Table of contents for 2022-02-22 in Cape Times

Siphelele Dludla siphelele.dludla@inl.co.za CREDIT rating agencies are likely to keep South Africa’s sovereign debt rating at current levels as they wait to assess Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s Budget announcements tomorrow. Tomorrow’s Budget Review is expected to see fiscal consolidation forecasts kept largely unchanged from his November projections. Currently, all three major global rating agencies have kept South Africa’s sovereign debt below investment grade with varying outlooks, from negative to stable. Moody’s is set to meet on April 1 and November 18, to potentially deliver a credit rating action, while S&P Global dates are May 20 and November 18. Fitch Ratings does not publish dates for South Africa’s credit action, but tends to show a similar pattern. Investec chief economist Annabel Bishop yesterday said the Budget was not expected to see…

Mashudu Sadike mashudu.sadike@inl.co.za UCT has distanced itself from the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC). More than a week ago the Cape Times’ sister newspaper, Pretoria News reported that the alleged instigators of the July unrest had demanded clarity about the relationship between the institution and the CABC. Social commentators Sphithiphithi Evaluator, Thabo Makwakwa, Modibe Modiba, and Land Noli – through lawyer Godrich Gardee – wrote to university Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng seeking clarity on the matter. Following the July unrest, the unit accused the social media commentators of having played a role in inciting the violence via their social media accounts. The commentators filed court papers for the research unit to review and set aside various adverse findings it had made against them. Initially,…

Sepo Hachigonta and Aldo Stroebel INFORMATION, data and knowledge, and the means by which they are acquired, processed, stored and communicated, have always been powerful drivers of human and social advancement. During the past two to three decades, digitisation and data science have been at the core of socio-economic transformation in unprecedented ways, presenting enormous potential for science systems and their application to society. However, despite the many opportunities brought about by digitisation, access to scientific information and data is still a major challenge for many researchers across the globe. For example, while most research articles published today are distributed online, many scientific publishers have returned to the use of biased business models that offer limited to no access to data, and restrict access to information via paywalls. And while…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za RESIDENTS from Harmony and Morgan Villages in Mitchells Plain are still battling as the City continues to issue them with high water bills and the Cape Town Community Housing Company (CTCHC’s), which owns the properties insists they have to pay before they can receive their title deeds. Since residents’ complaints last year, they said the issue was yet to be resolved with the City and CTHC was not taking responsibility to end the empasse. Residents said for years they did not receive any water bills and in some cases the bills were reasonable at between R300 and R400, then about two years ago astronomical bills of up to R100 000 were received. As part of their arrangement with CTCHC, they purchased the property in a manner which…

THE Codesa talks in 1993 had to be done in such a hurry after the callous assassination of Chris Hani by two right-wingers, that a second follow-up one was never envisaged should things go horribly wrong, as they unfortunately have. There was never a sound foundation laid for the new South Africa. Some of the political parties sitting around those tables did so in bad faith, never sincere or honest, let alone of sound integrity and moral conviction. Our white brothers and sisters were never going to support anything and were rather intent on yearning and working feverishly for the fleshpots of apartheid, irrespective of its consequences, led by first the evaporating National Party and then the DA, aided by the Freedom Front and quislings. A lot of the decisions…

Nigeria’s military yesterday said it was probing reports from neighbouring Niger that it accidentally killed children in an air strike targeting an armed group at the border. Troops have been deployed to northwest Nigeria, where heavily-armed criminals known as bandits terrorise communities, forcing more than 70 000 to flee into southern Niger, according to UN figures. On Friday, seven children were killed and five injured by a Nigerian air strike, according to a local governor in Niger. “There was a mistake with the Nigerian strikes on the border that resulted in victims on our territory in the village of Nachade,” said Chaibou Aboubacar, the governor of Maradi region. “The victims are 12 children, seven of them dead and five wounded.” Nigeria has neither confirmed nor denied launching an air strike…

Separatists and nationalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) threaten the stability and integrity of the Balkan nation, so the parties in the interim conflict have to act up to prevent the breakup of the country, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said yesterday. “The nationalists’ and separatists’ rhetoric is increasing in Bosnia and Herzegovina, jeopardising the stability and even the integrity of the country, and the ministers have to make decisions on how to stop these dynamics in Bosnia-Herzegovina and avoid that the country falling apart in pieces,” Borrell said ahead of the Foreign Affairs & Agriculture and Fisheries Council. Last week, he said that the Bosnian Serb issue would be on the agenda of the council, adding that the political situation in the country was worrying. Meanwhile, the power…

