Table of contents for 2021-12-20 in Cape Times

Dineo Faku dineo.faku@inl.co.za RETAILERS may have grappled with tighter Covid-19 restrictions, and the spate of civil unrest in July but their e-commerce sales went through the roof as shopping patterns evolved. The upswing in online retail sales was a tailwind for retailers in 2021 with Statista market and consumer data projecting 31.6 million South Africans could be converted to online shopping by 2024. The upswing comes as the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way South Africans work, school and play with a growing number of consumers avoiding shopping malls and opting to make use of on-demand grocery apps on their smartphones. Big retailers have taken advantage of the growth in online shopping, including Pick n Pay, which rebranded its on-demand delivery app Bottles to Pick n Pay asap! in…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za WITH the aim of “giving a much-needed boost to ongoing efforts to vaccinate more people in lower-income countries”, the World Health Organization (WHO) has granted emergency use approval for the Serum Institute of India’s, Covovax vaccine. Produced under licence from US-based Novavax, the vaccine is part of the COVAX vaccine sharing facility portfolio. “This listing aims to increase access particularly in lower-income countries, 41 of which have still not been able to vaccinate 10% of their populations, while 98 countries have not reached 40%. “Even with new variants emerging, vaccines remain one of the most effective tools to protect people against serious illness and death from SARS-COV-2,” said WHO assistant-director general for Access to Medicines and Health Products, Dr Mariângela Simão. CovovaxTM is a subunit of the…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za A PAARL mother of two may end up spending Christmas in a community hall along with more than 100 others after a fire ravaged their shacks in Neder Park, Mbekweni, destroying all their belongings – including new clothes. The fire, aided by strong winds, broke out in Drommedaris Street on Saturday morning, destroying at least 99 shacks and leaving nearly 200 people destitute. The Western Cape’s summer season is notorious for fires occurring in densely populated informal settlements. Drakenstein Municipality Fire Service, assisted by Drakenstein Farmwatch, fought the flames and eventually managed to extinguish the blaze. By yesterday those who could rebuild were cleaning up and attempting to do so, while others were accommodated in halls and at local churches. Bukiwe Mdangayi, a mother of two children…

Staff writer A PILOT and passenger flying over Plettenberg Bay managed to escape with minor injuries yesterday after they were forced to do an emergency landing in a residential area. The crash landing happened as traffic officials on the ground warned motorists to be careful over the festive season, with added pressure on the roads. The Bitou Municipality said an ambulance arrived to take the pilot and passenger to hospital. “A small aircraft had to do an emergency landing in Erica Place, in Bowtie Drive, Plettenberg Bay Central. “The two people who were on board were rushed to hospital. “The recovery of the aircraft is now done and it will be transported to the Plettenberg Bay Airport.” Traffic officials in the province said there were high traffic volumes over the…

WITH fewer than 50 days till the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games, the world’s attention is increasingly focused on Beijing, which will be the host of this great gathering of humankind. Under the five Olympic rings, the universal sports language and spirit will bring together peace, solidarity, hope and courage to light the way for humankind to join hands in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and provide a stage for building a community with a shared future for humankind. The Beijing Winter Olympic Games is about solidarity and friendship. The Olympic Charter states that the Olympic spirit requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. The Olympic Games, upholding this spirit, symbolise solidarity and friendship, and have long served as a useful platform…

Manila: More than 90 people have been killed in the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, official tallies showed yesterday, as efforts to deliver water and food to devastated islands ramped up. More than 300 000 people fled their homes and beachfront resorts as Typhoon Rai ravaged the southern and central regions of the archipelago. The storm knocked out communications and electricity in many areas, ripped off roofs, damaged hospitals, toppled concrete power poles and flooded villages. Arthur Yap, governor of the popular tourist destination Bohol, said on his official Facebook page that mayors on the island had so far reported 63 deaths in their towns. Ten people also died on the Dinagat Islands, provincial information officer Jeffrey Crisostomo told AFP. That took the overall number of…

WASHINGTON: Former US president Donald Trump claims that CNN’s new owners (Discovery, which is expected to take over WarnerMedia) appear to want to change the network’s leadership. “Word is that CNN and its new owners want Jeff Zucker, pictured, out, not only because of the turmoil of Fredo Cuomo, the Don Lemon (‘the dumbest man on television’) escapades, and so much else, but primarily because his ratings have gone to an all-time low, and the so-called ‘network’ is rudderless. That’s great news for America,” Trump said at the weekend.…

