four women he lured on Facebook. “The accused was sentenced after he was convicted for raping four victims, aged between 15 and 22, at different locations under Westenburg and Seshego policing areas between August 2019 and October 2020. In addition to the two life terms for two counts of rape, the accused was also sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for the other two counts of rape, 10 years for robbery and two years for theft,” said Limpopo police spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo. “The trial court found that the accused was using the Facebook platform to advertise body tattoos.” Interested customers would approach Baloyi through Facebook…

The Murders At Fleat House Lucinda Riley Loot.co.za (R249) Pan Macmillan A suspenseful and utterly compelling crime novel from the author of the multimillion-selling The Seven Sisters series, Lucinda Riley. The sudden death of a pupil in Fleat House at St Stephen’s – a small private boarding school in deepest Norfolk – is a shocking event that the headmaster is very keen to call a tragic accident. But the local police cannot rule out foul play and the case prompts the return of high-flying Detective Inspector Jazmine “Jazz” Hunter to the force. Jazz has her own private reasons for stepping away from her police career in London, and reluctantly agrees to front the investigation as a favour to her old boss. Reunited with her loyal sergeant Alastair Miles, she enters…

Mala’s Cat – A Memoir of Survival in World War II Mala Kacenberg Loot.co.za (R280) MICHAEL JOSEPH IMAGINE being a little girl living in a village in Poland, during the beginning, duration and end of World War II. Mala is Jewish and slowly she loses her entire family as the Nazis enter Poland and first turn her home in Tarnogrod into a ghetto and later into a killing ground. Mala has the ‘benefit’ of being fair-haired and light-eyed and so she is able to venture out of Tarnogrod to forage and search for food for her family. She puts herself at great risk in doing this, but she is accompanied by a cat named Malach, who seems to appear and vanish as he is needed. Perhaps a true…

Why Khampepe’s comments about Concourt judgment cross judicial ethics lines Recent revelations about the criminal conviction of global conglomerate Glencore, whose alleged illicit activities and associations with President Cyril Ramaphosa were seemingly ignored by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo’s state capture commission, have left right-thinking members of the legal profession and the judiciary deeply ashamed of our judiciary. I start with the disturbing observation based on solid evidence that our Constitutional Court has become ensnared in the ANC factional battles and anti-Jacob Zuma antipathy to a point where a clear and binding legal precedent from the very same court is flagrantly ignored. A case in point is the Concourt’s interpretation of international law, or, more bluntly, its blatant refusal to follow international law even in a crystal clear case where precedent…

Businesses in the sleepy Italian town of Cartigliano are so worried about its declining birth rate and lack of workers that they have begun paying families’ nursery school fees and child-care costs to spur them to have more babies. Cartigliano, a town of 3 800 inhabitants and scores of small businesses in the north-eastern Veneto region, is not unique. Similar schemes have sprung up around Italy’s industrial north as exasperated firms of all sizes take matters into their own hands to try to arrest an acute demographic crisis. Italy’s fertility rate of 1.2 children per woman is among the lowest in the world, but the trend of declining births and ageing populations is common to many advanced countries. Veneto is known for its multitude of family-run businesses that form the…

LONDON: Britain’s Prince Andrew has tested positive for Covid-19 and will miss a thanksgiving service being held for Queen Elizabeth today to mark her 70 years on the throne, Buckingham Palace said. Andrew, the queen’s second son, was forced to quit royal duties over his friendship with late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and settled a US lawsuit in February in which he had been accused of sexually abusing a woman when she was underage. Andrew, 62, denied any wrongdoing. A palace source said Andrew had seen the 96-year-old queen in recent days but had been taking regular tests. He has not seen the monarch since he tested positive. | Reuters…

TUNIS: Tunisia’s president sacked 57 judges this week, accusing them of corruption and protecting terrorists in a purge of the judiciary that comes as he seeks to remake the political system after consolidating one-man rule. President Kais Saied said he had given opportunity and warning to the judiciary “to purify itself”. Hours later the official gazette published a decree announcing the dismissals. Among those sacked was Youssef Bouzaker, the former head of the Supreme Judicial Council whose members Saied replaced this year as he moved to take control of the judiciary. The council had acted as the main guarantor of judicial independence. | Reuters…

