Tabla de contenidos para 2024-03-04 en Cape Times

DOMESTIC as well as global economic and political uncertainties continue to put South African financial markets under pressure. Although most share prices on the JSE are undervalued, and metal and commodity prices in rand and dollar prices are strong, equity prices remain on the negative side. On the JSE, the all share index traded down by 2.1% last week. The index has been down by 5.4% since the beginning of the year, after losing 2.3% in February. The Industrial index traded lower by 3% last week and has lost 1.3% in February and since the begin- ning of the year trading negatively by 2.2%. The Resources 10 index lost 0.9% last week, tumbled by 6.9% during February and has lost a massive 12.6% since the beginning of the year. On…

Implementation of Eskom's National Treasury sponsored report, which the utility has claimed to have arrested the decline of the energy availability factor (EAF), might yet bring tears as a huge amount of power would have to be curtailed. In a statement, Eskom’s chief executive for generation Bheki Nxumalo said positive results from the assessment have included design-related issues at Medupi and Kusile power stations, which have been addressed through modifications. He said this has improved maintenance and operations, and significantly improved plant availability. Nxumalo said a total of 3 510MW was recovered through concerted efforts focusing on priority power stations with each power station having its own detailed recovery plan, which are centrally monitored. This includes synchronisation of Kusile Unit 6 into the grid, while the return of Medupi…

WESTERN Cape police management has voiced its disappointment over the criminal actions of some members in its ranks, as three police officers are expected to appear in separate courts today facing charges including rape, hijacking and theft. The provincial serious and violent crimes unit working with crime intelligence officers arrested an Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) police officer in Faure and another at the Sea Point police station during a take-down operation on Friday. According to police spokesperson FC van Wyk, a truck transporting abalone worth R500 000 from the Buffelsjag abalone farm in Hermanus to Cape Town International Airport for export was hijacked just before 11pm one night in August 2022. “As the truck with two crew members approached the Baden-Powell off-ramp on the N2 freeway, it was approached from…

LOOKING at the photograph in Wednesday’s Cape Times, one has to say: “Could the Prasa board, the city, housing development agency, and the national and provincial departments of Transport, Human Settlements and Public Works not have come up with better houses to relocate people than these tin shacks they have moved people to?” I don’t see any windows in the so-called houses. Made of corrugated iron, they must be impossibly hot in summer and cold in winter, and probably leak as the roofs don’t look too secure. Could we in this day and age not have come up with something better than this? I must say, I never understand why we don’t use the expertise of the women folk in our country who for centuries have been building their traditional…

Wilderness Search And Rescue (WSAR) said its dedicated teams of professionals and volunteers responded to Jonkershoek Nature Reserve after a visiting hiker fell from a section of trail, late on Friday afternoon. “The 41-year-old hiker and his partner had hiked up to the Tweede Waterval earlier in the day and were making their way back down the path to their car, when he suddenly slipped from the trail and fell approximately 40m,” WSAR said. Passing hikers raced down the trail to raise the alarm, calling the WSAR emergency number as soon as they had signal. WSAR teams from Cape Town and Stellenbosch, accompanied by EMS medics, CapeNature Rangers and Stellenbosch Fire & rescue personnel, were driven into the reserve and quickly hiked up to locate the fallen hiker. “Once on…

A delegation from Hamas arrived in Cairo yesterday for crunch talks on a Gaza ceasefire, billed as a potential final hurdle towards an agreement that would halt the fighting for six weeks. Washington said a ceasefire deal was already “on the table”, approved by Israel and awaiting only a sign-off from the militants. But the warring sides gave away little information on the state of any progress. After the Hamas delegation arrived, a Palestinian official said that the deal was “not yet there”. From the Israeli side, there was no official confirmation even that its delegation was attending. One source briefed on the talks had said Israel could stay away from Cairo unless Hamas first presented a full list of hostages who are still alive, a demand that a Palestinian…

Thousands of South Korean doctors protested yesterday in Seoul in an escalating stand-off with the government over medical training reforms, which has seen junior doctors quit en masse, plunging hospitals into chaos. Around 10 000 junior doctors quit and stopped working nearly two weeks ago to protest hikes to medical school admissions from next year meant to combat shortages and an ageing society. The striking professionals have defied a February 29 deadline for them to return to work or face legal action, including possible arrests or suspensions of their medical licences. Kim Taek-woo of the Korea Medical Association told the protesters: “The government is very aware of the reasons why all doctors are opposing the increase in the medical school admissions but are exploiting policies to turn doctors into slaves…