The presence of “significant amounts” of water has been discovered beneath the soil of Mars in a system of canyons known as Valles Marineris, or the Mariner Valley, the European Space Agency (ESA) has announced. In a statement posted on the space agency’s official website, it said the discovery was made via the ESA-Roscos- mos’ Trace Gas Orbiter’s (TGO) Fine- Resolution Epithermal Neutron Detector (Frend) instrument that can detect hydrogen “in the uppermost metre of the planet’s soil”. “With TGO we can look down to one metre below this dusty layer and see what’s really going on below Mars’ surface – and, crucially, locate water-rich ‘oases’ that couldn’t be detected with previous instruments,” said Igor Mitrofanov of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, Russia,…

Tokyo: A Japanese cabinet official said yesterday that victims of a fire in a clinic that claimed 24 lives last week were blocked from the only escape route, prompting an emergency inspection of similar buildings. In an act of suspected arson, a man entered a fourth-floor clinic in the western city of Osaka carrying a bag of liquid that caught fire after he set it near a heater and kicked it, according to police. “Based on the damage, it is thought that the fire broke out near the stairs, which was the only escape route,” Internal Affairs Minister Yasushi Kaneko said. Fire departments have been directed to inspect 30 000 buildings with only one staircase.…

Arsenal's 4-1 win at Leeds was the only action of a Premier League Saturday decimated by coronavirus call-offs with five games postponed due to outbreaks. Aston Villa's home match with Burnley became the latest casualty of surging infection rates across Britain due to the Omicron strain of Covid-19 following a worsening outbreak among the Villa squad. Just four games are now due to be played in total this weekend out of the original 10, with the growing crisis causing chaos during the busiest time in the English football calendar. Tottenham revealed they will be missing just two players after an outbreak affecting at least 13 players and staff saw their last three matches postponed. However, the justification for that match going ahead in front of a 62 000 crowd was…

WHILE it’s too early for consolidated statistics on merger activity for all of 2021, available data on the first half suggests an exceptional year globally, for Africa and particularly for South Africa. A round-up of deals announced in the second half suggests even greater activity. This all points to a rising trend which augurs well for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2022. For instance, Refinitiv data shows Africa’s M&A activity rose sharply in the first six months of 2021, with deals recorded worth more than $57.7 billion (R916.36bn), up an astounding 576 percent from $8.5bn year-on-year. And more than half of this activity was recorded in South Africa, where 169 deals worth $52bn were concluded. There were actually slightly fewer transactions, but deal value skyrocketed. Deals which…

Sacha van Niekerk sacha.vanniekerk@inl.co.za THIS year, we’ve seen some interesting beauty trends emerge – some positive and others rather questionable. Nevertheless, when it comes to the trends created or resurrected by the influential group that is Gen Z, we’re all ears. Cupid’s bows Bee-stung, overlined, matte, juicy and glossed – it’s undeniable that, as a society, we are obsessed with lips. Although they’ve always been regarded as a significant element of beauty, the way in which they are addressed in our make-up routines has varied throughout the eras. From the days of brown lip liner paired with a nude lip that dominated in the 1990s and early 2000s to Kylie Jenner’s lip fillers that gripped the beauty world since 2015, it seems we’re moving into a new era of…

Goitsemang Tlhabye goitsemang.tlhabye@inl.co.za HEALTHCARE workers in Pretoria have come under fire amid allegations that they were bribing patients for Covid-19 results. Residents in Ga-Rankuwa have alleged that nursing staff at the Phedisong 4 local clinic were withholding sharing test results until patients paid additional sums of money. The Health Department said it would investigate the claims, and act accordingly. Motshabi Mokgoko told the Cape Times’ sister publication, the Pretoria News, that she was appalled and angry when her domestic worker told her she could not get her Covid-19 results in order to go home to Lesotho for the festive holidays. Mokgoko said her domestic worker had been taken aback by the demand for “cold drink”, and she went to enquire with the nursing staff at the Phedisong Clinic 4 about…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za A FORMER HeartFM employee had lodged four formal grievances against a senior staff member relating to sexual harassment, the Cape Times has learned. In a separate issue, radio legend Clarence Ford bid farewell to the station after 24 years, citing “bullying” among his reasons. According to CCMA documents seen by the Cape Times, the employee had laid four formal grievances against the manager in question, relating to “sexual harassment, discrimination on the basis of gender and sexual orientation, as well as the negligent or intentional endangerment of myself and other staff members amid the Covid pandemic”. The former employee had also lodged a complaint with the Legal Practice Council (LPC) against the attorney who handled an internal process. While according to the documents the labour matter was…

