Table of contents for 2022-02-08 in Cape Times

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za RACIAL and gender diversity continue to be key themes for required change on South African boards, according to an annual research survey on non-executive directors of listed companies that was conducted by professional services firm PwC. Of the South African non-executive directors (including chairpersons), most non-executive directors (50 percent) were white, with black Africans making up 40 percent. Indian/Asians made up 6 percent and coloureds 4 percent. The representation of black Africans and whites as non-executive chairpersons increased to 35 percent from 32 percent, and to 58 percent from 52 percent respectively, while the Indian/Asian and coloured categories decreased to 4 percent from 11 percent in 2020, and to 2 percent from 5 percent in…

Loyiso Sidimba loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za | POLITICAL BUREAU AFRIFORUM yesterday told the Equality Court sitting at the South Gauteng High Court that Struggle songs like “Dubul’ibhunu (Shoot the boer)” led to the murder of white farmers. Ernst Roets, the organisation’s head of policy and action, gave evidence at the hate speech trial brought against EFF leader Julius Malema and party MP and former spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi. ”There is evidence of songs like this leading to farm murders,” Roets testified. White farmers were repeatedly slandered and their murders denied and downplayed by politicians, he said. According to Roets, even the government’s own research completely debunks the claims that the violence experienced by white farmers is due to labour-related issues. AfriForum wants the Equality Court to order its registrar to within 30 days…

Siyavuya Mzantsi siyavuya.mzantsi@inl.co.za AFTER seven months of promising to have the alleged instigators behind the deadly July unrest arrested, President Cyril Ramaphosa has failed to deliver on that promise, sparking concerns by the expert panel he tasked with probing the events leading to the mayhem. “The fact that none of the organisers or real instigators of the violence have been apprehended is a matter of concern. If there is such intelligence that has been shared by the intelligence services, the President should address any systemic weaknesses that may have caused such intelligence to escape his review. “If the President has received intelligence about the instigators, the question would be why has he not assured the nation that the government will act on this matter? “Consequently, to establish trust, the President…

Staff writer VACCINE hesitancy in South Africa declined slightly from 28% last July to around 25% in November, showing stability among the doubtful adult population. This is according to findings of the Vaccine Inequality and Hesitancy and Barriers to Covid-19 Vaccination research, conducted by the Centre for Social Change at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in collaboration with the Developmental, Ethical and Capable State research division of the Human Sciences Research Council. While overall the level of vaccine hesitancy was stable, there were some important positive shifts in vaccine hesitancy, the reports found. “The level of vaccine hesitancy among those aged 18-24 years has declined by 16 percentage points and by 9 percentage points among 25-34- year-olds. It has, however, remained stable in older age groups. “Vaccine hesitancy among white…

Staff writer THE City of Cape Town says it has cleared the online motor vehicle licensing backlog that developed during the hard lockdown. It said the turnaround time for the issuing of vehicle licence discs was now back to normal. “The City urges residents to continue using the convenient online e-Services for their urgent business, where possible. “When using e-Services to renew their motor vehicle registration and licence discs, residents may expect their disc on their doorstep within 10 working days, depending on the SA Post Office’s delivery time,” it said. Customers also had the option of collecting vehicle registration documents and licence discs themselves. They should contact the City if they prefer to collect their disc rather than receiving it in the mail. Mayco member for finance Siseko Mbandezi…

Marsha Dean Marsha.Dean@inl.co.za A CAPE Flats designer has pursued her passion for fashion and started her own brand called One of a Kind. Sophalene Mouton Papier, 27, embarked on the life-changing journey after the company she worked for closed down as a result of Covid-19 and she was left without an income. The Elsies River resident said she made clothing part-time but when her company closed she had the opportunity to pursue her passion full-time. “Designing clothes started at the age of 7, when I started making clothes for my dolls and myself. “The inspiration behind the name One of a Kind is because we live on the Cape Flats. “Everyone wears the same clothes and does the same thing and we just wanted to stand out. “We want to…

