Tabla de contenidos para 2023-01-31 en Cape Times

ZAMBIAN ombud Caroline Zulu-Sokoni said yesterday judgments delivered by the courts should not be used against the ombudsman. Zulu-Sokoni said when a matter went to court and the ruling was against the ombudsman, the system was cleansing itself. “The report of the ombudsman is put into scrutiny by the court. It is a way of ensuring excellence in the work of an ombudsman. “I don’t see why it should be taken up by another arm of government as well,” she said. Zulu-Sokoni was testifying in the impeachment inquiry of suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane. She is a witness lined up by Mkhwebane’s legal team and was giving historical context on the office of ombudsman. Mkhwebane’s legal counsel, advocate Dali Mpofu SC, described her testimony as “possibly one of the most…

THE Jacob Zuma Foundation said it welcomed the decision by Judge Piet Koen to recuse himself from the arms deal-related fraud and corruption arms deal trial. However, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said it was disappointed by the judge’s decision because it felt that he had conducted himself fairly during trial proceedings. Judge Koen, yesterday recused himself after he had in 2022 dismissed Zuma’s bid to force out the prosecutor, Billy Downer, whom he accused of leaking confidential medical documents to the media. This comes after the Constitutional Court initially supported Judge Koen’s decision, saying the former head of state’s application to remove Downer had no reasonable prospects of success. This latest decision has cleared one of the biggest legal hurdles in the long-winded case that has been going on…

Mitchells Plain’s West End Primary has honoured acclaimed poet and award-winning whistle-blower Athol Williams by renaming its library after him. Williams has a special connection to Mitchells Plain, having grown up there since the age of 9 and completing both primary and high school there during a tumultuous time in the 1980s. West End Primary School was last year one of 10 schools in the world to make the top 10 finals in the World’s Best School Prizes in the category of “Overcoming Adversity”. The Cape Flats Book Festival, founded by Williams, is hosted at the school, and the youth literacy NGO he founded, Read to Rise, works at the school in addition to all other 47 primary schools in Mitchells Plain. “One of West End Primary School’s strategic objectives…

THE hard work of teachers at Siphamandla Senior Secondary in Kuyasa, Khayelitsha, saw the school achieve a 96.5% pass rate. And the dedication of pupils who worked hard despite challenging circumstances has resulted in their achieving their goal of entry into university, and paving the way to a brighter future. The school’s pass rate showed a 3% increase from last year’s 93.5%. Jim Likho,17, from Enkanini, raised by a single mother in difficult circumstances, made his teachers and family proud with five distinctions. “I worked very hard. I studied two hours a day per subject, took a break and then studied another two hours on another subject. I achieved a seven in accounting, seven in business studies, seven in economics, seven in life orientation, seven in maths literacy, a six…

SOUTH Africa is indebted to many wonderful people who made an enormous contribution to this country, especially those who forfeited their skin colour and class privilege. It is a pity that history or the Struggle is not recorded like the movies. Crying over spilt milk is not going to help, but that does not take away the fact that it is unfortunate that the likes of Bettie du Toit could not be honoured while they were still alive. Yet the opportunity was there, unlike for Shulamith Muller who passed on long before democracy was achieved. Du Toit is one of the amazing unsung people in the history of South Africa who contributed to shaping it. Many people still wonder why she has not been honoured. Political activists committed to change…

A suicide bombing at a crowded mosque in Pakistan’s Peshawar killed at least 32 people yesterday, the latest attack targeting police in this northwestern city where Islamist militants remain active. Hospital officials said at least 147 people were wounded, with many of them in critical condition. Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif called the blast a suicide attack. There were at least 260 people in the mosque, police official Sikandar Khan said. No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing, which ripped through the mosque during noon prayers, causing a wall to collapse on top of worshippers. The building is located inside a highly fortified compound that includes the headquarters of the provincial police force and a counter-terrorism department. “We’re getting that the terrorist was standing in the first row,” said Defence…