Staff writer JUDGMENT has been reserved in the latest urgent interdict brought to stop Shell’s seismic blasting along South Africa’s Wild Coast. The Grahamstown High Court in Makhanda heard arguments on Friday. The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) and Richard Spoor Attorneys brought the application on behalf of the Amadiba, Dwesa-Cwebe, Port St Johns and Kei Mouth communities. The communities are all recognised small-scale fishing communities, while the Dwesa-Cwebe community has had their customary rights to fishing recognised. The application follows the loss of a previous urgent interdict application brought by the Border Deep-Sea Angling Association, Kei Mouth Ski-Boat Club, Natural Justice and Greenpeace Africa. Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, SC, counsel for the Wild Coast communities and supporting NGOs argued that numerous leading experts confirmed that the blasting would cause significant and irreparable…

Staff writer OUTDOOR enthusiasts have been cautioned to remain aware of their surroundings as increasing visitor numbers are expected at parks and trails across the province over the coming weeks. Recently, a 33-year-old woman was seriously injured after falling at least 10m while hiking Lion’s Head. ER24 paramedics said when they arrived they were met by Metro Rescue, Life Healthcare and Wilderness Search and Rescue. It took a team of eight people who went up the mountain to where the woman was lying. The SANParks’s Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) encouraged visitors to never carry out an activity alone. “The festive season is upon us and there will be increased recreational visitors to all sites. We are in fire season and ask that you be vigilant at all times. Should…

Sihle Mavuso sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za THE ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) has deferred the urgent request by the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal to join the Jacob Zuma medical parole court case to the party’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa and his top six, who meet every Monday. Ramaphosa and the top six, which includes David Mabuza, Paul Mashatile, Jessie Duarte and Gwede Mantashe, were asked to look at the request and make the final decision on whether the governing party should join the fray or leave it to the department of correctional services and Zuma to try to rescind the Gauteng high court, Pretoria, ruling. The request from the KwaZulu-Natal wing of the governing party came following last week’s ruling of the high court that the September 5 medical parole granted to Zuma was null…

IT’S a tale of two countries, Nigeria and South Africa – the two largest economies in Africa. It is also the tale of two DMOs, more precisely their institutional cultures, priorities and competencies. To those unfamiliar with the vagaries of public finance management, Debt Management Offices (DMOs) are the engines that raise funds for government coffers through issuing bonds and other debt instruments in local or international markets. The money raised is used to plug funding gaps in the national budget or for specific purposes such as infrastructure development. The Nigerian DMO is headed by the experienced Patience Oniha, ex-CEO of Standard Chartered Bank (Nigeria) and senior MoF official for many years. Since 2017 she has also directed the DMO’s sukuk issuance programme, which has raised $880 million (R14…

Pakistan warned yesterday of “grave consequences” for the international community if Afghanistan’s economic meltdown continued, urging world leaders to find ways to engage with the country’s Taliban leaders to help prevent a humanitarian catastrophe. Speaking at a special meeting of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Co-operation in Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the deepening crisis could bring mass hunger, a flood of refugees and a rise in extremism. “We cannot ignore the danger of complete economic meltdown,” he told the gathering, which included the Taliban foreign minister and delegates from the US, China, Russia, the EU and UN. The meeting is the biggest conference on Afghanistan since the US-backed government fell in August and the Taliban returned to power. Since then, billions of dollars in aid and…

