Table of contents for 2023-01-06 in Cape Times

THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said it hoped that the ANC would make use of its 111th anniversary to reflect on the government’s increasing inability to grow the economy, fix the load shedding crisis and reduce unemployment and poverty in South Africa. The anniversary celebrations are set to take place in the Free State this weekend. The event is marked to drum up support for the main January 8 statement, which is expected to take place at the Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium, also in Bloemfontein, on Sunday. Cosatu national spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla said they expected immediate solutions. “The ANC is increasingly presiding over a nation that is politically unstable, that experiences periodical rioting, suffers from rampant crime levels and is hungrier with a high-disease burden. “The ANC…

WITH more than seven million emergency calls to 10111 being dropped and police call centres operating with 41.5% of the ideal staff complement, the situation was dire but came as no surprise to anti-crime activists who received complaints from community members daily. The statistics were based on feedback from Police Minister Bheki Cele for the financial years 2020/21 and 2021/22, and from April 1, 2022 until present, following a parliamentary question by DA MP Andrew Whitefield. Whitefield wanted to know how many staff there should be and how many people were actually employed at each 10111 centre, as well as the number of dropped calls that had been recorded in respect of each call centre. While the ideal number for the 2020/2021 year was 3 344, a total of only…

An Australian and a Norwegian family were brought to safety in two separate mountain rescues on Wednesday. The dedicated teams of professionals and volunteers from Wilderness Search and Rescue (WSAR) safely retrieved the visiting hikers after receiving distress calls on both incidents. In their first rescue, WSAR assisted the Australian hiker, believed to be in his 50s, after he fell while hiking at Blinkwater Ravine above Camps Bay on Wednesday morning. “He slipped and fell while attempting to ascend a steep section of the trail, injuring his ankle. “A call for assistance was made after he was unable to hike any further. WSAR teams were immediately activated and were quickly transported to the top of the mountain with the kind assistance of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway. “The teams swiftly…

The Hawks say more arrests are imminent following a botched cash-in transit robbery and robbery of a firearm during an attack on a cash van outside Mossel Bay. This came after they arrested two suspects, aged 32 and 36, for the December 6 attack, in which an armoured Fidelity Cash Solutions company vehicle was attacked and one of the security guards was robbed of his official firearm by six men at an Engen garage. Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani said: “They then tried to access the vault of the vehicle, but didn’t succeed in accessing the cash. They left the scene in a getaway vehicle that was later found abandoned. “Through preliminary investigation, one of the suspects was identified and on January 4 (Wednesday), the George DPCI National Priority Violent Crimes…

Due to author modesty, I find that most autobiographies of cricketing greats disappoint because they tend to grossly underplay the cricketer’s prowess. Thankfully, this restraint does not pertain to biographies. The globally acclaimed former Proteas’ cricket captain Faf du Plessis, a superb captain, batsman and fielder, has just penned his eponymous autobiography, FAF. While suffering the shortcomings of modesty, FAF offers something unusual and of tremendous value, rather than being a “this happened, that happened” autobiography; Faf du Plessis offers us a heady combination of personal introspection and his insight into cricket as he sees it. “I’m not setting out to write a book about how great I was. Because I wasn’t (sic!). I’m writing this book as a flawed man who has been forged in fire and has survived…

Major and minor military powers have embarked on a military rearmament programme that is truly staggering. An arms race that could destabilise the geopolitics of the decades ahead. Indeed, evidence is steadily building that growth and the perverse deadly capabilities lie at the core, threatening to produce a serious imbalance in the projection of power. Many of the participants are already so affluent, powerful and technologically advanced in global terms. Coupled with these persisting images are stark new spectres of the future. Drone warfare linked to artificial intelligence is changing the balance of power on land, at sea, and in the air. The brutal conflict in Ukraine has witnessed drone and missile warfare unprecedented in a modern conflict.The infusion of these weapons in every sphere of attack and defence has…

Britain’s Prince Harry says brother and heir to the throne Prince William knocked him to the floor during a 2019 argument over Harry’s wife Meghan in his much-awaited memoir which went on sale in Spain. The altercation between the sons of King Charles is detailed in Harry’s book Spare which was due to be published on January 10, but media have been able to obtain copies in Spain. Details of its contents also come as ITV released a clip of an interview with Harry in which he said he could not commit to attending his father’s coronation in May. In the book, Harry says the brawl with William took place at Harry’s London home. William had called Meghan “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”. “He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my…