LONDON: Facebook yesterday asked a London tribunal to block a collective lawsuit valued at up to £3 billion (R64.4bn)over allegations the social media giant abused its dominant position to monetise users’ personal data. Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, is facing a mass action brought on behalf of about 45 million Facebook users in Britain. Legal academic Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, who is bringing the case, said Facebook users were not properly compensated for the value of personal data that they had to provide to use the platform. But Meta said the lawsuit was “entirely without merit” and should not be allowed to proceed. Its lawyers said the claimed losses ignore the “economic value” Facebook provides. | Reuters…

Bamako: Investigations into a string of beheadings in southern Mali that have shocked the Sahel nation have scored a breakthrough, judicial and police sources said yesterday. Ten people in the cotton-growing town of Fana have been decapitated since 2018, sparking fears of ritual killings. “We have arrested the main suspect,” said prosecutor Boubacar Moussa Diarra. He is a 42-year-old unemployed Malian man. A police official said the suspect had been arrested a year ago but only confessed last week to the grisly murders. The victims included a former soldier, a housewife, a 5-year-old albino child and a 2-year-old girl, and had apparently nothing in common. | AFP…

London; Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson has claimed President Vladimir Putin threatened to target him with a missile attack before ordering Russian forces into Ukraine. The apparent threat, denied by the Kremlin, came in a telephone call just ahead of the February 24 invasion, according to a BBC documentary. “He sort of threatened me at one point and said, ‘Boris, I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile, it would only take a minute’, or something like that,” Johnson said. But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said yesterday; “What Mr Johnson said is not true. More precisely, it’s a lie.” | AFP…

A BRAND new aircraft had just landed at Lanseria Airport from its manufacturer in Tennessee, US, a bottle of champagne on hand to celebrate its arrival, and a man with a dark secret about the plane. The scene captured in a picture toasting the happy owner, was at the centre of a case in the Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg. As it turned out, the man with the secret, who facilitated the sale of the plane – a Cirrus SR22 G6 GTS – had sold it twice to different buyers. Flying enthusiast Denise Hellmann eventually found out about the double dealing after more than a year and turned to court for an order declaring her as the legitimate owner of the plane. She described to the court how, on…

Eastern Cape police commissioner Nomthetheleli Mene has condemned the killing of eight people and the wounding of three others in KwaZakele in Gqeberha on Sunday evening. Preliminary investigations revealed that between 5.15pm and 5.30pm, the owner of the house was celebrating his birthday when two gunmen entered the yard in Makanda Street, KwaZakele, and started shooting at the guests. Seven people – three woman and four men – were killed. Another four people – two women and two men – suffered gunshot wounds and were taken to hospital. One of the victims succumbed to their injuries in hospital, bringing the death toll to eight. The owner of the house was among them. “Police have launched a manhunt for the suspects while an investigation into the circumstances surrounding this attack is…

THE widow of slain top cop Charl Kinnear, Nicolette Kinnear has described the accolade bestowed to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) team, which probed the murder of her husband as “bittersweet”. The team sacrificed their safety, and stuck to the commitments they made to the family, she told the Cape Times yesterday, after the officers led by Hawks Western Cape head major general Mathipa Makgato bagged the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation Team of the Year at the police national excellence awards in Limpopo at the weekend. “It's an honour to be recognised nationally and the team feels great about the recognition and will continue to strive towards success in everything we do. Hard work paid off after such a commitment,” said Makgato. Nicolette Kinnear applauded…

RESIDENTS of Edenvale in Ekurhuleni, east of Johannesburg, have been on high alert after reports confirmed that another tiger was on the loose. It was reported earlier that the tiger was spotted on CCTV footage roaming the parking lot of an office park in Edenvale, before it was swiftly recaptured and taken to a sanctuary for safekeeping. Anti-crime activist Yusuf Abramjee confirmed the recent developments in the capture of the tiger. This happened shortly after a tigress named Sheba also took to the streets, injuring a man and killing other animals in Walkerville, south of Johannesburg. After hearing the news about another tiger on the loose, the NSPCA called on the Gauteng department of agriculture and rural development to take responsibility for allowing domestication permits in residential areas. The NSPCA’s…