A Turkish court ordered leading activist Osman Kavala to remain in jail yesterday, amid fresh calls for his release in the high-profile case that has drawn widespread rebuke. The 64-year-old philanthropist has been held without conviction since October 2017, accused of financing 2013 anti-government protests and playing a role in a coup plot against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has called for Kavala’s release, which Turkey has refused to comply with. This month, the Council of Europe (COE) launched disciplinary action over Turkey’s failure to free him. A three-judge panel yesterday refused to release Kavala and set the next hearing for March 21. Kavala did not appear in court, and his lawyers questioned the tribunal’s impartiality. “Kavala is not being tried in this tribunal,…

Eshlin Vedan eshlin.vedan@inl.co.za AmaZulu’s major problem in the Premiership this season has been their inability to convert draws into wins. So far, Benni McCarthy’s charges have drawn 12 out of their 20 league games this season, which is the most out of any team in the division. The Durban-based club will have to start winning again soon if they want to replicate their second-place finish last season. With the league already virtually won by Mamelodi Sundowns, the best that Usuthu can do is second place as the gap between them and second-place Orlando Pirates is just four points. McCarthy’s team, then, will back themselves to beat TS Galaxy at Moses Mabhida Stadium today. AmaZulu defender Tercious Malepe is aware that the game could be important in terms of determining how…

Siphokazi Vuso siphokazi.vuso@inl.co.za RENOWNED Anglican priest and anti-apartheid activist, Father Michael Lapsley says he is humbled and honoured to be awarded the Niwano Peace Prize. The Niwano Peace Prize Committee, which consists of nine religious leaders from various parts of the world, selected Lapsley for the award in recognition of his “relentless struggle against apartheid and other forms of social discrimination as well as various peace-building activities in other parts of the world”. Lapsley was born in New Zealand in 1949 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1973. He arrived in South Africa at the height of apartheid and began his work as Chaplain on black and white campuses, which exposed him to student activism and the injustices experienced by black students under apartheid. In 1990, he sustained severe…

Okuhle Hlati and Siphokazi Vuso THE axe has fallen on the ANC’s Dullah Omar Region (DOR), the party’s biggest in the Western Cape in terms of membership and population after it could not prove it would be ready to hold its regional conference in March. “The interim provincial committee (IPC) has however noted the slow progress in the DOR which could not meet the required outcomes of the process as outlined in the December meeting. The IPC, having assessed the performance of the region, is not convinced that in its current state, it would meet the deadline for holding a regional conference. “As such, the IPC has taken a decision to dissolve the Dullah Omar Region and mandated the Interim Provincial Working Committee (IPWC) to look into ensuring…

OWN Correspondent STUTTERING can be debilitating and frustrating. This is something Dr Dane Isaacs knows all too well. As a person who stutters, he had to overcome many barriers and had to deal with oppression and discrimination all his life. “Growing up with a stutter has not been the easiest experience. I have been bullied, discriminated against and endured various social and psychological challenges,” says Isaacs. “My stutter has also had a negative impact on my masculine identity. As a man who stutters, I have often felt weak, emasculated and not being able to live up to society’s expectation of what it means to be a man. These experiences have always left me wondering about the disabling and masculinity experience of people who stutter.” Despite these challenges, Isaacs, who is…

Chevon Booysen chevon.booysen@inl.co.za MERE hours after police statistics painted a grim picture regarding crimes against women and children, the body of a homeless woman was allegedly left for hours before emergency services responded to the scene. This as police have asked anyone with information on the identity of the woman, alleged to have been raped and murdered, to come forward. Police spokesperson, Wesley Twigg, said an inquest docket has been opened. “Cape Town Central police are investigating an inquest case following the death of a unknown female in Old Marine Drive, Foreshore, Cape Town. “A post-mortem will be conducted to determine the cause of death,” said Twigg. According to Carlos Mesquita from re-home NPO, Rehoming Collective, the body of the unidentified woman was found in the vicinity of Safe Spaces…

As the official death toll from Covid-19 in South Africa approaches 100 000, two years into the pandemic, the unofficial excess deaths attributed to the virus are at about 270 000, almost three times as high as the official figure. Does the Sars-CoV-2 (Sars-2) virus bear the sole responsibility for this monumental tragedy, or has human error and neglect of science played a major role in the mounting death toll? Will scientific ignorance contribute to more unnecessary deaths when the next variant or the next viral pandemic hits in a few months or years? Obviously, it will. The discovery of Aids in 1981 opened the pandemic era. That was followed by the spread of West Nile Virus, Ebola, Zika and Covid-19, not to mention the Hantavirus epidemic in China…

MONACO: Charlene, Princess of Monaco, 44, is “doing much better” in her recovery from exhaustion. The princess has been undergoing treatment for “exhaustion, both emotional and physical” since November, and her husband Prince Albert, 63, has now given a positive update on her recovery. The prince told the Monaco-Matin newspaper: “Princess Charlene is doing much better. I hope she’ll be back in the Principality very soon.” The prince previously insisted there were no issues with his marriage to the princess – who spent six months in South Africa in 2021.…

