Table of contents for 2022-01-13 in Cape Times

Reuters START-UPS raised more venture capital funding than ever last year and more cities around the world started to look like tech hubs – although Silicon Valley remains firmly in the lead. In 2021, investors more than doubled the amount of cash they handed out to start-ups, hitting $621 billion (R9.65 trillion) globally and shattering the previous year’s record, according to new data from research firm CB Insights. The US accounted for about half of the world’s funding total, with start-ups in the country raising about $311bn, according to the report. The Silicon Valley region and New York retained their top spots for both the most money raised and the most deals completed. Those tallies were helped along by a few big funding rounds for established companies. But…

Thobile Mazibuko thobile.mazibuko@inl.co.za Thebe Magugu is at the top, and there’s no stopping him. He is one of those creatives who are down to earth and has their works speak for them. The LVMH Prize 2019 winner has cemented himself as one of the greatest international brands to come of our Africa. Dressing celebrities is nothing new to him. The likes of Michaela Coel, Miley Cyrus and Dionne Warwick have worn his designs. He recently had another international celebrity, Kylie Jenner, don his garments. Reality TV star and businesswoman Jenner was posted on the Thebe Mgugu Instagram account wearing the caped shoulder wool suit from the AW21 “Alchemy” collection, inspired by the changing face of African spirituality. Speaking of the collection, Magugu said: “As many of us know, African Spirituality…

Odwa Mkentane odwa.mkentane@inl.co.za AMID SHOCKING conditions at the Khayelitsha District Hospital (KDH), a shortage of beds and resources have led to the elderly being ventilated while lying on the floor, with some even being made to sleep on the ground overnight. This once again brings the hospital under the spotlight, after the 2018 Sigogo petition in Parliament, which dealt with an alleged cover-up regarding reported maladministration, nepotism, fraud, poor working conditions and victimisation of employees. It asserted that the hospital’s management had not adhered to departmental policies regarding staffing the hospital. The Cape Times is in possession of a video and pictures showing the elderly huddled together on the floor, using blankets to keep warm while being strapped to ventilators in the hospital’s asthma room. Some spent the night sitting…

Chevon Booysen Chevon.booysen@inl.co.za THE pricing model for a new walking tour offered by the Robben Island Museum (RIM) is designed to exclude locals and sets to exploit the blood and sweat of former political prisoners. These are the sentiments voiced by the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council (GKKITC) and the Ex-Political Prisoners Association (EPPA) after RIM introduced the pricing for their new walking tour this week. The tour is priced at R1 000 for South African adults and R620 for South African children aged 2 to 18 years, while non-South African adults will pay R1 400 and R820 for non-South African children aged 2 to 18. “This new experience covers some sites that were/are not covered by the current standard bus tour. These sites were upgraded during the nationwide…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za THE Blue Flag at Onrus Beach has been raised again and the “no swimming” advisory for the Onrus Lagoon lifted after samples showed that the water was once again in an acceptable range. This followed an incident at the Onrus main sewerage pump station on January 3 that led to a spillage at the pump station and into the Onrus Estuary. While the problem was attended to, samples were taken at the estuary to monitor the impact of the spill on water quality. “According to the Overberg District Municipality’s Health Department, which is responsible for the recreational water quality of estuaries, the warning signs can be removed as they are satisfied that the water is within the acceptable range for public recreational use,” the Overstrand Municipality said.…

Francesca Villette and Okuhle Hlati THE Goodwood Ratepayers and Residents Association has lauded the community and police for working together to nab two suspects who attempted a business robbery in the busy Voortrekker Road. Two suspects, an Ethiopian, 35, and a Zimbabwean, 29, are expected in court after vigilance by the public and the swift response by police led to their arrests. The suspects are alleged to have have been armed when they held the owners of a shop at gunpoint. One of the suspects fled when they were disturbed by a security guard who raised the alarm, but was apprehended by members of the public. When police arrived at the scene they arrested the second suspect. The ratepayers association thanked the community. “The vigilance of the public and the…