ISLAMABAD: Shehbaz Sharif was voted in yesterday as Pakistan’s prime minister for a second time, presiding over a shaky alliance that has shut out followers of jailed opposition leader Imran Khan. Newly sworn-in MPs elected Sharif with 201 votes, more than three weeks after national elections marred by widespread allegations of rigging. The Sharif family’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party allied with their historic rivals the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), as well as several smaller factions, to keep Khan’s candidates out. In return, the PPP has been promised the office of president for slain ex-premier Benazir Bhutto’s widower | AFP…

Lille: A 7-year-old girl drowned yesterday when a small boat carrying 16 migrants heading from northern France to Britain capsized, the prefecture in France’s Nord department said. The boat “was not appropriately sized to carry so many people”, the local authority said, causing it to capsize soon after people boarded in a canal a few kilometres from the waterway’s exit into the Channel. Several people were in custody over the incident, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said that 10 children had been on the boat, and the other passengers as well as the girl’s parents, another couple and two young men. The vessel was apparently stolen. | AFP…

There were some outstanding performances in the last couple of local derbies in the URC by players recently called up to the first Springbok alignment camp. In the latest instalment, Gauteng sides dominated the coastal sides at the weekend as the Lions triumphed over the Sharks, and the Bulls broke their drought against the Stormers in Pretoria. Independent Newspapers looks at five outstanding players who made a case for themselves ahead of this week’s Bok alignment camp. Ruan Nortje If the Boks ever wondered how they would replace their top-tier No 5 locks, they don’t have to look further than the Bulls’ line-out front ranker. Nortje was a thorn in the side of the Stormers and helped power the Bulls to a 40-22 win. He disrupted the line-out ball of…

EMERGING markets – known for their potential high returns, but commensurate higher risks – are particularly vulnerable during periods of risk aversion, as we are currently experien- cing. Investors tend to seek safe-haven assets in times of uncertainty, such as government bonds or stable currencies, leading to a capital outflow from emerging markets. This exodus of capital can result in currency depreciation, higher borrowing costs, and reduced investment in these economies. As global economic challenges persist, South African stocks are feeling the impact of high interest rates, inflation, and geopolitical tensions in major economies. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has been closely tracking these developments, leading to increased volatility and uncertainty in the local market. One of the key factors affecting South African stocks is enduring high interest rates in…

Some celebrity relationships just don’t last. In November 2022, The Real Housewives of Atlanta (RHOA) star Porsha Williams tied the knot with Nigerian businessman Simon Guobadia. Less than two years later, they are divorcing. According to People, Williams filed for a divorce from Guobadia sometime in February. As expected, their divorce raised eyebrows because it was announced after RHOA revealed that Williams would return for another season this year. However, the producer of the show, Andy Cohen, explained that Williams’s return has nothing to do with her romantic relationship. “None of us knew any of this was on the horizon, and this was really meant to be Williams’s happily-ever-after kind of victory lap season,” Cohen told People. “So it’s just, I was so surprised and taken aback and listen, we…

THE IFP says it is ready to give the ANC government in KwaZulu-Natal the “red card” over its failure to deal with unemployment, load shedding, crime and a weakening economy. The party wrapped up its manifesto activation programme at the weekend with rallies in Port Shepstone and Isipingo on Saturday and in KwaMashu and Phoenix yesterday. IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa, speaking in KwaMashu, said the party would go into detail about its plans at its manifesto launch at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday. “There is a massive trust deficit between political representatives and the people they are meant to serve because, under ANC rule, politics has become mired in self-serving agendas, populist rhetoric, corruption scandals and a total absence of accountability,” Hlabisa said, adding that the IFP had the…