LONDON: Jamal Edwards has died at age 31, his company announced. The cause of his death remains unknown. He was the founder of the city’s online music platform SBTV and was considered a music industry pioneer. Edwards created SBTV, which helped launch the careers of stars Ed Sheeran, Jessie J, rapper Skepta and others. In addition to his online platform, Edwards also released a collection of hats on Topman with American Freshman. He has been an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust, a charity run by the Prince of Wales that helps young people start their own companies. Edwards was born on August 24, 1990, in England. London mayor Sadiq Khan joined in the tributes, writing on Twitter that the British music and entertainment scene “has lost one of its brightest…

Talks in Vienna on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers have made “significant progress”, Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said yesterday. Separately, Iran’s top security official Ali Shamkhani said talks with European negotiators were ongoing and would continue while negotiations with the United States were not on the agenda because they would not be the source of “any breakthroughs”. Indirect talks between Tehran and Washington have been held in Vienna since April amid fears about Tehran’s nuclear advances, seen by Western powers as irreversible unless agreement is struck soon. While Khatibzadeh said significant progress was made, he also noted that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” in the Vienna talks. “The remaining issues are the hardest,” he told a weekly press briefing. Khatibzadeh said…

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka yesterday shipped out to Britain the last of several hundred containers filled with thousands of tons of illegally imported waste, officials said. Several Asian countries have in recent years been pushing back against an onslaught of refuse from wealthier nations and have started turning back unwanted shipments. The waste from Britain arrived in Sri Lanka from 2017-2019 and was listed as “used mattresses, carpets and rugs”. But in reality it also had biowaste from hospitals, including body parts from mortuaries. The 45 containers loaded yesterday were the final batch of 263 containers holding 3 000 tons of hazardous waste.…

Wynona Louw wynona.louw@inl.co.za Stormers loose forward Hacjivah Dayimani says the Stormers’ culture has proven to be the difference in their domestic success in the United Rugby Championship (URC). John Dobson’s side are the top South African side and eighth on the overall log after a four-match unbeaten streak. On Saturday they will take on Connacht at the Sportsground (kick-off 3pm). The team depart for Ireland tomorrow. Speaking on how he has settled into the squad since leaving the Lions, the exciting back-rower highlighted the “vibe” in the group as one of the biggest differences. “The one thing that’s different from my time at the Lions and the Stormers is the vibe and the culture, and that makes a massive difference in how you play,” he said during a media briefing…

Zaahier Adams zaahier.adams@inl.co.za Proteas women’s coach Hilton Moreeng believes his team’s successful tour of New Zealand in 2020 will stand them in good stead heading into next month’s World Cup. Although the world may have changed dramatically over the intervening two years, fortunately for the No 2-ranked Proteas the conditions they will encounter during the World Cup in New Zealand have not. Moreeng’s team, of course, blitzed the White Ferns 3-0 on their last trip to the Land of the Long White Cloud just before their march to the T20 World Cup semi-finals in Australia. It was the first time the Proteas had won a series in New Zealand. It certainly helps that the vast majority of that squad are back again, although they are notably without their injured captain…

Philippa Larkin philippa.larkin@inl.co.za ANGLO American Platinum (Amplats), the world’s biggest platinum producer, yesterday delivered a whopping R80 billion dividend to its shareholders as it posted an annual 160 percent hike in profit, bolstered by higher platinum group metals prices (PGMs) and increased sales. The record production and pricing resulted in its headline earnings a share (heps) for the year ended December 31 increased to R79bn, equal to R300.42 per share from R30bn, or R115.54 a share the prior year. This as the mining firm reported a 22 percent increase in the rand basket price for its PGMs to R445.11 per PGM ounce. The year-on-year surge in pricing was driven by rhodium, which in dollars averaged $20 109 (R304 803) an ounce (oz) about 79 percent higher year-on-year. During the reporting…

Nicola Daniels nicola.daniels@inl.co.za FINANCIAL technology solutions companies Mukuru Financial Services and Mukuru Africa have lost their bid to set aside and review a Department of Labour decision rejecting their application to employ over 100 foreign call centre staff. Western Cape High Court Judge Daniel Thulare found the companies had unfairly excluded South African citizens from employment opportunities in South Africa, in favour of foreign nationals. According to court papers, Mukuru Financial Services had – in their application to the department – stated they were unable to find suitably-qualified employees fluent in the indigenous languages of Zimbabwe and Malawi, as well as other relevant languages. They applied for 100 sales and support consultants, 10 controllers and five call centre team leaders. Mukuru Africa applied for 10 customer service representatives, five agents’…

