Table of contents for 2021-10-25 in Cape Times

Philippa Larkin philippa.larkin@inl.co.za JSE-LISTED Rebosis Property Fund’s A and B shares leapt on Friday after it said it had entered into a sales deal with Ulricraft, a special purpose vehicle owned by Vunani Capital Partners (VCP), which could see the debt-heavy firm dispose of its commercial office portfolio for R6.32 billion. The company announced the deal in a late JSE Sens statement on Thursday as the markets closed. Rebosis B shares on Friday closed at 28c, 3.7 percent higher, after rising to an intraday high of 31 cents, nearly 14.8 percent up. Rebosis A shares on Friday closed at 95c, closing 18.75 percent higher after leaping to an intraday high of 119c, nearly 49 percent higher. Rebosis founder and chief executive Dr Sisa Ngebulana…

Sacha van Niekerk sacha.vanniekerk@inl.co.za From blooming florals to trendy wisps of white over a nude base, we’ve got you covered with all the latest wedding-day nail trends. Here are 7 bridal nail ideas: Florals Dainty florals are the perfect pretty option for a bride looking for something a little different, but not too out there, on their wedding day. They can be lively and bright with lots of bold colours and fancy flourishes, or more muted and minimalist with pastel shades. Metallic gold French tips The go-to manicure for brides has been white French tips with clear nail polish. But as classic as they are, they can be kind of boring and get lost among the hair, make-up and dress. If you want your nails to stand out a bit…

Staff WRITER IN THE first regional rollout, more than 80 million children have been vaccinated with the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) in six countries in Africa. This comes just months after the World Health Organization (WHO) gave it Emergency Use Listing status in November last year. Nigeria became the first country in the world to use nOPV2 to tackle an outbreak in March 2021, vaccinating 7 million children in six states. By September, Benin, Congo, Liberia, Niger and Sierra Leone had also rolled out the vaccine. Africa was certified free of wild polio in August 2020, but outbreaks of circulating vaccine-derived polio type 2 are still being reported. “The nOPV2 brings significant advantages in tackling polio outbreaks and Nigeria has worked closely with the global polio partners…

Staff writer SOUTH Africa’s teenage swimmers have done the country proud in Doha, emerging as winners on the FINA Swimming World Cup stage at the weekend. Pieter Coetzé claimed victory in the 200m backstroke in 1:52.09, before doing the same a day later in the 50m event, winning in 23.13. The 17-year-old then completed a trio of golds with victory in the 100m backstroke in 50.86, edging out highly decorated American Tom Shields in the process. All three races featured three South Africans in the finals. “I am very happy with my performance for where I’m at since I wasn’t going to compete at the World Cup and it was sort of a last-minute decision to come and race,” said Coetzé. “Thanks to FINA for a really well-organised gala and…

Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za THE Knysna Municipality believes that Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane erred in finding that R58 million spent on the town’s tourism promotion agency, Knysna Tourism (KT), was irregular and constituted maladministration. Mkhwebane announced her damning findings against the municipality on Friday, saying the Speaker of council should refer the irregular expenditure to the relevant council committee for investigation and to ensure that a criminal complaint was lodged within 30 days of the date of the report. The municipality had entered into agreements with KT from 2002 to 2017 to market the greater Knysna area as a premier destination to achieve tourism growth. It later emerged that KT allegedly did not follow a tender process, prompting resident Susan Campbell to lodge a complaint with Mkhwebane’s office. Campbell said the…

Megan Claire Kube | Athlone THIS upcoming local government election is the best chance we will get to vote for a better local government. Recent investigations by local news outlets have demonstrated the dire straits of our local municipalities. Corruption and service delivery failures are endemic across the nation. The only solution is to vote these corrupt, incompetent councillors out and replace them with individuals from the only party which has a proven track record of excellent service delivery. So please, don’t be apathetic this upcoming voting day. Make your voice heard and vote for a party that will improve service delivery in your neighbourhood. I believe that the DA is the only party which has proven it can deliver better services to all South Africans.…