Islamabad: Pakistan senate chairperson Sadiq Sanjrani has written to the Norwegian Nobel Committee backing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the next Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to resolve the Ukrainian crisis. “The Russia-Ukraine war had quickly turned into a nuclear flashpoint that could have ended in catastrophe for the whole world. “Due to his untiring efforts, effective interventions with both sides, he single-handedly averted a global disaster,” Sanjrani wrote. He said that Erdogan was a true statesman and a leader, who always strived for the betterment and prosperity of not just his country, but the region and the world. The Senate chief underlined that the Turkish president carried the true message of the Prophet Muhammad and his teachings of peace, tolerance and love for all humanity, as he…

PARIS: France continues to back its envoy in Burkina Faso despite a request by the Burkinabe government to replace him amid growing anti-French sentiment likely fuelled by Russian mercenaries, Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said yesterday. The government requested the departure of France’s ambassador last month – a move the French described as “not standard practice.” Relations between France and the former French colony in West Africa have deteriorated after repeated military coups. A French diplomatic source said the request was being assessed, and there was no plan to withdraw its envoy at this stage. | Reuters…

London: Extinction Rebellion climate campaigners have announced a temporary halt to public disruption in the UK as they seek broader support, even as other activist groups vow to maintain radical tactics. XR, as it is also known, has spawned more radical groups such as Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil, whose recent stunts include throwing soup at the glass covering Van Gogh’s Sunflowers in London’s National Gallery. But in a surprise twist on New Year’s Eve, Extinction Rebellion announced in a post: “We quit”. It said it was trying a different approach and would “temporarily shift away from public disruption as a primary tactic”. | AFP…

Cape Town City will look to revive their stuttering season when they host fifth place Orlando Pirates at the Cape Town Stadium tomorrow. Eric Tinkler’s side head into the game 11th on the log with just 16 points. They have been unable to replicate their heroics from last season which saw them finish second and qualify for the CAF Champions League for the first time in their history. The Citizens are 18 points adrift of top-of-the-table Mamelodi Sundowns and a further 10 points behind third-place Richards Bay FC. City have lost three out of their last five games which most recently included a 1-0 defeat to SuperSport United. The pressure is mounting on Tinkler to turn things around and, following the defeat to Matsatsantsa, he conceded that things were just…

Jurie Roux has stepped down as SA Rugby CEO “in the best interests of the game and the organisation”, president Mark Alexander has told Independent Media. Roux completed a 12-year stint at the local rugby governing body on December 31, and has been rumoured to be on the move to sport investors CVC Capital Partners, who are believed to be in discussions with SA Rugby on a private equity deal. The 52-year-old Roux’s departure from SA Rugby comes on the back of the controversy around his corruption case with previous employers Stellenbosch University. He was ordered by an arbitrator to repay R37-million to the university for misappropriating funds while working at their finance department between 2002 and 2010 – while he was also the chairman of the university’s Maties rugby…

ANC members and leaders in KwaZulu-Natal need to remember the importance of working with other provinces, and making compromises when necessary in order to remain an influential bloc in national politics. This was the view expressed by a number of members attending the hybrid ANC national elective conference at the Durban Exhibition Centre yesterday. The conference had to be postponed last month because delegates were unable to complete the programme. The conference resumed yesterday in a hybrid format – with delegates joining from other provinces. The gathering, which was attended by a number of leaders, including former president Jacob Zuma, Dr Zweli Mkhize, Nathi Mthethwa and Malusi Gigaba, will continue today before the party’s January 8 celebrations in the Free State this weekend. Many delegates attending yesterday, said they had…

The closure of yet another beach due to a sewage spill – this time a part of Gordon’s Bay – has added to the growing fears over health and safety, especially amid increasing gastroenteritis reports. The City, however, has claimed it has not received any reports from patients over drinking water or water for recreational activities, and a spate of stomach bug cases was due to rising heat temperatures, with the Provincial Health Department backing this. Between October 31 and December 26, 2 453 gastroenteritis cases were reported to the City. Gordon’s Bay Beach, between the walkway and the area in front of Spur, is the latest to experience sewer overflows. Within a space of four days, four beaches, including Strand Beach, Small Bay in Blaauwberg and Fish Hoek…