WHO would have thought that choosing the right candidate as our next chief justice would be such a tough and controversial one. It now seems all too obvious that it had to be “a girl”. Did the other three (male) candidates set themselves up as “also-rans”? Or were they “set up to fail”? Those who criticise the transparent process to elect a chief justice should remember how this was done during apartheid rule. Similarly, right through the 296 years of colonial rule since 1652, there have not been examples of transparency or of judges of “another colour”. Yet, during all this time spanning almost four centuries, the death penalty was in force. And more than 90% of those thousands sentenced to death were from the marginalised, down-trodden and poor who…

MOSCOW: French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday flew to Moscow in a bid to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to dial down tensions with Ukraine, where Western powers fear the Kremlin plans an invasion. Moscow gave the visit a guarded welcome, saying it would listen to Macron’s ideas, but played down expectations of a breakthrough. Russia has deployed more than 100 000 troops near Ukraine’s borders. It denies planning an invasion, but says it could take unspecified military measures if its demands are not met, including a promise by Nato never to admit Kyiv. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia was aware of Macron’s plans to ease tensions. But he added: “The situation is too complex to expect decisive breakthroughs in the course of one meeting. “In recent days there…

Netflix released a new true-crime documentary last Wednesday about a man who filmmakers claim scammed dozens of victims, mainly women, for an estimated $10 million (about R155m) after matching with them online. By Friday, Tinder said it had banned the “Tinder Swindler.” Dating app users reportedly can no longer swipe right on Shimon Hayut, also known as “Simon Leviev,” the man who, as detailed by the documentary, posed as the billionaire son of a Russian-Israeli diamond tycoon and wooed women by showering them with lavish goods, then demanded they send money, claiming his life was in danger. | The Washington Post…

A Sri Lankan court yesterday ordered the release of a lawyer arrested over his alleged ties to the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings and held for nearly two years on charges rights groups say lacked evidence. Hejaaz Hizbullah was arrested in April 2020 on suspicion of being linked to the devastating series of attacks on churches and hotels that left 279 people dead. But after prosecutors failed to provide evidence of his involvement in the attacks, blamed on a local jihadist group, he was instead charged with inciting “racial hatred” under Sri Lanka’s expansive Prevention of Terrorism Act. The Court of Appeal said “draconian elements” of the law had been misused to keep Hizbullah detained and noted that parliament had begun a process to reform the act. Yesterday’s decision to grant…

BRUSSELS: The EU is talking to the US and other suppliers about increasing gas deliveries to Europe, amid concerns over supply from Russia, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said. “We are building a partnership for energy security with the US, which is primarily about more LNG gas supplies. We are talking to other gas suppliers, for example Norway, about increasing supplies to Europe,” she told a conference organised by German media yesterday. Escalating tensions between the West and Moscow over Ukraine have raised concerns about Russian gas flows to Europe, with gas prices soaring in recent months amid lower-than-expected imports from Russia. | Reuters…

Rooted to the foot of the Premier League table, Burnley are battling for survival on and off the field as they prepare for the visit of Manchester United to Turf Moor today. An American-backed takeover just over a year ago has so far failed to live up to hopes it would give manager Sean Dyche a more competitive budget to work with. Dyche is the longest serving manager in England's top flight and has kept Burnley in the richest league in the world for six consecutive seasons. However, beating the drop this season may be beyond even the 50-year-old as a lack of resources catches up with the Clarets. For fans there are fears that Burnley are following the example set by United for the wrong reasons. A controversial leveraged…

THIS TIME LAST year, we wrote about how difficult forecasting was and then proceeded to outline five possible investment trends for 2021. Interestingly, we were confident that the pandemic would be controlled. In hindsight, this proved unduly optimistic, as was our view that global inflation was unlikely to become a significant issue. The chart on the right shows how Covid-19 cases have soared globally, while CPI (consumer price index) inflation has remained elevated across the 20 largest industrial economies. In hindsight, these two wrong calls were related as successive Covid-19 waves and lockdowns skewed demand from services to durable goods, and severely disrupted global supply chains, leading to broad-based and substantial increases in prices. We were on firmer ground in predicting that global growth would come back strongly. In 2021,…