London: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday offered his “heartfelt apologies” for attending a lockdown-breaching party held in his Downing Street garden, but deflected calls to resign as the opposition leader called him a “man without shame”. Breaking his silence over the latest of a slew of allegations regarding top-level misbehaviour, Johnson said he regarded the boozy get-together in May 2020 as a work event for Downing Street staff. He added that he did not appreciate how it would look to millions of Britons who were respecting Covid rules, even missing out on farewells to dying relatives. “And to them and to this House I offer my heartfelt apologies,” Johnson told a stormy session of questions in the House of Commons. Keir Starmer, leader of the main opposition Labour…

LOS ANGELES: Simon Cowell is reportedly engaged to his girlfriend, Lauren Silverman. The 62-year-old music mogul is said to have proposed to his partner on a recent family holiday in Barbados, despite previously stating that he didn’t believe in getting wed. Cowell is believed to have got down on one knee in front of the couple’s son Eric, 7, and his step-son Adam, 16, from Lauren’s previous marriage to businessman Andrew Silverman, on Christmas Eve. An insider told The Sun: “Simon and Lauren are ridiculously, nauseatingly in love.”…

For Richard Djurist, China is not only a good destination for his graduate studies in medicine, but also a fine place to discover the joy of ice and snow. For the first time in his life, the 30-year-old Tanzania native skied at a resort in Yinchuan, the capital of north-west China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, last month. “I’ve never tried skiing before,” said Djurist. “Because in my country we don’t have winter. I had never got in touch with winter sports, but I love to try something new.” Djurist went to China eight years ago and is now studying for his post-graduate degree at Ningxia Medical University. Since the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is around the corner, the university organised a winter sports meeting to help international students experience the…

MIAMI: An American Airlines flight bound for Miami was grounded for several hours on Tuesday after a passenger entered the plane’s cockpit during boarding at an airport in Honduras, the airline said. The cockpit was open during boarding, as usual, and the passenger entered and “caused damage,” said Sarah Jantz, a spokesperson for the airline. A video showed workers outside an American Airlines plane scrambling on the tarmac while a person was leaning out of an open window in the cockpit. “Crew members intervened and the individual was ultimately apprehended by local law enforcement,” Jantz said.…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za GO LIFE INTERNATIONAL, the Mauritius and JSE AltX-listed investment holding company, said yesterday that its headline loss per share for the nine months to end-November 2021 came to 0.005 US cents (0.078 SA cents) per share, but that it is restructuring and working on recapitalisation plans. The loss per share came to 0.006 US cents at the same time a year before. No revenue was disclosed. The com- pany fully impaired its subsidiaries during the year ended February 29, 2020. “The company has been through some tough times over the last two years. The board has dealt with many challenges and the asset base has been completely eroded,” the company said. New management had been secured as well as some interim funding. “However, as communicated in…

Mashudu Sadike mashudu.sadike@inl.co.za AFTER what was described as an horrific accident on the N1 in Limpopo on Tuesday afternoon, 17 people had been declared dead by late yesterday, while eight escaped with injuries. The blaze in which many passengers died was caused by a head-on collision between a 22-seat Iveco bus and a Toyota SUV, on the N1 near the Mookgophong off-ramp. Of the 17 dead, 16 burnt to death when the bus in which they were travelling burst into flames following the crash. The driver of the SUV died instantly. Spokesperson for the Limpopo Department of Community Safety, Mike Maringa, said the accident happened after the driver of the SUV allegedly lost control of the vehicle due a tyre burst. He said: “It is alleged that the driver of…