LONDON: Gugu Mbatha-Raw has never been motivated by fame. The 38-year-old star thinks it’s wrong to suggest that actors and actresses are simply driven by a need for attention, and she has instead insisted that her career is the best way for her to “express” herself. She said: “I think it’s a misconception that people do it because they want attention. I always did it to express myself. “I had all this energy and it was a place to put it, and it was fun. I’m sure part of me enjoyed the attention, but that wasn’t really my motivation.” Although Gugu thought about the TV and film industries during her younger years, her efforts were always focused on musicals and theatre. The Morning Show star told the Guardian newspaper: “There’s…

BEIJING: Four people died and eight sustained injuries after a section of a highway-bridge collapsed in central China’s Hubei province, China Central Television (CCTV) reported yesterday. The accident occurred in the city of Ezhou on Saturday at 7.36am GMT when, for yet unidentified reasons, a 500m section of the highway bridge, that stood on reinforced concrete supports, turned almost 90 degrees and fell, blocking another highway located below. As a result of the incident, three trucks fell from the bridge and a car passing under it at the time of its collapse crushed. Repair work is carried out on site and the cause of the incident is being probed.…

SYDNEY: The government of Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) state has announced that a large wetland area in the state’s north-west would be listed as an internationally important wetland. The proposed listing of Caryapundy Swamp is Australia’s latest addition to the global 1971 Ramsar Convention agreement, and would add about 700km² of protected wetlands in NSW, bringing Australia’s total listed area to over 8.37 million hectares. Australia’s Environment Minister Sussan Ley said the site would play “a critical role for species like the Australasian Shoveler, Grey Teal and Red-necked Avocet which use the site as a drought refuge”.…

Eshlin Vedan eshlin.vedan@inl.co.za Orlando Pirates will have a chance to redeem themselves following their 4-1 mauling against Mamelodi Sundowns on Friday when they face a rejuvenated Marumo Gallants at Orlando Stadium today (5.30pm kickoff). The defeat against Sundowns was Pirates’ third of the season. It proved that Sea Robbers co-coach Mandla Ncikazi exaggerated when he recently claimed that “Pirates are on par with Sundowns”. After maintaining a 0-0 score at halftime, Pirates wilted in the second half as Sundowns outsmarted them tactically and slotted in four goals in that time. Nevertheless, Pirates midfielder Ben Motshwari believes that his team must implement the lessons learned from the embarrassing loss going forward. “We have to forget about the Sundowns game. We can take the positives from the first half going into our…

from page 1 after a woman got into difficulty in the Clanwilliam Dam, NSRI spokesperson Craig Lambinon said. “At 4.10pm NSRI Clanwilliam Lifeguards on patrol in an area which does not usually have lifeguards on duty, were alerted to a drowning in progress. “Lifeguards immediately initiated a free-dive search for a 21-year-old woman from Mthatha, reported to have disappeared under water while swimming with family members only a few minutes prior to the arrival of the lifeguards. “During the free-dive search efforts the woman was almost immediately located and recovered from under the water and brought to shore where CPR efforts were commenced,” said Lambinon. The woman was taken to Clanwilliam Hospital by a civilian vehicle where CPR efforts continued but failed, he added. Cederberg Municipality mayor, Ruben Richards…

Siphokazi Vuso and Chevon Booysen A WEST COAST family is mourning the drowning of their 26-year-old mentally-challenged son whose body was found in a dam at the foot of the Gifberg Mountain after he went missing nearly two weeks ago. The discovery yesterday came as police opened two separate inquest dockets after other incidents, in Gordon’s Bay, at the weekend, while in Clanwilliam rescuers were unable to save a Mthatha woman who drowned while swimming with family. Rural and Farmworkers Development Organisation executive director Billy Claasen said Adrian Gous was visiting his mother at a farm in Vanrhynsdorp when he went missing. “The body of their beloved son was found at midday between reeds at a dam at the foot of the Gifberg Mountain. “The family of the deceased wants…