ESKOM is due to face a legal challenge this year in a bid to stop it from applying targeted load reduction on numerous feeder lines across the country. Sakeliga, in collaboration with Agri North-West, TLU SA and affected businesses, launched an application with the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, against Eskom, for the court to review and set aside the electricity giant’s load reduction policy. Tian Alberts, of Sakeliga, said for more than a year now Eskom had regularly, and for hours on end, been terminating the power supply of direct users on certain feeder lines, in an apparent attempt to curb illegal usage and to collect debt. In the process, paying end-users -- often businesses and farms -- are also targeted. Load reduction is implemented above and beyond national load…

Andy Greenberg Loot.co.za (R677) Doubleday IN May 2021, Colonial Pipeline Co paid some $4.4 million in cryptocurrency to hackers who were holding its computer systems hostage. The culprits were part of a cybercriminal ransomware gang known as DarkSide, and the group helpfully provided the company with an address for a digital wallet where Colonial could deposit the ransom. Cryptocurrency such as bitcoin has become the currency of choice for cybercriminals, who believe that using it protects them from law enforcement because it is anonymous and untraceable. It turns out they are only half right. Less than a month after Colonial paid DarkSide, the Justice Department was able to claw back nearly half of the ransom. How could that happen with an untraceable currency? To tell his story, Greenberg assembles an…

KL Slater Loot.co.za (R211) Sphere A gripping psychological thriller from the author of the author of The Marriage. “My husband was not a monster. No matter what they say... The day my husband, Michael, stepped in front of a lorry after being questioned by the police, my world fell apart. “He was devoted to me and our 6-year-old daughter. But they’d connected him to the disappearance of a young mother from our tiny village. Now I stand at Michael’s funeral, clutching my little girl’s hand, with tears in my eyes as I insist to all our friends that he died an innocent man. Yet the questions have started, and nothing I say will stop them digging for the truth. “But none of them can read the secrets in my heart,…

Pope Francis led the funeral of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, yesterday in front of tens of thousands of mourners in St Peter’s Square, an event unprecedented in modern times. Scarlet-clad cardinals, dignitaries and thousands of priests and nuns from around the world gathered to say goodbye to the German theologian, who stunned the Catholic church in 2013 by becoming the first pontiff in six centuries to resign. For the first time in modern history, the papal funeral was led by a sitting pope, Francis, who delivered the homily in Italian as part of a multi- lingual service with a Latin mass. “Benedict ... may your joy be complete as you hear His (God’s) voice, now and forever!” the pontiff said in tribute to his predecessor, who died on Saturday aged…

The race to overthrow Vladimir Putin is under way, said Russian war analyst and former loyalist Igor Strelkov, according to a media report. “The fight for the political Olympus has begun between the groupings that surround Putin,” Strelkov said. Strelkov, a former FSB colonel key to Putin’s annexation of Crimea and subjugation of the Donetsk region of Ukraine in 2014, is now a staunch critic of the Kremlin’s war strategy. An immediate mass mobilisation of 500 000 men is the only way for Putin to avoid defeat and ignominy in the war in Ukraine, he claimed. He spoke amid claims that Putin has approved in principle a new mobilisation drive. The fight at the top of the Kremlin focuses on insurgent Putin crony Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private…

LONDON: Robbie Williams is building a hotel in Dubai to host his gigs. The singer, 48, said the construction has come about because he doesn’t want to return to Las Vegas to put on shows and is part of him “dreaming big”. “I have achieved everything I have achieved without even dreaming big,” he said. “I have an accessibility to people because of my name and if I have a good idea they will back me … there are loads of things that are taking my fancy now, to see if I can pull off something remarkable – and the hotel idea is one of them.” | Bang Showbiz…

ARA: One of Israel’s longest-serving Palestinian prisoners was freed yesterday after completing a 40-year sentence, as members of the new right-wing government called for him to be stripped of his citizenship. Karim Younis, 60, was convicted of kidnapping and killing Israeli soldier Avraham Bromberg in 1983 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. He served the longest continuous sentence of any Palestinian, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Association. In his hometown, the Israeli Arab village of Ara, Kounis received a hero’s welcome. On Tuesday, Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri called for Younis to be stripped of his Israeli citizenship. | Reuters…