Staff Reporter CAPETONIANS continue to foot the salary bill of convicted murderer and law enforcement officer Morné Horn while he awaits sentencing for killing SAPS member Constable Thandimfundo Sigcu in 2020. This emerged after another law enforcement officer, Luvolwethu Kati allegedly shot and killed homeless man Dumisani Joxo in Rondebosch on Sunday. Horn was convicted of Sigcu’s murder in November and is expected to be sentenced on February 24. Sigcu, who had tried to explain that he was an undercover police officer, had been arresting a man suspected of drug dealing when Horn shot him in the chest, hand and elbow while the alleged suspect, Bongani Jack, died later in hospital after being shot in the head during the same incident. Horn had then handed himself over to the Hawks…

Staff writer WHILE countries in Southern Africa have been transparent and forthcoming with scientific information regarding the Omicron variant, high-income countries have held tightly on to their intellectual property for the Covid-19 vaccines and other technologies. This is according to Akhil Bansal, of Stanford University, in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest bulletin. The emergence of the Omicron variant highlighted the imbalance and inequity of access to Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, he said. Over 7.8 billion doses of vaccines had been administered as of November 27, 2021, yet less than one fourth of those doses were given in lower-middle-income or low-income countries. Studies estimate that the excess mortality from the Covid-19 pandemic is 35 times greater for low-income countries. “Although high-income countries made significant commitments to deliver vaccines through the…

Yogashen Pillay yogashen.pillay@inl.co.za THE Department of Health said yesterday that they are prepared to do their part and work with the relevant departments to allow more fans to attend sport events. According to the existing Covid-19 regulations only 2 000 fans are allowed at sporting events. As the country is in lockdown level 1, there have been calls for more sports fans to be allowed back into stadiums. The Department of Health said yesterday the final decision on allowing more fans at events lay with the National Coronavirus Command Council. But Foster Mohale, spokesperson for the Department of Health, said sporting bodies could make submissions if they wanted more fans to be able to attend events. “Sporting bodies need to send their submission for allowing more fans into stadiums to…

Universities must imbibe epistemic plus normative disobedience In March 2015, UCT student Chumani Maxwele committed a brave action. We argue that this action to many South Africans was unprecedented, ie, to pour human excrement on the statue of the former prime minister of the Cape Colony – Cecil Rhodes. This provocation occurred on one of Rhodes’ personal and long-standing racial legacies – UCT’s upper campus. Chumani’s action caught the media’s attention and made breaking news on digital, print, and social media platforms alike because a significant colonial matrix of power was threatened, especially in an influential white and privileged South African university. However, it is essential to mention that Chumani’s action was not extraordinary, notwithstanding that it ignited #RhodesMustFall and the ensuing #FeesMustFall, which both mutated into various and continuing…

EIGHT people were killed yesterday in a suicide car bomb blast in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, officials said. The attack was claimed by the al-Shabaab jihadist group, which said in a brief statement that it was targeting “foreign officers”. It took place only days after Somali leaders had agreed on a new timetable for long-delayed elections in the troubled Horn of Africa country. The government said in a statement on Twitter that it condemned the “cowardly” suicide attack, and gave a toll of four dead and six injured. “Such acts of terrorism will not derail the peace and the ongoing development in the country. We must unite in the fight against terrorism.” Local government security officer Mohamed Abdi had earlier said that at least six people were killed. “It has…

Rome: Pope Francis, a lover of classical music, made a surprise visit to a Rome record store to bless the premises – and picked up some vinyl while he was there. The 85-year-old pontiff slipped into Stereosound, located near the Pantheon, on Tuesday evening to bless the shop after its recent renovation, a Vatican source said. The owners of the store are long-time friends of the Argentine pontiff, who has previously spoken of the power of music and is said to enjoy classical composers but also tango. He left with a 33 RPM record of classical music, a gift presented by the owner’s daughter, according to Vatican News. A small crowd gathered outside the shop while he was inside, for around 10 minutes, but he made no public comments as…