Okuhle Hlati okhule.hlati@inl.co.za WHILE UCT’s council held a special meeting yesterday to consider the overall approach to outstanding student fee debts, students occupied the university’s Bremner administration building. As at February 17, UCT was owed R169 million and it’s cumulative debt was R296 million, an increase on the debt over the last several years, the institution said. Protest actions by the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) calling for no student to be left behind have been ongoing for about a week. Students said the 2022 academic year was continuing despite the registration of thousands of students allegedly still pending and exclusion for outstanding fees. However, UCT vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng said the executive made repeated assurances, backed up by detailed reports, that the backlog of student registrations had been cleared and…

Staff Reporter Driving under the influence of alcohol continues to plague South Africa, with 961 drunk drivers arrested last month. Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula released the first of the 2022 Monthly Road statistics in Johannesburg yesterday. He said about 1 051 drivers were arrested for operating public transport vehicles without the necessary operating licence and 212 were arrested for overloading passengers. “During the month under review, 637 fatal crashes were recorded accounting for 774 fatalities. This represents a 75% increase in crashes from 484 and a 78% increase in fatalities from 602, year-on-year,” said Mbalula. Gauteng was the worst-affected with 138 deaths followed by Limpopo which recorded 123 fatalities and 121 deaths in the Western Cape. Pedestrians accounted for the highest number of fatalities at 39% followed by passengers at…

Zelda Venter zelda.venter@inl.co.za THE Department of Justice and Correctional Services must pay up after a woman fractured her arm when she slipped and fell on a veranda at the Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Centre in Pretoria. The incident happened as the machine with which an inmate was cleaning the floor squirted soapy water in her pathway. Judge Norman Davis, sitting at the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, ordered that the department was 80% liable for the damages Sandra Kleinhans could prove that she had suffered. She was 20% liable for her fall, he said, because she saw that the inmate was cleaning the floor. While she realised that it may be slippery, she did not ask her son-in-law, who was with her, for assistance, nor did she hold on to something…

MUNICIPALITIES under ANC control need to adopt an aggressive approach when it comes to their revenue-collection methods against defaulting clients. Recently, municipalities that fell into the hands of the opposition after last year’s local government elections, including Tshwane and the City of Joburg, have been disconnecting defaulting businesses such as the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria and the Gautrain station in Gauteng. The approach has also seen services to government departments being suspended, after they neglected to pay their bills. Such aggressive collection tactics have led to these municipalities recovering billions of rand in outstanding debt that will play a crucial role in driving service delivery, and infrastructure development. For the longest time, the ANC-governed municipalities have been reluctant to act against defaulting government departments and big businesses, but were quick…

MOSCOW: The Kremlin warned yesterday there are no concrete plans for a summit between Russian and US leaders, as diplomats scrambled to head off the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. The idea of a meeting between presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden has been championed by France and cautiously welcomed by Ukraine as a way to avert a catastrophic war in Europe. But Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said: “It’s premature to talk about any specific plans for organising any kind of summits”, as no “concrete plans” had been put in place. A French presidential official later called on Putin to make a decision on the meeting, calling the situation “very dangerous”. “It is today possible to move towards a summit ... it is up to President Putin to…

WELLINGTON: New Zealand police accused anti-vaccine demonstrators of throwing human waste at them yesterday, during a pre-dawn operation to place roadblocks around a protest camp outside Wellington’s parliament. In a bid to prevent further expansion of the protest, about 300 police were deployed at 3.30am escorting forklifts used to place concrete barricades on roads. Police said “a large number of vocal protesters were present” and eight arrests were made. “Seven officers sustained injuries during the operation, ranging from scratches to an ankle injury. “Some officers also had human waste thrown over them by protesters.”…

TOKYO: Strong winds and heavy snow hit the Japanese prefecture of Hokkaido, causing the cancellation of 683 train runs, as well as 136 flights, media reported yesterday. Flights arriving at and departing from the New Chitose Airport, as well as local flights, are cancelled, NHK reported. An area of low pressure combined with a low-temperature front caused heavy snowfall combined with squally winds in the north of the country, according to the broadcaster. In the next 24 hours, Japan’s northern and northeastern regions may see snowfall, with the depth of the snow being from 19-27 inches, according to the media.…

BRUSSELS: The main political grouping in the European Parliament has called for a review of Switzerland’s banking practices and its possible inclusion in the EU’s dirty-money blacklist after leaks of Credit Suisse documents. Media published the results of “Swiss Secrets” probes into a leak of data on thousands of accounts held at the bank in past decades and said they appeared to show clients included human rights abusers and businessmen under sanctions. Credit Suisse strongly rejected claims of wrongdoing. The conservative European People’s Party called for a “re-evaluation of Switzerland as a high-risk money-laundering country”.…