Natalie Bossi | Parklands. SEEING Melanie Verwoerd’s comments regarding her opinion that the ACDP’s election campaign is opportunistic made me laugh out loud and then swear at her hypocrisy. Anyone who is an ANC member, after seeing the destruction this party has wreaked on this population for 27 years, can only be a self-serving hypocrite. The use of specific election campaigns is a universal phenomenon used by political parties. Finding a campaign that resonates with a large section of the population sounds like an effective way of gaining voters. The divide between the vaccinated and those not wishing to be vaccinated is growing. Mandating vaccinations as a policy will affect all our lives at all levels and not in a good way, according to those not wishing to…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za IT’S ALL systems go for the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams this week, with a total of 73 966 registered candidates in the Western Cape. There are 59 849 full-time candidates and 14 117 part-time candidates - an increase from the candidates who wrote in November last year. The exams will officially start on Wednesday with English Home Language, English First Additional Language and English Second Additional Language. Last week schools held their pledge signing ceremonies as part of the commitment to a clean NSC exams. According to MEC Debbie Schäfer, Maths Literacy is the subject with the largest number of candidates this year, with 48 658 writing paper 1 on November 5 and paper 2 on November 8. For the first time Marine Sciences will be…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za THE Western Cape High Court has granted the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (Cals) and the WISE Collective permission to be friends of the court in a matter where a woman was silenced about her alleged rape experience through a gag order. The court is also expected to rule on social media posts that contain rape allegations. In 2015, a 31-year-old woman was allegedly raped by her ex-boyfriend and spoke of the incident to close family and friends. During different gender-based violence (GBV) campaigns, including the #MeToo movement in 2019, she shared her experience in a closed safe online messaging group that was designed to create solidarity and support to survivors of sexual assault. A screenshot of her private messages was circulated without her consent, and the…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za THE election campaign for the Cape Muslim Congress (CMC) has hit a snag with the party hurriedly removing posters in Wynberg and Grassy Park after it emerged their party signage was plastered over old DA posters. Cape Town residents at the weekend noticed former DA leader, Mmusi Maimane’s face on lampposts in the southern suburbs, after heavy rains and wind exposed sloppy workmanship to reveal that CMC posters were pasted over old DA election campaign posters. CMC leader, Yagyah Adams, said they had acquired the posters from a private business after they could not find the correct poster board size anywhere in the country. “I bought the board from a private business in Kommetjie. “The board was recycled board because the CMC believes in sustainable and socially…

G Contaldi | Tafelsig WITH the local government elections fast approaching, politicians are once again making many promises. Given the high number of candidates contesting the elections in the various wards, it is not easy to decide who to vote for. It is ultimately about who best can manage the municipality’s resources. Casting one’s vote is, however, not something to be taken lightly. When deciding who to vote for, there are many factors to consider. Is the candidate competent enough to be a good councillor? Can the person genuinely have the community’s best interests at heart when having to deal with issues, rather than trying to score points for his political party? How will he be able to effect improvement in the provision of water and sanitation, electricity…

Staff writer THE eighth South African International Ballet Competition (SAIBC) came to a spectacular close at the weekend with South Africa winning eleven medals and South Korea scooping eight. Held at the Artscape Opera House, the week-long hybrid event kicked off on World Ballet Day on October 19 and saw 180 dancers participating from 28 countries. There were 70 South African dancers on stage and the remaining international contestants competed via pre-recorded video. Audiences who were in the theatre and watched online, saw every competitor, with the virtual entries being projected onto a huge screen on the stage. The eighteen-member jury comprised heads of some of the world’s leading ballet schools, academies and training facilities. The jury represented six continents for the first time since the SAIBC’s inception in 2008.…

Chulumanco Mahamba RADIO host Gareth Cliff found himself in hot water again following public outrage over comments dismissing racism struggles as “unimportant”. The controversial radio host and businessman again ruffled feathers after he was seen talking over One South Africa Movement member Mudzuli Rakhivhane and dismissing her views on racism in an episode of CliffCentral.Com’s The Burning Platform. The show, which aired on Thursday (October 21), includes various political commentators and journalists as they tackle the big news stories of the week and dissect the current trends in politics. During the show, Rakhivhane was debating the issue of the DA’s controversial election posters in Phoenix with DA leader John Steenhuisen. In the debate, Cliff said he didn’t think many people were interested in racism in the local elections and said…