Arthur Zwane has stood by his decision to steadily introduce youngsters into the Kaizer Chiefs senior team, explaining that it’s in line with the club's vision. Chiefs are one of the most successful clubs in the land but after chopping and changing coaching personnel in the last few seasons, the club hasn’t been consistent in promoting youngsters. Enter Zwane. The club legend, who cut his coaching teeth in the development set-up, is determined to change that narrative by blending the old and the new. The 49-year-old’s decision to throw youngsters into the deep end, however, has divided supporters. “For the past five years, our development structures have produced quality players. When they were given the opportunity, they did well,” Zwane said. “It’s just a matter of being consistent from that…

In an exciting initiative, the Okapi Ladies International, a professional women-only race, will take place this weekend at the L’Ormarins King’s Plate in Kenilworth. About 14 female riders chosen from the 20-odd applicants who come from varying equestrian backgrounds will showcase their ability down the 1 200m Hollywoodbets Kenilworth straight course this Saturday. Two international riders, O’Meara Rusike from Zimbabwe and Samantha Swanepoel of the UK, will be in attendance. Okapi founder Hanneli Rupert said they were excited to be sponsoring the Okapi Ladies International at the L’Ormarins King’s Plate and it would be the first of what they hoped to be an ongoing addition to the race card. Riding master and former jockey Craig du Plooy said the candidates have all been outstanding. “They have joined my normal training…

HAVING dedicated his life to the klopse, 71-year-old Suluiman Poromano never anticipated the huge impact of establishing the Cape Town Hawkers troupe on the lives of ordinary street hawkers in the city. It was 34 years ago when he was the brains behind the group that has since grown to have a troupe of about 700 strong members. As communities across Cape Town are revelling in the return of sequinned gears, the trilling of tambourines, reverberation of the trombone and the beating of ghoema drums, the Cape Times spoke with the Bonteheuwel resident who expressed his excitement about about the return of the klopse after being put on hold for two years due to Covid-19 restrictions. Troupes are now gearing up - after months of rehearsals and perfecting their entertainment…

MINCE frikkadel, once an everyday meal for supper, has become a treat for special occasions for many families, while every piece of meat in a pot of food has to be counted. This, as producer prices for red meat increased by 14% in October, year-on-year. While consumers said they had paid about R75 per kg for beef or lamb, the cost was now well over R120. Confirmation of the stark increases came to light following a parliamentary question by DA legislature MP Andricus Pieter van der Westhuizen to Agriculture MEC Ivan Meyer. Van der Westhuizen had asked how producer and consumer of red meat in the Western Cape compared to the prices at this time last year, and if there was any deviation, what the reason for it was. Meyer…

Willie Labuschagne TRACEY MCDONALD PUBLISHERS A man who has devoted his life to working with wild animals both in the wild and in captivity, is Willie Labuschagne. He is most likely best known for his many years as director of the Johannesburg Zoo, and as director of the National Zoological Gardens. One can only imagine he has a treasure chest filled with wonderful wildlife stories. In his new memoir, The Soul of a Lion – reflections on a life lived with animals, he lifts the chest’s lid to share some marvellous stories from his rich wildlife experience. Labuschagne was born on the outskirts of Volksrust (on the border of the then Transvaal and Natal), his father was an MSc in Botany. When his dad was appointed information officer of the…

Pandemic remains generally controllable, economy in various regions recovering rapidly AT THE end of last year, the Chinese government announced it would relax entry and exit restrictions from January 8 and cancel most of the restrictions, such as health code application and quarantine measures. After the optimisation of the epidemic prevention policy, the economic and social order will be restored at an accelerated pace. The international community, overseas Chinese, investors and others generally welcome this policy, and all believe that it will play a positive role in boosting the global economy. However, some Western media said that China’s adjustment of epidemic prevention policies showed that China’s anti-epidemic concept had changed and no longer attached importance to people’s life safety. In this regard, Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson for the Ministry of…

China yesterday defended its handling of its raging Covid-19 outbreak after US president Joe Biden voiced concern and the World Health Organization (WHO) said Beijing was under-reporting virus deaths. The WHO’s emergencies director, Mike Ryan, said that Chinese officials were under-representing data on several fronts, some of the UN agency’s most critical remarks to date. China relaxed Covid-19 controls last month after protests against them, abandoning a policy that had shielded its 1.4 billion population from the virus for three years. China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular media briefing in Beijing that China had transparently and quickly shared Covid-19 data with the WHO and said China’s “epidemic situation is controllable”. China reported one new Covid-19 death in the mainland for Wednesday, compared with five a day…