After protracted negotiations, direct payment of student allowances will commence in April THE National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) board has now turned to universities to assume the responsibility for upfront payments of students’ allowances. The direct payments of allowances for the 2024 academic year will commence in April, and universities are expected to only administer the payment of allowances for February and March, in a move that the South African Union of Students (SAUS) has urged should be a short-term rather than a permanent solution. According to the Department of Higher Education and Training director-general, Nkosinathi Sishi, this was apparently to assist while the entity is looking for a long-term solution and dealing with the contract termination of the controversial fintech companies – Tenet Technology, eZaga Holdings, Noracco Corporation…

AARON Bushnell, a young American airman, who tragically burnt himself alive in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, in protest against the genocide in Gaza and the military policy which made him complicit, is an indictment of the apartheid Israeli regime, on the US government, their European allies, the capitalist mass media and the Zionist political movement. While some journalists tried injecting an anti-Semitic or “mental health crisis” into their reporting of the event, Bushnell’s action cannot be blamed on psychological or hatred issues. Bushnell is not the first American to self-immolate in response to the ongoing mass slaughter in Gaza. Late last year, a woman protester, carrying a Palestinian flag, also set herself on fire outside the Israeli consulate in Atlanta, Georgia. These extreme protests are a…

THE World Bank defines financial inclusion as access to useful and affordable financial products and services – transactions, payments, savings, credit and insurance – delivered in a responsible and sustainable way. The World Bank advocates for financial inclusion as critical to promoting economic growth and reducing poverty. This institution has recognised that financial inclusion is not only about providing access to financial services like transactions, payments and savings but also to affordable, appropriate and convenient financial loans and insurance that can help small businesses grow. In South Africa, financial inclusion is severely skewed in favour of higher-income groups. Lower-income groups are regularly excluded, which makes it more difficult to accumulate wealth and further deepens the gaping divide between the rich and poor. At Grow ECD, we work with ECD (early…

Presidential contenders Donald Trump and Nikki Haley faced off in the Washington, Republican primary yesterday, a small-stakes contest that could be one of Haley’s best shots to score a win over the former president. The US capital city only sends 19 out of 2 429 delegates to the Republican National Convention in July, where the nominee is formally selected. Yesterday’s results are unlikely to change the trajectory of a race that Trump appears to have stitched up, having won all the previous nominating contests. Still, the District of Columbia, as DC is formally known, could be unusually fertile territory for Haley, said a high-ranking official at SFA Fund, the main super PAC supporting Haley’s bid. During the last competitive Republican nominating contest in DC in 2016, Trump received less…

An unknown number of inmates escaped after armed gangs stormed the main prison in the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, on Saturday evening. The Haitian National Police Union appealed to police and military personnel with cars, weapons and ammunition to go to the prison as reinforcements. According to the local online news outlet Gazette Haiti, “a significant number of prisoners released” by the armed gangs are “important members of very powerful gangs”. Known gang leaders and those charged with the 2021 assassination of then president Jovenel Moise were among those incarcerated in the prison, located a few hundred metres from the National Palace. The prison had been “spied on by the assailants since Thursday via drones” before it was attacked early on Saturday evening, reports said. Gangs now control 80% of Port-au-Prince,…

BANGKOK: Thailand has in the past week helped facilitate the transfer of some 900 Chinese nationals trapped in scam centres in a Myanmar border town back to China, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said yesterday. Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, has become a hub for telecom and other online fraud, according to the UN, with thousands of people trafficked by criminal gangs and forced to work in scam centres and other illegal operations. The China, Myanmar and Thailand operation saw the Chinese nationals taken from Myanmar’s border town of Myawaddy to an airport in the Thai border district of Mae Sot, where they were transferred to Chinese planes. | Reuters…

BATHERS and divers in the Oudekraal area and along the Atlantic Seaboard have been urged to exercise caution after a seal reportedly attacked a group of divers at the weekend. Just after 10am on Saturday, the City’s water rescue network was alerted by ER24 ambulance services of a local dive charter boat headed towards Oceana Power Boat Club (OPBC) from Oudekraal, on the Atlantic Seaboard, with injured divers onboard and requesting medical care. “It appears that the dive charter boat, with four crew and eight adult divers, had arrived at Oudekraal where the eight divers entered the water to prepare to scuba dive. “On entering the water to prepare to begin scuba diving, according to reports, a seal started to swim amongst the divers and began biting the divers,” NSRI…