Grenoble: French police yesterday detained a suspect over the 2012 killing of a British family of Iraqi origin in a remote Alpine region, prosecutors said, a rare development in one of France’s most notorious unsolved cold cases. The arrest will allow investigators to carry out searches and check the individual’s movements around the time of the killing of three members of the Al-Hilli family and a passing cyclist on September 5, 2012, prosecutors in Annecy said. Almost a decade after the killings, French and British police have failed to make any real progress in the case despite a massive effort involving officers on both sides of the Channel.…

Brussels: The European Commission will “swiftly” react to Poland’s reply to the letter of a formal notice it sent to Warsaw in December 2020, commission spokesperson Christian Wigand said. In its letter dated December 22, the EU’s executive arm had called on the Polish government to comply with the European Court of Justice’s July 2021 and October 2021 rulings and liquidate the controversial Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court. Poland had, until Monday midnight, to reply. Should the Polish authorities’ reply prove unsatisfactory, the commission will proceed to send the first request for payment of a daily ¤1million fine, Wigand said.…

WHILE the big guns mostly avoided each other in the Nedbank Cup last-32 draw held in Sandton yesterday, there are still some interesting clashes to look forward to. The more decorated teams should mostly win their games but knockout tournaments always produce upsets and there are bound to be a few in this season’s Nedbank Cup, especially with the pandemic having taken a toll on the overall structure and quality of several teams. Kaizer Chiefs will clash with TS Galaxy in what will be a repeat of the 2019 final, a final famously produced one of the biggest upsets in South African football history as the then GladAfrica Championship side got the better of Amakhosi. In another clash that promises to be entertaining, the attack-minded Cape Town City…

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za IS IT TIME for the South African government to end the National State of Disaster which was declared at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic on March 15, 2020? This is a question on the lips of some captains of industry as the Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, is set to announce whether this will lapse or be extended on Saturday, January 15. The National State of Disaster has been renewed every month on the 15th since March 2020, restricting the number of people who can gather indoors or outdoors, imposing a curfew and costing businesses millions of rand in the process. The business sector said that it is ready to do away with all restrictions following the lifting of…

Heather Rae Young has admitted she didn’t get the “best news” after visiting her fertility doctor. The Selling Sunset star – who is married to Tarek El Moussa – has been open with her fans about her fertility journey after revealing last month she would be freezing her eggs. On Monday, she took to her Instagram Story and said: “We just left my fertility doctor and … not the best news ... So I do have follicles that are growing – I have a total of five, but one of them looks like it’s not going to be mature enough to extract. So we have two that are strong, one that is still growing, and another one that is still growing, so I have four that are looking decent." The…

Staff writer THE Health Department has called on those who experience any adverse events following vaccination to immediately report to the nearest health facility or vaccination site. This after a video clip recently circulated on social media depicting a male patient suffering from what appeared to be throat cancer, claiming this was the result of a Covid-19 vaccine. The department said it noted the video with concern. “Each province and district has allocated persons who are responsible for investigating severe and serious adverse events following immunisation within 48 hours since it has been identified or the health system has been notified thereof. However, there is no time limit to reporting an event. “All adverse events following immunisation are taken seriously, and appropriate action can only be taken if they…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za | POLITICAL BUREAU THE Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is hiring armed bodyguards to protect its more than 500 staff conducting investigations across the country. The close armed protectors would guard SIU employees without delay and be expected to detect threats during an investigation. Their main objective would be to protect the employee and his or her immediate family. Among the SIU’s staff complement are a variety of skilled and semi-skilled professions, including forensic lawyers, investigators, accountants, cyber examiners and forensic data analysts, among others. The SIU plans to appoint private companies that will be responsible for providing at least a minimum of five close armed protectors, as and when required by the unit. The close armed protection service must be provided to SIU employees based on…