Rapula Moatshe rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa must phase out the current national state of disaster and allow the Department of Health to fully take over the responsibility of handling health matters pertaining to the Covid-19 pandemic. This is according to the National Liquor Traders Association, in an open letter to Ramaphosa. The state of disaster was implemented in March 2020, in line with the Disaster Management Act, following the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country. Traders also want Ramaphosa to allow the parliamentary process to resume and hold the executive accountable on how it dealt with Covid-19 issues. Convenor of traders Lucky Ntimane said Ramaphosa must use the State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Thursday to announce an end of the state of disaster. In addition, he said, liquor…

Nicola Daniels SMALL-scale fishers won the first round in their battle to have a seismic survey off the West Coast halted when the Western Cape High Court ruled it cannot proceed until full arguments can be heard. “The respondents (Searcher Geodata UK Limited and Search Seismic Australia) are directed forthwith to discontinue any activities intended to give effect to or related to the seismic survey of the west and south-west coast of South Africa that commenced on or about 24 January 2022,” said Judge Daniel Thulare. The outcome came after Searcher had failed to submit their answering affidavits ahead of the hearing yesterday, resulting in the judge not being able to hear full arguments. Judge Thulare has since ordered that Searcher file their answering affidavits by February 9, after which…

Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za THE Public Protector’s office has said it was “puzzled” by the costs order made against it as the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) found in favour of former Western Cape premier Helen Zille in the matter involving her controversial tweets about colonialism. The SCA yesterday set aside Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s finding that Zille had breached sections of the executive ethics code when she tweeted “for those claiming the legacy of colonialism was only negative, think of our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water, etc. Would we have had a transition into specialised health care and medication without colonial influence?” The tweet had elicited various responses, with the EFF particularly accusing her of “embracing colonialism heritage”. Zille had approached the high court in Pretoria to review and…

Reuters and Staff writer IT IS unclear whether the furry guests at Superwoof Dog Hotel really appreciate their particular status symbol, whether their long ears are attuned to the fine jazz, or, for that matter, what they make of the Sky Deck’s touted view of Table Mountain. Five stars is usually the most a luxury hotel can obtain but one in Cape Town gives its canine guests such a pampering its owners say it deserves six. The Superwoof Dog Hotel provides the pooches of well-to-do South Africans with the kind of treatment many humans in poverty-stricken South Africa could only dream of. “We’ve really tried to make sure that we offer a six-star service,” said Watson Mpala, a dog handler at Superwoof. “With 24-hour supervision and the luxuries of our…

Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za GOOD Party secretary-general Brett Herron has assured residents he will continue to act on allegations of corruption and maladministration as he prepares to move from the provincial government to the National Assembly. Herron resigned as a member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament last Friday, a position he has held since 2019. GOOD's national organiser Shaun August will leave the National Assembly to fill his shoes. August has served in the National Assembly since 2019. This follows a decision made by the party’s leadership in preparation for the upcoming general election in 2024. Herron, who is a lawyer by profession, has also served as the mayoral committee member for transport and urban planning in the City. He had left the DA in November 2018 after the now…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za GENDER-based violence (GBV) activist June Dolley Major has vowed to sleep outside the office of the Clicks Group in Woodstock until someone receives her memorandum calling for the company to stop doing business with Heart FM until a senior manager embroiled in a sexual harassment allegation is removed from their employ. But the Clicks Groups said it had no current marketing campaigns on Heart FM. “The last Clicks advertisements on the station were aired on January 21, 2022. Clicks Group does not condone violence against women. Clicks Group realises the terrible impact that GBV has on particularly women in our society. Clicks Group conducts various programmes to raise awareness of GBV issues and to encourage people to speak out when they are aware of domestic abuse or…