The article in your Monday edition, “Cruise tourism could be the much needed boost for economy”, refers: Our province and the Cape City Council have done everything in their power to ensure that the city is tourist friendly. Not only is the city user friendly for the inhabitants and the citizens but the feedback we receive from tourists has been astounding. We have just come through the Christmas season, where I engaged with dozens of family and friends and some ex-classmates who gathered in Cape Town for the Matric 50th reunion. The reports that they’ve taken back to their family and friends in their respective countries across the globe have been incredibly positive. Cruise tourism has identified Cape Town as being the perfect destination. It must be remembered…

ALONG with all your readers, I have read the innumerable articles on the war in Gaza, the relentless bombardment and attacks by Israel (and by Hamas) and the terrible suffering of the innocent civilians caught up in it. It is beyond human understanding how this can continue to happen, despite international efforts to negotiate a ceasefire and an end to it. During these talks the killings continue, the relief aid trucks are prevented from coming in and the people are starving to death, denied the medical necessities they desperately need as well as food. On Friday I read an article by the chief executive of Islamic Relief South Africa, Yusuf Mohamed, wherein he quotes a colleague stuck in Gaza, who is at his wits’ end as to what to do…

Eskom at the weekend announced the successful construction and livening up of the alternative 132kV power line which will provide a contingency to residents in the Central Karoo, allowing for rerouting of electricity when necessary. The milestone marks a crucial step in ensuring uninterrupted power supply to the towns of Sutherland, Roggeveld, Laingsburg, Ladismith, Leeu Gamka, Swartberg, Merweville, Matjiesfontein, Prince Albert, Fraserburg and surrounding areas, Eskom said. “Our primary goal is to maintain a reliable and resilient electrical network that meets the needs of our community,” said Eskom general manager for Cape Coastal Cluster, Mbulelo Yedwa. “The activation of the 132kV temporary bypass reaffirms our dedication to ensuring uninterrupted power supply especially the case during critical maintenance and adverse weather patterns like recently,” Yedwa added. The implementation of the contingency…

THE suspension of former transport minister and current Small Business Development Minister Dipuo Peters for merely a month without pay confirms why it’s easy to perceive her party, the ANC, as paying lip-service to the so-called renewal and rooting out of people accused of malfeasance. Peters’ suspension on Friday emanates from a complaint #UniteBehind leader and activist Zackie Achmat made about her, including that she was neglectful in her previous portfolio as transport minister by failing to appoint a CEO of the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa). He also alleged that Peters dismissed the then-board, seemingly because it had uncovered R14 billion in irregular expenditure and instituted investigations into corruption at Prasa. She also allegedly used Prasa-owned buses for ANC events in 2014 and 2015 without ensuring payment from…

Around 170 people were “executed” in attacks on three villages in northern Burkina Faso a week ago, a regional prosecutor said yesterday as jihadist violence flares in the junta-ruled country. On that same day, February 25, separate attacks on a mosque in eastern Burkina and a Catholic church in the north left dozens more dead. Aly Benjamin Coulibaly said he had received reports of the attacks on the villages of Komsilga, Nodin and Soroe in Yatenga province with a provisional toll of “around 170 people executed”. The attacks left others wounded and caused material damage, the prosecutor for the northern town of Ouahigouya said, without apportioning blame to any group. He said his office ordered an investigation. Burkina Faso has been grappling with a jihadist insurgency waged by rebels affiliated…

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is pushing for a renewed search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the transport minister said yesterday, as the 10th anniversary of its disappearance in one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries approaches. Flight MH370, a Boeing 777 carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. Malaysian investigators initially did not rule out the possibility that the aircraft had been deliberately taken off course, and debris washed up on the coast of Africa. Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said US seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity had been invited to discuss its latest search proposal. | AFP…

Brussels: Belgian police arrested four youths over messages they exchanged allegedly plotting a jihadist attack deemed “imminent enough to intervene”, a spokesperson for the federal prosecutor’s office said. The four – three minors, and an adult man aged 18 – were arrested when police raided home addresses in the cities of Brussels, Ninove, Charleroi and Liege. No weapons or explosives were found. Police took away cellphones and laptops for analysis, he said. The messages the four exchanged on the internet about the alleged planned attack were “worrying enough to intervene”, Van Der Sypt said. | AFP…