LONDON: Outbreaks of endemic diseases such as monkeypox and lassa fever are becoming more persistent and frequent, the World Health Organization’s emergencies director, Mike Ryan, said this week. As climate change contributes to rapidly changing weather conditions like drought, animals and humans are changing their food-seeking behaviour. As a result, diseases that typically circulate in animals are increasingly jumping into humans, he said. “So both disease emergence and disease amplification factors have increased,” he said. | Reuters…

CORPORATE governance at the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) was thrust into the spotlight once more after it announced the suspension of its chief operating officer (COO), Vuyani Hako, following allegations of misconduct, just two years after he was hired as a clean broom to clear up any ethical issues. This comes amid a slew of resig- nations at the asset management company, indicating that all is not well at the firm. In a statement, the PIC said Hako had been placed on precautionary suspension following allegations of misconduct made against him. “The PIC believes that the suspension is in the best interest of both the employee and the employer to ensure that an independent enquiry can proceed unencumbered,” the entity said. The PIC said its executive head: research projects development,…

THE Kenilworth railway level crossing has once again become a serious safety concern for residents as they say the boom is opening and closing at random times– causing frustrated drivers to risk their lives weaving through them to reach their destinations. This is not the first time the boom has come under the spotlight. In 2018 there were also complaints about faulty boom timing and poor warning signals. Then, the booms were subsequently ungraded. However in 2020 residents again expressed concern that the way the new boom was set up, allowed enough space for cars to weave through them even when it was closed. Resident Neil Veitch said: “For several years following the removal of the aged metal booms guarding the level crossing, their ineffectually foreshortened replacements have threatened the…

A MIDDELBURG woman arrested while visiting a client and handcuffed in full view of the public for "being at a known drug dealer’s house“ is due to receive R540 000 in damages from the SAPS. To add to her trauma, Juanita Wigg, now 32, was told by the two arresting officers that they would make sure she did not get bail. To make matters even worse, when they got to the police station, the two officers said she must be taken to the “toughest one” – a female officer who then conducted an intimate body search of her. Wigg claimed R1 million in damages before the Mpumalanga High Court – sitting in Middelburg – following her harrowing ordeal. The police, in turn, did not dispute the fact that she was…

The Tea Ladies Of St Jude’s Hospital Joanna Nell Loot.co.za (R240) Hodder & Stoughton ThIS is a heart-warming and hilarious new novel by the author of cherished best-sellers, The Single Ladies of Jacaranda Retirement Village and The Great Escape from Woodlands Nursing Home. The Marjorie Marshall Memorial Cafeteria has been serving refreshments and raising money at the hospital for more than 50 years, long after anybody can remember who Marjorie Marshall actually was. Staffed by successive generations of dedicated volunteers, the beloved cafeteria is known as much for offering a kind word and sympathetic ear (and often unsolicited life advice) as for its tea and buns. Stalwart Hilary has worked her way up through the ranks to manageress; Joy has been late every day since she started as the cafeteria’s…

ON THE DEVIL’S TRAIL Ben Booysen Loot.co.za (R205) MELINDA FERGUSON BEN “Bliksem” Booysen retired as a captain in the Hawks last year after a lengthy and successful career as a police detective. On more than one occasion, he was awarded for outstanding detective work. In 2016, he took on the “Krugersdorp Killers” case, which until then had not been well managed by the police. At the time Booysen took over, 11 people had been murdered by a group called Electus per Deus. The recent television documentary series Devilsdorp analyses the killings. In his engrossing new book, On the Devil’s Trail, Booysen reveals details of police incompetence and also previously unrevealed information about the killers and their time in prison. What a strange and extraordinary story it tells. “This is just…

The head of the AU, Senegalese President Macky Sall, will speak with President Vladimir Putin in the Russian city of Sochi today. The visit is aimed at “freeing up stocks of cereals and fertilisers, the blockage of which particularly affects African countries”, along with easing the Ukraine conflict, Sall’s office said yesterday. The visit was organised after an invitation by Putin, and Sall will travel with the president of the AU Commission, his office added. The AU will also receive a video address from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The Kremlin said talks would address “Russia’s interaction with the AU, including the expansion of political dialogue, economic and humanitarian co-operation”, adding that “the current international agenda” would also be discussed. The war in Ukraine has sent the cost of fuel,…