Their presence in a body appointing judges is a threat to the establishment The battle between conventional modernist thought and emerging black philosophy has defined 20th century political society since the age of anti-slavery and the independence movement in Africa. At the crux of the debate is whether the conceptual basis of our society, be it in economics, politics, literature, the law or academia, is dependent on the disenfranchisement, oppression and omission of those who have been crafted outside of the frameworks of existence. That is to say, the systems and institutions of society were created without consideration of those who were outside the bounds of what is considered civility and humanity. The law in South Africa, notably in recent times, has not been spared from what is admittedly an…

Emergency rescuers were struggling yesterday to reach parts of Madagascar ravaged by a cyclone over the weekend because many roads and bridges were impassable, while rising river levels were threatening to displace more people, officials said. Cyclone Batsirai slammed into the island late on Saturday, battering the eastern coastline until it moved away late on Sunday, leaving at least 20 people dead, 43 000 displaced and some towns and villages largely destroyed. Madagascar, with a population of nearly 30 million, had already been dealing with the aftermath of Cyclone Ana, which killed 55 people and displaced 130 000 two weeks earlier, and with a drought and food emergency in its southern Grand Sud region. President Andy Rajoelina flew into the coastal town of Mananjary, normally about 500km…

ABOUT 70 episodes of Joe Rogan’s podcast were removed from Spotify as musicians protest the streaming service for allowing the controversial podcaster to amplify falsehoods about the coronavirus and object to his use of a racial slur. It was not immediately clear why the episodes of the Joe Rogan Experience were removed and Spotify did not respond to a request for comment. One guest who appeared on one of the pulled episodes said they believed Rogan used the n-word during their appearance – and all the purged episodes appear to pre-date the pandemic. The website JREMissing, which tracks missing episodes of the Joe Rogan Experience and records when they were removed from Spotify, first noted that 70 podcast episodes went missing from the streaming platform on February 4. Rogan on…

Baghdad: Iraq’s parliament yesterday indefinitely postponed a scheduled vote for the republic’s president after most major political blocs boycotted the session. The sweeping no-show deepens a political crisis in the war-scarred country which, almost four months after a general election, still hasn’t chosen a new prime minister. The assembly vote had been set for noon for the head of state – a post with a four-year mandate held by convention by a member of Iraq’s Kurdish minority, and currently occupied by Barham Saleh. But a series of boycott calls had made it highly unlikely the 329-seat parliament in Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone would clinch the necessary quorum. | AFP…

PARIS: A new publicly funded multi- billion euro fund is being created to boost investment in Europe’s tech sector, to allow it to compete with US and Asian rivals, France’s finance minister said yesterday. Bruno Le Maire said home-grown European tech start-ups needed far higher levels of financing if Europe is to reduce its dependence on foreign tech giants. He said he would give details of the new fund of funds today with his German counterpart Christian Lindner, but said it would feed 10 to 20 funds “at a minimum value of €1 billion (R17bn) to finance tech champions”. “Our ultimate target is to have 10 technology companies worth more than €100 billion each by 2030,” Le Maire said, as he opened a conference on digital sovereignty. |…

Stuart Hess stuart.hess@inl.co.za And now for the World Cup. Actually, now for 10 days of quarantine, then practice, warm-up games and then the World Cup. The next month is both busy and not busy but will be quite long for the South African team that journeyed to New Zealand yesterday. They go into the 50-over World Cup classed in the category of ‘strong contender’. They would have been second favourites behind the Australians, but Dane van Niekerk’s injury-induced absence is such a big a blow that it drops the Proteas’ chances down a notch. Nevertheless, under the astute leadership of Sune Luus they pulled off a come-from-behind series win against the West Indies, to provide a necessary boost in confidence after four months of not playing. In addition, the absence…