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is to set out details this week of a planned law to curb strikes, and ministers want to make industrial action illegal if minimum service levels are not met. The legislation would enforce minimum service levels in six sectors, including the health service, rail, education, fire and border security, which would require a proportion of union members to continue working. Britain has had a wave of industrial action over the last few months, with strikes crippling various sectors including the rail network, which are set to continue as surging inflation follows 10 years of stagnant wage growth. The strikes would be deemed illegal if unions refused to provide the minimum level of service, a government source said. Employers would be able to sue unions and…

LONDON: Britain experienced its hottest year on record in 2022, the national weather service confirmed yesterday, saying human-induced climate change had made what would normally be a once-in-500-year event likely to happen every three or four years. The Met Office said the average annual temperature was 10.03°C, topping 10°C for the first time and the highest in records dating back to 1884. The 2022 average was 0.15°C above the previous hottest year, set in 2014. The findings came as record-high winter temperatures swept across parts of Europe over the new year. | Reuters…

SAN FRANCISCO: The e-retail giant Amazon, which has a workforce of more than 1.5 million people all over the world, is to axe 17 000 jobs. It cited the “uncertain economy” as the reason for the layoffs in its consumer retail and human resources departments. CEO Andy Jassey, who replaced founder Jeff Bezos, said he was alerting everyone of the plans due to an unapproved leak as he gave himself a deadline of January 18 to iron out all the details of the layoffs. The news follows the trend of other tech companies that have seen a dip in sales revenues and a weakening of consumer demand due to the increasing cost of living. | Bang Showbiz…

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo faces a wait to make his Al Nassr debut because the Saudi club have exceeded their quota for foreign players, club sources revealed yesterday. When he was unveiled with great fanfare on Tuesday, the 37-year-old said he was keen to play as soon as possible, starting with yesterday's home game against Al Ta'ee. But Ronaldo, whose deal is worth an estimated €200-million (about R3.6-billion) to June 2025, is Al Nassr's ninth foreign player - one more than the eight allowed by Saudi football authorities. "Al Nassr has not registered him yet because there is no vacancy for a foreign player," one club official, who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak, revealed. "A foreign player must leave to register Ronaldo,…

The Sharks have built up a healthy head of steam in recent weeks – a run of form that could be hampered by the terminal reliance on an increasingly unwieldy United Rugby Championship (URC) sponsorship deal. Last year, the URC CEO Martin Anayi waxed lyrical when he announced that Qatar Airways would partner with the tournament to fly the SA franchises between Europe and their homeland. It was a deal, he said then, that would make the South African team’s lives so much easier as they need not worry about the financial or logistical aspects of booking flights to compete in the competition. In the present, and the partnership is reportedly not bearing the yield as promised and might even be having a negative effect on the SA sides who…

Former US Open champion Emma Raducanu exited an Auckland warm-up tournament injured and in tears yesterday, just over 10 days before the Australian Open starts. The 20-year-old Briton, who stunned the tennis world when she won the US Open in 2021 as a qualifier, retired with an ankle injury at the start of the third set against Viktoria Kuzmova in the last-16. Raducanu, who has suffered a series of injuries since her New York triumph, won the first set 6-0 before losing the second 7-5. She then received treatment before declaring that she could not continue. The Australian Open starts on January 16, leaving the world No 78 facing a race to be fit in time. Veteran Venus Williams was another high-profile casualty on a rain-marred day. The 42-year-old American…

There will be nobody smiling more about the new SA20 League than the England management team with the tournament providing the perfect platform for a couple of injured seamers to work their way back into form. World Cup-winner Jofra Archer is, of course, the headline act and will be making his comeback from a long-term elbow injury for MI Cape Town. Archer will most likely share the new ball with Proteas star Kagiso Rabada in the tournament opener at Newlands on Tuesday. But it won’t only be Archer that England white-ball coach Matthew Mott will be monitoring over the next couple of weeks ahead of the three-match ODI series against the Proteas in Bloemfontein later this month. Reece Topley will also be making a much-anticipated return after suffering a freak…