Staff writer RURAL areas have recorded rapidly rising concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in samples of wastewater taken by the SA Medical Research Council’s (SAMRC) surveillance team. The concentrations of non-infectious Covid-19 fragments were elevated or rising rapidly in all of the rural wastewater-treatment facilities being monitored by the SAMRC’s wastewater surveillance team. “This holds true for rural sites across the country, including the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Limpopo” said Dr Renée Street, a team member. While the SAMRC had first warned of rising SARS-CoV-2 RNA-levels in wastewater associated with the fourth Covid-19 wave during the middle of November, it had mostly been restricted to urban areas. “There has definitely been a lag in rural areas; only over the past week or so we have been observing rapid increases…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za WIFE killer and former property magnate, Jason Rohde, has failed in a last-ditch attempt at freedom when the Constitutional Court dismissed his application for leave to appeal against his conviction and sentencing. Rohde has started serving his discounted 15-year jail sentence at the Drakenstein Correctional Centre, his attorney Daniel Witz of Witz Incorporated Attorneys confirmed. “We have no further comment and there will be no further steps as the Constitutional Court is the final court such an application can go to,” said Witz. The Constitutional Court order read: “(The court) … has concluded that the application be refused as it bears no reasonable prospects of success.” Rohde, whose interim bail application had also been dismissed, had started serving his jail sentence during November while waiting for the…

AS the country holds its breath over fears that there will be violence should former president Jacob Zuma lose his appeal to overturn the North Gauteng (Pretoria) High Court ruling that effectively nullified his medical parole, we appeal for cool heads on all sides. South Africa, and more specifically KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, cannot afford to see a repeat of the violence, deaths, looting and racial tensions of July this year. The gaping wounds are still fresh and bleeding, and the racial tensions in our communities still linger. In that regard, it would be helpful for Zuma’s supporters and other stakeholders to maintain cool heads, refrain from irresponsible public utterances, and of course not stoke violence. This would go a long way towards ensuring that the country is politically and socially…

THE UK’s Brexit minister, David Frost, has resigned. It is due to disagreements with Downing Street on a number of issues, including Covid-19 measures, Frost said in his resignation letter handed to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. “…we agreed earlier this month that I would move on in January and hand over the baton to others to manage our future relationship with the EU. It is disappointing that this plan has become public this evening and in the circumstances I think it is right for me to write to step down with immediate effect,” Frost said in his letter, published by Downing Street. Earlier, The Mail yesterday reported that Frost handed in his letter of resignation to Johnson a week ago, but was persuaded to stay in his post until…

As some nations reimpose tough measures, including lockdowns, to curb infections spurred by the highly transmissible new Omicron coronavirus variant, others are loosening up even as case numbers spike. The Netherlands imposed a snap lockdown starting yesterday. France banned New Year’s Eve fireworks. Officials in Ireland imposed a nightly curfew from today, requiring pubs, restaurants, theatres and cinemas to close by 8pm. Several European countries including France and Germany imposed new travel restrictions. Meanwhile, in Australia – once dubbed the “Hermit Kingdom” for the way it sealed its international borders against the virus – officials in the country’s most populous areas have loosened nearly all restrictions in recent days, despite case numbers soaring to fresh records. New Zealand, too, has been loosening restrictions aimed at tackling an outbreak of the…

CHENNAI: Indian police detained scores of people for blocking highways in a protest against food poisoning incident at a Foxconn India unit, which makes iPhones for Apple Inc, a police official said yesterday. More than 150 employees at Foxconn’s production unit in southern India were hospitalised after a bout of food poisoning at Foxconn’s dormitories, where a majority of its staff lives. “Nearly 70 women and 22 men have been detained since Saturday for blocking highway,” the official said. Foxconn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.…

PARIS: France will make it easier for citizens to take their mother’s name once they are adults, Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said yesterday. He said the government would support a bill proposed by ruling LREM party lawmaker Patrick Vignal to allow children, when they turn 18, to easily change their family name through a simple procedure at the local town hall. French citizens will be free to keep their father’s family name, take their mother’s family name or take both in whichever order they wish. It is possible for the French to change their family name, but it is a difficult procedure that requires a legitimate reason for doing so.…

Covid-hit Chelsea were held to a goalless draw by Wolverhampton Wanderers yesterday after the Premier League rejected their request to postpone the game as Manchester City put struggling Newcastle United to the sword. Just four games were left on the schedule this weekend out of the original 10 as Britain's worsening Covid-19 crisis took its toll on the Premier League. Clubs will meet today to discuss what action to take, with growing questions over the integrity of the competition as the busy festive period looms. Stumbling Chelsea, who have struggled with illness and injuries in recent weeks, were only able to name four outfield players on the bench for their match at Molineux. The visitors, who have now won just two of their past six league games, enjoyed the bulk…