Staff writer A DATE has finally been set for the highly-anticipated River Club interdict hearing at the Western Cape High Court next week. The interdict brought by the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council (GKKITC) and the Observatory Civic Association (OCA) is expected to be heard from January 19 to 21. The interdict seeks to stop the development of 150 000m² of concrete at the River Club site in Observatory, a sacred site of the San and Khoi and one that is environmentally sensitive. In a joint statement, the Liesbeek Action Campaign, GKKITC and the Observatory Civic Association said they believed the Rezoning and Environmental Authorisation will be found invalid by the court. “On three occasions the developers were asked to hold off construction pending the high court review but…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za THE council for quality assurance in education, Umalusi, has cleared confusion around the approval of the 2021 National Senior Certificate (NSC) results, which are expected to be announced on January 18. According to the Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) website, the announcement was scheduled for tomorrow. But Umalusi spokesperson Lucky Ditaunyane said they were still on schedule and in the process of finalising the standardisation process. “There was confusion about the item. On Friday we have a private approval meeting between Umalusi and the DBE, thus paving the way for the media announcement on January 18. “Umalusi uses the historical profile of each subject per qualification to make determinations about learner performance. “Depending on qualitative and quantitative data presented to Umalusi, learner marks may be adjusted downward,…

ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe’s comments that the Zondo Commission reports into state capture should be used to unite the ailing party, rather than waging prosecutions on those implicated by it, undermine the efforts and resources that this country has invested in fighting corruption. In essence Mantashe says the ANC is above the country and rule of law, and that the cadres implicated in malfeasance should get away scot-free despite the billions of rand looted by individuals within or linked to his organisation. His comments are in stark contrast to his boss President Cyril Ramaphosa’s commitment to end corruption in the public sector. Mantashe was called on by the Zondo Commission to account for the Bosasa-sponsored security upgrades at his private home. Could his comments be laying a foundation for defence…

Japan has cancelled 160 flights and suspended train traffic in several regions in the north of the country due to heavy snowfalls and strong winds, the NHK broadcaster reported yesterday. These are mainly flights taking off or landing in the Japanese island of Hokkaido. New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido has temporarily suspended its operations due to the need to clear airstrips. Moreover, the movement of 427 trains and electric trains was stopped due to snowfall and storm winds. Up to 60cm of snow fell on the island within 12 hours. In Hokkaido and the north of the Japanese island of Honshu, wind speeds up to 90km/h, with peak winds speeds of up to 126km/h were recorded. According to weather forecasts, about 80cm of snow may fall in some areas in…

Lebanon’s prime minister said yesterday the government had not interfered with the judiciary’s work, after reports that he had put pressure on a judge seeking data from banks in an investigation into the conduct of the central bank governor. Prime Minister Najib Mikati said last month that Governor Riad Salameh, who was at the centre of domestic and international probes over allegations ranging from fraud to embezzlement, should stay in his job to avoid adding to problems in Lebanon as it navigates a deep financial crisis. “It is also necessary to clarify what came out about matters related to the judiciary. In this context, I say it is not true that we interfered in the work of the judiciary or in any decision taken by the judiciary,” Mikati told a…

Ramallah: An 80-year-old Palestinian was found dead in a village in the occupied West Bank early yesterday, his body still handcuffed after an Israeli arrest raid, its mayor said. The Israeli army had no immediate comment. Around 30 to 40 Israeli troops took part in the pre-dawn operation in the village of Jiljiliya, north of Ramallah, mayor Fuad Moutee said. Omar Abdulmajeed Asad and other family members were returning from visiting relatives when they were stopped by the soldiers, Moutee said. After the troops withdrew, villagers found Asad’s body in a building under construction.…

JAKARTA: Indonesian authorities have yet to issue papers to allow 14 coal vessels to depart, a senior official said on Wednesday, as the government prepared to assess whether to further ease an export ban in the world’s biggest shipper of thermal coal. The suspension was implemented on January 1 to avoid widespread domestic power outages, after state utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara reported critically low coal stockpiles, amid complaints that miners were not fulfilling commitments to supply fuel to the firm. The ban has concerned major coal importers, like Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.…