Opposition parties have cautiously welcomed the provincial government’s announcement of an R88.8-million investment in emergency funding against the impact of load shedding in local municipalities, saying “decent sanitation” was a luxury for most, load shedding or not. Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC Mireille Wenger yesterday announced the authorisation of R88.8m to be allocated to the Department of Local Government for the procurement of back-up generators for the treatment and supply of water services. According to Premier Alan Winde, this was one of a number of medium- to longer-term strategies to respond to the load-shedding crisis. In a joint statement, the provincial government said: “At a municipal level, electricity is used for pumping, treatment of raw water, distribution of potable water, collection and treatment of wastewater and water discharge. Municipalities have…

Police have recovered a vehicle belonging to Khayelitsha community radio station Zibonele FM after armed criminals hijacked the van on Govan Mbeki Road in Town Two on Sunday morning. Zibonele FM content manager, Zweli Nokhatywa, said the driver was on the way to fetch one of their broadcasters who was starting a shift at 3am when he was hijacked by a group of men in Town Two. “The driver remembers that four of them were armed. They did not harm him, they drove around with him because they were looking for the tracker in the car. “When they could not find the tracker, they dumped the driver and stripped the car. “The car was found by the tracking company that contacted the police,” Nokhatywa said. The inside of the van…

Leads to positive effect on academic, social and economic outcomes INTERNATIONAL research studies and findings on early childhood development (ECD) as a poverty reduction strategy for both developed and developing countries confirm that quality ECD programmes have lasting positive impacts on academic, as well as other social and economic outcomes for children (Engle et al, 2011). Studies conducted by Unicef (2021) and the World Bank (2020, 2015) tracked trends in Latin America, Asia and eastern as well as southern Africa, and found that pre-school education has a positive effect on children’s ability to succeed in school and to further their qualifications, and to obtain higher wages in the labour market. Pre-school services also appeared to reduce socio-economic inequalities, as children from less advantaged backgrounds benefit more than children from more…

On reaching 100 days in 10 Downing Street this week, Rishi Sunak will double the duration of Liz Truss’s brutally short term as British prime minister. But having stabilised panicky financial markets after the calamitous Truss tenure, the Conservative leader has little to celebrate. Double-digit inflation is fuelling a winter of misery for many in Sunak’s Britain. On Wednesday, the day before his mini-anniversary, up to half a million workers will escalate a rolling series of strikes to shut down schools, railways and other public sectors. Opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer has been portraying the wealthy premier as “weak” and out of touch, as both parties gear up for an election likely next year. “Is he starting to wonder if this job is just too big for him?” he told…

AUCKLAND: Mayor of Auckland in New Zealand, Wayne Brown, has warned that“more dangerous” weather is ahead after four people have been killed in heavy rainfalls and floods since Friday. Brown said yesterday that the ground was so saturated and the drains so full “it could be more dangerous than even Friday” when Auckland declared a state of emergency. All schools and childcare centres are closed until February 7. Brown said he asked for the military’s help. Severe damage had occurred in all parts of the region. About 40 homes have been red-stickered, and about 5 000 damaged after a deluge across the upper North Island. | Xinhua…

Colombo: Police in Sri Lanka announced the arrest of more than 200 drug suspects in a special operation conducted in parts of the island country. Police spokesperson Nihal Thalduwa said the operation was jointly carried out by the police, special commandos and the air force in the western and southern parts of Sri Lanka. He said that during the operation, the police arrested 285 suspects for smuggling narcotics. Thalduwa said heroin and cannabis were among the illegal substances seized. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan Navy said a large haul of cannabis was seized in the northern Jaffna peninsula during an operation carried out by the navy. | IANS…