The European Investment Bank (EIB) committed €75 million (about R1.2 billion) yesterday to finance construction of a new facility in Senegal that will produce Covid-19 and other vaccines for use across Africa. The plant, run by the Dakar-based Institut Pasteur, is intended to help Africa reduce its dependence on vaccine imports, which account for 99% of the continent’s needs. It will produce vaccines against Covid-19, yellow fever and other endemic diseases. The EIB and the EU had already donated €5m in 2021 for feasibility studies and project preparation for the plant. Institut Pasteur hopes the facility will begin producing vaccines before the end of the year. At full capacity, it should produce up to 300 million vaccine doses a year, the EIB said. Africa’s reliance on outside manufacturing delayed…

MADRID: The Rolling Stones rocked Madrid this week with gusto, and a bit of nostalgia for their late drummer Charlie Watts, as they kicked off a European tour marking their 60th anniversary as a band. About 53 000 fans at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium roared with excitement as they welcomed to the stage the original band members, Mick Jagger, 78, and guitarists Keith Richards, 78, and Ronnie Wood, who turned 75 on Wednesday. They have been joined by drummer Steve Jordan for the tour, titled SIXTY. Watts died last year aged 80. “Hola Madrid!” shouted frontman Jagger to cheering, after the band opened the show with Street Fighting Man. “This is our first European tour without Charlie, we miss him a lot,” said Jagger in Spanish. The band played Gimme…

Seoul: A wildfire continued to rage for a third day in South Korea yesterday despite firefighting efforts involving dozens of helicopters. The fire that broke out on a hill in Miryang, around 280km south-east of Seoul, on Tuesday is continuing to spread rapidly, driven by strong winds and a dry spell. Forestry and firefighting authorities dispatched 53 helicopters to resume their firefighting operation as soon as operations resumed yesterday and dispatched about 2 450 personnel to join the battle later in the day. The blaze had burned nearly 700 hectares of forestland as of yesterday; the fire extinguishing rate climbed to 73%. No casualties or property damage had been reported. | IANS…

The United Rugby Championship quarter-finals are upon us and here our rugby writers look at the players from the Bulls, Sharks and Stormers who could make the big difference for their teams on Saturday. BULLS | Ashfak Mohamed Ruan Nortje: The No 5 lock never stops working, whether on attack or in defence. Nortje has added some power to his ball-carries despite a lean frame, and pops up in the right areas at the right time. But that doesn’t mean that he shirks his primary responsibility. He snaffles the opposition lineout throw-ins almost as often as the Bulls feeds, and he will be stalking the Sharks locks throughout. He is also commanding at the kickoffs, and is surely going to be a Springbok this year. Elrigh Louw: After…

A MIRACLE turned misery. These are the sentiments of the mother of missing 3-month-old baby Ky-Isha Meniers, as the search continues a month after her disappearance. Mother of seven children, Francis Meniers, 41, still struggles with questions and replays scenarios in her head of how she could have handled the situation differently so that she could still hold her baby girl – with whom she shares a birthday. Meniers now does fewer errands for people in her community, which provided an income for her and her family, as she deals with the trauma of her child having been kidnapped on April 30. “All I can think about is if the woman who has my child, if she calls herself a mother, knows how to care properly for my child? Does…

A Communicare eviction battle has been scrapped from the court roll after the social housing organisation was told to follow due process in having the three-year-old matter re-enrolled. This has spelled victory for Welverdiend tenant, Berenice Whyte, who was given a notice of eviction in 2019, but the organisation failed to make a court appearance at that time. Advocate Thando Dondolo said the matter was “resuscitated” by Communicare, but they “had not followed due process”. “We are very happy with the matter being taken off the court roll so that due process can be followed and Communicare cannot just seem to act with impunity of the law. “The matter was enrolled and had to appear in court during 2019, but because they had not also appeared at that previous court…