Edward West edward.west@inl.co.za THE OCEANA Group has suspended its chief financial officer (CFO), Hajra Karrim, “on a precautionary” basis ahead of the anticipated completion of an internal audit investigation by law firm ENSAfrica into how it accounts for its US fishing interests. The fishing group said yesterday that it had started a process to appoint an acting CFO. At the end of January the company said it planned to release the investigation report around February 10. Oceana had warned the market last October that its results would be delayed due to a problem around its ownership of US fish-meal and fish oil processing company Daybrook Fisheries, which Oceana bought for R4.6 billion in 2015. The deal had included a 25 percent interest in US fishing company Wesbank, as…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za THE fight against mandatory vaccinations in the workplace continues, despite an urgent application to declare an employer’s mandatory vaccination policy unlawful being struck off the court roll for lack of urgency. Trade union Solidarity approached the Labour Court on an urgent basis, on behalf of two of its members, for an order declaring the mandatory vaccination policy and any other related policies of business solutions company Small Enterprise Employers of South Africa (Seesa) to be unlawful. Seesa adopted a policy, titled “Covid-19 Admission to Premises Policy”, which seeks to prohibit any unvaccinated employee from entering the workplace. This had resulted in the two workers being refused access when they reported for work on January 3, and they were informed that they would not be paid. As a…

Chevon Booysen Chevon.booysen@inl.co.za ALLEGED self-confessed child murderer, Daniel Smit, may face more criminal charges as the investigation into the kidnapping and murder of Jerobejin van Wyk, 13, unfolds. Smit, 56, appeared in the Klawer Magistrate’s Court yesterday, where tempers flared as the community protested outside, voicing their anger at the heinous crime. National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, said Smit faced charges of murder, kidnapping, assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and defeating the ends of justice. “The first appearance is in connection with the murder of 13-year-old Jerobejin van Wyk. The case has been postponed until April 26, 2022, for further investigation. “The accused's lawyer has indicated that the accused does not intend to apply for bail. If he does apply for bail, the State will oppose…

Staff writer EVIDENCE gathered as part of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Nutrition and Food Safety review suggests food marketing, pervasive across platforms, mostly promotes foods that contribute to unhealthy diets.. The review was requested by the WHO Nutrition Guidance Expert Advisory Group (NUGAG) Subgroup on Policy Actions, as part of the evidence to formulate an updated guideline of its policies to protect children from the harmful impact of food marketing. It included 143 content analysis studies and 36 consumer research studies. It noted less healthy foods featured more frequently than the advertising of fruits and vegetables. “There were few nutrition related public service announcements and little health education content, the review found. “In at least one study, adolescents’ exposure to marketing for foods that contribute to unhealthy diets was…

ZELDA VENTER zelda.venter@inl.co.za THE Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, yesterday ordered that the owner of a unit in a townhouse complex in Pauls- hof in Sandton was liable for damages to the mother of a then 11-year-old boy who was electrocuted when he opened a tap to fill a bucket of water. Michael Dempsey offered to wash his mother’s car on the afternoon of September 10, 2015. He went to a tap outside a neighbour’s unit at the Stonebrook complex to fill his bucket. When he touched the tap, a live electrical current flowed through it. His hand became stuck to the tap and he was electrocuted for one or two minutes, before the electricity inside the unit was switched off. Michael shouted at his mother for help. When she tried…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za RETURNING to full-time learning meant a return to worse than ever crammed classrooms for some schools in the Western Cape. The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) said yesterday it was still collating information from the eight districts to determine which schools could not return to full capacity for reasons relating to capacity and classroom shortages. While the department expressed relief that pupils went back to class on a full-time basis yesterday, it said three schools remained on the rotation system. “Teaching and learning continued at all schools despite significant changes in their timetables at the majority of our schools. Three schools have reported that they cannot bring back all learners due to infrastructure damage and therefore a shortage of classrooms as a result of fire damage…

The sudden impact of Covid-19 affected many sectors of society, including basic and higher education in the country. Some schools were able to adapt to distance or virtual learning and thrived, while others did not. The virus exacerbated the inequality that exists at primary and high schools as access to technology and devices were crucial to any form of learning. As all pupils return to full daily attendance and the social distance requirement has been removed, it is crucial that teachers and pupils remain hyper-vigilant. Education Minister Angie Motshekga said while restrictions are being eased, “all of us have a direct responsibility to ensure that we prevent the spread of the virus and its variants”. “Medical science has informed the decisions that have been made, and as a sector, we…