SRINAGAR: Several hundred people gathered as snow fell in Indian Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar yesterday to mark the end of Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi’s foot march that he began at the southern tip of the country 135 days ago. The Bharat Jodo Yatra, or Unite India March, was aimed at boosting the 52-year-old’s popularity but Congress still faces an uphill battle against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party that appears poised to sweep the general election due next year. “The aim is to stand against an ideology that wants to destroy the foundation of the country,” said Gandhi. Leaders from opposition parties attended the rally, the largest opposition gathering in India’s erstwhile Muslim-majority state that Modi’s government reorganised into two federally administered territories in August 2019.…

Springbok rugby captains, especially World Cup-winning ones, are revered in South Africa. Proteas cricket captains, particularly as none have lifted a World Cup, not so much. Bar the late Hansie Cronje, who was later crucified for his match-fixing shenanigans, none have been universally loved. Even Graeme Smith had his detractors. Smith, in fact, was so paranoid at one stage of his career that he firmly believed there was personal vendetta against him purely due to his English mother tongue. So, when Temba Bavuma fell on the wrong side of the public’s affection there was precious little sympathy for the current Proteas white-ball captain. It was simply registered as part and parcel of the job. But it wasn’t in fact. The current age of social media has fostered a culture where…

from page 1 sensitive cases is no joke. Some people might think it’s still a bit early for me to say this seeing that the trial has not started yet, but I am looking at the length of bail applications alone. “The work they have done already is sterling. Everyone puts pressure on the investigating team, which has been working hard, but there is the whole justice system that needs to support them and the work they have done. I have told the team before that I don’t take what they are doing for granted because I lost my husband in the line of duty. They have made the decision to stay and go the extra mile,” she said. She called for the justice system not to only serve justice…

THE survivor of a now 83-year-old accused paedophile and former teacher has urged other victims to come forward, after the man made his first court appearance in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Police confirmed that Iain Wares, also wanted on a number of sexual charges in the UK, will appear in court next month again after he was arrested at the Rondebosch police station. Anti GBV organisation, Women and Men Against Child Abuse (WMACA), said they would be supporting the survivor, known by his pseudonym, Stephen, by opposing bail. Founding director of WMACA, Miranda Jordan, urged victims of Wares to come forward to build a stronger case against the man who now faces charges of indecent assault. Police spokesperson, FC van Wyk, said: “The mentioned person was arrested (on Monday)…

TWELVE cheetahs are scheduled to be flown from South Africa to India in February, as the two countries’ governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Co-operation in the Reintroduction of Cheetah to the Asian country. In terms of the agreement, the initial batch of 12 cats will join eight cheetahs introduced to India from Namibia last year. The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) said the initiative follows the local extinction of the iconic species in India, due to over-hunting and loss of habitat in the past century. “Following the import of the 12 cheetahs, the plan is to translocate a further 12 annually for the next eight to 10 years,” the department said. “The initiative to reintroduce cheetah to a former range state following local extinction…

A TEACHER from Phakamisani Primary School in Kwanokuthula, Plettenberg Bay, has been found guilty of misconduct for the alleged sexual assault of eight pupils. The Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) ordered the teacher, who has been on paid suspension since October 2022 pending the outcome of an inquiry, to be dismissed with immediate effect. The teacher, identified as Zamani Diniso in the ELRC arbitration award, did not attend proceedings. According to ELRC panellist, Alta Reynolds, the inquiry proceeded after numerous phone calls and emails were sent to Diniso, to no avail. He faced allegations of committing serious offences of sexually assaulting girls between the ages of 10 to 11 years old. Diniso taught grades 4 and 5 maths. He was accused of forcefully opening the thighs of some of the…