Herman Gibbs Triumphant Cape Town City FC coach Eric Tinkler heaved a massive sigh of relief when the final whistle sounded to end his "horrendous" experience at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday when his side ran out 4-3 winners against Lamontville Golden Arrows. Just ahead of the hour mark City ran up a commanding 4-0 lead. At that stage, Tinkler admitted after the match, he was bracing himself for a glut of goals to follow. Instead, he was left shaking in his boots as Arrows stormed back into the picture with three unanswered goals in the final 20 minutes. The intensity and tempo with which Arrows played at the death turned out to be a nightmare experience for Tinkler, who is serving his second stint as head coach at City.…

Lutho Pasiya lutho.pasiya@inl.co.za Would you like fries with that? Then you better start stocking up on potatoes. Potato crop damage due to cold and wet weather is causing a shortage of the starchy bulb in South Africa, which has affected the availability and the price of the vegetable. In an interview on the breakfast show on Cape Talk with Refilwe Moloto this week, the general manager of Messaris Nuts and Crisps, the oldest potato crisp manufacturer in South Africa, Nick Messaris, said early winter cold snaps have almost decimated the potato supply in South Africa. “We have had a rather bad potato crop in South Africa. Farmers in the northeast of the country have had almost a disastrous crop due to the cold snaps that we had earlier in the…

Staff writer THREE convicted rhino poachers will each serve an effective 35 years behind bars after they were sentenced by the Mogwase Regional Court in North West. Their sentencing last week came after alleged poachers were arrested by the Overstrand Municipality’s K9 Unit and Task Team in three separate incidents in Gansbaai, where the team confiscated 1 053 abalone and diving equipment. The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment welcomed the sentencing of the rhino poachers, saying it sent a message to those involved in poaching. “Sentences of 85 years each were handed down to Mozambican nationals Arlindo Muhlanga, Adam Hlongwane and Gamula Chauke,” the department said. “The men were arrested in 2018 following the poaching and dehorning of three rhino cows in the Pilanesberg Game Reserve. “The men…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za THE Strandfontein Community Policing Forum (CPF) has cautioned the public to steer clear of the infamous Lucannon Drive after a 15-year-old was discovered there in the early hours of yesterday, hanging on for her life with a slit to her throat. Police said they were investigating a case of attempted murder. “The circumstances surrounding an attempted murder are under investigation after a 15-year-old female was discovered in Lucannon Drive, Strandfontein, with a laceration on her throat. “She was admitted to hospital where she is being treated for her injury. No one has been arrested as yet and the motive for the attack on the girl is yet to be determined,” police spokesperson Andre Traut said. CPF chairperson Sandy Schuter-Flowers said they were saddened by the incident but…

OWN Correspondent OUSTED from their homes in District 6 during the apartheid era, many of South Africa’s fishing families were re-located to places like Saldanha, Gansbaai and Kalk Bay to continue their craft. One such family were the Fortunes, now headed by Ishmael Fortune, a third generation fisherman who now lives the picturesque deep south village of Kalk Bay. In summer they would sell their hake and snoek, and in winter, abalone or “perlemoen” was the staple diet – until, that is, the government put a price tag on the fish that the fishers were harvesting from the ocean. Up until 1994, quota systems regulated who got what, with expensive resources set as a condition on which allocation rights would be distributed. On September 1, 1998, the Marine Living Resources…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za A MANHUNT for three suspects has been launched following an armed robbery at the Sir Lowry’s Pass satellite police station in which brazen attackers made off with two service pistols. The Community Policing Forum (CPF) has labelled the incident, which happened on Saturday night, a “contemptuous attack” on the State just hours after provincial SAPS launched their Safer Festive Season campaign. Provincial police spokesperson Andrè Traut said the investigation was handed over to the Hawks. “The Hawks have launched a manhunt for three suspects. At around 9pm the suspects, who were armed, approached two members who were on duty in the community service centre and held them at gunpoint. “They disarmed the police members and fled with two 9mm service pistols, three cellular phones and a…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za THE independence and objectivity of the presiding officer who was paid around R82 500 by August for her services in the disciplinary hearing of Heathfield High School principal Wesley Neumann has come into question by parents’ lobby group, the Special Action Committee (SAC). The hearing, which ran for over 25 days saw Neumann found guilty on six charges of misconduct following his refusal to reopen the school amid the Covid-19 infection peak last year. Throughout the saga, parents, teachers and learners protested in his defence. In a letter, the SAC questioned the independence of the officer. In response, provincial eduction department spokesperson, Bronagh Hammond said: “The claims are part of an ongoing campaign to discredit what was a fair process whereby Mr Neumann was given fair opportunity…