RIDE-HAILING service Bolt says it has launched an investigation after one of its drivers, Abongile Mafalala, was assaulted and set alight by a mob in Parkwood while allegedly transporting passengers in the area on Tuesday. This is as police said they brought in a number of people for questioning yesterday, who once charged will make an appearance in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on a charge of murder. From Dunoon, Mafalala is said to have been accused of attempting to kidnap two children before he was assaulted by a mob of residents. This comes in the wake of a string of alleged kidnappings and abductions which has sparked a climate of fear in various communities. Bolt Country Manager, Takura Malaba said Mafalala was registered as a driver on the Bolt platform.…

Sabotage – Eskom Under Siege Kyle Cowan Loot.co.za (R199) Penguin AFTER unknown saboteurs toppled a strategic pylon near the Lethabo Power Station in the Free State in November 2021, almost causing the country to plunge into stage 6 load shedding, Eskom’s chief executive André de Ruyter declared: “This was clearly now an act of sabotage and I think we can call it as such.” Who was behind this, and what is their ultimate goal? Since his appointment in January 2020, De Ruyter has faced intense opposition from within the power utility as he attempts to clean up corruption and return the electricity company to a semblance of its former glory. He is not alone. Chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer and other trusted allies in Eskom have also come under intense…

In 2001, Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs foresaw the tremendous potential of emerging markets and coined the term “BRICs”. Since then, a shared commitment to multilateralism, prosperity and a greater role of developing countries in global governance has brought Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – the current five members of BRICS – closer together. Yet 16 years since its founding as a mechanism, as the global economy struggles with the Covid-19 crisis, some people have become less sanguine about BRICS, asserting that the grouping has “disappointed” and asking questions like “Is the emerging world still emerging?” Has BRICS lost its lustre? To answer this question, it might be helpful to take a look at the state of the world first. The pandemic has devastated lives and livelihoods across…

Israeli troops shot dead a teen in the West Bank yesterday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, the fourth Palestinian killed in the occupied territory in two days. The ministry identified the slain Palestinian as 17-year-old Odeh Odeh, who was hit in the chest by what it said was an Israeli bullet near the village of Al-Madiya, west of Ramallah. The Israeli army had no immediate comment. It came hours after a Palestinian man was killed during a clash with Israeli forces conducting an arrest operation in the Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem. On Wednesday, a woman approaching soldiers with a knife was shot, and later that day a man was killed in an Israeli raid in the northern West Bank. The Israeli security forces have stepped up their operations in…

A cross-party group of US senators renewed talks yesterday on a narrow package of firearms controls, as lawmakers face calls to tackle soaring gun violence including recent massacres in Texas and New York State. Nine senators have been meeting this week to discuss a response to the mass shootings that have appalled the nation, projecting optimism over the prospects for modest reforms. The group has focused on school security, bolstering mental health services and incentives for states to grant to courts authority to temporarily remove guns from owners considered a threat. The political challenge of legislating in a 50-50 Senate, where most bills require 60 votes to pass, means more wide-ranging reforms are unrealistic. House Democrats are nevertheless set to pass a broader but largely symbolic “Protecting Our Kids Act”,…

TULSA: A man armed with a rifle and a handgun killed four people inside a medical building in Tulsa, Oklahoma yesterday before fatally shooting himself, police said, in the latest of a series of mass shootings to rattle the US. Eyewitness video of first responders arriving at the St Francis Hospital campus showed a police officer pulling a high powered rifle from the boot of his car. Armed police then ran towards the medical centre. Police arrived at the medical centre three minutes after receiving a call about the shooting. The officers made contact with the victims and the suspect five minutes later. Police responses have come under increased scrutiny after the May 24 Texas school shooting. | Reuters…

LONDON: At least two people caused a disturbance at a military parade in London which launched celebrations for Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee yesterday, running out in front of marching soldiers before being arrested, TV pictures showed. Two men ran out from behind barriers where tens of thousands of people had gathered on the Mall boulevard, which leads to Buckingham Palace, and lay down in front of a marching band. One of them appeared to hold up a banner, before police dragged away the men, one wearing a gold crown. The Trooping the Colour military parade, which takes place annually to celebrate the queen’s official birthday, involves about 1 500 soldiers and officers. | Reuters…