Ghana’s finance ministry said that Moody’s decision to downgrade its credit rating was made by omitting key information and revealed an institutional bias against African economies. Rating agency Moody’s downgraded Ghana from B3 to CAA1 on Friday, citing the “increasingly difficult task government faces in addressing the intertwined liquidity and debt challenges”. It was Ghana’s second downgrade in three weeks, after Fitch Ratings adjusted Ghana from B to B- last month, citing concerns for its ability to issue bonds in 2022, sent its dollar bonds tumbling. “We are gravely concerned about what appears to be an institutionalised bias against African economies in this aspect … with little regard for the adverse impact on the cost and access of financing for African Sovereigns,” the ministry said, adding Moody’s had failed to…

JERUSALEM: Israel has announced it is setting up a state commission of inquiry after a newspaper yesterday reported illicit use by police of powerful spyware against confidants of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a string of other public figures. Pegasus, a cellphone hacking tool made by Israel’s NSO Group, was used to “phish for intelligence even before any investigation had been opened against the targets, and without judicial warrants”, Calcalist daily said in an unsourced report. Those targets included a son of, and two aides, to Netanyahu – on trial on corruption charges – as well as a co-defendant and several witnesses, and, separately, two former officials suspected in leaks to journalists, Calcalist said. Lawyers for Netanyahu – who denies wrongdoing – urged that proceedings against him be suspended.…

Khartoum: Sudanese security forces yesterday fired tear gas at thousands of demonstrators calling for civilian rule and justice for protesters killed since last year’s coup, witnesses said. The tear gas was fired as demonstrators were heading towards the presidential palace in the capital Khartoum, in the latest rally against the October coup led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. Mass protests have been regular in Sudan since the coup which derailed the country’s rocky transition to civilian rule following the 2019 ousting of autocratic president Omar al-Bashir. At least 79 people have been killed and hundreds wounded in the crackdown on anti-coup demonstrations. | AFP…

Mihlali Baleka mihlali.baleka@inl.co.za Orlando Pirates co-coach Mandla Ncikazi says their win over AmaZulu in the Nedbank Cup last 32 on Sunday will serve as a huge morale booster in all the remaining competitions in the second half of the season. After a elongated-hiatus due to the recently concluded Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, the domestic season returned last week via the Nedbank Cup, where the Bucs defeated Usuthu 1-0 in the main attraction of the week to progress to the last-16. The Buccaneers’ goal was scored by Deon Hotto in the 53rd minute but this win was also important as it laid bare Pirates’ ambition of winning week-in and week-out in the final half of the 2021/22 season – where three trophies are still up for grabs. Ncikazi, however,…

Wynona Louw wynona.louw@inl.co.za The Stormers sure did a lot of things right in their 20-10 United Rugby Championship match against the Sharks at Cape Town Stadium at the weekend, and one of the most pleasing aspects was how they closed out the game. In their previous game against the Sharks at Kings Park, John Dobson’s team were far from their best. They were demolished in the scrums for a large chunk of the game and errors from both teams only added to what was a rather frustrating show. But on Saturday, the Stormers were well in control. They did much, much better at the scrums - even though the Sharks did manage to edge them. Their defence was the standout feature of their performance; they brought some good touches on…

Herman Gibbs herman.gibbs@africannewsagency.com This year’s celebration of African football will long be overshadowed by the scars of a tragedy that killed eight people at the Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon. It was Carlos Queiroz, the Mozambican-born coach of Egypt, who reminded Samuel Eto'o, the president of the Cameroonian Football Federation, that Africa's devotion and love for football should be evident at the continental showpiece. "Football is about celebration, it's about joy, it's about happiness,” said Queiroz, in response to Eto'o, who warned his fellow countryman to prepare for "war" ahead of Cameroon's semi-final against Egypt. No-one could have foreseen the tragedy which happened at the 60 000-seater Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé when hosts Cameroon played Comoros in a Round of 16 fixture. Initial reports into the cause of the…