TO help stop police killings, the government should consider amending the legislation and allow longer jail sentences for criminals targeting law enforcement officers. Police Minister Bheki Cele, speaking at the 8th SAPS National Excellence Awards in Limpopo at the weekend, urged officers to defend themselves when faced with danger. Cele was referring to the murder of a Port Edward officer who was gunned down with his partner and two children in KwaZulu-Natal. The officer’s third child, who is only 7 years old, is fighting for her life in hospital. Police killings have been on the rise over the past financial year. Emphasising the importance of defending themselves, Cele said: “Police must defend themselves decisively; that is why we give teachers chalk, we give doctors stethoscopes and we also give you…

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Tel Aviv yesterday for talks to urge a de-escalation in deadly violence that has flared in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Washington’s top diplomat arrived in Israel on the second leg of his Middle East tour, after meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and the country’s foreign minister in Cairo. Israel is reeling from an attack on Friday that killed seven civilians outside a synagogue in annexed east Jerusalem, a day after the deadliest army raid in years in the occupied West Bank claimed 10 Palestinian lives. On arrival at Tel Aviv’s airport, Blinken condemned those who celebrated the Jerusalem violence and “any other acts of terrorism that take innocent lives. It’s the responsibility of everyone to take steps to calm tensions rather than…

Russia told the US yesterday that the last remaining pillar of bilateral nuclear arms control could expire in 2026 without a replacement due to what it said were US efforts to inflict “strategic defeat” on Moscow in Ukraine. Both Russia and the US still have vast arsenals of nuclear weapons which are partially limited by the 2011 New START Treaty, which in 2021 was extended until 2026. What comes after February 4, 2026, however, is unclear, though Washington has indicated it wants to reach a follow-on agreement with Russia. Asked if Moscow could envisage there being no nuclear arms control treaty after 2026, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said: “This is quite a possible scenario.” Ryabkov, Russia’s top arms control diplomat, said the US had ignored Russia’s interests and dismantled…

GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday that Covid-19 continued to constitute a public health emergency of international concern. The pandemic was likely in a “transition point” that continues to need careful management to “mitigate the potential negative consequences”, the agency said. It is three years since the WHO first declared that Covid-19 represented a global health emergency. More than 6.8 million people have died during the outbreak, which has touched every country on Earth, ravaging communities and economies. The advent of vaccines and treatments has changed the situation. | Reuters…

LONDON: Housing companies will be blocked from new development work unless they pay for cladding removal and other repairs on unsafe multi-storey buildings – a bill totalling £2 billion (R42.9bn), the British government said yesterday. Ministers want developers to sign a contract committing them to pay to fix buildings classed as unsafe following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 which killed 72 people. The blaze revealed the widespread use of cheap flammable cladding on blocks of flats across the country. The government said new legislation would give ministers the power to stop builders who don’t sign the contract from developing properties or to get building approval. | Reuters…

a triumphant Novak Djokovic paraded the Australian Open trophy around the gardens of Melbourne’s Government House yesterday, his 10th title having added another notch in the plus column for those who argue he is the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT). That debate may never be settled but if it is to be decided purely in terms of major championship success, it now moves on to the French Open in the European spring with the Serbian and Rafael Nadal tied on 22 titles. While the blue courts of Melbourne Park are undoubtedly Djokovic’s domain, the red clay courts of Roland Garros are the preserve of Spaniard Nadal, the other open-era GOAT contender along with 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer. Federer is now retired and sent his congratulations to Djokovic on…

Formula One is never more than a chicane away from an unseemly spat as last week’s surfacing of tensions between the sport’s custodians the FIA and its owners Liberty Media demonstrated F1 is basking in a resurgence of popularity, fuelled by the exploits of its leading actors Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, adrenaline-sapping wheel-to-wheel racing, and an expanding fanbase driven in part by the success of Netflix’s fly-on-the-pitlane-wall series “Drive To Survive”. Yet purported Saudi interest in adding F1 to its growing sport-portfolio beyond LIV Golf and the Premier League has triggered a row that threatens to act as a damaging backdrop to the 2023 season just weeks away from the opening race in Bahrain. It was a tweet from FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem yesterday that ignited Liberty Media’s…